Turn with me tonight to the book
of Revelation chapter one. I am just overwhelmed when I
read about this, read this book and read other verses that compliment
this book as we hope to tonight. Revelation chapter one. And I'd
like to read the first three verses of this first chapter. And we spent some time on the
first verse. Don't want to wear it out, but
we do want to say this, that that is the theme. Now, I read
a book today. I took a break for about 15 minutes as I was
going by the used bookstore in Portland, the Pilgrim Bookstore. I had to divert myself. I had
driven by it five or six or seven or eight times and never diverted
myself. So today, I said, I need to go
by there. And I went in, and here's a book
in the used book section on in times or something like that
and I was flipping through and I saw Heading across the pages
is the key to the book of Revelation. I says I want to read this And
he said the key to the book of Revelation is verse 9 Excuse me I Anyway, it's the things that
are past, the things that are present, and the things that
are future. And I folded my book up and I stuck it back in the
shelf. Because when you start with that premise, then you're
starting on the wrong foot. Because the book tells us what
is the key. And that's in verse one. The
revelation of Jesus Christ. Now it's not just in this book. We want to state that again,
we want to stipulate that. Every book of the Bible is the
revelation of Jesus Christ. Every sacrifice, and I was reading
a book I did pick up, a gentleman in there said, you know, we look
at those men and women of the Old Testament, the kindness of Joseph, and the
wisdom of Solomon, And on and on it went, different ones that
mentioned and said these are all just statements of the glory
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. One of them was the patience
of Job. And you know, our Savior's patient,
isn't he? He's patient with us. So all
of those just, characters, just share with us different things
about our Savior. Well, this is the revelation
of Jesus Christ, and we're going to see that in every verse and
every chapter of this, the book of Revelation, but we'll also
see that in every book of the Bible. He is the key to the Bible. It is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. And we are interested in spiritual blessings. And we
notice there in verse three, and we're gonna go down, but
we're gonna come back. 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. Would you
keep your finger right there and back up to the book of Ephesians
chapter one, verse three, for just a moment. And we notice
here in Ephesians, that Paul was a secretary that was used
by Almighty God to write this glorious book to the saints at
Ephesus, to the church at Ephesus, and to us. And here in verse
three, we find out where every spiritual blessing comes from.
There is no true spiritual blessing outside of Christ. Now people
might say, well, I got a blessing. If it's not in Christ, it's not
a spiritual blessing as defined by the word of God. We may got
a feel good blessing, we may got all kind of that kind of,
but a spiritual blessing, what does it say? Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. So every blessing
that we get, every good gift and every perfect gift cometh
down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. So everything that we are benefit,
we are the beneficiaries of, they come from God. They come
through Christ. They are ours because of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So as we go through this book,
every blessing, we say, man, I got a blessing from that. Thank
God. It is a blessing that comes through
Jesus Christ. And that's where we get our blessings.
Nowhere else, nowhere else will we get a blessing. Now, going
back over there to the book of Revelation, verse one, it says,
the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show
unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And
he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant, John.
Now that's quite a title that John carries there. Quite a title. Surprising how many who have
chosen the ministry never look at the word minister. It means servant. Servant. It doesn't mean an exalted position
where everybody pays you high respect. It means a servant.
So he's a servant, the servant John. Now notice verse two. who
bear record of the Word of God. Boy, if we could just have that
on our headstone, bore record of the Word of God. Now, turn
with me to John chapter 1 and verse 14. This same person was
used to write this. He's a secretary. He's God's
secretary, God gave him the paper, God gave him a pen, whatever
paper they had and whatever they used to write with, God gave
it to him and then he gave them the message to put down and write
it so we can enjoy it and appreciate it in our language today. but
in john chapter 1 verse 14 the scriptures share this about the
lord and the word was made flesh john as secretary of god almighty
was privileged to write these words so long ago and say the
word was made flesh this word logos this is a powerful word
we we use the word logo today And companies are identified
by that. We see that logo, we say, well,
that's that company right there. That's that business firm or
whatever. They don't have to have one word under it. Well,
the word logo comes to us in such a way that originally it
was used by kings. And when they got wearied of
people coming into them all the time, they closed the curtain.
