Thank you. Let's open our Bibles
to Revelation chapter 4. Revelation chapter 4. I want to back up just a little
bit in our studies in the book of the Revelation of the Lord
Jesus. look again at what John saw as he is in a vision
taken up to heaven. We know that in the first three
chapters we see our great Savior in the midst of his people Then,
beginning in chapter 4, John hears a voice. The voice directs
his attention to come up hither. That's the word of God's great
voice. John goes up to see things that
must be hereafter, things that must take place. He says in chapter 4, the second
verse, And immediately I was in the Spirit. And behold, what
did John see? What's the very first thing that
he saw? He saw the throne of God that
was set. It was fixed in heaven. And he saw that there was just
one on the throne. And that one who was on the throne,
Verse 3, he that sat on the throne to look at was like a jasper,
and he was like a sardine stone. There was a rainbow around the
throne in sight like unto an emerald. Look at verse 5, and
out of the throne, out of the very presence of God, John saw
lightnings, he heard thunderings, and he heard voices. He saw that
there were before this throne of God seven lamps of fire that
were burning. This is a revelation to John of God's great
glory. This is the glory of Him who
sat upon the throne. He's taken up to see the Lord. He doesn't really describe the
Lord because our God is beyond description. He is infinite and
He is indescribable in all of His magnificence and in all of
His glory. And I thought about what John
saw, what he was looking at as his eyes were opened to see this
being as He was fixed, as He was set on this magnificent,
magnificent throne. He saw God's glory. We read back
in the book of Exodus on one occasion, Moses said to God,
he said, I want to see Your glory. Lord, show me Your glory. Moses had seen lots of things. He had seen many wonders that
very few people ever see. I mean, he beheld them himself. But yet he said, Lord, I want
to see your glory. And God said, I'll make my goodness
pass before you. I'll be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I'll
be merciful. And he said, but you can't see
my face in lead. You just can't take in my brightness,
the brightness of my glory. So I'll put you in a rock that's
been separated or a cleft, put you in the cleft of the rock.
And that's where I'll hide you. And I'll tell you, those of God's
people who have, by the Spirit, by the witness of the Spirit
through the revelation of the Word of God, not in a mystical
way now, not in a mystical way, and not in the way John saw the
Lord, but those of us who've been given a faith look at our
God, we know The only way we can have any dealings with this
God is to be in the rock. That rock once wounded for our
transgressions. He's the rock of ages, the scripture
says. Oh, rock of ages, hide me in
the cleft of the rock, one writer said. This is the only place
we can see the glory of our God. The Scripture says in Exodus
chapter 15 verse 6, God is glorious in His power. In His power. In Exodus 15 we read that the
Lord has dashed the enemy in pieces. In the greatness, Moses
said of thine excellency, you've overcome those that rose up against
thee. Here's what Moses and the children
of Israel, this is what they saw. God is glorious in his power. He is almighty. There's nothing
God can't do except those things that are against his nature,
against his being. Therefore, God can't lie because
that's against his being. God can't do anything that's
against his very holiness. when the Lord went to Abraham
and he would speak to Abraham about he and Sarah would have
a son. Abraham was outside of the dwelling
place, outside the tent. The Lord said to Abraham, about
this time next year I'm going to come, you're going to have
a son. Within the tent, Sarah laughed. It was a laugh of, this can't
be so. I don't believe this. Our God
said to Abraham, why did she laugh? Anything too hard for
God? Anything God can't do? Anything
too difficult for God? The angel came to Mary and said
to Mary, you're going to have a child. She said, that can't
be. I've never known a man. The Lord said, the Spirit of
God is going to overshadow you and the power of the highest
shall come upon you. When we talk about you and me,
we're talking about limited, limited, very limited power,
very limited ability. But when we speak about God,
He's all powerful. You can't limit God. Nobody can
limit God. Nobody can tell God what to do
or tell God what not to do. He does according to His will.
That's what Nebuchadnezzar said. Nebuchadnezzar said he does according
to his will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the
earth. Nobody can stay God's hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? You can't keep God from doing what he wants to do, what
he has set out to do. Nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. To speak of a weak God. Or to speak of a God whose ability
is limited is to speak with absurdity. That's foolish talk. God is glorious
in His power. He's glorious in His creating
power. He made all things out of nothing. That's the word of His power.
He's glorious in all of His power leading up to the redemption
of His people. Job asked this question in Job
chapter 14 in verse 4. He said, who can bring clean
thing out of an unclean? Not one. But God did. God did. Here's an unclean woman. She's a sinner. She's a virgin.
But she's a sinner. Just like every other woman.
