We're going to be in the book
of Revelation if you'd like to turn there this morning. Revelation chapter
one. I titled this message Him which
is, which was, and which is to come. It's bittersweet that we have
found ourself at the end of our journey, going through each book
of the Bible, three messages or so, and we'll only be looking
at one. Maybe this Wednesday we'll look
at another one here in Revelation, but Lord's been faithful to us
in spite and despite of our unfaithfulness. As I look back over the course
of the year, my confession is the same that you'll find in
your Your bulletin the article that that talks about him seeing
his sin ever before him or seeing his Unbelief evermore and yet
the Lord's faithful the Lord remaineth faithful. He can't
deny himself. That's our confession, isn't
it? I'm so thankful for the Lord's faithfulness In the book of Revelation most
men talks about prophecies that shall be mysteries and secrets
that are, uh, must be searched out, figured out intellectually,
knowledge to be gained. There's not one prophecy that
has to come to pass that prevents the Lord for returning to collect
his bride. The only, you want to call it
a prophecy, it would be all that the Lord and all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. That's a, That's a prophecy,
isn't it? When the last sheep comes, when
the last sheep hears His voice, the Lord's going to return victorious
for His bride, for His church. There are many that believe that
this is some riddle, that Revelation is a riddle. It's made to stump
men. You've got to try harder to figure it out. Study it out
more. I've seen signs that said we'll
be having an in-depth study on the book of Revelation this evening. Men say, if you can solve the
riddle, you're saved. Aren't you glad what the Lord
said? It's not many noble. It's not many wise. As a matter
of fact, the Lord said it, I thank thee father. I thank thee that
you've hid this from the wise and from the prudent and you've
revealed it under babes. You've come to Christ as a babe,
that gives you hope, doesn't it? It's not what we know, it's
who we know. It's who we know. Now it's not some mysterious
secret here in Revelation we have to figure out, some insight
to God's plan. I put quotations around that.
God don't plan things, does he? He purposes, he's God. He's not
playing chess with the devil. over your soul. It's not that
God has put one vote for you and the devil put another vote
for you and against you, but you have to break the tie. That's
not it. Aren't you thankful for that? Satan's God's devil. Men look in Revelation and they
think, well, this means this or this means that. And when
they figure something out, they'll say, Eureka, we figured it out. We figured out something others
don't know. We have insight. And this isn't just for Revelation.
This is from Genesis to Revelation. Men think that they've acquired
some knowledge, some understanding that others don't have. And men
hold to that as their very righteousness before God. But we know what
the scripture says about knowledge. Knowledge does one thing, it
puffeth up. puffeth up. What does wisdom
do? Well, Christ is wisdom. And if we have Christ, what does
he say? Christ is all our wisdom before
God. I don't want to know something.
I want to know someone. I want to know him, but I may
know him and the power of his resurrection. That's what we're
desiring, isn't it? Men want to debate on the sign
of the times, but what does the scripture say about the sign
of the times? There'll be no sign given. But that of the prophet
Jonah, what is that sign? That as Jonah was in the belly
of the well three days and three nights, so shall the son of man
be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
What does that signify? Christ was successful in his
redemption. The father resurrected him. When
he hath by himself purged our sin, he sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. That means he was successful.
That's the only sign that we want, isn't it? That's the only
sign we're gonna get. No, the scripture is clear. They
that profess themselves to be wise became fools. And it's all
because of one reason. They worship and serve the creature
more than the creator. What is the creature Paul's talking
about there? This is the creature serving
self. Serving self. That's what men
do by nature. This is all that knowledge will lead to. Now,
That's my introduction to what revelation is not. That's what
revelation is not. But I wanna show us this morning
what revelation is. What the reason, the purpose
of this book is. Look in verse one of chapter
one of Revelation. The revelation of Jesus Christ. That's it. We can stop right
there. The revelation of Jesus Christ. is salvation, the revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass. And he 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. Blessed is he that readeth and
they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things
which are written therein for the time is at hand. The mystery is in plain sight. You can go to Genesis and you
can see a bunch of stories. Thanks be to God, we have a bunch
of allegories, don't we? Representing the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can go to Exodus and you can see a bunch of stories. But
thanks be to God, we can see through the eyes of faith a bunch
of allegories representing the finished work of Jesus Christ.
And I'm not gonna name all 66 books, but that's how it is,
isn't it? All the way to Revelation. It is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It doesn't matter what chapter.
