Would you join me tonight in
the book of Revelation? By the way, I have been asked
officially now to have the Easter sunrise service, and this afternoon,
since I didn't get to work, I just came to my study. And the Lord
arm-wrestled me. I've been praying because it
won't be long, they'll call me up and say, what's your text
and what's your sermon title and what do you want to be read
so it can be put in the bulletin? And this afternoon, Book of Revelation,
why not? Revelation chapter 1 verse 18
is going to be my text for the Easter sunrise service. It says,
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore."
Now that's an Easter message if I've ever found one. So we're
going to spend a little time on revelation and what apocalypto
means. And it doesn't mean we're looking
at the end of the world. We're looking at a successful
God. So you pray for me. I'm looking forward to this.
I was told that the group of churches in town was wanting
to take it over, but they didn't do anything. So the Masonic Lodge
asked me again. So this may be my last year.
I don't know. but I'm going to take it this year. 11 I think, 11 or 12 or something
like that. All right, here in the book of Revelation chapter
1, I want to begin reading with verse 4 and read through verse
18. Now, somebody wrote this, when
we get to verse 13, the Savior's revelation of himself. I thought that was really a clear,
blessed way to view these words that were given to John. Revelation
1, verse 4, as we read, John, to the seven churches which are
in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which
was and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which
are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of
the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. and who hath made us kings and
priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. I like that. Behold, he cometh with clouds,
and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.
And all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even
so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and
which is to come, the Almighty. I, John, who also am your brother
and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the
word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the
spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice
as of a trumpet saying, 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 Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira,
and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. When I turned
to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks,
one like unto the Son of Man, clothed." Now this is the Savior's
revelation of himself. This is the view that the Savior
wants us to have of the Savior. and everything is so significant
and needs such a blessing. Son of man clothed with a garment
down to the foot, and gird about the paps with a golden girdle,
and his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as
snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like undefined
brass. And if you have Hawker's Dictionary,
look brass up. He spends quite a bit of time
dealing with this verse of scripture here in the book of Revelation.
It's a real blessing. As if they burned in a furnace,
and his voice was as the sound of many waters. And he had in
his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength. 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, I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of
hell and death. Now, I'm just excited about getting
to those words. But before we do, let's look
at verse 11 tonight. Look at verse 11. We spent a
little time in this verse But we want to spend a little more
tonight saying, I am, this is the great voice. This is the
great voice. This is what the great voice
as a trumpet said. Now, I was thinking about that
great voice again and kind of review. This great voice is that
same voice that spoke this world into existence. What a great,
exciting time. And then it is that same great
voice that spoke the, excuse me, that great voice that
spoke and raised Lazarus from the dead. It's that same great
voice. And it was that great voice that
spoke and said, it is finished. What a statement was made. Eternity
had been waiting for that statement. And all of God's people had been
waiting for that statement. Now, we enjoy the trip to the
tomb of Lazarus. If I just want some exciting
times, I just read over there and whoa, Lazarus come forth
and he came out of that tomb. The voice of the Lord said it.
But when you go to the cross and hear the Lord Jesus say,
it is finished, I just am ecstatic. The work is complete. Now, we're
on the Lord's Sabbath. We're in his rest, that's what
it says in the book of Hebrews. That as it was a type in the
Old Testament, the anti-type is the Lord Jesus Christ finished
every work that was necessary for our redemption. And this
book is going to fulfill those statements on how he overcame
and overcomes and will continue to overcome every enemy of the
church. This is the victorious Lord God
Almighty, that we're reading about, and all that is brought
in here. Some of the things are hard to
be understood, but I want us to, when we come to the conclusion
of those verses, we will find out the Lord was victorious over
them. Whatever they are, the Lord is
victorious. Now, this great voice also said,
all power and all authority is given unto me in heaven and earth.
He gives us the privilege of worshiping the King of Kings.
