Revelation chapter 1. Let me speak to you today on the first words to those in the
kingdom These are the first words spoken to them by John. John is the writer, but the real
speaker is the Lord. John writes what God the Father,
and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit gave him to say. He speaks to the Lord's people.
This is a letter to encourage every blood-bought
child of God. I said to those who were here
Wednesday evening that these people, the immediate recipients
of this book, they were people in great tribulation. They knew
something about real persecution. One of the churches that he writes
to is Ephesus. Their pastor had been murdered. Other preachers of the gospel,
they had been martyred simply because they believed the message
of grace. They believed the message of
the Lord Jesus and that great salvation that he accomplished
by his substitutionary death upon the cross of Calvary. In
fact, John himself finds himself exiled for no other reason than
the Word of God that he believed. He says, in fact, if you'll look
back in verse 2, he says, who bear record, of the Word of God,
Revelation 1 and 2, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and
of all the things that He saw. And then if you'll look down
in verse number 9, He says, I, John, who am also your brother
and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos. And he
says, this is the reason. It's for the Word of God. It's for the testimony of Jesus
Christ. Here's what the word testimony
means, the record or the report. Here's what he's saying, I've
been exiled out here on this rocky island. I'm by myself. The Roman emperor, he tried to
kill him. He was unsuccessful. And so he
thought he could shut this man up by putting him out there on
Patmos. John says, I'm out here because
of the message that I love, the message that I preach. I'm out
here because of the record, because of the report. What is the report? It's the report of good news.
It's the gospel of our Lord Jesus. It's that message of full redemption. Redemption fully accomplished
by the Lord Jesus. It's the message that our sins
are blotted out. I know. How do we know that from
the Word of God? It's the message of righteousness
that has been brought in. This is the message John preached
everywhere he went. He declared the Gospel. This
is that report of good news. He says that herein is love,
not that we love God, but that God loved us, gave His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins. He's the satisfaction of divine
justice. In every word John went. His
message was God's justice has been fully satisfied by the death
of the Lord Jesus. This is God's salvation by grace
alone. He said works have nothing to
do with it. We're not saved by our deeds
of the law. It's not by our obedience. It's
by the obedience of our Lord Jesus, even His obedience unto
death. This was the record that he went
forth declaring. And Domitian, who was the emperor,
he said, I'll put you away for that. And those who believed the message,
they were undergoing severe tribulation because they believed this message.
He writes this letter then to them, to lift their spirits and
to say to them, Our Lord Jesus is the victor. And we are victorious in Him. This is John's message through
the book of the Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this was to them a message
of good news. You know, to God's people, to
those who've been ministered to by the Spirit of grace. When we speak this record of
God's Son, of what the Lord Jesus has finished, that's good news
to us. The Spirit of God has convicted
us. He's convinced us that we're
sinful. Have you been convinced? I've
been convinced. That's the Spirit's work. He
convinces us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And when the
Spirit does His work, then the gospel, it will be good news
indeed. You see the reason the gospel
is of good news to everybody is because they've not been convinced
of what they are. You remember back in Isaiah chapter
53, Isaiah begins that 53rd chapter by making this statement, Who
hath believed our report, our record? Oh, it's a good record. It's a good report. It is good
news. But it's not good news to everybody. When our Lord Jesus was born
into this world, the angels announced the glad tidings. But it wasn't
glad tidings to everybody. It wasn't glad tidings to King
Herod. It wasn't glad tidings to the
Pharisees, who believed that their righteousness sufficed
to get them into heaven. It wasn't good news to everybody,
but it is good news and it has always been good news to somebody. Is the gospel good news to you? This is what John writes to these
people who are in great tribulation. He writes of our Lord Jesus and
throughout the book, he keeps mentioning the work
of redemption by the Son of God. Over and over again in seven
distinct visions, He takes the people of God from the redemptive
work of our Lord Jesus unto His second advent and makes the people
of God to rejoice. And I say to you, the people
of God today, in this world of woe, In this world of corruption,
in this world of immorality, and in your world, your world
of trouble, and your world of tribulation, be encouraged. We have the good news. We are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. I've said
two or three times, the book of the Revelation is about the
victory of the Lord Jesus and His followers over the dragon
and his followers. We are victorious. Oh, at any
given time in the history of God's work in this world, the
people of God are going through great tribulation, going through
great difficulties. And to those of you who are unbelievers,
we're not going to sit before you a false word. We're not going
to say, if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, He'll bless you
with all these physical blessings. You'll never have any more difficulties
in this world, because that's just not so. In fact, to some of you who are
the people of God, I'm sure for you, you could say, listen, some
of my troubles didn't begin until the Lord brought me to grace.
