Would you turn with me in your
book in your Bible to the book of Revelation Revelation chapter
21 I'd like to say a few things tonight
about verse 6, but I'd like to read verses 1 through 6 Revelation
21 verse 1 And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God will wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
athirst of the fountain of water of life freely. We'd like to spend a little time
on that. It's interesting that the majority of this chapter
is spent on describing that holy city that comes down out of heaven,
New Jerusalem. There's much in this chapter
from this point on that deals with that. And like most of what
we find in the book of Revelation, it looks at the city from a spiritual
standpoint. And if we look at it from the
literal words, we're going to have a problem. I'm planning
this Sunday to have a bulletin. I got a pattern made, got a new
program on my computer that I can use, and I have it printed. The first time I printed it,
halfway through, my ink cartridge ran out, and so I had to get
another ink cartridge. and there's an article that I
put in there that was written by a pastor down in Texas and
he uses a passage of scripture that says there's one Lord, one
faith, one baptism. Now, I find Brother Lance Heller
and I are very close together on this verse of scripture and
I can't find anybody else. Everybody else is wrong. That's
just all there is to it. That baptism in that passage
of scripture has to also be interpreted spiritually. That's not water
baptism. Everything else in that passage
of scripture is spiritual. And spiritual baptism is identical
to the new birth. or a new heart or being in Christ
and that's what that passage so he wrote it was water baptism
and you'll forgive me I edited that out we have I just have
to look at this that passage is spiritual as much as I have
to look at this is spiritual your spiritual interpret your
spiritual descriptions of heavenly things and as we look here in
this verse of scripture tonight verse six He says, and he said
it to me, it is done. Now, that isn't the same word
as it is finished. But there are some similar thoughts
about it. When Christ said that from the
cross, He covered all of the Old Testament sacrifices. It's
finished. He covered all of the Old Testament
priests. It's finished. He covered all
the Old Testament prophecies. It's finished. He covered all
the Old Testament law. It's finished. And here we have
this word that covers what we know. is done now. It's done. And he shares with
us in this, I am. And here's the signature. I am
alpha and omega. Now those are, you know this.
I'm just going to repeat something. These are the first and the last
letter of the Greek alphabet. Alpha is first. It's their A.
Omega is their last letter. That's our Z. uh... they don't
have quite as many letters in their alphabet as we do and alpha
and omega now we find that the lord jesus christ is called the
word in john chapter one not only is he the word but he is
the very letters that make up the word and he is the beginning
and the end he is the first and the last he is the very first
letter and he is the last letter he is going to have the last
word everything. In fact, he had the first word
on everything. He had the first word and the last word on everything. Every decree, he has the first
word and the last word. Every passage of scripture, he
is the first word and the last word. And when it comes to everything
that's spiritual, he has the first word and the last word
on everything. And the church says, thank God. That's our comment on this. Thank
God. He has the perspective that we
do not have. He has the authority that we
do not have. He has the power that we do not
have. So He's all-powerful. He has a perfect perspective.
He has determined all things. And now He said, I'm Alpha and
Omega. I have all knowledge and everything. I have the first and the last
word on everything. And as a result of that, He has
given us everything. There's nothing left out of what
he gives to his church. Everything spiritual. Every spiritual
blessing is in Christ. Now, let's look at here, just
particularly a little bit in the book of Revelation. It's
been some time since we've been here, so let's just go back and
look at Revelation chapter 1 verse 8. Revelation chapter 1 verse
8. Let's look at this verse of scripture
as we started. We notice this verse of scripture
that shares with us about God. In August of 2007, or maybe September
of 2007, we were at this passage of scripture. Revelation chapter
1 verse 8. It says, I am Alpha and Omega. There's no greater way to look
at the book of Revelation. He said in verse 1, it's the
revelation of Jesus Christ. He goes on to explain a little
bit about that. I am Alpha and Omega. I am the
beginning and the ending. saith the Lord, which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. I am the God, the
Lord God Almighty, the God of glory. I am before all things,
and after me there is nothing. It's hard for us to comprehend
this kind of total eternity. But I am the beginning and the
ending. I'm the first and the last. I'm Alpha and Omega. And
then in that same chapter, in verse 11, it says, or verse 10,
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great
voice as of a trumpet. Now that trumpet spoke in words
that he could understand, but it did get his attention. it
was these words as they've been translated I am Alpha and Omega
the first and the last and what thou seest write in a book and
send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus
and unto Samarna and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis
and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea but still I am Alpha
and Omega everything I have to say to them I have the first
lesson message, I have the last of the message. There's nothing
going to be said outside of this. And that's what is so important
to remember when we're looking at the scripture. If the scripture
is silent, it means we're silent. And if the scripture has something
to say, we should have something to say about it. He is the Alpha
and Omega. He's the beginning and the ending.
