Short, John: Gospel Message-Revelation 1:17-18

Once again, I, I reiterate, we do give you a warm welcome. We're so glad you've come. We're so glad that you have come to support the preaching of the gospel, and, uh, there is no, uh, message like it because it is God's message for the whole world's people. This evening, I want us to turn to the last book in the Bible. The last book is called the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Maybe your Bible will say The Revelation of John, but really it's the, the unfolding, uh, it's the unveiling of, uh, the greatness of Jesus Christ. And, uh, chapter one of Revelation. And, uh, one of the twelve disciples had been banished to an island, but, uh, he was spiritual on this day. Those of us that are preachers, we have to do this, and often we fail because, you know, when you preach, you should, uh, read yourself full, read and read the Word of God and fill yourself. Then, uh, you write yourself clear, and then after you've written yourself clear, you pray yourself clear in, in your mind. And then you get up here at the platform and you preach yourself until you've sweated it all out and you've told people how wonderful is the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you go home and then you do it all over again. So we really do hope that you'll come night after night, not just tonight. Maybe there'll be just something one night for you, and you will then, uh, discover the greatest discovery you'll ever make is this. The God of whom I will speak to you tonight is the God of the second chance. The second chance. The God that sent his son Jesus Christ into the world, of whom we just opened the meeting in prayer. We were told that he is the God of creation, the one true God, has done such a work on our behalf that we be- we can be given the second chance. We call it, in Bible language, redemption, redemption. He buys back, he pays with an awesome cost the right to have us be given a second chance. Oh, I like that. There's not one of us that doesn't need a second chance. In Revelation chapter one, we read that this John the Apostle, he, uh, he was spiritual this day. He had, uh, read himself full, and, uh, verse seventeen: and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last. Sometimes in the Bible, uh, they will use the, the first letter of the Greek alphabet and the last, alpha and omega. And he, this one is the consummation of everything. He's the affirmation and the confirmation of all the promises of God. He's the first and the last. And he said, fear not, I'm the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and death. It says hell there really means Hades and death. We thank God that we can publicly read his word. My work this evening is to leave you with an impression, I hope, of, uh, this key here. Not just only the, the key of knowledge, but the keys to the kingdom of heaven, the keys of, of Hades and death, and the key of the house of David, and the key to the bottomless pit. You see, God has told us and has made this statement so clear that the Lord Jesus has the key to everything. You see, so great is his person and his work that all authority, all things have been delivered into his hand. Another verse I want us to read, uh, in in the Word of God is Luke's Gospel, Luke's Gospel, chapter eleven. And again, it's a, it's a verse relative to a key. Luke's Gospel, chapter eleven, right at near the end of the chapter. Fifty two. Eleven fifty two. Woe unto you, lawyers. Lawyers were those who, who knew the law of God. You've taken away the key of knowledge. You entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in you hindered. You'll notice over on the other side of the hall, and we were using it last night, the law. The law of God is the Ten Commandments. God gave these Ten Commandments, five that speak of man's responsibility to God. Five, seven, eight, nine, speak of man's responsibility to his neighbor. So somebody came to Jesus one day and said to him, how would you summarize among the ten, which commandments are the most important? And he said they can be summarized into two, because the first are all our, our respect toward God. And, uh, so therefore, uh, God then, uh, prepared these statements that, and committed them to Israel, the Jewish people, that they might preserve this as God's standard, the, uh, the standard for the entire universe. And so these five commands were given to show this is man's responsibility to God. Last night we were speaking on this, that, uh, I can remember the occasion when I realized for the first time that, uh, oh dear, I'm undone, because these commandments speak of God's demand for his creature. This is what God requires of the creation of mankind, because when, because when he made us, he made us in his own image. We have the image of God upon us because we are different to all other creatures. We are spirit, soul, and body. When God created mankind, he breathed into him the breath of life. He received something directly from God, different to all, so mankind is not just a, uh, an advanced animal. That's why th- those godless people