Then I had issues with my family. I had issues with my friends. I found that it's not a smooth
path all the way to glory. We have troubles. We do have
trials. We do have afflictions. We do
have all of these adversities in this world. But don't be disheartened. In fact, be cheerful. Be happy in the Lord because
He fights our battles for us. You remember when Israel stood
at the Red Sea? There's Pharaoh and his armies
in back of them, and there's the Red Sea in front of them.
They said, oh, what are we going to do? Do you ever say that? What am I going to do? Oh, Lord,
I don't know what to do. Moses said, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. Watch God work. O people of God, the Lord is
working today. He is bringing to pass His will. Everything that happens in this
world is right on schedule and according to His everlasting
purpose. Be encouraged, even the hardships. Even the difficulties, they are
under the sovereign command of our great Savior, our God and
King, Jesus Christ the Lord. This is what John is saying throughout
the book of the Revelation. And notice what he says again
in verse 9. as he expresses his oneness with
his readers. He says, I, John. And then he
doesn't say, I'm an apostle. Though he could have said that,
had the Lord led him to say that. But he didn't say, I'm an apostle.
He didn't use any lofty title. He just said, I, John, who am
your brother? You know, God did appoint twelve
apostles. Men gifted to preach the gospel. Men who were given unusual gifts. But make no mistake about it,
everything that they were, And everything that they did was
by the grace of God. John doesn't elevate himself.
He doesn't say, hey, I'm way up here, look up here, I'm John,
all of you little people. No, he says, I, John, I'm your
brother. I'm your brother. What does that
mean? We have the same Father. We're born of the same seed. We have the same Savior. We're bought with the same price. We're robed in the same garments.
We're family. We're family. John, the Apostle Paul, James,
these other writers of the Scripture, and you and me, there's a oneness
about the family of God. You see, in this family, there
is but one head. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And John says, I'm your brother. I'm your brother. He says, I'm
your companion in tribulation. He said, I'm right there with
you. I'm right there with you. You're
not by yourself. I'm a partaker in the tribulation. John says, don't think that I'm
above this. You know, God's servants have
been given the gift of preaching the gospel. But I'm right there
with you. And you're right there with me.
We are partakers of the grace of God. We fellowship with the
Lord Himself. We are companions. Literally,
we are partners. We are partners. In this work,
indeed, we do have one pastor. But you know what? We are laborers
together, aren't we? We are laborers together. There's
no somebody up here and the rest of the people down here. There's
a oneness about the people of God. There's a oneness about
us. We're sinners saved by grace.
It's the Lord who has set us apart. Way back in old eternity. He set us apart. He said, I love
these people. I choose these people. I predestinate
these people to be mine. I give these people in grace
to my Son to be their surety. These are my people, God says. Sometimes I hear preachers talking
and say, you know, I told my people, I told my church, no,
this is not my church and you are not my people. We are the
Lord's people. We are the Lord's people. He's
the One who appointed us unto everlasting glory. He's the One
who gave us as a gift to His Son. The Lord Jesus said, All
that the Father giveth Me, they shall come to Me. Him that cometh
to Me, I'll let no wise cast out. We're God's gift to His
Son. And God says, As I have loved
My Son, that's how I love you. We're special people. There's
a oneness about the people of God. That same price that redeemed
you, redeemed me. That same righteousness that's
been imputed to you, has been imputed to me. I'll tell you
something about all of God's people. We all wear the same
robe. That's right. In glory will all
have garments, white, fine linen. That's the righteousness of the
church, the righteousness of the saints, which is given to
us as a gift freely by the Lord Jesus Himself, who established
that righteousness by His obedience unto death, even the death of
the cross. John said, I am your brother. I'm your companion. I'm your
partner. God has partnered us together.