And he does not need to wait for a time when men consent to
him reigning. Now, God's people assent to it,
but we've never consented to it. He reigns. And I like, he
must reign until he has put every enemy under his foot. And that
means the last sheep. Now in their undone condition,
they're rebellious against God and he will work it out until
they submit. I like what we heard on Sunday
in the Bible class. He just grabs us and squeezes
a confession of faith out of us. And after it's over with,
we just say, thank you, Lord, for doing that. Our voice did
things that wouldn't happen by nature. We just couldn't get
to those high words. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. We'd never confess it unless
he is squeezing it out of us. Thank God Almighty. Now, this
voice is the same voice that spoke to John this day. And he
said, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. and what
thou seest. Now that means what I show you,
what I show you, I'm gonna show you what thou seest. Now that's good, that's good.
But what really astonished me is write it in a book and send
it. Now there's a lot of things that
are written that were never written or intended to be sent anywhere. It wasn't until after my grandmother's
passing that I got to read her diary. It was personal. I read about
my brother passing, all kinds of stuff that I'd worried, concerned
about, wondered about. But this, John write it and send
it. Send it to who? The seven churches
which are in Asia, under Ephesus, and under Samarna, and under
Pergamos, and under Thyatira, and under Sardis, and under Philadelphia,
and under Laodicea. Now, these are in order. If you were going from church
to church, as John might have, a preacher might have, this is
the circuit he would have taken. And this is how it is brought
out to us. Now there's much said in writing about the seven churches
of Asia and what they represent. But I'm convinced as we look
at these seven churches, we will see any church over time in those
seven churches. Before we get too far here, we
want to say this, that it was a day of grace when lowly children
of Adam would be sent a letter from the Almighty. That's a day
of grace. Now, if you had something sour
to say, it's still a day of grace. And if you had something pleasant
to say, it's the day of grace. This is what thou seest, what
I reveal to you, what I show you. Write in a book, that's
good, but sending it, that's gracious. Send it to the seven
churches. And we're the recipients of that
letter today as we read this. As we go through the book of
Revelation, we're reading someone else's mail, and it is as much
to us today as it was to them then. And we still are enjoying
the wonderful promise of everlasting, eternal victory that we have
that God has provided in Christ Jesus. We delight in it as the
church at Ephesus did. We delight in it as the church
at Philadelphia did. We delight in it. They are being
burdened on every side. They are being hounded by authorities. They are being made... made the
offscouring of the world, and God sends them this letter of
his great grace, and there is nobody better to correct than
the Almighty. Nobody better. Nobody better
to give a compliment than the Almighty. But if Lord help us,
and we do need it, we need to be corrected, there's no one
better than the Almighty to address us. What have we already read?
He has loosed us from our sins in His own blood. What have we
read? He has made us kings and priests. We have already read the great
rich blessings, so if this one who has saved us by his grace
should come to us and say, I have somewhat against you, what will
God's people do? What is it, Lord? What is it, Lord? You placed
me in yourself. You've lifted me out of a horrible
pit. You made me one of your children. What is it? Share that
with me. It's not going to be a sad day.
It's going to be a day of grace when God Almighty will speak
to us, even if it is things that he is not pleased with. I'd rather
have him do it. Yeah, I'd rather have him do
it. He's going to do it graciously. Have you ever had someone come
against you with a charge that was not being very friendly or
happy or pleasant? Boy, it just raises the hackles
on the back of my neck, and I want to say, well, you pulled a log
out of your eye, and then you can take care of the splinter
in my eye. You know how we feel? Well, when the God of glory who
saved us says, I have someone against you, God's people say,
what is it, Lord? What is it? Now, it is so evident
that when, and not if, God looked down from heaven, turn with me
over to the Psalms, if you would. When he looked down from heaven,
he saw nothing in man to encourage him to be gracious. There was
not one thing he could see in all of men. Now, we brought out
Sunday evening as we went through that wonderful passage in the
book of Romans, chapter eight. And the popular view about how
individuals get the grace of God is that he looked down through
time to see them believing on the Lord Jesus. And when he saw
that, then he wrote their names down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Now, turn over here. As we think about the gracious
message of God's grace that he sent to these seven churches
and to all his people down through time, let's see what he saw when
he looked down through time, and there wasn't anything that
he could see that would be an inclination from him or from
us to say, I think I'll be merciful to him because of that. Notice
here, Book of Psalms, twice it's mentioned in almost identical
words than the first was found in Psalm 14. Psalm 14, verses
one through three. Now, if you ever have anybody
tell you, or you have the idea that it was you that really caused
God to choose you before the foundation of the world on some
good work that you were going to do, that you were going to
believe, just go back to Psalm 14, verses one through three
and read that from time to time, and it's a humbling experience.
