Person, Purpose, Promise of Revelation

Prophecy of Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46 verse 9. Remember the former things of old for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me.

Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times and things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand I will do all my pleasure. The book of the Revelation chapter 1. The book of the Revelation chapter 1 verse 1. 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. Now the book of the Revelation is a book of prophecy. And only God can prophesy.

You can't prophesy, I can't prophesy. God is the one that predicts the future and God is the one that brings it to pass and God will bring it to pass. Everything that he has predicted, everything that he predicted and promised in the past that it was supposed to come to pass has already come to pass.

So it stands to reason that things that we're looking forward to in the future, things that are to come to pass, things that God has promised, things that God has prophesied, we can be absolutely certain and sure and the world can too that those things will come to pass. Because it's God that predicts the future and God is the one that brings it to pass. Now if you and I in this room today knew what each day would bring, I don't know what's going to happen the rest of the day and you don't know what's going to happen and I sure don't know what tomorrow is going to bring, it would really remove the thrill of surprise.

Everybody likes the surprise and practically every day you get a surprise and it thrills you and it thrills me. And then every day you discover something, don't you? And every day I discover something. So if I knew what I was going to discover tomorrow, it would really remove the thrill of that discovery and it might do something more than that.

It might cause dread to set into my soul if I knew what was going to happen tomorrow. But you see I don't know those things. But I know someone that does know those things.

God knows the future and you and I as a people of God know the God that knows the future. So that should bring comfort to your heart and comfort to my heart. It's not a roadmap really that's needful in this world today, it's a relationship.

It's not religiosity that's needful in the world today. It's a relationship with divine persons. That's the great need in the world today.

You know some people are looking for something to happen. A lot of people write books and actually sell the books. People buy the books.

And the people that write the books about something that they're looking to happen and they go to the bank and fill the coffers. They're doing well. But you know I'm not looking for something to happen and I doubt if you're looking for something to happen, I'm looking for someone to come.

And the one I'm looking to come is the Lord Jesus Christ. The first time He came, He came to take my sins away and the second time He comes, He's coming to take myself away. So I'm not looking for something to happen, I'm looking for someone to come.

And every child of God has the same proper hope. And this book, the book of the Revelation, makes it crystal clear that the future is in God's hands. They're not in your hands, they're not in my hands.

He's in control and I believe this, that everything is on schedule when it comes to God. Now I just want to consider four simple little thoughts here. I want to think about the person that we read about in Revelation chapter one.

And I want to think about the purpose that we read about and the promise that we read about. And the person that's really very simple, it's the Revelation, what's your Bible say? St. John the Divine? That's not right. I know that's what it says probably on the top of that page of your Bible.

The Revelation of St. John the Divine. It's not the Revelation of St. John the Divine. It's the Revelation, not revelations, plural, but revelation, singular, of Jesus Christ.

It's a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not the book of revelations, but the revelation of the Lamb of God. That's who is revealed in this book.

And this Lamb is the Lamb of God, it's the Lord Jesus Christ that's in view and He's spotless, He's sinless, He's crimeless, He's glorified. And you can see it right here in this lovely book called the book of the Revelation. Now what's the meaning of the word revelation? I take it the meaning of the word revelation is unveiling.

It's the unveiling of the King of Kings. He's not just a king, mind you. He's the King of Kings.

He's not just the Lord, He's the Lord of Lords. And this book is unveiling. That's the word revelation, unveiling this lovely divine person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

And God is unveiling Him to you and me in the room today. It would seem to me that the first time He came, His glory was veiled in a certain degree. And when He comes again, He's not coming to a crucifix.

That's what He did the first time He came. He came to a crucifix. He's coming to a coronation rather than a crucifix.

And He's not going to come to a tree to be nailed through His hands and feet upon a tree. He's coming to a throne. It's going to be His throne in a future day.

And He's not coming now in shame. How is He coming? He's coming in splendor. That's how the Savior is going to come.

