Someone You've Got To Meet! | Chris Chadwick | Revelation 1:4-6 — Chris Chadwick

Revelation 1. And if you did not get a Bible study handout from one of our handsome, happy ushers, if you would raise your hand and they will pass it out to you. If you would like one, if you would raise your hand, raise it quick and raise it high. We got some up here, guys. Thank you for that All right. I wanna thank all of you for braving the drizzle to make your way to church this morning It's always a joy. You never know. They were... I was sent to the 8:30 service. They were saying, last Sunday night that we might have a major hurricane today, and we began to pray that we wouldn't. not that we couldn't use the rain, we always can here in Southern California. Or not always, sometimes it rains way too much. But, we were thankful that we didn't have, they were calling potentially a category two hurricane for the first time in history. So I'm incredibly grateful for the Lord's protection in all of that, and glad that you are here today.

Praising the Lord for it. Wonderful Labor Day weekend. And, the or the official start really of fall starts tomorrow. And, all God's people are sad, because it means, like, you gotta go back to school and work, and you can't surf all summer. Though I've heard if you're a surfer, that the waves were great this summer. I was gone in Florida, and there are no waves in the entire state of Florida. And so, I have no idea. But, I hope some of you that love it got out in it. Revelation chapter 1, our text will be found this morning verses 4 to verse number 6. Verses 4 to verse number 6. Have you ever noticed that part of the human condition, there's nothing negative about this at all, it's just, it's just the reality of what it is, that in most cases there is a sense of excitement when we see somebody famous or have the opportunity to meet somebody famous. Most people kinda stop. They stare.

Back in the day, you would just kinda stop and stare, and then tell your friends about it. Now, today, everything, you know, people pull out their phones and they start videoing it. It's a, it's a very different world today. I was working out on Friday with one of the,... at our, at our gym. I was working out with one of the teenagers in our church, who, set a PR on his back squat, a personal record on his back squat. And, was super pumped for me at 220 pounds. And he was telling one of our single young adult guys, and he started to tell the story of lifting 220 pounds, and our single young adult guy goes, "Bro, I don't wanna hear the story. Just show me the video." And I thought, to those of us that are older, like, man, we've lost something, you know? It used to be a picture's worth a thousand words. Now a good storyteller is worth, I don't know, something, a million dollars. I don't know what it would be.

But we've lost something where people just, you know, they photo everything. But many times if I were to ask you, "Hey, have you met anybody famous?" You'd be like, "Oh yeah, I met this person." And I asked some people yesterday, they're like, "Oh, I saw the president at this place," or, "I saw this actor or actress over here," or, "I met this author over here." And people just kinda talk about that. We find those events memorable in our lives. When I was eight years old, my Dad and I were at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, affectionately known as Sea-Tac, and we were picking up one of the guest speakers at our church. Now, I was eight years old, so that made it 1980, so it was a while ago. but for those of us that were raised in the '80s, it seems like just yesterday that it was there. And we were walking to, as you used to be able to, we were walking to the gate. You know, you didn't have to stay outside of security.

We walked all the way to the gate, like C12 or whatever it was. And while we were walking to C12, we had this awesome, I had this as an eight-year-old kid, this awesome opportunity to see the entire Seattle SuperSonics team in 1980. Isn't that a beautiful logo? For those of you that don't know what it is, that's the Seattle skyline in 1980 in the shape of a basketball, and I just love that logo. I wanted to make Canyon Ridge logos that, but Debbie wouldn't let me, so I got as close as I could. And so loved the Seattle SuperSonics back in the day. And, we were walking to the gate and we saw the Seattle SuperSonics. Now, you have to understand something about Washington State in the late '70s, early '80s. We didn't have a lot to root for. Matter of fact, our life was filled with disappointment. Starbucks hadn't even really come into being yet.

I mean, they were, but they were still in Pike's Place, but it was very rare, so you didn't have the jolt of caffeine to wake you up in the morning. You just woke up to gray, cloudy days and really bad professional sports teams. The Seattle Seahawks had come into the NFL in 1976, and by 1980, in four years, their cumulative winning percentage was 39%, which makes them on the level of the Cleveland Browns. Nothing to root for. No offense to my friends from Ohio, you just, you feel the pain. And then the Seattle Mariners had come into the Major League into Major League Baseball one year later in 1977, and in those three years, their cumulative winning percentage was 38%, so they're actually worse than, the, Seahawks. I mean, they're 38%. Good grief. They just, we just didn't have a lot to root for. So when the Seahawks won the, or the SuperSonics won the NBA championship, we were pumped. We had something to root for.