And someone else sat down in their chair, and they opened
it up, and he was called the Logo. And he spoke for the King. How wonderful it is, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the King of Glory. He speaks for the triune nature
of God. He speaks to us from God. He is the Logo. He's the Word.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. We just cannot We just
cannot come to grips with that blessing, that God took upon
himself flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us, lived here on this
earth. He was tempted in all ways that
were tempted, yet without sin. I like that statement about my
God. Yet without sin, no sin in him,
no taint of sin. It's not in his morrow, it isn't
in his blood, it isn't in his flesh, it isn't in his mind. It's hard for me to imagine,
because I deal with that all the time. Here, here, it's what
I live with. But he is without sin. And John
goes on to say, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And
when we were going through here, Mike went over this so masterfully,
but how beautiful it is just to read it again and hear those
words of that secretary. So long ago, God gave me these
words and these words spoke of the word of God. Now we may have reverence for
this. but we must have reverence for the word, capital W, capital
O, capital R, capital D. That's the word, that's our salvation,
that's all our hope is that word. So the word became, was made
flesh. Notice verse one of the same
chapter, in the beginning was the word and the word was with
God and the word was God. The only people that don't appreciate
that don't believe in the deity of Christ. The people who do
appreciate that believe in the deity of Christ. The Word. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Woe to people
who have to put a little a in there and a little g. Pitiful,
pitiful, pitiful. He is God. Now, turn with me
to 1 John chapter 1. Oh, the old secretary is not
through. He got to write the book of John.
I mean, he was the secretary for it in quite a few chapters
here. We've been going through that in our Bible class. Mike's
been going through that. But he got to write Three more
little letters. He got to sit down, and God said,
all right, John, I got some more for you to write. And he wrote
1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, and then the book of Revelation.
He's a secretary. God just used him. Now notice
here, in 1 John 1, verse 1, that which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. What a statement. Him, which
was from the beginning, which we have heard. Can you just fathom
that? Sitting down in a field and having
the Lord Jesus Christ say, blessed are the poor in spirit. We heard him with our own ears. And then he goes on to say, which
we have seen with our eyes. We got to see him in his glory.
Mount of Transfiguration, out there on the lake, there with
the woman at the well, we heard that account. Oh, we saw, and
then look at the last part. And our hands have handled of
the word of God. Now everybody that God saves
gets to do that spiritually. I get to lay my head on his breast.
I get to put my hands around him. I get to embrace him. He's embracing me. I embrace
him. We're doing this. It's a spiritual
embrace, and someday it will be fulfilled, but I just embrace
him. He embraces me. And then he goes
on to say, for the life was manifested, and we have seen it and bear
witness and shown to you that eternal life, which was with
the Father and was manifested unto us, that which we have seen
and heard Declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship
with us. That's one blessing about Christianity. It's not selfish. We saw him,
we handled him, we heard him, but you can have the same thing. It is yours. What's he say? That
which we have seen and heard declare unto you that ye also
may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. It's not selfish. We're not going to keep it back.
Oh, would you hear, would you hear the glorious story of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the account of the gospel as it's recorded
in the word of God. John said, I just, I want people
to hear this and hearing may God open their ears so they really
hear. This is the blessing that God
has in the gospel. It's not hidden, it's to be proclaimed
and God brings out fruit. We cast that seed away. I was
down there. I've used this illustration,
but it just sticks in my mind. I was helping old Claude Hagerty
down there. We threw away, I bet, 20 tons of potatoes a hill at
a time. We just run them through that
planter. 100 acres of potatoes. Just threw them away. And it
wasn't a week. He's out there digging them up,
see if they're sprouting. know and he watered them and he fertilized
them and he watered them and fertilized them and we dug a
hundred thousand tons oh it was great what a picture
throw the seed away throw the seed away let god take care of
it and he'll bring forth fruit he will bring in his lost sheep.
It will be effectual. That's the only way it's gonna
be. That's how it's gonna be effectual. When he produces it,
when he brings it forth, Claude couldn't make that potato grow
any faster, even though he kept digging them up. He just couldn't
make it grow any faster. It was at his time, God's time. All right, and so he said he
bear record of the word of God, and John did a masterful job
because God bore record here with John. And John just couldn't
keep it quiet. He just couldn't keep him quiet.