She's a sinner. Here's a woman in the leprosy
of sin. Born in sin like the rest of
us, drank iniquity like water. And yet, one who is altogether
clean, altogether holy, is going to come forth from her. And Job
says, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? No,
not one. No, we can't. But God can. There is the glory of His power. His wonderful power is seen in
His redemption. In His redemption. Divine authority,
divine power upheld our Savior throughout His life and then
He goes to Calvary's cross bearing the sins of all of His people.
He dies under the wrath of God. Nobody, nobody could ever do
what He did. For all the sins of God's elect
of all ages were made to meet on Him. And yet He didn't buckle
under the load. He's mighty. He's mighty in salvation. He's mighty in redemption. He
took all of the guilt of His people. He bore it. He went to
the cross. And then the judgment of God
fell on Him. The wrath of God came upon Him
in all of its fury. in all of its greatness, in all
of its perfection, and in all of its awful, awful torment. But he took it. He bore it. He drank the cup of damnation
dry. When the justice of God had taken
from him everything it demanded, He said, it's finished. It's
finished. Bowed his head and gave up the
ghost. Oh, he is absolutely glorious in his power. Our God is glorious
in his power. Glorious in his resurrecting
power. He's declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
of the dead. He's glorious in His great power
in making spiritually dead sinners to live. The Lord said to Ezekiel, can
these bones live? The only one who can make dead
bones live is God. Oh, hear how glorious He is in
His resurrecting power. That's what He did for you. He
made dead bones to live. He made a dead sinner to live. Who's got that kind of power?
Only our glorious God. All the religious decisions in
the world, that's not going to change anybody. You can walk
every aisle of every church in every city if you could ever
visit all the churches. You can make all the decisions
you can make. No, it won't do the job. God's
got to do the job, and He quickens dead hearts by His power, and
He gets the glory. The Scriptures says He's glorious
in His holiness. Who is like in our God in His
holiness? He's glorious in His name. Deuteronomy
28.58 says, He has a glorious and a fearful name, the Lord
thy God. What a name! What a name our
God has! Absolutely glorious in His name.
Our Lord Jesus, what about His name? Jesus, He shall save His
people from their sins. Oh, what glory in that name! What power in that name! When they came to arrest Him
there in the garden, He said, They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. They all fell back as dead men. There's the power of His very
name, the very power of His words. They fell back. They fell back. Isaiah 63 says, He's glorious
in His apparel. He's glorious in His dress. And
you know what He does? He gives His glorious dress,
His glorious apparel to us. We're robed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says in Isaiah 11 and
verse 10, His rest shall be glorious. He's glorious in His rest. He
has rested from the work of redemption and it is a glorious rest. It
isn't that he became weary. It's not that he needed time
to sleep or anything like that. It means he got the job done.
That's what it means. He did the work of redemption.
His voice, his voice is glorious. His voice is heard in the gospel. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me. His voice is heard in the resurrection. All that are in the grave shall
hear his voice. His voice shall be heard in the
judgment. His voice is glorious. Everything
about God is glorious. John saw him on his throne, a
glorious throne. In fact, Jeremiah 17, 12, he
says that he has a glorious high throne. The Lord showed his disciples
something of his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, and
they were virtually blinded by his glory. Have you seen his
glory? Look over to 2 Corinthians. I'd
like for you to look at this one with me. Look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. Talk about the glory of God,
the glory of God. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. I'll tell you, if you've ever
been in the presence of God, that is in your innermost being,
you'll reflect something of that glory. You remember when Moses
went up on the mountain to get the law from God? He came back
down from the mountain, He didn't even recognize the fact or he
didn't know that his face just was aglow. What happened? He'd been in the presence of
God. You can't be in the presence of God without it affecting you. It is going to affect you. In
fact, even the people who saw him, they said, You're glowing! You're glowing! What's happened
to you? I'll tell you what's happened
to Moses. He saw something of the glory of God. That's what
happened to Moses. Look here in 2 Corinthians chapter
4, look at 3. Verse 3, But if thy gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this
world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them, For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. Hold your place right there and
go back to Genesis 1. Let me show you this, what Paul
is talking about. Go back to Genesis chapter 1.
