Before we read the first six
verses in Revelation 19, I'd like to read from another place,
2 Corinthians chapter 4. In the book of Revelation, you
have the record, the infallible record, of the certain and complete
victory of Jesus Christ and His Church. His victory guarantees
their victory. We're one with Him. As a matter
of fact, in chapter 17 of Revelation, we read this, These shall make
war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. Whoever
they are, He'll overcome them. For He is Lord of Lords and King
of Kings. But it doesn't stop there. And
they that are with Him I'm with Him, and they that are with Him
are called and chosen and faithful. In 2 Corinthians 4, we're exhorted
by faith to look at the things that are unseen, things that
are eternal, instead of things that are temporal,
everything you can see. 2nd Corinthians 4 verse 16 For
which cause we faint not Paul wrote but though the outward
man perishes I'm reminded of that more and more every day
Yet the inward man the inward man is renewed day by day for
our light affliction Which is but for a moment work is for
us not against us God works at all things together for us for
our good and worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. And here in Revelation 19, or
the entire book of Revelation, the door to those eternal things,
Those otherwise unseen things is opened up. John, we read in
chapter four, come up hither. John saw a door opened in heaven
and a voice said, John, come up here. Come up hither. And
I'm going to show you things that must be hereafter. The door is open. And my soul,
what a sight. What a sight. Did you have an opportunity to
read the quote in your bulletin above the readings by old John
Newton? I like this. He wrote, how happy to have such
views of God's sovereignty. and wisdom and love and faithfulness
as will enable us, and they will, enable us to meet every painful
dispensation with submission and to look through the changes
of the present life to that unchangeable inheritance to which the Lord
is leading us when all evil shall cease and where joy shall be
perfect and eternal. Let's read about that. Here in
chapter 19 verse 1 the first six verses and after these things
I Heard a great voice of much people in heaven Saying hallelujah
Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God
much people in heaven Christ said, except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die,
it bringeth forth what? Much, much fruit. What did John
see in chapter seven? A multitude, a multitude that
no man can number, much people in heaven. Verse two, for true
and righteous are his judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore, Babylon, false religion. which did corrupt the earth with
her fornication and have avenged the blood of his servants at
her hand. And even to that, verse 3, they said, Hallelujah! And
her smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty
elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that
sat on the throne saying, Amen! Amen! So be it! Let it be so! Amen! Hallelujah! And a voice
came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, O ye his servants,
and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard, as it
were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth." This book, this last book of the volume
of inspiration, like all the rest, but especially here, sets
forth the glory, the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
last book of the Bible is Christ's revelation of himself to his
servant John. The revelation, the very first
verse we read, the revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation
of Jesus Christ This book, this last book of the Bible, like
all the rest, point us to Him. It's not the revelation of John,
but the revelation of Jesus Christ given to John and recorded by
John. And notice, it's not the revelations,
plural, no, it's revelation. One, one. The revelation of Jesus
Christ about Him. Can we see, contemplate, consider
anything better for our souls than that? Jesus Christ, when
you're being tossed to and fro, as you may be, if you have been,
you may be at the moment, if not, you will be, when you're
being tossed to and fro, What is it that comforts your heart? What is it that gives you a sense
of peace like we just sang and comfort? It's a fresh glimpse
of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's when we're made
aware again, during the storm, right in the midst of the storm.
When we see Him, oh, our sovereign God and Savior just walking on
the waves, it's not a problem for Him. And saying, don't be
afraid, it is I. It is I. This has not caught
me off guard. It has you, but it hasn't me.
Don't be afraid. It's a revelation of Him. There are four, hallelujahs,
in these verses that we read. First in verse 1, then verse
3, verse 4, and then last in verse 6. You know what that word
means? Hallelujah. It means praise Jehovah. Praise God. Praise the Lord. So the theme of this song is
the praise of the Lord our God for all that He is. All that
he is and all that he does. Hallelujah is also an expression
of joy. Great joy. Now we hear it like
everything else on this religious day of insanity. Religious insanity. People, you know, throwing up
their hand and rolling around. Hallelujah, hallelujah. No, no,
no. It's with reverence. Sincerity. Hallelujah is an expression of
heartfelt joy. It appears here that the saints
in heaven, they never get tired of that. How about that? They
never get weary of it. It never gets old. Singing hallelujah
again and again, they say hallelujah, amen, hallelujah. Praise the
Lord. It is the great joy of God's
saints in heaven, every one of them, to praise God for his wonderful
works. They're on the same page. They're
all on the same page. I thought about that this morning
in a sense. My dear wife, men hurricane never
get on the same page when it comes to the house's thermostat. John, is Kay like that? Terry,
is Pat like that? When I think it's comfortable,
it's too hot for her. She turns it up, I'll turn it
down. Or she'll turn it down, I'll turn it up. Oh, but in heaven,
in heaven, every redeemed sinner, no exceptions, from this multitude
that no man can number, the many redeemed, they're all on the
same page. Won't that be something? That
in itself is something to look forward to, isn't it? They're
all seeing the same thing. They all enjoy doing so. Nobody
holds back. Nobody fakes it. They're all
saying, hallelujah, hallelujah. It's an expression of admiration
and wonder and glory. We'll never get to that place
where fresh pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ, fresh awareness
of our Lord Jesus Christ, they never, never cease. Larry don't
understand that well, I don't either but I know that it's so
Like our Lord told two disciples one time one was Andrew that
were following him and he turned and said what do you want? They
said well Lord where you live? He said won't you come and see?