The Apostle says we're laborers together with God. Now it's not
my work. It's not your work. It's not
Brother Mahan's work. It's not Brother Parker's work.
It's God's work. And if this work is built on
a man, eventually it will fall. I guarantee you. But if it's
built on the solid rock, it will stand the test of time. As this
church has. John says, I'm your brother. I'm your companion in tribulation
and in the kingdom. I'm your companion in the kingdom. Wherever you've got a kingdom,
I'll tell you what you've got to have first of all. You've
got to have a king. And I know who the king is. It's
King Jesus. He has dominion over all things. As God, He's always had dominion. His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom. But as the God-man, He merited
this kingdom by His obedience to the Father and by His substitutionary
death. This is His kingdom. And John
says to these people, We are brothers, we are companions in
the kingdom. In the kingdom. Have you been brought into the
kingdom? What is this kingdom? Well, it's the kingdom of grace.
It is the kingdom of glory. But this is the kingdom of God's
people. God's people. A special people. God's church on earth. We're brought into this kingdom.
How are we brought into the kingdom? Let me give you five ways. Look
at, first of all, in Ephesians chapter 1. We're adopted into
the kingdom. John says, I'm your brother and
I'm your companion in the kingdom. Well, how do we get in the Kingdom?
We're adopted into it. Adopted into it. Ephesians chapter
1. Oh, what a glorious passage of
Scripture for the people of God. I suspect that your Bible is
as mine. It's well broken in at this point. My Bible just almost automatically
falls open to Ephesians chapter 1. Here we have in these 23 verses
the work of the Father set forth to the praise of the glory of
His grace. We have the work of the Son of
God set forth to the praise of the glory of His grace. And we
have the work of the Holy Spirit set forth to the praise of His
glory. Read with me in Ephesians 1 beginning
in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who have blessed us. All saints of God, let us bless
Him who blessed us. What did He bless us with? All
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. And He blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. I want you to understand, especially
those of you who are unbelievers, there are no spiritual blessings
outside of Jesus Christ. None whatsoever. Oh, there are
temporal mercies that people throughout the world receive,
which they enjoy. day by day throughout the earthly
sojourn, but there are no spiritual blessings except those which
are found in the Lord Jesus Christ. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him. God has chosen us that we would
be holy and without blame before Him. Just two or three days ago, I
received an email from a fellow pastor. And he said, well, in
fact, I'll tell you, it's Bill Parker. Because we often communicate,
and he said, Jim, somebody had contacted him, and he said, do
you know a good book on the subject of holiness? And Bill told him,
he said, he didn't know of one. Bill wrote me. He said, Jim,
do you know a good book on holiness? And I said, no, because most
all the books, well, all the books that I know about that
have been written on the subject of holiness involve progressive
sanctification. I said, I don't know of any.
You see, the man of the religious world, he thinks, here's how
I become holy. I stop doing this. And I quit
that bad habit. And I start going to church.
I start giving all these things. Now I'm making progress in holiness. Wrong. Listen to this passage. It's
in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 30 and 31. God has made Christ Jesus
to be our number one, wisdom. Number two, righteousness. Number three, sanctification. You know what that is? Holiness. Holiness. And the next one is
redemption. The same One who is our wisdom
is our righteousness, and He is our holiness, and He is our
redemption. If you think you are getting
better and better and better in this world, like an old Puritan
I read years ago, he said, the Lord waits to pick ripe fruit. And he says, when you're ready
for heaven, when you've grown more and more holy, then the
Lord says, well, those grapes are ripe. That fruit's ripe. Boy, if you think that, you lack
a real understanding of the gospel. Because the same One who is our
redemption is our holiness. It's in Him we're made holy and
without blame. God set us apart to be holy and
without blame, just like our Lord Jesus. Holy and without
blame. He's our holiness. And He's the
One in whom we have no blame. Listen, in yourself, you've got
lots of blame. Is that right? You've got lots
of blame. You've got lots of sin. You've
got lots of corruption. But in the Lord Jesus, you're
holy. And you're no more holy, you'll
be no more holy in that day than you're holy right now. You see,
you either are holy or you're not holy. There are no degrees. That's man-made stuff. We are
chosen to be holy and without blame before God, who in love
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto
Himself. How did we get in the Kingdom
of God? How is it that we came to be
in the family of God? How is it that we became members
of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ? By adoption. By loving adoption, which is
due to God's predestination. How do we get the Kingdom? I'll give you another way. Look
at Matthew 25. And this is very closely associated
with the first one. By inheritance. By inheritance. By adoption. By inheritance. Number two, look at Matthew 25.
