Alpha And Omega

Sovereign Grace Chapel, located at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, I'm just gonna read, looks like four verses, five verses, throughout Revelation for my text. The first one is in Revelations one in verse eight.

I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the ending saith the Lord, which is, which was and which is to come, the Almighty. Now, if you want to, drop down to verse 11, saying, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches, which are in Asia, unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. Now verse 17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.

And have the keys of hell and of death. Now, next chapter two and verse eight. And unto the angel of the church of Smyrna write thee, saying, saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive. Now the last, let's see, the last one is in Revelations 22 and verse 13.

I am alpha and omega. The beginning and the end. The first and the last. All right, my title today is Alpha and Omega. Or if you like, the beginning and the ending. Or the first and the last. But I'm going with Alpha and Omega, because everybody knows what that means. All right? That last verse in chapter 22 is where he has all three of those written together. He said those three things together. That's why I used it.

But, This is probably the last of the double titles of our Lord Jesus Christ that I'm going to do. We did the shepherd and sovereign of your soul, the apostle and high priest of our profession, the author and finisher of faith. But I think this one is the most glorious of all. This is again, are the words of Christ. Now they are spoken to John.

This is after his ascension, but he appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos. Matter of fact, if you look at the first page of the book of Revelations here, mine is incorrect in my Bible. It says the revelation of Saint John the Divine. That's not what this is. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The first sentence tells you in verse one, Now why they put this is the revelation of St. John the Divine, I don't know.

I just put it down to the relative stupidity of man. And bookbinders, I don't know, I got no idea. But this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And these are the words that Jesus Christ spoke to John on the Isle of Patmos, among others. But these are the ones I'm dealing with.

Because here's the thing, not only is he the shepherd and sovereign of your soul, not only is he the author and finisher of faith, not only is he the apostle and high priest of our profession, he is the alpha and he's the omega. He's the beginning and he's the end. He's the first and he's the last. Guess what, folks? He is the one with whom we have to do. We've got no way to God, no way to the Father, except by Jesus Christ. Oh, I was thinking about this.

Going on almost 40 years ago, I stood before this assembly in a different place, but some of you were there, some are newer, and I told what Earl Cochran had said four years ago. Earl said, I'm not a novice. Well, I stood up there four years ago and told you I was a novice. Now, I'm not a novice now, but I sometimes feel like it still. It's part of that thing, you don't, if you feel worthy to be here, you probably ought not be here.

I mean, that's the God's honest truth. That's the only way I can speak it. It's an awesome responsibility to try and bring a message from God, from God's word, to his people. But here is one. He is alpha and he's omega. He's the beginning and he's the ending. He's the first and he's the last. I like that, I like that, I'm telling you. Oh my, because this double title of Alpha and Omega encompasses all of the scripture that we have, every bit of it, from Genesis through Revelations. He's the beginning and he's the ending.

Matter of fact, God, Specifically, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke the world into being. He spoke this world into being, he spoke all of them into being. In the beginning, that's what it says in Genesis, in the beginning God. And in the Gospel of John, what's it say? In the beginning was the word. And the word was what? With God. And the word was God. And the word is God right now. And that word is our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the beginning and the ending. And I'm gonna tell you something right here. I've mentioned this before, I will mention it again.

In the book of Genesis, he says, let there be light. You know what happened? There was light. There was light. Wait a minute, folks. You have to keep reading on down a little bit in Genesis before it says there was a sun and a moon and the stars. There was light before that. There was light before that. That's the beginning. That's the beginning, oh my. But here's not the only thing he said about that light. I preached on this a while back. And God saw the light that it was good. That's Genesis one verse four. But he didn't stop there. And God divided the light from the darkness. Before there was a sun, before there was a moon, God divided the light from the darkness.

And that light's good. You know what? The light's still good. Was what Jesus Christ say. I am the light. I am the light. And that light's good. That light's good. As a matter of fact, I'll say it, it's very good. Oh my. But even in Genesis one, God's telling us, Christ is telling us, there's a difference between light and darkness. Oh my. And you know what?

