Revelation chapter 22, and I'd
like to read verses 6, 7, 8, and 9 for tonight. Revelation chapter 22, verse
6. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy
prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things
which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed
is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
And I, John, saw these things, and heard them. And when I had
heard and seen them, I fell down to worship before the feet of
the angel, which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me,
see thou do it not. For I am thy fellow servant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings
of this book, worship God. I'd like to stop there for our
reading tonight and spend some time on these four verses, quickly
going through the last three verses that we read and then
spending some time on verse six. It was interesting in reading
this this past week and in particularly this afternoon, because if we're
not careful, we forget who is speaking and who the he is. I had to ask the question, who
is the he? In this passage of scripture,
we... We have to be careful. We need
an antecedent. And I wish I'd paid more attention
to my English teacher, Mrs. Fox. She was from Mississippi. She'd been out of Mississippi
for about 40 years, and she still spoke with a southern accent.
She liked it, and she's going to keep it. But she did her dead
level best to teach us grammar, and I wish I'd have paid more
attention to it. But I do know this. An antecedent in grammar
is the word or phrase or clause to which a pronoun refers. And in this scripture reading,
we have several times mentioned the word he, which is a pronoun.
Now it's going to be incumbent upon us to find out who this
he is. We know this about this he, he's
not the Lord. Because John bowed down and worshiped
him when he saw his glory, and he was told by this angel, don't
do it. I'm a fellow servant like you. I'm a prophet like you. And we
worship God. So let's just back up here a
little bit, and it shares with us in chapter 21 in verse nine. Chapter 21 in verse nine, this
is mentioned. And there came unto me one of
the seven angels, who had the seven vials full of the seven
last plagues, and talked with me, saying, come hither, and
I'll show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. Now, I believe I'm
correct as I follow this through, that this is the he that he is
referring to. Now, we find in chapters one,
two, and three, or two and three particularly, that there were
seven angels, and they are the pastors of the seven churches
of Asia. And it appears that from God's
side, these angels have a great glorious appearance. A gospel
preacher from God's side has a glorious appearance, and that
was such an appearance that John was taken back. Now, the reason
I bring that antecedent phrase up is it is important, and great
mistakes have been made and can be made if we don't know who
is speaking. And the first thing that we might
say is, well, this is the Lord is speaking about here. Well,
the Lord never commanded anybody not to worship him. And this
angel commanded John not to worship him. So he has been a man, and
he is in his glorified state. And in his glorified state, now
whether this is the glorified state God looking at man in today,
glorified state being he is whole, he is without blame, he is without
sin, God looks at his people with a different view. than he
did before they are regenerated, but he does look at them from
eternity as they are eternally justified before the Lord. He
has a view about them. Now, one of the great statements
made about Saint in the Old Testament and then brought to the New Testament
is in the Old Testament Abraham. It's mentioned at least twice
that he lied about the relationship that he had with his wife. And
when we come to the New Testament, that is never brought up. That
is under the blood. So God looks at us clean and
clear under the blood. He doesn't look at us in our
sinful state. So the Lord may give us a view
here of how he views This angel, this preacher, one of the seven
preachers of the churches of Asia, from his viewpoint, he
is glorious. From his viewpoint, he is glorified. Glorification is not just for
our future, it is now. We are presently glorified in
the Lord Jesus, and God looks at us that way. So there's some
things about that that we'll look at. Now, one of the great
places in the Bible, and I just want to bring this up, one of
the places in the Bible where people fail to go back to the
antecedent and make, they can make really, has been made really
gross interpretation is found in the book of Daniel chapter
nine. Would you turn over there with me? And I just want to look
at a couple of things here and then we're going to go on with
our lesson here in the book of Revelation. But finding who is
the, pronoun is speaking about is very valuable. It's important
to us. Trace it back to the scriptures.
