In the book of Revelation in
several places Christ describes himself with these words Revelation
chapter 1 verse 8 he says I am Alpha and Omega the beginning
and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which
is to come the Almighty Verse 10, John says, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet
saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And what thou seest, write in
a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia. Towards the end of this book,
this prophecy, in chapter 21, We read, and he that sat upon
the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto
me, write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said
unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a first of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son. And in chapter 22, verse 10,
John writes that he saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the
prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He that is unjust,
let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him
be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. And behold, I come quickly. and
my reward is with me to give every man according as his work
shall be I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end the
first and the last Christ is Alpha and Omega the beginning
and the end the beginning and the end in any matter in any
task with any subject where do you start? where would you start? you start at the beginning you
start at the beginning and you work your way through until you
reach the end when you go on a journey you start at the beginning
You travel and you reach your destination. When you take up
a book, you start at the beginning, you read through to the end.
Should you be building a house, you start at the beginning at
the foundations and you build up to the end. With any matter,
you start at the beginning. To start somewhere else would
be to go astray. But you start at the beginning.
And when you come to the Scriptures, and to all things concerning
time and eternity, life and death, heaven and earth, mankind and
his God, right and wrong, good and evil, when you come to the
Scriptures, When you come to the truth, there is a beginning
and there is an end. And the beginning and the end
is Jesus Christ. He is the beginning and the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Everything concerns Him. Everything in life, everything
in this world, everything in the events which pass, everything
that may happen to you, everything in your past, your present and
your future has to do with Jesus Christ. He is the beginning and
the end. Some men wonder what life is
all about. Some men ask the question, why
are we here? Why do we live? Why do we get
up one day, go to bed the next day, get up the next day? What's
it all for? Why am I here? What's the point
of life? Why are we here on this globe? Why do we grow? Why do we do?
Why do we work? Why do we suffer? Why are we
here? What is the meaning? Well, Christ
has the answer. He is the beginning and the end,
the alpha and the omega. He's the cause of all things.
He's the reason this world is here. He's the reason you are
here. He's the reason He keeps you
alive today. He's the reason and He is the
end. No matter what the question is,
what the task is, what the dilemma or the problem is, you must start
with the beginning. And no matter what the question
you may have today may be, the beginning and the end, the answer
is in Christ. Consider this phrase, the beginning.
The beginning. It is a phrase you will find
throughout the scriptures in various places. The beginning
of this, the beginning of that. In the beginning this, in the
beginning that. And right back at the beginning
of Genesis in the very first words of scripture, just as we've
looked at the very last book in the Bible. and read of Christ,
and the very last chapter in the very last book of the Bible,
where he concludes the scriptures by reminding us that he is the
beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, the reason for
all things. If we go back to the very beginning,
it takes our thoughts right back to the beginning of the scriptures,
and the beginning of time, and the beginning of creation, when
God opens his word by saying, In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. And here, in the last book in
the Bible, Christ tells us that He is the Alpha and the Omega.
