It's always a pleasure to be back among my home kin. Love to hear y'all's voices lifted up. It's just absolutely beautiful. Y'all be prayin' for me this morning. I normally would say my mind is more settled on what I'm supposed to speak on, and today it has not been. So, as always, we need the Lord to bless the preacher. Well, we need him to bless you. As you're sittin' there, and you're grapplin' little ones, or dealin' with aches and pains, or distractions or cares, you need the Holy Spirit to bless you to be able to hear the word and to get it beyond your head and ears and down into your heart and may you be strengthened and edified and may he be glorified. So y'all be actively praying. This is a team sport. Y'all be praying and I'll try to preach. My brother David taught was good, necessary. I interacted with a sister this week who had somebody come to the facility where she was staying who declared to her that he hadn't sinned in years. He wasn't a sinner. It very much upset her and we have some calming down to do. But imagine not having the truth of that and not understanding the reality that, yes, you do still sin and yet God sees you through His blood. Rather than having to have this guy's understanding that, okay, I don't sin anymore and then trying to pretend that. What a delusion that you have to wrap yourself in and what a chain that you would be bearing. We come unto a Lord who says his burden, his yoke, his light. This is one that we come. The truth lifts us from that. And so it is so important to be rooted and grounded in his word and to sink our teeth into those heavy duty real truths. and to be on guard when you hear things that depart from the Word of God, and be able to give comfort to someone else. Do you know how you do that? You open your mouth. Well, I'm not a preacher. Okay, don't do it up in front of the church. But you have a lot of opportunities to comfort and encourage the Lord's sheep. Outside these walls, you should be bragging on God. He's worthy of it. Paul said he wasn't ashamed of the Gospel multiple times, and he encouraged Timothy not to be ashamed of the Gospel. Shame is something you don't want to talk about, right? Let's just put that over here. I've messed up about something. It's something I'm not proud of. Let's just leave that over there, behind the car, behind the corner. Put it out of the way. Hopefully nobody sees it. Is that how we should feel about the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? No! And yet we're chickens. We love to eat chicken, but we ought not be chickens. All right. Y'all turn to Revelation. Looks like I'll have a little extra time. There's chicken waiting. It'll be there. I don't think I'll go long, but I want to look at Revelation chapter 1. And some might tell me they were scared to read the book of Revelation. There's too much scary stuff in there. Y'all ever fast forward to the end of the movie to see who wins? Is it as scary when you're going through the plot when you don't know what's going to happen? Sure, you can be on the edge of your seat. Is the hero going to make it? Most of the time they do. Well, let me go ahead and skip to the end. The hero wins. All right? Jesus Christ wins. All that He purchased are His and will be with Him. And He gave you this book. It's for your good. Will you understand it all? Probably not. There were some really smart fellows back in the day who really understood the Old Testament, all the prophecies, And when somebody came and fulfilled all those prophecies, they looked at him and said, not you. You don't fit into what we expected. We had it so figured out. It ain't you. And boy, were they wrong. So approach it with humility. Recognize we won't get it all, but it's still good. Be grateful for the nuggets. Be grateful for the gleanings. And do you know how you unpack this last book? Go read the first 65. It's a book of allusions. All right, kids, an allusion means it refers to something else. Well, there's a lot of allusions in Revelation that you won't understand unless you spent some serious time looking for these patterns in the first 65. All right, the revelation, the disclosure. Some information is being disclosed here. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him. God the Father gave a disclosure to Jesus Christ about Jesus Christ, the revelation of Jesus Christ, for what purpose? To show unto his servants who were his servants. That's us. All of his children throughout all of time, that's us. This is information for you. by God the Father, and given to the Son, to give to you, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass." Now, when you and I say shortly, depends on if you're a kid or a parent what that means. When you're a kid, shortly means almost instantly, right? When you're a parent in the middle of cooking dinner, washing clothes, trying to get things taken care of, and that kid needs your attention right then, for something that's really not an emergency, and you say, I'll be with you shortly. In their perception, they might not feel so short. And in our reality, it may be quite a while before we get around to it. But we intend on following through. If you're talking to your grandpa out in the yard, I'll be with you shortly. You coming on in for, I'll be in shortly. Well, shortly has A little bit different feeling depending on your perspective. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. Do I believe that the Lord is going to come back shortly? Yes, I do. All right. It's closer now than when you first believed. We're getting closer. All right. these things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel." So God the Father gave it to the Son, who sent his angel to signify it unto his servant, John. Sometimes when we play P.B. phone tag, we mess up the message. This one's not messed up, all right? Came from the Father, gave to the Son, given to the angel, given to John, who has written it down, and now it is here for you and preserved by God so that you get to read it. What a pleasure. John, his servant John, this is the Apostle John, obviously not John the Baptist. He's been slightly beheaded way before this. John the Apostle, who was able to live, church history says a pretty long time. And in fact Peter got a little grief when he was told the manner in which he was going to die. He said, well what about this one? What about John? And Jesus rebuked him and said, if he lingered until I come, what is that to thee? And then there was a rumor that went out that said, John's not going to die. This is how John had to wrap up his gospel. He said, he didn't say I wasn't going to die. He just said if he lingered until he come, what's that to thee? So this is that John, the Apostle John, the one who Jesus loved. That's how John would refer to himself. The Apostle, the one, the disciple, the one who Jesus loved. Can you say that this morning? Yes, you can. All right. Jesus loves you. Be reminded of that. If you don't get anything else from anything I'm going to say, remember that Jesus loves you, the one who Jesus loves. All right. How much did he love you? All the way. All right. Sometimes we get a little stingy with our love, and folks don't quite do exactly what we want. We catch a drawback, withhold a little love, use it as a little punishment, right? God committed His love to us when we were yet sinners, and loved you in spite of you, and He continued to love you all the way to the cross and cleaned you up and made you pure and holy. Praise God, He loves you. unto his servant John, who bare record of the Word of God. Who is the Word of God? That's Jesus. How does John start his gospel? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I had somebody comment on one of my little YouTube videos, been trying to put out our sermons and sometimes put little sermon snippets out there. And somebody told me, you need to stop putting out false information. Jesus was not the Son of God. I don't normally respond to comments. That one I responded to. Yes, He is. And He is God. and this individual would acknowledge that Jesus was a great prophet sent by God. I said, okay, if you acknowledge that, let's look at some quotes from what he said. A prophet should be reliable, right? Won't get into all that, but that's fun, right? Jesus did say that he was God, and he is God, and he claimed it in multiple ways and multiple times, and it's gonna be pretty evident here in Revelation. So this is John who bear record of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. He was there with him. This is an eyewitness who saw him, who handled him, who laid his head upon his breast, who's able to hug him. Don't y'all look forward to hugging Jesus? That's going to be a good day. This one is who was given this message from the Father to the Son to the Angel to John. This one who'd already borne record of so much about what he'd seen is now able to see a little bit more. Had this vision, what he was able to see. Who bare record of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all the things that he saw. Everything he'd seen up and he'd done, he had. He'd borne testimony publicly and in his gospel and in his epistles. all the things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth. I think in the simplest form, blessed means happy. What? He that readeth. That's you. Are we reading it this morning? Yes. Congratulations. We're happy. This is good news. 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. Is this relevant to you? Yeah, it is. There's something to keep, there's something to guard, there's something to hold on to. For the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Geography lesson, we're really talking about modern day Turkey. Asia Minor and the Roman Empire. We're not talking about the whole big old continent of Asia there. Around Ephesus, which is where the first place the Apostle Paul as an apostle was able to come and spend some time and teach. He tried to go there earlier and the Holy Spirit said, That's not the way you're supposed to go. He tried to go a little farther north. Nope, that's not the way you're supposed to go. That's when he had to go over to Troas and kind of wait, and the Lord sent him a vision and said, hey, come over to Macedonia. This