You didn't even get to watch the games back then. The NBA wasn't popular enough for TV at that age or that time. So we listened to it on the radio, and we read about it in the newspaper. And when we were walking through the airport, and I got to see these amazing players, I was pumped. And so I said to my dad, I'm like, "Dad, can I go meet those guys?" And my dad was like, "Sure." And they're going through security, a little bit of security. You used to have to check your carry-ons or get your carry-ons examined, but that was it. Didn't have to walk through metal detectors. And they were just coming out of security, and I walked up, and I met the coach, Hall of Fame coach, Lenny Wilkens. If you don't know who Lenny Wilkens is, you just, you gotta learn about Lenny Wilkens. Great baller, great basketball player, Hall of Famer, Hall of Fame coach, Hall of Fame player, great guy. I got to meet Coach Lenny Wilkens.

And then I got to meet Jack Sikma, the first seven-footer I had ever seen in my life. That guy had the biggest feet I had ever... I didn't know humans could have feet that big. Like some of the kids in our church could sleep in his shoes. I mean, they were-... massively huge feet, and they were very gracious. And the MVP of the '79 NBA finals was a guy named Freddy Brown. He was affectionately known in Seattle as Downtown Freddy Brown. And I walked up to Freddy Brown. I said, "Hey, Freddy Brown." And I'll never forget his great words of encouragement to me. They've stuck with me all these years. I've literally never forgotten them. This is what he said to me, "Hey, kid," and kept on walking. But those words of encouragement carried me through all the way to like 1985 when I was the starting center on the Pleasant Grove Baptist Academy junior high boys basketball team Thanks for the, being impressed.

but I got to meet somebody famous, and I told my friends about it. I told my neighbors about it. I told everybody that I could. The truth is we just really have high regard when we meet somebody that has a measure of popularity about themselves. And there's excitement, and there's nothing wrong really with that. As we come to the book of Revelation, John begins to unfold in a very real way the purpose and the beauty of the book. The purpose of the Revelation is to reveal Christ in his glorified state. If you were to read the Gospels, you would see that Jesus was the... Here's how we define him, as the suffering Savior or the sacrificial lamb who would die to take away the sin of the world. And praise God, we just sang about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, where he died on the cross of Calvary for the sin of all mankind.

And anybody who will put their faith and trust in Christ alone is guaranteed that their sins will be forgiven, that heaven will be their home, and that Jesus will be a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Can I get an amen this morning? Amen. What a great Savior. But when we come to the Revelation, he's not the sacrificial lamb He's not the suffering savior. He's not the deferential person of the Gospels. He's the glorified Christ. And before Him in the Revelation, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. He is anything other than a suffering savior. He, in the Revelation, is the King above all kings. It's Jesus Christ.

And so John writes here, and we see in verse number four, John's giving an encouragement for the audience, and the audience that is in need of encouragement, we see in verse number four, where the Scripture says, "John to the seven churches which are in Asia." John is going to write these seven churches. This letter is going to go throughout the, to these churches in Asia. and Asia in the Scripture is what we would call modern-day Turkey. And he's writing these churches, and they are representative of churches today and all churches that have been since the church age started. And John is writing them, and he's gonna go into great detail with each church as to what their positives are and what they need to work on, because they're gonna stand before Christ, who will be their judge. And so we see an audience in need of encouragement, and we see the encouragement for the audience. Notice verse number four.

He says these words: "Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come." Would you notice these words of encouragement here? Grace and peace. I'm not pausing for a dramatic effect, I just want you to think about it for a second Grace and peace. A recent study of American Christians, conservative Christians like we would be, found that only 60% of Christians say they experience a deep sense of spiritual peace and wellbeing on a weekly basis. 60%. When I first read that, I was kinda pumped. I'm like, "Oh, 60%, that's actually a better number than I thought." But the more that I began to think about that means that four out of every 10 conservative Christians do not regularly experience a sense of what we might describe as spiritual peace and wellbeing or grace. 40%. So let's say that in this section there's 50 people here today, just for the sake of math.

