For our message this morning, I ask you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 1. If you're new to us visiting, we are returning to an exposition of the book of Revelation that we started some time ago. We've done a little bit of review, and now we return and pick up where we left off some time ago, and the timing of of this text and this message is certainly of the Lord. In His providence, He leads and directs us. I could never have planned the timing at all. It's an utter impossibility to plan the perfect timing of what we have before us today. And so we once again experience the blessing of the leading of God and the way that His Holy Spirit works in unfathomable ways to bring together exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. And today is a perfect mark of that, and I'm grateful for it. Revelation 1, beginning in verse 9, we read this, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Now, it had been my intent up until the end of the week to go much further in the text than what we're going to go today, but there was an intervening event that took place that made it necessary for me to slow down and to be able to bring out some of the important implications of the simple words that we just read in these three verses. This past Thursday, The Catholic Church installed a new Pope. Robert Francis Prevost is now Pope Leo XIV. And it is a stunning, remarkable providence that today's text from Revelation 1 follows that news because it's going to allow us to do this. It's going to allow us to compare the true apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, as represented in the spirit of what we just read in the Bible, with the modern Roman Catholic institution of the papacy of the Pope. To make this something that we can fit in the confines of an hour-long message, give or take, I can't say everything that there is to say about the papacy, the institution of the papacy. I don't have a whole lot to say about Robert Francis, Provost. But I had asked you to review, especially if you've never heard it before, my message from 2017 titled, The Bible and the Pope, where I made a thorough evaluation of the papacy, and we examined Scripture and found that the The foundation of the entire institution of the Pope is fraudulent, unbiblical, and therefore in keeping with the demonic realm that we read about in Ephesians chapter 6, earlier in this service, I gave several reasons why Peter was not the first Pope, And I'm not going to take the time to rehearse all of that today. But it is essential for you to understand, especially at a time like this where we have been inundated with positive coverage of of the Catholic Church, it is essential for you to come back to these things and to be able to rehearse them in your mind and to understand the difference between biblical leadership and the biblical office of a true apostle and the false, fake office of the pope. Let me just read a couple of texts from Scripture that were really addressed at the Jewish scribes of the time of the Gospels, but apply equally to the modern institution of the papacy. as you think about the elaborate garments that they wear, the long flowing robes, the pointy hat with all kinds of exquisite thread woven into the hat that they wear. In Matthew chapter 3, Jesus warned against the contemporary scribes And he said this to the crowds and to his disciples in verse two, Matthew 23, verse two. He said, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do, for they preach, but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. Jesus goes on to say in verse 9, in direct contradiction and rebuke of the practice that Catholics have of calling the Pope their holy father, Jesus said in verse 9, "'And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father who is in heaven.'" That's from Matthew 23. Then you go to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 20, and in verses 46 and 47, we read this. Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts. who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers, they will receive the greater condemnation. There's so much bubbling in my heart that I want to say here today. I'll try to keep it all on track as best as I can. Our text this morning makes a striking contrast between the true apostles, the original and final 12 apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Pope. Now Catholics make grandiose claims for the Pope. They have an incredible system of pretensions that they have built up over centuries regarding the Pope. And what we want to do today is we want to take a quick look at the things and the claims that they make about the Pope and contrast it with the true apostles, because we will find that the true apostles conducted themselves and referred to themselves in a completely contradictory and opposite manner to what the Pope does today. And it's not just Pope Leo XIV. Robert Francis Prevost, as he was formerly known, it's not just him, but it's the entire Catholic institution and what they have done with and what they say about the papacy. Beloved, you can listen to all of the modern day reporting by secular news outlets, and they're not going to get into the kinds of things that I'm going to show you today, because to do so would undermine and contradict the great celebration in the minds of unsuspecting and undiscerning people. So, you know, you see, it's just so sad to me. to see the pictures from the balcony of the Vatican, and they introduce the new pope, and you just see hundreds of thousands of people laid out before him, standing before him, and embracing this like it was some great gift from God. It's not. It's not. He is an emissary of Satan. And I want to make that very plain to you here today. So we're going to make a contrast today between the false