We're talking about the glory of God. And our Lord Jesus, He
is God. He is the Son of God. There's
a glory about Him. An indescribable, everlasting
glory to the Son of God. We'll never be the same once
we see His glory. Look here in Genesis chapter
1. Look at verses 1 and 2. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and
void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Darkness and
the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Now verse
3, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. Who's going to keep God from
turning the lights on? When God said, Let there be light,
immediately light came into being. This would read, if we were reading
it in the original, and God said, Light be! And it came into being. Now go back over here to 2 Corinthians
4. Here's what Paul says, God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, the same God who said, Light be! Let there
be light! And there was light. What has
this God done? He's shined in our hearts. That's what He's done. He's shined
in our hearts. The light is shining. We dwelt
in the darkness of ignorance, in the darkness of error, in
the darkness of guilt, in the darkness of our own sinfulness. But God shined the light in.
And then as a result of that, we see the glory of God. in the face of our Lord Jesus.
This is the glory of God. Saul of Tarsus going to Damascus,
got in his hand papers to arrest those who believed Christ Jesus,
who believed in the way of salvation by grace alone, through Jesus
Christ alone, by way of his substitutionary death alone. He's got this authority. He's got the papers showing the
high priest has given him the authority to arrest anybody who
believed in the way of grace. And all of a sudden the scripture
says, A light shone round about him. What is that light? Glory
of God. The glory of God. And you know
what? He never got over it either.
He never got over it. Once you see His glory, it blinded
him such as the brilliance and the brightness The excellence
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He never got
over it. And finally, He laid down His
life for the Son of God. Loved Him that much. He never
got over seeing His glory. You'll get over a little religious
experience that you mustered up. You'll get over a decision
that you decided to make. But you don't get over seeing
His glory. You don't get over that. Old
people get religious and they come in and then they go. And
we've all seen that happen. They come in and you think, boy,
I tell you, this is a bright star shining in our church. Boy, we've never met anybody
like that. And they're like one of them
shooting stars. And boy, about as quick as they
came in, they're gone. What happened to them? Well,
they had religious experience, but they didn't see His glory.
They didn't see His glory. People listen and they say, you
know, I wish you'd preach something else. Do you always have to preach
the gospel? If you ever see the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ, if you ever really hear the glory
of the Gospel, of God saving grace, God forgiving us, God
making us righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll just say,
keep on doing what you're doing! That's the message right there,
because we see His glory. And you see, we only see His
glory as we hear the Gospel. As we hear the Gospel. God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness and gave us knowledge, knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I'll tell you
what, you don't have any knowledge worth knowing. No knowledge is
worth knowing except that knowledge that God gives you. There are lots of people in here
very educated, and that's good. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. And I say to the young people,
get a good education. Get some understanding of whatever
field of interest you have, and I pray that God will make you
successful. Only God can give you the knowledge
of His glory in the face of Christ. Only God can do that. And that's
what we pray for. That's what we pray. We're so
thankful God's given to Richard the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we know that God's got to
do that. God's got to do that. He's got
to do His work. He's got to. He's got shine in
our hearts. Because our foolish hearts are
darkened. That is what the Scripture says.
We read in Ephesians 5, for you were sometimes darkness, but
now you are light in the Lord. Now walk as children of light.
And I say to this one who has been baptized, walk as a child
of light. You are not in darkness anymore.
Walk as a child of light. Walk to glorify God. Apostles
said, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. You know how faith
is evidence? You know how faith is proven?
By works. By works. Now works of righteousness
don't save us, but works give evidence that we've seen His
glory. We want to worship Him. We want to serve Him. We want
to do what's right. John saw his glory. And then,
go back to Revelation. Let me give you this. Go into
chapter 5. Already he saw the glory of God.
He saw this great throne of God. God's glory. Then he gets to chapter 5 and
he says, about this one who sat on the throne, whose glory he
has seen, which is indescribable. He didn't even try to describe
it. He saw it in his hand, the book, and that's what we've been
talking about several services in a row. The book, and this
book has the purpose of God in it. Everything that God is designed
to do is in this book. The design of God, you know what
it takes in? It takes in everything, God's
purpose. Let me give you several things
about the purpose of God, several things you need to remember about
God's purpose. The purpose of God is from everlasting. God's not making any new determinations,
no new decrees, no. That which God has set out to
do, He's always set out to do. The second thing is, God's purpose
is unchangeable. Unchangeable. Malachi 3, the
Lord said, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed. The purpose of God is from everlasting. The purpose of God is unchangeable.
Thirdly, the purpose of God includes all things. Everything is written
in this book. Nothing is left out. Within this
book, there is both righteousness and wickedness. Within this book,
there is both joy and sorrow. Within this book, there is both
laughter and weeping. Have you experienced those things?