Let's say that there's 50 people here, in this section over here, somewhere around there. That would mean that 20 of them do not experience a sense of peace and wellbeing on a weekly basis. And yet the Scripture says that grace and peace are not only offered and available, but it's God's desire that we would have them And as I say that, I understand that much of Christendom today kind of suffers at the same rate with a lot of the mental anxieties that go on in our world, and I'm not being dismissive of any of them. I just want us to understand from a biblical perspective that God desires you to have grace and peace. And I think if we were to look back a 150 years ago, maybe 100 years ago, Christians were much more filled with grace and peace by and large, at least according to the records that we have, than we are today. And why is that, I have to ask as a pastor.

Like, what am I not communicating or helping people with as a pastor that they are living in modern-day, trepidation and fear and anxiety and discouragement and depression? And part of the thinking in my mind is that maybe we've not turned our attention towards heaven enough and the realities of the goodness of God enough, and we're living too much as believers in 2026. We're living too much in the pressure of the present day, trying to live up to what we see, if you will, in our world that our world tells us is to bring grace and peace, when the reality is the only source of grace and peace that we would ever be able to have is from our-- the goodness and graciousness of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ And so we have to ask this question, like, what is grace? Well, it's particularly that which causes joy or gratification, favor, acceptance. It's a kindness granted or a benefit. It's a favor done without expectation of return.

And here it is the absolutely free expression of the loving kindness of God to man, finding its only motive in the bounty and the benevolence of God the giver, unearned and unmerited favor. There's nothing I did to earn it, and there's nothing I could do to deserve it. It is just the free gift of God. And this is John's prayer to us, and it is really God's even prayer for us that we would live in the bounty of his grace. It's the absolute free expression of His loving kindness to man, finding its only motive in the bounty and the benevolence or the love of the giver, unearned and unmerited favor. And then he uses this word and This word means so much to me because it is so elusive, and that's the word peace. Peace of mind, tranquility. And I love the word because it's self-defined. It is from... It arises from reconciliation with God and a sense of divine favor. And so often we fail, if you will, to live in peace.

This is what God's done in my heart this week. I fail to live, and I think we collectively fail to live in peace because it seems as though there's something out there that I do not have, that if I could have it, I would feel better if I owned it and it would bring me peace. There's actually a term for that in some cases called buyer's remorse. Like, probably everybody in this room has Amazon. Matter of fact, I'm shocked when I talk to people and they're like, "I don't know what Amazon Prime is." I'm like, "What rock have you lived under, mom?" I'm like, "Cow, seriously?" But we get on there and we begin to look through things or we go shopping at stores that have buildings that we used to go to. And you go through racks and you look for things and you begin to think this thought, "If I owned this article of clothing, or if I owned this electronical instrument, or if our...

I bought this house, or if I had this car," or whatever the case may be, just fill in the blank. It's inconsequential what it is. That if I were able to attain whatever that thing is, then my life would be at peace, only to acquire that thing and realize within about 72 hours that that thing, whatever that thing is, provides no lasting peace. But this peace that flows from the heart of our Savior is a lasting peace because it is a peace born out of our reconciliation with God, our peace born out of the gospel where we understand we were sinners destined for an eternity in hell, separated from God. But Jesus in the... in his good grace left heaven and came to earth and died so that all men could be saved, and anyone who puts their faith and trust in him is guaranteed heaven as their home. And when the believer dies, we do not die a death of despondency.

We die a death, of sadness for sure, but delight in seeing the King of kings and Lord of lords who loved us and gave himself for us, and that transcends all the difficulties of life, and we rest in the sense of divine favor and goodness with God So we might ask this question, "Pastor, say what peace is in a different way," which on my sermon prep team was one of the questions. So I'll say it this way. Peace is the absolute confidence and comfort in the sovereign plan of God and His dealings with me. Sovereignty just means God is in absolute control and knows exactly what's going on. So my peace is confidence and comfort in God's sovereign plan and His dealing with me Now let me give an aside that I didn't give at the 8:30 service just to bless you for coming at the 10:30 service. And that is this. This does not mean that at times you won't face challenges like depression and discouragement.