Look at verse 31. Matthew 25, 31. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him. You see where
did they get their holiness from? The Lord. They didn't make any progress
in any way whatsoever. They are holy in the Lord. They
are His holy angels. He made them holy, just like
He makes us holy. All the holy angels with Him.
Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. And before him
shall be gathered all nations, he shall separate them one from
another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. He
shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, He blessed of my Father. And we just read
in Ephesians chapter 1, when were we blessed of the Father?
Before the foundation of the world. That's what it said. So now the Savior, from the beginning
of time, we were blessed of the Father. Now this is the end of
time. This is when time shall be no
more. The Savior says, Come ye, blessed
of my Father, Inherit the kingdom. How do you get the kingdom? By
inheritance. You know who gets the inheritance? The children. The children. Now are we the sons of God. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him. for we shall see Him as He is.
We are the children of God. How do we get into the kingdom?
Look at Colossians chapter 1. Thirdly, look at the book of Colossians
chapter 1. Look at verse 12. Colossians 1 verse 12, giving
thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet. He's made
us fit. He's made us worthy to be partakers
of the inheritance. That inheritance which the Father
blessed to us before the world began be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us, rescued us from
the power, the authority, the strength of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." Take it in
the kingdom by adoption. By inheritance. By translation. Translation. Hold your place right here. Let
me give you a definition of this word, translated. And I'll do
so using Acts chapter 13. Look back here in Acts 13. Let
me show you a verse of Scripture. I'll give you the definition
of translated. Remember what the Apostle says
here in Colossians chapter 1. He has delivered us from the
power of darkness, from the authority of darkness, from the strength
of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son. To be translated means to be
removed from one location or from one position and put into
another. I'll give you a good example
of that here in Acts chapter 13. Here's the Apostle Paul preaching
in Antioch. And he goes through the history
of Israel, at least he gives a summarization of the history
of Israel. And he says to them, to these
people in Antioch, verse 21, Acts 13, 21. He says, "...and afterward they
desired a king. God gave unto them Saul the son
of Sis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin by the space of forty
years." Then he says, "...and when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David
to be their king." to whom also he gave testimony and said, I
have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart."
The word removed. The beginning, verse 22. If you've
got a strong concordance, and I would recommend you get you
a good concordance to do word studies of the Bible, but if
you look up the word translated, there in Colossians chapter 1,
you will find it is also translated in Acts chapter 13 and verse
22 as removed. Which then makes this verse over
here in Colossians chapter 1, without doing any damage to the
verse or to the context, "...who hath delivered us from the power
of darkness, and hath removed us." He's removed us into the
kingdom of His dear Son. Now let's take Saul. Did he remove
himself? Did he offer his resignation?
Did he say, you know, I've decided I shouldn't be envious of David,
who has killed his ten thousands, As the people say, and they said,
Saul has killed his thousands. Did Saul say, well, you know,
of my own volition, of my own free will, I decide to give up
the crown? No. God took it away from him. In
the words of the Bible, when He had removed him, forcefully,
irresistibly, and powerfully. There is omnipotence at work
there. There's King Saul. He's ruled
for 40 years. He stands head and shoulders
above everybody. He's proud to be the king and
he hates David. He's not going to give up the
kingdom. If a new king is to reign, I'll
tell you what's going to have to happen. God's going to have
to remove him. God's going to have to do His
work. And this is the way it is with you and me. We're under
the power of darkness. Spiritual darkness, wickedness,
evil, error. And God comes by His omnipotence
and He removes us from the strength of darkness into the Kingdom
of His dear Son. That's what we call efficacious
grace. That is irresistible grace. Grace that gets the job done. You didn't decide this. No. This wasn't your will at work,
that's God's will at work. Translated into the kingdom of
God's dear Son. That's how you get in the kingdom,
into the family of God. I'll tell you something else,
go to John chapter 3. This kingdom, you're born again
into it. You're born into the Kingdom.