It doesn't matter what verse. It's all written of Christ. What
did he tell the Pharisees? Search the scriptures, for in
them you think. You think you have eternal life.
You have a knowledge that you think you've acquired by searching
the scriptures. In them you think you have eternal life. But then
he gives them the answer. The answer to the mystery. They speak
of me. They speak of me. All of them
spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ. The mystery is in plain sight,
yet cannot be seen without God revealing it. This precious book,
this entire book, not just Revelation, but since we're speaking specifically
on Revelation, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ unto his people,
all according to his will. What did the Lord say? No man
come to the Father, but by me. No man come to the Father, but
by me. It's by His will, not our will. It's by Him saving, not by our
works of righteousness. It's by Him calling, not by our
choice. It's by Him keeping, not by our
sacrifice, not by our taste, not touch, not in and out. It's
all Him. That's what the revelation reveals,
isn't it? It's all Him. It's by His revealing, not our
discovering. This isn't something that can
be discovered. It's past finding out. That's what the Lord said.
My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
These ways are past finding out. Men say, I saw this in this chapter,
in this verse, and that means this, and this means that. Well,
I really understand something now. I've really got more of
a knowledge, and I figured out how to obligate God. That's not
what the revelation of Christ reveals. Revelation of Christ
reveals Christ is all in salvation. Christ is all before salvation
is revealed. Christ is all when salvation
is revealed. Christ is all after salvation
is revealed. Christ is all in salvation for
time and eternity. That's what the revelation of
Christ reveals. You know, the Lord's people, we don't desire
to see what this means and what that means and try to figure
it out. Well, we spent a lot of time, I did, in false religion
trying to figure a lot of things out. Aren't you glad the gospel
just shuts us up? Shuts us up to one thing. Christ
is all. We don't have to know anymore,
do we? Faith just believes. Faith. Do you believe Peter walked
on water? Yes. Why? Because the scripture says he
did. At the Lord's command. You believe the Lord raised Lazarus
from the dead? Yes. Were you there? No. We've seen it through the
eyes of faith. We believe it. We just believe
it. He's God. He's God. The Lord's people desire to see one
thing, Christ Jesus, the Lord and Savior of everyone he died
for. We desire to see Christ. For this hour, I hope to see
him. If he would choose to cause us to, if he's willing, Whenever
the Greeks came unto the Lord, they went to Philip and they
said, we desire not to see the miracles, not to see the signs,
not to be fed. We desire to see the Lord. We would see Jesus. That's what
I hope we can see this hour. Now I want to do that by looking
at one verse in this first chapter, and it's found in verse eight. I am. And you can stop right
there if you wanted to. I am. There's a lot to be said
about that, isn't there? 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. I am Alpha and
Omega. The beginning and the end, saith
the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the
almighty. In all things pertaining to life
and death, he is the first and he is the last. In all things
pertaining to time and eternity, he is the sovereign Lord of it
all. In all things pertaining to time
and eternity, pertaining to life and death, he is the first and
the last, And he is the sovereign Lord over all of it. He is the
beginning. And he is the end. All things
pertaining to salvation. Somebody said you have to do
this and you have to do that in all things pertaining to salvation. He is Alpha and he is Omega. What does that mean? that he
is Alpha and he is Omega. Well, we know Alpha and Omega
is the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet, but him
telling us he is the beginning and the end, him telling us that
he is which is, which was, and which is to come, there's more
to it than just knowing it's the Greek alphabet. What it means
is, is he's the first and he is the last in all things pertaining
to salvation. And if we could But for a moment,
gather this understanding and some of these things you've heard
me say over the last few weeks in different messages, but the
Lord actually gave me a message on this particular subject this
time. With Him being the Alpha and Him being the Omega, if we
could understand what's wrong with all of false religion, it
would be this, that they deny Him His Lordship as either Alpha
or Omega or both. Alpha means He's first. He's
first and foremost in salvation. The scripture tells us, all things
were made by him and without him, there was not anything that
was made that was made. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
He's first. If he didn't create the world, they would be none
of us. But he created the world. The scripture says, God, in the
beginning, God. That's how it started. He's the
first. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon
the face of the deep. What did the Lord say? Let there be light. Let there be light. God chose
to create light. God chose to create the world
and all that's in it. God chose to speak everything
into existence except one thing, man. He placed his hands upon
man and he formed him out of the dust of the ground and he
breathed life into him, into his nostril. This is God. This
is what he has done. He's the beginning and all things.