He's so prolific with preaching the gospel that the emperor put
him on the Isle of Patmos and shut him up. Well, you just can't
shut him up. His mind just kept working. He
just kept thinking of the blessings of God Almighty and Christ Jesus. Now there in verse two of Revelation
again, it says, John was privileged to write this. It says who bear record of the
word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ. We just, I hope
you don't get tired of the theme. No, I'll never forget that man
told that preacher. He said, you just turned Jesus
into an idol. And that preacher says, idle,
object of worship. That's the kindest compliment
I've ever received from anybody in my life. You say I've turned
Jesus into an object of worship. Thank God for it. And that's
what we read about John. He says here, who bear record
of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. My goodness,
the testimony. Oh, just hear the good news. of Jesus Christ. Now, if there's
somebody that we like and we want to hear about, then tell
me all you know. Tell me all you know. Now, I
didn't get the opportunity. I should have. But when I went
to visit my uncle, I should have talked to him about my grandfather,
his dad. But I didn't. But you know, now,
if I had the opportunity, I'd say, tell me all you know. Just
let me have it. Tell me everything you can remember
about my grandfather, your dad. And I'd have had something to
write it down with. It's lost to the ages. But when it comes
to the Lord Jesus Christ, John is sharing with us here as he's
penciling out from as God speaks to him, he says, just tell me,
John, you tell me all you know about this one that you walked
with. Tell me, testify this person. Tell me about him. Tell me about
his deity. John wrote about his deity, all
the rest of the apostles wrote about his deity. It's been written
in the ages before Isaiah wrote of his deity. Oh, it says there
in Isaiah chapter six, oh, he's in glory. Even the angels, the
seraphims, they cover their face with two of their wings, and
two of their wings they fly, and two of their wings they cover
their feet, and they say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Tell me about him. Fill in all
the blanks. If you've told me before, one
person told me, he says, I'm going to tell you this story
because I don't know how much you've forgotten. So tell me, just tell me the
old, old story. Tell me about his deity and tell
me about the reality of his human nature. Let me know he's man. Cause only a man, only a man
can die. Jesus Christ must come down here
as the God-man. He must be absolute deity. It's not 50-50. It's 100% and
100%. He must be 100% God and 100%
human. He was born of a virgin. He came
forth from a woman just as it was recorded in the book of Genesis
as would be. Tell me about this one, the Lord
Jesus. Tell me about his humanity. Tell
me about his human nature. Tell me about him growing hungry
and weary, but tell me about him walking on the sea and healing
the lepers and raising the dead. Put them together and we have
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. You tell me about the reality
of his human nature. And I want you to tell me about
the union of these two put together in one man. There is one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. You tell me about
this union. Explain it. We just say it's
of God. I don't understand it, but it's
of God. He put together in one man deity
that's eternal and humanity born in a manger for the suffering
of death. Tell me, tell me about this.
Tell me about his offices. I want to know about him being
a prophet. Oh, his word. Hang on. Every word of God. Hang on. Just be right out there
on the edge of your seat and every word of God. Tell me about
him being a prophet. Now, I'm not talking about prophecy. I'm talking about prophet. He
was the one who spoke the truth of Almighty God. Now others,
prophets, they came, they were bent like us. They did their dead level best,
but everybody could point a fault about them. But this prophet,
Moses said, God will send a prophet, him you will hear. And they questioned
during his ministry, is this the prophet? Is this the prophet?
Well, to his disciples, this is the prophet. This is the one
that's telling the truth about God, telling the truth about
himself. And tell me about him being priest. You know, this priest, he did
more than any other priest. This priest, not only is he the
priest, but he is the lamb that the priest is going to slay.
Tell me about that. Oh, as John wrote there, he says,
and the testimony of Jesus Christ, the gospel. Gospel means good
news. Tell me all the good news you can about this one, the Lord
Jesus. This is the one that's going to change lives. This is
the one that's going to change us. This is the one that's going
to change us and give a reason for living. Tell me about him.
Tell me about him being a priest. He's the one that came down to
offer himself. What was it that Isaac said?
Here's the fire and here's the wood, but where is the lamb for
the burnt offering? And Abraham prophesied. God will provide himself a lamb. Now he provided the lamb, but
he is the lamb. Up on that mountain, I just can't
believe that that ram went through all of that and didn't open his
mouth until at the right time. He had duct tape around his mouth.
