You know, one line in this hymn
that just struck me. It's the last part of the third
verse. Since thou my portion, Lord,
will be, I ask no more. Complete in thee. And when I
was reading that, I was thinking how many things I'm always asking
for. Asking, asking, always feeling like I'm needing something else.
But this is the spirit of faith. If I've got him, I don't need
anything else. Materially, spiritually, anything. That's a remarkable hymn. I've
never heard that before. That's a that's a blessing. Well,
I was going to. Turn with me to the book of Revelation.
chapter twenty. Now I'm going to be speaking
on the subject, the Beatitudes of Revelation. The Beatitudes
of Revelation. Now there are seven different
passages of scripture in the book of Revelation where John
says, blessed is the man or happy is the man. Now I've read in
reading what wise men say about numbers, they say seven is the
perfect number. Maybe it is. I've never read
that in the Bible. Maybe it is. Maybe I just haven't seen it.
But if it is a perfect number, there's seven of these in the
book of Revelation that are just a blessing to consider. The stakes
of blessedness. And this means happiness. And
you know, this is something I'm awfully interested in. I want
to be happy. I want to rejoice in Christ,
I want to glorify God, and I want to be happy in doing it. There's
nothing that glorifies God about being depressed and dragging
or anything like that. I want to be a happy person.
And here is a description of a truly happy and a truly blessed
person. We're going to look at each one
of them real briefly. And I tried to put them in some kind of order
that made sense to me, and we'll just take them one at a time.
Revelation chapter 20, verse 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall
reign with him a thousand years." Now that man is happy who has
a part, who has a share in that first resurrection of Christ. Now one of the things that just
struck me as I read this passage of scripture is not everybody
has a part in this first resurrection. He wouldn't have said that if
everybody did have a part in this first resurrection. Blessed
and happy is that man who has a part, who has a share in that
first resurrection. Now, what is the first resurrection
spoken of here? Well, there are basically three
views, and I believe all three views are correct. They all go
together, as a matter of fact. If you have to have one, you
have to have the other two. I believe this is what it means primarily.
The first resurrection refers to the resurrection of Christ
himself. He was the first one who was
raised from the dead, and happy, blessed is that man who was represented
by Christ in that resurrection. You see, the Lord Jesus did not
represent everybody, and this is important for us to understand
this so we can understand what he was actually doing on the
cross. And so I can learn something about resting in him. When he
came here to this earth, he came as a representative of God's
elect. He said in John 17, 9, I pray not for the world, but
for them which you've given me, for they are thine. He said in
John 15 or in John 10, verse 15, I lay down my life for these
sheep. He came as a representative of
God's elect, and here's the way he represented us. Now you think
about Adam. When God placed Adam in the garden,
Adam stood as the federal head and representative of all the
human race. When Adam fell, I fell, because
he stood as my representative. I was condemned for a sin that
I personally had nothing to do with. Because Adam was my representative. Now that's how much Adam represented
the human race. Now in the precise same manner,
Christ represented the elect. And when he walked upon this
earth and fulfilled a perfect righteousness and worked out
a perfect righteousness, I did too in the person of my representative. When he died, I died. I was judged at that time. When
he was raised from the dead and accepted by God, I was accepted
by God at that time. Just as I was condemned for sin
I personally had nothing to do with, I've been justified by
righteousness that I personally had nothing to do with. Now that's
how much Christ is a representative of God's people. Blessed and
holy and happy is he that hath a part in this first resurrection. Now, what this is, basically,
is particular redemption. It's just another way of looking
at it. But, you know, if you take the particular out of redemption,
that's the same thing as taking salvation out of grace. Christ's
redemption was a particular definite atonement for God's elect. And
thank God He got the job done. He put away our sins. And that's
why John says, Blessed, happy is that man who has a part in
His resurrection. And it sure makes me happy. When
I think about what Christ did, when I think about how He represented
me and put away my sins before I was ever born, how He did everything
in my salvation and left nothing to me, that makes this sinner
happy. Blessed and happy is he that
hath part in this first resurrection. Now, another view of this passage,
it could mean, he means this. Blessed is he who has part in
the first resurrection in the sense that a lot of folks say
the first resurrection he's talking about is the spiritual resurrection
that every believer experiences. And there's some scriptural foundation
to that, too. Turn to John 5 and let me show this to you. John chapter 5, verse 24. The Lord says, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. Now that's a reference to the
spiritual resurrection that every believer experiences. He says
the hour is coming when the dead, the dead in sins, the spiritually
dead, shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live. Now, blessed is he that experiences
the spiritual resurrection. When God gives me life to see
Christ as everything in salvation and gives me grace to look at
