Turn with me to Revelation, the
book of Revelation chapter 1. Many read the Bible and they find it to be a strange
book. It's a strange book. It's a book
of strange cultures. I remember Brother Mahan saying
to us one time, he was bringing a message out of Danville and
he was talking about one of those great kings, Darius or Nebuchadnezzar,
and he said, we have no understanding of this kind of a culture, this
kind of a government, where what a man says is law. It's not to be questioned, and
it cannot be changed. We have no concept of that, do
we? That's sovereignty. That's sovereignty. This book is a strange book.
It's a book of strange cultures, strange ages. We read some of
the everyday habits of those men in ancient times, and it
seems strange to us, doesn't it? It's a book of strange sayings, because you say you're blind.
Because you say you see, you're blind, our Lord said. You're
blind. That's a strange saying, isn't
it? Men read the Bible. They find
parts and pieces that seem to make sense and others that seem
to have no bearing on our generation at all. And they blame the old
English. They blame the old dispensations
and the old interpreters. And so they write it again, interpret
it again, write a new Bible, write a new version. But I don't
think the problem and the blame lies squarely on the old cultures
and the old age and the old dispensations. I think it's to be blamed on
the old man, that old man in us. The Bible is a spiritual
book. It's inspired by the Holy Spirit
of God. It's written by spiritual men.
Holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And it is, in fact, one of the
things, Paul said, of the Spirit of God which natural men will
not receive because they consider it to be foolishness. A preacher,
do you really believe that God for thousands of years spoke
through his apostles and prophets? Do you really believe that? Do
you really believe that God started about 4,000 years ago to speak
to men and he spoke to Moses? And Moses wasn't around when
God created the world, but he wrote the book of Genesis and
gave us the account of creation. Do you really believe that? Do
you really believe God spoke through these men and inspired
them to write these things and preserve these things? And then
after him comes the next guy, and after him comes the next
guy, and one of them being reigned over by the Persians, and one
of them's under a Greek government, one of them's under all of these
things. You actually believe God spoke through these men and
then gathered all these writings from all these men and compiled
it into the book we call the Bible. I absolutely believe that. I believe that. And this book
declares that. It declares that. Well, do you
really believe the Holy Spirit moved these men in such a way
that they were able to pin God's Word in this book, yet write
what they themselves thought and believed, that their own
personalities so much were these writings of them that their personalities
can be read into it, and yet they spoke the very thing God
inspired them to say? I absolutely believe that. And that's what this book declares
about itself. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. Oh, Frigid, do you, considering
all the changes in culture, all the changes in education and
discoveries and all of these things, scientific facts, still
believe that the Word of God is pertinent and applicable to
our day? You believe it's current? Can
I read the writings of these ancient men and find an application
for me today? Absolutely, I believe that. And
the book says it is. It says it is profitable for
doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness
that the man of God might be perfect and truly furnished unto
all good works. Actually, what makes this book
sound strange in our ears is the depravity of man's fallen
nature and the influence of the prince
of the power of the air in men. He clouds the mind. Satan works in men. He's a master
at it. And he clouds the mind. with
preconceived notions about God and about salvation. He clouds the mind with scientific
facts and historic findings and modern reason. I'll never forget
a man talking to me about God's eternal election Christ's particular
redemption and the effectual calling of the Holy Ghost. And
he went on for about an hour telling me about these things.
And I said, yeah, but how does that square up with man's free
will? He said, what free will? What free will? There's no such
thing as free will. Where did you get the idea that
man had a free will? And I started thinking about
it. I never read it in the Word of God. Where did I get that?
Got it from religion. That's where I found it. Worldly
religion. There's nothing wrong with this
book. It's man that has the flaws. You and I have the flaws. That's
why it's such a strange book to us. The Bible is a spiritual
book. It's written to spiritual men
declaring spiritual truth. Our Lord said, I am the bread
which come down from heaven. Except a man eat of my flesh
and drink of my blood, he got no life in him. And those Jews
looked at each other and they said, that's a hard saying. And many of them, of his own
disciples, went back and walked no more with him. And he turned
to his own and he said, Doors open, will you go too? They said,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And this is what he said, my
words are spirit and they are life. The Bible is a spiritual
book written to spiritual men declaring spiritual truth to
the rest of this world. It decorates the coffee table.
