If the Lord will enable me to
preach to you what he has given me, you're in for a treat. Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Revelation chapter one. Revelation chapter one. As 2016 drew to its close last
week, I was greatly blessed, as I trust you were, in reading
through the revelation of Jesus Christ again. Saturday morning
as I read the 22 chapters of this blessed chapter, this blessed
book one more time, I was particularly profited by one phrase, scattered
like diamonds through this field of gold. Let's begin reading
at Revelation chapter 1, verse 1. The revelation, not the revelations,
the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's what the book is all about. It's not a book about end times,
though that's included. It's not a book about history,
though some of that's included. It's not a book about church
doctrine, though some of that's included. The book of Revelation
is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation of God's work
in time through His Son when all things at last are done,
Jesus Christ revealed in His fullness in everything for the
glory of His own great name. The revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave unto Him to show unto His servants things which
must shortly come to pass. and is sent and signified it
by his angel unto his servant John, who bear record of the
word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things
that he saw. Now notice what John says to
us by divine inspiration. Blessed is he that readeth, and
they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein. In this place we always give
considerable prominence to the reading of Holy Scripture. God
has promised to bless His Word and to bless those who read and
obey His Word. Particularly he promises blessedness
to those who read this last book in the book of God and keep the
things written in the prophecy of this book. Verse four, John
to the seven churches which are in Asia, that is to the churches
of God scattered through this world throughout the ages of
time. Grace be unto you and peace. Grace always comes before peace
and peace always follows grace. From Him which is and which was
and which is to come. That is from the sovereign, eternal,
immutable God. And from the seven spirits which
are before His throne. That is from the Spirit of God
in all the perfection of His being and the perfections of
His work. And from Jesus Christ, our great
mediator, who is the faithful witness, he's the word of God,
the wisdom of God, the revelation of God, and the first begotten
of the dead, the first one to rise from 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. This one who is prince of the
kings of the earth, God the Son, that one who is the first to
by his own power, by the virtue of his own merit, to rise from
the dead. He loved us, and those who are
loved by him are washed by him, washed by his blood, made clean
and white, pure before God by the washing of his blood in redemption. And these who are loved and washed,
he hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. People
who do business with God in the holy place all the time, to him. be glory and dominion forever
and ever, amen. Now watch verse seven. Behold,
he cometh with the clouds. Behold, he cometh. Somewhere,
make a note. It's in the present tense, always. Not he's going to come, he cometh. Ever since he went back to glory
in our humanity, he has been, by the works of his providence,
fulfilling his purpose in all things, on his way back to fetch
us home to glory. Behold, he cometh, he's on his
way, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced
him. And all the kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. Now watch verse
8, here's our text. 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. four times in the book of Revelation. Here in Revelation 1, 8, again
in chapter 1 and verse 11, and then in chapter 21, verse 6 and
22, 13, as the book closes, our Lord Jesus identifies himself
to John and to us with these words, I am Alpha and Omega. Now, there's no great hidden
mystery in those words. They simply are the first letters
of the alphabet, the first letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha
and omega. In our language, we would say
the A and the Z, the first and the last, the beginning and the
ending, as our Lord explains it. Our Lord Jesus is saying,
I am the beginning of all things and the end of all things and
everything between the beginning and the end. With these words,
our Savior asserts his deity. He asserts his deity. I am God
eternal. I am the one and only God. We had the news on last night,
just before we went to bed. One of the programs, I remember
which one it was, they were doing some interviews the past year with
Mr. Trump, and I have no doubt he is a brilliant fella, but
you kinda take a setback. It was O'Reilly, he said to O'Reilly,
he said, I'll match my IQ with anybody's. I'm somebody. Now, that's a lot for any man
to say, but this is nothing for God to say. I am alpha and omega. the beginning and the end, the
Almighty, which is, which was, and which is to come. Here, the
Lord Jesus, the man who is God, declares himself God, the only
true and living God. Turn back to the book of Isaiah,
chapter 44, I'll show you. Isaiah 44. This is how the Lord
God identifies himself, one of the ways by which he identifies
himself and distinguishes himself from all that men call gods. He says in verse four, chapter