We're gonna come and see every glorious view of Christ every
act of his hand every word of his mouth and Every revelation
of his character, every display of his majesty, his greatness,
his power, his glory, causes the souls of the redeemed to
burst out with another song of praise. Hallelujah. For his salvation
and attributes, verses 1. Even for his judgments, for his
sovereignty, verse 6. Hallelujah. For the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth. With each hallelujah, the redeemed
seem to be lifted up higher and higher to praise and worship
God their Savior with an ever-growing appreciation and awareness of
His majesty, His greatness. It's sort of like that hymn,
How Great Thou Art. In verse one, the hymn writer
is considering God's creation. And he writes, oh, Lord, my God,
when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thine hands have
made. I see the stars. I hear the rolling
thunder. Thy power throughout the universe
displayed. And when I consider that, he
says, oh, then sings my soul. I'm moved. I can't keep quiet. My Savior God to thee, how great
thou art. How great thou art. The psalmist
said, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth forth his handiwork. Last night I heard it thundering.
I was studying, preparing, but man, I heard it thunder. And
I walked through the living room. I told Robin, I've got to go
outside. I hear my heavenly father. I
hear him. Hard to stay inside when you
hear him. But then the writer of the hymn
seems to ascend higher, like these in Revelation. He goes
higher from considering his Creator to considering his Savior. They're
one and the same. And he writes, and when I think
that God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can
take good hand. I scarce can take it in. I don't
have enough between my ears. I scarce can take it in or in
my heart. That on the cross my burden gladly
bearing, He bled and died to make it possible. No, no, no,
He bled and died to take away my sin. It is finished. Scarce can take that in as Paul
said For God has made him Christ to be seen for us who do no sin
Made sin is how it should read made sin That we might be made
the righteousness of God in him and in light of that fact Then
seems my soul My Savior God did thee how great thou art How great
thou art You took away this sinner's sins all of his sins On my behalf
you brought in an everlasting righteousness You satisfied divine
justice How great thou art and Then he considers that time The
time we read up here, one of those things that must be here
after. The writer, the hymn writer considers that time when he shall
reach the pinnacle of true worship. When he shall see Him as He is.
When we shall see His face. When Christ shall come with a
shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill
my heart. Then I shall bow in humble adoration
and there proclaim, O my God, how great thou art." And that
brings us to our text here in verse 6. The last hallelujah. The one that really all the others
are built upon. If what is Spoken of here sung
about here if this is not so if this one's not true None of
the others are in reality. They all rest upon this one This
is the foundation for all the rest. Hallelujah Praise the Lord
why for because the Lord omnipotent reigneth There's the root Let's
consider that, the root, our sovereign God, and then the fruit,
the fruit of that. In other words, what? Our dear,
dear friend that's now in glory, singing hallelujah. Amen. Mr. Fortney, remember, I often,
often heard him say now after preaching Doctrine of the glorious
doctrines of God's grace in Christ you say now now Let's see if
we can't put put this in shoe leather. Remember that Put this
in shoe leather well That's the title of my message shoe leather
theology God's sovereignty. This is what I mean by that.