who want to explain the universe without God, they try to present a theory of man evolving. We haven't evolved from, uh, from lesser creatures, from an animal creation. We are creatures that God created in his image to have very special fellowship with him, spiritual, physical, and soul. So we are very, very special, but God created us to be for himself, to fellowship with him. The Bible then presents, because of listening to the wrong voice, we sinned against God. Sin is an act of lawlessness. I want to do it my way. I want to go the way that I think is right. And the result has been what we see in the world today, a d- a world filled with the disaster of, of lawless will of man, of sorrow, of sickness and woe, brought into the world by the ac- the action of man's will. But on this occasion, in Luke's Gospel eleven fifty two, the Lord Jesus said to the, a very, uh, a very strong state- statement to them. These men who were handling the, the Ten Commandments, the laws of God. He said unto them, Woe to you. Woe, of course, meaning disaster. You've taken away the key of knowledge. You entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in you hindered. Now everyone knows that a key gives you authority and control. Once you have the key, you can turn the key, you can place it, and you, you have access. My question to all of us this evening is, have you arrived at the place where you, you feel that you've lost control or that you want to keep your hand on the control of your life, and yet there are certain things that you, you, you know you no longer can control. On another evening, I wish to speak on that, that there are, there are millions of people in the world today. I live among the most populous nation in the world. Wonderful people, brilliant people, and yet they so f- they feel so alone, so alone. They'll tell me we are, we are the th- th- the most massive nation in the world, and yet, although there is tremendous activity and they feel sort of all, uh, families all interlocked, and yet, and yet they feel so terribly alone. Is it a cosmic joke that an individual should feel so alone? No, God never made you that way, but something has happened to your person and your being. You now have this distinct feeling that you're all alone. It's not a cosmic joke, friend. It's the outcome of lawless sin to God. Now I'm here this evening to tell you, don't give up, don't give up, don't give in. Turn your eyes away from yourself and turn your eyes to God. The up look, not the in look, the up look to God will be your salvation because he did it for me, and if he can do it for me, he can do it for you. Here were these privileged men. They held in their hand the word of. These words can never save a person. All these words can do is give us God's requirement, the standard, so that we might know that's the standard. You shall love, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall love God, the creator God, with all your heart, with all your soul. Oh, I was undone because I realized from the time I woke up in the morning till the time I went to bed at night, I didn't think of God. There were days when I just thought of my own self, selfishly lit, but that cannot be because I'm created in the image of God, and I should be for God because God has given me a spirit, a soul, and a body. I'm a, I'm a tri-unity person. We're not just, we're not just an, an animal. We're not just a horse or a bear that finds its itself in the soliloquy of the wilderness. They find themselves at, at peace with nature. You can never do that. You can never be like that, friend. You become all the more lonely and alone because we were made to fellowship with God. And unless, unless we're reconciled with God before, before that last heartbeat in this body, and we step into eternity. Unless we're reconciled to him, all that we've done, every thought, every word, all of it is recorded. More of that tomorrow night. All of it is recorded, and then we have to give an answer for all that we have done against God. God wants us to, to seek righteousness in him, in Jesus Christ. So these men, these men, he was very severe with them. You have the word, you've got God's standard, and look what you've done. You could have, you could have helped people to, to find God, but what were they doing? They were, they were obviously, uh, well, they should have been expounding God's standard. They should have been expounding the word of God, teaching and, and saying the the great standard of God is blessing for all who put their trust in God. Instead of that, instead of helping the ordinary people to change their mind, to to to believe in what God has said, instead of that, they hindered people. Maybe it was that, um, uh, they'd just become to philosophize. Maybe they'd just begun talking about themselves or, or, uh, saying, uh, look, look at me and look at my standard, look at me rather than look at God. So it's a very solemn passage because these lawyers were denunciated by the Lord himself. It was something like they were stealing or they were hiding, they were taking away the key. You see, God's word unlocks