It's a blessing to be here today. You know, people come to church meetings for a lot of different reasons. Some that can be applauded, and some that should make us all ashamed if we be numbered among those attending for those reasons. There's but one reason that we should come together as God's people. And that is to give glory and honor to that one name which is above every name. And to be reminded of what we are by nature. We need never forget that because we don't want to face that. We want to think of ourselves as being better than we are. As we sang that song a moment ago, self-righteous souls on works rely. And that's the way it is with people by nature. That's the way every one of us is. Nobody had to teach you to rely upon your own righteousness because you don't know of any other. You think you can do something to please God. You think you can do something to make God smile upon you, bless you. People are seeking the blessings of God every day, even those that don't really even believe in God. They're seeking the blessings of God nonetheless. The Lord blesses his people, not because they're worthy of blessing, but because he will bless them. And that's what grace is. Grace is God's mercy poured out on those that not only didn't deserve his grace, but those that did everything they could to go against him. But God commendeth his love toward us. And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. What a glorious truth that is. We're looking in the book of the Revelation. And Brother Ed asked me yesterday, how far were we gonna go in this book? And I told him, I don't know. You know, because every time I read it, I say, what in the world is going on here? But I do know what's going on here. I don't know what every little thing that's in here means, or what the significance of it is, but I know this, that it all points to Jesus Christ. And the triumph of Christ is seen from the beginning of the book to the end of it. And I'm not one to think I'm gonna go through here and word by word explain everything in it because I need somebody to explain it to me. But the Lord will give us what we need, I believe that. And I think that men make a great mistake when they think they can figure all these things out. Because I don't think, I think that, just like as someone read the scripture a while ago, I think, or maybe we sang a song or what, about he only hath immortality. dwelling in the light to which no man can approach. He's an inapproachable God. We can't understand everything there is to know about somebody who can't be even seen. Only way God can be seen is in Jesus Christ. And only then as he reveals himself unto men. You can't go to a school somewhere and learn about him. Oh, you can go and people can tell you what they know about him, but you still can't learn of him unless he teaches you himself who he is and applies those truths to your heart. And you know, that's why we want to declare his glory, because we know that it's in the declaration of his glory that he is magnified. And that's why we preach the gospel, is to glorify Jesus Christ. We don't preach the gospel to try to get folks saved. Now we would, you know, we desire to see men come to know the Lord. We desire to see men fall around and worship Him. But we come together and we preach the gospel in order that the name of Jesus Christ might be magnified in the earth. He sent us into the world and He said, you are the light of the world. And so he sent us and told us to declare his glory. And that's what we hope to do. So we're looking, we've been looking at several verses here and we're down to looking at verse nine. And this is where John begins to tell what he saw. Now, up until this time, he's just been acted upon. I mean, the Lord has set forth what this book is, and I want to read what the book is, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him. Now, that's a mouthful there. Every time I read that, I think, wow, you know, what in the world? The revelation which God gave to Jesus Christ, that's what it is. God gave it to him. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Jesus Christ. Who is God? The Lord Jesus said, if you've seen me, Philip, you've seen the Father. Jesus Christ is the revelation of God. Man can't know God apart from knowing Jesus Christ. Verse nine says, I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience, or endurance of Jesus Christ was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God, for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now we looked at that last week and talked a little bit about how John came to be on the isle of Patmos. And he wasn't there by choice, but he was kind of like Jonah. He was there by the Lord's choice. Now Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh, and the Lord was sending him to Nineveh, but the Lord chose to send Jonah to Nineveh in the belly of a great fish. Now how do we know that? Because the scripture says the Lord prepared a fish. There was a fish swimming in the ocean that was prepared. He had one goal in his life. That was the only reason he was swimming in the ocean, was so that the day would come when he would take Jonah to Nineveh, because Jonah wasn't going to Nineveh. He bought a ticket on the ship going the other way, but the Lord brought him. right where he told him he was going. Because when the Lord says that he's gonna do something, he does it. He's not playing games. And he's not trying to get people to do what he wants them to do. Now you'll hear a lot of preaching today that talks about how the Lord just trying to get you to do something. The Lord never trying to get you to do anything. He's doing what he's doing. And what a mercy and blessing it is when the Lord is pleased to work in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. You know, Jonah didn't know what the blessing was that the Lord had in store for him. Because the Lord wanted to teach Jonah who he was, see? And He taught him who he was. And that's the blessing of the Lord. When He blesses people, He teaches them who He is. And the way he does that, as he teaches them who he is, he teaches them who they are. And they become very concerned. When the Lord teaches a man what he is by nature, he'll get concerned. He won't blithely go through life, but he'll come to a place where he says, oh, woe is me. Lord, I need you. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? See, that's what happens when the Lord shows a man what he is by nature. And so John was in the Isle of Patmos because the Lord put him there. He used men, he used the wickedness of men to put John on the Isle of Patmos because John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos for preaching the gospel. The Lord uses wicked men. It doesn't make them less wicked. It just shows that God is able to do what he wants to do. And he'll do it in any fashion that he will because it was by wicked hands, the scripture says, that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and slain. It wasn't a bunch of good folks that did it. It was a bunch of wicked folks that did it. But it was ordained by Almighty God. And he will perform his will in the earth even as he sent one to betray him. What an awful thing that one of the Lord's own disciples would betray him. But yet the Lord ordered that to occur. He says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice. as of a trumpet. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Now what in the world does that mean? Well, you know, there's a couple of instances in the scripture where I believe that this, John, at four different times in this book of the Revelation, uses those same words. He said, I was in the Spirit. Now, the Lord said that David, in the Spirit, wrote these words in speaking about Jesus Christ. You know, men take things and they make them be what they want them to be. And you hear a lot of people talking about being in the spirit. And what you're talking about is they're just in some incoherent sort of a situation. Now, the Lord's able to do what he wants to do. He can do it whenever and however he is, but I can tell you this, that when John says he was in the spirit, he's not talking about some giddy experience that he had. He's talking about something that he was overwhelmed in. He had no explanation for it. Paul, I wrote a couple scriptures down here about this consideration, that a similar situation took place with the apostle Paul. Over in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, he says, is this not an everyday occurrence, what John's talking about? I doubt that you've ever been in the spirit, in the sense in which John's talking about it. Now, you may have, I don't know. You know, the Lord works with people however he wants to. And I never try to tell somebody, you know, what they've experienced. I've had people tell me experiences that I doubt took place the way they said it. But I can't say that those things didn't happen because I wasn't there. You know, that's totally between them and the Lord. But I know that most of the stuff that people talk about, about being in the Spirit, is probably not what John was talking about. Now over here, if I can get the page turned. Kinda stuck together, I got my brother Al, his pages stick together sometimes. I believe it is. Over in John, or in 2 Corinthians, Paul's letter to the Corinthians, He says, it's not expedient for me doubtless to glory, for I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body. I cannot tell. God knoweth such in one called up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth how that he was called up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." Now, I believe he's probably describing about the same situation that John's speaking about when he said, I was in the spirit. This was an operation of God upon him that was totally outside of his fleshly understanding. John saw things that he had no idea what they were. Isaiah had a similar situation. He said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. And he describes the very vision that John had later on in the book of the Lord, surrounded by these creatures that day and night, without ceasing, cry out, holy, holy, holy. is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Such things as that are outside the realm of human capability to understand. You can't comprehend something like that and neither can I. And a man's a fool to think that he can grasp that. Those descriptions are given to us that we might fall down on our face and say, oh God, Teach me of you, I know nothing. I'm a babe in understanding. How can we, like Job said, he said, I heard about you with the hearing of the ear. He said, I've been taught these things ever since I was, but Lord, he said, now I see you. And he said, I hate myself. And I repent in dust and ashes. See, that's what it is to be brought to such places as that. And this is not a common occurrence. But the Lord specifically brought John into this place. Now there's very few people, like I say, we have a few instances in the scripture, but I don't think what he's describing here is a common thing. You can't say, oh yeah, I know all about that. I've been in the spirit before. Well, have you? I mean, you know, what John sees here is beyond the realm of anything he could have ever imagined. And the Lord gave him the ability to explain it to some extent, but he didn't know what he was explaining. I mean, he just told you what he saw. See, that's all that we can do is tell people what we saw. I mean, what's been shown to us? We can't explain everything about it. Paul said that he saw things that it was unlawful, heard things that it was unlawful for a man to utter. Now, what in the world? I mean, he said, I can't even talk about it. And then you hear all these clowns running around here that write these books about they've been to heaven. And he sat down with the Lord. I had a fellow tell me one time that the Lord came and sat down on the end of the bed with him. And I told him if that had happened, his bed would have been burnt completely up. What'd John say when he saw him later on here? He said, I fell down at his feet as a dead man. Because you see, he was in the Spirit. Because the Lord brought him there. And so he said, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. Now that's an interesting terminology, the Lord's day. You know how many times the Lord's day appears in the scripture? One time, right here. And yet, we've got people that try to tell us that the Lord made the Sabbath in the law of Moses, gave it to the children of Israel, and then somewhere along the