Now, you are familiar with the young boy that's been here for
the last couple weeks. So if I told you he is as smart as
a whip, you would say, well, you're talking about your grandson,
aren't you? Now to a stranger, if I use that term, he is as
smart as a whip. the first thing they're going
to ask me is, who are you talking about? So we can't use the word
he unless people understand who we're talking about. And then
we can use the pronoun he. In the book of Daniel, chapter
nine, verse 20, it says, and whilst I was speaking, this is
Daniel, whilst I was speaking and praying and confessing my
sin and the sin of my people, Israel, and presenting my supplication
before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, Yea,
whilst I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I
had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly
swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel,
I am now come forth to give thee skill in understanding. At the
beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, And
I am come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved, therefore
understand the matter, and consider the vision. 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people, and upon the holy city, to finish the transgression,
and to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and bring in everlasting righteousness, and seal up the vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the most holy." Now that's some wonderful things
mentioned in there that we appreciate. God took care of some things
at the cross. Now, I don't pretend to understand
all about this. Don't get me wrong. But I do know this, the next
verse, and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut
off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince
shall come and shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Now
the people of, the word prince has given people a real problem
because they immediately say that this prince is the man of
sin that we find in the New Testament. Now I don't understand all I
know about the man of sin, but I know that this prince is not
talking about the man of sin. Where is the antecedent that
talks about the man of sin here? There's only one other place
that this could go back. If we go back to the verse 25,
we find the Messiah, the Prince. Now, does your Bible have it
translated with a capital P? If you drop down to verse 26,
it's exactly the same word in the original language. Why did
they not translate it with a capital P? Because it didn't meet their
theology. Do yourself a favor. Put a capital
P there. That is speaking about the same
person that's mentioned in verse 25, Messiah the Prince. We have
no trouble with that. He is a prince. He's the Messiah.
And the people of the prince are the people that God used,
the Lord Jesus used, to come up against Jerusalem. It was
His divine order that Jerusalem be destroyed. So that's the same
word, put capital P there and you don't have any problem with
it. Find out who the antecedent is. You will not find that Prince
is referring to the man of sin because he's not mentioned in
this whole chapter. He's not mentioned in this book
like we find him in the New Testament. So that I just want to take you
back there, show you the value of looking at the antecedent,
finding out who's being spoken about. And here it's about Christ. And it goes on to tell us what
he's going to do. Verse 27, and he, the prince, Messiah the prince,
shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the
midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to
cease. Who did that? Jesus Christ, with His crucifixion,
caused all the sacrifices to cease. He never recognized another
one. And for the overspreading of
abominations, He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation
that is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate." Now,
I don't know what all that means, but I know who it's talking about.
It's talking about the Lord of Glory doing His redemptive work,
His work of the covenant, and He has told us some things about
it that we may not understand. But that's not the first thing
that we don't understand about redemption. That's just one of
those minor things. All right, now let's go back
over here to the book of Revelation again. Chapter 22. The antecedent
here appears to be one of the angels, one of the seven angels. And this angel has a capacity
granted to him by God to see some things and point them out
to John. Now that's one of the things
that God's preachers are called to do. Point some things out
about God. That's their commission. Over
in the book of Nehemiah, there's a passage of scripture that mentions
three things that Nehemiah was supposed to do when he was reading
the scriptures. Keep your finger here in the
book of Revelation 22 and go back to the book of Nehemiah
chapter 8 and verse 8. There are three things here that
A gospel preacher needs to do with the word. It is not his
business to manipulate it. It's not his business to interpret
it. It's his business to go and find out what it says, read it
with clarity, best they can do. Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse
8, it says here, so they read in the book, in the law of God
distinctly. It's important that it be read
distinctly. Nehemiah 8.8 and gave the sense. Now I appreciated brother Marvin
when he was here. He says, I don't know what this
word means. So I look it up. That's important. That's valuable. What does the word mean? What
does it mean in the original? And it changed over time. So
let's go back to what it meant when it was given and find out
what that has to say to us. So first thing, read it distinctly
and give the sense and cause them to understand the reading.
Now, Brother Marvin and I were talking about this and I've talked
to it about Brother Rupert. Everybody, including a four or
five-year-old child, should be able to understand the message
from an English standpoint. Now we may not understand it
from a spiritual standpoint, but we should be able to understand
it. We don't have to use lofty words. We may read the scripture, and
as he did, he said, this is what that word means. So that's what
is required. That's what was required here,
that's been required. Now over here in the book of
Revelation, this angel, one of the seven angels that had the
seven plagues, was given a commission by God to share with John what
the church looks like from God's standpoint. And that's what we
spend our time on in chapter 21. And the beginning of chapter
22. We see the church from God's
standpoint. And when we look at the church
from God's standpoint, we are looking at a perfect creation. And that's what this angel declared.