And then again, in verse 17 and 18 of this first chapter, It
says here, verse 17, And when I saw him, I fell at his feet
as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me,
Fear not. Now why should there be no fear? I am the first and the last. I have everything under my throne. There's nothing takes place that
I have not purposed. I kind of enjoyed that hymn tonight. He leadeth me. The person who
wrote that had some insight. He used Psalm 23 as kind of his
jumping off point. But he leadeth me. What a wonderful
thing. And the reason he can do that
is he is the beginning and the ending. He is the author and
finisher of our faith. If we have faith, it's because
of Him. And He's the only one that can complete it to the end.
All right, going on, it says, Fear not, I am the first and
the last. I am He that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore.
Amen. And have the keys of hell and
of death. So this is the sure victor expressing
his word about himself and about his purpose. I claim, I have
the keys, it's mine, I'm Alpha and Omega, I'm the beginning
and the ending. And then in Revelation 22, now
we haven't quite got there, but in Revelation 22 and verse 13,
we have the conclusion of this book. all the steps throughout. If we remember, it's the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And as John said, I was in the
Spirit on the Lord's Day. The Lord blessed me in permitting
me to meditate about my Savior. That's what that means. I was
in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. The Lord blessed me in permitting
me to think about my Savior, to ruminate on Him. And when
he was in that state of worship, it says, the Lord appeared to
him, says, fear not, I'm the beginning and the ending. And
he wrote to the seven churches of Asia, and he wrote the rest
of this as God inspired him, led him. And notice here, close
to the end of this book, it says in Revelation 22 and verse 13,
I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the
first and the last. Three ways of saying the same
thing. I am the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, the first and the last. Listen to me, number
one. Listen to me, number two. And
pay attention, number three. I am this. And He truly is. To His people, He has been this
from eternity. He is the only reason that we
have faith. He began it. Every headwater
of every stream of mercy proceeds from God. It never proceeds from
us and goes to God. It always proceeds from God to
us. Every stream of mercy, every
bit of grace Everything proceeds from God to us. He is the first
cause for all things. When it comes to creation, He
is the first cause of all things. I heard one time that there were
several parents that were upset with a school in Hood River because
they used the word evolution. Now that shouldn't bother us.
Now, if it's a theory of evolution, then we should have a little
difficulty with it. But evolution means change. And there's been
a lot of change in our world. But it's been prescribed by God.
There's been a lot of change. I really like porkers now. I like that other white meat.
How come we haven't? Because God has permitted change.
And we used to have a dachshund. That's because of change. All
those critters, there's been a lot of change. And every time
it rains, it runs some dirt off the hills, down into the river,
and it goes out to sea, and is deposited there, and that's change. We're going to see change. But
he is the first cause of all things. Now that's the difference
between an evolutionist and someone that sees God. He's going to
produce change. He has. He always will. This world is
not like it was when it was created. And it will be changing all through
our life. Mount St. Helens is a good example.
Big change. If Mount Hood blew its top, big
change. That's just the way it is. God
has prescribed it that way. I'm Alpha and Omega. When it
comes to spiritual things, when it comes to spiritual life, when
it comes to the new birth, He is the first cause of all things. He is the only one that can do
that miracle. And truly, a Christian is a miracle. It's an act of God and an act
of grace. All right. Now, in that passage
of scripture that we read in Revelation chapter 21 verse 6,
it says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I
will give, now I like that. God saying, the Lord saying,
I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the
water of life freely. Now, that's not if we choose
it. I will give. Now that word thirst
in there is to suffer thirst. I have been thirsty but I have
never been in a position where I suffered from thirst. I suppose some people that have
been in the military, some people that have got lost, they could
have suffered from thirst. I've been thirsty, but I've never
suffered from thirst. This word means to suffer from
thirst or suffering from thirst. And this doesn't mean suffering
from thirst or to suffer from thirst from a physical water. It's not a drink that we're talking
about, a drink of water. I've never suffered thirst for
a drink of water in the extent this is talking about. But this
is spiritual thirsting. Now we need to remember who this
book is written to, who wrote it, and what it's about. To suffer thirst, those are said
to thirst to painfully feel their want and eagerly long for those
things by which the soul is refreshed. It is something God creates in
us. He's the first cause of all things. He's the only one. Now, it's
interesting that salt will make us thirsty. Have you ever eaten
pork, a ham, and before you know it, you've got to have a drink
of water? There's a lot of salt in it. God is the first cause
and He will put spiritual salt in our diet and cause us to thirst. He will make us thirsty. We'll
never be thirsty on our own. I was just thinking this afternoon,
in Isaiah 53, it says about the Lord, our view, this is a commentary,
God's commentary on us about God. There is no form nor comeliness
that we should desire Him. Now that's the comment God makes
about us naturally. There's nothing about God. In
fact, in Romans it tells us we have enmity against God. That
is hatred. Hatred. It's not at enmity, it
is a part of us. Enmity is hatred for God. Now
it's really hard for people to admit that they hate God, because
everybody loves Jesus. It is only by the grace of God
that we can admit that by nature we actually hated God. And we
demonstrated it. If we love God, we're going to
be doing or accepting what He does. If we hate God, then we're
going to be expecting our righteousness to acquire something. That's
just the way it is. We want our righteousness to
do something. We want our works to do something.