And it is no different. When it comes to salvation, he
is the alpha of salvation. He chose to redeem a people in
the covenant of grace before he ever created the earth. He
chose to redeem a people. And in doing so, he wrote their
name in the Lamb's book of life. And there was only one found
worthy to loose the seals and open the book thereof. And his
name is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son in the likeness of sinful flesh that you and
I are, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. After it was
successfully accomplished on the cross of Calvary, salvation
was successfully accomplished by the shed blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice of himself, he died. He died
and was buried for three days and for three nights. By the
Lord's word, the Lord Jesus Christ was gloriously resurrected because
death could not hold him. Justice had been satisfied. The
law had been satisfied. God was satisfied with the sacrifice
of his son. When he entered into the holy
place once, he obtained eternal redemption for all those that
he died for, for all those that he loved. And the father said,
sit thou here on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy
footstool. The Lord Jesus Christ is seated as the successful Redeemer
of His people. The Lord Jesus Christ now liveth,
ever liveth, to make intercession for those people. The Lord was
satisfied. Now as time continues to unfold,
every second of the clock that God has ordained, when He purposes
it, the Spirit of the Lord blows upon one of those sheep that
the Lord did die for and says, live, and they become alive. They're born again. They become
alive spiritually unto God, previously being dead in trespasses and
in sin, having no hope of salvation in and of themselves, seeing
that salvation is of the Lord. Now, what part of that do you
and I have to do with? What part of the contract did
we sign? What part of the document is
the clause wherein we must do something? He's alpha. and he's Omega. He's the beginning
and he's the end. Of all things pertaining to life,
of all things pertaining to death, of all things pertaining to time
and eternity, he is Alpha and Omega. In religion, and it doesn't pick
a religion, it doesn't matter the religion, men deny him his
sovereignty. Men deny him his sovereignty
as God. Most foolishly say, accept him
as your savior. But understand, that makes you
and me alpha. If I have to do something to
enable him to do something, I'm alpha. I'm in charge. I can hinder
him. I can prevent him. Men say, let
Jesus. I can prevent him. I'm alpha.
That's pretty logical, isn't it? But we're not alpha. He is. He is. God's gospel teaches his
people that dead men can't take a step, can they? Can't take
the first step, I'm dead. God's gospel teaches men we can't
make a choice because we're dead. He's gonna have to do the choosing.
Then he's gonna have to do the saving. Then he's gonna have
to do the calling. Aren't you glad he did it all?
He's alpha and omega. The very idea, brethren, of us
choosing God gives man glory, but what's the Lord say about
his glory? He's a jealous God, jealous for his people, but jealous
for his glory. He says, I am the Lord, this
is my name. In my glory will I not give to
another, neither my praise to graven images. I won't give any
glory to another. I won't give my praise to graven
images. I am the Lord. The truth is you won't find a
verse of scripture that says, will you accept God? It says
Christ was offered up and the father was well pleased and accepted
with him. That's what scripture teaches,
isn't it? Doesn't say anything about will you let Jesus into
your heart? He says, I'm gonna give you a new heart. I'm gonna
take out the heart of flesh and give you, or take out the heart
of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Everything the Lord
requires, everything the Lord requires, he provides. He's never
offered himself up to a man. But you know what the scripture
does say about accepting? And I believe the Lord's giving me
a message on accept or accept Jesus. There's two different
ways to spell accept. Did you know that? A-C-C-E-P-T
and E-X-P-E, you know the rest. That's two different meanings
entirely, isn't it? Men say accept Jesus, they're
saying the right words, they have the wrong spelling. except
Jesus put away our sin, we would have no hope. Except Jesus became
a man and died, we'd have no hope. Except God made a choice,
we'd have no hope. Never says anything about except
Jesus as your Lord, does it? No, not at all. God accepted
his sacrifice. The first time the word accepted,
ACC, Let me find it again, A-C-C-E-P-T-E-D. First time we ever read about
accepted, it's whenever Cain offered up a sacrifice and Abel
offered up a sacrifice. And the Lord says this, Cain
was angry because the Lord didn't accept his sacrifice. He says
to him, he said, I have no honor, I can't remember the word he
said to him. No respect, thank you. I have no respect unto Cain,
nor his sacrifice, nor his offering. But unto Abel, he had respect
to him and his offering. Why? Abel offered blood. And
Cain was wroth, wasn't he? He was angry. He was angry God
didn't accept the work of his hands. Cain tried his best. And
some of you may have heard me say this, and some of you hadn't.