him, what a blessed state. That man is blessed. On him,
the second death is not going to have any power. Now, what
is this second death he's talking about here in in the book of
Revelation. Well, stay there in chapter 20
and let's look at verse 13 so we can see what he's talking
about. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them, and they were judged every man according to their
works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death. Look in chapter 21, verse 8.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers,
and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire
and brimstone, which is the second death." Now, the second death
is judgment. The second death is hell. The
second death is what every sinner is going to get that stands before
God on the basis of their own works. That's what the second
death is. It's condemnation. But John says this man who has
a part in the first resurrection, whether it's talking about Christ's
resurrection, his representation, or if it's talking about our
spiritual resurrection, doesn't matter. Both are true. Upon that
person, the second death hath no power. There is therefore
now, right now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,
to those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
We don't have to worry about being judged. Thank God for that. David said, If thou, Lord, shouldst
mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? I don't want to
be judged in any way. Let me be found in Christ, but
here's the blessedness of that person who has part in this first
resurrection. Now, another thing this could
mean, and as a matter of fact, I think this is part of it, it
seems in the scriptures. Paul, this is speculation. I
don't know. I mean, it's not really speculation.
It seems like there might be two different resurrections,
a resurrection of the just and a resurrection of the unjust
after that. Now, I'm not sure whether there is, but sometimes
it implies that. But if it does mean that the first resurrection,
as in believers will be raised up from the dead before unbelievers,
blessed is that person who has part in that. Whatever view you
take, still, they all go together. It has to do with Christ's representation. How happy is that person who
Christ has mercy on, who Christ represents, who Christ gives
life to, who Christ raises up again at the last day. Upon that
man, the second death, hath no power But he's made a king and
a priest unto God. Truly, that person is happy.
Now turn to Revelation chapter 1. Let's look at the next one. Verse 3. Blessed, happy is he that readeth. and they that hear the words
of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.
For the time is at hand." And notice we have reading, hearing,
and keeping. Now these three things cannot
be separated. Reading, hearing, and keeping.
Blessed is that man who reads Blessed is that man who hears,
and blessed is that man who keeps. Blessed is he that readeth. Now,
although it is a great blessing to be able to read, I don't think
he's talking about literacy here, being able to read. As a matter
of fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all if when we get to glory,
we find out that maybe the majority of God's saints never were able
to read or write while they lived here. As a matter of fact, there's
a member of our church that I, I, I tell you, I'm not worthy
to tie the guy's shoes. I, I esteem him that highly. And yet this fella can't read
or write. And he's, he's, he's one of the best believers I know.
So what I'm talking about here, or what the scriptures talk about
here, when it says, blessed is he that read it, he's not talking
about the ability to read, although I'm thankful for that gift. But
what he's talking about is hearing the message that's contained
in this book. Blessed, happy is that individual
who gets to hear the message contained in this book. What
a blessing that is. Do you realize how many people
have never heard the gospel? I mean, you think of the world's
population, most folks have never even heard the name Christ. Most
people, most people that have heard the name of Christ have
never heard the true gospel of God's grace. What a blessing
it is to be able to hear the message of this book. Oh, you
know, people talk about when we think of the people that are
blessed, a lot of times we'll think of people who are real
healthy or have a lot of money or a lot of material possessions.
No, you can be under God's curse and have all those things. But
how blessed you are if you get to hear the gospel of His grace.
Not everybody gets to hear that. But notice, he said, Blessed
is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy. Blessed is he that heareth, not
simply hearing audibly, but hearing with understanding. There are
many who never get, there are many who never get that far,
as far as actually understanding what's being said. Why, you all
brought people into this church, and they hear the gospel, and
they say, well, that's what we believe. And yet you know that
that's not what they believe. They put on their religious ears.
And you know, a lot of times, folks, they hear things religiously
and it sounds all good because it's religious, but they never
discern. They never hear what's actually
being said. But blessed are you if you actually hear and discern
and perceive what's being said. How to Christ is everything in
salvation. What a blessing that is. But he doesn't stop there
either. He says, blessed are those who
keep those things which are written therein. For the time is at hand. Blessed is he that keeps those
things which are written. They don't merely hear the message. They don't merely understand
what's being said. Now, those two things are totally
valuable. You can't be saved without those
things, but you can have those things and still not be saved.
