I had a joyful time in my study
and I hope I have something to share. Several years ago, a couple of
people called Nancy and I, they were caught in a winter storm
on Interstate 84 and they needed a place to stay. And they called
up and we said, sure, drop by, we have a place for you. Well,
it turned out that they were some young, very young children
when we knew them down in Moline, and they said, by way of introduction,
my dad is, my mom is, do you remember them? And we said, of
course we remember them, they're our friends down there. And by
way of introduction, I said that to say this, we are absolutely
dependent upon our father for all our needs. And these people
knew, they hoped, and they felt very confident that they'd have
a place to stay because we knew their father. We had a relationship
with their father. And we're in the same boat. We
need to go in on the train of our father. We need to be caught
in his apron. caught under his apron. Now the
verse that we'd like to deal with tonight is verse 3 of the
first chapter and we spoke a little bit last week about that word
blessed and how valuable it is to us and as I was studying I
just thought I wonder how how would we view this book or this
phrase if we had never heard that apocalypse meant imminent
destruction of the world. If we'd never heard that, how
would we view this book? I think we'd probably view it
a lot different. And I had to get some soap and water out tonight
in my study and slosh around a little bit because when we
hear things are close or things are near or things are, as we
do right here twice very closely in here, I have to get the soap
and water out and wash some of the old things that I used to
hold and hope that I don't pay much attention to him anymore,
because there's more in this book than prediction. This is the book of the Lamb. This is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. And there's gonna be some things
shared in here that no doubt lay in the future. Some have
already no doubt taken place, and some are in the process of
being taken place, but that's not the issue. The issue is the
Lamb of God, our Savior, victorious over all our enemies and over
every enemy of God. That's the issue. And every time
we see those things laid out, we're going to see Him smashing
them. He is going to overcome sin,
death, hell, and the grave for our good, for our glory, and
for His glory. Revelation 1, verse 1, the revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto them to show unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass. And he said and signified
it by his angel unto his servant, John, who bear record of the
word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things
that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and
they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein, for the time is at hand. John to
the seven churches of 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 made and
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father To Him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now we're going
to stop there and we want to spend a little time on verse
three, but there's three or four verses I'd like to read with
regard to that word blessed that we started with. And the first
one again, take, go with me back to the book of Matthew, Matthew
chapter 16. And this is such as a glorious
blessed that the Lord Jesus Christ shared with the apostle Peter.
When Peter made that confession, thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. Now, here in Matthew chapter
16, we find that the Lord Jesus Christ shares with the Apostle
Peter, you didn't come up with that on your own. You didn't
realize that on your own. wasn't something that you learned.
Now you may have heard that just like a lot of people thus far
that we have met have heard the reading of that verse of scripture
and still walk away and wonder what is it talking about. The
apostle Peter walked away and says, I know what it's talking
about, because the Lord Jesus Christ said, blessed. Matthew
chapter 16, and there verse 17, the scriptures share this. And
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. So the Apostle Peter was thankful,
glad, blessed, and all these things, but he couldn't walk
away and say, I got that on my own. And we read there Sunday,
we have learned if we're going to glory, glory in the Lord. He's going to make us come to
that conclusion. We will glory in Him and not
in ourself. We won't glory in our ways, our
works, our attitudes. We'll glory in the Lord Jesus
Christ and He will give us victory. He's promised that. Now, one
other verse of scripture I want to read is found in Romans chapter
four. As we think about this word blessed,
and it is a grand word, it's like revelation, the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Blessed, Romans chapter four,
verse seven, the scriptures share this, and every believer I'm
convinced that in our heart we shout every time we hear this
verse of scripture, every time we read it, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Verse seven, excuse me. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. I can shout over that. I can just get excited over that,
to know that God has forgiven me and put away all my sin and
will not impute sin to me. I can understand what it means
to be blessed. That's a good thing. It's happy. God's people can be happy over
that. We can be happy over the fact that flesh and blood did
not reveal the truth to us, but the Father which is in heaven.