We're looking at a creation that was redeemed by the Lord. And
that's what this angel declared. We're talking about a God that
lives on high and is on his throne. And that's what this angel talked
about. Follow the message of this angel, this minister through,
and you'll find that there is not one time that he ever gave
God a black eye. He always spoke of him as he
is because he was giving the message that the Lord had given
him. He always put men in their position and always under redemption
says, this is what they look like from God's standpoint. The
church is glorious. The church is dressed in purity,
in holiness. This is God's standpoint, and
we can declare that today. The church, from God's standpoint,
from a redemptive work, is pure and holy and clean, because when
He said His redemptive work was finished, it was finished, and
there was nothing left for man to do. The only thing that God
requires of His people is believe Him, trust Him. And the Holy
Spirit gives us that ability to do that very thing, to trust
God, to believe God, to look at His Word and say, I don't
know what this means, but I believe it. It is God's Word and He will
carry it out just like He wants it fulfilled. Here in this passage
of scripture, we find that he speaks about in Revelation chapter
22 and verse six, and he said unto me, these sayings are faithful
and true, everything I've shared with you. Why, where did he get
it? Where did he get his message?
Where did he get his view of the church? Where did he get
his view of Christ? Where did he get his view of God? He got
it from God. And when we get our message from
God, we can say, this is faithful and true. I'm giving you the
truth about this. You may not believe it, but I'm
giving you the truth about this. Now, I believe it was A.W. Pink that said, the truth is
not hard to find, it's hard to face. That's our problem as human
beings. We have trouble facing the truth.
The truth is here. The Lord Jesus Christ is God.
That's the truth. We may have trouble facing it.
God sits on his throne and is sovereign. That's the truth.
We may have trouble facing it. All of these things. Man is totally
depraved. That is the truth, but we may
have trouble facing it." And on and on it goes. The truth
is delivered to us, we may have trouble facing it. And here,
this servant of the Lord shared with John and said, These sayings
are faithful and true. Everything I've shared with you
in the last two chapters, or chapter and a half, now it wasn't
divided in chapters at that time, it was a book that was delivered,
or a letter that was delivered, unto seven churches, and in this
he said, everything I've shared with you is the truth, and it
is faithfully given to you as the Lord gave it to me. Of the
holy prophet sent his angel to show his servants the things
which must shortly be done. God has some holy prophets. Now
today, most of the time when we hear the word prophet, we
think about someone who's going to tell us something about the
future. That has been contrived. A prophet is someone who shares
or gives forth the truth, declares the truth. That's a prophet.
It means one who speaks forth. That's the base word. Now, when
we get our religion involved in it, we're going to come up
with all kinds of ideas of what a prophet is. But by and large,
most prophets did not tell what was in the future. They told
what was happening now. And the Holy Spirit shares with
us how that applies to us today. The prophets that were given,
their intent was, and God's commission to them, was not to foretell
the future. Very few times do we find that.
But most of the time, this is what's happening right now, and
this is what I said would happen, and this is what I said would
happen if that happened. and on and on it goes. So a prophet
is someone who tells forth the truth, someone who shares the
truth. Would you turn with me as we think about this to the
book of Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1 and we find
here a passage of scripture that shares with us how God has spoke
to his people in times past. Now we still hear the voice of
God through his prophets when we read them. But we look at
that as, what can I find about Christ here? What is the message
that the Holy Spirit wants me to have from Christ here? To
just have a historical event and have a historical lesson,
we're going to go away dry. But I want to find out what the
Spirit has to say about Christ here so I can go away refreshed. I don't want to go away from
church feeling worse than I came. I want to go away from church
feeling better than I came. That's the way it is. Now, everyone
that's born again, when we hear the gospel of God's grace, we're
going to go away better than we came. And those who do not
know the grace of God, that the same message is the message that
God is going to use to convert them. So we don't have to have
a special message for an evangelistic service. Preach the gospel. It's
the same thing that feeds the sheep. It's the same thing that
brings in the lost sheep. That is what we find in the Bible.
They didn't have several styles of messages. Well, we're going
to have a doctrinal message and we're going to have an evangelistic
message and we're going to have a Preach Christ. That's what the Bible says. We
preach Christ and him crucified. And that was the message of Paul.
