Revelation chapter one. That's
right, and they have the same message. Revelation chapter one. It is a delight to have Adeline
home tonight, and at the conclusion of the service, I'll have her
say a few things about Kim so that we're up to speed about
her condition. Revelation chapter one, and I'd
like to read verses four through 12. And in fact, I'm going to
only read part of verse 12. Remember, when you used to have
the old literature, it says 12A, 12B, 12C, just read part of it.
Well, I don't mean to take anything out of context, but I want to
stop there for tonight. The fourth verse, and I just
have to say, this book will show us Christ on every page and every
line, and when we get to the alpha and omega in every letter.
This is the book of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And John is in
the right place at the right time, even though there probably,
I just have to say that, probably, he was a little concerned when
he's home, enjoying his home in Ephesus, and he is sent to
the Isle of Patmos. Now, I would like to think that
I wouldn't be, but I know I would. If someone came to my home and
said, we're gonna exile you to an island, and we're gonna take
you away from your family, your friends, your church, your acquaintances,
I know that I would be a little bit distraught. But we find out
in this book that he is in the right place at the right time,
and he's given the blessed task of sharing the glory of God.
He's given the task by the Holy Spirit to pin this book, this
letter to the seven churches of Asia and to see sites that
we get to glimpse at. Now, the words he uses are words
that were common in his day and have been translated into our
language. And some of those views that he got to see are difficult
for us to understand, but they're as close to a description as
he could possibly make as the Holy Spirit gave him those words.
There are just some things that we're just not going to be able
to understand in this life. And you know what? The church
has said, thank you, Lord, because we never, ever want to be able
to be put into a position in this life to understand God. He's too small then and we got
too many people in this world now that understand God. And
we want to have some mystery about him because there is a
mystery about God, about his size, about his glory, about
his holiness, about his purpose of grace for us. about the Council
Halls of Eternity. There is mystery about him, and
we delight in it that he would reveal one part of it, one particle
to us. So we're just a blessed people
if he'd reveal one particle of his Savior, our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So John's in the right place
at the right time, and he's been given this wonderful task, and
this message was taken down by him, not only for the seven churches
of Asia, but all those blessed people between that time and
our time. Now this message is found throughout the Old Testament,
but not in this compact form that we have here in the book
of Revelation. Now, John was arrested and he was exiled, and
I just believe he was in a lonely place, and it was a barren place,
as it's described, and he would say, as his brother and our brother
Joseph, after this book was given to him, after this letter was
given to him, he told his brothers, and we mentioned this Sunday
night, you meant this for evil. And you know, that gives us a
real clear understanding of how much Joseph understood his brothers
when they sold him into slavery. You meant this for evil. And
there wasn't a person that took charge of John and put him on
this aisle that did not mean this for evil. It's payback time. But John would be able to say,
as our brother Joseph, you meant it for evil, but God meant it
for good. And we're glad he was placed
there and was used as a secretary so that we could read these rich
blessings about our Savior. The Holy Spirit blesses him and
lets him see the spirit and be in the spirit on this glorious
celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we want to read that. All right. Verse four, John to
the seven churches, which are in Asia. Grace be unto you in
peace. And I just can't help but saying
that's the order of things. Grace, then peace. It's never turned around. We're
never going to acquire peace before grace. We will always
acquire grace and then peace. God will always have us, always
have his people in mind to grant them grace. Then he says there,
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. Thank God for that. He's discussing that today. Sometimes I have to be grabbed
hold by the front of my shirt and said, do you believe in the
sovereignty of God or don't you? because sometimes we question
things. But he is the Prince of the Kings
of the Earth. And right now, and I don't mean
to bring politics in, I don't spend much time on this in the
pulpit, but we don't have much of a choice for November. So
thank God he is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth. And he
will use them, whoever they are, in whichever country they're
found, for his glory. And they're not there by mistake.