And that's really the truth that's revealed to us. And then as we
read over here in the book of Revelation chapter 1 and verse
3, blessed is he that readeth. Same word and same attitude that
can be given to us. And we're going to come up with
the same outcome that the Apostle Peter came up with when the Lord
Jesus Christ shared with him. Blessed are you, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you. This came from
God. Now, as we read there in verse
three, it says, blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear
the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein, for the time is at hand. And I hope by the end of this
evening, we will see that these are all impossible things. We
cannot do them. And so we must depend on the
Lord to do them for us. There are four verses that I
wanna share with you that just share with us where we stand
on all these truths. Turn with me, first of all, to
Philippians chapter four and verse 13. Book of Philippians,
there are four verses that we want to share tonight that we'll
just share. We come along here, we say, the Bible says we're
gonna be blessed if we read, have you read this all the time?
Are you a consistent reader of the word of God? I'm ashamed. I get to ruminate
on it. I get to think about it. But
a consistent reader, I'm ashamed. Do we hear the words always? And do we keep them? My goodness. There was a Pharisee that says,
I've kept all that from my youth up. And Jesus said in his heart,
you're a liar. You are an out and out liar. You have not kept
these from your youth. Go sell all you have and give
to the poor." And he went away very sad because he was very
rich in himself. We don't read it like we should.
We don't hear it like we should. And we don't keep it like we
should. We can't. We're human beings
standing before God as human descendants of Adam, and we are
in need. We are in need that God has done
this for us, and that he is reading it so we can hear it and understand
it, and he's keeping it for us. We just are so dependent upon
the Lord, we're gonna walk away and say, thank you, Lord. Flesh
and blood has not revealed this unto you, but my Father which
is in heaven. Every truth we've ever seen, that's the key to
it. Now here in the book of Philippians chapter four, Philippians chapter
four, verse 13, we read these words. I can do all things. Have
you ever heard that? Well, let's read the rest of
the verse. I can do all things, yes, but it is contingent upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians chapter four, verse
13, the scriptures share this. I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens me. I can't do it on my own. I can't
get the job done. I'm going to be lost if I have
to depend on myself, but I can do all things through Christ,
which strengthens me. He's the ability giver. He's
the one that gives us the ability to keep what is necessary. We
find we're going to read several times in the book of First John,
you must keep his commandments. I sunk down in my chair tonight.
Keep his commandments. I know someone who has. The Lord
Jesus Christ has kept all the commandments. He has kept all
the word. I'm going to sit in his lap and
say, I know him. I know him. He's mine. I know
him. And he said he'd keep it on my
behalf. I want to sit in his lap. All right. Turn with me
to Philippians chapter two and verse 13. Oh, I love this one. Have you ever done all the will
of God? I sat down, I'm crunched down in my chair because I started
reading this. Philippians chapter 2 and verse
13, it says, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and
to do of His good pleasure. Hallelujah. I saw victory already. God doing it, God performing
it, God giving the ability. I'm just sitting in the Lord
Jesus Christ and riding along in Him. It is God that gives
us the ability to keep His law because He's kept it on our behalf.
We just get to ride in Him. It's not us, it's Him. As we
read here in Philippians 2, verse 13, for it is God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And then
if you turn with me to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, there's hope. This, we're gonna read, we're
gonna hear, and we're gonna Keep, but we're going to do it in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. We just can't get the job done.
We can't satisfy it. If God says there's a law you've
got to read, you've got to hear, and you've got to keep, we might
as well go fishing if we don't have outside sources. Because
we just can't get it done. We're unable. The most pious
person that's ever lived on this earth, person, man, sitting somewhere
in his monastery somewhere, reading the Bible all the time and praying
all the time, still can't get the job done. Because it's a
job God alone is going to perform on the behalf of his people.
We are his citizens. We are under his care. He is
the chicken and we're the chicks. He's going to take care of us.
All right, 1 Peter 1, verse 1, the scriptures share this, and
I'm glad he starts with this premise. about being the elect,
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit and obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ. The Godhead is represented. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father chose a people
before the foundation of the world. God the Son says, I will
lay down my life, a ransom for them. And God the Holy Spirit
says, I'll go out and find every last one of them. And everyone
will have a place to be when we get into glory, and no seats
will be left over, and there won't be anybody standing along
the wall. God has it worked out for His
glory, His honor, and His praise, but He's the one that is doing
it. And then it says, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled. Well, have you been watching
the stock market lately? Be careful. Have you watched
the dollar with the world monies? We're at par with Canada right
now. Dollar for dollar. I mean, our
dollar just sliding across the money market. There is no stability. but there is an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, and fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Now, what is our inheritance? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is our inheritance. He's reserved in heaven for us.
