Let's open to the book of Revelation. Once again, this morning, Revelation
chapter 1. I'd like to speak to you on the
subject of John seeing and actually John also hearing the exalted
Savior. As we get to Revelation chapter
1, it's been about 60 years since John last heard the voice
of the Savior, and since he saw Him. That last time being what our
brother read to us in Acts chapter 1. Indeed, just before that, a little
over 40 days before that, John saw Him. We saw Him in the garden. That's when our Savior's sweat,
as it were, great drops of blood due to the anguish of His soul. You see, our Savior was about
to face the vengeance of God on behalf of His people. And in anticipation of facing
that awful judgment that our sins deserve. He had great anguish in his soul,
so much so that the scripture says he sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood. John listened to the Savior as
he prayed in the garden He saw the grief on the Savior's face. And John saw Him and listened
to Him when He was crucified. John heard the seven sayings
of our Lord from the cross. He heard the word of forgiveness. As he looked up at his Savior,
stretched out on the Roman cross, he heard the word of forgiveness,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Thank God for the word of forgiveness. I'll tell you, in our sinfulness,
we just don't We don't have any idea of what we've done and what
we're doing against our God. We just don't have any real idea,
any real concept of the awfulness of sin. Sin so great it separated us
from God. Sin so great that Blood of bulls
and goats could never put it away. Rivers of blood flowed
in the Old Testament from those animals that died on Jewish altars,
but they couldn't remove even one sin. What's it going to take for us
to be forgiven? For our sins to be forgiven and
forgotten. takes the death of the Son of
God. John saw Him, and John heard Him say, Father, forgive them. Oh, let each of us who are the
people of God hear God's Word in our souls as the Savior prays
for us He says, Father, forgive them. And my friend, if He prayed for
you, your sins are forgiven. Indeed, He washed them away. Your sins are drowned in the
blood of Calvary. When John saw the Savior, he
heard the word of salvation. He saw a thief miraculously changed
by the Spirit of effectual grace. John heard that man who before
had been cursing That name of Christ Jesus and mocking Him. John saw that thief and he heard
that thief say, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. John heard the Savior say back
to him, verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me. in paradise. Child of God, you who have been
brought to the feet of the Lord Jesus, you who have effectually
been drawn to His wounded side, as I wrote in the psalm, you've
left all your hopes of salvation in anything you'll ever do behind. The Lord Jesus, His blood and
His righteousness is all of your hope, all of your plea. As you face the end of life, as you think about your death,
listen to what the Savior says to you today. You'll be with me in paradise.
That makes death much sweeter. Oh, to die without the Savior. To die with sin unforgiven. To die without righteousness. Oh, how unspeakably horrible. But to die with a real sense
of forgiveness. To die assured of the entering into the presence of
the Lord. That makes death more welcome. Lord, take me. I'm ready. I'm ready. You ready? You ready
to go? By God's grace, I'm ready. I'm
ready. You say, but preacher, aren't
you worried about the things you ought to have done but you
didn't? The things that you did that you ought not to have done?
Listen, I'm a sinful man. I readily admit that. I confess
that. God knows it. I know it. And you know it. But my hope of glory is not found
in myself. It's found in somebody else. And what that somebody else has
already accomplished for me. And I fully believe that when
I breathe my last breath, I shall go yonder where the angels of
God sing His praises forever. I shall assemble then with the
saints who have gone before me. And I will join in singing that
glorious song of redemption. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
who has redeemed us unto God. I will sing salvation unto our
God and unto the Lamb. This is what I've been preaching
and what I've been singing for the last many years. I fully
expect and believe I shall do that forever. Forever. John then heard the words of
affection come forth from the Savior's lips. In fact, some of those words
are directed right to John. Our Savior, when He saw His mother,
He saith unto His mother, Woman. He didn't say Mother. He said
Woman. Behold thy son. And then said he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother. John heard the word of affection. God makes sure that his children
are taken care of. And though mother and father,
brother and sister forsake you, The Lord has taken you in and
He'll never put you out. He'll take care of you forever.
John heard the word then of anguish. About the ninth hour, there's a voice that pierces
the darkness. The voice says, Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthanai. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? A word of anguish. Why did God
forsake His Son? Why did the Father the sake,
the darling of His bosom. You read in Psalm 22, verse 3,
4, Thou art holy. That's why. Our Lord Jesus, there
had been made to meet on Him the iniquity of all of the sheep. He hangs there by amputation
guilty of transgressions, not his own, but of his children,
his people. God can't look on sin with approval. And God pours out His wrath on
His only begotten Son in an anguish of soul. This is not make-believe. This isn't fiction. We're not trying to be dramatic.