man in Macedonian garb, we need some help over here. He had that idea. I mean, very little information, but he finally knew where he was supposed to go, and that's when he went over into Greece and spent time up in Philippi. Thessalonica and Corinth. Later down the road, he gets to Asia and gets to stay in Ephesus, and that's where he's going to teach for about three years. And so after that time, there have now been more churches developed within these other cities there in Asia. So there's now seven. Under the seven churches which are in Asia, grace unto you and peace. If you read Paul's writing, he frequently would start his letters with that, wishing grace and peace. And he'd almost always say from the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's see who we're wishing grace and peace from here. Grace be unto you and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come. All right. Grammarians, English lesson, right? Talking about past, present, and future. Who occupies all those? God, God the Father, the great I am. How did God identify himself to Moses? The I am, the Jehovah God, the eternal God, which was and which is and is to come. There's no beginning with God, there's no end with God. God the Father. All right, and from the seven spirits, which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ. Well, if we've got God the Father, we've got Jesus Christ. We wanna take a gander on who the seven spirits is representing there? The Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, right? God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and here and from Jesus Christ. who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead. Jesus is going to have the preeminence in all things. He's got the highest rank in all things. And in both priority and in rank and in time, He is the first to rise from the dead, never to return. And He's the firstfruits. You know the firstfruits are the ones you gather first in the harvest. You know what comes after that? The rest of the harvest! All right, you got a whole field full of corn. You take one here. All right, there's your first fruit. What remains? Everything else. And guess what? That's really good for us. Where are the rest of the harvest? The fields are wide under harvest. That's the people. That's his children, the elect, the selected. He chose them. They will be with him, the first forgotten of the dead. You will be raised again. The resurrection is real. bodily resurrection is real, right? In Jesus' day, there were folks who didn't believe there was any resurrection. After His resurrection, they really had a problem with their doctrine. We've got to suppress this thing. And there are those who later who would teach people, well, the resurrection has already passed. And they've been monkeying this up for years, right? But the resurrection is real. There will be a bodily resurrection. Just like we are sinners, we still sin, this body is going to die, all right? Unless that shortly is real shortly. These bodies are going to die. Our spirit will be with the Lord, but one day when He returns, there will be a great notable climax of all human history of the like of which you cannot compare it to anything, because there's nothing to compare it to, that's going to come. Because of this one, because of Jesus, because of the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Now, don't get your poker hands out of order. Well, princes are lower than kings. No, no, no, no, no. He is the highest outranking authority of anybody you can ever see or ever has seen on this planet. All right? There are powers. There are authorities. There are government, civil, right? They exist. But the one that you serve and the one who sent this letter to you that you should read and you'll be happy if you do, he outranks them all. And that's who you work for. Isn't that good news? You ever had a really sorry boss? You ever have to report to a much better boss? That's the one you report to. You report to the best boss, and he's giving you his instructions. All right? And in many ways, we will still submit to those sorrier bosses for his sake, unless they directly contradict him and then, nope, sorry. Do what you will, I report to the best. The prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us. Oh, did he love us? How do we know? Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. I had never noticed that word from. washed us from our sins. He has separated us from our sins. What strong cleansing agent did He use? You got the bleach? Thorax? Windex? No, that's strong enough, right? That couldn't take off a single sin. But paradoxically, the red blood of the Son of God, the one who had no sin to His name, to His charge, and yet had lived a life amongst us, experiencing all the temptations that we did, and yet without sin, voluntarily took all of your sins upon Him, and by His blood being poured out, He washed you and separated you from your sins. Does He love you? Yes, He does. Yes, he does. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us, not will make us, made us, that's intense, made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. Have you been changed? Yeah. You have been taken as a nasty slave of the dunghill and you have been bought, cleaned up, and brought in to the royal family. Y'all aren't impressed with that. This is reality. And yet, how often do we get bent out of shape because something didn't go how we wanted it to? One flat tire and we're just bent out of shape, or losing a job, or things aren't going the way I'm supposed to go. Regardless of what you're going through right now, and I'm not minimizing pain and sorrow and grief and discomfort. That's a reality of this sin-cursed, broken world. That's the reality of these sin-cursed and broken bodies. You want to know what makes heaven so great and grandiose? One, that Jesus is there. That's the biggest thing. But all of these other features of sorrow and pain and loss, they expire. they go away. It's like bad milk that has been poured out and it's gone. Unto him that loved us, washed us from our own sins in his own blood. Yeah, enough of possession of that. Our own sins, his own blood. What did you bring to the table? Just the sins. What did he bring to the table? Everything. everything, and made us kings and priests unto God." A priest is one who serves to God. Under the Levitical law, who had the right to be a priest? You were the son of what dude? Levi. Yeah, you've got to be son of Aaron. If you're broader than Levi, you could at least help around, you know, kind of be doing the deaconly things and do some chores. But everyone else, you didn't have the right. He has made you a priest. You get to serve Him directly, minister to Him directly. What sacrifice can you offer? Well, your body is a reasonable sacrifice, right? How you govern your life, your Thanksgiving, right? Your prayers, your time, energy, love, affection. You get to be a minister, a priest unto God the Father. He's given you that access, that privilege. by the work of His Son. He's made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him, right? Unto Him. We're talking about Jesus. We're clarifying exactly which one we're talking about. The one that loved us, the one that washed us, the one that just made us kings and priests, to Him be glory and dominion. rule, reign, power, whatever grandeur, glory that is out there that's bigger than this universe, it's all His. And all the rule, all the power, all the authority is His. He has a name that is higher than every other name. And guess what? We don't hold it up high enough. Can I actually give Him any more glory than He has? No, I can't. I don't have that ability. I can't raise Him up any higher than God has raised Him up. I don't. But you know what I can do? I can acknowledge, try to, how high He is. So start lifting your chin to worship Jesus because He's higher. He's higher. He's all glory and dominion. This is an acknowledgement that it's His and not mine and not yours or not anybody else's. It's His. Amen. So let it be. Behold. That means look. There's something to see here. Pay attention. Wake up. Open up the cabinet, jump around. Behold! He cometh. You have a whole message right there. He cometh. Are you living in the reality that he's coming? You should. That'll affect how you see things. Behold, he cometh with clouds. That sounds like kind of a public thing. He's coming with the clouds. An angel told, you know, the apostles there as they had seen Him ascend up. They said, yo, men of Galilee, what you doing? He descended up. He's going to come back in the same way. He went up until the clouds were seen. He's coming back with the clouds. And every eye shall see Him. You wrap your head around how the Lord's going to work that out. I don't know, but I believe it. It's going to be a hidden secret thing. And if you don't catch the right tabloid at the grocery store, you remember that? Oh, if you just go over here at this date, it's all this garbage. He's coming with the clouds. And every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. For God's children, this is going to be an awesome day. There's the other side of the reality. Those that hated him before, denied him, rejected that he is the Christ, that wailing involves just a beating on the breast with a, I was wrong. This is not good. Because God's gonna be glorified. Both on the vessels of mercy that he prepared for mercy and on the vessels of wrath. He will be demonstrating His righteous judgment against sin. And the ones who have always hated Him will hate Him right up in that moment. And His children, us, will be able to see probably more clearly than we've ever seen the depth of our sins. Because you can't even dive to the bottom of the ocean, right? The weight of that would crush you. Think about that as your sin. The farther you go down, the weight of that would just absolutely crush you. If you could understand how much you have offended the righteous God of this universe. And He's not only plucked you out of that depth, He has put you on the mountaintop of His perfect righteousness. And you can see the free measure of His grace that He's bestowed upon you. May we see that more. All the kindred