Blessed is that person who keeps those things that are written
there. In other words, the man who hears that Christ Jesus is
everything and salvation, and he actually trusts Him. That's
who's truly blessed. That man who actually leans the
weight of his soul upon Christ. Oh, if God has enabled me to
do that. And bless God, I believe He has. How blessed I am of God. Just the ability to trust Christ
and to rest in Him. What a blessing that is. Blessed
is he who reads, who hears the message. Blessed is he who hears
and understands what is being said, but most of all, blessed
is he who keeps that which is written, who leans the weight
of his soul upon Christ. That reminds me of what Paul
said in 2 Timothy 1.12 when he said, I know whom I have believed. Now that's hearing the message.
He says, and I'm persuaded. That's believing it. He says,
I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
to him. against that day. What a blessed
person that is. Now, let's go on reading Revelation
22. Verse 7, Behold, I come quickly. Now, the Lord said that 2,000
years ago. And you know, the Lord doesn't deal in time in
the sense that he doesn't know time. He's above time. Time's
in the hollow of his hand. But he is coming quickly. Paul
and I talk about this almost every week on the phone about
how I think he's coming soon. I think he's coming in our lifetime.
He says, Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. Meditate on that just for a moment.
Behold, I come quickly. Christ will soon return. Every
eye is going to see Him, and it does my soul good to think
about this. Behold, I come quickly. Now, who's going to be happy
when He returns? Who's going to be blessed when
He returns? Behold, I come quickly, blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. Only those who keep the
sayings of this book, only those who believe the gospel, are going
to be blessed and happy when he returns. Now, if Christ really
is all that I need, and He is, if that's really true, and it
is, then I can look forward to his return without fear. Now, it's only if he's everything
in salvation, and he is. But when I know that my acceptance
before... Now, let me backtrack just for
a moment. What if, on Christ's return,
whether or not you would be accepted would be according to what you
were thinking about at that present time? We'd be in trouble, wouldn't
we? What if it was according to where
you were at that time? I remember back when I was in
school, when I would go to places I ought not to go, and there's
some validity to this. I'm not downplaying this, but I remember
I'd think, if I was in a place where I ought not to be, I'd
think, what if the Lord would come back? Well, you know, if that
concerns me, I ought not to be there if I wouldn't want to be
there when He comes back. There's no doubt about that, but that's
not what would determine whether or not He would accept me. Now,
here's the only way I can look forward to His return. When I
see that I'm complete in Him, like we were just singing about,
when I see that my salvation was accomplished by Him, I can
look forward to His return, and I don't need to be scared to
death. You know, a lot of folks, they think, well, when He's coming,
I really need to change some things. I don't. I mean, I don't,
in the sense that I'm complete in Him. I'm going to be perfectly
accepted when He comes. And so I can look forward to
His return, sincerely. Not just saying it, because I
know that's what I ought to say, but I mean flat looking forward to
it. Oh, when he returns, he's coming quickly. Are you ready? Well, are you washed in the blood
of the land? That's what counts. Yes, I can
look forward to it in that sense, because I keep the sayings of
the prophecy of this book. Now, what's that mean? Does that
mean obey the ten commands perfectly? Of course not. If it means that,
nobody here will make it. Although, thank God, we have
in the person of our representative, we have obeyed the law completely.
And that's why we can look forward to his return, because we have
a perfect righteousness. I obey the gospel in the sense
that I believe the gospel, I believe Christ. And because of that,
I can honestly look forward to His return. Now what I want to emphasize
in this verse is that little word, do. Blessed are they that
do His commandments. Happy are they that do His commandments. Here's a verse of Scripture in
John chapter 13, verse 17, that is something we always got to
remember. Our Lord said to His disciples, He just washed the
disciples' feet. And he asked me if they knew
what he did, and they said, and he explained to him what he did,
how he had become a servant to them. That was his mission. They
were supposed to do the same thing. And then he said in verse
17 of John chapter 13, if you know these things, happy are
you if you do them. You know, knowledge alone is
never enough to make you happy. As a matter of fact, it will
make you miserable. The more you know, the more miserable you'll
be if you don't turn that knowledge into wisdom and use the knowledge
rightly. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Now, what does John mean when
he says, Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they
may have a right to the tree of life and may enter in through
the gates into the city? What does he mean when he says
they do his commandments? Now, does he mean that these
people, these blessed people, are people who obey God's holy
law? Now, you take the Ten Commandments.