A big family Bible out there, got your family genealogies and
stuff in it. Grandma signed it, and great-grandma
signed it, and all the grandkids made their mark in it. It decorates
the coffee table. It's kept for sentimental reasons,
but it's never to be read and believed. Now, my friend, if
you don't have one, you need to buy a Bible. You need to buy
one. You need to look at these things
that I preach to you. When I tell you to turn over
to Galatians chapter 2, you need to turn over to Galatians chapter
2 and read it. Read it from God's book. And
if you can't afford a Bible, you let me know, and I'll see
to it you get one. The Bible is a strange book,
and the strangest book in the Bible is the book of Revelations. That's what I'm told. That's
what men tell me all the time. I ask them, I say, have you ever
read the book of Revelations? Oh, I can't read that either.
I can't get nowhere in that. That's a strange book. That's
a strange book. Talks about doors in heaven being
opened. Talks about a sealed book, sealed
with seven seals. Talks about a lamb slain before
the world began. Talks about four horsemen going
out. The four horsemen of the apocalypse
religion says, the beast and dragons and a great whore called
Mystery Babylon riding on the back of the beast. Dragons. Dragons coming down upon the
people. A first and second death. A first
and second resurrection. And probably strangest of all
is the book of the Lamb written before the foundation of the
world. Strange indeed to the natural man, but Paul said, He
hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. To read this book as
a I'm talking about now the book of Revelations where I had you
to turn. To read that book as a prophetic
history of world events is to err in its message and to totally
miss the reason why it's given. You read the book of Revelations,
you'll find out that God gave to John seven visions. Each of
those visions began at the birth of Christ and they follow all
the way through to his second coming until he winds things
up. And the reason why he gave it, it was written that believers
might be assured that these things that they see going on around
them are not really what they appear to be. Things appear to
be beyond help, don't they? The ship looks like it's going
down to me. I look around and I listen to
the news and I hear these commentators talking about this and that and
the weather and all these things and the Arctic is melting down
and the world is going to flood If somebody don't go off the
deep end and blow us all up, and on and on and on it goes.
This book was written to assure us that those things which appear
to be are not really what they appear to be. That God's purpose and his counsel
is not in jeopardy, not Christ nor his church nor his gospel.
It'll all triumph. It will all come to pass. And what I want to do, I suggest
that you read this book with those things in mind. But what
I purpose to do this morning is to take our Lord's first declaration
concerning Himself and then give you six applications of that
declaration. Here in Revelation chapter 1
verse 8, He turns to John. Here's John,
exiled on an island. All the other disciples, some
of them had already died. Some of them had already given
their life. The church is under harsh persecution and all these
things. And here's John, exiled on an
island in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. And the Lord Jesus Christ
stands before him in a vision. And here's what He tells him.
He said, I am Alpha, And omega. Anybody here knows what that
means? That's the first letter and the last letter of the Greek
alphabet. He's telling John I'm everything
from A to Z. That's what he's telling him. Everything in the alphabet is
that which is used for communication. We take those letters, one English
professor told me, and we join them together and we make vehicles.
to take a thought from one man and give it to another to communicate. Christ said, I'm A to Z. There's nothing for you to know
that you can't learn in me. I'm A to Z. I'm Alpha and Omega. He said, I am the beginning and
the ending, saith the Lord, which is, that is right now, reigning
in glory. which was in the beginning with
the Father, and which is to come when all His work is done. Now
listen to this, the Almighty. What a statement, the Almighty. Jesus Christ is not much to my
generation. They get all sentimental about
the babe in the manger around Christmas time. Around Easter
time, they all go get a new dress and new suit and come to church,
buy a colorful hat. And for the most part, the whole
rest of the year, he's ignored. He's not much to my generation.
But not so behind the scenes. There is a spiritual force and
purpose being fulfilled, being manifest that most men are totally
ignorant of. It goes on every day. Every day. It goes on in the most minute
details of your life and you don't even see it. I don't see
it. I'm not aware of it all the time. But I ought to be. And
if I'd read and study this book even more than I do, I'd be more
aware of it. Every minute detail of your life,
there's a purpose, there's a force that's accomplishing a purpose.
He worketh all things, he said, after the counsel of his own
will. Everything going on, nations
coming down and nations rising up and this army conquering and
that army losing and this man marrying and that man not marrying
and so on and all every minute detail. There's a force that's
accomplishing the purpose of God. It goes on every day and
we don't even see it. We don't even see it. I guarantee
you Pharaoh had no idea about what I'm talking about this morning,
and he was the kingpin in it. God raising him up to show his
power in him. Jesus Christ, that tiny babe
born in Bethlehem, Judah over 2,000 years ago, born of a virgin,
raised in a carpenter's shop, lived 33 and a half years on
this earth, died on a cross. He here tells us that He is Almighty
God. That's what He's telling John.
