Let's take our Bibles now and
turn to the book of Revelation. We're going to be in Revelation
1 for a little while, and I'm maybe trying to be too thorough,
but when Paul writes these letters, or John, or any of them, when
they write these things, It's not just an introduction, but
they're laying a foundation for everything else that they're
going to say in that epistle. And generally, in that first
chapter, he lays the whole foundation for everything that he's about
to say. And so it is also here in Revelation chapter 1. Now, all of these lessons, unless
we run into a bad CD or something, are going to be recorded and
they'll be put up on sermon audio. So if you have a computer or
an iPhone or something like that, you can go on there and download
these things and you can listen to them. You know, if you get sick and
you miss out on one, you can go on there and get it and listen
to it, or if you just want to go back. These things are so
full. I'm telling you, I know. I study these things all the
time. And if it fills my head up, I know it's filling yours
up. And so you can go back and listen to these things again,
and you can take your time at the house where you can pause
it and start it and so on, and use these things also for study
records. Alright, last week we talked
about the blessings of God upon those who read and those who
hear the words of this prophecy. It's the grace of God. This whole
world is ignorant of what I'm about to tell you. It is the
grace of God to chosen sinners that enables them to hear and
believe these things. It's the grace of God. Everybody
don't hear them and believe them. Blessed are your ears. Isn't
that what our Lord told His disciples? For they hear. Hundreds, maybe
thousands in that place on that same day heard that same message,
but they didn't hear it. It's the grace of God to chosen
sinners that enables them to hear and obey the Word of God,
and not just the Word in its abstract. Now, what do I mean
by that? I use that word a lot, abstract. I mean, generally speaking, in
the Word of God without a specific message. The Word of God is the
testimony of God concerning His Son. And just to read it in the
abstract, and that's what the Jews did. They just read it in
the abstract, took it at face value, kept the ceremonies, kept
the law outwardly and so on, and they didn't benefit anything
by it. This book has a message, has a message, and when he's
talking about Reading these things and hearing these things, that's
what he's talking about. He's talking about hearing the
testimony of God concerning His Son. Talking about the Word as it
testifies of Jesus Christ and the mercy and grace which God's
purposed in Him and given to all who believe. This book that I have here before
me, Don't open it too often when I'm teaching. I like to write
my scriptures out here for my own convenience. But this book
is the Word of God. Now, if that's not so, you don't
need to believe anything I have to say. And I don't have anything
to say apart from this book. You don't ever hear me. appealing
to my own reasoning or my own understanding or this, that,
and the next thing. I don't appeal to experiences
that I've had, and I've had some. I appeal to the Word of God.
This is the foundation of faith. This is what we believe, what's
declared in the Word of God. And we'll never really come to
truly know anything until we submit our faith and understanding
to the Word of God. I'll just tell you that. You're
not going to get to first base in worship or seeking God or
in any kind of knowledge of salvation until you submit yourself to
this book. Just wipe away all of your confidence
in yourself. confidence in your own understanding,
and open this book and say, this is the Word of God. This is the
Word of God. I'm interested in what anybody
has to say, but only as it concerns the Word of God. The minute they
leave that, I'm disinterested. I just don't want to, I'm not
interested. But this book is the testimony
of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, or what the Word itself
declares to be the gospel of Christ. And it tells us that
men are commanded to hear and believe and obey this gospel. In 1 John chapter 5 and verse
7, we're told that there are three that bear record in heaven,
bear record of this message, bear record of this salvation
proclaimed in this book. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, Now listen to this. The Word. Who is that? That's Christ and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. Then
in verse 9 he says, if we receive the witness of men, men who testify
this same gospel, the witness of God is greater. It's God who
has record of this in heaven. It's God who orchestrated this
thing from the beginning. It's His purpose. It's His declaration. And He's given it unto men. So
if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater
than theirs. For this is the witness of God
which is testified of His Son. Again, coming back to the Word
of God. So men take this book and they open it and they say,
here's what God said. And they have you to look at
it so you know this is what God said. And then in verse 11, he
tells us this over in 1 John 5. He said, this is the record
that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. It's in His Son. That's where
it's at. How do I know God's going to
give eternal life? I have the record. I have the
record. How do I know where that life
is? I have the record. This life is in His Son. Now
watch this, 1 John 5, verse 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath a witness in himself. Who put it there? God did. God did. God enabled him to believe
it, to embrace it, and to hold it fast. God did. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness of himself. He heard it, he received it,
he embraced Christ. Now watch this. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record God gave of his Son. Blessed is he that readeth, and
they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep these things