line, he changed it from the Sabbath day to the first day. Now dear brethren, I have studied the scripture, I've studied this subject. And I cannot find that in the scripture. I've been told it. People say it with great authority. Oh yeah, you know now, and they say, well you hear John's talking about, he's talking about Sunday, the Lord's day. Well, maybe. I do know this, and this is a true thing, that the early church met together on the first day of the week. They did. I mean, on numerous occasions, they gathered together on the first day of the week. That gives us grounds, at least, to say, well, you know, maybe we should meet on the first day of the week. But keep this in mind, that what We know about things such as the Sabbath being changed to the Lord's Day, and that's Sunday. It's stuff that's just in the minds of men. Now I'm not saying they're not smart men, I'm not saying they haven't studied the scripture, I'm not saying that, you know, maybe they're right, but you cannot deduce that from the scripture without a lot of gymnastics. saying, well, the Lord's day that John's speaking about here is Sunday. That may very well be. I do believe this, that the day which the church sets aside to meet is a special day. It's a day that's set apart. In other words, it's our, Like we read, the apostle wrote to the Hebrews, he said, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. We are to meet together. And the meeting together is not just an optional thing. It's not necessarily a convenient thing, but it is that which the Lord would have us to do. And we set it apart. You know, Monday through Friday, we set that apart for work, don't we? I mean, we don't just tell the boss at work, well, you know, we may come in on Monday. I don't know if we'll be there Monday or Tuesday, but we'll come in on Wednesday. Oh, you wouldn't have a job very long, would you? Because why? You've set those days apart for work. And that's just the way it is. When the church comes together, it's no different than that, in that respect. It's a day that's set apart for that. That's why we, it's important. It's not just frivolous. I'm not saying that, you know, we're not bound to that like the Lord put the binding of the law upon the nation of Israel. He gave us those things in order to teach us something. See, all the law is given to point us what? To Christ. The law's a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. And so when we think about the Lord's day, I don't know if John's specifically speaking about Sunday or not. He may have been, but there's no way to prove that in the scripture. There's nothing in the scripture that ever says Sunday is the Lord's Day. That's what men have called it, and that's fine with me. I don't have a problem with it. If you want to call it today the Lord's Day, that's fine. I did want to read a scripture that I think's important in discussing this. It is Romans 14. 4 says, Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up, for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. And he that regardeth not the day, regardeth it not unto the Lord. He does not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not, not to the Lord, he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Now, going back to this matter of is the Lord's day, and just for sake of continuity of thought among men, we'll refer to Sunday as the Lord's day. Okay? We must confess that there's no connection in the scripture between the Sabbath and the Lord's Day. I mean, it's just not there. Except as men would want it to be there. Now a lot of people that really are strict, what we call Sabbatarians, that is they regard that the day that the Lord set apart, the seventh day, they consider it as a day that can be found on the calendar. And it is a true thing that the seventh day, which is Saturday, was set apart as, to the Jews, as the Sabbath day. And it was sacred to them. In fact, the Lord, He said that if a man didn't observe the Sabbath, he was to be killed. Pretty strict. You know, and I never, I've known a lot of strict Sabbatarians. I never know of any of them that said we ought to kill somebody if they, if you're gonna go by the law, I mean, go by the law. The law brings out terrors. The Lord said of the Sabbath day, he said, the Lord did not make the man for the Sabbath, but he made the Sabbath for man. See, the Lord gave the Sabbath not to be a restriction upon men, but to be a blessing to them. And it's not the day, but it's what the day represents. Now I'm a firm believer in this, that the Sabbath of the children of God is Jesus Christ. In the book of Hebrews it says, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. Now what is that rest? Now, you know, bless him, he wrote a lot of good stuff, but A.W. Pink said that that means that there still remains a Sabbath. keeping for the people of God as a day. Now there does remain a rest, because that's what the word rest means is Sabbath, and there is a rest for the people of God, but it's not a day. It's not a day. It's a person. It's the Lord. He's the one in whom we rest. He's all of our rest. And so One thing that I have noticed about those who are strict Sabbatarians is that they can't be happy to keep the Sabbath. They can't be happy until you keep the Sabbath. See, they're not happy just to keep the Sabbath. They're only really happy when they have cajoled you into keeping the Sabbath. And then they feel, well, we've been vindicated, you know, that this is what we ought to do. I'm not opposed to anybody that wants to observe the Sabbath day. But I say this, if you're gonna observe the Sabbath day, observe the Sabbath day, which is the seventh day. That's when the Sabbath is. If you're gonna observe it, I'm not opposed to you observing it at all. I'm not opposed to anybody who believes that the Lord's day, as we call Sunday, is the Sabbath, as long as you regard it unto the Lord. As Paul said, regard it unto the Lord. If you esteem every day alike, that's okay, as long as you esteem it that way before the Lord. And if you don't, that's between you and the Lord. And so when he said, I don't know why that was such a thing in my mind, but I just have heard this all my life. And I've been, you know, I've had people that really have tried to take me to the woodshed over this business