There was a, the fair, when the fair came to town, there was
a pumpkin competition. The biggest pumpkin was to win.
The most prettiest pumpkin was to win. Cain didn't offer up
rotten fruit unto the Lord. He didn't offer up rotten vegetables.
He's offered the prettiest pumpkin you've ever saw. He was very
proud of his two. I think it was one over there,
2,200. And so that's a big pumpkin. He was really proud of this pumpkin.
Beat out all the competition. Lord said, I have no respect
unto the works of your hands. And he was wroth. He was wroth. And what the Lord say, Why art
thou wroth, Cain, and why hast thou countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? See, it's God as alpha. He alone
accepts and rejects. And he only accepts one thing,
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all he accepts
in salvation. He doesn't accept our works.
He doesn't accept our deeds. He doesn't accept our best efforts,
our biggest pumpkin. He doesn't accept it. He doesn't
accept it. But he accepts the precious blood
of his darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has all power
in heaven and in earth. He alone kills and makes alive.
He is the beginning and the end. He is the beginning and he is
the alpha and the omega. Now what did the Lord mean when
he told Cain, if thou doest well, thou shalt be accepted. What
does it mean to do well? What did the Lord say? How many
people came to the Lord? What must I do to inherit eternal
life? What must I do? What must I do? Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. We read Romans chapter 10. in
verse 9 and 10, and it said, that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, that's a miracle of grace in the heart,
to believe, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that if thou
shalt confess with the Lord Jesus Christ, believe in thine heart,
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For
with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth, confession is made into salvation. That confession,
is a gift of God by faith, all by grace alone. That's what he
does. If Cain would have confessed,
it would have been because God gave him the faith to do so.
But God didn't. God didn't. As a matter of fact,
Cain justified himself so much in that, when the Lord, after
he had slew his brother out of jealousy, when he said, well,
if I can't be accepted, I'm gonna kill you, because you are. And
that's what all men tried to do, and by God's purpose, They
crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he said in Acts 2.23,
that you have taken, and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain him. Cain could not kill God, so he killed his brother.
And when the judgment came to Cain, Cain said, my punishment's
too great. What he meant was, that's unfair.
That's unfair. God, you're not fair. God is
fair. And he is just and he is holy
and he's true. He's alpha and omega. He inhabits
eternity and all things consist according to his will and purpose
as alpha and omega. The second point would be he
is the omega. We held in religion I remember
holding it, and I'm sure you all did too. We held in religion
that once you're saved, you're always saved. Once you're saved,
you're always saved. You've never heard this before.
That's what some believe. Some believe you can lose your salvation,
which means I can do something to become unsaved. Well, you're
not the omega there. Well, we didn't believe that.
We believed that once you've made your decision, you locked
it in. You guaranteed your salvation.
So we were Alpha, but he was the Omega. You see that? That's
not true either, is it? He's both. He can't be one and
then the other. And every false religion, everything
wrong with false religion comes down to them not acknowledging
that he is both Alpha and Omega in salvation. He's got to do
it all. He's got to do it all. And those who believe he is the
Omega, they look for evidence of their salvation, don't they?
I've got to look at myself and see if I can find some evidence.
If I don't find evidence of my salvation, I guess I've got to
get saved again. You ever heard that expression? You won't find
that in the Bible. The Bible doesn't say get saved. I'll tell you
what the Bible does say. Call his name Jesus for he shall
save his people from their sin. It doesn't say they're going
to get saved because of what they do. That's not true. No,
he's alpha and omega. Whether we were looking at our
choice or our self-righteous living that proved we obligated
God to save us, one way or another, we were denying him lordship
as both Alpha and Omega. And did you know that we cannot
prevent him from being Alpha and Omega? I love that. I can't
prevent him from doing what he wants to do, what he's purposed
to do. I can neither constrain, and
you can't either. You can't constrain nor restrain him. There's great
rest in that if you found yourself to be the chief sinner. If you
found yourself needing the savior, there's great hope in knowing
I can't prevent him and I can't make him do anything. I can't
prevent him from doing anything or make him do anything. The revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ by his free and sovereign grace alone reveals the truth.