This is what Don meant Let's put it down here on the shelf
Well, you can reach it Not something so high above, but oh, put it
down here on the shelf where I can get hold of it. Something
there for me. Shoe leather. Some walking around
good. Something that meets me not just
when I'm on the mountaintop, but even more so when I'm down
in the valley. Not just when I feel Christ manifests
presence, but when I'm so low that I can't feel anything, then,
then, oh, shoe leather theology. Christ is our great God and Savior. That's what it means. He is our
sovereign redeemer, sovereign. What's it mean? Well, the definition
is within the word itself, R-E-I-G-N. He reigns. The Lord God omnipotent
reigns. Don't want to be like the old
preacher that stood up and said, he read a text description and
said, now folks, I'm going to confound this for you. He meant
to say expound, but he said, I'm going to confound it for
you. And I think he did. No, by God's grace, consider
this. This is not a truth just for
theologians to discuss. No, the truth of God's sovereignty
gives comfort in all our trials that we go through like nothing
else can. As I said, this is the foundation,
isn't it, John, of every promise of God. It tells me that it must
be well with my soul no matter what. You fill in the blank. It is well with my soul, no matter
what, no matter what ever happens to me in this life, no matter
what, the Great Shepherd will never forsake His sheep. Does
that matter? Does that help? Of course it
does. That keeps me from throwing in
the towel. That keeps me from just throwing up my hands and
saying, well, I'll just quit. I'll go back fishing like Peter
said. Oh, no, that gives me the grace,
this glorious truth to know that the Lord God omnipotent reigns. That's what sovereignty means.
Our God is in the heavens, ruling always, always. He always has. He always will. It's not dark,
mysterious. It's just, I almost would say
makes sense, but it's scriptural. A God that doesn't reign is not
God. When I first began working at
UK, University of Kentucky, the fellow whose place I was taking,
he stayed a few months after I started, which was providential
because I learned so much from that man. But one time, the superintendent,
who was always very careful for us peons not to forget how smart
he was, he came out one day. I hadn't been there long, and
he laid out a project for us to do, building a platform for
an AC unit to sit on, and a big one. And then he said, OK, now
right here, this part he said, I want that cantilevered. And
Carbide, the fellow, that I was his helper, Carmack said, OK,
OK, no problem, no problem. And then when the superintendent
walked out, Carmack looked at me and said, Larry, what does
cantilevered mean? And I said, don't you know? I don't know. Well, what the superintendent
could have just said, I want this part here to overhang, to
overhang. I'd understood that. I'd understood
that. Oh, we don't want to do that concerning this blessed
truth of God's sovereignty. When I say that God is sovereign,
I simply mean declaring that God is God. He's the most high,
the Lord of heaven and earth overall, blessed forever. He is subject to none. None. God is absolutely independent
of and sovereign of all his creatures. He does as he pleases, only as
he pleases, always as he pleases. None, none can hinder him. None can resist him, not effectually. None can change him, none can
stop him, and none can hinder him. He declares, he declares,
my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. I like that. I like that. Divine
sovereignty means that Jesus Christ, the head of his church,
sets upon the throne, his throne, of universal dominion, directing
all things, ruling all things, and working all things after
the counsel of his own will. This is exactly what we read
throughout God's Word. Psalm 115, David, where's your
God? Where's your God now, David?
He's asked tauntingly. His enemies ask, where's your
God now, David? You're hiding out in this cave?
Your own sons took the kingdom from you. Your son Absalom, that
rebel, he's sitting on your throne. Where's your God now, David? And David said, well, he's where
he's always been. by God is in the heavens, doing
whatsoever he hath pleased. Psalm 135, for I know that the
Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever
the Lord hath pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, and
in the seas, and in all deep places. Even that heathen king
Nebuchadnezzar learned that, didn't he? Can't you just picture
that man, you know the story. Man, he walks out on the balcony
one evening and he looks over his kingdom. He pops his suspender
and he said, Babylon, Babylon, oh my soul, look what I've done. Look what my hands have made.
And God struck him down. You see that proud rebel next,
out in the field, down on all fours, eating grass like a cow
or an ox. And God, after a time, after
he had abased that man, Nebuchadnezzar came to his right mind. And he
said, at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up
my eyes unto heaven. And my understanding returned
to me, and I blessed the Most High. It's not about me. It's about Him, the Most High.
And I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. And He doeth according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest
thou? Hmm when I read that I Have no
problem with this when I read in verse 1 of this book in Revelation
the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto Gave unto
him to show unto his servants things which must must shortly
come to pass Only if God reigns In chapter 4, we're told the
same thing. John says, after this, I mentioned
it a moment ago. Verse 1, after this, I looked,
and behold, a door was opened in heaven. How about that? And the first voice which I heard
was as it were of a trumpet talking to me, said unto me, come up
hither, and I will show thee things which must be, just like
verse 1 of chapter 1, things which must be hereafter. Hereafter. They must be. Must
be why because God wills that it be so and what God wills what
God purposes he's able to bring to pass Why must that happen? again in chapter 4 verse 2 and
immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne a throne
was set in heaven and One One Only one sat up on the throne
Look. Oh, look. He is the Lord God
omnipotent standing on that throne. It's our great God and Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all-powerful and He says,
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Why wouldn't He? Why wouldn't
He? Religious folks today say, well,
you know, there's the devil poppycock. He's God's devil, and he's on
God's leash. God just uses him to accomplish
his purposes. Oh, there's man's mighty will.