about the seventh day becoming the first day. And I'd believe it. I'd believe it tomorrow if I could find it in the scripture. I can't believe it because the Westminster Confession or the 1689 Baptist Confession says that. I know that it does say that. It says the Sabbath's been changed to the first day of the week. Never has. But I do know this. And I believe this is what the New Testament teaches, is that Christ is our Sabbath. There is a Sabbath-keeping for the people of God, and we've found him. And what a rest that is, see, dear brethren. I mean, what a blessing, what a coming apart from the world that is, to rest in Christ. esteeming that day, which is Christ above all others. What a glorious thing. Well, we're about to run out of time, but he says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. There's a lot of trumpets in the scripture. There is coming a day when the last trumpet is going to sound. A trumpet was used as an announcement. Now, when you heard the trumpet blow, that was something to listen for. In fact, I believe among the Jews, they still, in some of their worship meetings or whatever, they do what they call blowing the shofar, which is a ram's horn, and I think that's what it has reference to here, and they blow that trumpet. And it's a loud blast, and it's a signal that now's the time. And so, that's what this, John said, I heard it behind me, coming from behind me. The Lord would surround John with this announcement. Overwhelming. You know, when something's behind you, it makes you look back, doesn't it? I mean, it kind of startles you. I mean, if you see somebody blow a trumpet in front of you, it's one thing, but if somebody blows one behind you, you don't expect it. And the Lord is awakening John. and he's going to make John fix it to see something that he'd never seen in his life. So he knew the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture says he was a disciple whom the Lord loved. Evidently, he had a special relationship with the Lord that perhaps wasn't shared with any of the other disciples. He was leaning on the Lord's bosom, the scripture says, at the Last Supper. So he was close to the Lord. But just like this trumpet sounds was a startling thing when he sees the Lord as he is. See, he saw him when he walked among men, but he didn't see him as he is. He didn't know him as he is. See, he thought he did, just like Job. I mean, and a lot of people think they do until the Lord shows up. And when the Lord shows up, it's like when he showed up with Job. It's a startling thing. May the Lord teach us who he is. Teach us that we don't know him apart from him showing himself to us. Now the glorious thing is that he does. And he doesn't necessarily dramatically do that. Sometimes he speaks with a still, small voice, just like he did to the prophet. Remember he had the fire and wind and all those things? But then he spoke in a still, small voice. But it's still startling, nonetheless, because it's a departure. from where we're at. See, that's what the Lord does when he comes to a man, is he makes him realize that he needs something that he doesn't have. You can't just smoothly transition from being a man without Christ to a man who believes in Christ. It's not a smooth transition. It's a drastic change. It's what the Lord told Nicodemus. See, Nicodemus thought he could just kind of sit down and reason with the Lord. He came to him by night, and he said, Master, we know you're a great teacher. And he figured he'd sit down with him, and they'd have a conversation, and Nicodemus would ask him questions, and the Lord would tell him some things, and he'd say, you know, well, maybe I'm gonna believe in him. And the Lord never gave him a chance to ask a question. He said, Nicodemus, except man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Brethren, we must be born again. That's the only way that man will ever know the Lord, is if he's born again. You can't make yourself born again. I know there's a lot of people teach it. You know, you become born again by believing, no, they got it backwards. You have to be born again in order to believe. You're not born again by believing. There's nothing you can do to make yourself born again. Only the Spirit. The wind blows where it lifts, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but you cannot tell from whence it comes. So is everyone that's born of the Spirit of God. May the Lord give us such a thing. What a gift of God to be born into the kingdom of God. Somebody have a question or a comment? Wasn't he resurrected from the dead on Sunday? First day? Mm-hmm. And so in that respect, that's his day. Yeah, well that's what, right, that's how the term is commonly arrived at, is because this was the day that the Lord raised. And I've got no, again, I'm not against that idea. I mean, I think it's a wonderful thing, but we do know it was first day of the week. Where my problem is with those that are real strict about this day, is how do you know this is the day? I mean, you know, Wednesday might really be, if you, what I mean is, if you started, you know, counting the days, when is the day? In other words, the calendar's not always been the calendar. I mean, maybe they missed a day somewhere, you know? I don't know, I'm just saying. We can't get hung up on the day But I do think, I mean, you are right, it was the first day of the week, it says that plainly in the scripture. And that's, I believe, why the church began to meet on the first day of the week. Because, of course, we understand that those who were the early disciples, they were Jews, every one of them, and they still continued to observe the Sabbath. They continued to meet on the Sabbath day. In other words, they were in the synagogue. That's where Paul did much of his teaching was in the synagogue when they were gathered on the Sabbath day. But then the believers then met on the first day when they came together with just themselves. And that's the custom. I think it's a glorious thing. I mean, I'm glad that we have a day that we've set apart as a day appointed for us to meet. I'm glad of that. I'm not opposed to it in any way. But it's a blessing. It's not a restriction. It's not something we have to do. It's not something I'm holding over your head and saying, buddy, you better do it.