He is the beginning and the end. He is the beginning. So this phrase, the beginning,
is not just a phrase or a point in time or a commencement of
something, it is in fact a name or a description of Christ himself. I am the beginning and the end. So not only did God create the
heavens and the earth at the beginning of time, or the beginning
of history, or the beginning of the scriptures, but he created
the heavens and the earth in the beginning, in Christ. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. I am the beginning, Christ says. Then in Christ, God created the
heaven and the earth. In His Son, He created the heaven
and the earth. It is through Christ, through
the Word of God, through the Son of God, that God created
all things. All things that you see in this
world have to do with Christ, who is the beginning and the
end. There would not be a world without
Christ. There would be no reason for
this world to exist without Christ. He is the cause of this world. He is how God brought this world
into being, through His Son. He spake and it came about. God said, let there be light
and there was light. In the beginning, in Christ,
He created the heaven and the earth. Not just in the beginning
of time, but in the beginning, a person, the Son of God. God created the heavens and the
earth. In His Son, through His Son,
He created. There would be no creation apart
from His Son. Indeed the entire first chapter
of Genesis leads up through the six days of creation to the creation
of man, who is a figure of the man, the last Adam, Jesus Christ. The creation is a creation in
which we see the coming forth of the Son of God. It's a picture
of Him. The physical creation which we
have and the physical creation of the first Adam. Man upon this
world was but a figure of the spiritual everlasting creation
of the new heavens and the new earth and the man, Jesus Christ
upon it. In Him, God created the heaven
and the earth. He brought Him forth. on the sixth day. He said him
before this world, he said, this is my son. Behold him. This is the reason for this world. It's created for him to dwell
in it. Well this world that we now see
now being a figure of that new heaven and new earth to come
in which Christ will reign with his people forevermore is reserved
to be burnt up by fire as we've seen before in Peter's epistle. But it's a figure of that creation
in which the Son of God will reign forevermore. In the beginning,
in Christ, God created the heaven and the earth. As John in his
gospel opens and reminds us, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth
in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Well, not
only is in the beginning a reference to time, but it's another reference
to Christ Himself. In Christ is the Word, for He
is the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning. He is the beginning. The Word
came forth at the beginning, but He is the beginning. There's
no beginning without Christ. There's no end without Christ. in the beginning and in the end
I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending the world came
forth in Christ through Christ by his word because of him it
came out from him it exists because of him it's only here because
of Christ and therefore He is the reason for its existence
and He is the end. The passing of time, the passing
of history is a passing which leads unto Christ from whence
it began. The world was created by Him
and for Him. All things were created by Him
and for Him. They would not exist apart from
Him. They have no reason for being
here apart from Him. There is no reason for this world
to exist in any manner apart from Christ. They are for Him. He is before all things and by
Him all things consist, Paul writes in Colossians. 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. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. having made
peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all
things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in earth
or things in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works yet now have he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight All things were
created by Him and for Him. The world exists because of Christ,
it exists for Christ, and it exists for an ultimate reason,
an ultimate cause, which is to bring in a new heaven and a new
earth. We're the people taken out of
this earth who are Christ's forevermore. Why are you here upon this earth
today? Because Christ is building his
church, he's saving a people and he's making his glory known
unto all this world. If you know him or if you know
him not, He is the reason you are here. You are either here
to learn of His grace and His salvation and His love for you
which He set upon you from the beginning. Despite your enmity,
despite your apathy, despite your hatred and disdain of Him,
if He set His love upon you from the beginning, then He will make
that love known unto you. He will show you what He has
suffered for you. That He took your sins, He took
your iniquity, He took your rebellion, He took your hatred and He suffered
for it upon the cross. God the Father took Him as a
sacrifice in your place and beat Him and bruised Him and slew
Him. that you should be set free,
that you should be delivered, that you should be washed clean
in His blood, that you through Him should be made righteous,
and that you with Him should reign forever as kings and princes
and priests. He has made us kings and priests
under God and His Father. John says, He either did that
for you and that's why you're here, or He made you. as one who would go astray like
all men have gone astray to be set forth as an example of judgment. Because you would not believe. You would not listen. You would
not return to He who was in the beginning and He who is the end. You refuse to bow the knee unto
your Creator. You refuse to bow the knee unto
He who gives you life. You refuse to listen to His Word. If you refuse it, then perhaps
you are one to the set forth. as an example of His righteousness
and judgment. For He will make it known that
He is a just God that dealeth justly with sinners. And there
are those who will go to their grave in sin, railing against
Him, saying, we will not worship Him, even though He's given them
everything, even though He's given them life, Even though
He's given them all the riches they have in this world, even
though everything they've ever had is from Him, they will not
serve Him. So He judges them justly forevermore,
that all may know throughout eternity that this is a just
God and a Saviour. You'll either love Him forevermore
because He's set His grace upon you, or you will hate Him. because
your natural instinct is to turn away from Him. But whatever you
are and whatever you do will never alter the fact that the
reason you are here is because this world was made by Him and
for Him, for His glory. It's His world. It's His creation. This is His time. and it's his
eternity. You are his whether you own it
or not. Your breath is his that he has
given unto you to live by. Your heart beats because he causes
it to beat. The ground that you walk upon
is his. The house that you live in is
his. The clothes that you wear are
his, that he has given you. The friends and the family that
you have are his, that he's provided for you. All that you have, all
that you are, are his. He's given them to you. He's
given them to you as a gift. And do you take them? Do you
steal them? Are you a robber who takes from
the hand of God and says thank you very much and runs off as
far as you can get? Never thanking Him, never rewarding
Him, never loving Him, never turning to Him, never worshipping
Him, but taking all that He gives you and using it to your own
ends, whilst cursing Him and despising Him. and shut your
ears to his truth. Well if you are, and if you do,
don't forget that he is not just the beginning. These things did
not simply come from him, but he is also the ending. He's not
just the one that brought you forth that you may run away from.