of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, even though there's going to be wailing, even so, He's coming. Amen. So let it be. You got your red letter edition. Verse 8 will be in red. It says, I am Alpha and Omega. All you Greek scholars out there, you know that's the first and the last letter in the Greek alphabet. He was speaking in English. I am A and I am Z, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord. Who is the Lord? I'll be the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who this disclosure, this revelation is about, the one that's been given to John to reveal this to his servants, right? I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come. Now earlier, as we're going through the Trinity and that grace and peace, who is that which is and was and is to come? God was the Father, right? And yet here, we have this truth speaking prophet at least. is boldly saying, I am the first, I am the last, the beginning of the end, which is, which was, which is to come. Jesus Christ is Jehovah. Jesus Christ is the eternal God. And then in case you missed it, comma, the almighty. Abraham and Isaac, you know, they were introduced, this is God Almighty, the power for God. And then when Moses was introduced, the way that he expressed himself in that moment was, I am the eternal God, the eternal Almighty God. Jesus Christ is God. He is the eternal God. He is the Almighty God. Not just a man, not just a prophet, Police don't ever say that he never claimed to be this. Go read his words. This is one whose head was upon his breast before he was going to be arrested and crucified the next day. This is a faithful eyewitness, and this is a revelation given by God. This is scripture that you can rest on. This is the authority that we have. It's not your opinion. It's not your logic. It's not your gut feeling. It's something far, far stronger. greater. This is the rock. This is the one that you need to learn and study for your good and for his glory. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Right? We're in that letter, right? He's right into the seven churches. Identify himself. I'm John, right? I'm your brother and companion in tribulation, right? Some of these churches, what are they experiencing right now? Well, if he's a companion with them, they're experiencing tribulation, right? John is in an island. He's banished there. Pat knows what he dared to do. He was declaring the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, right? That used to be a pretty big crime, right? Another reason to thank the Lord for as we're here today that I've never been arrested for preaching Jesus. I've never even been threatened for it. I may have some people roll their eyes or fall asleep, but I've never had anybody want to hurt me for preaching Jesus Christ. But if they did, should I shut up? No. So enjoy the blessings that we have. not mandatory, they're not required for us as Christians, right? We can be a companion with John in these churches and we can endure whatever the Lord puts before us so that we can continue to stand fast for the word. I, John, who am also your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and in the patience of Jesus Christ." Right? So there's living in the kingdom right now, the kingdom that's within us and how we're serving Him. And we're also waiting for revealing of a kingdom we don't have to see by faith, but one that we see by sight. That's the patience that we're in right now, right? You're called to be patient. Why? Because He's coming. And you're waiting for that. All right? That patience means that there is an aspect of your life that is involved with consciously waiting for his return. All right? Mom and Daddy go out for a date. And they give you instructions on things in the house that you're supposed to have done before they get home. They say they'll be home at 8. And you haven't done anything at 7.45. Are you waiting differently at 745 than you were when they first left? It's very much on your mind. Their return becomes more and more of a presence as you are thinking about, what do they want me to do? What am I focused on? How am I living my life in accordance with their instruction as the time is drawing nigh? Now, they gave you a particular time. Maybe you waited all the way. What if they said, we'll be back when we be back? Maybe we're a little bit more conscious than not knowing when we're going to hear that gravel, not knowing we're going to hear that trumpet, right? You get an opportunity to serve your Lord today. Tomorrow is not promised for any of you, young, old, everybody, all of us in between, wherever you want to count yourself. Today is the day that you've been given. Use it wisely. This is a blessing. This is a gift. I was in the isle called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He dared to speak of that Jesus, that one who was dead and is alive. And that's an offensive doctrine. The one who is the son of God, the one who is God, the one who is returning. That's why he had been thrown on this island. And he explains to them just a little bit. We won't go much farther. He