which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Now this
is not telling us over here in Revelation to memorize the words
and visions and in so doing we'll be blessed. He's telling us that
they're already blessed if they can hear and believe those things
that are written in this book. You're already blessed. Only
those blessed of God can do that. And then we're told to keep what
we've heard and believed. Paul wrote to the Corinthian
church over in 1 Corinthians 15. And he said, this gospel
that I preached unto you, you received it. You received it. You embraced it. And you presently
stand in that, upon that foundation, upon that gospel message. Now
listen to this, verse 2. By which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, otherwise you believed
in vain. You believed in vain. All right,
now let's go to our lesson today. He says in Revelation 1-4, John
to the seven churches which are in Asia. Now, Henry pointed this out years
ago in one of the books of Paul that he was teaching. He doesn't
say here, St. John. It's written in our Bibles,
St. John, but John didn't write this
book of Revelation and put on there Saint John. He just said
John. Just John. He didn't say Reverend
John or Archbishop John, just John. Just John. Now I would not belittle any
office in the church, be it deacon or pastor, evangelist, and especially
not one of the highest offices in the church which John held
as an apostle. And I won't attempt to take anything
away from the honor due to those who hold any office in the church,
be it deacon or pastor, evangelist, missionary, and especially that
of an apostle. The Holy Ghost tells us in 1
Timothy 5 verse 17, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy
of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. You honor them. But even those
who hold the highest office in the church are still sinners.
They're still sinners. Do you know that the Apostle
Peter was withstood to the face in Galatia by one of the other
apostles? Why? Because he was still a sinner. Still a sinner. We are what we
are by the grace of God, and we can do nothing apart from
God, and we can hold no office except it be given to us of God.
And even in our weakness, he tells us over in
1 Corinthians 3, 7, neither is he that planteth anything. That's what I'm doing this morning.
I'm planting, planting seeds. Neither is he that planteth anything,
neither he that watereth." He's nothing either. But God that
giveth the increase. Now, John, to the seven churches
which are in Asia. The seven churches which he speaks
of here, he later calls the seven candlesticks. And they're figurative
of all his local churches throughout the gospel age. Now, I want you to understand
something here. He specifies this because this
message or prophecy John is giving is for the church in all ages. He writes it to the church. It's to be proclaimed to the
world, but its designation is to the church. That's who's going
to hear it. That's who's going to benefit
by it. This message or prophecy of John is given for the church
in all ages from his ascension all the way to his future coming.
And then John finishes his statement like this, which are in Asia. There was a lot more churches
in Asia than seven. You've got a map in the back
of your Bible. You can go back there and look and you can see
all these places where The Apostle Paul and the others went out
and established churches. And there's way more. I'm persuaded
of that way more when he writes in Peter. He's talking about
churches all scattered abroad all over that place. There was
churches everywhere. But here he speaks of only seven. And there was a lot more than
seven, but the seven he names are typical. of all His churches. And I believe He tells us this
so we might understand that what He says to these seven, He says
unto each and every church individually. And just like He did with His
miracles, there's all kinds of People who came to Him, some
of them were blind, and some of them were haught, and some
of them were maimed, and some of them had leprosy, and some
were demon-possessed, and there's no one thing that could really
picture the condition of a sinner. And so He gives us a multitude
of examples to example one sinner. All sinners are demon-possessed,
every one of them. We all walked according to the
Prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now worketh in
the children of disobedience. We were all blind, every one
of us. We couldn't see anything. God gave us eyes to see. We were
all deaf. We couldn't hear the Word of
God. You can go on and on. Every sinner, every sinner that
came to Christ, all of them together, molded into one picture, the
sinner. And so in these seven churches,
all these problems that he's going to later on tell us about
in each individual church, they're typical of every church in every
age from the very first churches that were established all the
way to the very last ones that shall be established. And then he tells us this. Grace
be to you. Here's what God has to say to
His churches. Grace be to you, and peace from
He which is, and which was, and which is to come. Now, I'm telling
you, there's no sweeter words in all the English language to
believing sinners than grace and peace. Oh, my soul, if you've
ever been there, if you've ever been convicted by the Holy Spirit
of God and sat before Him guilty with your mouth closed, with
no hope, no covenants, no attachment, nothing that you can go before
God and say, well, at least I've done this. I'm going to come
to you. No, you've got nothing. You're
just standing before Him guilty. And then from his lips comes
grace and peace. I tell you, there's no sweeter
words in all the English language to a believing sinner than grace
and peace. Old John Newton, here he was. He was a proud captain of a vessel. And then all of a sudden, he
found himself a slave of a slave. And here he is. God brought him
down. God knows how to bring men down.