because it says here that, and Paul almost quotes this word
for word in the book of Romans, but notice, the fool that said
in his heart, there is no God, they are corrupt, they have done
abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Now, the Lord
looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and seek God. All right, men,
women, boys and girls, here is your opportunity to make an impression
on God. If that's how he's going to do
it, then this is the opportunity. Now notice what God had to say
about looking down from heaven. He said, they are all gone aside. They are all together become
filthy and there's none that doeth good, no, not one. Well,
that theory doesn't hold water. It's broken. It's based upon
the goodness of man. and it's not based upon the grace
of God. Now, the scriptures teach us
that God only saw this. If we go over to the 53rd Psalm,
we find the identical words recorded there about God looking down
from heaven to see if there were any that did seek after him,
and he found the same there. The psalmist mentions that in
the 53rd Psalm. There is nothing that would turn
God's eye towards us. And that makes it that much more
special when he would send us his word. I find it not a problem
that God had his word written down. A lot of people write words
down and never intend to share it with a soul. God could have
easily done that. He could have had his word written
down and never shared it with a soul. It could have been his
diary. And we find here, I look down
and there's nobody, nobody that sought after me. So from here
on out, I'm just gonna write words to myself. But we find
in fact, that the Lord God Almighty not only had it written down,
but he sends it. He sends it. He sends it out. Now, before I get too far ahead,
I do want to look at twice the Lord Jesus Christ, use this word
that we find in this verse of scripture, says, under the seven
churches which are in Asia. Would you turn with me to the
book of Matthew? The book of Matthew, the Lord Jesus, mentions
this particular word two other times. One time it's twice and
one time it's once, but he mentions this word two other times in
scripture in his own personal ministry. Now notice with me
how he uses this word. The first time it's used in Matthew
chapter 16. In Matthew chapter 16, the Lord
Jesus Christ has just asked Peter, who do you say that I am? Peter
had made that wonderful confession of the Lord. Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. The Lord Jesus Christ told Peter
how he could say that. It wasn't by your strength, and
it wasn't by your might, and it wasn't by your education. This came by revelation. My Father
hath revealed this to you. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Matthew chapter 16, we read then, as it goes
down through there, chapter 16, Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
in verse 16, verse 17, Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. I say also unto
thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Now I believe we would be very foolish and unscriptural if we
tried to make that word mean a local body. That is the church
universal. That is the church of the living
God. That is church in heaven and
in earth. That is every saved person in
heaven and in earth. He said there, I will build my
church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Now he's not saying that Peter would be the rock. Peter means
a small rock. The rock that's mentioned here
is a large rock, the rock of Gibraltar style. There's only
one that would fit that. That's the Lord. He's our rock. He is our sure foundation. So
the Lord used it here two chapters later in Matthew chapter 18.
He uses the same word and he gives this significant meaning
and these seven assemblies that this letter is going to go out
to are very important because it is through the local assembly
that he's speaking about here that the gospel is preached,
that people come and enjoy the fellowship of the Lord and hear
preaching and Bible reading and sing praises unto Him. It is
in this capacity that the Lord mentions it here in Matthew chapter
18, verse 15, the scriptures share this. Moreover, if thy
brother shall trespass against thee, go tell him his fault between
thee and him alone. Oh Lord, help us to do that.
That's the prescription. If you have a problem, go to
your brother or your sister and get it straightened out. That's
it. And if he shall not hear thee,
now you've got to go first. If they'll not hear you, then
this is the second prescription. If he shall hear thee, between
thee and him alone, if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy
brother. But if he'll not hear thee, then take two or three
Take with you one or two more, and in the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word shall be established. Here's the prescription.
Won't hear? Take some friends, not enemies. Take care of it. If there's a
hindrance to your growth or someone else's growth, if there's been
an offense, take care of it. This is the way it's supposed
to be done. And then he says, In the mouth of two or three
witnesses, every word may be established. Now, if he should
neglect to hear them, then, and then, and then alone, bring it
to the church, the local assembly, and if he will not hear the church,
then let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.