That this does not mean you might not need somebody to talk to or some counseling or some help. I'm not saying that. And I think sometimes people feel a measure of discouragement when a pastor would preach on peace or grace and go, "Oh, I can't have that. There must be something wrong with me." I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you. I think you might need to talk to somebody. You might need some help. You might need some encouragement. But I want us to understand as well that God desires that we all live in grace and peace, and it's something that not just discouraged people struggle with, but a lot of people, most of us, dare I say all of us struggle with. We just don't really talk about it that often because we understand the expectation, and yet we live in the discouragement.

And I want us to move out of just simply living in discouragement, and this become a source of prayer for us and an attainable goal for us that we would, by the grace of God, live in the peace of God until we see God face to face. This encouragement that John gives is the introduction to the letter. And if you study your Bible like I know that you do, and you read through your Bible, and you would read through many of the epistles, the letters, the books from Acts to the Revelation, or Acts to Jude, or Romans to Jude, forgive me for that. as you would read those, you might be tempted to think, "Well, Pastor, that's just perfunctory. Most of the epistles say something like this." they do, dear friend, but let me remind you that every word of God is inspired by God, and there are no perfunctory words in the Scripture.

They all have a desired intent from our great God and Creator who breathed into the authors the very words that He desired they would say So the blessing and the benefit of salvation are not only in the life to come, but they're in this life. And they're not dependent on our circumstances. They're grounded in the goodness of our Savior, who did not leave us without comfort, but left the Holy Spirit to comfort us and remind us through Scripture of His sovereignty, where He either causes or allows everything to happen, and then puts us in a church where we should be encouraging one another, which is a great application of this text. This is the importance of living a life of encouragement and comfort to others It's what the church is supposed to be marked by It's what's supposed to be, it's expected that this would be a place of great encouragement. Dare you think I'm on a hobby horse?

If you could turn your Bible or look at the screen, I would like you to turn your Bible, but if you're new to church and finding scripture takes you a while, feel free to look at the screen as we turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1 2 Corinthians 1:3. The Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, said, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. Who comforteth us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." Here's what Paul is saying to the church at Corinth. Go back to verse number three, please. he says, "We praise God the Father, the God of all comfort." So the comfort that you have is out of the repository of God's grace. God is the ultimate comforter. Verse number four, the source of comfort is God, who comforts us in all our tribulation.

When you experience trouble and trials and difficulties in life, God is going to bring some comfort into your life as you're a believer. Why does he do that? So that you can comfort them which are in trouble. So God's gonna comfort them, and you're gonna comfort them, and you're gonna comfort them with the same kind of comfort that God comforted you with. So they're gonna get divine comfort from God, and human comfort and, at, what we might say, anecdotal or experiential comfort that comes from how God comforted you. And somebody who is going through a trial is gonna come to a place called a local New Testament church, and when they're going through a trial, there's gonna be brothers and sisters that come around them that encourage them and comfort them and help them and build them up.

And we're gonna live in a space where we know that when we take the right turn off Linda Vista Road to 6866 Linda Vista Road, that I don't know everything that's gonna happen here, and I don't know how good the audio/video stuff's gonna be today, and are the music sets gonna be good or not, that I don't know. But what I do know is that this is gonna be a place that encourages and comforts me every time I walk through the door That's what the local church is supposed to be Every time Before you think that I just one-offed and found a proof text, let's do more of a Bible study. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, just to the right in your Bible a tad bit. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse number 18, the Scripture says, after talking about Jesus died and rose again and He's alive forevermore and He's gonna take us to heaven, talking about the rapture, and then we're gonna see those who have died that have gone on before us.

My wife will get to see her parents again. I'll get to see my in-laws again. I've got family members and dear friends in heaven. I talked to two pastor friends this morning via text, and both of their fathers who had been faithful to the Lord for decades as preachers, half a century both of them, both their dads died in the last five weeks, and they're have a sense of loss about them. The Bible says this: When people have gone on before us, remember what God has done. And then he says this: "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Turn over one more page to chapter 5 verse 11, or just look across the page. He says, "Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also you do." Hebrews chapter 3 verse number 13 says, "But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Exhortation just means build up one another, encourage one another.

Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 24 says, "Let us consider one another and to provoke unto love and good works." Here's what the Scripture's saying over and over and over again. Believer, you and I have the joyful responsibility of finding people or seeing people or knowing people that are going through difficulties and challenges and trials in life, and we get to speak comfort and grace and peace into their lives, and it's one of the greatest ministries of the local New Testament church So let me ask you a question, and I want you to be really honest with yourself. Just with yourself, don't answer me, just ask, answer yourself. When was the last time you encouraged someone in the church you're a member of? Okay. Okay. Got the answer? Some of you had to really think. I was watching. How about the time before that?

'Cause I never like to ask just when was the last time because that's kind of a superlative, and people will go, "Oh, I encouraged somebody last week," or, "I encouraged somebody Wednesday night," or, "I encouraged somebody yesterday," or whatever. And they're like, "Oh, I'm good. This illustration's done with me. Woo, passed the test. Me and Jesus are happy." But how about the time before that? How long was it? And I, and I don't wanna make you feel bad. I actually wanna encourage you to think about encouraging others. Amen. But so when was the time before that? So think of the last three times you've encouraged somebody. When was the last time? And by the way, I don't want to try to, again, hold you responsible for the sanctifying process that God is taking my wife and I through, but I do wanna bring you along the sanctifying process that God is bringing my wife and I through That you would live a life that encourages other people.

That when they're going through difficulty, you would encourage them. When was the last time you prayed for someone and you let them know? Like just send him a text. Like, "Hey brother, just want you to know I was praying for you, and, this is what I said. This is how I prayed for you." I had a pastor friend this week and I just prayed for him, and I said, "This was my prayer for you that the realities of heaven and the joys of Jesus would rule your heart and mind as you minister this week." When's the last time you just something like that. Doesn't have to be that, but something like that. When was the last time you gave a word of encouragement to a parent who has young children? Or helped someone with a project. You literally sacrifice your own time to say, "Hey, I'd love to come to your house and help you." Yeah, how can I do that? Or read through the Scripture with someone. Or overlooked a fault of a growing brother or sister.

and here's the deal. We as Westerners, and primarily Americans, we live our life, and I love this in part, but I do think it's destructive, and that is we live our life constantly wondering how we can improve on things. And I love that concept in my own heart of how I could improve on things, but often what we do is we're very easy on ourself and very hard on other people. That's right. "Well, I'm gonna talk to that person about this issue." And you're like, "Bro, have you even seen that in your own life?" Are you speaking grace and comfort into their life? Husbands, how often are you speaking grace and comfort into your wife's life? "When is she going to clean the house?" I don't know, probably between, like, the 42 diapers that she changed today, she'll get right on it. "Well, I don't know why that's a big deal." Well, then you stay home and try it for a while. And I'm just telling you right now, I am not gonna do that.

I have a puppy, and he irritates me. I'm like, "When is this dog..." Debbie and I, we have this, like, stretching app called Pliability, and, we do it, and you say, "Why do you do it?" So we can keep walking. We work out, and stuff so that we can play with the grandkids that God might eventually give us by His grace. And until then, we're gonna play with your kids, and we'll play with your kids afterwards. But we just love stretching together and we follow this thing, and it's on TV and all that and it's fine. And man, we're stretching, and my dog comes over, and, like, you're in a very compromised position. And this wonderful dog named Max, or Mac, I don't even know my own dog's name anymore. My dog named Mac comes over and begins to lick my face. And my hands are twisted in such a way that I can't push him off. So I'm trying to head him off, and he thinks I'm playing with him.

So then he starts pawing at my face and thinks now this is a game. And I literally, I just, there's times when like I can't breathe. And I, man, to take that and go all the way back to children, that'd be overwhelming. Dads, when's the last time you spoke to your wife in words of comfort and grace and peace? When was the last time you viewed your church attendance as a means of encouraging others? Hebrews chapter 10, verse number 25 says, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching." Your attendance literally encourages other people in their walk with God. And church members consider those things. when was the last time that you considered the way that you sing in encouragement?

Colossians chapter three verse number 16 says, "Let the words of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in song and hymn and spiritual song, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord." That when you're singing with purpose and passion, that it encourages those who are around you And John helps us to see that we live in a state or a need of grace and peace.