I'm Almighty God. He tells us here that He is the
beginning. If you're the beginning, you're
God. That's what He's saying here. Huh? In the beginning, God. Isn't
that what the Bible says? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. When he says,
I am the beginning, he's saying, I'm God. John tells us that in his gospel. And then the very first words
of Holy Scripture tells us the same thing. In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. This is the Son of God.
That's what this is talking about. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. And then
He is the ending. He's the beginning. He's the
ending. Nothing shall be closed until the Son of Man declare
that time shall be no more. Nothing's going to stop. Nothing's
going to end. Nothing's going to be dissolved
until He puts one foot on the land and one on the sea and says,
time shall be no more. That angel of the covenant, the
Lord Jesus Christ. As far forward as written revelation
takes us, Christ is there. He's almighty God. And as God,
he is the beginning and he is the ending. All right, preacher,
but what does this beginning and ending have to do with me?
What's that got to do with me? Let's just say I say, OK, I see
it in the book. He's the beginning. He's the
ending. OK. What's that got to do with me? Well, let me give
you six things. First of all, the Almighty, the
Son of God, the Son of Man is Alpha and Omega in your being. A bunch of Greeks gathered there
either to tell or hear some new thing. He said, I got something
new for you. In Him we live and move and have our being. In Him. We owe our being to Him. To Him. And there's a purpose
in our being. He said in a certain sense there
in Acts 17 on his In his sermon there on Mars Hill,
Paul said that we're kind of like his offspring. In him we live and move and have
our being. And he said, as such, don't you
think we ought to seek him? If he's the reason for our being,
if he's the reason for me to have life, to have a place, to
have a mouth to speak, to have a life to live, if he's the reason
for my being, looks like I'd want to see him, don't it? Creation is not the result of
circumstance and evolution. Creation is but the stage upon
which God will manifest His glory. And to manifest that glory, He
took the dust of the earth, and He spit in it, and He breathed
on it, and He made a man. And He gave him beings. It's the stage upon which God
will manifest his glory. And according to Colossians 1.14,
this one who is the very image of the invisible God is the firstborn
of every creature, the firstborn of creation. There was Christ
first in all of his appointments and then creation. There was
Christ first as the one mediator between God and men. and then creation. He's first,
and then creation. Jesus Christ is God's mediator. He alone shall manifest the glorious
and everlasting God. He was given to us by God, trusted
by God to mediate His eternal will. in the redemption of a
people for His glory. Now listen to what Paul says
here. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that
are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And even before all things and
by Him all things consist. He's the head of the body of
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. Our Redeemer
is the Lord of glory. He's the creator and sustainer
of all things, and by Him all things consist. That is, He is
the basis of all things. He is the order behind all things. He is the compatibility of all
things. And he's what holds it all together. By him, all things consist. He is the binding force causing
all things to work together for our good and his glory. And Peter
tells us that as the old world was maintained until Christ gave
the word for its destruction, even so the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved under
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of evil men. Did you know that Jesus Christ,
you children here this morning, do you know that Jesus Christ
is the preserving force of the world in which you live and of
your being this morning. The reason why you're going to
get one more breath after this one is because he's preserving
you. He's preserving you. You go to science class and you
look into the books and you'll find out there's so many diseases
and germs and things out there to kill you that you'll just,
if you're not careful, you'll become a hypochondriac and you'll
be over at the medicine cabinet taking things for something you
ain't even got. But he preserves us, does he
not? He can take you out of this world
with one little germ that you can't even see. He's a preserving force behind
the preservation of this world and all men in it. He said, not
even a sparrow shall fall to the ground without your father. And Jude writes this. He said,
we're preserved in Jesus Christ. Secondly, he is the beginning
and ending of the history of God and man. Of what? What's the trouble between men
and God? What's going on? What's this
salvation all about? Why must we have a Savior? What's the problem? Is there
a problem? I didn't know I was under a curse. I didn't know
I fell in Adam. I didn't know all these things.