And he brought John Newton down to the very bottom. And old John,
after he saved him, John wrote this hymn. It's been sung in
just about every church in the world ever since. Amazing grace
it is, ain't it? How sweet to say that saved a
wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear. Grace did that. And grace my
fears relieved. Oh, how precious did that grace
appear the hour I first believed. And now in my old age, he says,
through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come.
It is grace that brought me safe thus far. And grace will lead
me home. That's the testimony of every
slave sinner. And then this old hymn writer
said this, he said, all the love that drew salvation's plan, all
the grace that brought it down to man. The grace of God, grace
and peace. The Scripture said, in whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, now
listen to this, according to the riches of His grace. That's
how you have it. No other way for you to have
it. And when grace comes, peace falls close on its heels. When
grace comes, it brings the message of Christ, the means of Christ,
the power of God. And peace is spoken into that
heart. And the blood of Christ is applied
by the Holy Spirit of God and purges his conscience and brings
him without sin. Here he is, fully justified before
his Father. He said, therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is found in nearly every
epistle written to the churches in the New Testament. And then
notice this. This prophecy is written to His
churches, and that which God speaks to His churches is always
grace and peace. Always is. All right, let's look
at the last line now of verse 4, Revelation 1, and see who
speaks this grace and peace. from Him which is, and which
was, and which is to come. All God's grace and peace to
chosen sinners all comes through the Son of God our Savior. There
is no love. Can you hear me? Whatever else
you do, and I want you to stop doing it and listen to what I'm
about to say. There is no love. Talking about the love of God.
There is no grace. The grace of God. There is no
peace and no mercy outside of Christ. There's nothing outside
of Christ but condemnation and wrath. To approach God in any
other fashion than through his Son would be like a moth flying
into a bonfire. He that hath not the Son, listen
to John's witness, he that hath not the Son hath not life. Didn't say he didn't have religion.
You can have religion. You can fill your cup full of
religion. I have. You can dance around the floor,
wave your hands, and play your guitar, and sing, and you can
do all kinds of things. You can speak in tongues. You
want an evidence? Satan will give you an evidence.
He'll give you all the evidence you've ever wanted. But he that hath not the Son
hath not life. Find me an assembly anywhere
in any age that does not preach and teach the sovereign grace
of God in Christ, and I'll show you a synagogue of Satan." That's
exactly what it is. And then finally, he says this,
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne. The word
spirits here is capitalized. which is a strong indication
that he's talking about the spirit of God. Whenever he's talking
about the spirit of God, he capitalizes that S on spirit. A lot of times
when he uses the word spirit, he's talking about the work of
the spirit in our understanding or the work of the spirit in
the preaching of the gospel, and then it's not capitalized.
But the Holy Spirit of God is one in His person, but He's represented
here as being in each individual church. He's in this church. He's in that church. He's in
this church. He's in all God's churches. And He is before the throne of
Christ as representing Christ and that representation in all
seven churches or in all His churches in every age. And it's
through Him that they are given the right and privilege to become
the sons of God. The Spirit of God has to move
and make you meet to inherit this inheritance. It's the Spirit
of God by which we're born of God, by which we hear the Gospel
of Christ, by which we repent and believe, by which we're sanctified
and taught and are given the fruit. It's called the fruit
of the Holy Spirit. It's not called the fruit of
conversion. It's called the fruit of the Holy Ghost. Fruit of the
Holy Spirit. And so he follows this statement
here in verse 5. Listen to this. 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, unto Him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. I want to take
this verse Just one part at a time. First of all, Jesus Christ is
the faithful witness and the first begotten from the dead.
