You can't speak of our God in
too respectful a fashion. Revelation 1 now. Revelation
1, chapter 1. I want to read the first six
verses again with you. Revelation 1. Our text will be found in verses
5 and 6. Revelation 1, verse 1. The revelation—if you'll notice there, the title
of the book says, The Revelation of St. John the Divine. No, it's
not. John would not have liked that. Verse 1 says, The Revelation
of Jesus Christ. The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
of St. John the Divine. That was added
there by the King James translator. It's the revelation, or this
book is the revelation, the revealing of Jesus Christ, to reveal Christ,
which God gave unto him, to Christ, to show unto his servants things
which must shortly come to pass, shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it
by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the
word of God, and of the testimony, or revelation, of Jesus Christ,
and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, but
not just readeth, but that heareth the words of this prophecy. But
not hearers only, but keepers. Keep those things. Those that
keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. John, to the seven churches which
are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is,
which was, which is to come. And from the seven spirits which
are before his throne, seven angels, and from Jesus Christ
who is the faithful witness and the first-forgotten of the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory
and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Now, the question of questions, the one that Jesus Christ asked
the people after they asked Him all manner of questions, the
question of questions is, What think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? And our heartfelt thoughts and
desires and opinions on this question reveals the state of
ourselves. What think ye of Christ? The scriptures say, to you who
believe, he is precious. He is precious. to you who believe. He is precious. Now, I cannot make Christ precious
to you. I could not make Christ precious
to me. Nor can I even create an interest
in you. I can't do it. I didn't create the interest
in me. God must do both. God must create an interest. God must reveal Christ to you. God must reveal Christ to you
and in you, in your heart, to you who believe, to those who
God gives faith to. He becomes precious, an honor. That word means an honor, a high
honor, the most glorious amazing one or thing ever. He becomes
all and in all. Now, I cannot do that, but I
can make mention of him this morning. That's what I am called,
one of the Lord's remembrances. That's what the Scripture said.
A preacher is really just one who makes mention of the Lord.
It's said in Isaiah, those of you who make mention of the Lord,
Lord's remembrances, The true preacher is one who just constantly
declares him. That's why I'm here. That's what I'm to do. I lived
him up. I'm of no more value than that
pole that Moses held that serpent up on in the wilderness. You
remember that story? Moses holding the serpent of
the wilderness up on a pole, and everybody that looked at
Tubac were healed. Well, that pole was of no value
except as it held up that circle, right? Christ said, if I be lifted
up, I'll draw all men to me. So, I just want to be like that
pole. All I want to do is declare him,
preach him, make mention of him this morning, okay? Preach Christ.
Preach Christ. Declare him who he is and what
he did. It's up to God to open your heart. Now, right here in Revelation
chapter 1, there's a threefold description of Christ in verse
5, and then there are three works that he did in verses 5 and 6. characteristics or descriptions
of Christ and three works that he did, and I want you to see
how they are vitally connected. Each one of them, in turn, fits
the other—vitally connected. All right? Verse 5 says, And
from Jesus Christ—this is the revelation—from Jesus Christ,
who is the great Revealer, Christ who is the faithful witness. Number one. Christ is the faithful
witness. Now, we've all seen, at least,
a court of law, a courtroom scene, which in it there is a judge
and there's a jury and there are onlookers, people looking
in on the proceedings and so forth. Everyone is gathered together
in this courtroom scene because something has happened. They're
there because something has taken place that requires full judgment. And everyone there, it's impossible
to have an impartial bystander. Everyone there has their opinion. Everyone there has their opinion
as to what happened. You know, recently, how they
tried to find some jurors who were impartial and unbiased toward
this highly celebrated case that's in the news. I'm not even going
to mention his name. I'm tired of hearing it. But they tried
to find some impartial jurors. Can't do it. Cannot do it. No way. Everyone, by some way
or another, is influent and has an opinion as to what happened. But all that matters, really
now, In a court of law, all that matters is the truth. Right? It's the reason we really
don't ever have justice. The truth never really prevails
in our... But all that really matters,
though, is the truth. Is the truth. Who can tell If
somebody can be brought forth who can tell, really, truly tell
what happened, then you'll get to the bottom
of it, won't you? A witness. A witness. So, in a court of law, they bring
forth witnesses, and they tell their story, and they don't all
agree, do they? Why? They're not faithful. They're
not true. They're liars. All men are liars
to save their skin. But all that really matters is
the truth. What needs to be said is for someone to tell what actually
happened, what they actually saw. OK? Turn to John chapter
1, verse 18. John chapter 1. Turn over there.