Now, he has a lot of goodies to go with it. Now, notice here
in verse five, we who are kept by the power of God, We're kept
by the power of God. We're not out here in the ocean
with no help. We're not out in this world left
alone. God has not left us alone. He is with us. He walks beside
us. He cares for us. He upholds us. He carries us. He is the one
that preserves us and preserves us spotless. He is the one that
has all the interest. And if he loses one, it's his
name. If we're lost, we knew it all
along. But if he loses one, it's his
name, his purpose of grace. It says there, who are kept by
the power of God through faith in the salvation, ready to be
revealed at the last time. And then Hebrews, would you back
up just a little bit to the book of Hebrews? We are in a, we're
taken care of. We're taken care of. Don't fret.
God's people are taken care of. They are put into a position
where they will be able to do all that is required because
the Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled all that is required. He took
upon himself every requirement and has imputed that to every
one of his children. We read there about Abraham paying
tithes to Melchizedek. What really happened? Levi paid
tithes in Abraham to Melchizedek. It was to his account, and the
Lord Jesus Christ has paid our account. So when we get over
there and we read, blessed are you that read, and hear, and
keep, all those are imperative things. It's not an option. It's not an option. It's imperative. It's necessary. It is absolutely
essential. And then you find out all of
God's sheep, he has enabled them by his grace to do all of that
in him. Now, Hebrews, Hebrews chapter
seven, verse 25. I like this. I like thinking about being to
the uttermost. What's it say? Wherefore, he
is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Now, uttermost means absolute. He is able to save to the uttermost. There's nowhere that he hasn't
saved. There's nowhere in us or around
us that he has not saved us. So he's able to save to the uttermost.
So when we get over here to the book of Revelation chapter 1
and verse 3, and it says, happy are those people who keep this,
and read this, and hear this, and keep this. Then we find out,
I can remember when I wasn't hearing, and I can remember when
I wasn't reading. And part of that was today, and
yesterday was really bad, and tomorrow could be just as serious.
I'm so glad that there's someone standing in my place, that I
can call ahead and say, do you remember my father? He's the
one that has taken care of me. Okay, now let's look at this.
We are blessed, we are happy, we have the spiritual blessings
of the Lord, and every spiritual blessing is found in Christ Jesus,
and every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from
the Father of lights, with whom there is no shadow or variables
of turning, found in James. I mean, everything is in Christ,
and he funnels it to us. He just puts it on us. Every
spiritual blessing is ours. And part of every spiritual blessing
is He gives us the ability to read and enjoy. And even when we're not reading,
we're reading because He has read it for us. We get to enjoy
reading when we're not even reading. because it is not a physical
thing, it is a spiritual thing. We get to read the rich blessings
of Christ Jesus and the world can't even read the language
that we get to read it in. It's a spiritual language, it's
a spiritual blessing that God gives to us. It is Him allowing
us to see Him and we get to do it on His behalf and we're just
returning what He's given to us. We get to read the Lord Jesus
Christ and happy is the people that get to do that. And then
it says, we get to hear. Now it's not this hearing. I
heard a lot of word read. I had people find fault with
me because I told them I never heard the gospel until I heard
the gospel in 1986. Now people say, well, you heard
the gospel. I didn't. Never heard it. There were words said, it was
thunder. Just thunder. Never made any,
any approach to me. But when I heard the gospel,
when God opened up my heart, when God brought me off of a
cold slab, when he brought me out of the tomb, when I heard
the Lord Jesus Christ, it was a hearing in a language I'd never
heard before. It was a hearing. He hit my heartstrings. He gave me life so I could hear
him. It's a blessing to read him,
but to hear him, and then it goes on to say here in first
three, and keep. Now that's, I was sitting there,
I really, I did go to sleep, but my face did hit the desk. But I got, how in the world am
I gonna keep something? I can't even read it enough,
and I don't hear it enough, and you expect me to keep it? And
then it just all fell into place. He's kept it. He's kept it. It's his whole purpose of grace
is to keep it for his children, to keep every jot and every tittle. for his children, to keep all
the law for his children, to keep all the word of God for
his children. They are in error, but he is
perfect and he has kept every bit for us. And it is a keeping
that is not us doing it. It's not the physical realm.