John chapter 3. Remember, John said back there
in the book of Revelation, I, John, who am your brother and
your companion in the Kingdom. In the Kingdom. See, John got
in the Kingdom, and these folks got in the Kingdom, and all of
us got into the Kingdom the same way. By adoption. by inheritance,
by translation. And number four, we are born
into it. Our Lord is speaking to Nicodemus.
Jesus says to him in verse 3, John 3, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. He can't perceive it. He can't
comprehend it. He can't understand it. Nicodemus
said unto him, verse 4, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, the water of
the Word, The washing of the Word, as Titus chapter 3 puts
it. Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom. This is the work of the Lord.
Go back to chapter 1. Look at chapter 1 of John. Look
at verse 12. But as many as received Him,
To them gave He the power, the authority to become the sons
of God, even to them that believed on His name, which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
it wasn't of your will, nor of the will of man, it wasn't because
other people wanted you to be in the kingdom, You are born
of God. All children of the Most High,
you who have been brought to faith in the Lord Jesus, you
are born of God. You are His offspring. You are
His children. You're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and
abideth forever. You're born into the Kingdom.
You're birthed into the Kingdom. And just like in your first birth,
you had no part of it. It wasn't your decision. So in this second birth, you
have no part in this. You have no decision in this.
You are born of God. You are born of God. How do you get into the Kingdom?
Look with me in Mark chapter 10. Something else needs to be said
though. Because here's what happens when
the Spirit of God works within us. Mark chapter 10. Look at verse 13. Mark 10, 13. They brought along
young children to Him that He should touch them. And His disciples
rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was
much displeased. And seven of them suffer the
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for
of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he
shall not enter therein." Due to the work of the Holy Spirit,
here's what we do. We receive the kingdom of God.
as little children fully dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know what the Spirit brings us to realize, to see, and to know? Nobody else can save us but Christ
alone. That's what the Spirit of God
does. And we receive the Kingdom just like a little child. You
know, a little child is so dependent upon his father and his mother
for everything. He can't protect Himself. He
can't feed Himself. He can't do anything for Himself.
He's totally dependent. Are you totally dependent upon
the Lord Jesus Christ? Dependent for everything. We receive the Kingdom by faith. And you know the entrance into
the Kingdom? I'll tell you this, there's just one door. And our
Lord Jesus says in John chapter 10, I am the door. I am the door, by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved. Go in and out, find pasture. John said, I am your brother.
I am your companion. I am your partner. You're a co-laborer
in the Kingdom. And I'll leave you with this
question. Are you in the Kingdom? And I'm going to give you one
more reference, Mark chapter 12. You're close by. So I give
this to you, Mark chapter 12. Take a look at verse 28. Mark chapter 12, verse 28. One
of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together
and perceiving that he had answered them well, that is, Christ the
Lord had answered them well, asked him, which is the first
commandment of all? Jesus answered him that first
of all the commandment is Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is
one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these. Scribes said unto him, Well,
master, thou hast said the truth. For there is but one God, there
is none other but he. And to love him with all the
heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with
all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more
than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus
saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not
far from the kingdom of God. You're not far from the kingdom
of God, but you're not in it. That's sad, isn't it? You're
not far. He's standing right in front
of the Master. The only Savior. Leaning and resting on His obedience
to the commandments of God. And the Savior said, you're not
far from the Kingdom, but you're not in it. Here you sit with a Bible, and you listen to the Gospel, You open the hymn book to these
great hymns of the faith. Are you in the Kingdom? By God's
grace? Or is it best said of you? You're not far from it. I pray
that God the Spirit will put you in the Kingdom. take you
forcibly out of the strength of darkness, puts you in the
Kingdom. If He does that, you'll receive
the Kingdom, you'll be thankful for the Kingdom, you'll rejoice
in the Kingdom, and you'll say, I'm your brother and I'm your
partner in the Kingdom of God, in the Kingdom of Grace. Well,
let's sing.