And brothers and sisters, it would, it would behoove us to let the Word of Christ begin to affect our thinking insofar as how do we provide grace and comfort and care and concern for the body of Christ that we have joined to, so that we're not just distant folks who come together and then go home, but we're actually part of the body of Christ that loves one another, prays for one another, encourages one another, helps one another, because that's what the Church is called to be And then we see the source of encouragement, the latter part of verse number four Grace and grace be unto you and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne. John is going to give us a beautiful picture of God, and we're gonna see in verse four and five a, what we would call a Trinitarian view. we are Trinitarians.

We believe that we have one God who manifests himself in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit And it's clear throughout scripture all the way from Genesis chapter 1 verse number 1, where the Bible says, "Let us make man in our image and our likeness." And throughout scripture, we see the work of God done in a Trinitarian way. And here John is referring to and names each of the persons of the Trinity in verses four and five, where he says in verse number four, he refers to, God which was and is and is to come. God in the past tense, which was, and which is in the present tense, and which is to come in the future tense. John is referring to the eternality of God the Father. God is... Said one commentator, John Phillips, "God is presented to us as the one who transcends all time. He lives in the present, in the past, and in the prospective tense of time. He cuts across all ages of time.

The present and the future are very much alive to God as well. He reads the past, rides the present, and rules the future." He reads the past, rides the present, and rules the future. And then here in verse number four, he refers, "and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne." The seven Spirits just refers to the Holy Spirit, and the word seven depicts Him in His fullness or His completeness. So he's referring to God the Father, God the Spirit. John MacArthur, a great commentator, said, "Obviously, there is one Holy Spirit. The number seven depicts Him in His fullness. The Holy Spirit, in all His glory and fullness, sends grace and peace to believers. He is the Spirit of grace and produces peace in believers' life. Here He is seen in the glory of His place in the Father's presence in heaven."

And then we see in verse number five And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. We see God the Son Then John calls him in verse number five, the faithful witness. I want you to think about the person of Jesus Christ. I want you to think for a minute how He is often displayed in our world as a babe in a manger or a wounded man coming out of the tomb, but I want you to hear how John describes Him as the faithful witness. There's a lot of witnesses about a lot of things. Jesus is the one witness who is absolutely truthful 100% of the time, 100% of the time. Now, many times we can be absolutely honest about something and get the facts wrong.

There's stories on YouTube, and you've probably read the stories like I have or read the studies like I have, where people will be in a room and, they'll be doing some event, and through the middle of the room, somebody will walk in the room, make a huge commotion, and then run out of the room, and the proctor of the study will have everybody sit down, take out a sheet of paper, and write everything they saw about the person. I watched one on YouTube not too long ago, a study at a university, and people wrote the person who came in was a six-foot-four white guy with a beard, was wearing dark pants and a light shirt, and, riding a skateboard. And then other people would write he was five foot nine, male, no beard, short hair, wearing dark pants and a light shirt, and had on Vans shoes.

And, I mean, they would be very descriptive, and they were being very honest, and then when they replayed the video, it was a gorilla riding roller skates with a basketball. They were all being genuinely honest. They were not being deceptive. They were not lying. They weren't being untruthful. Just you could not totally trust what they were saying. So here's the contrast here. Every single word that Jesus says is absolutely true. That's why John calls Him the faithful witness. Everything He says is 100% accurate. I've have, I have something like 45 commentaries to study for this text. I have any number of books in the thousands that I have. I have the Bible that I've read, meditate on, or memorized every day for well over 30 years, and I guarantee you that there's probably something today that I was inaccurate about, just as if you were to talk for 45 minutes on a Sunday morning, you would be. It's part of the fall.