And He isn't going to come as the perfect servant of Jehovah. He's going to come as a sovereign. And He's going to rule and reign from the rivers to the ends of the earth.

The Lord Jesus, that's who this book is revealing to you and me in the room today. And you and I are not going to see Him as He was. We're going to see Him as He what? Is.

As He is. In all of His beauty, we're going to see Him in all of His balance. We're going to see Him as He is.

We're going to see Him in His might. We're going to see Him in His majesty. We're going to see Him in His beauty.

We're going to see Him in His balance. That's how we're going to see Him. You're longing to see Him.

You're getting anxious to see Him. That's the person of this book. But then you come to the purpose of this book.

It says to show unto His servants things which must shortly, shortly, did you get that word? Come to pass. Shortly come to pass. I take it that this makes it clear, this book along with the entire Bible, the entire Bible is a closed book to the dear unsaved.

That's why I think Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 4 and verse 3, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world, Satan, hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. What's the problem there? This is a closed book to the dear unsaved, but it's not a closed book to you and me as a people of God. It's not an outline of history.

I know that some folks look at it as an outline of history. I don't agree that it's an outline of history and it's not an allegory. It's not comparing good and evil.

All ideas of men. It deals with the completion of the age. That's what it's dealing with.

The end of things. The certainty of the future, which enables the people of God, if we're certain about the future, we can concentrate on the present. But you and I are a people that are concentrating on the present because we have a book that deals with the future.

One of the problems that seem to be prevalent in the world today, there's what's called too many round robin theologians. Round robin theologians. Where are these round robin theologians getting their teaching? They're getting their teaching from men.

They're getting their teaching from books. They're getting their teaching from PCs. PC generated stuff.

Getting their teaching from men. And they're getting their heresies from men. Instead of getting into the Word of God, that's where it really should come from.

You know, God's not wondering what He's going to do, as some men think in the world today. That God is wondering what He's going to do. God's not wondering what He's going to do.

God knows what He's going to do. He knows exactly what He's going to do and when He's going to do it. And we can be sure of this, that His ultimate will, that's not His permissive will now, that's not His direct will, but His ultimate will will come to pass.

He will have His will and way about things in this world, even though it doesn't appear that way from time to time. His ultimate will will come to pass, unaltered by men, unaltered by men's wills, unaltered by men's ways, and unaltered by men's sanctified imagination. A lot of that in the world today.

Sanctified imagination. The purpose of this book. Well, you know, we could think a little bit for a few minutes about the promise of this book as well.

We are exhorted in this book to read it, to hear it, to keep it, to heed it. And if we read it and hear it and keep it and heed it, what happens? God says you'll be blessed. And God says I'll be blessed.

Now, I don't know of any other book in the Bible that has that promise. To read it is to be blessed by it. If we read this book, we're going to be blessed by it.

The Bible makes that crystal clear. God tells us that. You want a blessing? Read the book of the Revelation.

And if we hear what we read in the book of the Revelation, then something's going to happen in your mind and mine. We're going to begin to understand it. You think you can understand it? I think you can understand it.

It's really a simple writing. If we hear it, we can understand it. To keep it is to obey it.

We're not going to be able to obey it if we don't read it and we don't heed it. I wonder, do we really believe that we're living on the eve of the Lord's coming? You believe that, brother? That we're living at the end and the edge of the day of grace and the eve of the Lord's coming? Do we really believe that in the room today? I wonder, do I really believe that in the room today? And if I really believe that in the room today, why am I so shy about speaking to people about their soul and about their need of salvation? If I really believe that, don't you think I'd have a little more holy boldness in relation to speaking to the dear unsaved? Those that are traveling the broad and crowded road to a lost eternity? I'd probably have enough courage to go to my neighbor and knock on the door and say, hello, did you know? So sometimes I say to myself, you ever talk to yourself? Sometimes I talk to myself and I ask myself questions. Do you really believe that we're living on the eve of the coming of the Lord? And if I really believe that He was coming, do we believe He could come today? If I really believe that He could come today, I wonder what I'd be doing today.