40, you don't need to look at it. He said, I am the Lord, the
first and the last, I am he. In chapter 44, verse six, thus
saith the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of
hosts, I am the first and I am the last. Beside me there is
no God. Look in chapter 48, Isaiah 48,
verse 10. Behold, I have refined thee,
but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace
of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine
own sake will I do it. For how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory
to another. Hearken unto me, O Jacob and
Israel, my called. I am he, I am the first, I also
am the last. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
is God over all, was God from eternity, and is to come as God
to judge the world. He is now the Savior of all who
come to God by Him. He was the Savior of all His
elect from old eternity, for all the saints of the Old Testament
were saved by Him, being the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And he is to come as God, the savior of his elect
without sin unto salvation. Our text speaks of our savior's
eternality as God. It also describes his immutability. He's always the same. Yesterday
and today and forever. He changes not. He does not change. He is not changed. He cannot
change. He cannot be changed. Not in
any way to any degree. But didn't he become a man? Surely
there was a change then. Oh, no. He never ceased to be
God. He stood as our surety, the God-man,
our mediator, before ever his flesh was formed in the womb
of the virgin. And he who is God the Son, the eternal God,
is God the God-man, our eternal surety, our eternal substitute. He does not change. That means
nothing affects Him. He affects everything. Nothing
alters Him. He alters everything. Nothing
changes Him. Any change that's made in anything
in His creation is a change made by His hand. Our text sets forth
our Lord's glorious preeminence then. As it pleased the Father
to give His Son preeminence in all things, so it is. Christ
is the beginning of all things, the substance of all things,
and the end of all things. Our Savior is Himself God the
Almighty, the Creator of all, Sustainer of all, and Ruler of
all, the One whose blood and righteousness we trust. to whose
dominion we gladly submit. That one into whose hands we
have committed our souls is himself God the Almighty. That means
we have nothing to fear ever. He who is our savior is God. We are safe in his hands and
none can pluck us from his hands. And he says, none shall pluck
them from my father's hands. I call your attention particularly
to these words, I am Alpha and Omega. That's the title of my
message, Alpha and Omega. I like, as you know, to select
subjects and texts that are just indescribably bigger than I can
imagine. And I can't begin to expound
the fullness of those words. I just want to scratch the surface
a little bit, and I hope we will get a glimpse of our Savior's
glorious preeminence in all things. First, these words, I am Alpha
and Omega, are our Savior's own description of both His glory
and His humiliation. You know, Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. Without question, alpha and omega. set forth the glorious dignity
of our Savior's person and the depths, the depths of his willing
humiliation as our substitute to save us. Christ Jesus is Alpha,
the first, the chief, the preeminent, the firstborn of every creature.
As a man in his body, he was created as a man in time in the
womb of the Virgin by God, the Holy Ghost. But he is the one
who is God, the creator of all things. Therefore, he is preeminent
above all things, who is before all things. Turn back to Hebrews
chapter one. Let's just read these 14 verses
together and see how God declares him to be preeminent above all
things. This one who is the firstborn
of every creature. Hebrews 1 verse 1. God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
son. whom he appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds. who being the brightness
of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which
of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day
have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth
his first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, who
maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
But under the sun he saith, thy throne, oh God. God says to God,
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are
the works of thy hands. They shall perish. but thou remainest. And they shall wax old as doth
a garment. As a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same. Thy years
shall not fail. But to which of the angels said
he at any time, set on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy
footstool. Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs
of salvation? The whole book of Hebrews is
all about the superlative excellence, preeminence, and glory of Christ.
He begins by telling us Christ is better than the angels. Then
it tells us Christ is better than Moses. And it tells us Christ
is better than Aaron. Christ is better than all the
priests of the Levitical priesthood. Christ is better than the old
covenant. Christ is better than the law.
Christ is alpha and omega. He is God, our glorious Savior,
the first. And Christ is the best. The word
alpha suggests best. We speak of something and say,
that's A1, that's the best, that's the best. That's what it's saying.