This is just what happened. The Savior said, My God, My God,
why hast thou forsaken Me? And you who are God's children,
since He was forsaken, you never will be. You will never be forsaken
by God. In fact, God the Son said, Lo,
I'm with you to the end of the age. I'm with you. Then John heard the word of suffering. Because Jesus, knowing that all
things were accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. I thirst. How can God be thirsty? Well, the God-man was thirsty.
That's the reality of his humanity. That's how real a man he was. He was thirsty. And then John heard the word
of victory. He heard the Savior say, it is
finished. It is accomplished. It is completed. All of the Old Testament prophecies
about Messiah's sufferings and death, they're completed. The
work that the Father sent Him to do, it's finished. That redemption
by His blood, that ransom paid to the law of God, that indebtedness
we owed that we couldn't pay, it's now been paid. And John
hears this word of victory. It is finished. And if the Savior
says it is finished, it is finished. It's finished. Just as God would
have it to be finished. Then John heard the word of contentment. When Jesus had cried with a loud
voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,
not in weakness, but in strength. Having said thus, He gave up
His spirit. There in John 10, He said, No
man takes My life from Me. I have the power to lay it down.
I have the power to take it again. Man didn't take his life. He
laid his life down willingly, the shepherd for the sheep. I give my life for the sheep. Having said thus, he gave up
his spirit. John was there. He was an ear
witness. He was an eye witness to the
Savior's sufferings. In Isaiah 52 and 14, it says,
and these are prophetic words of our Savior's death, as many
were astonished at Thee. Amazed at His lowest state. Amazed at His sufferings and
His death. The Scripture there in Isaiah
52.14 says His visage was marred more than any man. Marred? What
does that mean? Look up the word. It means disfigured. You see these pictures of Jesus
Dying on the cross, a little drop of blood here and there,
crown of thorns, two or three drops of blood. His visage was
marred more than any man. Disfigured, beaten. He said, I gave my back to the
smiters. They whipped him and they beat
him. John saw that. Till his flesh just ripped from
his body. His body looked more like furrows
than skin. Blooded, bruised, beaten. His appearance was so injured,
he was so battered. And even before he gave his life
a ransom for us, his appearance was even then a rough one. He said to the Jews before Abraham
was, I am. He said, Abraham rejoiced to
see my day and he saw it and was glad. The Jews said to him,
oh, you're not 50 years old yet. How can you say Abraham saw your
day? Not 50 years old yet? He was
just about 33 years old. wearied, days of preaching, days
of teaching, nights spent on the mountainside praying to the
Father. There was a weariness about Him.
Even on a ship, He falls asleep. John saw the Savior in His days
of weariness, in His days of labor. He saw Him. And He was an eyewitness to the
crucifixion. He saw the thorn crown brow,
blood gushing down His face. You know how when you get a little
cut on your face, how it bleeds because the capillaries are so
close to the skin? Our Savior bled great drops of
blood. Oh, how the blood flowed. John
saw Him. John saw Him. He heard the lashes of the whip. And he saw our Savior beaten,
beaten with many stripes. He saw the nails driven in to
His feet and to His side. He saw Him. He saw Him crucified. He saw the cross lifted up and
dropped down in the hole. And there the Son of Man, John's
blessed Savior, there when He had fallen for these nearly three
years, He saw Him hanging between heaven and earth. Heaven couldn't
have Him because He's convicted of the sins of those in whose
stead He died. and earth wouldn't have him,
because the earth was rebellious against him. And there he hangs,
suspended between heaven and earth, the great Mediator, bringing
heaven and earth together. That one Mediator between God
and man, there he hangs! John sees him. John sees him. Oh, how vivid this Sight was
pressed upon John's memory. Then he saw him when he hung
his head and died. Then John saw him the evening
after his resurrection, when the Savior appeared to them,
to his disciples, and said, Peace be unto you. And then he saw him at his ascension. And when he heard the Savior's
great commission, and he saw the Savior go up ascending
out of their sight, that's the last time he heard his voice.