And that's hating God. Because He said our works are
not any value. And we want to change God's Word.
And when we're changing God's Word and saying we don't agree
with it and we don't believe it, we're really saying, I hate
God. It's a natural extent of the
fall. Well, it tells us in the book
of the Song of Solomon, That bride was describing the Lord
Jesus. I like what she had to say. She
enumerated several things that she really liked about her Savior,
about the Lord. But she got down and said, and
if I have missed anything, He is altogether lovely. There's nothing that is not lovely
about the Lord. Now that's the church's view.
That's the redeemed view. Before that, there's nothing
about Him that is lovely. Oh, even when he healed, he did
it on the Sabbath day. We hear the Pharisees saying
that. And we have some of the same attitude about it. He didn't
heal the right people. Or he only healed one. At the
Pool of Siloam, he only went down and healed one. That's not
fair. And we got this attitude by nature, by the fall, that
God's unfair with his, even his healing and after we're saved
we say, thank God he healed one. Thank God he healed all of these
that were brought to him. Thank God he gives to those who
are a thirst freely. By nature we don't thirst. We
don't hunger and thirst after righteousness. Not God's righteousness. We hunger and thirst after our
righteousness and we'll do anything possible. I would hate to admit
some of the things I did to gain righteousness. And we look at
people and say, man, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard
of. Look at what they're doing. They're trying to get righteousness.
And every man, woman, boy and girl is in the same boat. They hate God. They don't want
His Word. They don't want His work. They
want it on their own, and then we hear by revelation, He is
the beginning and the end. He is the author and finisher. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the first cause of all
things, and He's the first cause of our salvation, our faith,
our righteousness, our holiness, our sanctification, our consecration,
our life, our walk. He's the first cause of all things. Everything is because of Him. Now, let's look here in, let's
go back again to the book of Revelation 7, chapter 7. We looked at this some time ago,
Revelation chapter 7, verse 17. Revelation chapter 7 verse 17
for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed
them and Shall lead them unto living fountains of water Now
we'll not find it unless he leads us. He leadeth me. Oh blessed
thought I heavenly comfort fraud He leads he shall feed them and
lead them unto the living fountains of waters and God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes He shall lead them to the fountains
of waters What a blessed thought God does that in a miraculous
way and we've said before he he either moves us so we can
hear the gospel he moves a preacher so we can hear the gospel or
the other day we thought someone brought up or he moves both so
they meet at the right place but he's going to do it he's
going to lead his people to hear the gospel which is the living
water so they'll hear that alright and in uh... revelation twenty-two
would you turn there with me again We find this throughout
the book of Revelation. We find it throughout the Bible.
The very things that God does, the blessings He provides. He's
the first and the last. He's the Alpha and Omega. He
is the author and finisher. Many ways the Holy Spirit left
for us to comprehend. Well, not to comprehend, to ruminate
on. Comprehending it has to be by Revelation. We can see the
shadow, but by His grace we see the words. Alright? Revelation 22 and again verse
17 Revelation 22 the spirit and the bride say come and let him
that heareth say come Now Everyone that's heard has the privilege
saying it's not me as John did it's not me It's him That's all
we have He that heareth, say, Come. There he is. There he is. John said, I'm not he. I'm not
he. I'm not worthy to unlatch his
shoes. There he is. Behold, the Lamb
of God. So all we can do is be pointers. Pointers. We have nothing
in ourselves. All we have is pointing. It says
right there, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let
him that is athirst come. God's gonna create that thirst
he invites us to come come unto me all that lab labor and are
heavy laden Matthew there 511 and whosoever will let him take
of the water of life freely Much ado has been made about that
whosoever will but why that's just so clear He's got to make
us willing. He made us willing in the day
of His power. Turn me and I shall be turned. So this is God's activity. By nature, we're not willing.