I love God's holy law. All the commandments, they reflect
God's holy character. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. You think of the ones that are
concerning us, not to lie, not to steal, not to commit adultery,
not to bear false witness. All the different commandments
of God, they're so holy. I love them. But have you ever
kept even one of them? Somebody says, well, I've kept
them partially. Now, how do you keep partially? That's impossible.
You either keep them or you don't. So it doesn't mean, and when
I'm saying this, I'm not excusing breaking God's law. No, we're
to strive to keep God's law. We're to strive to obey the commandments.
I'm not saying anything against the commandments, but I am saying
this, I've never kept one. And neither have you. Nobody
ever has. So what do you mean when he says,
he talks about those who obey the commandments? Well, turn
with me to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3, verse 23, and
this is His commandment. Now here's what He's referring
to. This is His commandment that
we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and
love one another as He gave us commandment. Now let me ask you
a question. Do you believe on his name? And notice, I didn't ask you
if you believe that you were saved. I asked you, do you believe
on his name, the name Jesus Christ? Do you believe that he is the
Christ, the sent one of God, the only savior of sinners? Do
you believe on his name, Jesus? That means Savior. Matthew 121,
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. Do you believe on that name? Do you rest in
him as your only hope of acceptance before the Father? I do. I keep that commandment. He's
my only hope. Thou only art my rock and my
salvation. He's the only one. And I wouldn't
dare look anywhere else. I believe on His name. I believe
on His name of Christ, of Jesus, of Lord. Never other name He
has in the Scriptures. Jehovah Tzikinu, the Lord our
righteousness. Jehovah Rapa, the Lord that healeth
thee. Jehovah Shama, the Lord our peace, and all the other
ones that I can't pronounce. I believe every single one of
them. I believe on His name. And then he said, he said, this
is his commandment that we believe on his name and that we love
one another. You know, all of his children,
those people that trust him. I love them. I really do. My heart goes out to them. I
look at some folks in here that trust the same Savior I do, and
I can't help but love them. Brothers and sisters in Christ.
I really do. It's real. I'm not faking it.
I'm not just saying I love everybody because I know that's what I'm
supposed to say. It's real. Don't you love those folks that
look at Christ as their only hope? Now, you feel sorry for
the other folks that don't, and I guess there's a sense in which
we love them as men, but God's children, those who trust the
Savior, those who look to Him as everything, you love them.
You want to embrace them. They mean something to you. I
keep that commandment. And notice what He says in this
passage. He says, Blessed are they that
do His commandments, that they may have a right to the tree
of life and may enter in through the gates of the city. Every
believer actually and literally deserves heaven through Christ. It's theirs by right. You know,
that's hard to get a hold of, isn't it? You know, we think
when we enter glory, we'll come creeping in the back door with
our head down and we're not going to look up. That's not the way
it is. Every believer will walk wide through the gates and be
perfectly accepted through Christ's righteousness. Boldness. That's it. What did Paul say
in Romans 8? He said, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's wrath? It's God that justifies. Who
is he to condemn? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, making
intercession for us. Boldness. We actually have a
right And your part of me doesn't believe that. It just seems too
good to be true. But you know, that's why it's
true. If it made sense to me, probably it wouldn't be true.
But we have a right through Christ. Revelation 16. Verse 15. Behold, I come as a thief. When's Christ going to come?
Well, he's going to come whenever everybody doesn't expect him.
That's it. He comes as a thief. A thief
comes in the middle of the night when nobody knows. Behold, I
come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garments. lest he walk naked, and they
see his shame. Blessed is he that watches. Now
turn with me to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. Verse 35, our
Lord is speaking and He says, Let your loins be girded about,
and your lights burning. And ye yourselves liken to men
that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding,
that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom
the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." Verily, I say
unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit
down to meet, and will come forth, and serve them. And if he shall
come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and
find them so, blessed are those servants." Blessed is he that watcheth.
Now, he is referring right here to when believers are actually
waiting and watching for the coming of the Lord. Now, if you're
actually anxiously awaiting his return, you're not going to be
taken up with the things of this world. You're not going to be
taken up with material things, with vanity, the things that
our flesh is so naturally attracted to, yet the believer is going
to be watching against those things. We watch over ourselves.