They're there on purpose. It isn't a reaction that God
has. He has been proactive from the beginning of the world, before
the foundation of the world, and all things are working out
for his glory. When the Babylonians came down
and took Judah, for his glory, when the Assyrians took Israel
for his glory, and there were people saved as a result of those
terrible, terrible times among those nations. Unto him that
loved us, I just love this, he loved us from before time and
washed us, loosed us from our sins in his own blood. and hath
made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be
glory and dominion for ever and ever, so be it. The church says
that. God says that, the angels say
that, every created being says that, what God says, so be it,
amen, amen. He is the great amen too, we're
gonna find that name here in the book of Revelation, that
he is the so be it of God. But we say with John, we say
it with the church, we say it with the angels, whatever God
has spoken, so be it, amen. And we just bow. Now he goes
on, I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. As
if what we read in the previous verses here with regard to our
Lord is not enough to satisfy the blessings of the church,
he goes on and says, I have more grapes to put in your basket.
And if they won't fit, we just get a bigger basket. There when
he fed the thousands, There were fragments taken up, and they're
not pawed on or chewed on food, that's just food that was left
over, still in good shape. Baskets full, everyone was full
to contentment. The endorphins were setting in,
that kind of full. And there were baskets remaining,
left over. And here we have the Lord sharing,
I am all these things, but, and amen about it, but I'm Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which
is and which was and which is to come. And then he concludes
this by saying, the Almighty. And God's people have just bowed
before those great titles and names of our God. They just give
us such dear information about the Lord. When he says he's almighty,
that's exactly what he is. He is the absolute almighty. No one mightier. He is the superlative
of might. I have all power. I have all
power in heaven and on earth. And he does according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And I'm glad when it goes on to say, and none can
hold his hand back, none can stay his hand, and nobody is
able to say with a loud voice, why are you doing that? That
means that question, no one can question God or say, what doest
thou? No, we may say it with our breath,
but we're not gonna say it with power. He is in charge. All right, he goes on to say
here, John, I, John, who also am your brother and companion
in tribulation, I know what you're going through, he's saying to
the saints. We'd honor him in any way we
possibly could, but his honor to us is I'm your brother. We're
bought by the same blood. We are sinners saved by grace. There's only one person in all
the Bible that I know of that you can go and he goes to
a distinct time when he was saved. That's Saul of Tarsus. And the
rest of them, we just go by faith that God worked to work a grace
in their lives sometime before we find them as his disciples.
And John is one of them. And he says, I'm a brother. I'm
a brother, saying I'm a brother in companion in tribulation and
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the aisle
that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony
of Jesus Christ. I was, or I became in the spirit
on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet
saying, now this trumpet has melody and has understandable
words. That's one thing you can't do
with a trumpet. You can make a tune out of it
and it can be pleasant. And I love brass. When they have
brass instruments playing and they're accompanying, I just
love brass. But they can't speak words. And
there's one thing about this trumpet. This is the voice of
Almighty God, the Lord Jesus, with such clarity, the attention-getting
of a brass instrument. It just draws you to it. And yet this voice, like a trumpet,
was clear language that John understood and wrote down. All right. He says, here 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 to
the seven churches which are in Asia. I'm gonna stop right
there. And we're gonna pick up here
with verse nine. Excuse me, verse 10, verse 10.
I'm gonna say a few things about verse 10, but before we do, we
wanna just be reminded about John's position here in being
on that aisle. I'd like us to go over to the
book of Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah. If you'd turn there
with me, Jeremiah chapter 24. Jeremiah chapter 24. Now John
is on the Isle of Patmos. He's on there, the Isle of Patmos,
for preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is there
by divine appointment. God has appointed him to this.
He is there for a purpose, to be a secretary. It's interesting
that while he's there, he has paper and ink. Clean paper and ink. Now, it's beyond me that he'd
be allowed to have that. But by divine appointment, he's
gonna write a scroll And it's called the Book of Revelation.