Man didn't make a division. God made the division. God made the division. between the light and the darkness. Because I'm gonna tell you something. Man can't know the good without the light. Oh. And how does the scripture speak of the glorious future of our Lord Jesus Christ? Well let me point it out here. Revelations 21 and verse 23. Well,

22. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple, what? Of it.

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of the Lord did lighten it, and the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the light thereof. Understand in the beginning, there's light before the sun and the moon. And here at the ending, there's light without the sun and the moon. He's the beginning and the ending. And he's still the light. And he always shall be the light. Oh, I like that. He's the first and the last. The beginning and the ending are brought to pass by the one who is the light, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because without the light, there's only darkness. And in his kingdom, there's not gonna be any darkness. There's not gonna be any darkness. And we're not gonna need the sun, we're not gonna need the moon, why? Because we'll have the light. We have the light, oh my. And at the beginning and at the ending, there's light. There's the Lord Jesus Christ. Alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, the Lord Jesus Christ is all of these, and more, and more. Because I'm gonna tell you something. God said the light was good. There's nothing good without Jesus Christ. Not a thing, not a thing. He's the first, he's the last. Matter of fact, he made everything and everyone.

Now we started at it talking about it in Genesis, but you wanna know about creation and salvation? Both of them? Know about creation? Know about salvation? Well, I can tell you the easy place to look. Take a look at Colossians. Chapter one. Beginning in verse 12. giving thanks unto the Father which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. Folks, that's salvation.

And guess what? He made us meet, we didn't make us meet, not even me and him. Not even you and him. He made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and lights who have delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. He just told you how he did it.

You were delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of his dear son. What? The light. The light. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Now you wanna know about creation. That's salvation right there, folks. It's God's work. It's Christ's work. It's his blood. It's his justification. It's his satisfying God, not ours. But here, creation, verse 16.

For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. What's that mean? All things were created by him and for him, for him. Oh, I like that. And not only that, he is before all things. All things. And by him, all things consist. They consist.

Oh, and he's the head of the body, the church. Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have, what? The preeminence. Why? and he's the omega. He's the beginning and he's the ending. He's the first and he's the last.

Oh, I like that, I do. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Dwell. Oh my. Full of grace and truth. All fullness dwells in Christ. All fullness dwells in him. Oh my. Our inheritance is in the light. You know how? The father delivered us from the power of darkness and placed us, translated us, transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son.

Neither you nor me nor any man had anything to do with that. That's the work of the Father. That's what the scripture says. And you can either believe it or not. That's what it says when Paul preached. You read it toward the end of the book of Acts, it says some people believed the things that Paul preached and some people didn't. And I'm telling you folks, it's exactly the same today. Some people believe and some believe not. And I, nor you, can change that.

It's the work of God, not only in creation, but in salvation. Because this is the one with whom we have to do. He's the alpha, he's the omega. He delivered us from the power of darkness and he transferred us, carried us into the kingdom of his dear son, who's our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, he redeemed us through his blood.

We didn't have anything to do with that but that would be the cause of shedding it. That was our fault. We also can take credit for the transgressions and sins and iniquities that he bore in his own body on the tree, but I'm not proud of that. It's true, and I'm thankful for it, but I'm not proud of it.

He redeemed us, not only redeemed us through his blood, he forgives our sin. We have forgiveness, we have redemption, Again, no work by me, the work by the Alpha and the Omega did this. He's the beginning and the ending, I'll say it, of salvation. He's the first and the last of salvation. He's the Alpha and the Omega of salvation. Oh my, and I'm so glad for that.

You understand, that's a reason to be joyful all the time. no matter your condition, he's the source and the giver of the salvation of God to his people. Because here's the thing, if God doesn't deliver you from the powers of darkness, and if God doesn't translate you into the kingdom of his dear son, you're not gonna be there. You're not gonna be there. You have neither part nor lot in this. Because it's his redemption, It's his deliverance, it's his transference, and it's his forgiveness. And this is all through his shed blood. His work, his sacrifice, his offering to God. Matter of fact, you'll see all through this book.

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we have the first mention of the gospel. They call it the, what is it, proto-evangelical. It's in Genesis three, where you hear about the seed of the woman that's gonna come and bruise the head of the serpent. That's the Lord Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega. When we are told of that seed of the woman to come, we are shown in that also same account in Genesis in the garden, that God clothed Adam and Eve in skins.

