Behold I Come Quickly | Revelation 22 | Pastor William Hixson

ingly the lamb wins.

Now normally the dragon would have lamb

shish kebab

but in this case the dragon loses

and the lamb wins because the lamb is

the lord Jesus Christ. He wind he he

wins by dying

paying for your sin and mine defeating

Satan over us.

ending the battle between Satan and God

decisively.

So much so in Revelation 12 when the

devil's kicked out of heaven, he knows

his time is short.

He knows he can't win, but he has no

other alternative to fight.

There's just wonderful stuff here.

And so in verse 17, the spirit and the

bride say, "Come."

And let him that heareth say, "Come."

And let him that is a thirst come. Three

times come.

And whosoever will, let him take of the

water of life freely. That's a gospel

invitation.

That's a gospel confrontation.

For I testify to every man who hears the

words of the prophecy of this book, if

any man shall add unto these things, God

will add to him the plagues that are

written in this book. Don't want to do

that.

You don't want to add to the book of

Revelation. Make it something it's not.

You don't want to take away either.

You want to receive it as it's given.

And if any man take away the words of

this book, and that doesn't just mean

cut it out of the cannon or selectively

use it, it means misinterpret it as well

in the sense of a dramatic avoidance of

what it's really saying.

Now, none of us are totally clear on the

book of Revelation, but we got to be

honest with it.

And sometimes we got to put our

prejudices aside and let God speak to

us.

And I know there are good Christians,

different positions on this and I'm I

recognize that. But with but but

certainly there's there is some room for

that. But the uh but a total distortion

of what God's saying here and avoidance

is a bad thing to do.

So in verse 19, if any man will take

away from the words of the book of this

prophecy, God will take away his part

from the tree of life and out of the

holy city and from the things that are

written in this book. He who testifies

these things says, "Surely I come

quickly." That's the Lord Jesus.

Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. The

grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with

you all.

Father, help me to speak and each of us

to hear Jesus name. Amen.

As we conclude our studies,

I'm going to quote three three Christian

scholars

from different denominations

as they celebrate and even different

positions

on some of the details of this book,

celebrating the grander of it. And their

words are better than anything I could

say. So I want you to think about this.

The first is a Menanite scholar

who ministered in a seminary in

California. His his name is D. Edmund

Heert. Anything you get from him is

tremendous.

I think he's probably with the Lord now.

He was very active in the 60s.

And he said,

"The book of Revelation is the true

capstone of the Bible."

What's a capstone? That's the top stone.

The book of Revelation is the true

capstone of the Bible. It is the only

distinctively prophetic book in the New

Testament. Other New Testament books

contain various prophetic portions, but

none of them provides such a sustained

prophetic picture of the future as is

given in the concluding book of the

biblical canon.

Prophecy is important.

Some people think it's of no importance.

They're You think you're smarter than

God?

God knows that prophecy is important.

Even if you don't totally understand it,

we need to know God's God's got the

steering wheel till the last of history.

Prophecy is important and without it,

our Bible would be quite incomplete,

like a stirring story without an ending

or drama without a climax.

My wife and I have been watching a a

television detective show and it ended

in a kind of a down ending

and the fans hated it so bad they had to

put a good ending on it. They added one.

Well, that we got a good ending

in the Bible for God and his purposes

and his church.

And so it said he says without it our

Bible would be quite incomplete like a

stirring story without an ending or a

drama without its climax. It brings the

esqueological that's teaching of last

things. It brings the esqueological

expectations of the church to their

fitting conclusion. It supplies the

finishing touch of the whole panorama of

the biblical story. It is truly the book

of consumation.

That which is begun in the book of

Genesis is brought to its conclusion in

the book of revelation.

It is irreplaceable

for those who spiritually illuminated

eyes. The apocalypse and that's the

other name for revelation

is one of the most precious and

extraordinary writings in the world.