He's going to write. He has the ink and he has the
paper. whatever it was, to be used for
that purpose. Now notice here in Jeremiah 24,
verse four, it says, again, the word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, like these
good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive
of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of
the Chaldeans for their good. For they're good. For I will
set my eyes upon them for good. I will bring them again to this
land and I will build them and not pull them down. I will plant
them and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart
to know me. Now that's one thing we're gonna
find John is blessed with in this book. He's going to be given
a heart to know the Lord and through that God's people down
to this hour have been blessed with that knowledge. He has shared
what he has heard and seen. And it wasn't his words, it was
the words of the Holy Spirit to him. Now he goes on here in
the book of Jeremiah chapter 24, and it says there in verse
seven, I'll give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord,
and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for
they shall return unto me with their whole heart. Now there's
been a lot of people as a result of this book being brought back
to the Lord with their whole heart, their whole heart. So John is here by divine appointment. He has an appointment from God,
and he is there with paper and pen, and he's going to write
this book, and we are the blessed recipients of this book. We get to see what he saw, and
thankful that he will allow us to open up our eyes and our ears
to see some of the things that he got to see. Now, no doubt,
He had some understanding about this that we'll never have, and
he has understanding about it now that we'll get. But for our
benefit, we get to see some things in this book. Now, going back
to the book of Revelation, in verse 10 of the first chapter,
it says, I heard behind me. Now, he He heard something, and
we find throughout the scriptures how valuable it is to have ears
to hear. Ears to hear. Now, we mentioned
last week that there was, the Lord spoke, God spoke to his
son from heaven, and some thought it thundered. Now, I believe
that there are some people in the Midwest that have a different
view about God today than they did yesterday, because they did hear thunder.
But when it comes to the Lord, some people just hear thunder,
and some people hear the Lord. And then we read there about
Saul of Tarsus. Some people, they saw a light
but didn't hear anything, but he heard something. He heard
a message from God Almighty directly through his heart, and that's
the most valuable word he ever was given in all his born put-togethers. is that God would speak to him
on the road to Damascus. He could have just passed by
him. He could have just let him go. He could have just let him
go on down to Damascus, and the saints down there would have
paid the price, but he could have just let him go. But he
heard something. Now, the Apostle John, as we
look at him, he heard something, and we also want to hear something. We want to hear something valuable.
We want to hear something noteworthy, but we don't want to hear something
new. I don't hear anything new. Now, I want to hear something
new to me, but I don't want to hear new doctrine. I don't want to
hear anything. Well, go over there to the book
of Acts chapter 17. Now, this is what I don't want
to hear. Acts chapter 17. You don't either.
In Acts chapter 17, there in verse 21, There's a group of
people that are just sitting around and they think they're
very smart. I think they're very smart because
they're just sitting around trying to create some new thing. Notice here, Acts chapter 17
and verse 21, the word of the Lord says, and all the Athenians
and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else
but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Now, you know
what that means? First liar doesn't have a chance. Because the first guy to speak,
he might as well keep his mouth quiet because the next guy is
going to have something much bigger, much bigger lie. And the next guy, well, he's
got two lies to outdo. So they're trying to figure out
some new thing. I don't want that. I don't like
all the song, but I do like these words. Tell me the old, old story. I want to hear what they preached
in the Old Testament, what they preached in the New Testament
times, and what they preached down through the years. I want
to hear what John had to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't give me some created item. Don't give me some philosophy.
Don't give me some new religion. Give me the old, old story, the
old paths that God's people have been going down since the very
beginning, the very narrow path. Give me the narrow path. Don't
give me the Broadway. Give me the narrow path. And
that's what we find that the Apostle John was enjoying. And
that's what the church was enjoying. And that's what God's people
enjoy. And yet there's all of these new things. One of the
verses we find, don't be turned by every wind of doctrine. The old weather vane, you know,
here in the Dalles, you can just wear out a weather vane. I was
looking last night on the internet about the weather here in the
Dalles and went through every hour, which way the wind was
blowing and how fast it was blowing, and it's going to wear out a
weather vane to keep up with it. There's all points of the
compass in one day and different speeds. The Bible says, Paul
was used to write, don't be turned, moved by every new thing that
comes along. God settles his people. Now John
is settled on this one thing. my Lord and my God." That's what
he said along. He is able to confess the confession
of Peter, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And God could say to him, just
like he did Peter, flesh and blood did not reveal this unto
you, but my father, which is in heaven. It's a revelation.