Reveals the truth, he's alpha. and he's Omega. What grace there
is to believe that now. Everybody's going to find out
one day. Everybody's going to bow and confess it one day that
the Lord Jesus Christ is Lord. He's Lord. What, what grace to
be able to say he's Lord and Savior and Savior. Everyone,
you ask anybody that's in religion, Christian, so-called Christian
religion. They'll say the Lord is the Savior.
They'll say Jesus Christ is the Savior, and they'll say he's
the Lord, but they'll deny him the office of both Alpha and
Omega in some way, shape, or form. What grace it is to see
him as Alpha and Omega right now, right now. Look with me here in verse 17. If the Lord has given us this
hope and seeing him as all in salvation, if he chooses to reveal
himself to us, we'll have the same reaction as John did when
seeing Christ. Now understand something. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ before John. Men think that the father And I want to be careful how
I say this. Men believe that the Father is the Holy One and
the powerful one. And then they see Jesus as less
than being God in some ways. He's God. Jesus Christ is the
Holy One. He is. One of the disciples asked
the Lord, he said, show us the Father. He said, have I not been
with you so long? When you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. That's what he said. And when
you see him, this will be the reaction. It's the same for every
single believer. Verse 17. And when I saw him,
when I saw him, 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. When we see him, we fall down
as dead men. as dead men. What about Paul
on the road to Damascus? What happened to him? He was
delivering papers for the persecution of the church, wasn't he? God's
church. And the Lord shined forth a light from heaven and knocked
him off of his horse, put him in the dirt, didn't he? He put
him in the dirt. And we see in the scripture that
the men, they heard the voice, but they couldn't see the man.
Only Paul saw the man. Only Paul, why? Because God only
revealed himself to Paul that day. He only revealed himself
to Paul that day. The other men couldn't see the
Lord. But if you see him, as John saw
him, as Paul saw him, Paul lost more than just his physical sight
that day. He lost his self-righteous sight,
didn't he? He lost everything. I have no
righteousness anymore. I've become completely naked.
I'm unworthy. That's what seeing Christ is
seeing him as Alpha and Omega. That's what it does. Seeing him
as Alpha and Omega. It causes us to become blind. No hope to ourself whatsoever
and giving eyes to see him as our righteousness. Him as our
sanctification. Him as our redemption, our wisdom,
our justification before God. This is God's feet whereby he
saves his elected sinners all according to his grace and offer
his glory. All according to his grace and offer his glory. Now,
the last thing I want us to notice is back again in verse eight.
First part says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
ending, saith the Lord. Second part, it says, which is
and which was and which is to come the almighty. Now I have
been guilty of misquoting this for a very long time. I didn't
realize that. And I realized that it was part
of my religious background prior to seeing the Lord that I suppose
calls that most men that I've heard quote this misquote this.
It doesn't make much sense to put is before was because is
is present tense. and was is past tense. So most
men quote this as which was, which is, and which is to come.
That's not what it says. It says, which is, and which
was, and which is to come. The is part is past tense. Remember when the Lord told Moses,
I am. It's his isness. It's the his
entirety, his presence right now. That's always been. It's
that he is not just now, but that he has always been and always
will be. It's his isness. He says is first. It's the whole Trinity, the father,
which is being the I am that I am. That's who is. Now I'm
not going to diminish. This is the entirety of the Trinity
here. I'm not diminishing one office
from the other. It's God. It's all Him. But this is the Father which
is being the I am that I am. It's the son, him, which was,
he was with the father and he became a man. He was the man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He went to the cross and died.
He was made sin for us who knew no sin. He was, this is who is
speaking here. The Lord himself as the, his
three offices as the Trinity, the Godhead, the fullness of
the Godhead bodily being in Christ Jesus. Lastly, we see the Spirit, which
is to come. He was promised to come, to be
the comforter of his people, to come to call his people, to
come and be the comfort to his people, revealing that the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit is all in all. They're one. He's
the one that speaks life to every elect sinner. If you want to
sum up what's wrong in false religion, It's that it denies
Christ His office as God. It denies Christ His office as
God, the Father's election, the Son's redemption, and the Spirit's
calling. In one way, shape, or form, it denies that, that He
is Alpha and Omega. But this is who is speaking here.
It's too high for me, and it's too high for you to understand.