messenger to the church and the true messenger to the church. The false messenger and the true messenger. And what we're going to do this morning is that I'm just going to walk you through official, sanctioned teaching of the Catholic church about the Pope, about the office of the papacy, so that you can see clearly and exactly what they say and the claims that they make for this man in the robe, and then we'll compare it with the true apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. So point number one, the false messenger to the church, by which I refer to the Pope, who definitely, if you want to locate the spirit of the Antichrist, you can find it in the Catholic papacy. Just go to Italy, go to the Vatican, and you'll see one of the thrones of the modern-day Antichrist. Now, Remember I told you in Ephesians 6, I pointed out, you're supposed to speak boldly. This is a time in which in this little pivot point, this hinge that we're providentially at, it's not the time for timid people to speak, it's the time to speak the truth. It's always time to speak the truth, but especially now. And so what does the Catholic Church teach about the Pope? Don't be misled, don't be misled by the ceremonial language that is spoken from the balcony on the first day. The Pope stands on the foundation of Catholic teaching, and he embodies and represents the teaching that they have developed and conjured up over many centuries. And it is taught specifically and clearly by the Catholic Church what they say and what they mean by all of this. Periodically you go through times where people wonder if it's possible for a union to take place between Protestants and Catholicism. Absolutely impossible. These things cannot be reconciled because they are completely different religions with completely different authorities, completely different sacrifices, completely different way of reconciliation to God, completely different view of men, completely different view of Mary. who is essential to their worship. Pope Francis committed his soul to Mary in his last will and testament, and Pope Leo XIV—I just want to get something out of the way here, a little bit of a tangent here, all right? This is just a little tangent to excuse any slip of the tongue that I might make later in the message. It is very difficult for me not to want to refer to this new Pope who was known, who was born into the world as Robert Francis Prevost. I really, really want to just call him Pope Bob I. I really do. I don't like joining in the pretension just by recognizing the name that he took upon himself. So if I accidentally refer to him as Pope Bob, you'll understand that I'm trying to avoid that for the sake of a sense of decorum in what I have to say here today. But it's not simply about an individual pope. It's about what the Catholic Church presents him as and the claims that they make for him. You can look these things up. I have exquisite documentation in my notes here today for the things that I'm saying. I am quoting directly from official Catholic sources, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and from the documents of the First Vatican Council that was held in 1870. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in its own statement presented by Pope John Paul II, says that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine. So I feel like, and I don't just feel this way, it is absolutely true, that we are justified in going to their catechism and say, what do you say about the Pope in order to get a true and accurate picture of what they actually believe about the man on the balcony with the pointy hat? What does the catechism of the Catholic Church say about the Pope? Well, in paragraph 936, we read this. This is Catholic teaching, which we do not accept or promulgate, but we are quoting it in order to refute it in accordance with the responsibilities an elder has in Titus chapter 1. The Catholics say this, the Lord made St. Peter the visible foundation of his church. He entrusted the keys of the church to him. The bishop of the Church of Rome, successor to St. Peter, is head of the College of Bishops, the vicar of Christ, and pastor of the universal church on earth. They claim that he's the pastor for the entire church throughout the world. And they go on to say, in paragraph 882 of the Catechism, that the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered, end quote. That's paragraph 882 of the official Catholic Catechism, 2nd edition, put out by Pope John Paul II. Listen to that, beloved, a power which he can always exercise unhindered. They give the Pope utter omnipotence over the vast fortunes of the Catholic Church, over the souls of 1.25 billion Catholics throughout the earth. He has full, supreme, and universal power over all of them. Now, those statements from the Catechism are explaining the implications of the declarations of doctrine that they made at the First Vatican Council in 1870. Listen to these brief quotations that I'll make. There's a very serious reason why we are going through these things today. In fact, let me just pause to mention those. Why am I taking the time on this? It's not just because it's so recent in the news. It's not just because it fits in perfectly with our text today. There are many reasons that are fundamental to the reason that Truth Community Church exists as an institution to teach the Word of God in this particular region in which the Lord has raised us up. Cincinnati is a region with a long history of Catholic influence. We owe it to our community, whether they're listening to us or not, to tell the truth about these things. Not only that, closer to my heart, Our church has a number of former Roman Catholics whom the Lord has saved out of darkness and brought them out of darkness and into light, out