It's not education. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4, as we find John heard something
and we want to hear something. But, oh God, protect our ears. Protect our ears. The truth will
always bear investigation. Don't ever be afraid to investigate
the truth. Don't ever be afraid of it. If
you want to read a book on it, read a book on it. and God give
you the grace to sift out the chaff. But the truth will always
bear investigation. That's good for us to be investigating
the truth, reading good works. Read a bad work once in a while,
then you'll know what a good work is. You wonder why they're wasting
the paper. But it will always bear investigation. The truth will always bear investigation. And you don't have to be a liar
to tell what you know about the truth. You don't have to make
excuses for God. You don't have to make excuses
for his word. It's just plain and simple. The
simplicity of the gospel is so valuable and we don't have to
go around lying about it and making excuses on what God's
doing. He's doing what he wants to do
and God's people just say amen. Amen, let it go. Okay, here in
the book of 2 Timothy, in the fourth chapter of the book of
2 Timothy, we want to read verses one through four, fourth chapter,
verses one through four, it says, I charge thee therefore for God
and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the
dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Be
instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears." And John
is going to be writing to a couple of the churches here in the seven
churches of Asia, and the Holy Spirit, the Lord God Almighty,
is going to be pointing out, you've turned aside to itching
ears. You're not on the, your arrow
is bent. You're not pulling back all the
way on the bow. He says here, not endure sound
doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears. Now I'm going to tell you right
up front, this is not talking about the Jehovah's Witnesses.
These are people who pretend to have known Christ. These are
people inside of the visible body that are doing this. This
is not the haywire people. These are the people that we
trusted. These are the people that we
had confidence in. That's what he's writing about.
People they trusted and had confidence in, and they've turning aside.
Oh, you know, I think we ought to have a message on that. Shroud of Turin. You know, we
ought to have a message on let's all be together. And pretty soon,
you're off in left field. And the Apostle John, when he
heard something, he heard the voice of the Lord. He heard a
voice like a trumpet. He heard God speaking to him.
He said, I am Alpha and Omega. And my goodness, when God shares
that with his people, He gives them a steadiness that they don't
have to go anywhere else for their food. When He, the Almighty
One, says, look to me, we don't have to go anywhere else. As
here, what is it that people are turning aside for? What is
it that they're heaping to themselves, teaching, having itching ears,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall
be turned into fables? What is that that will draw people
to do that? Paul shared with the Galatians,
to the Galatians, I'm so surprised that you would so soon be turned
away from him. Him. Oh, what a, what a, what a position
to have turned away from him. John heard a voice like a trumpet. There's verses that talk about
to just stay away from questions that gender strife. Just there
are no hearing there. It's not worth going there. You
know, in my religion, one of my favorite things to do was
to argue. And you can use apologetics as
an excuse. And once you're saved, you just
find out grace, people are gracious and If they don't understand,
there's one reason for it. They just don't have a heart
to understand. And God, please, open their heart
so they can see it. It's not gonna come by education.
It's not gonna come by training. It's gonna come by revelation.
All right, let's go back over here to the book of Revelation.
As we see that John heard something, and it's very interesting to
me. I mentioned this last week, but not in any depth to it, but
it's very interesting to me that this voice is behind him. It's
not out in front of him. You know, today, yesterday I
was saved. Today I'm being saved, and tomorrow
I will be saved. Salvation is an ongoing thing. God is ongoing, saving me every
day. It's a salvation that is yesterday,
today, and forever. It's an ongoing issue with me,
and every day I must be turned. Turn me and I shall be turned.
Oh my goodness, we find that in the lives of the Old Testament
prophets, priests, and kings, that every day God was used to
turn them, turn their ideas, their thoughts, their motives,
their practice, everything. They're going in one direction
and God is so gracious to come down and turn us to him. Oh, we think we're going in the
right direction. I'm convinced that John thought he was being
blessed, but God had to turn him around and let him see the
Lord on this side of him. It's not out here. We're so common
in looking out here for the Lord, but he's not out here. He's behind
us. He's got a turnist. On that thought,
would you turn with me to the book of Ezekiel Chapter 3. Ezekiel
Chapter 3, he's turning us. He is constantly turning us. Thank God he's turning us. I
heard a message one time back in Lexington, Kentucky, and it
just stuck with me there about if he didn't have control of
our inheritance, we'd give it up. If he didn't have control
of our salvation, we'd give it up. That song we sang, we're
not holding on to his hand. Now that's the way most songs
we'll sing. We're hanging on to his hand, we're hanging on
to his hand. No, the truth of the matter is, he's holding on
to our hand. Now our kids when they're growing
up, they know that we're mom and dad, but you know what? They'll
turn away from us. They'll walk out, they'll do
things that we don't want them to do, and we gotta hang on to
their hand. And God Almighty in Christ Jesus
is so faithful to his people. When we're not, he turns us,
turns us. Now we only may be 15 degrees
off, but we still need to be turned. Oh, draw us back, draw
us back. Now, notice here in the book
of Ezekiel chapter 3 and verse 12, he's not out here, he's there,
he's behind us, he's at the holy place. Ezekiel chapter 3 and
verse 12, the scripture share this, then the spirit took me
up and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing saying, blessed
be the glory of the Lord from his place. I heard behind me,
oh, we think we're spiritual. Spirituality is in Christ. Thankful,
hopeful, hope is in Christ. It's not here. It's not in the
flesh. It's not in what we're practicing.