Well, sure you have. We all have. It's in the book
of God. Because these are the things
that God has purposed. What's in the book? Everything
regarding the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And even everything
regarding that awful sin that necessitated His death. That's in the book as well. And
the purpose of God is His decree of sovereign election. In the
purpose of God, in the book of God, there is the decree of Christ
being made the surety of God's elect. There is the decree of
his virgin birth. There is the decree of his sinless
life. There is the decree of his death. of His sacrifice to satisfy justice. There is the decree that He be
buried and raised again. There is the everlasting decree
of His exaltation. Everything is in the book. Nothing
is excluded. Nothing is left out. It's all
of God. And I'll tell you this about
the purpose of God. About everything that's in this
book now. Everything that's in the book always has the glory
of God as the goal, as the end result. Everything God is purposed
to do brings glory to Himself. God will be glorified by creation. God will be glorified by providence. God will be glorified in salvation. You read in Ephesians 1, a chapter
we love to study, the work of the Father in salvation, His
electing grace, His predestinating love, it's all to the praise
of the glory of His grace. You read about our Lord Jesus
and His work of redemption in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the purpose
of the riches of God's grace, it's all to the praise of His
glory. The work of the Spirit who seals us. And as it goes
on to say who illuminates us. It's all to the praise of His
glory. Everything's going to bring glory to God. Everything. The purpose of God
always has everything that God has in the book. Here's the goal. God's glory. God's glory. And here's the fifth thing. The
purpose of God always has. The ultimate salvation of His
elect in view. It always has that. Everything
that God does, it's always with an eye to His own glory, and
it's always with an eye to the ultimate redemption and salvation
of His children. Study the covenant of grace.
It is the salvation of His people that is in view. study the work of God in creation. Why did God make all things?
We know He made all things by the word of His power. In six
days the Lord made the heaven and the earth and all that in
them is. Why did He do that? To save a
people from their sins. This great creation that God
has made, It's like this earth is a drama. A drama is being acted out. The earth is the stage, as it
were. And every person who's ever lived
in some way participates to fulfill God's eternal purpose, which
is His glory and the salvation of His people. Everybody. You
say, well, that makes us all puppets. That's okay with me.
It's okay with me. Somebody said, well you're saying
we're just a bunch of robots. That's okay with me too. I want
to do God's will. Oh God, make me your robot. Make
me your puppet. I want to do your will. I know
this. God's will shall be executed
in all things. And you and me, you and me, everything
about us is written in this book. I can't look into the book to
see what role I will play a part in. I know to some degree because
as I live my life as a preacher of the gospel. But I know this,
my business and your business is to seek to honor God By believing
His Word. Richard and I were talking in
the back, he was telling me, he says, a lot I don't understand. It's a lot I don't understand
as well. In fact, if you've got a God
you can understand, you've got the wrong God. Because this God
is great and glorious. It's not about understanding
Him. It's about believing Him. It's about worshiping Him. It's
about honoring Him as He sets Himself forth in the Scriptures. Believe in God. And by God's grace, here's what
I want to do. I want to believe His Word. Don't
you? I want to believe. I think over
there in the book of Hebrews chapter 12 talks about the sin
that does so easily beset us. People have argued for years,
they've debated, what is this besetting sin? And a lot of commentators
say, well, it's different for everybody. You've got your besetting
sin, I've got my besetting sin. I disagree. I disagree that our
besetting sins are different. All of the chapter 11 of Hebrews
is about faith. It's about believing God. And
this is where we get in trouble. We just don't believe God like
we ought to. That's true of all of us. We
go through a trial, go through some trouble, some affliction. You know where we have difficulty?
Believing that God is doing His will, that God is executing His
eternal purpose for His glory and for the good of His children.