of the kingdom of Satan and into the marvelous light in Christ. And, beloved, some of these dear people face rejection or at least hostility from their families over the stands that they have taken, or it's created a rift in family relationships. Beloved, on a horizontal human level, I owe it to them to say these things. If you've never experienced the reality of standing alone in a family, standing alone for Christ when everyone you've ever known and loved is now opposing you and resisting you, you need the truth alongside you to help. And it's a privilege for me as a pastor to stand alongside so many former Roman Catholics now converted to Christ and say the things that they know are true in their heart, but perhaps don't have the opportunity or the platform to be able to speak them in the way that I can speak them here this morning. And so there are multiple, multiple reasons why we are doing this. I'm not simply looking to pick a fight. I'm not looking to pick a fight, I'm looking to defend the truth, and the papacy is opposed to the truth. So, the first Vatican Council in 1870, chapter 2 is titled, On the Perpetuity of the Primacy of Blessed Peter in the Roman Pontiffs. on the perpetuity of the primacy of blessed Peter and the Roman Pontiffs. I mean, they can't even make a chapter title without being pretentious in what they say. But then you get to the things that they assert, and you see the pretension is real and deep. They say this, whoever succeeds to Peter in this C, in this office of the papacy, he does by the institution of Christ himself obtain the primacy of Peter over the whole church. And then it goes on to say, If then any should deny that the Roman pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy, let him be anathema." They pronounce a curse on anyone who does not immediately, fully, and unconditionally submit to the assertions that they make about the Pope. Chapter 3. from the First Vatican Council on the power and nature of the primacy of the Roman pontiff. I mean, it sickens me to quote it, but I quote it only to refute it. It says this, chapter 3, all the faithful of Christ must believe that the Roman pontiff possesses the primacy over the whole world. and that the Roman pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, head of the whole church and father and teacher of all Christians, listen to that, father and teacher of all Christians, and that full power was given to him in blessed Peter to rule, feed and govern the universal church by Jesus Christ our Lord. Beloved, I know that's a lot to take in, so let me just summarize it for you in terms of what you've just heard from official Catholic documents. This is not me representing it, paraphrasing it, summarizing it, putting my spin on it. These are direct quotes from their sources that I have given to you. The Catholic Church teaches, says, and enforces that the Pope has primacy over the whole world, is head of the church, father and teacher of all Christians, and has full power to govern the church of Jesus Christ. Now, let me make a really practical point here as you interact with nominal Catholics and more serious Catholics and all of that. And you must understand this because this is the cause of so much confusion among Protestant-speaking people who don't know these things and who do not take their doctrine seriously. This is what the church itself stands for. And an individual lapsed Catholic or an individual practicing Catholic does not speak on behalf of the church. You cannot say, well, I know my next door Catholic neighbor, she doesn't believe that. That's not what Catholics believe. I know it for sure because my Catholic neighbor told me. or my Catholic grandma said that that's not what she believes, or my Catholic aunt, my Catholic mom, that's not what they believe. That's ridiculous to reason on that level and to realize you have to ask, who is authorized to speak on behalf of the church? Are individual Catholics allowed to contradict the doctrine of the church? I get that they do it, but the fact that they contradict the doctrine of the church doesn't change the doctrine of the church. It just says that they're an inconsistent Catholic. Catholics are dead serious. The Catholic institution is dead serious about these claims that they make. You say, how do you know that? How do you know that they're serious? How do we know that this just isn't highfalutin language that really has no meaning to them? Well, listen to what they say. 1st Vatican Council, chapter 3. on the primacy of the Roman pontiff. This is the teaching of Catholic truth from which no one can deviate without loss of faith and of salvation. They say if you disagree with what we have taught here about the Pope, you have no faith, you have no salvation, you cannot be saved unless you believe this. And so it's not just a matter of what you say. They're saying this must control and dominate your conscience. And if it doesn't, you're going to hell. The Catholic Church teaches that you must completely accept their teaching about the Pope or you will go to hell. Listen to the First Vatican Council again. They say, this C, S-E-E, like you see with your eyes, this C, this office of Holy Peter, remains ever free from all blemish of error. It goes on to say, we teach that the Roman pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, and he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal church, he is possessed of infallibility. The pope cannot err, they say, when he speaks and promulgates official Catholic doctrine." Let's back up. Catch our breath a little bit here, because this is all pretty intense. You know why it's intense? It's not because I'm an intense preacher. I may be, but that's not why this subject is intense. This subject is intense because of what is at stake, and