Keep your place in Revelation. Well, the Scripture says that
Jesus Christ is the faithful. witness, the faithful witness, the only
one who will faithfully declare things like they really are,
the only one who really saw things as they are, the only one who
can really declare things as they are, Jesus Christ is the
faithful witness. Now, men for centuries have had
an opinion of God Almighty, haven't they? And they do now. Everyone
has some kind of opinion of God Almighty as to what he is like
and how he does things and so forth. They have an opinion. Well, look at John 1, verse 18. It says, No man hath seen God
at any time. You may have your opinion, but
it be mostly wrong, because we've never seen him. Verse 18. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, which was, which came from, and
which right now is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared
it. He's the only faithful witness
to tell us who God is, the only one. Jesus Christ. He alone can
tell us what no man has ever seen. Right? He alone can tell
us who God is. Who God is. You see, God is invisible. Right? God is invisible. Christ came to declare, to make
visible, the invisible. Christ is God, manifest in the
flesh. He is God. He said, you've seen
me. No man can see God now. But John,
Christ said, you've seen me. You've seen the Father. God became
visible. Christ. Christ. You see, God is unknowable. You
can't know God. His ways are past finding out.
But God became a man, and we saw his ways. We found out. His
ways were past finding out, but the unknowable God can be known
now. Well, the faithful witness, the only begotten Son, he hath
declared Him. The express image of God came
down. The express image of God. And all those who know the true
God, this is eternal life, that they might know thee the only
true God. Well, how are you going to know Him? Huh? How are you
going to get to know Him? How are you going to get to Him?
Huh? How are you going to know about
God? The ways of God? How are we going to speak to
God? How does God speak to us? How are we going to know God?
Through Jesus Christ. Tell you what, He's the only
one who can faithfully tell us. He's the only one who has seen
God. He is God. He is God. He's the faithful
witness. And He's the faithful witness
not only of who God is, but of the purpose of God Almighty.
He's the faithful witness of the mind and the will of God
Almighty. He's the faithful witness to
tell us, to glorify God, to tell us of God's glory. He's the faithful
witness to tell us what God's purpose and will is. which is
to redeem a people. We wouldn't have known that.
This is the reason that natives, pagan natives out in the jungle,
if you ever watch that Discovery Channel or National Geographic
or something, you'll see all manner of tribes and primitive
people doing all manner of unspeakable things and mutilating their bodies. And this one that I watched last
week, it was just hideous. The people were hideous looking
because how they had mutilated their bodies in such a way, grotesquely. They all wore a thing in their
lip. It was horrible, just horrible.
And they would run around on the ground. They would—they all
had—they were naked, of course, and they all had poles that they
were beating the ground with, and they'd do this on certain
days from sunup to sundown, just beat the ground with poles, trying
to chase away evil spirits or whatever. You see, you can't
know God. You can't know—people don't know
anything about God. That's the reason there's so
many wild imaginations of God. But Jesus Christ came down. God
manifested in the flesh, and he said, Now, let me tell you
about God. Let me tell you who God is. I'm
God. Let me tell you how God's worshipped
through me. Let me tell you how you're going
to get to God in me. I'm going to have to do something
for you. You're sinners, yes, but you can't drive away sin
by beating on the ground with sticks. You see, God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. You're sinners, but I'm holy. I'm a man. I'm a man. Made like
unto you, but without sin. The big difference between me
and you is you're from beneath, I'm from above. You're a sinner,
I'm holy, spotless, unblameable, unreprovable before God. I've
come down here to represent you before God, to be your substitute. To be your righteous representative,
who can ascend to the holy hill of God? He who has clean hands,
a pure heart, never lifted up his soul under vanity or sworn
deceit. Anybody seen that? Who is without
sin among you? Nobody? I am without sin. God accepts me, God accepts me,
and God will accept you in me. He'll accept you in me, but not
without blood. You remember the old sacrifices
and all back in the Old Testament? The priests and all who came
bringing the blood of lambs and bulls and goats and so forth?
