Thank you, Brother James. Go
to Revelation chapter 1 with me. That song that he sang, written
by John Newton, and he wrote many, many good songs, and the
words are excellent, and I appreciate you singing that. That's a great
song. Revelation chapter 1. I take my text from the first
statement of the first verse of the first chapter. Here is
even the title of the message, The Revelation of Jesus Christ. The word revelation means a supernatural disclosure. The root word is reveal. And literally it means to unveil
or to take the cover off of something so you can see it. To take the
cover off of something so you can see it. The word revelation
actually comes from a Greek word which literally
translated into the English language, it would be apocalypse. And most everybody's heard that
word at some time or another. We're in for a great apocalypse. Well usually when people use
that word apocalypse, They mean that there's going to be some
kind of cataclysmic destruction at the end of the world. And I'll tell you there is going
to be something catastrophic. There is going to be a cataclysmic
destruction at the end of this world. Now that is for certain.
Go back to 2 Peter with me if you would. The book of 2 Peter
chapter number 3. Revelation. Apocalypse. Apocalypse. Revelation chapter
3. Here is what Peter has to say in the
3rd chapter. He says, this 2nd epistle beloved,
verse 1. I now write unto you in both
which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye
may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord
and Savior, knowing this first. that there shall come in the
last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying,
Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
Now verse 5 of chapter 3 of 2 Peter. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the
earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the
world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the
heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are
kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men. Yes, there is going to be a cataclysmic
end to this world. Notice what he says in verse
8, But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day. God doesn't, He doesn't measure. Time is nothing to God. He created
it for us. And in this little sliver of
time, which is in the middle of eternity, the vastness of
eternity, it's in this little sliver of what God calls time
and what we need, what we live in, this is the day of God revealing
His grace to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
that time ordained of God for redemption and reconciliation
of sinners. This is that time when the Word
of the Gospel goes forth. These last 6,000 years since
God created this world, the Gospel of God's free and sovereign grace,
salvation by substitution, by the death of a suitable substitute
in the stead of the guilty, in these last 6,000 years the message
has been going forth. And it does continue to go forth
to this day, and it will still go forth until the last day,
but the end is coming. The end is coming. But he says in verse 9, the Lord
is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to usward. not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance." That is, here is what Peter is
saying before this great cataclysmic end arrives. God will show mercy. He will give repentance to all
of His people. He is not willing that any of
His people shall perish. And if He is not willing that
any of His people shall perish, then none of His people shall
perish. This is not a statement of a
universal desire of God for all men to come to repentance. This
is not all men without exception. This is a promise of God made
to the usward, made to the people of God. That is, this world is
not going to be destroyed, not until All of God's elect are
gathered safely into the fold of salvation. Now there is a
blood-bought group of people in the world and some of them
undoubtedly haven't even been born yet. But these are the vessels
of mercy God chose in grace before the world ever began. He gave
them to Jesus Christ the Lord for safekeeping. About 2,000
years ago, the great surety of the sheep, the shepherd, He came
and He laid down His life for the sheep. He redeemed His people. For His people, He brought an
everlasting righteousness. His blood washed away all of
the sins of those that the Father gave Him in the covenant of grace.