the fact that there is a great conflict on these very specific points, a great conflict between the truth of God's Word, the truth of the Holy Spirit, the truth of Jesus Christ, the authority of Scripture, on the one hand, and on the other hand, these fantabulous claims that the Catholic Church has made up and developed and practices extortion on the Catholic faithful over the course of time. There's a conflict between that. This is nothing less than a conflict between the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Satan that is taking place here because we're dealing with the question of who has authority to speak for Christ, who speaks on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Catholic Church says that the one who holds the office in Rome, now Pope Leo XIV, their official teaching is that he is infallible, incapable of error on, as he speaks, official things. He is never wrong. He has authority over everyone, not simply over within the church. I read it and emphasized it to you. He has primacy over the whole world, which is, you know, created a lot of conflict back in a few centuries ago. They can't set this forth and argue it as much now as they could when they had greater force behind them. You say, are they serious? I mean, come on, who believes that? Who believes that kind of, who believes this tripe? They're serious. They're completely serious. They go on to say, but if anyone presumed to contradict our definition, let him be anathema. So right now I am incurring their anathema by contradicting what they say. I ain't too worried about it. Catholics make staggering claims about the authority of the Pope. He is elevated over the entire world. He rules the church. He is endowed with infallibility. And if you disagree with that, the Catholic Church literally says you can go to hell. That's the false messenger of the church. What we want to do in the remainder of our time here this morning is to just compare this with a short passage of Scripture and see the implications of it and see the difference between a true apostle of Jesus Christ and this monstrosity that has been invented to perpetuate the rule and control over a vast segment of the world's population. So let's look at the true messenger to the churches, Revelation 1, verse 9. As we come now to our text, Revelation 1, verse 9. I'll get there in a moment. Let me just read our text this morning again. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." Beloved, let's just start by recognizing, as we come to point number two, the true messenger to the churches. Understand, and I'll take the opportunity to point these things out more over the next two or three messages, is that Revelation, the Apostle John is writing to real churches that existed in real time in the first century. And I want you to see this because it's really important to understanding the fullness of what we're saying. I know that when you talk about Revelation, and I've had many comments from people that initially were dreading the fact that I was going into Revelation because they thought I was going to get all hyped up about the mark of the beast and 666 and, you know, is the beast Jewish or Gentile? Understand that the real things about Revelation are about real churches in real time and real people seeking to walk in real life with the real and risen Lord. Look at chapter 1 verse 4. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia. And so you see the seven churches, and then in what we read in verse 11, this is just a little overview to get you kind of acquainted with the layout of the land here. In verse 11, we read, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches. It's building on what he said. You had a general reference to them at the very beginning of the book. Now, as you go down further, it gets more specific, and you can see that this is building up and that there is a message for these churches that existed there in the first century on the western side of modern-day Turkey. He says, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches. You can count along with me if you like to count. To Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Seven churches. The entire first chapter is laying the groundwork for what's going to be said to those seven churches. And as you look at Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, you see letters to each church, seven letters in those two chapters, seven letters to those seven churches in the exact same sequence as we saw them listed in verse 11. Chapter 2, verse 1, to the church in Ephesus. Verse 8, the church in Smyrna. Verse 12, the church in Pergamum. Verse 18, the church in Thyatira. Chapter 3, verse 1, the church in Sardis. Chapter 3, verse 7, the church in Philadelphia. Chapter 3, verse 14, the church in Laodicea. This is a very deliberate structure, and what you see in chapter one is laying the foundation for what the Lord is going to say to those seven churches in chapters two and three. And those seven churches are somewhat representative of churches throughout all the ages. They represent the different matters of error in doctrine, error in practice, difficulties in persecution and resistance and affirmation from the Lord that He gives to all of His people. One other thing here, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself in what I'm saying. I was going to talk about these things today, but needed to shorten it. What you see in the latter part of chapter one, verses 12 through 20, is you get this magnificent this glorious description of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's going on is before the Lord speaks to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, he gives a vision to John, a vision is given to John of the glory of his attributes, and that becomes