Now I believe that. I hope you believe

and it's good to know the good guys win

and that's the white hats win right in

the westerns not the black hats get the

clue all along who's going to be the at

least the old western I'm talking about

the 30s and 40s big guy always wor white

so thank you de edund he

and I hope as we come to this section

that we will think about this capstone

and how glorious it is and how helpful.

James Gisham man takes a completely

different view on revelation than I do.

He was a Greek he taught Greek at

Princeton Seminary and was the founder

of Westminster Seminary after Princeton

Christ and burned

uh in apostasy.

But Dedman Heert wrote this in his

introduction to the New Testament. The

apocalypse according to any right

interpretation is a vision of final

triumph.

That triumph is a triumph of Christ.

Behind all the lurid imagery of the

book, behind the battles and the woes

and behind the glories of God's people

stands the figure of the Savior. If you

interpret Revelation and you're not

looking at Jesus, you're looking in the

wrong place. You want to I want to know

what the sixth seal was. I want to know

what the seventh trumpet is. You get it

all distracted and all that stuff. It's

a revelation of Jesus Christ.

It helps us to see him

in a way we need to see him.

And man understood that with him the

book began and with him too it ends. He

is the same who lived the life of mercy

and glory on earth. The same who died

for our sins on the cross. To the lamb

all power is given. All power in heaven

and on earth. By him all enemies are

conquered. By him the whole earth will

be judged. To those who bear the mark of

the beast. He's the avenger. And to the

church he is the everliving savior.

Thank you Dr. Machan. That was great.

So, we've seen a Menanite and a

Presbyterian.

Now, we'll look at a Baptist.

This is William Graham Scroggy, a

tremendous Bible scholar in Britain, a

Baptist Bible scholar.

And he talks about the values

of the book of Revelation.

And he has three great statements about

it. Number one, it's the unveiling of

the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an unveiling

of the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to

know Jesus better, you love Jesus, you

want to know more about him, study the

book of Revelation. Don't get occupied

about the Antichrist or the false

prophet or the two witnesses or the

Pet. It's a book of who Jesus is.

Fact, the whole Bible's about Jesus,

right?

If you get in the weeds about other

stuff, you're not reading the Bible

properly. The volume, the book, it's

written to be to do your will, oh God.

So, William Graham Scrabby Kraggi, who's

a tremendous outliner,

said it's an unveiling of the Lord Jesus

Christ. Second point he had was it's an

inspiration to the faithful in the

present.

in the present.

And the whole point of all this future

stuff is that the churches, the seven

churches, and they represent all

churches of this era in our present

might be living for the Lord.

And what a blessed thought that is.

And uh number three, it's a revelation

of the issue of history.

It's a revelation of the is issue of

history.

Those are wonderful tr and who's in

charge? Who's going to win?

It's going to be the devil.

So hopefully this has helped. Now you

say, "Pastor, already I feel like I'm

I've jumped in the deep end of the

theological pool and I'm drowning.

I I came for the kiddie pool and now I'm

an overmate."

Well, all of us are when we're studying

this book, right?

But I trust the 40 Sundays that we've

spending here on the seven churches have

been well spent for us and a joy even

though we don't understand it all.

Even though we

can't grasp it all, even though there

are others that do better than we do in

understanding this book, if we get

anything, that's good.

Uh my sister's grandkids take swimming

lessons and they do they do competition

over here in Athens and they're in the

pool over there going back and forth.

One of them went there how many times?

40 times back and forth

just racing across that pool and we go

we've gone to see them. I remember when

I was younger two times across was about

all I could do.

That was my best

and then I was ready to stop.

And so some of us when we study

Revelation for whatever reason it's a

little harder for us to enjoy it the way

others do. But I still enjoyed my two

times across

and may we enjoy our time here.

So the whole message of the whole book

is for the churches. That's what it says

in verse 16.