And now the Spirit of God, using the gospel of God's grace, goes
forth through the preaching the ministry of preaching, and God
takes the Word of the Lord and He drives it to the heart, and
men are quickened from the dead. They are brought to faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. They are brought to repentance,
repentance toward God. That is, they turn from their
idols to believe the living God. This world is indeed doomed. There is going to be an apocalypse. There is going to be a destruction
of this old world. But that will not happen until
all of the sheep are brought to the shepherd. Then the end
will come. Let's keep reading. But the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, verse 10, in which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. And the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. This is absolutely going
to pass. In light of this, he says in
verse 11, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation
and godliness? Those of you who profess faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, those of you who love the gospel of
God's free and sovereign grace, let's us set ourselves apart
unto God. Set ourselves apart unto the
gospel. Let us strive, strive to do the
revealed will of God, seeking to send forth the gospel of His
grace every opportunity that we have, knowing that the end
is coming. Verse 12 says, Looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens,
being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, who are the
we? The ones that He's not willing
should perish. Who are the we? The sons of God. Who are the we? The chosen vessels
of mercy. Who are the we? The redeemed
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are the we? All of
those who brought to confess Christ is Lord and believe on
Him in the heart. Nevertheless, we, according to
God's promise, We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwelleth nothing but righteousness. Oh, glorious day. Oh, glorious
day when nothing shall dwell upon this earth or in heaven
but absolute perfection. All of the people of God being
made perfect in Jesus Christ. Yes, there is a great apocalypse
coming. But that's not the main meaning
of the word revelation. Go back to Revelation chapter
1. That's not the main meaning of it and it shows you how people
today can take a word and make it mean what they want it to
mean. This word revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the
apocalypse of Jesus Christ. Its main meaning is not some
cataclysmic judgment that is going to come to pass. There
is no question about that. We just read it. But that's not
the main meaning of the word. That's what's going to happen
when our Lord Jesus comes back. There will be destruction of
these things. When we read of the revelation,
the revelation of Jesus Christ, we need to think of it as God
is revealing His Son. You see, not only this book. In my Bible it says, The Revelation
of Saint John the Divine. Now, the titles of the books
aren't inspired. Here's the title of the book.
It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's not the revelations
of Jesus Christ. It's the revelation. It's one
revelation that has to do with many things. But it's one revelation
of one person. And that one person is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And not only, I would suggest
to you, is that the appropriate title, the revelation of Jesus
Christ, that is not only the appropriate title for the last
book of the Bible, that's an appropriate title for all of
the Bible. The revelation of Jesus Christ. Because this book is a disclosure. It is an unveiling. It is taking
the cover off. It is enabling us to see and
to believe and to glory in this second person of the Trinity
whom God has sent into the world, whom the Spirit of God reveals
to our hearts. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. The word means manifestation. Manifestation. It's used that
way and I'll just read it to you in Romans chapter 8 and verse
19. For the earnest expectation of
the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. And here's what that verse means.
There are lots of people today who profess to be Christians.
Multitudes who profess to be the sons of God. But there is
coming a day when there is going to be a supernatural disclosure. There is going to be an unveiling. There is going to be a making
known, a taking the cover off of. There is going to be a manifestation
of just exactly who are the people of God. Are you one of the people
of God? sometime in the future. Our Lord
Jesus is coming back. And all of creation groans for
this. That's in the context there in
Romans chapter 8. For the manifestation of the
sons of God. And when the Son of God comes
back to this world, that's when it will be supernaturally disclosed. It will be revealed who are the
people of God. Take this word manifestation
then and put it right here in the place of revelation because
this presents to us another shade of the meaning of revelation.
You could say it's the manifestation of Jesus Christ, of making him
known. of making Him known. And isn't
that necessary in our hearts? Doesn't it have to be made known
to our hearts? And who is it that makes the
Lord Jesus known to our hearts but the Spirit of Grace? Our
Lord Jesus said, I will send another comforter. He won't speak
of Himself. He'll speak of me. He'll show
you things of mine. He manifests to us who the true
Christ is. You see, there are lots of false
Christs in this world. There's lots of false Jesuses
in this world. All you got to do is turn the
television on, listen to most all those preachers on the television,
they're talking about another Jesus. Turn on your radio to
some of these so-called gospel stations, these so-called Christian
stations, they'll tell you about another Jesus. But that which
is necessary is for there to be a manifestation of the real
Christ. to our hearts. And God uses the
gospel for that. Indeed, this word revelation
means the appearing of Jesus Christ. Go back to 1 Peter chapter
1 and verse 7. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 7. Peter says, chapter 1 and verse
7, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ, or at the revelation of Jesus Christ, or at the manifestation
of Jesus Christ. He is going to appear again.