Christ is the best. If you put alpha and omega together,
the Lord Jesus Christ stands head and shoulders above all
of the things. The Lord Jesus says, I am alpha,
I am the best. is He? Is He a Son? Then He's
the firstborn Son. And all other sons are made sons
by Him. Is he a prophet? All the prophets
stand behind him a great infinite distance and all point to him
and show forth his glory. Is he a priest? All the other
priests of the Aaronic and Levitical orders are only types and pictures
of him. Their only purpose was to represent
him until he came. He fulfills them all. He is the
great high priest of our profession. Christ is our Melchizedek. Is
he a king? Indeed he is. Nebuchadnezzar
learned that. He's king of kings and Lord of
lords. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom 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 to him, what doest thou? He is king of heaven, all
whose works are truth and his ways judgment. Christ is the
best. He is the best. He is our good
shepherd, our chief shepherd, our great shepherd. He is the
sure foundation stone and the proven foundation on which we
build. He is the rock who is the rock
of our salvation. He is bread who is the bread
of heaven. He is the water who is the water
of life. Is he an angel? Indeed, he's
described as such in scripture. He is Michael the archangel,
the chiefest of angels, the angel of the covenant, Jehovah's messenger
to our souls. Doesn't matter what title is
given him in this book. Wherever you find our savior
taking any title to himself, he stands forth as the alpha,
the best. He infinitely surpasses all that
may be compared to him. Like the sun excels the stars. When the sun arises, the stars
fade away. So when our Lord Jesus is seen,
everything else fades in insignificance. Turn to Jeremiah 9. I said all that to say this.
He who is the best is preeminent. And he well deserves all our
attention, all our devotion, all our hearts, all our lives,
all our praise, and all our honor. Jeremiah 9, verse 23. Thus saith
the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
that the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man
glory in his riches, but let him that gloryeth glory in this,
that he understandeth and knoweth me. Now that's something to rejoice
in. That I am the Lord, which exercise
loving kindness and judgment and righteousness in the earth,
for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Oh, let us rejoice
to know that Christ is Alpha, the first and the best, and rejoice
in this, he is also Omega. You remember our Lord Jesus spoke
of John the Baptist? He said, among all who are born
of women, there's none greater than he. Nevertheless, he that
is least in the kingdom of heaven, he's greater than John. Our Lord
Jesus, who is the first, the Alpha, is also the Omega. He who is God, over all, blessed
forever, made himself the least in the kingdom of God. Our Lord
Jesus, how can I describe the depths of his humiliation? God
stooped to become a man. Listen to how the Spirit of God
describes his stoop in Philippians chapter two. He made himself
of no reputation. The word is the nearest way to
really give a meaning of that word. Those words have no reputation.
He emptied himself. He emptied himself and took upon
him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. In order
to save us, God the Son became one of us. Because of his great
love for us, he became what we are, that he might make us what
he is. The stoop described in Philippians
2, we can hardly begin to grasp. He stooped to become a man. Brother, I don't remember whether
Bobby or David read in the Psalm, bow down thine ear and hear my
prayer. God stoops to hear us, but here
God stooped to become one of us. He stooped again to become
the lowest of men. He stooped again to become the
servant of men. He stooped again to be made sin
for men. He stooped again to die for men. Oh, the depths of his humiliation.
When he was made sin for us, he who is God was forsaken of
God. as the just object of God's furious,
infinite wrath. He cried, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from the
words of my roaring? And then he answered his own
cry. He said, thou art holy, and a
holy God is of pure eyes and to look upon sin. But I am a
worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the
lip. They shake the head saying, he
trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver
him if he delighted in him. The Lord Jesus cried, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I know why, I'm a worm, a
maggot. What can be more revulsive? A maggot, no man. How could he
say so? He who is Omega, the last, the
least in the kingdom of heaven, stooped to death, death under
the infinite wrath of God's inflexible justice because he stooped to
be made sin for us. repulsive, the most obnoxious,
the most loathsome thing there is before God. That he stooped
to be, that he might redeem and save us in the putting away of
our sins. Second, turn to the book of Luke,
chapter 24. I won't be but a minute here,
but I've got to remind you of this. In the book of God, In
Holy Scripture, Christ is Alpha and Omega. Here in Luke 24, verse
27, he's with those disciples on the road to Emmaus after the
resurrection. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets. Beginning in Genesis 1 and going
to the end of Malachi chapter 4. Beginning at Moses and all
the prophets. He expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning himself. So that all the Old
Testament scriptures, which is all they had, all of them, all
the Old Testament scriptures, he says, this whole book is all
about me. It's all about me. Look at verse
44. And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto
you while I was yet with you. that all things must be fulfilled. is I told you these past three
and a half years, as I walked with you by the way and instructed
you line upon line, precept upon precept, with miracles, with
parables, with wonders performed before your eyes, I told you
I've come here to fulfill everything written in the Old Testament
Scriptures that must be fulfilled, which are written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms. The Law of
Moses is what we commonly call the Pentateuch, the first five
books of the Old Testament. The prophets take in all the
rest of the scriptures except for the poetic books, that is,
Psalms, Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and those books, the
Psalms, all of them are concerning me. Now watch verse 45. Then
opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. God ever opens our understanding,
we will see that the scriptures are all about Him, all about
Him. I was reading today, Shelby and
I reading a portion in Genesis, Shem, Hammond, Japheth, and men
getting younger as time went on after the flood and burying
children and their ages and so forth. We were discussing those
things, and I thought, uh-oh, uh-oh. Those things are intriguing,
but you dare not let your mind wander too far with those things.