but he's the one unto whom you will run upon the last day. You will find yourself having
spent your life running away from he who is the Alpha and
the Omega. You will find that when you're
at your furthest point you will take a step and there he will
be standing before you. And you will wonder, how did
I run so far? and yet I'm back here again and
he will demand an answer he is the beginning and the ending
he is your beginning and your ending whoever you are wherever
you are you came from him and you will return to him he was
there in the beginning and he will be there in your ending
John opens Revelation with this opening, John, to the seven churches
which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which
is and which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits
which are before his throne and from Jesus Christ who is the
faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead. and the
prince of the kings of the earth, and to him that loved us and
washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings
and priests under God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with
clouds, and every eye shall see him. and they also which pierced
him. And all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which
is and which was and which is to come. The Almighty. Oh what a description in those
verses there is of those short words, I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending. And where do you find yourself
in that description? Is Jesus Christ the faithful
witness, the first begotten of the dead, the prince of the kings
of the earth, is he the one who loved you and washed you from
your sins in his own blood and have made you a king and a priest
unto God and his Father. Is he the one before whom you
would say, let there be glory and dominion forever and ever? Is he your Saviour? Is he your
beginning and your ending? Is he your all in all? Has He
loved you and washed you from your sins in His own blood? Or
when He comes with the clouds, when He returns on that last
day from the heavens above, and every eye shall see Him, will
you be amongst those who see Him, though you pierced Him through? though you took as it were a
sword and thrust it through him and slew him. Though you are
guilty of his death, will your eyes see him whom you pierced? And will you, with all the kindreds
of the earth, wail because of him? When your ending stands
before you, when he who is your beginning, who is also your end,
Stands before you, would you fall down in praise and worship
because he loved you and washed you in his blood? Or will you
wail because you pierced him and always pierced him? Did you
spend every day in this world running, running, running away
from him who is the alpha and the beginning of all things? seeking to escape, and every
day in your heart piercing him through, trampling his blood
underfoot, taking as it were a sword and stabbing him. Hoping he's dead. Hoping he's
out of sight. Hoping he cannot see you. Hoping
he does not know. Hoping you'll never have to face
him again. Do you spend every day escaping
only to find on that last day when he returns that there he
is, stood before you. Stood before you. John saw a
vision of this man. this Jesus, this Alpha, this
Omega. He said he turned to see the
voice that spake with him. The voice that said, I am Alpha
and Omega, the first and the last. What thou seest right in
a book, he turned and he saw seven golden candlesticks and
in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot. and girt about the
paps with a golden girdle, his head and his hairs were white
like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame
of fire, and his feet like undefined brass, as if they burned in a
furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters, and he
had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword, And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength. And when John saw him, he says,
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. Write the things which thou hast
seen and the things which are and the things which shall be
hereafter. Make them known. Write it down. You've seen me,
John. You've seen me before the last
day. You've seen that I am the one
that lived and was dead. and now liveth again I am he
that liveth and was dead and now I am alive forevermore write