He is going to appear again. You remember when our Lord ascended
back to glory? And it's recorded, of course,
at the end of the Gospels, especially the Gospel of Matthew, but I'm
thinking particularly of Acts chapter 1, when the disciples
watched Him ascend into heaven, and the angel said to them, you
men of Israel, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus
that you've seen ascend into heaven shall so come again in
like manner as you've seen Him go. He will make another appearance. There is going to be a manifestation
of the Son of God. There is going to be a revelation
of the Son of God. Someday He is coming back. He is coming back. In that passage
we read in 2 Peter chapter 3, you know, people mock and people
still mock. Where is the promise of His coming?
All of these years have gone by, He hasn't come back, and
all of you people who say you believe Him, you say He is going
to return to this earth, there is going to be a judgment, there
will be cataclysmic things that will happen upon this earth because
this earth is going to be destroyed by fire by God, man's not going
to destroy it. God's going to destroy it. He's
going to renovate it. They say, well, how come He hasn't
come back yet? Where is the promise of His appearing?
Where is the promise of His manifestation? Where is the promise of His revelation? Well, the promise is in the Word.
And that time when He will come back, that's hidden in the heart
of God. No man knows the day nor the
hour when the Son of Man is coming back. And don't make the mistake
of looking for signs. There are no signs to be given.
I just read to you from 2 Peter. He will come as a thief in the
night when men don't expect Him. And yet the people of God We
live or we should live in daily expectation of His coming. We
should, as it were, stand on the very tiptoes of faith. As
we hear Him say, Behold, I come quickly. And then we say with
John, Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Oh, come. Come and take us unto
Yourself. Come and end sin in us forever. Come and rid us of this pollution,
of this corruption. Come and wipe out sin and opposition
and rebellion to You. Wipe it off the face of the earth.
Oh, Lord Jesus, even so, come today. Today, and gather us unto
yourself. Oh, how glorious that day will
be. In Revelation chapter 1 in verse
7, it says, And every eye shall see Him. This is not going to
be a secretive coming. It's not going to be a private
coming. It's going to be very public.
Very public. Every eye shall see Him when
Christ Jesus comes back in His glory. And every knee shall bow
before Him, and every tongue shall confess, He is the Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. Oh, He is going to make another
appearance in this world. When He comes back, He is going
to first of all snatch His elect unto Himself. The souls of those who are united
with Him now shall return with Him. And He will raise their
bodies from the graves. Their souls shall come back together. And those of us who are alive
when He comes back, if this generation is alive, He will change us. We won't go before those who
have died in the faith. They shall be raised first and
then we which are alive and remain, we shall all be changed. Well,
how fast is that going to happen? In a moment? In the twinkling
of an eye? How fast can you blink your eye?
That's how fast it'll happen. Well, how can that ever happen,
preacher? The same God who did the absolute
unthinkable, saving your filthy soul from hell, from the grave,
and from sin. Saving me by His grace, by the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The same power that brought to
pass the creation of the heaven and the earth. The same power
that brought to pass the regeneration of our souls, giving us life
in Christ Jesus. He is going to raise everybody
and change everything in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. It
will all be over. It will all be over. He is coming back. That is another
meaning of this word revelation. Appearing. He is going to make
another appearance. Another appearance. I will give
you another meaning of this word. Another shade of the meaning
of this word. Revelation. Go to Luke, the second
chapter. And this is all we're doing this
morning. I'm just sort of trying to enlarge upon this word, Revelation,
to give you the different shades of meaning in the Scriptures. It's a manifestation, a making
known, an unveiling, an uncovering. It means appearing. And now go
over here to Luke, the second chapter. This is when Joseph
and Mary bring the infant, Jesus, to do for him according to the
law. When he was eight days old, he
was named. When he was when they took him
to the temple to be circumcised. And then notice in verse 22,
and when the days of her purification, Luke 2, 22, when the days of
her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished,
they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As
it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth
the womb should be called holy to the Lord. Now verse 24, and
to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the
law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man was just and devout,
waiting or looking for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost
was upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost It was uncovered to him, it was disclosed to him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to
do for him after the custom of the law, Then he took him up
in his arms and blessed God. He honored God and said, Lord,
now let us, thou, thy servant, depart in peace according to
thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light
to lighten, to reveal. That's the word revelation. A
light to reveal truth to the Gentiles, that which is implied.