Oh, we can keep a door and we can keep awake. You know, but
this is far surpassing that. It is spiritual. It is down where
we don't even know. It is a keeping that God gives
to us, and it is a keeping. Now, I would like you to turn
with me over here to the book of Matthew 12. There are 10 or 11 times this
phrase is used in Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ is dealing
with a group of Pharisees, by and large, and as we heard, I
think it was this last Sunday, those Pharisees knew the word. Physical word. We had a man at
camp one time, he could quote more scripture than I think I
have ever read. No, he could quote books. I could
quote verses, he could quote chapters. I could quote chapters,
he could quote books. he didn't know the first thing
about what it meant. It was all a pride thing. Let me show you what I've learned.
Let me show you what I've learned. Well, I'll tell you what, I would
rather have one verse with understanding than 10,000 that I didn't even
know what meant. One verse. Now here in the book
of Matthew, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to a group of Pharisees,
and he does this 10 or 11 times in the scripture, but this is
just an example. He says in verse three of the 12th chapter of
the book of Matthew, Matthew 12, three, but he said unto them,
have you not read? Now that's the same word that
we find over there, and he's talking to them about something
they've all read. They were very fluent in the
reading of the Old Testament. Have you not read? This is kind
of a... You read this, but you don't
know what it's talking about. Have you not read? Now, I don't
want the Lord Jesus Christ doing that to me. And he won't. Because he's gonna say, I've
read it for you. I've read it. It's mine to give. It's in a language you can't
read on your own. Have you not read what David
did when he was hungered and they that were with him, how
he entered into the house of God and did eat the holy bread?
The showbread, which is not lawful for him to eat, neither for them
which were with him, but only for the priests. Have you not
read? Now they'd read it. Have you
not read? They didn't know what it was
about. They had no concept of what it was about. And this that
we're reading over here, the book of Revelation chapter one
and verse three, the word means reading with understanding. And
that's what the apostle Peter said, thou art the Christ, the
son of the living God. He's saying, I read with understanding.
And Jesus Christ said unto you, you didn't get this out of a
textbook. You didn't get this from your Sunday school teacher.
Your daddy didn't teach you this and your mama didn't teach you
this. My father, which is in heaven, reveal this to you. And if we have any understanding
about the word of God, then it's going to come that very same
way. Blessed, happy as he who's been
up to the trough and got fed from the Lord Jesus Christ. Happy. It's not a word on a page, it's
the word of God. It's the Lord Jesus Christ that
has fed us. I've had meat to eat that you
know not of, and that same meat is given to his children when
we feast on him. I have meat to eat you know not
of. It's just a sustenance that goes
beyond the natural ability to perceive, feeding on Christ. And there it says, blessed is
he that readeth, and they that hear. I'd like to look at a couple
of verses here. Revelation chapter two, verse
seven. Did you notice that? And it's
several times, there's seven times in two chapters this is
mentioned. He that hath an ear, let him
hear. We can't stop there. What the
Spirit sayeth. Now, we read over there in John
three, in the Bible class, that the Spirit is like the wind. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. Blessed is he that hears what
the Spirit has to say. It's not what the preacher has
to say, but what the Spirit has to say. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now
that says seven times. Now turn with me to chapter five
and verse 11. Same word again, but the apostle
John gets involved. I saw, I heard. Here in chapter
five and verse 11, the scripture says, and I beheld and I heard
the voice of many angels. What does that sound like? You've heard it, but you can't
explain it. What is that? That's the praise
to Almighty God in words that we just cannot describe. Have
you ever praised the Lord and not said a word? I mean, you just, you just, I
hate to use the word feeling, but that's just what it is. You
just felt so close to God and praised him and didn't utter
a word. John said in chapter five and
verse 11, and beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne and beasts and elders, and the number of them
was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. I heard. heard and then he goes on to
say same word verse 13 and every creature which is in heaven and
on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and
all of them heard I saying now this is what I want to hear I
want to hear the God praising God and every creature praising
God. He says, I heard this blessing
and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne upon the Lamb and unto the Lamb forever and ever.
I heard it. I got to hear this. Blessed is
if he got to hear this. And God's people get to hear
things about God that no one else ever gets to hear. There's
things about God that he shares with his people that is in our
heart and we cannot describe. Describe praise to God. Now we sing and we say this,
we're singing praise to God. That's just a poor imitation
of praise to God. I heard, oh, I heard it all.