Matter of fact, they were clothed, and I'll put it, by the hand of Jesus Christ himself in the garden. We are told of the perfection in God's law, which we cannot fulfill or keep. But that doesn't make it any less perfect. Oh my, we are told by the prophets of one, the Messiah, to come who would fulfill and perfectly keep God's law. Matter of fact, we'll see in Isaiah 53, the perfect substitute, if you read it.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was what? Laid on him. He paid the death that we could not pay. And I'm saying it in the past tense. Isaiah says it in the future tense, because it hadn't happened yet. But it has happened now. It happened 2,000 years ago, because he, Jesus Christ, what? Saw the travail of his soul and satisfied. God is satisfied with the offering, with the substitute of Jesus Christ.

Mm. Let's see. He saved, what does it say? Many. Why? For he bore their iniquities. Oh, I like that. Iniquities I got. Forgiveness I need. Forgiveness I need. Oh my, in the four gospels, you'll hear of his coming. to this earth, physically, as a man. Still God, but still man. I can't explain it. I can preach it. He is the God man. As Earl used to say, the Adam Cadmon, the God man. Oh, I like that. God manifests in the flesh and dwelt among us. Walked on this earth, eating and drinking, Oh my.

And in those four gospels we hear of his coming, his miracles, his healing, and most importantly, I think, his preaching. His preaching to the gospel of the poor. The gospel is preached to the poor. That's what he told them after the list of those miracles. Those two or more of the disciples of John the Baptist. Oh, the sight's given to the blind, lepers are healed, the dead are raised, what? And the gospel is preached to the poor.

Oh my. Jesus Christ's words are recorded for our exhortation and for our admonition. Oh my. And we read that Jesus Christ commands his people to believe him and love one another. That's the commandments he gave us, to believe him and love one another, love his people, love his brethren. Oh my. And the rest of the New Testament, we learn that his people are his church, his assembly, his very body.

That's what they use in the description. And our relationship to Christ is explained by marriage, the relationship of a husband and wife. There's the duties of the husband to the wife, and Christ fulfills his perfectly. And then there's the duties of the wife to the husband, and we're not so good. But he forgives, he forgives, oh my. You understand, I'm not gonna go into that.

But we also learn in the New Testament that he's coming again. He's coming again. And I'm gonna tell you something folks, he's coming this time, he's gonna be victorious. He's coming, he's coming. In body, in person, our Lord Jesus Christ is coming. Victorious and in power.

And I'm gonna tell you something, he's gonna raise his people up. on the day that he wants to. I don't know what day that is. If any man tells you what day that is, he's lying. Because no man knows that day or that hour except the Father and the Son. That's what the scripture says. Oh my, I'm not gonna tell you how many times that day has been prophesied and gone right on by. Oh my. but he's gonna raise his people up. And so, here's the most wonderful thing, so shall we ever be with the Lord. Why? He's the beginning and the ending. If in this world only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable. That's what Paul says.

That's a strange statement. especially when we've got people running around on television nowadays preaching to thousands and millions on TV, baby, I don't know. I would hope not, but there probably is. And they're preaching what they call the prosperity gospel. You give and God will give you more, but you have to give it to me. No. It's not in this world that we have hope. We have a hope that our Lord is coming back to this world. and to raise his people up at that day.

Oh my. But we know this, our Lord Jesus Christ has power over all flesh. I'm gonna tell you something folks, that's living flesh and that's dead flesh. That's live and that's not alive. He's got the power. And he has the power to give eternal life to as many as the Father has given to him. And that's what he's doing right now. You know why? Because he's the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the ending, and the first and the last. God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. What's that other verse say?

His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. I'm gonna tell you something, folks, the ending is good. The beginning's good, but the ending's good, too, for his people, for his people. Oh, my. Let me read you one more passage. This is in Isaiah 46. If you want to read the same thing, something about the beginning and the ending. Isaiah 46 verse nine. Remember the former things of old. The beginning. For I am God and there is none else.

Alpha And Omega

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Alpha And Omega

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