We're jealous over our own hearts. We don't want to become in a
backslidden condition. We don't want to, whatever that
means, we don't want to become in a hardened, indifferent condition.
We watch over ourselves. We're suspicious of ourselves.
And when we see ourselves falling away, it makes us cry for grace
again, for the Lord to have mercy on us and to keep us. We watch
over ourselves. We watch for His return. We don't
want to be ashamed of His coming. Now, if you knew the Lord was
going to come back tomorrow, would you change things? Listen, there's something wrong
if you would. You know, they said to Calvin,
they said, if you knew the Lord was coming back today, what would
you do differently? And he said, not a thing. I tell
you this, I wouldn't change what I believe. I feel totally comfortable
with what I believe for his coming, that he's everything in salvation.
I can rest in that. And by the way, now I'm not,
I'm not satisfied with my life. I'm not. Matter of fact, I mean,
I'm ashamed of it, but I do know this. By His grace, if I knew
He's coming back tomorrow, I wouldn't do anything differently. I mean,
I wouldn't start reading the Bible more, praying more, anything
like that, in the sense that, well, by His grace, I am seeking
to walk with Him. And that's the way every believer
is to be. If I have to change things, if
I have to change my priorities, something's wrong. Now, I want
us all to think about that. If you'd have to change things,
something's wrong. You ought not have to. Blessed is he that
watcheth, and look at this next thing in our text, back to Revelation
16, 15. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest
he walk naked and they see his shame. Blessed is that man who
keeps his garment. Now, what is the believer's garment?
Christ's righteousness. And we're talking about his imputed
righteousness right now. We're not talking about imparted
righteousness. We're just talking about imputed righteousness.
That's the garment that covers the believer. He says, Blessed
is he that keepeth his garments. That's what Paul was talking
about in Philippians chapter 3, verse 9, when he said, Oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. Not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, which is according to my
personal obedience, is what he's saying, but that which is through
the faithfulness of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. Blessed is he that keepeth his
garments, that his shame and nakedness is not seen. Now what's he talking about when
he's talking about keeping his garments? He's talking about
keeping them on. Never taken them off for any
reason at all. Now here's a garment I want to
wear at all times. The righteousness of Christ.
I never want to be seen by God. Simply let me be found in Him.
I want to be found only in Him. And I never want to take that
garment off. When Christ comes like a thief to judge the world,
I think of that glorious event when Christ comes back. And we
see this over and over again through the book of Revelation,
the second coming of Christ. I say this reverently, but I've
already picked out what I want to wear. You know, when you,
when you got a big deal to go to, if you ever got a big deal
to go to, you think about what you're going to wear, don't you?
I mean, you think, well, I want to look my best. I want to look
my best too. And I know that anything I got's
rags. There's only one thing I'm going to wear. That's Christ.
I've already picked it out. James said in James chapter 5,
verse 11, we count them happy that endure, that continue. And we do. Happy is that man
that endures and continues in trusting Christ. and who endures
and continues in wearing the same thing. That's what he's
talking about when he says, blesses he to keep his garments. I mean,
he keeps them on. He never takes them off. I remember
one year when I was in college, there was a professor that wore
the exact same thing every single day. He had these lime green
pants that would shock you when you saw them. And he had this
white plaid, lime green jacket. And I mean, it was dirty and,
you know, he wore it every day. He was the typical absent-minded
professor. And folks wondered, they said,
they thought, why does he wear the same thing every day? Well,
he was satisfied with it. He liked it. I like wearing Cross. You know,
there's a lot of folks that might think, why does he want to make
such a big deal of that? I like it. I'm satisfied with
it. Every believer is. Blessed is he that keepeth his
garments on. A lot of folks won't understand
it, but believers do. It fits well. That's it. It wears well. Revelation 14. Just got two more. I'll be real brief. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works
do follow them. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. Death is a promotion. You know,
people act like death is the worst thing that could happen.
That's the best thing that could happen. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. Now, what does it mean to die
in the Lord? Does that mean to die believing? Yeah, that means a
whole lot of other things. In the Lord is the very essence
of salvation. In Him by election, chosen in
Him. In Him by representation. I've
already talked something about that. In Him by living and vital
union. In Him by faith. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. They enter a complete rest, and
notice he says, their works follow them. They don't go before them. They don't come along the side.
They follow them. But you know what this tells
me? That everything done for the glory of Christ will be remembered
by Christ. Yeah, our works are important.