the key for me to, to derive the understanding of myself and of God. It's the key to understanding. But you know, a key won't, won't save us. But the Lord Jesus in John chapter eight said this, in John chapter eight, John's Gospel chapter eight, He was speaking, and uh, the, the Jewish people really resented the fact that he was so, uh, engrossed with God that he said, my life, because I've come from eternity, before he came into the world, he existed. He's the first to have ever done that, that. We were born, and before we were born, we never existed. But this amazing person, before he came into the world, he existed. And when he spoke to the religious Jews, verse forty eight, the Jews said, don't we say well that you're a Samaritan? You're a mixed breed, because they they had contempt for the Samaritans, and uh, we we we, we have a, uh, another part in the Bible, Christians, we talk about the good Samaritan, and actually, uh, he's not, it doesn't say he's good in the Bible, just says he's a Samaritan because he was the one who cared for his neighbor more than the religious people, more than the Jews. But they, they so despised these people who were half related to them, they were only half Jews, so they used the, the normal ploy, racial prejudice, and they said, surely you're a Samaritan and you've got a demon. But Jesus answered and said, I have not a demon, I honor my father, and you seek to dishonor me. I seek not my own glory, there is one that seeks and judges. So notice the word honor and respect. You see, the Bible comes to us today in our day and age, and wants us to, to get the God factor in our lives. Where we are today in history is that most people do not have time for God. They don't have time. They do not make time for God. That's why the first five commands are all about what our relationship should be to God. God wants our heart. We should love the Lord our God with all of our. Number two, we should love God with our hands. They should not be turned to idolatry. Number three, we should not use our tongues to just, uh, say what we want to say in cruelty and viciousness to others. God wants our tongues to be devoted to him. But then, number four, they had to just, on the seventh day, keep that sacred to God because they were a part of the creation. That's a creation seventh day rest. But the Lord Jesus was saying, time! Those who don't make time for God will be deceived by Satan. God wants our time. And then finally, he wants us to respect the source of life that came, caused us to be born into the world, our parents respect life. Respect, respect. If you were to ask, uh, the, uh, the Negroes of of America, what is it that you're always complaining about? Why are you always whining and saying I'm the victim? Why are you always saying that everyone's against me? It's racial prejudice against me. What is it you want? And I'll tell you, we want spec, spec, meaning we want respect. They feel that because they disrespected themselves, and uh, maybe uh, in in their little enclave, they've not lived very honorably, they feel that uh, that people despise them. That's not the issue. The issue is you don't respect yourself. If you respect God, you'll respect your neighbor. But here's the next part, friend. If we don't respect God, I'm not talking about love. If we don't respect God, we won't respect our neighbor, we won't respect ourselves, and we will have no honor, no honor. Why is it today that we are a part of a world that has so little respect to each other? We use and abuse neighbors and friends when we have lost our honor, honor to God, honor to our country, honor to our family, honor to all. It is because we've lost the time necessary that we should give to God. But still, the key is in the hand of the Lord Jesus. You see, in the verse that I read to you from, from uh, uh, Revelation chapter one, he said, I am alive, I was dead. That's, that's incredible, is it not? And as you are brought face to face, friend, with Jesus Christ, here's the, here's the shock that we meet individually, that he was dead and he is alive, and he has the key to death and to Hades. Of course, death simply means the grave, because death for us now is the grave, the place for the body. You see, our spirit, our soul never perishes. It exists forever because when God breathed into us and gave to us that which we have that marks us out as distinctly different from all other creation, we have this conscious understanding of an affinity, a link to God, made in the image and in the likeness of God. But he says, I was dead and I am alive. And we, as we come to Easter, we remember that he went in between those two evenings, he went into death. He tasted death for every creature. So my simple proposition to you this evening is, have you ever been introduced to the most wonderful man alive today, Jesus Christ, the most wonderful man alive today. Don't listen to the, to the deceit and the deception, the blasphemy that is put out about him. He, he permits that which is said about him. We don't take people to court for their blasphemy against us, the cartoons and the filth that emits