I heard them all praising God. And then chapter six, look at
chapter six. And I saw the lamb open the seals. And I heard, as it were the noise
of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, come and see. And then
in that same chapter, verse three, and when he had opened the second
seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. Now what did
he hear? My goodness, the sovereignty
of God displayed in such a way that he heard it. Can you hear
the sovereignty of God? Can you hear the glory of God? Can you hear the joy of God?
Can you hear all of the great displays about God? His infinity,
can you hear it? Can you hear the joy of God?
Can you hear the peace of God? Can you hear it? And it strikes
God's people to the core. They walk away and say, I've
been someplace today. I've been in his presence. John
mentions this several times more. I heard, I heard, I heard, and
there's not a sound made. And then in Revelation chapter
one and verse three, it says, blessed is he that readeth and
they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things. Keep those things. First John chapter two. First John chapter two, and I
think there's about eight or 10 times very closely in this
passage of scripture, he uses this term. First John chapter
two, verse three, and hereby we do know that we know him,
and the same word is keep there, if we keep his commandments.
Hmm. I want someone to keep him for
me, because I want to know him. We'll never keep his commandments
in our flesh. We'll never keep his commandments
in our head. We'll never keep our commandments
in us as a descendant of Adam. What does it say concerning the
new covenant? I'm going to write it on their
heart and everyone shall know me. and they will keep my word. It is a benefit of the everlasting
covenant. It is a benefit of the covenant
of grace. It is a benefit of the new covenant
that God's people can keep his word. It's not happened since
Adam till God saved the first soul. All down through the ages,
hundreds of thousands of millions of people had no concept of what
it was to keep the word of God. God commanded it to the Jews
and he punished them when they didn't do it. And once in a while,
by God's free and sovereign grace, he revealed it unto some and
they kept his word. David kept it. Sinner to the
core. Abraham kept it. Solomon Those
heroes of faith that we read about in Hebrews chapter 11,
out of all the masses of people that were born on the face of
the earth, none kept his word except those that he revealed
himself to, and that was part of the package. I give unto you
the ability to keep my word, and we don't even know we're
doing it. It's given to us on the behalf of Jesus to keep his
word, to keep his commandments. Now, a whole group developed
sinless perfection from these verses of scripture, which is
a farce and a lie, because all God's people are going to go
to their graves saying, as Paul did, oh, woe is me. In me is
no good thing. In him is everything, but in
me is no good thing. We're gonna go to the grave saying
that. We're not gonna be sinless perfect except in our spirit,
in our soul. That's where God has done a work.
But we get to keep his commandments as a result of the covenant of
grace and for no other reason. I marked that off, kept. Kept,
marked that off. They have read kept they have
heard kept and they have they've read they've heard and
they've kept i mark them all off all of them have been done
by my people because i've imputed that quality to them in first john chapter 2 verse
4 Just read through here. If you
don't have this given to you, you're gonna be a sad state because
you don't know God, you don't know the Son, you don't love
his people, because this is a qualification mark. Read with me here, 1 John
2, verse 4. The scriptures share this. He
that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar,
and the truth is not in him. Whoso keepeth his word, and in
him verily is the love of God perfected, hereby know we that
we are in him. And verse, chapter three and
verse 22. Chapter three, verse 22. Scripture
say, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep
his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in
his sight. If your prayer request answered is dependent upon you
keeping his commandments, How many of your prayer requests
are going to be answered? Zero. Because we don't. It's an impossibility, but it's
given to us on the behalf of Christ. It is our blessing in
the new covenant. He will write his law on our
heart and he will keep it for us. And so, blessings to behold. Throws them out. Happy are my
people. Happy are my people. They look
to me and they see the reader. They look to me and they see
the hearer. And they look to me and they see the keeper. And
everything is going to be fine because I'm going to do it all
for my people. I am the reader, I'm the alpha
and omega, I'm the beginning and the end. I am the hearer,
I've heard my father. And I am the keeper, I've kept
all the law on their behalf. And I'll keep every commandment
on their behalf. And they shall love one another,
and they shall love me because I'm doing it for them. And then
as the apostle John goes on to say there, in Revelation chapter
one, verse three, Blessed is he that readeth and
they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things
which are written therein. Hallelujah, he's the reader,
he's the hearer, he's the keeper. And then it says there in the
last phrase, for the time is at hand. Now I wonder what our
view of that would be if we'd never heard that apocalypse means
uh-oh instead of enlightened. Light to lighten the Gentiles. That's what the word comes from
Turn with me in two to three places where the same word is
used and We don't think of it as oh, oh, it's right there.