And that is why the church at Corinth and Galatia and all those
other churches got off track is because they failed to see
that. Christ and Him crucified. Hebrews
chapter 1, God who at sundry times and diverse manners spake
in time past unto our fathers by the prophets. Now, I want
to note this. God spoke through His prophets. That's what it's telling me.
The Old Testament is God speaking through His prophets. Holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. David himself
said that he was given this message by the Holy Spirit. The Psalms
were not something he created, the Holy Spirit gave him the
Psalms. Now in verse 2, God, who spoke
in back times through the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds. Now, since God gave the message
to the prophets and God sent his prophet, God told Moses,
I'm going to send a prophet, capital P, whom you will hear. Now, Jesus came as that prophet. Now, was the message of the prophets
in the Old Testament, since God gave them the message, that's
what it says, was the message of the prophets and the message
of the prophet different? No. Same message. The prophets were given their
message by God and the prophet came from God with the message,
the message of redemption. It's going to be by Christ alone
or it won't happen. That's what the prophets said.
That's what Christ says. All right? And then if you turn
with me to the book of Luke, chapter one, as we think about
God and his prophets, those who spoke forth the word of truth,
Isaiah was threatened, in fact, in prison several times. So was
Jeremiah. So were many of the other prophets
in the Old Testament because they told the truth. And people
have problems facing the truth, especially when it hits them.
Those Pharisees, one time says they got really upset because
they perceived he spoke of them. Boy, hit him like a ton of bricks
right between the eyes. They perceived, now didn't change
him. They got really mad at him, but
they perceived in a parable that he spoke of them, and how big
a critters they were, how terrible they were. Alright, Luke chapter
1, we have here a statement made in in Luke chapter 1 and there
in verse 67. Luke chapter 1 verse 67. It tells
us here that Zacharias, now he makes a statement here about
the prophets and I want to read this. Luke chapter 1 verse 67
It says here, and his father Zacharias was filled with the
Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, now this
is John's dad, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath
visited and redeemed. That's an important word. Now, if there's anything we get
out of redemption, O Lord, help us to realize that He's a Redeemer
that actually redeemed His people. He didn't make a way open for
redemption in hopes that we'll get in there. He redeemed His
people. A stubborn, oh, a stubborn, stubborn
mule left to himself would destroy himself. Thank God there's some
people that know how to control them and put them where they
can't hurt themselves. Well, I said that to say this.
Thank God God works on his people. Because the Bible says they are
like a wild donkey's colt by nature. And he has to come in
and break them. Or they'll kill themselves. and
go to perdition. He breaks them, just like he
did that colt just prior to the Passover. Never been ridden. Underline that. He came, sat
on it, and that colt didn't even crow foot. And that's what he does with
his people. Now, here's what he's doing. He's redeemed his
people. He hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house
of his servant David. David, His son is here, gonna
be here. Jesus Christ is named as he spake
by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world
began. Well, I have to assume that Adam
was used to do some of that. I have to assume that Abel was
used to do some of that. From the very beginning, the
message was given. And that message has always been
the same, has not changed over time. It doesn't have to be updated. We don't have a committee that
come along and say, we need to update the message to make it
more appealing. The message has truly, to the
lost, never been appealing. But to the saved, it's always
been appealing. Redemption is a real appealing
doctrine. It is appealing to our soul to
be redeemed, to be brought out of slavery, to be taken out of
sin, to be taken out of the jailhouse of sin and brought out and made
clean and white and pure before God. I don't know about you,
but I can just relish in that. I delight in that message. That's
the message of redemption. And the holy prophets have been
doing that. What's it say there? Verse 70,
as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been
since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all that hate us. Now, Zacharias is not
just talking about his nation of Israel. He's talking about
the church here. The Holy Spirit never gave anybody
The message that this message is only to Israel. That was the
problem that Nicodemus had, and that's why we have John 3 16.