And we have great difficulty with that. Because sometimes
what God, the things that God has written in His book regarding
you and me, sometimes those things are very painful. Sometimes those
things hurt. But here's what the child of
God must remember. God's purpose. That which He
always has in view, His purpose, is the ultimate salvation of
His children. God cannot do anything. He will not do anything for you
as a child of God. If I could point to every last
one of you, I would. I'd just point to all of us like
that, point to me. God will never bring anything,
anything, to pass in our lives except that which is written
in the book and that which is written in the book will ultimately
work for our welfare and our benefit. And we must believe
that. And when we don't believe that,
that's when we have them restless nights. That's when we get in
a real funk. That's when we get down. because
we've lost sight of the fact that our God is a God of purpose. And He will never do anything
for His children that would ultimately work to our demise. Will He? He can't do that. He won't do
that. Poor old Jacob. Jacob, he thought
Joseph was gone, thought Joseph was dead, and then Simeon Of
course, Joseph was in Egypt, and you know the story, and he
kept Simeon, and Joseph sent word. They didn't recognize Joseph,
but Joseph sent word, said, if you guys are on the up and up,
if you're really sons of Jacob, if your daddy is really who he
says he is, and you are who you say you are, you go back and
bring your brother to me, your youngest brother, Benjamin. And
I tell you, the boys went home, the other brothers went home
and told Jacob. And Jacob said, All these things
are against me! Do you ever feel that way? All
these things are against me. Listen. In God's eternal purpose,
He says, If God be for you, who can be against you? It's nothing
against God's people. I tell you, the Apostle, I can't
even, I can't imagine the things that this Apostle, the Apostle
Paul, I can't imagine the hardships that he went through. He talks about being shipwrecked
and being stoned and a multitude of things happening to him. And he's in a prison in Philippi. And God the Spirit teaches him
or instructs him to write letters. These are inspired by God the
Holy Spirit. And he writes a letter. In fact,
he writes a letter to the church at Philippi. He wrote from Rome
to the church at Philippi. From Rome to Philippi. He's in
prison in Rome. And he tells them to rejoice
in the Lord. He says that the things that
have fallen out to me for the furtherance of the gospel. Isn't
that something? Man, you'd sit down there in
a dungeon. All them rats down there and
rat excrements. and the other soldiers, and they
go into the bathroom, wherever, over in the corner somewhere,
and all this filth, and not properly fed, and it's in awful conditions. He said, Rejoice in the Lord! I said, man, how in the world
can a man rejoice in the Lord when he's in that kind of shape?
Because he recognized that's the purpose of God. So he wrote
to him, he said, all the things that have befallen me, it's for
the furtherance of the gospel. So he said, I've learned whatever
state I'm in to be contented. That's what he said. I've learned
that. And that's something you got to learn. And you know how
you learn? Patience. You learn patience
through tribulations. I wish I didn't have so many
tribulations. Well, that's how you learn patience. And evidently, you ain't learning
much. So you're going to get some more. God help us to learn
from what he sends us. But everything that's in the
book is for the welfare of his people. And I'll tell you during
this gospel age, our Lord Jesus is loosening these seals. Nancy
and I were talking about this this afternoon. Most people,
when they read the book of the Revelation, they're thinking,
okay, these are things that are going to happen right there at
the very end of time. No. That's the wrong way to look
at the book of the Revelation. These are things that are always
going on. Throughout the Gospel age, our
Lord is going forth, conquering and to conquer. His Gospel goes
forth. Warfare, divisions, those things,
they're going to go on throughout this gospel age. Spiritual famines,
they're going to go on throughout this gospel age. And we ask God,
don't put us in a famine. And then people are dying throughout
this gospel age. What is God doing? Well, He's
fulfilling His purpose. That's what He's doing. And you
say, well, that's a very simplistic way of looking at things. Well,
maybe so, but it's the Bible way of looking at things. And
if we could ever look at things like God shows us in His Word,
that's when we'd have some peace in our hearts. That all is well. John saw the glory of God on
his throne. And he saw God's got a purpose.
Purpose. I've heard Brother Mahan tell
the story about when Brother Barnard was preaching and he
called on Brother Mahan to quote Romans 8.28. Some of you were
there. And I guess Henry didn't get
to that last part. He left out that word purpose.
All things work together for them that love God. No, you didn't
quote it all. What's the rest of it? All things
work together for them that love God to them who are called according
to His purpose, purpose, purpose, purpose. That's what we've got
to learn. God's the God of purpose. He
never does anything by accident. Everything's on purpose. On purpose. That trial you've got to go through,
trial you just came out of, that's on purpose. That trial you're
going to go through, that's on purpose. Now, I'll tell you what
happens to a lot of people. They get mad at God because they
don't like His purpose. They get mad at what God has
purposed. They get mad at what comes to pass because everything
that comes to pass is but the fulfilling of the book, what's
in the book. And then something comes to pass
and they don't like it. They get all bent out of shape. And ultimately, the one they're
mad at is God. They're mad at God. They can't
have their way. No, you can't have your way.
You're not going to have your way. And also, you don't want
to have your way. You don't want to have. You don't
want for God to say, have it your way. You'll perish in your
sins if God ever says that to you. Have it your own way. Lord,
I bow to your way. Your way is the best way. Your
way is the wise way. He's a God of glory and He's
a God of purpose. Well, let's sing a final hymn
for the day. And it is number 190. Number 190. We bless the name
of Christ the Lord. It's a song about baptism. And on the last stand, I'll ask
Richard to come up here to the front, and then if you'd come
by and give him the right hand of fellowship and officially
welcome him into our congregation. So let's stand and sing.