Would I be here or would I be going down the street to warn the dear unsaved that they don't have much time left? You know the world's in a mess today. I don't have to tell you that. Everybody in the world knows that the world's in a mess.

Even unsaved people in the world know that the world is a mess and that people know that God has been, the Lord has been, that God has been dethroned in the minds of men. He's even dethroned in the school houses. Can you imagine that? Our children go to school and in the school that they go to to get this higher learning education, God has been dethroned and yet He'd still go to school there.

Dethroned in the minds of men. But one day, someday, soon to come, He's going to not be dethroned in the minds of men. He's going to be enthroned in the minds of men.

It's going to be a different day than it is today. And you know it's going to be a wonderful thing because the bride is going to be with the groom. The people of God are going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we've already heard this morning about Revelation 21 and verse 4, is it? God shall wipe away all tears. You ever shed any tears? I think we all have in some degree or another. Someday God's going to wipe those tears away in relation to death.

You know what you need in your family is a death to change your way of thinking sometimes. It's amazing how your thinking changes. What things become so unimportant that are so important are now suddenly unimportant.

And along with that comes tears and grief and pain. And those things are all going to pass away in a future day. They're going to be gone.

You know something nice about this book? You know, we're living in a world of instability, aren't we? Can't you just kind of feel that, sense that, see that? A world of instability, a world of uncertainty. You know what's going on? Nobody knows what's going on. It's just an absolute mess the way things are going.

Just even the price of gasoline is ridiculous. Instability and uncertainty, but you know something that'll stabilize us in a world of instability and uncertainty is this book. It'll stabilize us.

It'll reassure us that our feet, that our whole being is on a solid rock and that rock is Christ. Wonderful book. You know, in verse 3, it's an interesting verse, isn't it? It says, the time is at hand.

What's that mean? The time is at hand. You know what I think it means? I think it means the Lord could come at any moment. You believe that? Any moment He could come.

Are you ready? Is everyone in the room ready? You know, if you're a stranger to the grace of God and you've never been born again the Bible way, you're not ready. But it doesn't change the fact that the time is at hand and the Lord could come at any moment. And if He came at any moment, if He came within the next moment, would you be left sitting in the seat that you're sitting today? Because if you're not born again the Bible, that's the issue, the Bible way.

And washed in the precious blood of Christ, whether you believe it or not, you'd be sitting in the seat where you sit and the saints would be gone and there won't be any holes in the ceiling. There won't be any holes in the walls either. It's interesting what Peter says in chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 7. He says, the end of all things is near.

Imagine that. He wrote that years and years and years and years ago and yet he knew that the end of all things was near. Well, if it was near then, what is it today? What is it at this very moment? Presently, you and me here in this room, we've been living in the end days for thousands of years.

And you know, sad to say this whole world today is on a collision course with the judgment of God and doesn't even know it. People don't even know it. But they're on a collision course with the judgment of God.

You know, we're not waiting for the seven veils of wrath or vials of wrath. And we're not waiting for the mystery of Babylon to appear and unfold. I'm not waiting for much of anything, but I'm watching.

I wonder are you waiting or are you watching? You know what I'm watching for? The same thing you're watching for. And it's not a thing, it's a person and it's the person of the Lord Jesus, the Savior. I'm not looking for signs today.

You're looking for signs? How about looking for the Savior? He'll get to you quicker than the signs will ever get to you. I take it that we can look at signs, but we're not necessarily looking for signs. We don't have time to look for signs, brethren.

We only have time to look for the Savior. You know that mankind today and this world as such a great mass is moving toward a one world government? Did you know that? Well, it is. It's moving towards a one world government.

It is moving towards the amalgamation of religion. There's some big whips in the world today. What are they going to call this thing? Something about the amalgamation, the blending, the melding together of two religions, Islam and Christianity.