For God so loved the world. Nicodemus, let me tell you something. This salvation is not just for
Israel. This salvation is for all my
lost sheep through the world over. You know, that just kind
of boinked Nicodemus right in the face because he believed
as so many did. Paul believed the same thing,
Saul of Tarsus. Only the Jews are going to be
saved and the rest, they're just rags. And yet, This salvation is to
all God's people, shall be saved from our enemies, from the hand
of all them that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to
our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant. That's what
these prophets were declaring throughout the Old Testament
Zacharias is used by the Holy Spirit to pick it up. We have
a record of what he had to say and God gave him this message
to say, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to
remember his holy covenant. The oath which he swore to our
father Abraham. What was he on? Abraham believed
God and was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham looked
for a city whose builder and maker was God. That's what he
had. And this is what goes on. And
that's what the Old Testament holy prophets spoke about. Turn
with me if you would to Acts chapter three. As we think about
these prophets, and that's what that angel was, he was a prophet. He declared what God had given
to him. He's one of the seven angels.
He was one of them that came down and we know that he had
some characteristics that were just like John because he said,
I'm just like you. Don't worship me. That's a statement
to preachers, isn't it? Don't worship me, worship Him.
I like John's attitude about this. He pointed his disciples
to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, He must increase and I
must decrease. And that was what happened. All
right, here in the book of Acts, chapter 3, verse 12, we read
these words about God's holy prophets. That prophet, that
angel, that minister gave us all that message about the church.
Why? Because God gave it to him. The
church is holy and without blame, before Him in love. The church
is made whole and complete. The church is hid in Christ,
is glorious. That's what we find in His description.
And the reason for it is because He is holy, and He is glorious,
and He is great, and He is sovereign. He takes care of all the problems
of the church and gives us such a beautiful description there
of how God views the church. Acts chapter 3, verse 12. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why
look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness
we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son,
whom he delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate,
when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy
One, and just, and desired a murder to be granted unto you, and killed
the Prince of Life, whom God had raised from the dead, whereof
we are witnesses. And his name through faith in
his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him
hath given him this perfect soundness and presence in you all. And
now, brethren, I want that you through ignorance ye did it,
as did also your rulers. But those things which God before
had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Jesus should
suffer, he hath so fulfilled. all his holy prophets. All his
holy prophets declared what Jesus Christ was going to do and they
also declared the outcome of what he did. His church will
be glorious. It will be without spot or wrinkle. It will not have any imperfections
at all. It will not be as preachers declare,
you will have to answer for your sins. Now God's people, God's
people stand before God clean and without sin. And they will
not have one sin to answer for. Because I'll tell you, if you
have one, If you have one sin to answer
for that Jesus Christ didn't pay for, you have to take care
of, then that's enough to send us to an everlasting hell. And since he took care of it
all though, and said it's finished and redemption is over, though
we have this wrestling match every day, looking from God's
side, boy, given the opportunity, they'd bow down and worship at
our feet. But he says, restrain, refrain,
I'm just like you. All right, the book of Romans
chapter one. Would you turn there with me?
Romans chapter one, his holy prophets. That's what this angel
was. He's a man. Now, from John's standpoint, man,
he looked great. He looked, he looked holy. Well, he is. He looked clean, and He is. You can't describe Him badly. And that's how God looks at His
people. God cannot describe them badly,
because if He did, He's describing His Son. And He will not describe
His Son badly. He will describe him with the
dearest of terms, and since the church is in Christ, He describes
them with the dearest of terms. Alright, Romans chapter 1, verse
1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God, notice verse 2, which he had promised
afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures. concerning his
son Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what they wrote about
and that's what they preached. What was it? Which he promised
of four by his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his
son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead." That's what the prophets said, that's what Jesus Christ
did. Those men in the Old Testament,
holy men of God, because they were moved by the Holy Spirit,
they had the message of God, they preached the message of
God, and the message was this, Jesus Christ is the Redeemer.
Messiah they may have used the word Messiah. They may have used
that's Anointed that's the same as Christ Messiah in the Old
Testament. He's our Messiah. He's our Christ
He is the one who laid down his life a ransom for us He's declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead By whom we have received
grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. And so the apostles and prophets
throughout the Old Testament and those who came to the New
Testament. The Bible tells us that the prophets were until
John. The law and the prophets were until John. John was the
last Old Testament prophet. From then on it's apostles. What
did they have? Same message. Because they didn't
have any of the writings that we call the New Testament at
the time Jesus sent them out to preach. They didn't have Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. They didn't have Acts, Romans,
or Corinthians. They didn't have any of the New
Testament. They preached the message from the Old Testament. That's why it's so valuable when
we see Philip going up there, and that man's reading out of
the book of Isaiah. He says, he began at the same
place and preached unto him Jesus. Why? Because that's who it's
about. That's what the holy prophets had. So this person that we run
into here in the book of Revelation, he's the he that's been pulled
through to show John, let me show you the church, he said.