That can't put away sin. That's lamb's blood. Animal blood. God's not like unto an animal,
a four-footed beast and so forth. God's Spirit. This thing of putting
away sin requires an infinite sacrifice. Not lamb's blood. It's going to require my blood.
Jesus Christ's blood, an infinite sacrifice. He said, I can shed
my blood because it's holy blood, and it'll put away your sins
once and for all. How are you going to get to a
holy God? You're made acceptable in me,
made righteous by me. And if I shed my blood to pay
for your sins, God's angry with the wicked. But God forgives
sinners in me because of my blood. I'm going to pay for sins. And
God gave me a people. And I came down here to get a
job done, and I'm going to do it. And I'm going to go back
to the Father to prepare a place for those people, that where
I am, you may be also." You see? He came to declare Him, didn't
He? He came and we couldn't know Him otherwise. He's the faithful
witness to declare the person of God and the purpose of God.
All right? Look at the fifth, or the sixth verse now. Well,
the fifth verse. And here is the corresponding work of Christ.
I've already said it, but it says here in verse 5, it says,
and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, first forgotten
of the dead, the prince of the kings of the earth. Those are
descriptions. Now look at his work. The faithful witness, him
who loved us. You see that? The faithful witness,
that's Christ. He's the faithful witness, the
revealer of God. And Christ is him that loved
us. Him that loved us. There's a
scripture, I think it's, I'm not sure where it's found, but
it's in the book of John, I know that. It says, having loved his
own, he loved them to the end. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. Third time with 1 John chapter
4. Who loved his own? God. That's Christ. God manifests in the flesh. God
who said in Jeremiah 31, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. God who loved his people before
the world began. Says, having loved his own. God
Almighty loved them before Christ came. He loved them while he
was here. Christ left. says he loved him to the end.
When's the end? When will he quit loving us? When's the end?
We read there in Revelation 1, it says, it says, I'm him that
was and is and is to come and the first and last. There is
no ending. Jesus Christ is same yesterday
and forever. There is no ending. No beginning
or ending. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." How do we
know that God Almighty loves sinners? Huh? Look at 1 John 4, verse 9. How
do we know God loves sinners? Verse 9 says, "...in this was
manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his
only begotten Son into the world." Verse 10, here in his love, not
that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son. How
do we know God loves sinners? He sent his Son down here. You
see? So Christ is the faithful witness
sent by God to do what? To love us to the end. And I
don't mean some silly, sentimental clap-clap. As the old Puritans
used to say, unless you do anything, I'm talking about a love that
actually saves, a love that actually does something, a love that actually
justifies, that actually sanctifies, that actually puts away sin,
a love that actually keeps safe. God sent his Son, made of a woman,
made of flesh. Now, if we could enter into that,
we could see something of a love of God. that he would send his
son down here to this cesspool of iniquity. Be like us, setting our love
and affection on some some vile drug addict in the
heart of the ghetto or wherever. Setting our affection on that
person and sending our son or daughter or whatever to witness
or to minister to that person. Condescension of God's son into
this planet, God making his son of a woman, making him under
the law, binding him under that law, making him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, is infinite love and condescension. Infinite
love. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon that Abraham, when Abraham was offering
Isaac, or about to offer Isaac up on that mountain, Mount Moriah,
when he was about to plunge at his only son, the son whom he
loved, God Almighty stopped his hand and said, Abraham, spare
your son. Spare your son. Now I know that
you fear me, that you love me. Seeing thou hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son that you love, Abraham, don't kill
him. Oh, here in his love, God, kill me, son. didn't stop his
hand, but proved the sincerity of his love. Even while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. See, he couldn't have us
unless the blood was sheen. So he plunged that knife of his
justice into the breast of his own son. Oh, herein is love.
Now I know God loves me. Why? He spared not his own son.
He spared me. He didn't spare his son. He delivered
his son up to Satan and sin, and he delivered me from it.