He's caught in a thicket by his horns and didn't say a word until
it was the right time. Isn't that what we find out about
the Lord Jesus Christ? He came forth at the right time. He opened not his mouth until
the right time. He came down at the right time.
That's what it says. Tell me about him being king. I heard all my life he's gonna
be he's hoping to be someday he might be but the Bible tells
us he is king right now tell me about him being king I want
to know what a king does he rules he rules and what does he rule
he rules a kingdom and what's in a kingdom subjects all his
children He's king of king and lord of lords. He's king over
every wicked angel, and he's king over his elect angels. He's
king over every single solitary person, but he's king over his
church. And it's a delightful king that's
over the church. He smiles at the church, but
he has an angry vengeance towards all those that are without Christ.
But he smiles at his church. Tell me about this king. Tell
me about his suffering for his people. You know, the only time
we'll ever get a glimpse of what sin is, is go to the cross. That's where we get a glimpse.
We cannot imagine. We just cannot imagine how bad
it is in us. We just cannot imagine. We don't
know what it's like, as bad as it is. We don't know until we
go to the cross and we hear the Son of God cry, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And then we got a little glimmer.
Sin is terrible. It divided man from God, and
it has divided man from God. And the only way we'll ever get
back to God is by the death of his son, the Lord Jesus, and
him suffering every whit of what we deserve. Tell me about the
cross. And he didn't go to the cross
with a blank sheet. The Bible says he had the names
of his people graven on the palms of his hands. He had the names. He's going on for purpose. He's
going on purpose. And then, tell me about his burial
and his resurrection. I don't have to have Easter Sunday
to want to hear about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The victory
he had over death, sin, hell, and the grave. The victory he
had over my sin. He was buried, yet he rose again
the third day according to the scripture, just as he said concerning
Jonah. Jonah, you're a type. You're
a picture. I'm sorry you had to suffer three
days in that great fish's belly, but there's an example, a type,
a shadow, and a picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And that whale got through with him and spit him out on dry land. And Jesus Christ said, as Jonah
spent three days and three nights in the great whale's belly, so
shall the Son of Man spend three days and three nights. in the
heart of the earth. And then it will be over because success
will be had and victory will be enjoyed. And Jesus Christ,
40 days later, went to the right hand of the Father and sat down
where he was before the world began, just as he prayed in his
great high priestly prayer, restoring to me the joy that I had with
you before the world was, the glory that I had with you. Tell
me that. And that's what John's saying
here. Tell me about the Lord Jesus, the gospel, the good news
about this one that we saw and heard and handled. He's more
than just a person. He is our salvation. He is all our hope. That's all there is. Tell me
about him. Tell me. And then he goes on
to say there in all the things that he saw. who bear record
of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and all the things
that he saw. Now, John was privileged to write
the book of John, the gospel. As God gave him privilege to
write down what he saw, as God overrode that, and he wrote down,
we can read that and enjoy what John saw. And every page is about
the Lord Jesus Christ, every page. And then it says here, Blessed, verse three, blessed
is he that readeth. And they that hear the words
of this prophecy. I'm convinced that the Bible
was made to be read out loud. So not only can we read it, but
we get to hear it. I believe this. We find that
example in the Old Testament. They stood up and read the word
of God. Keep those things which are written
therein, for the time is at hand. Now, I just want to spend some
time on that word, blessed, tonight. I'm not going to be able to deal
with the rest of that verse. That word, blessed, blessed. Now,
turn with me. I'm going to read several verses
of scripture, and you'll see with me that there's only one
group of people that can enjoy that word, and that's God's people. That's the only ones that can
enjoy that. It's a mockery. It's a mockery. When people are given this title,
blessed are the peacemakers, and don't know the first thing
about Jesus Christ as Savior. It's a mockery. Because there's
only one peacemaker and that's Jesus Christ. Now turn with me
over to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter five. Several
times in this passage of scripture is this same word used, happy,
joyous, blessed. We call them the Beatitudes here,
but this is not the only place they're listed. We want to look
at several of them as they're found in the scripture. And this,
this Matthew chapter five, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's
one of the things that John mentions. I got to hear him. I got to hear
him. He sat down, got to hear him.