A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people.
A light to lighten. So the word revelation means
to enlighten. And we speak of, and correctly
so, the necessity of Christ Jesus being revealed to us. We have
to be enlightened. The things of God have to be
made manifest to us. Don't they? They don't come naturally
to us. They have to be made manifest
to us. They have to, all of a sudden, make an appearance to us. Because
remember, just like the appearing of our God and Savior Jesus Christ,
that's the word revelation, here He's talking about enlightening
people. So there has to be an appearance of the Spirit of God
in the Gospel of God to us. The Lord has to make an appearance
to us. He has to make a manifestation of the Gospel to us. There is
no salvation apart from a manifestation of the Gospel, apart from an
enlightenment by the Spirit of God. We've got to be enlightened.
Why do we have to be enlightened? Well, it's because we're in the
dark. Who needs light? People who are
in the dark. And that's the way we all are
by nature. We're in spiritual darkness. We need a revelation
of the truth. We need a manifestation of the
truth. We need the truth to appear to
us, to make itself known to us. We need to be enlightened. That's what Christ Jesus is.
This is what He says. He's a light to enlighten or
lighten the Gentiles. The Gentiles, the glory of His
people, Israel. Is He not called the Light? He's
the Light of the world, Christ Jesus is. Here we are in our
darkness. What does darkness indicate in
the Bible? What's darkness a type of or
a figure of in the Bible? Error? Ignorance? Evil? Sinfulness? We have to be enlightened. Oh
God, enlighten us. Oh Spirit of God, make an appearance
to us of the truth. Make to us a manifestation of
the truth. Reveal the truth to us. Go to
Matthew chapter 11. And we dealt with this not too long ago in Matthew chapter
11. Look at what the Lord says here
about revealing the truth. Revealing the truth. Matthew
chapter 11. Look at verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and
hast revealed them. You've made them manifest. Your
truth has made an appearance to these babes. A revelation. You've revealed them unto babes.
even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Revelation. Oh, we need a revelation. A revelation
of what? Well, it's not really a revelation
of what, but it's a revelation of who. You see, here's the title
of it over here, again in Revelation chapter 1. The revelation of
Jesus Christ. We don't need a revelation of
what? We need a revelation of somebody. And here's the thing, if He's
not revealed to us, if He isn't made manifest to us, If God doesn't
enlighten us as to who Jesus Christ is and what He did, the
necessity of Him doing all that He did, if He doesn't enlighten
us, if there is not a revelation of Jesus Christ, a manifestation
of Jesus Christ to the heart, if He doesn't make Himself known
to us, if He doesn't disclose Himself to us, if He doesn't
uncover Himself to us, we won't ever know Him. It's absolutely
impossible. We need a revelation of Jesus
Christ. Now let me show you something.
In the New Testament, this statement is only found three times. The
revelation of Jesus Christ is only found three times in all
of the New Testament. Let me give them to you real
quick. Go to 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. In verse 13. It's only found
three times in the New Testament. The revelation of Jesus Christ.
And now we have more of an understanding of the meaning of the word revelation.