it down make it known for there's a multitude of people in this
world who pierced him through who put him to death in their
hearts and they think they shall never see him again. They think
he's been crucified, they think he's been slain, they think he's
been laid in a grave and they'll never have to worry about him
again. But there's gonna come a day
when you will see what John saw. You'll see this one whose eyes
are as a flame of fire. You'll see this one whose mouth,
out of his mouth, proceeds a sharp two-edged sword. And you, like
John, will fall down before him as dead when he says unto you,
I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth now and was
dead. You slew me, but I am alive. And behold, I live forevermore,
and I have the keys of hell and of death. You'll hear him say
unto you, you slew me, but I'm alive, and I have the keys of
hell and of death. Your fate is in my hands. I determine who shall live and
he shall die like the brothers of Joseph. They got ridden of
Joseph. They got rid of him. He was as
dead to them. They never thought they'd stand
before him again. And there came that day in Egypt
where there they were. And this mighty power, this mighty
ruler in Egypt, who had life and death in his hands, because
he was the one who had the food in the time of famine. They were
dead men, except this ruler in Egypt gave them food to live.
Their life was in his hands, and there he was, Joseph, whom
they had slain. They never thought they'd see
him again. You may think. that you will never see Jesus
Christ again. Oh, you've heard of Him. You've
heard these Christians speak of Him. You know that He was
crucified. You know what's written of Him.
But constantly you mock and you scoff and you turn away and you
pretend it's not true. And even though he's the beginning
of your life, even though your heart beats because of him, even
though everything you have came from him, you believe the lie
that others tell you and you pretend he doesn't exist and
you put him to death in your heart and there comes that day
like Joseph's brothers when you will be desperate, when you will
be dying, when you will be dead. and you'll stand the other side
of the grave and you'll see this man the Alpha and the Omega and
he'll say unto you I am he that liveth and was dead you thought
I was dead you put me to death you thought you could escape
dealing with me You thought you could go through life and never
have to face up to the fact that you're a sinner in need of salvation. You thought you could ignore
the question. You thought you could forget
about this gospel. You thought you could forget
about your sins. You thought it would be alright
in the end. You thought if there's a God,
he's a loving God and he'll accept me whatever, though I've always
hated him, though I've always rejected him, though I trod his
gospel underfoot, you thought that it would be okay. That somehow
if there was life beyond the grave, if Christ was real, if
God was real, that it would be okay. But you never sought me,
though I sought, though I sent my gospel to you, though I preached
my gospel, though I sounded my word throughout this world, though
I sent forth John with his record of what he'd seen, though I said
unto this world, I am the beginning and the end, you thought that
you'd never see me, but I am your beginning. I am alive forevermore,
I am the ending. And now you stand before me and
I have the keys of hell and of death. Oh, how foolish man's
heart is. that he buries his head in the
sand, runs from God and thinks he can escape, but he runs and
he runs as it were in a circle and he comes back to the same
point and there before him is his maker, Jesus Christ. The beginning and the ending. He is the reason for all things. He is all. He is the only reason
this world is and the only reason you're alive today. He's the
reason for today. He's the reason for tomorrow.
He's the reason for next week if it comes. He's the reason
every day you wake up in the morning. He's the reason and
you don't think about Him. You seek your own things, your
own pleasures, your own riches, your own aims. Like that's the
purpose that you're here for when He's the reason. He's the
reason. He is the beginning of all things. We saw in Genesis 1 that He's
the beginning. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. He is the beginning of all things. The beginning of the creation.