from their mouths about Jesus Christ. Others do about their prophets for a very special reason. God is not judging the world today. He's, he's offering the free opportunity to whosoever will believe his word, they might experience the second chance. They might experience what it is to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life, a life that is incomparable to the first life, a life, eternal life from Jesus Christ, risen, resurrected, seated at God's right hand. He was dead, he is alive, and he has the keys to Hades and to death. The grave is the place for the body. He has the key to death, and at the moment he says, arise from the dead, from the grave, the living, those who have believed and have this new life, they will be raised, their f- their bodies, their physical being will be raised and linked to their spiritually eternal life, and they will be glorified with him. He will also say to every unbeliever, he'll say, rise, he has the key to the grave, to death, and he will cause all to come out of the grave, and their, their bodies will be linked to their never to perish soul. It exists forever, and they will stand before his great white throne, and they will hear those awesome words, depart to the lake of fire, where the, where the worm never dies, the conscience lives for eternity, and, and, and with indescribable agony of conscience says, why? Why did I not listen to what God said? And for the ages of eternity, regret, regret that they never heard the, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because, you see, I want to leave those words with you tonight, because here are his words. He that hears my word and believes on him that sent me shall pass from death to life. He won't go into the condemnation. He will experience forgiveness of all his, his actions, and he will be enlightened. The scales of his eyes and heart will be lifted, and he will see, and it would just be like life from the dead, because, you see, the Lord Jesus has the key, he all the keys are in his hand. He has the key to the grave, but you see, those that have gone to Hades, he has the key to Hades. That's the first, the temporary prison. All are in Hades today, who in their lifetime refused to believe the word of God. They rejected God from their lives. They said, no God for me, no word for me. When they were told that man shall not live by food, it's not just bread, because in China it's rice. Man shall not live by food alone, but shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We live by the words of God, and by those words we're born again. We, we receive the seed of the word of God, and that the seed of God's word is incorruptible, because when you believe what God has said, God does a transaction, transmission in your life that is completely changing, a change within us. So he, he said, I have the keys. Of course, he's got the keys to government. David is, David, the, the, the, the king of, of Israel was promised that God would establish his name as a kingdom, and his kingdom would, uh, be the indissoluble kingdom, and it would be the first righteous kingdom. You see, when we come to the Bible, we're confronted with the heart of God, God's great love. Where I live in the world is no different to any other place, except because of maximum population. One of the most difficult words to ever understand is grace, free grace. See the little text there says, by grace are you saved through faith. Very few people in all the world understand what this word means, the grace of God. You see, where I live, people understand very clearly revenge. You don't have to live in Ital- in Italy to be among the mob to learn about revenge. You got mine, you attacked my family, I get revenge. Next generation, the sons must take it out, revenge. It's natural to take revenge. In Asia, it is extremely strong. Revenge is vital. You harmed mine, I will harm yours. The first law of human nature is self-preservation, and then second law is destruction of your enemy. It's the law of the sinner in his natural state. It's the Adam life today that is so cruel and brutal. The whole world understands bullfought, get even, revenge. They understand it. Those that are a little more acquainted with godly things, they believe in something else. They believe in justice. And so, not being so barbaric, they seek justice through the courts. Bring law into play. We, I want justice. And so they spend time and money and seek justice for the injustice they've experienced. But then those who have been exposed to the Bible are told, like one of my missionary friends, one of my missionary family, Mrs. Gladys Aylward, when the fanatics of India burned her husband and her two sons to death in the car, they came to her and they said, now, Gladys, what do you feel about India, where you went to preach the gospel and lived among the lepers? What do you feel now? They slaughtered your husband and and your two sons. She said, I will forgive them. I will forgive. So that's pretty wonderful. But you see, that's not grace. That's not grace. Number four, revenge is natural. Justice, we we it's we want justice in