They're designed to point to the Redeemer. that don't let
Satan take the intricacies of things put in the scriptures
by which other men stumble into hell and rob you of the riches
of scripture, the pearl of scripture, the treasure of scripture. Jesus
Christ is the message. How can you say that, Brother
Don? He says, these things are written. And thus it behooved
Christ to suffer. Because of these things that
are written in the scriptures and to rise from the dead the
third day and that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Our Savior said to the Pharisees
in John 5, search the scriptures. Search the scriptures. You men
who spend your lives studying scripture, you men who spend
your lives teaching other folks the scriptures, search the scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life. By your much religious devotion in searching the scripture,
memorizing scripture, explaining scripture, tracing out the history
of scripture, looking for the details of things in scripture,
you think you have eternal life. but these are they which testify
of me. That means, Lindsay, when you're
studying the book of Leviticus, or the book of Exodus, we're
gonna get to Leviticus next, Lord willing. Don't let anything
in the meticulous details of the books of the Old Testament
cause you to miss Christ in the text. If you miss him, you miss
the meaning. If you miss him, you miss the
message. If you miss him, you get wrapped up in other stuff.
The scriptures are written of me. Christ is Alpha, the beginning. For the first line in Genesis
speaks of him, in the beginning God. He's the Omega. The ending, the last line in
the book of Revelation speaks of Him. The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all. And He is everything in between. Brother Mahan and I were driving
back from a meeting once and he said, he said, I think we
could summarize our Lord's message in Luke 24 this way. All of the
Old Testament, says somebody's coming. All the four Gospels in the book
of Acts say He has come. And from Romans through the book
of Revelation it says He's coming again. A Redeemer is coming. The Redeemer has come and done
all that He promised He would do. And the Redeemer is coming
again. I can't think of better words
to describe what I want to express in this than what I got from
Mr. Spurgeon years ago. Listen carefully. This is a little bit lengthy,
but I want to read it to you. We should always read the scriptures
in this light. We should consider the word to
be as a mirror into which Christ looks down from heaven, and then
we, looking into it, see his face reflected as in a glass.
Darkly, it's true. but still in such a way as to
be a blessed preparation for seeing him as we shall see him
face to face. This volume, Spurgeon said, contains
Jesus Christ's letters to us, written by his love. These pages
are the garments of our king, and they all smell of myrrh and
aloes and cassia. Scripture is the golden chariot
in which Jesus rides, and it is paved with love for the daughters
of Jerusalem. The Scriptures are the swaddling
bands of the Holy Child, Jesus. Unroll them and find your Savior. Talk not to us of bodies of divinity. The only body of divinity is
the person of Christ. As for our theology, Christ is
the true theology, the incarnate Word of God. And if you can comprehend
Him, you've grasped the whole truth. He has made unto us wisdom. Getting Him, you have all the
wisdom of Holy Scriptures. in one of the portions of the
Gospels as he's explaining the breaking of the alabaster box
by Mary and anointing the Savior's feet, anointing His head and
washing His feet. He says, the scriptures are like
an alabaster box containing precious spikenard that spikenard is Christ
Jesus crucified. Break open the alabaster box
and the sweet odor of Jesus Christ fills the room. Oh God give me
grace. Every time I open this book to
break open the alabaster box and smell the sweet aroma of
Christ crucified. And every time I attempt to open
the book in your hearing, to break open the scriptures that
Christ Jesus, the sweet aroma of Christ crucified may fill
the room and flood our hearts with joy. Third, it gives me
great delight to tell you that with regard to God's holy law,
Christ is alpha and omega. He's the law giver, that makes
him the alpha, the beginning of the law. And he's the fulfillment
of the law, that makes him the omega. Christ is the E-N-D. I'll tell you how you would spell
that another way, termination. Christ is the termination of
the law. He's the ending point of the
law. Now, not many folks that I know
have got a clue where the end is. Not many folks do. I don't know a better way to
illustrate it than what I've done before. The first time I was in Huntington,
England, preaching for Brother in Potts, he put me on a train
going to London, and I'd never been on a British train before.