We better be careful on what we're doing Now you we want to
be careful what we're doing. We're not stupid. I My goodness,
God's people are not stupid. We're not going to tempt the
Lord our God. We're not going to say, well, you know, I think
it's really out in the future, so I'm going to go live like
the devil. God's people won't do that. They're not going to. If they can, I like what Greg
Youngquist said, leave if you can. You can leave. I'm not talking about leaving
his church. I'm just said leave Christ Leave if you can if you
can more power to you, but you didn't know him Didn't know him. He wasn't yours All right now
let's look here in the book of Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
13 same word time is at hand Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
13 But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
The word nigh is the same word as we find over there. Now I
like that. I'm brought in close by the blood
of Christ. I was a far off, but I've been brought in close. And
sometimes the Lord puts hooks in our jawbones and pulls us
to him. Sometimes it's just simple cords of love. Whatever pleases
him, he's going to do it. He knows our personality. He
knows what we're going to have to have applied to us to get
us to come to him. But we are brought nigh by the
blood. Now that same word is found over
there where it says the time is at hand. The time's close. It's time to trust Christ. It's time to praise God. It's
time to have him as our reader, our hearer, and our keeper. Every day is a good day for that.
And then Ephesians chapter 2, verse 17, same word again. And came and preached peace to
you that were afar off and to them that were nigh. Jews were
up close, but they didn't know anything. Gentiles were afar
off. He preached to them and brought them both into one pile,
the church. And then Philippians chapter
four. Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter 4 and verse
5, let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at
hand. The word at hand is the same
word over there in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 3. The Lord
is at hand. What's that mean? He's real close.
He's always been close to his people. He's not in a far country. He's always been close. The Lord
is at hand. Let your moderation be known.
Now, yes, he is close in his coming the second time. However
long it is, however short it is, it's still short. One of
the thing I want to read before we close and that is found in
the book of Acts chapter 2 verse 14 We have last days last day. We're in the last days. Look
at here Acts chapter and all the Saints have agreed. We haven't
disagreed with that But it has become a phenomenon an idiocracy
has developed as a result of that They have taken out of context
and out of the word of God and oh we're gonna set some dates
we're gonna oh he's right here he's imminent listen to this
Acts chapter 2 verse 14 they're having Pentecost and it was a
phenomenon and a whole bunch of people you got drunks in the
church and they're up there preaching and they're speaking in another
language, the wonderful works of God. And Peter steps up and he
says, you know, I had a bell rang and it brought to my attention
the prophet Joel. The spirit spoke to me and said,
this is the fulfillment of the prophet Joel. This is what this
is. and he was not spoken to in a
negative way by God. He's interpreting, he's bringing
to our attention. Now notice here, verse 14, but
Peter standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice and said
unto them, you men of Judea and all you that dwell in Jerusalem,
be this known unto you and hearken to my words. For these are not
drunken as you suppose, seeing as but the third hour of the
day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And
it shall come to pass in the last days. Now the last days
to them was 2,000 years ago to us. But it was the last days. The last days. We've been in
the last days. We've been in the last days.
The last days will continue until the Lord comes the second time.
It shall come to pass in the last days. And this is written
in the book of Joel. Chapter two, I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I'll pour
out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. Now,
I don't understand every bit of that, but I know it was fulfilled
in that day. That was it. That was the last
days. Joel wrote about it. Peter said, the Holy Spirit showed
this to me this morning. This is what's going on right
here. This is the revelation, the fulfillment of the prophet
Joel in the last days. So when someone comes to you
and says, we're in the last days, you say, yeah, you're right.
That's what Peter said on the day of Pentecost, and it's been
that ever since. We're in the last days. Don't
spend your time worried about signs. I appreciated what we
find in the scriptures. A wicked and adulterous generation
seek after a sign. And no sign shall be given except
the prophet Jonah. As he was in the great fish's
belly three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. That's the
sign. Was it fulfilled? Hallelujah, the resurrection.
That's the only thing we got. The rest of it is conjecture,
and most of it is hogwash. The rest of it is, let's just
find Christ in this book and enjoy it. He is our reader, He
is our hearer, and He is our keeper. And the rest of it is
just Jesus Christ showing that He is a pleasant Savior for all
His people. He makes us glad. No wonder we
can sit down, lay down in green pastures, because the Savior
is good to His All right, we'll stop there.