He's the beginning and the ending of the history of God and man. You want to know something about
God and man? Follow it back. Go all the way
back to the beginning, and you'll find Christ. Here's Christ in
His appointments at the beginning. Now, I'm telling you, don't throw
these verses aside in your zeal to find assurance in yourself.
Your history, at the most, is only 80-something years. And
that's for you older people. Christ is from the beginning.
From the beginning. And Paul said, God hath saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. You want to know
something about our relationship with God and God's relationship
with us, you go back to the beginning and there's Christ. There's Christ
in all of His eternal appointments. He's Alpha and Omega in the history
of men and God. Only one mediator between God
and men, only one to mediate the will of God. To Him give
all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth
on Him shall receive remission of sins. So He's Alpha and Omega
in creation, and He's Alpha and Omega in the history of God and
men, and He's Alpha and Omega, thirdly, in the Scriptures. The disciples had a pretty well-rounded
knowledge of the Scriptures. If you wanted to talk about the
commandments, you could say the 1st, the 5th, the 7th, the 10th. They could just spit it out.
They could tell you what it is. They could tell you all 10 commandments.
You want to go back and talk about the the law of Moses and
pertaining to this and pertaining to that, they could pretty much
tell you what it is. You wanted to know something
about the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel and all these men,
they knew exactly what you were talking about. That was their
Bible, the Old Testament. That's what they had. And these
men were knowledgeable of it. But here comes our Lord into
the world and they don't know who He is. And he calls them
out of this world, and they still don't know who he is. And they
walk with him for three and a half years, and they still don't know
who he is. And he dies, and they went back to fishing, went back
to their nets, and they still don't know who he is. And he
appears to them along the way, but he don't reveal who he is.
And they said, well, we thought he was the Christ. We hoped he
was, but it didn't work out. It didn't work out. And Christ
said, O fools and slow in heart to believe all that was written
of Him. Must not He suffer these things
and enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses, and the
prophets, and all through the Psalms, He began to tell them
things concerning Himself. And then He kind of just disappeared
out of their and went his way, and they got together and they
said, did not our hearts burn within us? When he took that old tabernacle
and opened that thing up and showed us Christ, and when he
talked about that sacrifice and showed us Christ and talked about
that high priest and showed us Christ, didn't our hearts burn
within us? He's alpha and omega in the scriptures. And you can memorize the scriptures
and spit them out. One man did. Called him the walking
Bible. But didn't benefit him. He still
didn't know the truth. Because he didn't know Christ.
And that's what our Lord told those Pharisees. He said, you
search the Scriptures because in them you think you have eternal
life. And they are they that testify of Me. But you won't
come to Me that you might have life. He is the Word. His name, John said, is called
the Word of God. The Word of God. And I can truthfully
say I've experienced these things. In the hearing of the gospel
preached, he's opened the scriptures to me and caused my heart to
burn as it did. He's alpha and omega in the scriptures. And fourthly, he's alpha and
omega in the salvation of God's elect. Now, preachers, wait a
minute. The Father chose us. If memory serves me correct,
it said he chose us in Christ. Does it not? He chose us in Christ, and he
chose us in Christ that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. Vile, wretched sinners could
never be chosen to be blessed by a holy and just God except
they were chosen in a substitute, chosen in a representative, chosen
in the God-man. Can you imagine men and women
whose minds are enmity against God, God-haters, despisers of
God, receiving such divine blessing? You can't even imagine such a
thing. But in Christ, we're holy and without blame and before
Him in love. In Romans 8, verse 28, it said,
We know all things work together for good to them that love God.
Do you love God? Not a love that would qualify
you for this. If we love God, we'd never sin,
would we? We'd never sin. If we love God,
we'd never transgress His law. If we love God in holy perfection,
we give all that we are and have to His cause. But in Christ,
I stand before Him, now listen, in love, pure love. That's why He chose me in Him. That's why He chose me in Him. You know, the disciples, when
questioned about their faith, they said, Lord, we believe,
help thou our unbelief. Even so, I believe every saint
can say, we love God, help thou our unlovingness. Christ is all in the salvation
of sinners. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Him. All that's given to Him by the
Father shall come to Him. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal it. Every office
concerning the salvation of sinners is given to Christ. Every office. He alone must take to Himself
the form of a servant, be made in the likeness of men, become
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, he alone
must, as a representative, be made under the law and obey that
law to work out a righteousness for you and I that can't do it,
can't produce one. And he is the propitiation for
our sins and the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. And he said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. He's the one foundation. Other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. And he is
salvation. Neither is there salvation in
any other. Now wait a minute, preacher.