But the Lord gives comfort in knowing that all of the offices,
all of His isness, successfully redeemed his people. We can rest in that. We can rest
in that. We love him being the I am, where
the Pharisees didn't. And the scripture speaks in the
book of John. They were talking, they were
arguing. They were arguing with the Lord, speaking of manna.
Our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness. Christ said,
I am the manna. I am the bread of life. I am
the bread that came down. Well, they didn't like that,
and they continued to argue with him back and forth. And the Lord,
in His glorious office as God, the Lord Jesus Christ, as His
glorious office as God, they said, we be of Abraham's seed. And he said, you're not of Abraham's
seed. If you were of Abraham's seed, you would have been glad.
Abraham was glad when he saw my day. He said, you're of your
father, the devil. You're not of Abraham's seed. So he was
talking of the spiritual. They were talking of the physical,
weren't they? And at the very end of it all, at the end of
the chapter, it says this. He said, before Abraham was,
I am. I am. I am that is, that was,
and that is to come. I am. And what did they hear
when they heard the most glorious news that he is, that he was,
and he is to come? They took up stones to stone
him. They took up stones. They didn't want to hear it.
Away with this man. No, he can't be Alpha and Omega.
I've got to have something to do with salvation. I've got to
do something first or I have to do something to keep myself.
I have to have some evidence. I have to know he's Alpha and
Omega before Abraham was. I am. This is the glorious news
of the revelation of Christ when he shows his people this, it
is salvation to them. This is what God's gospel by
his spirit reveals. Jesus Christ didn't try to redeem. Jesus Christ didn't attempt to
redeem. Jesus Christ successfully redeemed. At the word of the Father, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He went to the
cross despising the shame. You know what that means? It
didn't even, didn't faze him. He was doing business with God.
He offered himself as the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world unto the Father. He was well pleased with the
sacrifice of the Lord. He's the Alpha and Omega of salvation,
the Alpha and Omega. In closing, turn with me to John
chapter one. John one one says 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 light was the light of
men and the light shineth in darkness. and the darkness comprehended
it not. You have the world created by
him, the word of God, created all things in the world, being
the light of that world. And that light shines forth and
the darkness cannot comprehend it. But if the Lord chooses to
pass by your way, to pass by my way, and say unto you, live,
the best way I can put it is, the lights are turned on. He
chooses to do that. We don't have any ability because
we're in darkness. We don't know where the light
is. We don't know who the light is. We think we're fumbling around
in the darkness. We're going to find the light
eventually in darkness and false religion, but we're trying to
be alpha or we're trying to be omega. He says, no, I say unto
thee, arise. And the light is turned on and
that light is the life of the Lord's people. He's full of mercy and grace,
choosing to shine the light into darkness. Aren't you glad that he doesn't
change? Aren't you glad he doesn't change? He doesn't. He's not emotional like you and
I are in that one minute he loves us and the next minute he despises
us or one minute he's tender hearted to us. The next minute
he's hard hearted. He doesn't change. He's loved
us with an everlasting love. In that love, freely offered,
freely gave his only begotten son. And then he says, whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He's
alpha and omega in that whosoever. Whosoever means that you, you're
qualified, if you will. Whosoever, if he, I've said this
before, even recently, but if it said Caleb Hickman, it wouldn't
give me as much hope as it does when it says whosoever, because
I don't know if it's this one or that one, or there's many
Caleb Hickmans in the world. He said, whosoever will, let
him come, take of the water of life freely. If you do, you must
believe he's alpha and omega. You must believe he's Alpha and
Omega. He is salvation. He is all. And the command comes,
by the Alpha and Omega, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved. Believe on him which is, believe
on him which was, and believe on him which is to come. If we
do, it's because he's enabled us to, caused us to, and he gets
all the glory. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we're
thankful Thankful that you have. Purposed. That it would be by the foolishness
of preaching. And Lord, we. Never feel. As unworthy as we
do when we try to describe you. Lord, you're glorious. There
isn't words known to man that describes you as you ought to
be, but. Lord, we know that because you're the Alpha and Omega, one
day we'll sing a new song. Lord will be able to praise you.
When you reveal the glory that's already in your people, that
you've put there according to your purpose, we'll be able to
glorify you properly as Alpha and Omega. Thank you for your
precious blood and your glorious salvation in Jesus Christ. For
it's in his name we pray, amen. In closing, let's turn to number
70, holy, holy, holy. Let's all stand together.