says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Which day is the Lord's day? I'd say all of them are the Lord's day. Probably the first day of the week. But that's a good point. Which of your days do you give to the Lord? Which of your hours do you give to the Lord? Which of your minutes? I won't harp on you, you just think about it. It was on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. Went on YouTube, and I started listening to trumpet blasts. Just these guys doing scales just loud and long, and you can hear this reverberation, and you know that little, sorry, quality video doesn't do it justice. And this isn't a trumpet itself, this is the voice, the voice of the Son of God, a voice that has power and authority. And I would love to be able to read to you how John heard that. Use your imagination. This was for your benefit, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and said, what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. I heard all that behind his head. I'm on the Lord's day, and I'm in the Spirit, and whoosh. I am the Alpha and the Omega speaking behind me, and I turned to look. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. What did they look like? I don't know. Seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man. Similar under the son of man. Clothed with a garment down to the foot. All right, so down to his foot, you've got this garment. Gird around the paps with a golden girdle. All right, so around here in the chest area, you got a golden belt strap of some sort. His head and his hairs were white like wool. As white as snow. His eyes were as a flame of fire. His feet like undefined brass, as if they burned in a furnace. And there's some other allusions to that in some other books you can get a more detailed picture about. But just what little bit of his feet that you can see, that's down to the foot, look like fine brass burning in a furnace. His voice as the sound of many waters. And that's often used to describe the God Almighty's voice, right? He had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth were a sharp two-edged sword. And his countenance, his face, was as the sun shining in his strength. John is tasked, in the Holy Spirit's power, to write something that you can't put into words. But just use your imagination. Think about this, all right? Y'all ever see those pictures of Jesus on Facebook? Oh, they annoy me. That ain't our Lord! He is far grander than anything that we can capture or draw or render. And often, you know, it's just, it's just sorry. But how can you even look at Him in the face when His face is like the countenance of the sun and its strength? Hopefully, don't look at the sun, okay? It's not good for your eyes, right? Why? Because it's brighter than you can take in. This body isn't designed to be in that much glory and power. And here is one that's like unto the Son of Man. One that John had previously been able to lay his head upon his breast and hold and bend so close to you. And now when he sees him in this form, like unto the Son of Man, I saw him and I fell as dead at his feet. The glory. that your Lord has. It's far more than you give Him. Your pitiful imaginations of seeing Jesus in heaven, He is far greater, far greater than my imaginations. It's okay to use your imagination, but tailor it to Scripture. See what Scripture says and go there. Think about Him, of what He has revealed about Himself. This glorious image so that this one, that He was His friend, the one that Jesus loved in seeing Him in this form. Why do you think every knee is going to bow? It's this glory and wham, you've got to go down. He laid his right hand upon me. All right, now. He's standing there in glory, and John's now on the ground. He's laid his right hand upon me. The Lord condescends and humbles himself down to our level to comfort us. Right? Not that high priest that can't be touched, who doesn't care, who doesn't have feelings about what you're going through. He does. And he comes and meets you and comforts you himself. What a love. and says, fear not, fear not. You want to know a message throughout the Bible? Fear not. There's a lot of things that we could fear. And apart from God, there's terrible things to fear. But because of him, and he's the one who can really say this and say it honestly, fear not. Why? I am the first and the last. That's why you have to fear. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore." Right? He existed before he came, born of a virgin. He lived and was dead when he died as a man. And behold, I am alive forevermore. That's who you serve. Amen. So let it be. And when he says amen, it will be. That's like a verily, verily. True. It is true forevermore. And I and have the keys of hell and of death. He outranks death and hell. And it's the end when he returns that he will reveal to all that he is over death and hell. And death and hell itself will be cast into a lake of fire and put away. He's in charge. And then he is going to give some additional instructions. I won't be here this Sunday, but I'll be back in two Sundays. On the way back from Lexington, we'll keep going.