a in an unfair world. Forgiveness is a wonderful outcome of the gospel, but there's something greater, and that is grace. If you have destroyed a member of my precious family, you even you even slaughtered my son or my daughter, and I realize that you have done it because in the ignorance of your wickedness, you need to be given a second chance. And if you are for certain reasons given an opportunity, that it was perhaps manslaughter and not murder. If I were to say to you, I miss my son very much, but I want you to come home and I want you to take his place. I want you to be a part of my family, and I want you to be so equal with other members of the family that you inherit equally. You're an equal member. That's grace. That's grace. And friend, that's what I'm going to tell you about in these meetings of the gospel. God, for his great love wherewith he loved the creation that he has made, finds no discernible reason to forgive me, but because his heart is filled with this unspeakable love for the creation that he made for mankind, he sent his son into the world, the eternal son, the eternal son without form, without, without a form humanly, but this infinite being, one of the three persons of the Godhead, he came into the world, linked himself to our humanity, and took up our responsibilities, and did that which we should have done but could not do. He offered a devotion to God. Every waking moment, every thought of his mind and heart was utter devotion to God. All of his time, all of his words, all of his respect, all of his honor, a total devotion to God, and God was so pleased with what he did that he received that offering, that sacrifice, and then on the merit of that sacrifice, forgiveness of sins can be preached into the world because God says that all who believe on him can be justified from all things. It's an amazing message, and it seems too good to be true because it's all about God's grace. It's all about God's heart. Nothing to do with meritorious issues of my own working. It's not ever about me doing this or doing that. God has said that the keys to everything, the key to now knowing the heart of God, the key of knowledge, not like those, those lawyers of old who, who entered not in themselves in humility, but hindered others, not like that. The keys for all things have been placed into the hands of this most wonderful person alive today, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior of the world. Redemption on God's part was not a, was not a second thing that came in after we failed. It was designed by God who knew that when he created us, our state of innocency and yet devotion to him was weak. And so he wanted, uh, his creation to so believe him in holiness of truth that we would be so devoted to him, knowing that, uh, there was, uh, a- another, uh, wickedness around, and yet trusting him. So God had prepared this tremendous second chance for all mankind. It is incredible that God has lengthened this day of grace for two thousand years. Yet the Bible tells us he has done this because whosoever will may come. Whosoever will may believe. Uh, nothing that he will tell us will seem, first of all, reasonable. We will first of all feel that, uh, when we, when we seek God, we'll feel this is very strange. But, um, he- nothing that is presented in the Bible is beyond reason. So that's why he will say to us, come and reason with me. And the moment an individual says to God, I don't know, I don't understand, he will discover that God will say, it's all with Jesus Christ. All truth, all light, all love, but the manifest heart of God is demonstrated in, in him. Here's what the Bible says. In this was manifested the love of God, that he spared not his own son, he gave him, and that he would be the one that would, uh, cause the door to be opened. You see, there is one, all these keys may now be in the hand of the Lord, but there's one key that he does not have, and that key is the control of your own heart. And that key is in your hand. And that's why if a person, when they step into eternity, they will never be able to say that, well, uh, it was, i- i- i- it's not fair, it's not right. No, we have this unspeakable privilege to choose. So there is a verse in the Bible where at the end of, uh, a ministry, uh, in in Revelation, it says that he stands at the door and knocks, and if any person will open the door, if anyone will open the door, he will fellowship with him. He'll come in, and there will be fellowship restored. And so, uh, those of us that are Christians, I can tell you, everyone will say, I'm so glad, I'm so glad that he holds the key now to my life. So glad because, uh, I would open things and force doors and so forth, and it it's always misery when I do that. Because you see, the Bible says he holds the key and he opens the door and no man can shut it, and he shuts the door and no man can open it because all this power is in his hand, except in the decision of our own heart's choice. And the moment a seeking person for, for truth turns to God, he discovers that the Lord Jesus Christ has been seeking him, and then suddenly they