Now I know. And his love, I know it's God's
love because it's unconditional, it's undeserved, and it's unfailing. It's unconditional, not based
on anything about me. It's undeserved. I don't deserve
it, never will. It's unfailing. He never quits
loving me. Now that's love. Huh? Unto him who loved us. Have he loved his own? He loved
them to the end. Your love will fail. Some of
your love will fail. Husband's love for wives will
fail. Wives for husbands will fail.
Parents for children. Children for parents. It'll fail.
Have he loved his own, he loved them to the end. It never failed.
He never failed. He loved them. I love there's
a verse in 2 Samuel that David said this after God came to him
and told him about this covenant and his love and all. David said
this, and I want to preach on some of that. David said, is
this the manner of men? No. This is just not the way
men are. But that's the way God is. Unto
him that loved us. Yeah, you. The unloved one. Me. All right, look at the second
description of Christ, all right? Look at it. The second description
of Christ in verse five of Revelation. He's a faithful witness who loved
us. Unto him that loved us. And He
is the first-forgotten of the dead. Oh, Lord, give us eyes
to see this this morning. Give somebody a heart to receive
it. Make somebody excited over this. Let somebody see His glory
this morning. I'm praying right now. Pray with
me. Lord, open my eyes to behold
Thy glory. Huh? Would you pray with me right
now? I feel like stopping right this minute. Feel like I'm preaching
a sermon. I'm going to preach a sermon. I'm going to declare Him. I want
you to see His glory. I want somebody that's never
seen Him to see Him. Huh? The faithful witness. Who loved
us? Who loved us? The first begotten of the dead.
The first begotten of the dead. He says the same thing in Colossians
1. Colossians 1, he says the same
thing over here. Christ who is the—let me turn
there real fast. and read it to you. Colossians
1.18 says that Christ is the firstborn from the dead, that
in all things he must or might have the preeminence. I said
you liked that verse, didn't you, John? The firstborn from
the dead. The firstborn, the first begotten
from the dead. Jesus Christ. We're talking about
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ is the first man to ever
rise from the grave. First man to ever rise from the
grave. Matter of fact, the only one. He said, now wait a minute. Lazarus
rose. No, he didn't. He was raised. Christ came and said, Lazarus,
come forth. And every other person that rose. He went to Jairus, his daughter,
and said, maiden, arise. Huh? They were raised. He's the
first man to just rise. Declared to be the Son of God
with power. That's what John said, or Paul said in Romans
1, by the resurrection, by the Spirit of holiness and the resurrection
of the dead. He walked into the grave. He
laid down. He said, no man will kill me. He can't kill me. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down. I've got all power. I got on fire. I laid it down
on myself. But some Roman soldiers couldn't
kill him. They tried many times, didn't
they? People tried me, they couldn't kill me. They said, no man can
kill me. I said, I'll lay it down. And that day on the cross, it
says that he bowed his head. It didn't drop. It didn't fall.
It didn't lull about helplessly. He bowed it. He said, it's over,
I've got the work done. He's like a man putting on his
work clothes and getting the job done, and then finally when
it's all finished, took his clothes off, and went to bed. He says,
Christ bowed his head and gave up the ghost, walked out of the
body. He said, damn, ain't I? He can't keep me dead. He said,
run a stone over the grave, that'll keep me. He ran the stone. That'll keep him in the Holy
of Holies. He's sitting on a circle of it. Keep you in a little tomb. Three days rolled by, he gave
the mighty command, and no matter how big the stone may have been,
he said, roll it away. And out he walked. He rose from
the grave. Only man. First one. And the
last. He said, he said, I'm the faith
and I'm the last. You never rise from the grave.
Talk to yourself. You're going to be—if you're
a believer now, he's going to raise you from the grave. The
reason it's called the firstborn—he said over there—turn to 1 Corinthians
15 with me. All right? 1 Corinthians 15.