We get to hear him too. As we read the scriptures, we're
hearing the same Savior that John did. We're hearing his words. And God alone can open our heart
to understand what he's saying, because there's a whole bunch
of people that didn't understand what he's saying. And we're going
to read that in just a moment. Matthew chapter 5, it says, beginning
with verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. Every time Jesus Christ speaks,
he's speaking in a spiritual language. Don't try to make this
poor in spirit. They just don't have money. That's
not what he's talking about. The Lord God Almighty is the
only one that can make us poor. And that is having devalued our
pride, made us poor. Hannah said over there in 1 Samuel,
she said he is able to kill and to make alive. Now, a lot of
people want to turn that around. He's able to make alive and then
kill, but Hannah has it right. It's from the spirit. He is able
to kill and then make alive. What's he mean? He's able to
take our religion and kill it. He's able to take our person
and kill it and raise us to newness of life in Jesus Christ. He takes
us down to bring us up. If you've never been taken down
to be brought up, you're not up. He's gonna take you down
to bring you up. He's gonna make sinners out of
us before he makes saints out of us. All right, and then it
says there, blessed are they that mourn. Oh, what's that mourning
about? Our very nature. It's not that
we're just having a bad day. Blessed are the meek for they
should inherit the earth. Meekness. It says Moses was the
meekest man that ever walked the earth. Moses, meekest man. That is power under control. Moses kept himself powerful man
under control. Jesus was meek and mild. What's meekness? It's God's changed
us and we got more power than we know, but it's under his control. And then it says, blessed are
they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. Those who love the word of God, God will fill
them. hunger and thirst after the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, he'll take care of it. Blessed are the pure in
heart. How do you get there? Only one way, the new birth.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God. How do we become a peacemaker? The peacemaker
has made peace with us. The Prince of Peace. Blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are they when men
shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely for my sake. Blessed, blessed, blessed,
blessed, blessed, blessed. And that's the same word we find
over here. Blessed is he that readeth. Now let's go on and
find out a little bit more about this word. Matthew 13 and verse
16. Matthew 13 and verse 16. Notice this, this is so good,
oh my goodness. Don't stop with the Beatitudes.
Go over here to the book of Matthew chapter 16. But blessed are your
eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. My goodness, who
created eyes that can see and ears that can hear? God Almighty
in the people, His people, they're so dead when it comes to spiritual
things by nature. When He creates life in us, He
gives us ears to hear and eyes to see. Blessed, we are a blessed
people. If we've ever seen one, one,
just one particle of light about the Lord Jesus Christ, we are
so blessed. If we've heard one good thing
about Christ, we're so blessed. He's allowed us to see anything,
but he hasn't stopped, has he? He just keeps opening the door
of revelation about the Lord Jesus Christ, and as he opens
the door, we're more blessed. It isn't because we've studied
hard, it's because he was pleased to reveal it to us. Now, don't
stop studying. Don't stop reading. We're not
saying that, but by reading, we'll not have the revelation. It's the spirit that opens the
word of God to us. It's the spirit. Faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God, but he opens our
eyes. Blessed, it says there in Matthew
13, 16, blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for
they hear. My goodness. Have you heard? Have you seen? John said over
there in Revelation chapter one verse two, I heard and I saw. Why? Because he was blessed.
God opened, Matthew 16, 17. Oh, look at this verse with me,
Matthew 16, 17. My goodness, there's another blessed, happy.
No, old Peter could just be happy. He could just be happy. All of
God's people, they can just be happy. It's a blessed thing. It's not our right, but it's
our privilege. The world is so used to entitlements. I think it started with religion. Entitlements, you owe me. I have had enough of strange
people in the last 10 days in Portland. It'll last me the rest
of my life. I'd never have to go down there
again. Entitlements. I am convinced that there's just
a whole bunch of those people that just, they're freeloaders
and they're on the dole. We're paying for them. They're
unentitled. It started in religion, had to.
Oh, you deserve this, you deserve this. Now listen to this verse
of scripture, if you would please. Matthew chapter 16 and verse
17. This is that blessed, blessed, blessed. Simon Peter answered,
says, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon bar Jonah. Why? Why is he so blessed? For flesh and blood hath not
revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. That's
why you can be happy today. didn't get this on your own.