What about the work of the Holy Spirit? If He's Alpha and Omega in the
salvation of sinners, what about the work of the Holy Spirit?
When He's come, He will not speak of Himself. Isn't that what Christ
said? He'll take of mine and show it
unto you. You go around these churches
and all they got to talk about on the radio and all they got
to talk about out in the restaurants and everywhere they go is the
Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. They don't know
the Holy Spirit. The man who knows the Holy Spirit
talks about Christ because that's what the Holy Spirit showed him. There is no understanding, no
birth, no sanctification apart from Christ. And only those who
hope in Christ purify themselves even as they are pure. He's Alpha
and Omega in the salvation of God's elect. And then fifthly,
Christ is Alpha and Omega in the life of the believer. Paul
said, for me to live is Christ. Do you find that to be true?
For me to live is Christ. What would you do this morning,
you that believe, if you didn't have Christ? You wouldn't have
much of a life, would you? Just a certain fearful looking
for judgment and fiery indignation. That's the only thing to live.
You leave this. You leave this person, this sacrifice,
this one, this one in whom has all the preeminence, who's Alpha
and Omega in your salvation. You leave him, you've got nothing. He's Alpha and Omega in the life
of the believer. And I'm going to tell you something.
You can't have Christ and sit Him somewhere in your mind and
heart with everything else. Put Him up on the mantle. I've
got a thing up there that I won for this and a thing up here
I'm proud of. One thing I can say a man told
me, alcohol never touched his lips. Well, yippee. You don't
know what you missed. You might ought to go get a shot. You're not going to take Christ
and put Him up with everything else you've got. He's preeminent
in salvation. He's preeminent in creation. He's preeminent in providence.
He's preeminent in the work of God in your heart. And he ain't
going to play second fiddle in your orchestra. I'll tell you
that right now. He'll be all or he won't be anything. He must
have the preeminence. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Christ is all. He's Alpha and
Omega in the life of the believer. Paul's reasoning with believers
is this. He said, if you then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ
did it at the right hand of God. What things? What things? Things accomplished? Seek those
things which are above. Above is accomplished redemption.
Above is an effectual high priest. Above is an open throne for me
to approach to find help in time of need. Above is a purchased inheritance,
an effectual intercession, strong assurance. We have an anchor
that goes beyond the veil into heaven itself. And we have a
good hope through grace. Now, I'm telling you, he's all
in the life of the believer. And then, sixthly and lastly,
he's alpha and omega in his church. Now, I'm going to tell you something
about his church. His church is His bride. It's
His bride. And He loves her. And He has
and is giving Himself for her. He provides for her. He gives her His name. He said, His name shall be called
the Lord Our Righteousness. And then a few pages over to
Jeremiah, He says this, Her name shall be called the Lord Our
Righteousness. She wears His name. He cleanses
her through His Word. He comforts her with His presence
and promises. He protects her, defends her,
preserves her, and He occupies the chief place in her heart.
Solomon wrote, by the Spirit of God, he said, my beloved is
mine and I'm His. We're one. And he said, his desire
is for me. That's what his bride said. The
church loves Christ, preaches Christ, worships Christ. The
church abides in his doctrine. If any man bring not the doctrine
of Christ, don't let him into your house. Preacher comes to
your door, knock on the door, say, I'd like to come in and
talk to you for a little while. Well, who are you? And he began
to tell, hit the road, Jack. Hit the road. The church abides in its doctrine.
It celebrates his accomplishment. It confesses his victories. And
it looks to Christ and hopes in Christ. And it patiently waits for his
return. Now, if Christ be Alpha and Omega,
and the Bible says that he is, he himself declares to his own,
I'm Alpha and Omega. If He be Alpha and Omega, and
He is the beginning and the ending, and He is He which was and is
and is to come. If He, as He tells us, is the
Almighty, that is an Almighty Savior. Anytime Christ reveals
Himself, it's in the character of Savior. If He is Almighty
to save, then why don't you put your trust
in Him? Why don't you put your trust
in Him? Why do you hesitate to follow
Him? He's Alpha and Omega. He's the Lord of Glory. The Father's purpose that in
Him should all fullness dwell. Why do we hesitate to follow
Him? And you that believe, why do
you doubt and fear? Huh? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Scripture says, and thou shalt be saved. He cannot fail. He's almighty.