Look over there real quickly. 1 Corinthians 15 is that great
chapter that talks about the resurrection of the believer
and so forth. Great chapter. Verse 15, you
got it? All right, he says in verse 22,
as in, Adam all die. Now, Christ wasn't in Adam, he
couldn't die. Right? In Adam all die. We're going
to die. There's nothing that's going to keep us from it, unless
Christ comes first. Right? As in, Adam all die. Even so, in Christ shall all
be made alive, but every man in his own order. Christ first. Christ first. He's got to have
the preeminence. That's what John, that's what
he said, didn't he, John? Colossians 1, 18. The firstborn
from the dead. Why? He's going to have the preeminence
in the whole thing. He's going to rise first and
enter into glory, and we're going to come. And someday, every man,
Christ, the firstfruiter, Christ said, He's coming. See, He entered
into heaven. That's where that great Psalm
24 says, Who is this coming in? Who's coming in? Well, it's Elijah. It's much luck. It's the King
of Glory. Who's that behind him? He's training,
filling the temple. That's all these that are coming
after him, that he came for. He came to get them. They come
to him. They're coming after him. He's
coming in first. He's going to have to free him.
Oh, I can't wait for that day. That day, that great coronation
and crown him with that great diadem. And all that procession,
it's going to do it. You like parades? Huh? Macy's ain't nothing. It's going to be a great parade.
It says when he made captivity captive, when he leaves captivity
captive, when he leaves Satan and sin and hell and death on
a leash through the halls of glory and leaves his people behind
him. I love a parade. Huh? Who's coming in first? Huh? Well, the man. Well, the
angel. No, they're not. The Son of God
himself coming in third. He must have preeminent. And
this Christ is the forerunner, it says in the Bible. The forerunner. The eldest son. The heir. The
firstborn. The first begotten and so forth. And we'll follow
him. We'll be raised. And this resurrection is proof
that his work was accepted. Are you back there at Revelation
1? Look at it again. It says that he's the first begotten
of the dead, verse 5, the last part. He washed us from our sins
in his own blood. It talks about resurrection first
and then his death, doesn't it? Why is that? Because his resurrection
proves that he washed us from our sins in his own blood. That,
it's proof. If he hadn't of come out of the
grave, if Christ be not risen, we're yet in our sins, right?
If they find a skeleton over in Jerusalem somewhere, outside
of Mount Golgotha's hill, and there's bones in it, we're going
to die. We're going to be in our sin.
We're of all men most miserable. But they can hunt through eternity,
and they won't find any. Why? Because he's risen. He's
risen. So that proves that he washed
us from our sins in his own blood. How many times have I given this
illustration? When the high priest of old went
into the Holy of Holies with that blood, And the people waited
outside anxiously. The people had put their hands
on the animal, confessed their sins, and it was slain by a fit
man, the high priest, and the blood was taken into the Holy
of Holies to offer up before God. And proof of acceptance,
proof that God accepted the sacrifice and that the people's sins were
remitted or forgiven, was what? When that high priest came back
out. She had bells on his, I mean, pomegranate, fruit and righteousness,
fruit and praise on his robe, bells, and in the Peter's crypt
here in that, those bells. That's the gospel, isn't it?
Well, how do we know that our Christ is alive? Keep ringing
that bell. And the truth, there's truth,
people. But anyway, when the holy, when that high priest went
in there, when the high priest went in
there, The people outside waiting anxiously, is God going to accept
that sacrifice? Is the blood going to put away
our sins? How'd they know? Well, the bells kept ringing.
And a little while after the blood was poured out
on the mercy seat, a little while, the veil was pulled back and
the high priest came out. I guarantee you, he's smiling.
Went wiping his brow. and the people let out a cheer.
Hallelujah! God be praised. We're accepted.
Our sins are put away. When Christ came out of that
grave, a hallelujah went up in heaven. Hallelujah! Glory to
God in the highest. A louder one than the first one.