the foundation of authority from which he speaks to the churches. So that's what's going on here. John is the messenger to whom the vision is given, and then he's to pass it along to these real churches in real time. And so John has a position of real authority here. He is the last living apostle by this point. The other 11 had been martyred by this time, and John is the last living apostle. And so, and he's going to truly speak on Christ's behalf, communicate the message of Christ to these various churches throughout the region. That's real authority, direct, true, commissioned by Christ authority. And beloved, listen to me. When you see John describing himself here in verse 9, you don't see him asserting himself as someone who is this person who holds full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church. I realize that they ascribe that to Peter, but John is an equal apostle to Peter. He's not coming in the regalia that's meant to make him look like a king here in what he says. Notice the contrast between what we saw the Catholic Church says about their Pope with the way that John self-describes himself in today's text. Look at verse 9. I, John, your brother, and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. He doesn't describe himself as one lofty and speaking down. He's not speaking down from some elevated balcony in the island of Patmos that looks over the sea and speaks to these churches. He speaks to them from a position of equality. spiritual relationship in the church when he uses that term brother. Brother. He puts himself on the same level as his readers. He claims no official status. He doesn't assert his apostleship. though he could have. He doesn't assert that as he writes this. He is satisfied to use a title that the apostles and elders shared with all Christians. I'm your brother. I mean, can you imagine the difference between having an audience with the Pope, so-called, kiss my ring, or bow down before me. Can you imagine being with the Apostle John, the Apostle of love? And as he says right here in verse 9, he holds his arms out open to them, says, my brothers, my sisters, and addresses from that perspective. Not from a grandiose assertion of primacy over the whole world, As the Pope does today, he comes to fellow believers in Christ and says, I've got something to tell you, and I speak to you as your brother. That's immediately endearing. It doesn't establish distance between the one having authority. It brings us into communion with one another. And communion is exactly the right word to use As you continue on in verse 9, look at it there. I, John, your brother, your brother, and partner in the tribulation. I'm your brother and partner. We're in this together. We share in this together. That word partner communicates a similar kind of equality. And mark this. Mark this, he was in exile on a rocky island. The Roman church had banished, not the Roman church, they would if he was here, but it was the Roman empire at the time that banished him to that remote island. Says there in verse nine, I'm a partner in the tribulation. I was on Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. John says, I share in, I'm a fellow partaker with you of the persecution that you're going through. He shares in the kingdom of Christ with them as an equal. He shares in the reality of endurance and perseverance with them. It is a completely, it is a completely unmistakable contrast between that biblical simplicity and the pretensions that we have to endure from the Catholic Church. He was just like Peter. By the way, connecting what I'm about to say here, I made the distinction, you know, I understand Catholics make up their line of descent from Peter. instead of to John, but understand that Peter himself spoke in exactly this kind of same way, with this exact same spirit of humility and restraint and common purpose. If you go back to 1 Peter 5, 1 Peter 5, verse 1, You read this as Peter speaks to the persecuted church that he was addressing. He says, so I exhort the elders among you as the supreme potentate of the universal church. I speak to you as one having universal authority. I am the one who holds the realm and the keys of death and Hades, and I assert my prerogative over all of you in what I am about to say." Is that what he says? Could you possibly squeeze anything? of the monstrosity that I explained to you earlier into these humble words that he says in chapter 5, verse 1. These are Peter's own words. He says, I exhort you as a fellow elder. and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. This is Peter, the apostle, saying, I exhort you and I want you to know the spirit in which I do it. I'm a fellow elder here. I'm a witness. I share in partaking of the glory that is going to be revealed with you." There is a spiritual equality between us and among us, he says as he speaks. And notice what he goes on to say. Beloved, if you take nothing else out of this message, and I hope you take out a whole lot more than what I'm about to say. Understand that the words of Peter himself directly refute the papacy. Directly refute it. He says in chapter 5, verse 2, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly," and here it is in verse 3, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. Not domineering, not, as the NASB puts it, not lording it over those, but sharing in it, doing it willingly, doing it eagerly, being examples to the flock. Can you possibly emulate the example of a pope with his robe and his pointed hat and asserting that you have authority over the whole world? That's no example anyone can follow. You know, even under their terms, no one holds that authority but him. What you need to see, beloved, Peter prohibits leaders from using a domineering spirit. He forbids it. He says, absolutely