Blessed. Blessed are the peacemakers.
Blessed are they that mourn. What? Blessed are they whose
ears hear and whose eyes see. What? Blessed are they. Peter,
blessed are you for flesh and blood did not reveal this knowledge
about Jesus Christ but my father in heaven gave you this message.
Blessed are you, and that's the same word that we find over there
in the book of Revelation. Blessed are those that read and
hear. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Luke chapter 10.
Luke chapter 10, blessed. Oh, it's just not the Beatitudes. I mean, that's grand, but let's
see where it comes from. It comes from God. Oh, blessed
ears that hear, blessed eyes that see, blessed Peter, are
you blessed? Because God has opened up your
heart of understanding and revealed the Lord Jesus Christ unto you.
What did he say? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. That doesn't come by natural
inheritance, that comes from God. He reveals that. Luke chapter 10, verse 23, we
read these words about that blessed. When we're gonna get over there,
reading and hearing and doing those things, blessed. Luke chapter
10, verse 23, the word of God says, and he turned him unto
his disciples and said privately. Isn't that interesting? Privately. Blessed are the eyes which see
the things that you see. He turned to his disciples privately. Now he's in serious business. He said several times, I speak
in parables so they that hear cannot hear and they that see
cannot see. But I'll tell you what this parable
means. And he took his disciples aside That's what that means?
He said, I'm going to tell you what the word of God means. I'm
going to tell you what the word of God means. He turned privately. He turned him unto his disciples
and said, and I can almost hear him, blessed, blessed are the
eyes which see the things you see privately. My to be in that host. to be
among that group, to hear and to see. Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto you,
but my Father which is in heaven. Luke chapter 11, verse 27. Would
you turn there with me? And it came to pass as he spake
these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her
voice and said unto him, blessed is the womb that bare thee and
the paps which thou hast sucked. What's she saying? Blessed Mary,
blessed Mary. Here's the beginning of Mariolatry.
Blessed Mary, blessed Mary. Now, I'm not sure that she meant
this as has been interpreted, but she said this. Now, notice
what Jesus said. You know, to a lot of people,
oh, that woman was very kind, spoke very highly of Mary. She
was a wonderful person. God chose her out of all ladies,
and she bore the Son of God into the world, went through all that
indignity and so forth and so on. But notice what Jesus said
about it. Blessed, but he said, yea, rather,
blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. Whoa. Blessed are those who hear the
word of God and keep it. They're more blessed than my
mama is. You know what he could say about
her? She was blessed. She heard the word of God and
she kept it. She's more blessed as a believer than she was as
the mother of Jesus. The disciples came back one time.
My goodness, Lord, you ought to have been there today with
us. The devils bow to us. And he just said, oh, it's so much better that
your names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life than that. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Romans, chapter 4. Romans, chapter 4. Blessed. Blessed is he that readeth and
they that hear the words. These verses that we're looking
at just fill in the gaps. Those who are going to enjoy
the book of Revelation and see the glory of God, the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ, see him as the revelation and all things
and the sum and substance of all things, see him as the Alpha
and Omega. The eyes have been opened and
the ears. Now, if you're going here, just look for speculation
and for wolves and goats and bears. I looked down in that
bookstore today, I saw another book on the revelation. And also
he says, with charts. And I opened that thing up, and
oh, it had the goats with seven heads or whatever, and I says,
oh my goodness sakes, this is another one someone's else gonna
have to buy. I probably should have bought it to throw it away.