No, they don't have anything to do with our acceptance before
God, but yes, they are important. The Lord says, I know thy works
and they follow us. Now, I don't really know what
all that means. Paul, you can preach on that one of these days,
but blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Listen, if I
would die tonight, if while I'm going to the beach, you all hear
that I had a car wreck and was killed. Don't weep for me unless
you're weeping out of jealousy and envy. A believer to the believer
of death is a promotion. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord. And this leads me to the
last one, Revelation 19. Verse 9, And He saith unto me,
Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb." There's several things that I'd
like for us to consider in this. First, he says, blessed are they
that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, that
called, this is a description of every believer. The called
of Christ Jesus. This is talking about the invincible.
irresistible call. You know, I like that language.
The call of God is invincible. When he calls a dead sinner to
life, they don't have any choice in the matter. They come. God gives them life. He calls
irresistibly. I've heard people say, well,
I don't like that. I do. And every child of God does.
I like the way it sounds. Irresistible grace. the irresistible
call of God. We preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Blessed are they that
are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." Now I want
you to think about this. Notice what he's called is the
Lamb. If you look through the book of Revelation 27 times,
Christ is called the Lamb. And you know how we're going
to see Him in glory? We're going to see Him in His sacrificial
character as our substitute. That's how we're going to be
worshiping Him as the Lamb, as the Lamb of God that takes away
our sins. At all times, even in glory,
our standing will be in the Lamb. And that's how we'll see him.
That's how John saw him over in Revelation 4 and 5. He said,
he said, I was looking for the lion of the tribe of Judah. And we started looking for the
lion. You know what he saw? A lamb as it had been slain.
He said, blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper
of the lamb. How happy these people are. Now
this has something to do with the bliss and the joy of heaven. What will heaven be like? Well, I don't know. It'll be glorious. But this thing of a marriage
supper, this gives me some idea of marriage supper. I got to
thinking about this. You know what my two favorite things are
in life? Well, eating, for one thing. I love
to eat. I love good food. I never get
tired of it. People say I forgot to eat. I've
never done it. Not once. I love to eat. And
the other, and even the best pleasure of all life is the glorious
pleasure or relationship that a man and woman have in marriage.
What a wonderful thing it is. Two people who love each other.
What's better? And notice what he calls glory.
The marriage supper of the Lamb. That's what every believer is
going to enjoy. I say this reverently, but it's
still true. Glory for the believer will be
an eternal wedding night with our Redeemer. He's called the
husband of the church. The church is called his bride,
and that's what glory will be. Blessed are they that are called
to this glorious marriage supper, the marriage supper of the Lamb. What a blessed thing it is to
be a believer. Blessed is he that hath part in the first resurrection.
Blessed is he that reads, hears, and keeps the words of this prophecy.
Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this
book. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may
have a right to eat of the tree of life. Blessed is he that watcheth
and keepeth his garments. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. and blessed are they that are
called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Truly, they are
indeed blessed. Well, I've enjoyed being with
you. I count it a privilege, and I love this church. I love
your pastor so much. I esteem him and admire him.
I esteem all of you, and I'm just happy to be with you this
evening. It's cold waters to a thirsty
soul, so is good news from a far country, Lexington, Kentucky. Would you rather have been anywhere
else tonight? Huh? If there was no air conditioning,
I'd walk out of here as refreshed as I've ever been. Wouldn't you? I appreciate it. I'm just going
to dismiss it. Touch down and be dismissed in
prayer. Thank the Lord for that wonderful message and this man.
Heavenly Father, we have so very much to be thankful for, which
Brother Chuck has already mentioned so many things. that one thing
that is needful, that chief cause for thanksgiving, the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we heard so very clearly tonight. And bless God, we heard with
our understanding, with our hearts, and we received it. Lord, I thank
you that it was a blessing to me. Preaching of the word is
not always a blessing. We hear it so much and sometimes
take it for granted, but at times when you make it blessed to us,
it's truly a blessing indeed. And we thank you. We thank you
for fullness, completeness in the Lord Jesus Christ, which
we heard. Thank you for this man. Ask your continued blessings. Blessings are so evident upon
his ministry. And we ask your continued blessings
upon him personally. and as he ministers unto the
people there in Lexington. Be with those people as he's
away and take this family and the Moors and give them a restful
and relaxing time and bring them back to their homes and families. All that is done here, that has
been done here tonight, Lord, in your name, for your glory,
we pray it in Christ's name. Amen.