That's the last time he saw him. Sixty years go by. And look here in Revelation chapter
1, verse number 10. Well, even verse number 9, John
writes, Revelation 1, 9, I, John, who am also your brother and your companion in tribulation
and in the kingdom and patience, in the perseverance, the steadfastness
of faith, of Jesus Christ was in the isle that is called Patmos
for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day and then I heard behind me a great voice. This is a voice he heard many
times prior to this, during our Lord's public ministry. But now there's something a little
different about this voice. Because it sounded to him like
a trumpet. We've got some musicians and
former musicians in the congregation. There are a few of us who used
to play the trumpet. I tell you, we'd blow it pretty
loud. Don't have enough wind now to blow it very loud, but
we used to be able to do that. John said, I heard a voice. It
sounded like a trumpet. Like a trumpet. And this voice said, I am Alpha
and Omega. The first and the last. And what
thou seest, write in a book. Send it to the seven churches
which are in Asia. John heard the voice. He heard
the voice. And then in verse number 12,
I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned,
I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks, I saw one likened to the Son of Man. John saw Him. I remind you, it's
been a long time since he heard his voice. And it's the same
voice, but now it sounds like a trumpet. And it's the same
Savior, but he sees him in his glorified, exalted state. Oh, how wonderful to see the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And John saw him. And later on,
as we shall see, maybe this evening, he fell at his feet like a dead
man. This is the Lord of glory. And
he sees him. Now remember exactly where John
is. He is on the island of Patmos. He's cut off from all the saints
of God. John was a great preacher. And
now he's an older man now. He's on up in years. He's the
only apostle that didn't face the death by martyrdom. He died
of old age. Boy, he had preached a lot. And
I'm sure John being one of the sons of thunder, he could thunder
out the Gospel. Oh, what a preacher he was! And
God used him in a marvelous way, he and his brother James. And
of course, his brother James, he had been killed by King Herod
who beheaded him. But John was faithful to the
Gospel still. Though his own life was put in
jeopardy many, many times, even Domitian, the emperor, tried
to throw him in a pot of boiling oil, but he escaped. But now, John, this great preacher,
he's separated from his congregation. No more missionary travels. No
more evangelistic work. He's not out preaching the gospel
of redeeming grace, the gospel of sovereign grace. He's not
preaching about the shepherd and the sheep. The great shepherd,
the chief shepherd, the good shepherd, the sheep that were
chosen, the sheep that were redeemed, the sheep that were sought and
found. John's not able to preach this message anymore. He's got
no congregation. All he's got out there is seals
and ducks and whatever else is on that island. There he is. And to the eye of the natural
man, it looks like Domitian had found
a way to just keep this man from preaching the gospel. Somebody would say, Domitian
has finally shut up that guy. He couldn't kill him, but he
had him arrested, put up there on an island. Now go ahead and
continue your ministry. Go ahead and preach to the birds
and the seagulls, if you will. I've shut him up. Remember this, God's work can't
be hindered. And it can't be stopped. God's got another work for John
to do out there all by himself. And He's got something in store
for him. He's going to see a sight that
he'll never get over the rest of the days of his life. A sight
that he would never have seen if he hadn't been exiled to Patmos. And let me say this concerning
the work of our Lord Jesus. It can't be stopped and it can't
be hindered. The Lord said, I will work. Who
will stop me? I'll do my purpose. Who can cause
him to fail? You see, John being removed from
the preaching scene, it wasn't contrary to the purpose of God,
it was according to the purpose of God. But he was removed from the preaching
scene that, first of all, he might have a sight of the exalted Savior. You who are the people of God,
you know and I know, sometimes God brings us into deep trials,
troubles. I'm sure the church of the Lord
Jesus, when they heard John had been arrested and exiled to Patmos,
they said, oh no. There was only one apostle left. And now they've shut him down. Sometimes God brings us into
dark valleys. But it's in the dark valleys
that we'll see the glory of Christ Jesus. And we'll see the sufficiency
of His grace. If you never had a trial, if
you never had tribulation, if you never went into deep waters
that were over your head and you cried out to the Lord for
help, if those things never happened, you never experienced the sufficiency
of His grace. You see, we learn. We learn to
lean on the Lord in times of difficulty. And it's a sad commentary
on us that so often it takes troublesome days, troublesome
situations to bring us to the feet of the Lord. And we say,
Lord, help me. And then we experience the sufficiency
of His grace. John Bunyan, over in England many years ago,
they put him in prison for publicly preaching the gospel which was
against the law. He preached in his brother's
house. He can't do that. He had to preach in a church
approved by the government. The message that's approved by
the government. He preached in the open. They
said, you can't do that. He kept on preaching. They arrested
him, put him into bed for jail. He stayed there three months.