By grace, we're made willing. By nature, we won't come to God. By grace, we are coming to God. It's a daily activity, coming
to God. And then turn with me over to
the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 12. Isaiah chapter 12. Isaiah 12, 1, 2, and 3. Well,
you can almost read that entire chapter, all six verses. Isaiah 12. Verse 1, and in that
day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee, though thou wast
angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest
me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become
my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye
draw water out of the wells of salvation. Every time we go to the word,
we're drawing water out of the wells of salvation. Every time
we hear the gospel, we're drawing water out of the wells of salvation. What a pleasant task. My dad used to have a, he had
about an acre and a half, I think, or two acres of garden. And before
the sprinkler systems came in, it was all flood irrigation.
We put the ditches in and then he turned the pumps on and run
that water down. My mother said we never had gardens
like then. We started sprinkling and we
never got the gardens that we used to get. How precious that
water is to the roots of those vines, to those vegetables. And how precious this water is
to God's people. The water of the word. How precious. And then again
in Isaiah 55. Let's look in Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. He'll give those that
are thirst, a thirst. And there's only one means, a
salt. That's the gospel. Only one means
of comfort. That's the gospel. We don't have
a special salting process. It's just the gospel. Gospel
blesses the believers. Gospel leads the lost to Christ.
It's the gospel. It doesn't change. We just rejoice
in it. Isaiah 55 verse 1. Isaiah 55 Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy their wine and
milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend
money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me here, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. What a wonderful
thing it is that God acquaints us with His covenant to find
out it's all been taken care of. That from beginning to end,
He has taken care of all our needs. We were lost and going
astray, and yet He had already provided a highway for His people. We are sinners. He's already
provided a sacrifice. We have no righteousness. He's
already provided the righteousness. We have no sanctification. He's
already provided the sanctification. Everything that we needed, He
provides in Christ. And we waste our time. I hate
to say this, but it's just a natural thing. Wasting our time on these
things that do not satisfy. He spoke of Israel. He says,
you put water in cisterns who will not hold water. And you will not come to the
living water. Just natural. People are religious. They'll go to the cistern. I
don't know if you've ever looked into a cistern or not. Sometimes
it's not a good idea. Sometimes there's green things
growing around the edge. Mice, bugs, all this stuff. And this living water, this fountain
of living water is fresh. Nothing gets in it because it's
always flowing out, pushing out everything. That's just Christ. He flows purely. He flows graciously. John 4, verse 10. He must needs
go by Samaria. What a great account. What a
great message is left here for us. The woman at the well. Jacob's
well. Just happens to be at the right
place at the right time. Providence. He must needs go
through Samaria. It says and while he's there
verse 10 of John chapter 4 It says Jesus answered and said
unto her If thou knewest the gift of God and who it was that
saith unto thee give me to drink Thou wouldest have asked of him
and he would have given thee living water Does she know? Not yet She doesn't know yet. If thou knewest, the woman saith
unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is
deep. From whence then hast thou this living water? Art thou greater
than our father Jacob? which gave us the well, and drank
thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle. And Jesus answered
and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I give unto him, he shall never thirst. But the water
that I give unto him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. There's never any need to look
for something else. The apostle put it this way,
be not turned by every wind of doctrine. This settles us. That
lodestone, that compass gets settled down. We don't doubt
the compass anymore. It's settled. I've been hunting
and that compass was just as wrong as rain until someone found
me and said, you're going the wrong direction. We doubt the
compass. We don't go by the compass. And
yet, once the Lord opens our heart and we're permitted to
see Him, we don't doubt the compass anymore. This is just as clear. And then, there in verse... verse 15, the woman saith unto
him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come
here to draw. I won't have to be embarrassed and have to come
down here at this improper time of day, so I won't be bothered
by other people. She's still looking at everything
through the eyes of flesh. I need this water that you're
talking about, so I don't have to come down here. Well, it's
not going to be very long, and the Lord's going to open her
heart, as He did Lydia's heart, and she's going to see who He
is. and she's going to tell people,
come see one that told me all things ever I did. Come. All
right. Let's turn over to the Psalm
again and with this we'll close. Psalm 36. Psalm 36. He gives the fountain
of life and allows us to drink freely. No restrictions. Drink all you
want. Psalm 36 verse 6. He says, Thy righteousness is
like the great mountains. Thy judgments are a great deep,
O Lord. Thou preservest man and beast.
How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children
of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. They
shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house,
And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
Thou shalt make them drink. He is the first cause of all
things. Thou shalt make him drink. This is one time he can lead
his people to water and make them drink. He makes them drink. And so as
it's said there, I'm Alpha and Omega. I have all these provisions. I'm the beginning and the end.
I am the first cause of all things. And anyone that's thirsty, come
drink. Come drink. Come drink of the
water of life freely, without reservation. What was it during the war they
had those coupons? Ration. Ration. Yeah, there's
no rations on this. You don't have to have a coupon
to come down here. There's no rations on this living
water. All right, let's stop there.