not, do not do it like that. Now, quoting the modern writer, Peter describes himself not as the supreme shepherd, but as your fellow elder. and forbids anyone from lording authority over other Christians. He identifies Christ as the cheap shepherd, not himself." Beloved, the humility that you see in Peter flatly contradicts Catholic pretensions for their Pope. You cannot reconcile the two. And notice also the circumstances that the Apostle John was writing. Go back to Revelation 1 now. And we could have talked about the Apostle Paul also, and I probably should have. You know, Paul makes a point of the fact that he didn't use the prerogatives that were given to him. You know, he had a right to take a wife. He had a right to earn his living from the gospel, but he says, I didn't do that. I wanted to hold myself out as an example to you. He speaks of fellow servants. He says, I'm not, you know, I'm the least of the apostles. I'm the chief of sinners. It's the way the Apostle Paul describes himself. And so you have the Apostle John saying, I'm your brother here and fellow partaker. You have Peter saying, don't domineer over the flock. I'm a fellow elder. You have the Apostle Paul. You know why all the apostles talk that way? It's because that is the spirit that Christ gave to them, communicated to them. It is the spirit of the true authority of a true messenger to the church. And the reason that these examples from the apostle are so contrary to what you see in Catholic teaching about the Pope is because it is two separate things. They are not related to one another. They have no connection with one another. You say, but you could go and read what Pope Leo XIV said in his introductory comments. his first statements that he made, and it sounds nice and humble, what he says, but if he meant it, if he meant humble words to the faithful, if he was serious and that was the true conviction out of which he was speaking from his heart, he would have to repudiate everything that is essential to the office that he holds. Beloved, he's not going to do that. He will not repudiate this teaching. He takes the office knowing full well what Catholic teaching is about the office of the papacy. He takes it and accepts it and speaks from that position. And so however he might doctor up his words so it looks good on a soundbite on CNN, if there was a sincere humility, a sincere biblical spirit in him, he would do two things. He would repudiate all of the doctrine that I've quoted to you, and much more besides, and then he'd take his hat off, toss it in the dumpster, and take his place with humble Christians, true Christians, in the true church of God. Beloved, he will never do that. And it's because these two things are completely irreconcilable. They cannot be joined together. You can be a biblical Christian, you can be a true Christian, or you can be a Catholic, but you cannot have it both ways. Scripture forbids it. Now, Revelation 1, verse 9. I love the providence of God. It's amazing to me that this came up like it did today, to be able to say these things. Go on reading in verse 9 here. You know, when John wrote this, he was probably in his early 90s. He was in exile. He'd been banished. I alluded to that earlier. Let's look at the verse one more time in light of everything that we said. It gives you a new appreciation for what he's saying. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, You know what, just kind of keeping with some of the teaching on heaven that I did recently, being there, you know what's going to happen when, if you're a true Christian, you see the Apostle John, you know what the spirit of it's going to be when you see him? John will say, my brother, my sister. But you were an apostle. Yes, but we're all under the Lordship of Christ. We're all purchased by the same blood. We're partners together. He was on the island, verse 9, called Patmos, on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Patmos was a rocky, barren island that the Roman Empire used to banish prisoners. Many of them did hard labor in quarries and things like that and had very little provision. Very harsh circumstances, very harsh conditions under which they lived. John's writing as an apostle of Christ and in serving Christ in that tribulation and enduring that for the sake of the name. You know where he wasn't? You know what he didn't have as accommodations? He didn't have anything as accommodations that were anywhere in the universe like the Vatican Palace. John didn't speak from some balcony to an adoring masses. He was suffering for Christ. The island is about 70 miles across water from the city of Ephesus, where John had been pastoring the churches in that area before he was banished. And look at why he's there. Why is he suffering as a 90-year-old man? I mean, I know some people in their 90s Life gets pretty hard at that age. There's not a whole lot of strength left. You know that your days are behind you. And yet here he is, this faithful apostle, this faithful pastor of churches, and he's suffering. And why is he in that position, says verse 9. It's on account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. See, the Roman Empire had, you know, and it kind of fluctuated from time to time, but they had this pattern of worshiping their emperors as deities. And the emphasis on that, it wasn't so much that people actually took that so seriously, but it was a unifying factor in the kingdom. When there was a common identification of worship, then that promoted unity in the empire. And so for John and for Christians to come and start proclaiming a different Lord, and for Christians to refuse to say that Caesar is Lord, no, I can't say that, Jesus is Lord, from the perspective of the political reign of the time, R-E-I-G-N, The political authorities, the