It's part of the human condition. You're not trying to lie, you're just inaccurate. I love this about Jesus Christ. Everything that He says, everything, every word that proceeds from His mouth, every word of scripture is 100% accurate 100% of the time And then he calls him this in verse number five, "The first begotten of the dead." Many people have died throughout scripture. Many people have died and were raised again by prophets and even Jesus himself. Many people were raised from the dead. But so it doesn't mean that Jesus was first in sequential order or chronologically. What it means is that he is the firstborn. He is the first in preeminence. He's the high and holy one. He is the one that is lifted up. And then John calls him this as well, he's the prince of the kings of the earth.

and he says this, "He's the prince, he's the ruler, he's the chief, he's the magistrate John is saying this, there's other kings, there's other rulers, there's other authorities on the earth, but Jesus is the King of kings and He is the Lord of lords. He is the one that is over all and there is none other in ultimate authority but Jesus Christ, which is why he calls them in Revelation chapter 19 verse number 16, it says, "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." And because of that, because of that, John is overwhelmed with who Christ is. And in verse number five, he just breaks out at the end of verse number five into verse number six, he breaks out in this doxological praise to God. The doxa study, the praise of God. He begins to praise God.

It's an inspired praise, and he praises God for the work of Christ where he says, "Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." He loved us. He esteemed us. He has a direction of the will, and he finds our joy, his joy in us. I don't wanna mischaracterize this at all, but God... Because God is self-Yes. That's right... God needs nothing, and God's greatest pleasure is God. Yes. But he does love us, and when we live for him, we bring him a massive amount of, if you will, joy in his soul. Nothing can separate us from his love. Understand that. And when we live for him, he is blessed in indescribable ways That's why the Scripture helps us to understand this Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Romans chapter eight, verse number 35. "Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" As it is written: "For thy sake we are killed all the day long.

We are accounted as sheep to the slaughter." Nay, in all these things, all what things? Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. In all those things, in all these things, that's not an exclusive list. It's a all-encompassing list. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither life, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord Nothing, friends, if you know Christ can separate you from the love of Christ Oh, there's a lot of things that can separate us from people we love. The easiest one to illustrate is death Tribulation, persecution, famine sword.

All of those things can separate us from the peer-to-peer, the friend-to-friend, the family member relationship. They can separate us from all of that. But nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Right. Well, where is his love most clearly seen? Now unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. I love this about the work of Christ. It's the heart of the gospel, said John MacArthur, right here. Sinners are forgiven by God, set free from sin, death, and hell by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. God made Jesus our substitute, killing him for our sins so that the penalty was fully paid for us. God's justice was satisfied, and God was able then to grant righteousness to repentant sinners for whom Christ died.

The good news about salvation is that God loved you so much, he sent Jesus to the cross for your sin, and the love of Christ loosed us from the bondage of our sin Your sin holds you captive, and Christ sets you free. Free from the bondage of your sin. Friends, it would be well for you and do well for you to consider the deep devastations of hell. I don't say that to scare you, but it ought to scare you Hell is the eternal fire and judgment of God levied out on men and women who will not accept him as their, as his personal Savior. And he loved you so much that he not only saved you from hell, he died to satisfy, Christ died to satisfy God's just requirements for, forgiveness of sin and for the washing away of all sin. Jesus died on the cross so that you don't have to go to hell.

And when John thinks of the love of Christ, the magnitude of Christ's love, the first thought that he has is the sacrifice of Jesus when he died for your sin I know it's not the most popular message Matter of fact, I might get an email that John Scheinfeld will respond to You know, I would respond But the reality is Christ's love for you is so great that He took all your sin upon Himself and suffered the most horrific death so that you didn't have to go to hell. And literally, that's why He says, "He washed us from our sins in His own blood." But it doesn't end there. John's doxological praise continues in verse number six, "And made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." We see his work after salvation. We see the work of salvation, but we see his work after salvation. Christ didn't simply save us and leave you to falter and just kind of figure life out on your own.

No, he actually... Here's what the word says, that he made you kings and priests. Now, let me be very careful here, because there's this modern-day idea where people walk around going, "Hey, what's up king? Hey, what's up queen? You're a king. You're a queen. You're a king. You're..." that's not what John is saying. Amen. That's fleshly, and if I could say it this way, I think I understand what people are trying to say, but it's at best, at best it's silly. you're not a king. You work the drive-thru at In-N-Out Said, I mean, come on, you're not a king. you're not over dominions. Here's what he's saying. Here's what he means by this. That when you're saved, you enjoy the loving, gracious rule and sovereign protection of Christ. And when you accepted Christ, you're not left alone. You have Jesus with you, loving you, guiding you through the Holy Spirit and the Word protecting you.