It's not what we're doing. All of it is found in Christ.
So thank God he turns us. And then two verses I want to
read. One's in Jeremiah and one is Lamentations. In the book
of Jeremiah chapter 31, as we think about being turned, we
had to be turned when he saved us. You know what? Next day he
turned us, too. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 18. He saved us. He's saving us. He will save us. He turned us. He's turning us. And he will
continue to turn us. We've got this reflex. flesh
reflects and he's turning us he's drawing us to Christ he's
drawing us with cords of love here in the book of Ezekiel excuse
me Jeremiah Jeremiah chapter 31 and there in verse 18 Jeremiah
31 18 I have surely heard Ephraim, bemoaning himself thus,
thou hast chastised me, and I was chastened as a bullock unaccustomed
to the yoke. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned, for thou art the Lord my God. Turn me, oh my goodness,
what a prayer. And it's short, and it's sweet,
and it's for our prayer closet. Turn me, and I shall be turned.
Oh God, turn me, and I shall be turned. Daily, turn me. I'm so accustomed to this. Turn me so I can see you. Turn me so I can see Christ.
Turn thou me, and I shall be turned. For thou art the Lord
my God. Surely after that I was turned,
I repented. And after that I was instructed.
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. What's he say? After
I was turned, I repented. After I was turned, I was instructed,
and John could say the same thing. I'm sitting out here, I'm in
the Spirit on the Lord's day, I'm having a revival meeting
in my soul about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and you would
think that God would appear to him right out in front of him,
and God appeared to him behind him. Turn me, turn me. Lest I think I'm spiritual, turn
me. Lest I think I'm satisfied, turn
me." Now, it's easy. He's easy to turn us. He's gentle. He has broke us. He will turn us. Now, in Lamentations,
Nick's little book there, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Chapter
5. Lamentations, Chapter 5. Every
day, O God, turn me. And I shall be turned, and I'll
be instructed, and I'll repent. God grant repentance unto the
Gentiles. O Lord, that I'll look to you.
And here, Lamentations 5. Verse 12, the words is princes
are hanged upon up by their hand and the faces of elders were
not honored. They took the young men to grind
and the children fell under the wood. The elders have ceased
from the gate, the young men from the music. The joy of our
heart has ceased, our dance has turned into mourning. The crown
has fallen from our head. Woe unto us that we have sinned
for this Our heart is faint, for these things our eyes are
dim. Because of the mountain of Zion,
which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. Thou, O Lord, remainest
forever. Thy throne from generation to
generation. Wherefore dost thou forget us
forever and forsake us so long time? Turn us, turn thou us unto
thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned. Renew our days as of
old. Jeremiah is talking about when
they were in prison, but it has such a spiritual application. As Lord, as things get to going
grand and I'm thinking I'm spiritual and growing, turn me so I can
just see you. Not that I want to be glorying
in my own accomplishments, but I want to see you. And here's
John. The voice comes to him from behind. Turn me Lord. I think probably
he was pretty satisfied with where he's sitting until he got
to turn around and there was no comparison to where he was
to what he got to see. There's nothing that could compare
out here, looking at even being in the spirit on the Lord's day,
could not compare to what he was going to see as God turned
him. As we go back over there, we
find that he was turned. When he was turned, it says there
in verse 10, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard a
voice behind me, heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. And he turned, verse 12, he says,
and I turned to see the voice that spake with me. God moved
him to turn. He heard and he turned. But now
this great voice, this voice, it's just hard to explain a voice
so triumphant and so glorious and so loud and so that could
speak this world into existence. that could take nothing and make
a world, and could take nothing and make man a voice. He spoke and the worlds were
created. I can't imagine that voice, the
authority that's in that voice. the magnitude of that voice,
the glory of that voice, how loud it was, how the earth trembled
in its own creation at the voice of the one that's spoken into
existence. This voice, it's a great voice, it's a glorious voice,
it's a grand voice, it's a good voice, it's a loud voice. Now this voice is used several
times in scriptures and they are so prominent, my goodness,
to He had something to say and he silenced the crowd by the
loudness of his voice. He had an act to perform and
he silenced the crowd by what he had to say. It was such a
grand, clear statement of power and authority. This verse over
here in the book of John chapter 11, turn there with me. You know
where I'm going? I'm going to the tomb of Lazarus.