Revelation 3.14 tells us, These things say of the Amen, the faithful
and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. He is
the beginning. This world would not exist without
Him. He's the beginning of creation. He is the beginning of time. Time would not exist except Christ
had made it. Time is governed by the spinning
of the world as it were around the sun. The sun. This world would be nothing without
the sun. Without the heat and the light
of the sun. Take the sun away and there'd
be no more life. Take the son of God away and
there'll be no more life. He is the beginning. The beginning
of time. And he's the end of time. He's
the beginning of life, all life, every kind of life. He's the
beginning of natural life and spiritual life. He is the one
who spake and life came forth upon the earth. He's the one
who spake and Adam was created out of the dust of the earth.
He's the one who spake and breathed life into Adam. He's the one
who spake and breathed life into you. He spake and you came to
be. He spake and you came forth from
your mother's womb. He spake and you lived. He speaks
and your heart continues to beat. It's because he causes you to
live that you live. And the moment he says, no more,
you'll drop down dead and stand before him, the other side of
the grave. It's the beginning of life. It's
the beginning of all natural life. Every single person born
in this world throughout all history was brought forth by
his command. And every single one of them
has turned their back upon Him by nature. And they've gone astray. They've fallen. They've turned
to sin. They've turned to their own ways.
And there's a judgment for sin. It has to be answered. Your sin
is to turn your back upon God. Sin can be described and manifests
itself in many ways. There are many actions which
are sinful, but ultimately it's your refusal to believe, it's
your turning your back upon God which is your greatest sin. You
reject God. And that must be answered. And
if it's not answered, you will die. Sin entered this world by
one man, Adam, when he rejected God, when he refused to do what
God had commanded, when he went his own way and disobeyed. And
when sin entered, death entered, because death is the consequence
and the judgment of sin. And you will die because of your
sin. And you remain spiritually dead,
blind to the truth, willfully choosing another way from God's
way, willfully rejecting all that He has said unto you because
of your sin, because you're dead spiritually. And if you're ever
to hear the Gospel, if you're ever to hear the One who says,
I am Alpha and Omega, if you're ever to see Him as John saw Him
and know Him for who He is and worship Him as the One that loved
you and washed you in His blood, if you're ever to know Him and
love Him as your Saviour, then He must take you who are dead
and make you to live. He must create you again. He must breathe new life into
you. He is the beginning of life,
natural life, but He's the beginning of spiritual life. He's the beginning
of a new life, a new birth, a second birth. A birth that comes from
God above that causes you, a dead sinner, to live. and to look and to behold the
Saviour and to believe upon Him. Jesus Christ who is the faithful
witness and the first begotten of the dead. He's the beginning
of this new life. Because when He died as a consequence
of bearing the sins of a multitude, as the consequence of sin, He
died. If you go to your grave without
knowing Him, you will die because of your sin. But He died because
of men's sin. He took the sins of His people. He took the sin of man and He
suffered and died under it. He bore the sins of His own and
He died. And He was the first to die. He suffered the outpouring of
God's wrath when any man comes and says it's not fair. I can't
worship a God that can judge sinners. I can't worship a God
who would send sinners under hell and cause them to suffer
such terrible torment. How can I worship a God that
would do that? Let them know. that they are
not the first to suffer this. That the same God that they condemn
for sending such a judgment to them, even though they deserve
it, is the same God that first suffered the very same judgment
Himself in His Son, in Christ, for His people. he will pour
no judgment upon the wicked that he hasn't already tasted himself. None of the wicked can turn to
him and say it's not fair because the same God that judges them
judged his own son. He poured out the same wrath
that they experienced upon his own son, upon himself. He trod the pathway before they
ever trod it, and he didn't deserve it. They have it because they
deserve it. He tasted it because he didn't. He tasted it because he set his
love upon a people that deserved the wrath. But he took it upon
himself that they should not have to experience it. He was
the first to die. He was the first to die in terms
of the true everlasting second death. The wrath of God, the
experience of hell. Many in the passing of time have
gone to the grave before the coming of Christ. But he experienced
hell before any did. Before they were taken and thrown
into that pit. He trod there first. He experienced
it. He knew it. He knew what the
wrath of God was. He knew what death was. And he
experienced it because he loved the people that he would deliver
from it. Let none call God unjust. He
pours out no judgment upon a sinner that he's not already experienced
himself. He is the beginning. He went
there first. He's the first and the last.