You've judged yourself unworthy. Now, this is never to be done
in spite, anger, or anything else. That's not the business,
but the Lord Jesus Christ used this word church in this verse
of scripture to share with us, I know what it means. There's
the church universal and there's the church at Jerusalem. There's
the church of all saints, the family of God. Every one that
has ever been born again is an assembly. Now I really liked
and it helped me a lot when Moose shared with me, Moose Parks,
who was a missionary down in the islands, the Caribbean islands,
St. Croix, and while he was down
there, he was having some difficulty along this line, and one of the
other missionaries down there, he posed this question, because
this word church means an assembly. And this missionary asked Moose,
he said, all right, or Moose asked him, where does your universal
church assemble? And the other preacher said,
well, at the feet of Jesus, where else? That's where the church
assembles is at the feet of Jesus. Now we have the privilege extended
to us here in the Dalles to get together in a local body of believers
that love the word and love God and fellowship with one another.
It's our family. You are my family. That's what
the Bible teaches, and I like it that way, too, besides that.
You're my family. You're my brothers and my sisters
in Christ. Now, Jesus said this is the meanings. One means, one attitude of this
means all saved, and the other one says there's a local assembly
where I have preaching done. I have singing done. I have fellowship done. That's
where it is. Now we enjoy being members of
the same body, but we'll not all assemble until we're at his
feet in glory. Now we do it spiritually now,
and when I meet brothers and sisters in Christ across the
country or around the world, and we're all His saved, we have
fellowship, even though we may not be in the same local body,
and it's because of the blood of Christ. But there's a local
assembly, and I'll tell you, Ephesus was blessed to have a
local assembly that got the letter they did from Paul. And Philadelphia
was blessed to have a local assembly where preaching was going on.
And it wasn't watered down stuff. It wasn't works. It wasn't an
incorporation of the religion of those communities mixed with
the gospel. It was the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Those communities were blessed
to have the gospel preached in that place, and they were blessed
by the grace of God to have this letter sent to them, the book
of Revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ. They were blessed,
grace was reigning, grace was on display, grace was overwhelming. In fact, as we approach, turn
with me to the book of Romans chapter 9, As we go through the
book of Romans, and we're on the mountaintop in the book of
Romans, I don't mind telling you, it just wearies me sometimes
to find out how bad I am. And the first seven and a half
chapters of the book of Romans spends a good deal of time sharing
with me what I am in Adam. And I just enjoy getting to the
part that shares with me how God saves those kind of folk.
And he does it so gloriously, and I just want to delight and
relish in it. So that's what we find here. But in the ninth
chapter of the book of Romans, verse 15, we read these words,
for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. Now that's never more evident than the church of Laodicea
getting a letter from God. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. Now you read the letter to the Laodiceans, and
it's not all that complimentary, but God was pleased to send them,
by his grace, he was pleased to send them the letter. And he said, if you'll repent,
My goodness, I am overwhelmed that God would spend any time
with that group of people anyway. It was a letter of grace that
he sent to them. The same is true of the Corinthians. My goodness, read through there
and see the problems they had. And God had two letters sent
to them. How gracious God is to send us
the word of God. He could have, he didn't, but
he could have made a diary out of it. And to many people, it
is nothing more than a diary. But to God's people, it is breath
in life. It is a letter God sends to us. Thank God he is pleased with
us, but thank God when he is not, he writes to us and shares
that. And we should be pleased that
the King of glory would write to us like he did to those churches.
share with us, I have somewhat against thee." And you know what?
Every believer in those churches was broken in heart and mind
when the King of Glory said, I have somewhat against you.