And they said, now if we let you out, you promise you won't
preach anymore. Here's a quote, he said, if I
was out of prison today, I would preach the gospel again tomorrow
by the help of God. So they left him in prison, stayed
in prison 12 years. The cells were overcrowded. Bedford
prison wasn't one of the worst prisons, but it was bad. Overcrowded. Here was his food rationing,
one quarter loaf of bread a day and water. Try that diet for
12 years. Maybe I'd lose a little weight
if I went on that diet. I bet you it's skin and bones.
They said, all you've got to do is just promise you won't
preach the gospel publicly. He said, I can't make that promise.
They said, well, you'll stay in jail. Very little lighting. No bathing facilities. He wrote, Bunyan did, quote,
the place stank because of the unwashed bodies, end quote. It was a sad time for him, sad
time for Elizabeth, his wife. Sad time for their children,
one of them was a blind little girl. Sad time for those to whom he
preached the gospel. They miss their preacher. But God had a reason for Bunyan
to be in there. He wrote grace abounding to the
chief of sinners while he was in there. He wrote justification
by an imputed righteousness while he was in there. He wrote Pilgrim's
Progress while he was in there. You see, the work of the Lord
just keeps going on. God will accomplish His purpose. John's on the island of Patmos. I'm sure the people of God said,
oh, this is horrible. Sort of like Jacob did. You remember
when Jacob back in Genesis 40, 41, somewhere back in there.
He had sent some of his sons, except for Benjamin, his youngest,
and of course he thought Joseph was dead, but he sent the other
sons, he sent them to Egypt to buy grain from the new prime
minister, who was Joseph, but he didn't know it. And of course, Joseph recognized
them, but he made himself unknown to them. And they didn't recognize
him. They said, where are the sons
of Jacob over in Israel? And Joseph said, oh, you're lying
to me. Said, no, we're not lying. He
said, okay, if you tell them the truth, I'm going to keep
one of you. I'll keep you. That was Simeon. He said, the
rest of you go back and bring me your youngest brother. He
said he got a younger brother, Benjamin. Bring him back. I'll
know you're telling the truth. So the rest of them went back
and told Jacob what had happened. Jacob said, Joseph is not thinking
he was dead. He said, Simeon is not. He's
now being a held captive in Egypt. He said, all these things are
against me. Have you ever said that? When
we throw up our hands, you'll say, all these things are against
me. No, Jacob. If God be for you,
who can be against you? What can be against you? God's
working out His purpose to take you into Egypt where you'll stay
in fulfillment of God's Word to Abraham for 400 years before
God redeems you with a mighty hand. John is just exactly where
God would have him to be. He is exiled to Patmos. And he was under these adverse
circumstances, under this less than desirable situation, that
he would see a sight that he would never forget. He saw the
glorified Christ. And I want you to notice this,
and I'll quit in a little bit, we'll pick back up tonight. I
want you to notice what is said in verse number 12. He says, I turn to see the voice
that spake with me. That's the same word translated
in 1 Peter chapter 2. where the Scripture says that
we are returned to the Bishop and Shepherd of our souls. The
Lord turned me. The Lord turned me to see a sight
that was so glorious. He saw the exalted Christ. He
saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He had got a
glimpse of this glory once before on the Mount of Transfiguration.
And He even wrote about it. He said in John 1, the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And now he sees the
Lord Jesus in His full glory. God's children, my beloved brothers and sisters,
it may very well be that God has you in the position that
He has you now in order to just make a turn and cause you to
see the glory of God in Christ Jesus. My unsaved friend, maybe
God has brought you to where you are today and He might turn
you. And I say, Lord, turn me. If
it means I'll see your glory, if it means I'll see your beauty,
If it means I'll see Your exalted self on Your throne, in Your
magnificence, O God of grace, turn me. Turn me. Because if I see Christ Jesus
in His glory, I'll never get over that. And you know what? I ain't got over it. And I still
want Him to turn me again. Let me see Him again. the exalted
Son of God. Let's sing, brother, Top Lady's
great song, Rock of Ages. I'm 126. I wish we had more of the verses. We just got three of them. But
it's a good song.