Hallelujah! He's put away our sins by his
own blood. God accepted the sacrifice. You
see that? Unto him who washed us from our
sins in his own Look at the next one, the third one, the description
of Christ. It says in verse five, he's the
prince of the kings of the earth. Are you with me? The prince of
the kings of the earth, kings. Yeah, we can't enter into this
too much because we've never been under a king. The United
States has never had—well, before it was the United States, it
was under a monarchy, wasn't it? But even today, you know,
there are kings of countries who are really no more than figureheads. They don't wield any power. They
don't have any authority. But let me tell you, kings of
old—the kings of old, those fellas had power. David—David was king. And David had men killed. Now,
he didn't go through a judge and a jury. He was judge and
jury and executioner. He said whatever he said went. Right? Solomon, Greg came. Whatever he said went. Kings. See, kings, ancient monarchs
were rulers. They were rulers over all. They
were governors. They governed everything. Whatever
they said went. Listen to me now. Come on. They
were governors. They governed everything. They
didn't pass it down to the mayor. They didn't pass it down to the
governor of the state. They didn't pass it down to the
commissioner. They governed. Everybody came to that king and
they said, what are we going to do about this? The king said,
we'll do that. They came to him and said, what are we going to
do about this? He said, we'll do that. Kings back then, little peanut
men did that. Kings. They were lawgivers. Whatever they said, right or
wrong, was law. You had to abide by it. Lawgivers. They were men who reigned and
ruled and controlled everything about the people under their
dominion, right? Well, let me tell you who Jesus
Christ is. Oh, it was so good. It says here that he's the prince,
that means the ruler, the ultimate, the absolute king of kings. I just told you about how much
power those ancient kings had. Christ said, I've got hell and
death at my side. Those ancient kings could have
you put to death. They couldn't put you in hell.
Christ can't. He's the King of kings. The Scripture says the king's
heart. I'll tell you how kingly this
king is. Tell you how powerful this King is, Jesus Christ. He
says, the hearts of the kings is in the hands of the Lord.
He'd turn a bit with us wherever He will. Kings of old might manipulate
you and make you do something against your will and so forth,
and afflict you in the body and all, but they can't turn your
heart. They can't make you do make you think a certain way,
or Jesus Christ can and does. The heart. That's how powerful
he is. He rules the rulers. He controls
the controllers. Oh, that'll give us some comfort,
shouldn't it? That all things work together
for good. Why? We got a king. A good king. I always say, scrap this government
we have. We elect these officials. You know, I've lived under probably
eight or nine presidents. Yes, me. I've lived that long,
under eight or nine presidents. Some of you have lived under
probably a dozen or more. There's really no difference.
There hasn't been much change. I wish we could scrap it all
and we could find us a good king somewhere. Huh? A good, wise,
benevolent, always benevolent, loving king. Like a David. Huh? A king, a
man after God's own heart. We have one. We have one. Huh? And he's the king of kings. David pales in comparison to
it. Solomon and all his wisdom. He is wisdom. Solomon got his
wisdom from the wisdom. from Christ. We do have a King,
and Bill Clinton's heart is in the hands of our King. I don't
worry about what Bill Clinton does. I don't worry that we elected
a womanizing, no-good, worthless man for our senator. His heart
is in the hands of my King. Jesus Christ reigns over the
Senate, Congress, United States, and Russia, and Bulgaria, and
and too big to pull the collar. I can get it. There he does. Jesus Christ is
king. He's killing not just in theory,
in actuality. Do you believe that? You better.
You better. If I didn't believe that, I'd
run for office. I'd be running for senator. Wouldn't get elected,
not crooked enough. Don't have enough money either. But I'd be so upset over our
government and so forth, but I tell you what, I'm not too
upset, and I know who's in control. I know I'm going to vote, and
I'm going to tell you not to do your duty and vote and so
forth, vote. But God's going to give the world to the world.
They've got it. The world's got it. You see who
they vote for, don't you? They got it. His kingdom is not
of this world. He's going to give another world,
another earth, a new heaven and a new earth to his people. And
ain't nothing going to enter it that defiles it. Going to
be good rulers. Going to be apostles. Huh? See? Peter, James, John, that's going
to rule over us. Huh? And never make a mistake.
Huh? Why? They report to the king.