Oh God, change me so I can be conformable unto you. It wasn't
an, I'm so sick of hearing this kind of thing from God. No, thank
you God Almighty for your letter to me, your pleasant letter to
me, that you would be enough interested in my well-being to
send a corrective letter to me. Thank God. Well, as we go through
here in the book of Romans chapter 9 verse 15, for he said to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. And you could just write down
there. Church at Ephesus, Church at Philadelphia, Church at Pergamos,
Church at Thyatira, I'll have mercy, I'll have mercy, I'll
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, I'll have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. Now if there was an issue in
those churches, it certainly was because we got to power in
ourselves, and God's letter of grace said, no, you Your whole
hope is in me. Your whole eternity is in me. It's not in yourself. For the
scripture saith unto Pharaoh, for this same purpose have I
raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Well, that's why
he wrote to the seven churches, that you might know my power,
and my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Now,
as I was thinking about grace, I told a man one time, he happened
to be the deacon of the church I was pastoring after the Lord
saved me, and I says, I know more about grace now than I've
ever known in my life. And it was just that God would
save a sinner like me. But did you, I was thinking about
this, and I hope, hope this will be a blessing, but grace is an
invisible, undetected, and silent agent of God. I mean it's around his people
and before they're saved they don't even know it's there. It is so silent. It is so invisible. It is so undetectable that we
just don't have a thing to do with it. Grace was so evident before the
world began. A lamb was set aside. And grace
was so evident in creation of all living things. There's parts
of our planet that is just uninhabitable, and yet there's critters that
live there. Grace, dry land. I'm amazed that God made animals
that will never drink one drop of water in their entire life. And they make others, he made
others that demand gallons every day. How gracious of God. This grace was evident when Adam
was created and Eve was created. And when skins were provided,
it was silent as light until it was needed. Adam and Eve sinned
against a thrice-holy God, and they didn't even know surrounding
them, silent, invisible, undetectable, was the almighty, ever-present
grace of Almighty God. And when they sinned, he was
not reactionary. The grace of God was already
there. And he took care of the issue
by covering them with the skins of animals, stripped them of
their old fig leaf religion, and covered them with the skins
of animals. By his grace, not one that has
ever known grace felt like they deserved it. My goodness, it
has been invisible, it has been undetectable, it has been silent,
it has been revealed, and no one that has ever had it revealed
to them will ever say, I deserve this. The absolute opposite is
always true. And in fact, when we get to the
point that we feel we deserved it, it's still silent, it's still
undetectable, and it is still invisible, and we've not seen
it. No one said God needed to give
it. Grace is elusive. And it's only at the command
of God that grace will grab us. I like watching a canine that
is under control, don't you? I love to watch those critters,
a dog. when they are absolutely in command
of their master. Their master has every word.
They sit at his command, they roll over at his command, but
the same dog at the command, attack. Now, Grace is God's wonderful
hound dog. Elusive, silent, undetectable. until he says,
Sikkim. And then that grace lays hold
of us and squeezes out a confession of faith. God be merciful to
me a sinner. That's just grace. It is everywhere
but undetected by anybody except those he says sikkim to. Now
when he wrote these letters to the seven churches of Asia, they
were found in his gracious eye. So pleasant to have God write
a letter. It is his grace. Grace goes to
and fro in the earth, silent and undetected until at God's
command it attacks. and squeezes the most sinful
one till submission is acknowledged. I like it. If it wasn't for grace,
not one would ever get a letter from God. If it wasn't for grace,
God would not have created the heavens and the earth. If it
wasn't for grace, he'd have never created Adam and Eve. And if
it wasn't for grace, he'd have never covered them with the skins
of animals. If it wasn't for grace, there would never have
been a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And if it wasn't
for grace, the Lord Jesus would not have been born in a manger
of a virgin. If it wasn't for grace, he'd
have never walked up Golgotha. And if it wasn't for grace, he'd
have never said, it is finished. So these people that receive
the letter from God, God's people, all his people, all his children,
all his lost sheep of the house of Israel, when they hear the
gracious message of God's grace in Christ Jesus, the Savior,
the Lord Jesus as the Savior, it is stunning. It stops people
in their tracks. They have been overcome. Submission
has been acknowledged. We then realized that this grace
cleansed us from our sins and gave us rich portions of food
and drink, gave us a robe of righteousness, and introduced
us in good standing to God. I like that. Introduced us to God in good