Oh, my soul, God reigneth. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, for he must reign. He must reign. The Lord Jesus
Christ must reign because he is God. A God that does not reign
is no God at all. He must reign because His dominion
is the reward of His obedience, as our surety. God the Father
told Him in the covenant of grace, You do this, my son, and I'll
do this. I promise you this. And that's
exactly what took place. This is what Paul speaks of in
Philippians 2, where for God, in light of Christ's obedience,
being made sin, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name, that to the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. All my life, and I know you have
too, I've heard preachers plead with sinners, rebels, who had
no intention of being anything but a rebel, say, will you make
Christ the Lord of your life? Would you pretty please do that? Would you make him Lord? How
stupid. Any man that says that doesn't
have a clue. what the gospel is. He's the
Lord Jesus Christ. You don't make him Lord. He must
reign. Because the salvation of God's
elect and the glory of God depend on it. Depend on it. As thou has given him power,
our Lord prayed to his Heavenly Father over all flesh. That's
yours, that's mine, that's President Trump, that's Kim, June, Og,
or Rocket Man, or whatever he is. All flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this
is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on
the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. That's why God exalted him. He
must reign because no one is able to stop him. The very foundation
of our confidence and faith in our God is His sovereignty. Were
He not sovereign absolutely, universally sovereign, we couldn't
trust Him. We couldn't trust Him. We were
saying a moment ago, "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus." He's
not sovereign. But because he is we can believe
his promises and depend upon his word that he will bring it
to pass Only an absolute sovereign can be trusted absolutely Nothing
is more delightful Now you'll bear witness to this child of
God Nothing is more delightful to the hearts of God's children
than the fact of his great and glorious sovereignty Knowing
knowing that what he has promised he's able also to be to perform. It's so sweet, isn't it? She's
so sweet to trust in Jesus Just to take him in his word just
to rest upon the promise just to know thus saith the Lord That's
sweet That's sweet Psalm 127 verse 2 It is vain. It's useless, pointless. There's
no need for this. It's vain for you to rise up
early and to set up late and to eat the bread of sorrows for
so he giveth his beloved sleep. And there's nothing that gives
such sweet, peaceful sleep than to know that the Good Shepherd
is ever watching over us. Isn't that sweet? When you lie
down at night, no matter what's going on outside, if there's... And we know. We
read about it the next day. Murders, robbery, all manner
of sin. And we just slept right through
it. Because we know the good shepherd watches over his sheep. This is what we read in another
Psalm, 121. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep. Well, if he never sleeps, no
need for me to stay awake. If he's watching over me, I don't
need to watch him. No, no. If that's so, no need
for me to toss and turn and bite my nails and pace back and forth. No, no, no. The great shepherd
is watching over his sheep. Like David, like David. Don't
you love that picture? He's a young lad sitting out
in the field under a tree playing his flute. And he looks out on
the sheep, his father's sheep, that he's responsible for, David.
And he said, oh, the Lord is my shepherd. I'm responsible
for these sheep. I've got to answer for these
sheep. They're my father, all but the Lord. He's my shepherd. He's got to answer for me. He's
responsible for me. I'm in his hands. If I'm lost,
he'll have to answer for it, not me. Oh, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. God's sovereignty is so basic.
that it's impossible to understand really any doctrine in God's
Word unless we recognize this fact that God is sovereign. In
one of his letters, Martin Luther wrote to Erasmus, he said, your
thoughts, your thoughts of God are too human. Erasmus, your
God is just your thoughts of Him just too human. God's charge
against apostate Israel was, you thought that I was altogether
such a one as yourself. Man, doesn't that sound like
the day we live in? People imagine that God is anything
they want Him to be. Here's the second thought. Here's
the fruit, some of the fruit from this glorious foundation.