This grand voice, my goodness, he could hide himself in a crowd.
There were several times they made an attempt and they would
have, if they could have, killed him. And he'd slip away and they
couldn't even identify him in the crowd. He removed himself. And this day, with such clarity,
such power, such volume, Such interest, such desire to demonstrate
the glory of God in creation. Here in the book of John, chapter
11, we read these words as the Lord Jesus Christ comes up to
a dead man's tomb, dead four days. I mean, there's clarification
there. Don't even open the door, his
sister said. Don't even open the door. Don't
roll away the stone. It's just terrible. So John chapter
11 verse 43, we read these words. And when he had thus had spoken,
he cried with a loud voice. Now, I don't know how many decibels
it was, but it was loud. And it means
powerful, clear, distinct, overcoming all obstacles, overcoming the
crowd, the buzz of the crowd, overcoming every enemy, overcoming
all, overcoming the world, overcoming every enemy, overcoming death,
what power and and volume had to be exercised that day when
Jesus Christ overcame death. He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus
come forth. There's no actor that could perform
with the distinctness that Jesus performed that day. They couldn't study the voice
enough, but he knew what he was doing. And he knew he had to
silence the enemy. That loud voice. Now there's
other times recorded in scripture. Three of them, I think two of
them are about the same event, but they're recorded three times
in scripture. When from the cross he cried
with a loud voice. Got their attention. These other
men are writhing in agony, and he's speaking with authority
from the cross. The creator of heaven and earth
is speaking. The one who raised Lazarus from
the dead, the one who overcame sin, death, hell, and the grave
with a loud voice, he gave up himself on the cross. No man
took his life from him, but he gave it over willingly, voluntarily,
as it was in the covenant of grace. And when he spoke from
the cross with a loud voice, he commended his spirit to the
Father. With a loud voice, he said, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? What a voice! He spoke there about our position
as sinners before an almighty God. Here's the Son of God paying
the price of our sin, and God his Father refuses to be called
Father and must be addressed as God. My God, my God. He's spoken father before this,
he'll speak father after that on the cross. But this time he
must address him as God and with a loud voice. The God who created
heaven and earth, the God who created all the stars and angels
from the cross cried with a loud voice. So he is in the business. of declaring who he is by his
voice. He is in the business of declaring
who he is by what he does. He is declaring business to be
done today. And when he cries with a loud
voice, the voice of a trumpet, the voice that charges the air, he spoke with a voice. As it
tells us over there in the book of Revelation, he said, behind
me a great voice, a loud voice as of a trumpet. Now this trumpet
did not have a wavering sound. Paul was used to write it for
the trumpet sound and it's an uncertain sound. Now, the military
used to be run by these trumpets. And it was just not getting up
and going to bedtime, trumpets. It was charge, retreat, how fast
you went into battle. All of these things were given
to the ear. People were given orders through
the trumpet. The generals spoke to the trumpeter
and the trumpeter put out the message. And Paul said, if it
gives an uncertain sound, how will you know to go into battle
or to retreat? What he's having to say is, if
the gospel be not preached, then people are not going to hear.