And he said, you'll get off at Waterloo Station. I ought to
have known what he meant. I said, how do I know what Waterloo
Station is? He said, that's at the end of
the track. I said, well, how will I know
when I get there? He said, when the train bumps the wall, you're
at the end. That's the end. You can't go
any further. Christ is the E-N-D of the law. He fulfilled all the righteousness
of the law and satisfied all the justice of the law. And that
means if you're in Christ, if you believe Christ, if you rest
your soul on Christ, you're not under the law, but under grace. You mean preacher, we're not
motivated by the law? We're not to be afraid of the
law. We're not constrained by the law. We're not under covenant
to the law. The law is not our rule. Of course not. Of course
not. Christ is our rule. The love
of Christ constrains us. Our example, the pattern of our
lives is Jesus Christ himself. We don't keep one day a week
and call it a Sabbath day. Christ is our Sabbath. We don't
pay tithes and call it giving to God. We give ourselves to
him. We don't worship God one day
in a week. Our lives are the worship of Christ. We're not
under the law, but under grace. Well, if you preach like that,
folks will live like they want to. If you talk like that, you
don't know God. If you talk like that, you don't
know God. You're still constrained by law. And you're saying, really,
what I'd like to do is live like hell, but I can't do that because
I'm under the law. Oh, would to God I could live
like I want to. Would to God I could live like
I want to. But not yet. Soon, but not yet. Not while I breathe in this body.
Christ is to the law. the alpha and the omega. He magnified the law and made
it honorable by his obedience unto death as our substitute. And we in him, oh wonder of wonders,
wonder of wonders, in him we magnified the law and made it
honorable. Fourth. It's delightful to see
that in the whole of God's creation, Christ is Alpha and Omega, the
beginning of all and the ending of all, the ruler of all and
the sustainer of all, and all things between the beginning
and the end. Christ is the Alpha, for all things were made by him
and was not anything made that was made. And Christ is the Omega,
Because for thy pleasure all things were and are created. In the end, in Revelation chapter
5, turn there if you will, Revelation 5. In the end, when God gets
done with everything, every creature in God's universe, every man, woman, and child,
every angel in heaven and every demon in hell, all things righteous
and wicked, good and evil, light and dark, all things will give
praise and honor and glory to him who is Alpha and Omega of
God's creation. Revelation 5 verse 11. I beheld
and heard a voice, the voice of many angels round about the
throne. And the beast, all the prophets
and preachers and apostles God ever sent into the world and
the elders. The number of them, all the host
of God's elect was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. And this is what they said with
a loud voice. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. to receive power,
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. Now watch this, and every creature,
every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the
earth, and such as are in the And all that are in them heard
I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him
that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and
ever. And the four beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders
fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. From
the beginning to the ending of creation, Christ rules all and
sustains all for the glory of his own great name. With the
eye of the scientist, study God's vast creation from beginning
to end. With the eye of the historian,
search out the pages of his story. And with the eye of a prophet,
scan the whole of the future. If you had the ability to do
so, you would say with regard to all God's creation, Christ
is alpha and omega. Christ is Alpha and Omega. Everything's just exactly the
way it ought to be. Just exactly the way I want it,
because it's just exactly as God ordained it for the glory
of His Son. Now, what would you change? Brother Scott Richardson said, Had we the power of God, There's
nothing we wouldn't change. But had we the wisdom of God,
there's nothing we would change. Everything shall at last redound
to his glory. Some things I get real excited
about. I get real excited about it. You just can't hardly wait. Shelby and I, come June, will
be married 48 years. Is that right? Got it right? 48 years. I remember the year
we were engaged. I left in August to go to school
out in Springfield, Missouri, and I didn't see her but twice.
I saw her at Thanksgiving and saw her at Christmas, and then
I came home one Saturday, and we got married the next Sunday.