Let me show you New Jerusalem. Let me show you that city. John
went over there, my goodness, his eyes got this big as he saw
it coming down from heaven. And in the glory that it was
in the first time, John was able to see the church that he was
in from God's standpoint for the first time. And we get to
see that as we read down through there. We're struck by it, we're
awestruck by it, but when we're in its presence, when we're in
the presence of the Lord, that will be awestruck. That'll be
awestruck. All right, turn with me if you
would, a couple of verses I'd like to read here. 1 Peter 1,
this prophet in the book of Revelation 22, just a preacher, He was a preacher, one of the
seven churches of Asia. Pastors used him as an example.
All of them that knew the grace of God would say the same thing.
1 Peter 1, verse 10, we read these words about these prophets.
1 Peter 1, verse 10. of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you." Prophesied of the grace. That's what these
preachers preached about, the grace of God. searching water,
what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, the Spirit of Christ which was in them. The Old Testament
prophets prophesied, preached of grace, and it tells us the
Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified
beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow. What does it say? It said, the
Spirit of God that was inside of them said, this is what I
want you to preach and this is what it's about. This is about Christ. This is
testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves,
but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported
unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire
to look into. This is the same message that's
being preached unto you. And verse 21 of that same chapter,
it says, no, oh, 2 Peter, excuse me, 2 Peter
1, verse 21. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man. You know, if it came by the will
of man, it'd have all the frailties too, all the imperfections, all
the depravity. And it would be what me and want
the Bible to say, we're okay, you're okay. You know, God's
really a nice person and that's what it would say. But it doesn't
say that. God is on his throne. He rules
and reigns. He does according to His will
and His purpose, but holy men of God spake as they were moved.
Prophecy came not of old time by the will of man, but holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And
then in chapter three of this 2 Peter, chapter three, verse
one, the second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both
which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. That's
what we do every service. Lord, stir up my... Give me a
remembrance, sir. I forget a lot. I forget a lot.
These saints did. We just do. Keep it in front
of me. Just keep it in front of me.
Remind me all the time. in way of remembrance, that ye
may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord
and Savior, knowing this first, that there shall come in the
last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, where
is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
There ain't gonna be people that make fun of the message, that's
just the way it is. Don't be disheartened, for this
they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens
were of old, and the earth standing out of the waters and in the
water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with
water perished." Oh, we have a rainbow now to remind us of
that. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the
same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition unto ungodly men. But, beloved,
be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. And the Lord
is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, by the which the heaven shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto
the coming of the day of God? Wherein the heavens, being on
fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look
for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in
peace, without spot, and blameless. in Christ. That's the only place.
Now, all these things are, God said, going to happen, but don't
lose heart. We look for a new heaven and
a new earth. We're in dwelleth righteous. We're not looking.
I'm not looking for that. I'm looking for Christ to come
again. There's a big difference between looking for Christ coming
the second time and looking for the second coming of Christ.
Christ is first in the first sentence, looking for Christ
coming the second time. Not with lots of predictions,
but just looking for him. And he's holding the only reason,
the only thing that prevents him from coming last minute is
that the last sheep is not in the fold. That's the only thing
that prevents his coming. It is, he's not waiting on for
some red heifer. He's not waiting for some building
to be built. He's not waiting for America
to get worse. He's not waiting for the world
to get better. He's not, the last sheep isn't
in. And that's what the holy prophets
have always preached. Israel, all Israel will be saved. Not the nation, because not all
Israel is an Israel, but spiritual Israel, and they're all saved.
Like a thief in the night. That he said, this is a faithful
and true, the saints are faithful and true. The Lord God of the
holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the
things which must shortly be done. And then Jesus said, behold,
I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the
saint of the prophecy of this book. What is that? It's just, I hate to use the
word simply, it is looking at this book as the revelation of
Jesus Christ. That is what it is. And then
John saw these things and heard them and when he had heard them
he said, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel
which showed me these things and he said unto me, see thou
do it not. for I am thy fellow servant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings
of this book. Worship God.