Now I've said this before, I'm going to

say it again. Only Revelation chapters 2

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

and three are about the churches, but

the whole book of Revelation is for the

churches. You get that distinction?

Revelation 2 and three are about the

churches.

seven different churches, what they

should be doing, what they shouldn't be

doing. But the whole book of Revelation

is for the churches.

Look at verse 16. I Jesus have sent my

angel to testify to you these things in

the churches. You need to know about all

this,

not just some of it.

So the message of all the whole book is

for the churches. Now that means

churches shouldn't ignore it just

because they don't understand it or

don't like it.

I've had people say, "I don't read the

book of Revelation. Scares me to death."

I understand that. It's kind of scary.

>> But what? You need it. I need it.

You know, there's parts of the Bible

that's very comforting and there's other

parts of the Bible is very disturbing,

but we need it all.

You don't just take medicine that tastes

good.

Some of the medicine you take doesn't

taste good, but you take it anyway,

right? Cuz you need it.

And some of those pills they give you, I

cut in half because I can't I can't take

the whole pill at the same time. I got a

pill cutter and I use it

or I just choke them.

And sometimes you feel like you're

choking or gagging when we're studying

this book. I can't get it down. I can't

get these truths. There's just so much

here.

But this is not a book for any church or

any Christian to neglect, ignore, or

avoid.

It's written to us because we need it.

Without it, we would be less than the

Lord wants us to be.

And so verse 19 is very important. If

any man take away from the words of this

book, God will take away his part from

the tree of life. And I'm not trying to

cut parts out of the revelation, but

neither do I want to just not deal with

them even if I have a hard time

understanding.

I do believe in humility.

John Calvin didn't preach on Revelation.

He because you couldn't he didn't have a

clue what it was saying. John Cloud was

a tremendous Bible schol. He just left

that part out. I've got his other great

commentaries. He didn't try.

But we may not be ready to write a

commentary on Revelation, but we ought

to at least hear it as much as we can

and read it as much as we can.

Now, let's go back to what he says. Uh

he says in 16, I Jesus have sent my

angel to testify to you in these things

in the churches. I'm the root and

offspring of David. That goes back to

the Old Testament thousand years before

John and the bright and morning star.

And he's very very clear about this of

our responsibilities.

And uh so may we keep these blessed

words. May we heed them. May we be about

them.

We need to know Jesus and his present

glory, his former glory, and his future

glory. That we don't have the right

picture if we don't.

Henry Morris said of this section, it's

foundation to know him. That's Jesus as

maker. It's salvational to know him as

redeemer. And it's motivational to know

him as coming king.

So it's foundational to know him as

maker. It's salvational to know him as

redeemer. And it's motivational to know

him as coming king. And he is coming.

He's coming as king of kings and lord of

lords.

Carpenter of Nazareth is the creator

of the universe.

The baby of Bethlehem

is the king

of kings.

The crucified Jesus is risen, ascending.

Someday

he'll come.

Someday

history will merge into eternity.

And once it does,

history as we know it will be over.

So, this book needs to be read, studied,

pondered, and I'm going to ask this

question seriously to everybody here.

I'm not going to ask for a raising of

hands.

How many have read the book

all the way through?

How many have read it twice?

How many have given up but said, "I'm

going to read it again even though I

didn't understand it the first two times

through."

You know, you ask these questions, it's

important, right?

And you get a little more every time you

read it.

This book is to be heard. This book is

to be kept. And uh it's very very

important. There's a blessing in it. In

chapter 1 verse three, hold your place

here. It tells you at the beginning,

and this refers to all 22 chapters,

1:3, blessed is he that reads,

and they that hear the words of this

prophecy, and keep those things which

are written in it, for the time is hand.

Now that hearing and that keeping

that reading and that keep hearing and

that keeping are all present tense.

It refers to repeated

hearing, reading, keeping.

So it's referring to the fact that this

should be on our minds in our hearts on

a regular basis. Read and reread,

heard, kept, applied. Have we heard it?