And we were counting down the days. And this is back when telephone
calls were 75 cents for three minutes. I'd call her one night
and she'd call me the other night and sometimes get cut off because
we didn't have another plug, quarter plug in. Called every
day. And wrote every day. And carried 21 hours a semester
and worked three jobs. But every day, how come you do
that? I was excited. And believe it
or not, she was too. Excited. Just a little while
now. And that day's coming, oh, just
a little while. And this day is coming called
the marriage of the Lamb, when every knee shall bow. How things
in heaven and things in earth and everything in hell, every
knee, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and that's
exactly how it ought to be. Amen. Here's the fifth thing,
I'll be brief. all the purposes and covenant
transactions of the triune God, Christ is Alpha and Omega. Now this is a subject about which
we can't even begin to scratch the surface if we spent all of
our time on it. God's thoughts and God's purposes
and God's decrees are, the more I preach on them and the more
I study them and preach on them, the more I realize how little
I know about them. They're just indescribably beyond my imagination. I can't begin to even scratch
the surface. But these things are clearly
revealed in the book of God. And God's people bow to them.
This book talks about election. What is election? I don't know
what there is about election that stirs up the ire of wicked
men. I don't know what it is about
it, except for the fact that God chose to save some and took you out of the equation.
It just stripped you of all power, stripped you of all your imaginary
authority, stripped you of all your imaginary dominion. strips
you of all your imaginary power over your own self and your own
destiny. Election is God's choice of some
to salvation in and with Jesus Christ the Lord. Predestination. Predestination is God's eternal
decree by which before anything was, God purposed everything
that shall be for one purpose, the everlasting salvation of
his elect to be loved with an everlasting love. Now what is
it about that make you mad? The only person who gets mad
at that is somebody who doesn't have God for his father. My only
daughter knows something of her father's frailty and insignificance
and inability. But I'll guarantee you one thing. If she could be convinced that
I had absolute control over everything in the universe, she would dance
like she didn't have a care in the world all the time. Because
she knows her daddy would do nothing but good for her. Our Father is in control of everything
all the time. Oh, God so convinced me of that
that I may dance before you all the time as one who has no care
in the world. That's what predestination is.
It is God's purpose in all things. for the saving of his people.
The covenant of grace is God's eternal compact of grace, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, with the God-man, our mediator, Christ
Jesus, for the saving of his people, trusting everything into
the hands of his Son. He who died in our state at Calvary holds everything in His hands. And God, the triune Jehovah,
has trusted to His hands all His will, all His glory, and
all His people. Christ, in the transactions of
God from eternity, is Alpha and Omega. If you could be permitted
to read the book of God's eternal purpose, You would see that it
is a book written from eternity, sealed with immutability, bound
together by the blood of the centurion lamb, slain from the
foundation of the world, written from beginning to end with one
object in mind. And that one object is the glory
of Christ in the saving of our souls. Sixth, my very soul rejoices
to tell you that in the whole business of our salvation, The
Lord Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega. He loved us in the beginning. He redeemed us with his own blood
in time. And he's coming for us in the
end. That kind of sums it up, doesn't it? Tell me your story,
Brother Don. He loved us and washed us. And behold, he cometh. That's
the whole of it. start to end Christ is Alpha
and Omega. Children of God lean on Him all
the weight of your immortal soul and rejoice to know this one
last thing, in Heaven's eternal glory Christ shall be both Alpha
and Omega. He's the door by which we enter
in. He's the crown given us. He's the life awaiting us. He's
the glory we shall possess when we see him as he is, face to
face. As he begins to describe the
end of all things in Revelation 22, verse 13, he says, I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. In those cruel days when deaf-mutes
were institutionalized, in one of the institutions in Paris,
France, a man was asked to write on a piece of slate what his
idea of Christ's eternity was. I don't know the man's name,
but I sure like what he wrote. He said, it is duration without
beginning or end, existence without bounds or dimensions, present
without past or future, His eternity is youth without infancy or old
age, life without birth or death, today without yesterday or tomorrow. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the Lord which is, which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty. After meditating on those words
of our Savior for nine or ten days yesterday, the Lord gave
me a hymn. You'll have it in the bulletin first Sunday in
February, the Lord willing. Let me read it to you. As through this world of time
I move in hope of heaven and life above, thinking of God's
creation vast, my Savior is the first and last. His name was
sweet delight I view, his alpha and omega too. He drew creation's
wondrous plan and finished what he first began. When on his word
my eyes cast, Christ Jesus is the first and last. And all the
mercies there made known, their alpha and omega crown. His work of grace within reveals,
his alpha and omega still. from first to last his glory
show, and lay this wretched sinner low. Oh, Holy Ghost, make Christ
to be Alpha and Omega to me. Oh, consecrate my life to him
who died for me, God's Son, the Lamb. Then, when the toils of
life are past, Jesus shall be the first and last And when I
bow before my King, I'll Alpha and Omega sing. Amen. You're dismissed. God bless you.