meet. It's the mystery and wonder of God's salvation. I remember when, uh, I'm not much of a, of a driver. I know where to put, uh, uh, water in the radiator, and I know how to put petrol in the back, and, and I thank God that there are engineers and, and uh, garage people can do the rest. But I've got three sons, and they could hardly bear for me to be driving the car, and they just longed to get hold of the steering wheel. And then, of course, when they could drive, then uh they would say, uh, they've got control, they've got it. And uh then it was just pain for them to to drive with with father. Reminds me of the young man in the days when you sat with a horse or several horses, and if you were wealthy enough, you had two or four horses, and wow, you had four horsepower, and uh, you'd be sitting there alongside of dad, and uh, uh, there would be dad, and it was pretty, pretty prestigious to be uh, controlling a horse or four horses. And of course, can I have a try? Can let let me have the reign. Let me have a try. Well, maybe the father eventually would know that his boy was strong enough and capable enough to to take control. And so he'd pass over the reins to his boys. And of course, you know, you you'd get the horses going, and and then the horses could really, really get moving. Well, that's one thing, isn't it? But how to stop them? Maybe the horses would get the bit between their teeth, and they would enjoy it, and they were away. And then what would he do? He d- he just didn't know how to stop because he'd given free rein to the horses, and they were away. If he was a wise boy, his father would be watching, and he would say, pass the reins back to me. That's my message to you this evening, friend. I really hope I can catch your attention, and because if you discover that your life is out of control, if you know that there is in your life a lack of control, then I can tell you there's only one thing to do. Turn to the Savior. Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Pass to him the controls. Believe on him. We cannot see it, first of all, but he says to the world, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden with sin and sorrow and out of control. Come to me, and I'll give you rest. Learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart. You see, he is the way, the truth, and the life to God. No man comes to the Father but by him. All who believe on him, they find they have discovered an open door. He has the key to everything, to everything. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, we are thankful this evening that we can just pause for a moment, be quiet, and consider the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that Satan has his system, and he bullies, and he bundles, and he bests people and controls them, and he is the ultimate control freak. But we thank thee, our God, that the Lord Jesus is the good shepherd, and he laid down his life for the sheep, and he draws, and he wins, and he gathers, and he constrains, and he attracts by kindness, by love, and by grace. We ask our God that thou would help us this evening to turn our eyes away from the difficulties that exist in our lives and to pass the reins to him, and to say, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. I come to God, and I believe that he who has said, he that hears my voice and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life. We thank you, our God, that we can, uh, uh, although we may have been disconnected and, uh, disorientated in life, we can trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we respect God, we will learn to honor God. And then, uh, we thank thee, our God, all things are made plain. All things are explained to us, and we discover that the redemption price the Lord Jesus paid makes it possible for us to have the second chance. We thank thee, our God, that he that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has everlasting life. We r- rejoice this evening that this life is not a life on probation like the life of Adams, but it's a life everlasting. We thank thee that the Lord Jesus had to go into death, the the deservant death that was ours, that he would shed his very lifeblood, and that lifeblood alone is the atoning sacrifice and can cleanse us from all our perverse sins. We thank thee, our God, that, uh, the the future then is filled with blessing and joy. We thank thee, our God, that we can enjoy this right now. We thank thee then this evening for our gathering together. Bless us, our God, and cause, if there be anyone with us this evening, the joy of knowing that they can turn to God, who, uh, will turn not one away. We thank thee for the words of our Lord Jesus, who has so clearly stated, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Lord, we are so glad to have this day of privileged opportunity to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to experience the new birth, to pass from death unto life. We thank thee. We thank thee for our food and our fellowship together. Pray that thou bless us because we ask these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.