you're a king in this, that you're adopted into the family of God when you got saved. You have an earthly family, but your spiritual family, you're literally an heir and a joint heir with Christ. And during the millennial kingdom, which we'll study about later in this text, during the millennial reign of Christ, you will literally rule and reign with Christ because why? Because you're a king. Not because you're on this earth and a king. Good grief, absolutely not. Come on, you drive a used Mazda. The kings don't drive those. you're just a dude here, but you're a king over here Then he said, "You're a priest. He made you priest," meaning you have direct access to the Father. You don't have to go through another priest. You don't have to come to a pastor like me and say, "Hey, Pastor, I really need my prayer answered. Will you pray this prayer?"

Now, I'd love to pray for you, and we can pray together, and the Bible says, "Where two are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst." And man, we can certainly pray together. I'd love to, but you don't need me to pray for you. That's right. You don't need to come to a confessional box and say, "Pastor, I've done these things and I need to confess my sins so God can forgive me." No, you're a priest. You can go directly to God on your own, and I praise the Lord for that. Amen. 1 Peter 2:9.

The Bible says this, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; which in time past you were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." You are a royal priesthood. Verse number nine A royal priesthood. I'm glad that Hebrews chapter four teaches us that we have not a high priest, talking about Jesus, which could not be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, or Jesus knows what we went through, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He went through the same temptation, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, just like we did, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Friends, Old Testament saints had no idea or no concept that they could go directly to God. They could only go to God on certain days through a high priest. But when Jesus died on the cross and the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, it gave us direct access to God that know Him as our Savior, and we have become, because of His good grace and His glorious sacrifice, kings and priests unto God the Father Notice what he says. "To him be glory and dominion," or authority, dominion, control, dominion, glory, all of our praise, "forever and ever." Amen We've been introduced to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The one who Philippians chapter two, verse number 10 says that, "At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth." I read that wrong.

"That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." Every knee will bow Every knee that's ever lived, every knee that is alive today will bow before Jesus and proclaim And proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father The most resistant person that's ever lived, whoever that may be, or is, or will be, whoever that is, will one day bow their knee to Jesus Christ and proclaim him as Lord to the glory of the Father. But our prayer is that you be not a resistant person, but that you surrender to him and bow the knee of submission to him today. So have you trusted him as your savior? If you haven't, are you pursuing the claims of Christ? I would encourage you to pursue his claims with great intensity.

He could come back at any moment, as we saw last week, and we'll see in weeks to come. Our life, the Bible says, is a vapor. It appears for a little time and vanishes away. I don't want you to just quote-- Nobody should ever want you to just quote, "Accept Christ and be done with it." No, absolutely not. We want you to get your questions answered. But by faith, we are praying that you will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, who loves you and gave himself for you. And in just a moment, we'll stand. Our pastors will be here, some of our assistant pastors, and we have a team of counselors who would love to answer any questions that you have. And if they don't have the answers, they'll talk to us. And if we don't have the answers, we'll find them, and we'll figure them out.

'Cause we want you to have the answers to your questions, 'cause we really passionately desire that you would accept Christ as your savior If you're a Christian And you've met him You telling others that you met him? Are you telling others that you've seen Him? I know somebody you gotta meet. His name is Jesus. And is your life a testimony of encouragement and grace and peace enough that they would believe you? We got a lot-- I mean, this text is so deep and rich, and we have so much to think about. It really needs to conform our thinking, that these words aren't just in here so that we could have... Here's my fear of the Revelation. This is why I'm gonna be, like, I'm swinging hard right now in this. Because sometimes people believe like, "Oh, I'm gonna prove my academic prowess in the Revelation." Bro, the Revelation was not given so that you could find yourself or I could find myself intellectually superior to another person.

The Revelation was given to reveal the sovereign glorious Savior Jesus Christ, and my submissiveness to Him, and patterning my life after Him. So when I see something about the character of Christ, whenever I see the character of Christ, I'm deficient in that, and I need His grace to help me be more gracious and peaceful and comforting here at church, where I work, and certainly at home, so that I can be a blessing to the world and a testimony of the good grace of a wonderful Savior that I just got to introduce you to, and His name is Jesus, and He's worthy of our praise.