Have we read it? Have we tried to keep

it?

Now a lot of things we read, we don't

read to remember.

How much did you remember of what you uh

scrolled through your phone on

yesterday?

Probably retained some of it, but a lot

a lot of it came in and it went out.

Came in and it went out.

I don't need to know any more about

that.

I forward recipes to my wife hoping that

she'll cook it.

She gets about 20 a day.

Well, I'm just hinting, you know,

and so, but you know, I don't remember

the recipes. I don't not not doing it

for myself. I'm just Well, yeah, I am,

but not giving her the recipe so that

they'll come back to me, right?

But, um, we're to be re we read it,

we're to hear it, we're to keep it,

we're to apply it.

Now, if you ask me, pastor, what was

that recipe for tomatoes, zucchini, and

and uh um

>> okra is be in there, but it's the other

one. It's the black one. I can't think

of it.

Uh it's a black vegetable that you cut,

>> but is eggplant. Yeah. What is that

recipe? See, I couldn't even remember

the eggplant part. And that's my

favorite part. What is that recipe for

tomatoes and eggplant and whatever the

other one was that I said?

See, I don't remember that. I can't

retain it. And you know why I don't?

It's on it's it's on the recipe. I can

always just look it up.

That's the way my mind works.

But God wants us to retain.

So, if I really read that recipe the way

I should, I not only would read it and

pass it on to my wife, I would go buy

some eggplant. I'd get some tomatoes.

I'd get some zucchini. I'd get all the

other ingredients. And I'd be doing it

myself.

Recipes can be legitimately passed on,

but the book of Revelation is meant to

be what? read, heard, kept.

What an amazing thing.

I love hearing about the lamb's blood.

Why? Cuz that's the church.

I love hearing about the lamb's.

I'm a romantic. I'm kind of bad at it,

but I think I am. Our 45th anniversary

was yesterday.

Yeah.

But for my wife, she's put up with me

for 45 [laughter]

years. She if you believed in making

people saints, she should be made one.

God makes the saints. We don't. But but

I like to think I'm romantic.

But but God's a romantic. The whole

thing's a love story.

The church is the bride,

the bride of Christ.

And the church is the lamb's wife.

That's the opposite of Lot's wife.

Remember Lot's wife?

The angels told her twice not to look

back.

You to get out of this place and get up

and go. Don't look back. She looked

back.

She was looking back at Sodom. She was

involved emotionally with Sodom.

Not a good move.

Do you remember in 1st Samuel 15

1-22? Don't look at it for time's sake.

Remember, God sent King Saul

on a mission

to slaughter these people. All of them.

No exceptions.

And even their animals. They were to

kill everything.

Cuz these people were especially nasty.

Saul went, he defeated him,

but he kept the best animals.

And Samuel comes and says, and Saul

says, I've I've I've obeyed the voice of

the Lord. And Samuel, prophet Samuel

said, well, what's this bleeding of

sheep in my ears?

Doesn't sound to me like you've obeyed.

You know what? King Saul by that act of

incomplete obedience

lost the throne.

God said that's it.

You still have the position, but you've

lost the power.

We're put somebody else. Somebody else

was David.

[clears throat] Now, the old saying, no

bless.

In other words, if you're royalty, you

got obligations. People in positions of

high authority have high high

expectations of their performances. And

Saul could have done it. He blamed the

people, but it was really him.

He paid a big price. You remember King

David when God put him instead of Saul.

And King David wanted to bring the ark

of God from Shiloh to Jerusalem and

build a temple for God. Ultimately, that

was his plan. And they got the ark

and they put it on an ox cart

and they're hauling it to Jerusalem on

an ox cart. That wasn't the biblical way

the ark was to be carried. It was to be

carried by the Levites with poles

through the rings.

Remember that man? The ar the ox cart

shook and the man put his hand out to

steady it and do God he took his life.