Excuse me, Romans chapter four, verse seven, the scripture says,
saying, blessed are they whose, oh my, can you read this with
me? Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. and whose sins
are covered. Oh my goodness. I cannot fathom
that. Blessed, blessed. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. My goodness. Now that blessed is all of God,
just like all of these have been. They're all of God. Blessed,
blessed. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Titus chapter two. Titus chapter 2, same word, blessed. How happy we are. We're a blessed
people. God's people are a blessed people. Church is a blessed people. They're
just so blessed. Look at all that we have. Hear
and see, sins forgiven, knowledge of Jesus Christ. Here in the
book of Titus chapter 2, and there in verse 13, Titus chapter two, verse 13,
the scripture says, looking for that blessed hope. How do we
know he's blessed? Blessed blood hath not revealed
this unto you, but my father, which is in heaven. Looking for
that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and
our savior, Jesus Christ. Branded in our soul to look forward
look for our head Look for it. We're the body look for the head
Looking for the head looking for the head of the family looking
for the head Over all things looking for the head of the church
Blessed blessed what a blessed people who can look forward to
this and he's coming with judgment He's also coming with judgment
blessed. Are they who look forward to
it and He's made them to look forward to his coming. Blessed hope, glorious appearing
of our Lord Jesus. And then there are three verses
in the book of Revelation I want to look at that have the same
word in it. Revelation chapter 14, verse 13. Blessed, blessed,
blessed. Oh, it's just not enough room
to be thankful. It just, it is happy. Happy is the people who do know
the Lord. And here in Revelation chapter 14, verse 13, the scripture
says, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write,
blessed is the dead which die in the Lord. Is there any place
else you'd want to die? No. Blessed is the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. Blessed. What a blessed people it is that
when God calls them home, they die in the Lord. They're his
children. He's watching over them. He's
with them, counseling them in their death. It's a mystery. Death is a mystery, but counseling
them in their death, bringing them through with glory, carrying
them as he did, the poor beggar, carrying him. Oh, it's the valley
of the shadow of death. I've said this before, death
to a Christian is not that serious. It's just how he's going to do
it. Sometimes that bothers us. How's he going to do this? Is
he going to be in a train wreck or can I go home silently in
my sleep? But to a Christian, blessed are
they that die in the Lord. And then 19th chapter, 19th chapter
of the book of Revelation, verse 9. This is by invitation only. and
it's God's invitation. And he saith unto me, write,
blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God.
Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And then finally, Revelation 20 in verse six. Revelation 20 in verse six. And
this is the verse I met Duane and Joe on. I brought a funeral and use this
as a text and you were there. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. Now what's the first resurrection?
That's a new birth. A new birth. God raises us from
death. He raises us. There's so much
in the scripture about being raised. Blessed and holy is he
that hath part in the first resurrection, for what's it say? Revelation
chapter 20 and verse six. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall
reign with him a thousand years. We read there right in the beginning
of this book, Revelation chapter one. My goodness, he takes criminals. He takes outlaws. He takes murderers. He takes thieves and regenerates
them and makes them priests. King priests. That's what he
does with his people. We get to visit with God every
day. So blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection. On such, the second death hath
no power. My death hath no power on those he's brought out of
the tomb. Spiritual death, they've overcome. They have ridden to
glory in his death. They've been brought up, boy,
to die with him, in him, to be buried in him, to be raised in
him, and to sit down in glory in him. Blessed are those people. So blessed. Blessed. Blessed are those. Same word
that we're going to look here. There are some blessings to be
had. It's a happy people that read and hear the words of the
prophecy and keep these things which are written there and then
for the time is right here. Time is at hand. Blessed. Happy. God's people are going to be
happy to read the book. This book, this book, they're
going to be just happy. He's going to make it. He's going
to give them ears to hear and eyes to see, and they're going
to see the glory of the Lord. They're not going to see seven-footed
beasts and goats and cattle and pigs and all the silly things
that people have in this book. They're going to see their Lord.
Now, everything that we don't understand is still under his
control. He made the seals, and he made the book with the seals,
and he's the lion of the tribe of Judah that can open the seals. It's still his. Well, we'll stop
there. Lord willing, next time we'll
pick up here in verse three and say a little more about reading
and hearing and keeping the things that are written therein, and
then we'll get on with John to the seven churches of Asia. Mike and Marilyn are Montana-Wyomings. I'm thankful to get to end my
pickup about 1 o'clock this afternoon and head east. And it looks like
I will go down Thursday and Friday and pick up my tools and may
have to go back in a month or so, but I'm planning to come
home. They're living in it, so it's
livable. Dan starts school next Wednesday?
Monday. Monday. He'll be gone Monday
and Wednesday. So remember him as he goes to
school. Tim starts school at 24. Well, Eric stepped out of his
truck this morning and broke his ankle. And he's stuck in
Dallas, Texas. The clinic there wants to see
him again Friday. Someone's coming to pick his
truck up. He didn't know anything like
that yet. But everything is taken care
of. They even found him a motel. Remember Adeline's daughter,
Kim.