Fruit that should give us comfort and peace. What comfort would
there be otherwise? If all power is not in the hands
of our great God and Savior, there's no reason for either
comfort or peace. What does it really matter to
hear Him say, let us pass over into the other side, if He's
not sovereign? Why bother? Why bother? if he's not able to bring it
to pass. Oh, but when he says, when our great God and Savior
speaks to you, and he says, let us, us, us, I'm not sending you
alone. I'm with you always. If you drown,
I have to drown too. If you go down, I'll go down
with you. I'll never forsake you. No matter how fierce the
storm becomes, no matter how huge those waves are, how strong
the winds blow, if Christ is the captain of our salvation, He says the Lord has his way
in the whirlwind and the storm are but the clouds and dust or
rather the clouds are the dust of his feet. Wow, what a God. It shouldn't surprise us then
to read this. And they came over into the other
side of the sea. They all came over. Not one was
lost. Not one perished. These are they
which came out of great tribulation. They all came out. They've all
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Every one of them in Zion appeareth
before God. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
What a Savior. Till God all wise can make mistakes,
his power abate, his love forsake, his children must not cease to
sing, the Lord omnipotent King We must pass through the fire
We must as he promised through much tribulation inherit the
kingdom of God. We must suffer for a while The
storms of life will rage around us, but we cannot drown with
Christ on board Listen to these words from Psalm 107 He maketh
the storm a calm He does doesn't he? He's done it many a time,
hasn't he? He maketh the storm a calm so
that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they
be quiet. So he bringeth them into their
desired haven. They all passed over by honor
and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by plenty and
by poverty, by joy and by sadness, by persecution and by peace,
by all things. And by each of these, we are
helped on our way. Oh, don't think, child of God,
that your sorrows are out of God's plan or purpose. They're
a part of it. One hymn writer put it this way,
oh, let my trembling soul be still. That's what we read in
Psalm 27, wasn't it? Be still. Be still. Oh, let my
trembling soul be still. And wait thy wise, thy holy will. I cannot lower thy purpose, see
it all as well since ruled by thee. There's a good article
in your bulletin by James Smith from this verse of scripture.
And even to your old age I am he. And even to whore hairs will
I carry you. I have made and I will bear,
even I will carry and will deliver you. I love that article, that's
why I wanted to share it with you. He said, your God will not
only carry your burdens, but he will carry you. He will carry
you. Psalm 48, for this God is our
God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Psalm 73, you shall guide me
with your counsel and afterward receive me into glory. I spoke the other day to a dear friend
of mine, and they're hurting. Oh, they're hurting. They're
hurting very much. And they said, I feel like Solomon. When after his father David had
died and he became king, Solomon said to the Lord, Oh Lord my
God, thou has made thy servant king instead of David my father,
and I am but a little child. I don't know how to go out or
how to come in. This is too much for me. And
my friend said, I feel like that. I feel like a little child. I
just don't know what to do. And I thought afterwards and
prayed, prayed that the Lord Jesus would apply this sweet
promise to their troubled heart. In John 13, when he said to some
troubled believers that had been following him for three and a
half years, been expecting so much. And then he said, I'm going
away and you can't come. You can't come, I'm leaving you. Oh, it broke their heart. They
didn't understand. They never understood the mission
of the Son of God until after the resurrection. And Peter said,
Lord, I'll go with you. Why can't I go now? He said,
Peter, you can't. You can't now, but you will afterwards. They
felt like a child. They just didn't know what to
do. And it was on that occasion that our Lord, for the first
time, referred to them as little children. My little children. I like that, don't you? The Son
of God looks at you, and He says, my little children, my child,
yet a little while I'm with you. You shall seek me. And as I said
unto the Jews, whither I go, you cannot come. So now I say
unto you. And then on down, He said, I
will not leave you comfortless. That word means orphans. I know
you feel like orphans, but you're not. I will not leave you as
orphans. I will come. I will come to you. Oh, yes he
will. Hallelujah, yes he will. I will
come to you. Y'all heard me make mention of
that old hymn, Stand By Me. The man who wrote that, Charles
Tindley, he was the son of a slave. His father was a slave. His mother
died when he was young, and Tindley was sort of rented out. for hire
to just about anybody to help the family that he was living
with at the time to help them out. In his book he speaks of
that. Oh, later on in life he wrote
that hymn, Stand By Me. I wonder how often he felt like
an orphan. When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me. When this world
is tossing me like a ship upon the sea, oh, thou who rulest
under the water, stand by me. A couple of days, I'll be 69
years old. Terry, I just don't see how that
could be possible. I look in the mirror, and my
vanity says that's not the 69-year-old man. And I think I can relate more
to What that man wrote in his hand when he said this, when
I'm growing old and feeble, stand by me. When I'm growing old and
feeble, stand by me. When my life becomes a burden
and I'm nearing chilly Jordan, O thou lily of the valley, O
thou lily of the valley, stand by me. And he will. He will. Let me close the message
as this book, this last book of the Bible closes. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Amen. God bless you.