Manifestation of hearing, a disclosure, an enlightening. The revelation
of Jesus Christ. Here in 1 Peter chapter 1 in
verse 13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, Be sober. Be sober. Sober about the things
of God. Sober about your soul. Sober about eternity. Sober about
salvation. You know the sad thing, one of
the sad things in this world, So many people are inebriated
with a false gospel. They're drunk. We need to be
made sober. Sober-minded. Be sober. And I hope to the end, for the
grace of God, or literally because of the grace of God, that it's
to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Certainly we
now enjoy and appreciate the grace of God that's brought to
us in the gospel. Electing grace, redeeming grace,
justifying grace, pardoning grace, adopting grace. In short, salvation
as being all of grace. For this gospel is the revelation
of the grace of God to sinners in Jesus Christ. It's a revelation
that is made of Himself. And it's a revelation that is
made of Himself by Himself to us. That is, He has to reveal
Himself to us. It is a revelation, a manifestation
of the glory of His person and of His offices. And here He says,
be sober in hope to the end because of the grace. Live in expectation
because of the grace that is given to you, brought to you
and will continue to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ. When our Lord makes his appearance
in this world, then we shall enjoy the fullness of his grace
in that we'll be glorified. You think of the grace that God
has poured into us thus far. And there's more to come. There's
more to be realized. There's a perfection that we
don't have now. There's a glorification that
we haven't experienced yet. Oh, we've experienced much of
the grace of God. His justifying grace. We will
never be any more justified than we are right now. Did you know
that? We're justified in Christ Jesus by the grace that is freely
given to us. But someday we're going to enjoy
the fullness of His grace when we're glorified and we're with
Christ Jesus in heaven itself. This is all going to happen at
the revelation of Jesus Christ. Let me give you the second time
it's used, or another time it's used, and that's in Galatians
chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. And this
is the Apostle Paul speaking. He says in Galatians chapter
1, and I'll begin reading at verse 11. He says, But I certify
you, brethren, Literally, I want you to understand that the gospel
which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received
it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. That's one of the three times
it's used in the New Testament. Now let me read the rest of the
context and I'll come back to that. For ye have heard of my
conversation, my manner of living, and time past in the Jews' religion,
how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted
it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals
in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions
of my fathers. But when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal,
to uncover, to disclose, to make manifest, to appear unto me,
to enlighten me to His Son, to reveal His Son in me, that I
might preach Him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which
were apostles before me. But I went into Arabia and returned
again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him fifteen days."
Go back there to verse 12. Speaking of this gospel, he says,
For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,
but by the revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is what we need. This is
what you need if it hasn't happened to you already. You need a revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You need the Savior Himself to
reveal Himself. It's like when you remember when
our Lord walked along the road to Emmaus and He walked with
those two disciples. And you know what? He made Himself
known to them. He disclosed Himself. He unveiled
Himself to them. They didn't know Him. They didn't
recognize Him. Listen, the God of grace and
glory shows mercy to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Salvation is only in Him. He is all of God's salvation.
In fact, He is salvation Himself. But people don't know Him. They
don't recognize Him. They don't recognize Him. There
are lots of false Jesuses. I said that a while ago in the
world. Lots of false Christ. There is one true Christ and
He has to introduce Himself to you. Now, we'll never know Him. We will never know Him in the
fullness of His power and of His grace unless He reveals himself. There must be a manifestation
of himself to us. We live, and you know this is
the truth, we live in the day of decisional, decisional religion. We're not talking about decisional
religion here. We're talking about a revelation
or the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's far different from you
making a decision. You see, you making a decision,
that's something you do. That makes salvation dependent
upon you. It's a salvation conditioned
upon you. But this salvation of God is
dependent upon The revelation of Jesus Christ to your heart
and to my heart. He must manifest Himself. He
must enlighten us. He must make an appearance within
us. He must unveil Himself. He must
uncover Himself. If He doesn't do that, if He
doesn't reveal Himself to us, we will never know Him. God help us. God help us to flee
to the Savior. But we won't. We won't, apart
from the revelation of Jesus Christ. And then the last time
it's mentioned, indeed, is back here in our text. the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And I'll say again, the book
of God, especially this last book, but all of the book of
God, all of the Bible, the singular theme, the subject and message
of the entire Bible is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In
the Old Testament, we see His person, we see His work set forth
in pictures and figures and typologies and that sort of thing. In the
New Testament, we see Him set forth in person. Oh, God, give us a revelation
of Your Son. I'm not asking you, have you
made your decision for Jesus? I'm asking you, has the Son of
God revealed Himself to you? And when He reveals Himself,
it's in His glory. and in His majesty. And then
you fall down and you worship Him. And you adore Him. The revelation of Jesus Christ. Let's sing.