He trod there first. and he is the first begotten
of the dead. He was the first to rise again
and to live again with a new life that lives forevermore that
will never die. He rose again and because he
rose all his people rise in him. Because he lives he can bring
life to dead sinners, life to those lost in sin. He is the
beginning of life, all life. Ye must be born again. Jesus says in John's gospel,
ye must. How can you be born again? When
the Spirit brings this life, this life of Christ, this life
in rising from the dead and brings it unto you. When he brings you
life in the Gospel, when he makes the Gospel known unto you, when
he makes his Son known unto you, when he says, here is my Son,
the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Here is
your beginning. Here is your life. Here's the
beginning, fourthly, of faith. When you have this life, your
eyes are opened. Your eyes are opened to see Him
who gave you the life. Suddenly you see Him who you
never saw. You heard of Him with a natural
ear, you read of Him upon the pages of Scripture perhaps, but
you never saw Him. And now when He gives you life,
He gives you faith, His faith, the faith of Jesus Christ. From
faith to faith, He puts the same faith in your heart that He has. And you see, and you see things
as He sees things. You see the Lord God, you see
the Father. You see the world to come, you
see the inheritance to come, you see the Saviour suffering
in your place, you see His blood being shed for your sins, you
see forgiveness in His blood, you see salvation, you see hope,
you see the beginning and you see the end. You see the Alpha
and the Omega, you have that faith. He who is your fore and
finisher of faith, the captain, the forerunner, the one that
went before in faith, and the end of faith, the one under whom
faith looks, the beginning and end of faith, you see him. Because
he's the beginning of your faith. He gives you faith and you look
to him by faith. He's the beginning and the end
of your faith. The alpha and omega of faith.
The A to Z of faith. Fifthly, he's the beginning of
the church. The beginning of the church is
the beginning of the creation and the beginning of the church.
He brings forth all his people, he brings them to life, he puts
faith in their heart and he gathers them. He gathers them together,
he gathers them out of the darkness of this world as a pool of light
in the midst of this world. He unites them in him and he
leads them to him and he says, this is my bride, this is my
body, this is my church, this is my ecclesia. My called out
people. He calls the people out from
this earth. He separates them unto himself. He calls them out from the darkness
and leads them to the light. They are his ecclesia, his church,
his called out people. And he's the beginning of them.
When he died, they died with him. When He rose, they rose
with Him. When He ascended, they ascended
with Him. And He sent forth His gospel
and it comes into their ears and they hear and they believe
and they come to know what's already happened. They come to
know that they died with Him. They come to know that they were
crucified with Him. They come to know that they rose
again with Him. They come to know that they ascended
with Him. They come to know that they will
live and dwell evermore with Him as kings and priests unto
God and His Father. They come to know that He loved
them and washed them from their sins in His own blood. they come
to know that he is the beginning of the church. He's also the
beginning of love. The beginning of love. There
is no love outside of Christ. No matter what men and women
in this world will tell you, there's no true love outside
of Christ. The one great thing that people
talk about outside of God that they seek after is love. Everyone
wants to be loved. They see love as the answer to
all the troubles they see in this world. But there is no love
outside of God. He is love. God is love, true
love, selfless love. Love which seeks the good of
another and not the good of yourself is only to be found in God. He
is love. Christ is the beginning of love.
Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
When did Christ love us? When we hated him. We had no
love until He loved us. And because He loved us, He suffered
for us, He shed His own blood for His people, the us, that
they, when they come to know it and hear it and have faith
put in their heart and are brought to life by the Spirit, might
love Him back. We loved Him who first loved
us. We love Him. because he first
loved us. He loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood. He's the beginning of love and
the end of love. True love is set upon Christ. He loved his bride, the church. He washed her in his own blood. He made her perfect and she loves
him. But once she hated him. Do you
love him? Or do you hate him? Do you despise him? Do you ignore
him? You might say, well, I don't
hate him. I just don't really think of
him. I just don't really consider Christ. I hadn't really thought
whether he's real or not. But I don't hate him. I just
don't think of him. But to ignore him, to think of
your own things and never think of Christ is to hate him. It's
to hate him. You don't ignore those who you
love. True love is shown by showing
and thinking of the one you love. You consider them, you seek them,
you want to be with them, you seek them out, you hear their
voice, you do things for them. You may say, well I've never
really considered Christ. That's because you hate him.
You despise him, you care not for him. If you're ever brought
to love him, it's because he loved you when you hated him.
is the beginning of love. Seventhly, he's also the beginning
of judgment. I am alive forevermore, amen,
and have the keys of hell and of death. Behold, he cometh with
clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced
him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him even
so amen i am alpha and omega the beginning and the end and
say of the lord which is and which was and which is to come
the almighty will he be your beginning of judgment because
he judged your sins at the cross before you were ever born Will
you discover that his judgment for you has been paid? It was paid by his own blood.
Will you discover him to be the beginning of your judgment? When
you stand before him on that day, when you thought you'd got
as far away from him as you possibly could, and then you found yourself
in front of him again, is he your judgment, never to be escaped? Will you wail or will you rejoice
and praise his name forevermore he who is the beginning and the
ending the beginning and the end of all things he's the end
of all things the end the purpose of all things the very reason
for all things as I said at the beginning he's the reason you're
here He's the reason this world is here. He's the reason the
countries are here. He's the reason there is life
at all. He's the reason the world and
the heavens and the stars and the moon and the sun exist. Without
Him, there's no reason for it. There's no purpose for it. There's
no logic in any of it. There's no reason for any of
it to be here. He is the reason for all things. John calls Him the Word, the
Logos. The logic. He's God's logic. He's God's word. He's God's reason. He's the word, the reason for
everything. Everything proceeds from Him.
Everything is for Him. And everything leads to Him.
Then this day, what are you going to do? And what are you going
to think? And how are you going to see
things in relation to He who is the beginning and the ending? He's the reason you're here.
He's the reason you're sat here today. He's the reason you're
listening to this message. He's the reason tomorrow will
come. He's the reason for everything
in your life. Then why are you going off searching
for answers here and searching for answers there and seeking
to do this and seeking to do that and not falling down upon
your knees before Him? He's the reason you're here.
He's the cause of all things. He's the end of all things. He's
the answer to all things. He's the ending. He's the answer
to all things. Have you any questions today?
He's your answer. Have you any hopes today? He's
your answer. Do you hope for things to become
better? They'll only become better in
Him. Do you hope to escape trouble?
You'll only escape it in Him. Do you hope to be delivered from
something? You'll only be delivered through
Him. He's the answer for everything. You will get no help from man. You'll get no help in this world. You'll get no help from riches. You'll get no help from politicians
in the end. All these things can give you
temporary relief but there comes a day when death will grasp you
by the shoulder and pull you the other side of time into eternity
and there you will stand before He who is the beginning and the
ending. He's the reason, He's your answer. then where are you going for
answers? Has God given you some understanding
that wherever you are today, wherever this message finds you,
whatever the circumstances you are in, whatever you need to
solve or to do today, tomorrow, this next hour, this next week,
whatever the trial, whatever the difficulty, whatever the
question, He's your answer. Come before Him. Pour out your
soul before Him. Confess what you are before Him
and pray that He will have mercy upon your soul. He's your answer. and ultimately in the passing
of time you may go round and round in circles turning away
from this message turning away from this exhortation trying
to do this, trying to do that get in nowhere, time will run
out and there you will stand before him and he's either been
your answer because he loved you and he washed your sins in
his own blood and he made that known unto you and you confessed
your sins, and you fell down and worshipped, for he'll be
your answer in judgment. Where is it? I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, sayeth the Lord, which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Amen.