Upset David. Oh, upset him a lot. You

know why? David was doing the right

thing the wrong way. It was right for

him to bring the ark of God to

Jerusalem, but it was wrong to bring it

the way he brought it. You say, "Well,

God's getting picky." No. God is God. He

told him how to do it. He should have

listened to God.

The Levites carry it. Humans carry it.

You don't put it on a cart.

And when it shook,

he put out the man put out his hand and

he touched the ark

and God took his life.

I personally think he would. It doesn't

that doesn't mean he wasn't a saved man,

but it mean he's lost his physical life.

God was teaching not just Saul and King

David.

Leaders are especially held to the

standard of what God says. He means what

he says. He says what he means. And

Revelation 17 says, "Keeps the words of

this book. They're to be kept.

They'll be applied.

Keep the words of this prophecy." And

the word keep is a present active

participle. It's ongoing. This book is

to be read, heard, and kept. Keeping.

Don't be like Saul. Don't be like David.

Don't be selective in your obedience.

Don't be careless about your obedience.

And David said, "We're doing it the

right way this time because we didn't

seek God the right way." He learned

something. God means what he says, says

what he means. And so, we have no room

for uh innovation for God has spoke

clearly spoken.

Um, God likes those that keep his word.

Remember the church in Revelation

Revelation 3:8–10

3:8-10.

And what a blessing that is.

So, we're living in a time when it's

kind of hard to be biblical.

We're living in a time when uh those

that are biblical are sticking their

neck out.

John did. He was on the island of

Patmas.

And John certainly wasn't perfect,

but John was not sinless, but he was

seeking to obey the Lord.

Now turn back to Revelation 7 or excuse

me 22 and I want you to look at verse 7.

These are a series of points I just want

to give you before we close. Number one,

the message of the book of Revelation is

distilled in one verse. Verse seven,

behold I come quickly.

Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he

that keeps the words of the prophecy of

this book. Two, the message of the book

of revelation uh needs to be applied

goes beyond hearing and reading that

starts but the keeping is to go in

there. So it's to be it's we have a

distilled uh statement about the book of

revelation. We have an application. It

is to be applied. Third, the message of

the book of revelation is to be

received.

He says in verse 10, "Seal not the words

of the prophecy of this book, for the

time is at hand. It's to be recorded.

It's to be received. It's to be shared."

And may God help us to do that. God's

not telling you and me everything,

right?

Do the generals tell the privates

everything

about the battle plan?

You know, privates don't know what's

going on.

The private first class people don't

know what's going on. Probably the

sergeants don't know what's going on in

the whole battlefield. They just know

their part. They may know a little bit

beyond their part. But God doesn't tell

everything to everybody, but he has put

it in his word. So, we have access to

it. We know something of what's going on

even if we don't grasp all of it. and we

are to pass it on.

So may God help us. This message is to

be proclaimed. Uh in verse 17, the

spirit and the bride say come.

We're inviting other people to come and

let him hear say come and let him that's

a thirst come. Whoever will let him take

of the water of life freely. These are

very basic things.

The whole book of revelation is not

about the seven churches. But the whole

book of revelation is to be read,

studied, and passed on by the seven

churches, used by the seven churches.

Um,

so let's be sure we do that.

You say, "Pastor, I can't do it. I'm

this is too much for me. I'm going to

fail like David and like Saul." Well,

maybe. But you do the best you can,

right? Ask God for grace.

And God knows our needs.

But the biggest thing is to make sure

we're saved, right? That's this

invitation. The spirit and the bride

say, "Come.

Am I saved? Are my sins under the blood?

Am I a new creation in Christ? If

anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation.

Am I trusting in the blood of Christ for

my salvation?"

has the penalty has been fully paid.

Do I know salvation is not by my

performance, but is it by God's grace?

It's a free gift received by faith.

Do I understand that it takes an

infinite person to pay an infinite

penalty? And I'm not that person. Only

Jesus could.