Well, that's a strange concept in my mind, because I am absolutely convinced their God's not my God. You know, their God tells them to do things my God tells me not to do. And one of those things is their God tells them to go out and kill all the infidels.

You and I are infidels, by the way. That's what their God tells them to do. My God don't tell me to do that.

So it's pretty clear in my mind that they're barking up the wrong tree. The amalgamation of Islam with Christianity, are you aware of that? There's people trying to do that in the world today. You know that knowledge is on the increase.

Well, we all know that. Just burning them computers right up. Knowledge on the increase.

I even got a phone called a smart phone. It's so smart I can't run it. You know, it can do a whole lot of things I can't even get out of it.

Somebody that's real smart could do it, but I can't do it. I'm not smart enough to do it, but it's called a smart phone. Knowledge is on the increase, so all except mine.

My phone is smarter than what I am. Society is being systemized. You go to the hospital now, you know what you are? Same thing you are when you go to the prison.

A number. A number. Number 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. You go to Arby's and get number 13 on the board, and they'll holler out a number.

You're not even a person anymore. I'm not Jerry anymore, I'm number 13 if I go to Arby's. Because that's what I order off the menu.

Kind of like them, they're not too bad, don't you know? If you're desperate. But the whole society is being systemized today. And it's going on more and more, and it's going to be more and more as society continues on a collision course with the judgment of God.

What is the solution? We'll systemize. It's not the solution. Christ is the solution.

He's the solution for everything. The Lord Jesus. You know today, there are little men in the world today, and I know a little man in the world today, but I know this man is casting a long shadow.

He's just a wee man. He's a little tiny man. His name is Rick Warren.

He wrote a book about the purpose-driven life. Is that what we need, brethren? A purpose-driven life. That's all about me.

We need a Bible-driven life. Does that make more sense? He wrote a book called Purpose-Driven Christianity. That's not what we need.

We need Bible-driven Christianity. But he's a little man. But let me tell you something about this little man.

He is the one who wants to amalgamate Islam with Christianity. Enjoy reading his book now? I think you better throw it in the trash can. Because he's the instigator of that.

And people are sitting around with their tongues hanging out over these two books he wrote. The best thing you can do is throw it in the dipsy dumpster. The closest one you get to both books.

Both of them. He's a little man and he's casting a long shadow. And that's among the religious leaders of the world.

Then there's another man that I'm aware of, and his name is Barack Obama. And he is a leader among the world leaders. Casting a long shadow among the leaders of the world today.

And that's really interesting to me. And the reason it's interesting to me is the reason their shadow is long. Why is their shadow long? You set a little tiny object out on the table on the patio, and you know when the sun sets? That little short object is going to cast a long shadow.

And that's why they're casting long shadows in the world today is because the sun is setting on them. And this day of grace is coming to an end. And it is slipping out like the ocean slips out.

The tide is going out on them. The tide is going out on this world and the judgment of God is coming. Are you glad you're saved? Aren't you glad you have the message of the gospel? You can tell your dear friends, and me as well, to get prepared because the shadows are getting long.

And soon the Lord will come. The sun is setting and the judgment of God is about to be ushered in. Are you really ready? Am I really ready? Time is running out.

Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. And the only preparation that was ever made in relation to you and me ever being in God's heaven is through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's not one soul in this room today can get to heaven without Him.

You need Him as your Savior if you don't know Him as such. And the time is running out for you. And if you have any idea in your mind whatsoever of getting through the door, you better come on the run.

Because that door that stands open is going to shut. And you be careful that it doesn't shut in your face and you're shut out for the endless ages of eternity. It's something for you to think about if you're not saved in the room.

It's something for us to think about if we are. The Bible says, redeem the time for the days are evil. We tell the dear unsaved that.

Because they don't have much time left. Well, you and I don't have much time left either to serve the Lord in our lives. Now the Lord bless these few thoughts for His name's sake.