That word begotten here is not talking about His resurrection
from the dead, but His virgin birth as the Son of Man coming
as He was promised that He should. One born without sin who did
not sin, Bought no sin. Was not tempted by sin. Satan
came to him to find something. To find something in him. And
he found nothing. Huh? There was no sin in him. No sin in him. He was tempted
in all points like as we are yet without sin. His word was
pure. His mind was pure. His motives
were pure. We all come forth from the womb
speaking lies. He came forth from the womb pure,
pure. Listen to this scripture, Philippians
2.6. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Oh, my soul. You reckon those
kings who knelt down before him or those wise men or whoever
they were, those shepherds, they knelt down before that tiny baby
in that manger. You reckon they really understood
this? He thought it not right. This was God laying in a manger. God come into the flesh. And there's no other man brought
forth from his mother's womb that this could be said of. He
was not of Adam's lineage, but was born of a woman to represent
a people that were given to him by the Father before the world
began. He's the firstborn from the dead. Because all those given
to Him, they all died in Adam. All died in Adam. But not Him. Not Him. He's virgin born. He's the woman seed. The Christ
could not come from Adam's seed, but must, as we were told, that
it should be. He'll come through the woman
as the woman seed. A seed put in her by the Holy
Ghost, the first begotten from the dead. And then secondly,
listen to this, he's the prince of the kings of the earth. The
prince of the kings of the earth. What in the world is he talking
about now? How is Christ the prince of the kings of the earth? They don't own him. They don't base their government
on him. They don't have his name anywhere
in their legislature. How is he the prince of the kings
of the earth? Saddam Hussein, he's his king.
Huh? Because they all have their seats
by his command and for his purpose and according to his rule. He's the King of kings, the Lord
of lords, and the blessed and only potentate. And he's going
to show everybody that before this thing is over. He sets them
up and he tears them down. His kingdom goes from generation
to generation. That's what old Nebuchadnezzar
saw. I can just almost picture him like I picture them old farmers
back in the day with those suspenders on and them thumbs in there and
proud and standing on top of that tower of Babylon. And it's
not this great Babylon that I built. But I tell you, when God was
done with him, he didn't have anything else to say about himself.
Only thing he had to say was about Christ. And you know what
he said about him? He came. He came. He ruled. in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay
His hand or even question what He does. He sets them up and He tears
them down. He uses them sometimes in judgment
and sometimes in mercy. But make no mistake about it,
they are under His authority and under His command. The heart
of the King. Now you just fill in the blank
place there, President. Huh? dictator, prince, whatever title
he holds in this world. The heart, now listen to this,
the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord just like those
rivers of waters. And he turneth it whithersoever
he will. He's the prince of the kings
of this world. Paul said, now to the King, eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be glory and honor
forever and ever. Amen. This faithful witness is
the first begotten from the dead. He's the prince of the kings
of the earth. Now watch this. Unto him. Unto him who? unto this faithful witness, and
unto the prince of the kings of the earth, now unto Him that
loved us." Can you imagine? Can you imagine? The King of glory loved you. Huh? The King of glory of all the
billions of men like grasshoppers on the face of the earth, He
loved you. Unto Him that loved us. And He
didn't just love us, but He loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood. This King of glory who could
do anything He ever wanted to do. Only wanted one thing. to save
your soul and glorify His Father. Huh? Now I remind you again who He's
talking to. He's talking to His church. That love doth His elect, His
chosen, His brethren, His bride. His love is not just a passion
as we've been told by religion, but rather an expression of His
eternal will to save and take to Himself an embrace of people
for the glory of His name. And this love, according to James
1.17, is unchangeable. Not going to change. You're going
to change. And you'll change often. But
He doesn't change. He doesn't change. And it's effectual,
Romans 8, 35 through 39. Nothing's going to separate you
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. It's effectual. And this love He's shown in the
espousing of chosen sinners to Himself, taking to Himself their
flesh, becoming one with them. He shows it in taking up their
cause and assuming their responsibilities. And in giving Himself holy for
them, and dying in their room instead, and in His ascension
to glory, He sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for
them." He loved us. And He washed us from our sins.
It didn't say He's washing us, although He does. But He said,
you're ever wet clean, just your feet gets dirty. Huh? That's right. Our feet get dirty,
but the rest of us are clean, clean. Washed us from our sins
in His own blood. Now let me read you something
here in Romans 3 that kind of zeroes in on the blood of Christ.
And these verses, I'm going to get into this a little bit more
in the main message, but these verses are in relation to how
God set forth His Son under that old ceremonial law. and how faith
was born in them who understood it. Romans 3.24, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, that is,
the basis of how God can be merciful and gracious to sinners. Now watch this. Through faith
in His blood, that is, confidence, that His blood has put away your
sins. Through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past through the forbearance of God. All those Old Testament
saints. And God has declared that our
sins have been put away by the sacrifice of Christ and all those
who believe have and have faith, and they do have faith in His
blood, faith in His blood, faith in His death, faith in His sufficiency
to have satisfied the justice and righteousness of God. That's
what it is to believe. We rest in Him. He's all in all. He's everything that the sinner
could possibly want is in Christ. all in Him. And that's what the
Gospel does. It lays that out before you.
And then God enables you to see it and hear it, submit to it,
and embrace it.