JC Riyle, an Anglican bishop in the

1800s, said, "Till men and women are

brought to feel their sinfulness and

need, no real good is ever done to their

souls.

Till a sinner sees himself as God sees

him, he will continue careless and

unmoved."

Very important. I'm not a fingerpointing

fire and brimstone kind of guy in the

sense of trying to emotionally move

people. It's not my personality. But I

will say this, if you're not saved, you

need to be saved. You don't want to wait

another minute.

Jesus has come.

What if he comes before you're saved?

Charles Spurgeon said, "Carnnal men love

the God that they make, but not the God

that made them."

Ever heard people say, "Oh, my God would

never do that.

My God would never be angry at anybody.

My God would never send anybody to hell.

My God would never do that." Well, then

your God's not the God of the Bible.

Your God's an idol that you've made in

your own mind.

You better get rid of that idol and

worship the real God.

Someone said, "We cannot really tell how

crooked our thinking is until we line it

up with a straight edge of scripture."

Ever thought you drew a straight line

and then you put the straight edge on

it. What's the straight anyway?

So God help us.

You will not impact the world by just

going to church.

I believe in going to church. I'm glad

you're here.

But the church is not meant to just

function on Sunday morning with each

other. The church is meant to come

together and worship. That the church is

meant to what? Go and minister.

And so someone said, you will not impact

the world by faithfully going to church.

You will impact the world by faithfully

bringing the church. when you you go out

into the world.

Very important. And in church, we equip

the saints for the work of the ministry.

Right?

Now, if you're not saved, you can't

minister to others because you can't

give others what you don't have.

Many people are trying to save

themselves.

And if I'm just smart enough and good

enough, I'll save myself.

There's a story about a fellow by the

name of Aip Bernstein. I'm sure

everybody's heard this story.

No, I'm sure you haven't.

But this was 1918

and OP Bernstein was sentenced to die by

a Bolevik firing squad.

He happened to be a grandmaster

in chess

and a rather well-known

and Assa Bernstein was moments from

death when an officer recognized him and

offered him a deal.

Play me in chess and if you win the game

of chess, you'll live.

You want a chance to play a chess match.

But Bernstein accepted, played a

flawless game, and walked away uh from

his own execution in 1918 in Odessa.

Why did that man escape execution?

He was a good chess player,

right?

He was a good chess player.

And many think that if I'm just good

enough,

I can get myself out of this this

trouble.

Not by works of righteousness, which

we've done, but according to his grace

and mercy, he saved us.

Jesus was born to die and take your sins

and your hell because you could not save

yourself.

God doesn't have another program.

Our Lord was born to pay for your sins.

And but our God's a righteous God. He's

not all love. He's not going to he's not

going to ignore the fact that people

hate his son who died

for sinners.

RC Sprout said, "A God who's all love,

all grace, all mercy, no sovereignty, no

justice, no holiness, and no wrath is an

idol."

I know a lot of people don't worship in

that.

And none of us will serve the Lord

perfectly,

but we have a perfect God.

Some of you know Elizabeth Elliott, the

wife of a missionary was martyed in the

50s. She said there's no perfect life,

no perfect job, no perfect childhood, no

perfect marriage, no perfect set of

people who will always do what we expect

them to do. We don't do it, they can't

do it. What we have is a perfect God

who's able to lead us through this

imperfect life with unfailing strength

and incomparable wisdom and infinite

love and confidence.

Um,

don't despise

don't despise churches because they're

small.

Don't despise God's people because

they're not

always the best of the best,

intellect or wealth or anything else.

Uh God has chosen the foolish things to

confound the blind

and the weak things confound the mighty.

First Corinthians is very clear.

The supervisor

was working in a place where they were

making scientific experiments

and the supervisor told this chemist

Stephanie

Bole

to throw away that experiment. That's

useless.

Throw it away. Do something else. That

was her supervisor.