Roman authorities of the time, that was a threat to the empire. It was a threat to division and the unity that they wanted to have. They unified people around the religious spirit of the times. And that's why Christianity met such official resistance from Nero and others is because they wanted to squash it out and take away that threat. They didn't understand. And so they tried to extinguish true Christianity in order to preserve the overarching unity that they brought about through civic worship. And so John, being effective in what he does, they said, we can't have you here. You go away. You go to this island where you won't have any connection with anybody. They separated him out to try to silence his influence. As it turns out, they couldn't have failed more miserably. It was under those conditions that John received his vision and spoke forth the things that the Lord revealed to him. And here we are studying it 2,000 years later. Most of us would have a hard time identifying one or two Roman emperors All of us can find the Word of God that came through the Apostle John here. You see the prevailing sovereignty of God over the course of time. What does John say about it? I'm almost done here, believe it or not. Verse 10, John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. the Lord's Day, it was a Sunday when the Spirit of God came to him. And he was in the Spirit when he received this magnificent vision that we are going to study over the next two times that we're together in verses 12 through 20. And it's amazing. It's just remarkable what we're going to see, especially next Sunday. He had a vision where the Holy Spirit transported him out of the material world, and he saw a vision of Christ that expressed the attributes of Christ in verses 12 through 16, and we'll look at those in detail. What happened, what he's describing here, beloved, and we can't articulate every aspect and detail of it, because we don't know, But somehow the Holy Spirit lifted John beyond normal human apprehension and showed him things that he was to communicate to the people of God. Now, this was a repeated means of revelation from God to man. You see it in the Old Testament. Even in the New Testament, we read in Acts 10 that Peter fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened. There was something beyond human apprehension that he was experiencing. In 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul speaks about visions and revelations he had in which he was caught up in the third heaven and heard things that cannot be told. Somehow the Spirit gave a revelation, gave visions to John sometimes using symbols, often using allusions to the Old Testament. But these are things that were given for the benefit of the churches, the benefit of the people of God. And when you read in verse 10, look at it there. He said, I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. And he says, I gotta turn and see this. And what did the voice say to him? Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches. And I read the names of those churches earlier. Same churches that we see in the same order, same sequence in Revelation 2-3. And so this John, this Apostle John, beloved, who was a redeemed Christian just like us, a fellow partaker of the Spirit just like us, one chosen for a specific office for a specific time, but it did not puff him up in pride or cause him to call the Pat Moss Taylor, said, I need better threads than what I got here. After all, I'm a man of authority." No, nothing like that. The Spirit gave things to him, and in a spirit of humility, he communicates it to the churches, and it's recorded for us in the book that we now know as the Revelation. And what we're going to see on Tuesday, on next Sunday, that you really need to see and hear and be a part of, this is how our Lord chose to communicate what was necessary for the shepherding of His churches, to teach and instruct and rebuke and correct and affirm and encourage His people. He did not, our Lord did not, give a pope in that hour, he gave visions in which he himself speaks to the churches. What does Christ have to say to the churches? Beloved, you will not find it in the mouth of Pope Leo XIV. You will hear the voice of God in the text of Scripture that he's given to us. And so I invite you and encourage you to be with us as we continue in this glorious study to come. I invite you to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're here or if you're watching on video on some subsequent event, I invite you and I call you to come out of the Catholic Church. Come out from under that domineering system of Satan. and come in humble faith to the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ as your only hope of salvation, and you will find that He has brought you into a glorious spiritual kingdom with a freedom that you never knew before was even possible to exist. And as you grow in His Word, you'll find that death holds no fear, that there is no such thing as purgatory. There is no fear of God casting you aside. Jesus said in John 6, the one who comes to me, I'll never cast away. I invite you to the true risen Lord based on the authority of His written Word. Let's pray together. To God be the glory, great things He has done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, who yielded His life in atonement for sin. and opened the life gates that all might go in. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory. Great things He has done. Amen. Thanks for listening to Pastor Don Green from Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can find more Church information, Don's complete sermon library, and other helpful materials at thetruthpulpit.com. Teaching God's People. God's Word. This message is copyrighted by Don Green, all rights reserved.