It must be a clear, distinct sound, the sound of a trumpet,
a war trumpet used by the lips of a professional. And that's
what we find with the Lord Jesus Christ, the voice of a professional. His voice is like a trumpet,
catches your attention and draws you to it. and causes you to
hear. Now, this voice is saying, now,
John's still this direction and the voice is behind him. Talk
about surround sound. We got surround sound. This voice
touched both ears, touched his eyeballs, touched his hands,
his feet, his whole body was in contact with these words. I remember one year, The shop
teacher says, Norm, you've got to come over and watch this.
I said, what do you got, Fred? He says, you've got to come see
this. And there was a kid that put a million dollars worth of
electronic gear into his car. It was more than I'd ever want
to put in a car. He put thousands of dollars of speakers in his
car. And he has that car speakers
running, and Fred put a quarter on the top of that car, and it's
jumping off this far. I mean, the sound waves are bouncing
that quarter off the top of the car. And you could feel the bass
notes, I mean, bumping you. You could just feel them bumping
you. They come down Court Street and they'll rattle our glass
in our windows. What I'm saying is, this is a
voice you can feel. It's surround sound. It's got
your attention. It's got John's attention. He's
thinking he's in the right direction, but he's not. He's going to be
turned, though. Thank God he does that. Sometimes we're so
satisfied with the way we are, and God so pleasantly sends a
train by us through the voice of a trumpet, and we turn. We turn. Every day, God thank
him, he turns us. He turns us. Oh, we're so prone,
but he turns us. He's faithful to us. He's a faithful
high priest, and he will faithfully turn us, and he'll turn us by
his voice. And he says here, I heard behind
me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am, and I wish I could
just mimic that voice. Oh my goodness. It is so clear
and so distinct and struck his ears with such distinctness and
clarity. I am Alpha and Omega. It's one
thing to write it. It's another thing to hear it.
We can write I'm Alpha and Omega on a blackboard until it's past
going home time. But when he speaks it to our
soul, I am the beginning and the ending. I am the everlasting
one. I am Jehovah God Almighty. And speaks it to our soul, we'll
never be the same. We'll want that again. Brother Milton Howard was in
my home one time and he said, you know Norm, I've had two or
three good cups of coffee in my life and this isn't one of
them. Now what he's telling me is,
if you've ever had a good cup, you know what it is to taste
bad coffee. My goodness, this is so good. If you've ever heard this voice,
you will never listen for another. You will not want an uncertain
sound of the trumpet. This is the voice of a trumpet
saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what
thou seest. Oh my goodness, not only are
we going to get to hear, but we're going to get to see. And
this is in surround sight, overshadowing sight. I'm incomplete. This is that omnimax. The Lord
Jesus coming from one side going around the full spectrum and
passing off to this side. Generally speaking, we have pretty
good peripheral vision. That's where we catch movement.
Thank God. Thank God. He catches our eye. Moses saw something and he turned
aside. John heard something and he turned
aside and then he saw and the Lord Jesus is going to give this
to him and then we're just overwhelmed as we go down through there and
read about what he looks like. What he looks like. This is no
picture that's ever been painted. All the pictures of Jesus, they're
not like this one. This is the best picture you'll
ever see. Now the Song of Solomon is there
too. Best picture. And you have to admit at the
conclusion Oh my goodness, he's altogether lovely. There's no
imperfections in our Savior. Some people, he's good this far,
their prophet, he's good this far, but he had this failing.
You know what the worst failing of most prophets is? And he died. That's the worst failing. Now our prophet, he purposed
to lay down his life, a ransom for many, and he purposed to
be in the tomb for three days and three nights. But on purpose,
and of a purpose, he rose the third day, according to the scriptures. And our prophet, priest and king,
is sitting at the right hand of the father, and with the voice
of a trumpet, he's giving out his word to his people. And there's
a resonant frequency. I saw a film one time of the
Gallopin' Gertie. That was that old Narrows Bridge.
That wind came down through there and pretty soon it's going in
a wave. Tore it all to pieces. You see a stop sign, hits the
resonant frequency. Going like that. God creates
a resonant frequency in us when he saves us that will hear this
clear, distinct voice and we don't even question it. It just
vibrates us. Resonant frequency. He is in,
no, we're in tune with him. He's created a receiver within
us that is in tune with his word. And that's what we're going to
read about here. Well, our time is up.