standing. introduced us to God the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and gave us eternal life. It was grace that allowed us
to have the word of God and grace that applied it. Now turn with
me, if you would, to a wonderful passage of scripture found in
the book of Ephesians. As silent, as undetectable, and
yet as powerful as the very voice of God in creation, this great
voice that spoke. Now notice with me here in the
book of Ephesians chapter two, and I have to say again, you
can't enjoy the grace of God. You can't enjoy the grace of
God found in Ephesians chapter two without enjoying chapter
one. Now notice here, chapter two,
Verse eight, for by grace are you saved. From Alpha to Omega, the beginning
and the ending of our salvation is in grace. For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. For we
are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
It is by grace that we are saved from Alpha and Omega, from beginning
to end. There is not one point anywhere
in the beginning, in the middle, or in the conclusion of our salvation
that is not a result of God's grace. Now, going back to the
book of Revelation there, chapter 1 and verse 11, we notice how
gracious it was for God to come down and speak to John and say,
what you see, what I reveal to you, write in a book and send
it unto the seven churches which are in Egypt. Now, they were
local assemblies of God's people in these various places. These
are probably small groups of people. And there's not one of
these churches left. They're all gone. In 2,000 years,
they've gone. The towns have died, the churches
have died, but we know that the gospel has always been successful
because it's here with us today. And I have to say this, that
we can only be faithful in our generation. Can't be faithful
for the last one, and we can't be faithful for the next one.
We can only be faithful in our generation. And as the Lord writes,
as John Wright, he says these seven churches, now Asia is Asia
Minor, which is now Turkey. He said there are seven churches
there. Many scholars believe that there were more churches
than that in this area, but these seven the whole, the perfect
number, represent all. Now, I said on Sunday night,
I believe it was, or Sunday morning, that there's only one person
in all the scriptures that is recorded a time and a place and
an event when they were saved. I was wrong. In retrospect, there's
at least two. The thief on the cross and Saul
of Tarsus. But those people represent all
the people that will ever be saved. They will hear the word
of God. That is number one priority.
Grace will be evident in opening their heart, taking out the stony
heart and giving them the heart of flesh. Grace is just evident
in those two lives. That's how it happens. Now, it
may not be with the same bells and same whistles, but it's how
it happens. God saves his people. Now, this
gracious letter that he had sent to these seven churches, Ephesus,
and unto Samarna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis,
and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea, I want you to note,
let us note together, when he sent a letter to one, It was
the identical message to the other. He didn't change messages
for different people. These are generally speaking
Gentile churches, which was unheard of under the Jewish economy.
But he sent the same letter, same revelation of himself. same
revelation of the word, same message of grace, same victory
in Christ, same washing, loosing of our sins in his own blood,
same statement about what we get. We're kings and priests
of the Lord. He never changed the message
when he sent out seven letters. The message was always the same. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Savior. He is the King of Kings and he
is the Lord of Lords. It was the same message. And
that same message is being carried out today using the same book. Now, I know John wrote in Greek
and we read it in the King's English, but thank God he was,
God was gracious enough to give the wisdom to some people to
translate it. Cause I'm not one to learn Greek.
I'm glad for his grace, his unmerited favor. It was evident before
the foundation of the world. It was evident in creation. It
was evident when he sent a prophet to one single widow. It was evident
when he commanded one single leper to go wash. It was evident
when he dealt with four leprous men. It was evident when he opened
up the windows of heaven and gave them food, his grace. It was all around them, silent,
undetectable. They couldn't feel it. They couldn't
hear it. They couldn't see it until he
loosed it on them. And then they knew more about
grace than they'd ever known before. They didn't have to go
to a dictionary to define it. They knew what it was here. God
saves wicked people, sinners. And he does it in his own gracious
manner. We robbed him of his glory, stole
from him, and yet he would save us? It's more than just unmerited
favor. It is favor shown towards the
one and ones that would attempt to destroy God. Take him of his
glory. steal from him, rob him, rob
him, leave him. That's grace. So in chapter one
in verse 12, we'll get onto this next time, but we'll start to
go down through this revelation, the Savior's revelation of himself.
Oh, that's grace. Everything about him is glorious.
And we can say, as the Church did in the Psalm of Solomon,
I like this. He is altogether lovely. Altogether.