But instead, the chemist tested the uh

the strange cloudy liquid in her lab.

She disobeyed her superior.

That 1965 decision gave the world Kevla,

a fiber five times stronger than steel

that's now used in bulletproof vests.

We get over occupied by people in power

and position and prominence and we let

them control our life.

I'm not saying we should become rebels

on everything. I'm not saying that at

all. We There's times we should listen

to those above us, but not when it comes

with the gospel. Not when it comes with

salvation.

They might be smarter than us, but

they're not smarter than God.

>> [clears throat]

>> May God help us to let know we live in a

sinful world that

doesn't always play fair,

doesn't always see things right.

Can we not be intimidated by those

around us that we think are smarter than

us or more experienced than us? or uh we

we can appreciate who they are and what

they are, but it really comes down to

what's true and what's false.

Charles Goodyear.

You may recognize his name. I'll close

with this.

How many know the name Goodyear?

You hear the name Goodyear, what do you

associate it with? fires.

Do you realize that scientists

experimented on that and people gave

millions and millions of dollars to

discover rubber that could work as

tires?

They weren't make it wasn't happening.

Experiment after experiment showed

promise but was failing. They couldn't

get rubber that was hard enough.

Charles Goodyear became obsessed with

figuring this out.

He and his family lived in poverty so

much that one of his children uh lived

died of malnutrition.

His wife had to take extra jobs while

he's experimented. The man suffered

decades he was working trying this

trying that trying this. And finally he

dropped a piece of it, went on a I think

it was a fireplace or a furnace and

something happened chemically and he

said, "Oh, that's it."

He patented what he found out.

And then the big shots pulled the patent

out from under him. They made millions

and millions and millions of dollars. He

made nothing.

nothing.

And the reason the business Goodyear is

called after his name is not because

they gave him any money. They didn't

even give him money. They just named it

after him because they knew he was the

one that struggled to make the

invention.

The man died poor.

That's our world.

That's not everybody.

Our world is grabbing for things,

jostling for position.

Um, we will not always get fairly dealt

with

by this world.

The church today

has something everybody needs.

Don't be surprised

if we are are treated like the seven

churches were treated in their

community.

Don't be surprised

if we have the same problems that John,

the author of Revelation, the human

author, who was exiled on the island of

Patmas like he was some danger to the

Roman Empire. They treated him like they

later treated Napoleon. Put him on an

island. We can't have him out here the

rest of us.

Don't be surprised at that.

But hear the word of God. rest in his

truth.

Recognize that many of God's messengers

do not match up to some of the other

people that are teaching different

things as far as intellect or looks or

or wealth. That's not the program.

God has chosen the weak things of the

world to confound the mighty.

That's the program

and that's the church.

Not many wise, not many mighty are

called.

Call some of them.

Probably does call some of them to

salvation. But God is in the business.

The same God that sent Jesus to the

cross and calls the lamb to be slain.

Do you remember the first time John

heard about Jesus being the lamb? I'm

going to close with this. The third time

I said I'm going to close, right?

Remember

what John the Baptist said

and John heard it and was saved because

of it. Behold the lamb of God that takes

away the sin

of

John as a young man heard that and began

to follow Jesus.

Now it's 60 years later,

a lot later, 65 years later,

and John again encounters

the lamb.

Only he encounters the lamb in heaven,

not in the Jordan River, not on the

cross of Calvary,

that in the third heaven.

And he hears the hymns of heaven,

worthy,

receive glory

and honor. You have redeemed us to God

by your blood and of every kindred,

tongue, people, and nation. This is of

universal significance,

not just among people, but among angels

that celebrate it even though it wasn't

for them.

That's the book of Revelation.

That's our savior.

That's our privilege to be in on this.

Father, we thank you for what we've

looked at today. Praise you for

our lessons on the seven churches.

We rejoice

in our savior

and we pray for his return.

And we say even come Lord Jesus. Amen.