{"id":18950,"date":"2018-06-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-002-a-forgotten-blessing\/"},"modified":"2018-06-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-03T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-002-a-forgotten-blessing","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-002-a-forgotten-blessing\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 002 – A Forgotten Blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18950","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 002 - A Forgotten Blessing","sermon_date":"20180603","sermon_month":"6","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5805,"sermon_slides":5812,"sermon_mp3":5814,"sermon_id":"63181036370","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"1:1-4b","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nA Forgotten Blessing\n\n6-3-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 1:1-4b\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 2\n\nIf we could take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 1 and verse 1, the Book of Revelation is pretty easy to find, Amen, easier than Habakkuk\u00a0 or something like that.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is A Forgotten Blessing<\/em>.\u00a0 And we\u2019re moving into what\u2019s called the prologue of the Book of Revelation, which spans about eight verses.\u00a0 It\u2019s basically an introduction.\u00a0 And the prologue is going to be followed by an epilogue in chapter 22 (assuming we get there before the rapture happens) and that\u2019s sort of a conclusion in chapter 22 verses 6 through the end of the book.\u00a0 So you have an epilogue, prologue, epilogue.\u00a0 And the last time I was with you we sort of introduced the book by asking and answering ten questions about the Book of Revelation, sort of giving you the dates, the time period, where John was; he\u2019s essentially marooned on the island of Patmos under the reign of Domitian at the conclusion of the first century and yet God had a purpose for John being there on that deserted island, to receive from Jesus Christ Himself the final word to His church and the final source of divine truth in the Bible that God has communicated.\n\nAs we work through the prologue, and I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll get through all of this even today, there\u2019s so much here, but here\u2019s sort of an outline we can follow.\u00a0 And many times you can go to a movie and walk in a couple minutes late and miss the introduction and then you\u2019re sort of lost through the whole movie\u2026 what\u2019s this movie about?\u00a0 And I sort of feel that way about this prologue, this introduction.\u00a0 It really gets us moving on the right footing, the right path and we start to see in the book themes that are developed here early on.\u00a0 And if you miss the introduction you\u2019re sort of confused as to why things are happening in the Book of Revelation.\n\nBut notice, if you will, Revelation 1:1, and we have in Revelation 1:1 the title of the book.\u00a0\u00a0 Notice Revelation 1:1, it says, \u201cThe Revelation\u201d which is the Greek noun apokalopsis<\/em>, \u201cThe Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show His Bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John.\u201d\u00a0 That word \u201cRevelation\u201d (apokulopsis<\/em> in the Greek), what does that mean?\u00a0 That means a disclosure.\u00a0 It means something has been hidden in ages past but now has been fully revealed.\n\nHenry Morris, in his commentary on\u00a0 the Book of Revelation says this: \u201cIt must be stressed that Revelation means \u201cunveiling,\u201d not \u201cveiling.\u201d\u00a0 And that may seem like a simple idea but it kind of refutes so much of how the church has treated the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 The Book of Revelation is secret, it contains some kind of secret information known only to the few.\u00a0 The Book of Revelation is too difficult to understand.\u00a0 You know, this sort of mindset!\u00a0 A lot of pastors and church leaders won\u2019t teach the Book of Revelation because they\u2019re afraid it\u2019s going to divide the congregation and my answer to that is well, the whole Bible is going to divide your congregation if you let it speak.\u00a0 I mean, the Bible is a controversial book and the Book of Revelation is no different.\n\nGod gave us the Book of Revelation to understand.\u00a0 Now there are symbols in the book and I\u2019ll be teaching you how those symbols can be interpreted but you should understand that from the beginning that this book is something that\u2019s an unveiling.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the title of the book means.\u00a0\u00a0 And you\u2019ll also notice that a apokalopsis<\/em> (unveiling) is a singular noun.\u00a0 This is not the Book of Revelations<\/u>, as many call it, it\u2019s the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 It\u2019s a singular vision that John received, I believe in a particular day, on the island of Patmos.\u00a0 It\u2019s all connected.\u00a0 It\u2019s very different than the Book of Daniel that we just emerged from where Daniel, from about age 16 to about age 90 received many, many different revelations and many visions at different times.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve walked through those in the Book of Daniel.\n\nThe Book of Revelation is very different; it\u2019s a singular vision.