King of kings. Isn't that good news? Christ
said, All power is given unto me. All power, not some other. Not I'm going to have it. I've
got it. All power. All authority over
all flesh. You believe that? Over all flesh? Cancer. Whatever. Yes. He's the prince. He's the king. Judge over all. Well, look at
what he does for his subjects. Look at this. It says that he's
the prince of the kings of the earth, those six, and he hath
made us kings and priests unto God. Hath made us kings and priests. Would you turn quickly to 1 Peter
2? Would you? 1 Peter 2. Turn over there real quickly
with me. It says, our king hath made us
kings and priests. Well, what does that mean? Christ Almighty is the crown
prince of glory. He's the heir. He is the firstborn. He is the oldest son, the eldest
son. Those who Christ died for, those
who are in Christ, have been adopted by God into the family. Christ is the king, and we're
made princes. We're born, we're put into that
family. We become joint heirs with him. Joint heirs. Look at 1 Peter
2, and we saw this in that chosen seed of Israel's race. Look at
verse 9. You are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood. A royal priesthood. Joint heirs
with the king. Princess. We have rights, it
says, as many as received him. To them he gave the right, the
privilege, to be called the sons of God. And like Brother Bell said, we
live so far below our privileges. We have privileges that if we
knew about, oh my, we would say, what, me worry? What are you
worried about? We live so far below our privileges
as sons of God. live with a blank check. Yeah,
we do. Not toward material things, necessarily. We'll have everything we need,
materially. For the unsearchable riches of
God, privileges we will not understand until we obtain that glory. But
here's a couple, okay? Access to God, the throne. You
see, I've been talking about the king. And back in the olden
days, now, you just didn't, Debra, back in the olden days, you just
didn't come up to king with you. You just didn't say, I think
I'll go see the king today. I've got nothing better to do.
I'll go and see. No, you didn't do that. You had
to be, have an appointment, you had to be sent for, you had to
be called for. We can come right in the presence
of the king, day or night. Huh? Why? Because Ahasuerus has
held out the royal scepter to Esther. So you understood that. Our great
King has held out the royal scepter. The scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of Christ. And we are able to have access
to God. God's not unapproachable now.
He says, come. He's not coming to a mount that's burning with
fire and quake, and people say, we don't want to go. He's coming
to Mount Zion, to God. He says, come on. Come on, my
children. Come on. Oh, but God's No, come on. God's
approachable now in Christ. Secondly, we're heirs to the
kingdom. Heirs to the kingdom. Lastly here, heirs to the kingdom
of God. Blessed are the meek. They shall
inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers.
They shall be called the children of God. The heirs of the kingdom. What is the kingdom? Can you
describe it? Can anybody describe it? Can't
do it. That's the reason we're not more
excited about it right now. If I were to stand up here and
tell us that we had inherited five billion dollars, and there's
a glorious palace in Malibu, or wherever, and we have fourteen
rows, and just on and on and on, I'd paint the picture. Everybody
would be lighting up, boy. Go on, go on, go on, go on. You
see, I can't tell it. Where is it in the kingdom? Tell
us about it. I can't. I can't. Sheba came back, and they said,
Sheba, tell us about Solomon. Tell us about his kingdom. She
said, I saw him. I can't tell you. John, John came back. Paul, Paul. Paul said, I went to the third
heaven. He said, listen to this. I went to the third heaven. I
knew a man that went to the third heaven. He said, you know, I
heard... I can't utter it. John said, I saw a city. A city
that... Describe it, John, what it's
like. Pertin squeezed it. That don't do it justice. John said, I saw a person. I
saw Christ. Testimony of John. His head and
his hair was white as It wasn't like snow. It was pure as a given
snow. It was fine as fine forest snow. It was quiet, hot, clear. His face, it was like it was
shining bright as a match. His feet, all those feet are
so scarred. He had something in his feet
that was like it was burning. I can't tell you. You've got
to see. I have not seen, e'er hath not
heard, neither hath entered into the hearts of man the things
that God prepared for him, and the one who is seated on the
throne." Where do you see him? Where do you see him? And where
is that kingdom? We're going to see him. We're
going to get to go in. I've never seen Buckingham Palace.
You know, I'd like to go in. I think I'd probably—oh, well. Like everybody is. You would
be too, don't say you're not. You'd be looking at him, wow,
you're real impressed with that. I get to go to heaven, and see him, and have everything
he has. He made us kings. He made us
part of the family, and priest, and a god. Priest, so that is
we serve now. We're priests now, serving about
the outer courts, the outer tabernacle. They're on the inside now. We're
on the outside. What is left to be said after
seeing such a one, after hearing such things that he's done? Read
it, verse 6. Well, unto him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. The person of Christ and His
glory is one.