\u00a0 God showed up to John on the island of Patmos and gave him a command to write, write down.\u00a0 In fact, the word \u201cwrite\u201d occurs about twelve times in the book, \u201cwrite down what you see and what you hear.\u201d\u00a0 And it\u2019s also interesting, this is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 One of the things to understand about the Holy Spirit is when the Holy Spirit gets ahold of somebody or something it will always point towards Christ.\u00a0 Jesus revealed that in the Upper Room, that the Spirit would testify of Him.\u00a0 The Spirit of God is not interested in pointing to someone\u2019s literary style, someone\u2019s popularity, someone\u2019s giftedness\/ what He\u2019s interested in is pointing to Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s how you know when your life is being directed in a Spirit led manner.\u00a0 People will see in you the character of Jesus Christ.\n\nSo this book is about Jesus.\u00a0 In fact, in Revelation 19:10 we can read these words, we can look ahead, \u201cFor the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.\u201d\u00a0 If a person ignores the Book of Revelation, if a person neglects the Book of Revelation, they will walk away with a very lopsided view of who Jesus is because this book does not portray Him as the suffering Messiah as is predominant in the Gospels.\u00a0 There are references to His death, as I\u2019ll be showing you, in this book but this book points to Jesus as the reigning King, not as the lamb but as the lion.\u00a0 Not as the one who suffered and died 2,000 years ago on a cross, being rejected by His own nation but someone who\u2019s coming back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.\u00a0 And the issue is does your life align with Him.\u00a0 If not, a person will experience violent judgment upon the return of Christ.\n\nAnd I fear that we have focused so predominantly in the church on the sacrifice of Christ and the humility of Christ and the servanthood of Christ (and all of those are very real truths) that we have sort of a lopsided view of who Jesus is.\u00a0 We\u2019ve also failed to see Him as the coming Judge and the reigning King.\u00a0 So as we move through the book I would encourage you not to lose Jesus in the midst of all of these very interesting and exciting details.\n\nYou go to the second half of verse 1 and into verse 2 and what you have revealed here is a chain of communication.\u00a0 It says, verse 1, \u201cThe Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him<\/u> to show His Bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, [2] who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even<\/em> to all that he saw.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Now the last time I was with you I showed you that there was actually a chain of communication here.\u00a0 The vision starts with the Father and is passed down to the son, then it\u2019s passed down to an angel, then to John himself;\u00a0 John is told to write it in a book and he is to send it to the readers, or the preachers over the seven churches of Asia Minor.\u00a0 And as the Scripture is read (and no doubt explained) the listener who heeds and hears these words is promised a blessing. We\u2019ll talk about that blessing in just a minute.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice what it says here, \u201cwhich God gave to Him to show His Bond-servants, the things which must soon take place.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So the vision goes from the Father, who originated the vision, to the Son, and you\u2019ll notice that this vision is given to the \u201cBond-servants\u201d of God.\u00a0 You say well what is a Bond-servant?\u00a0 The Greek word is doulos <\/em>which means a slave.\u00a0 There\u2019s so much talk today about our plans and our goals and our agenda and what we want out of life that we have lost sight of the fact that if you are \u201cin Christ\u201d by way of faith and have submitted to the discipleship of Christ then all of that \u201cme\u201d stuff ends.\u00a0 Our lives are not about us, our lives are not about ourselves, our lives are not about our goals, our plans, all of it comes\u00a0 unto submission to the authority and the Lordship of Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s what being a disciple is.\n\nBut let me tell you something, membership has its privileges and the reason I say that is because when we begin to walk out the walk of discipleship under the Lordship and authority of Jesus Christ, I\u2019ll tell you this much\u2026your mind will go down paths it never would have gone down before.\u00a0 Your mind will be enlightened and illuminated by things, such as the Holy Spirit, that you\u2019ve never understood before.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how you can determine if you\u2019re really growing in Christ.\u00a0 As you\u2019re growing in Christ the Lord is showing you further and further and further things.\u00a0 There are many Christians that say well, I don\u2019t want to go to a Bible study on the Book of Revelation because I\u2019ve heard all that.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to go to a Bible study on the Book of Romans because I\u2019ve heard all that.\n\nThe reality is maybe you understand certain things about Revelation or Romans or any other Book of the Bible that you want to study but here\u2019s what the Holy Spirit is going to do\u2014He\u2019s going to take you deeper and deeper and deeper into your understanding.\u00a0\u00a0 This is what happens to the bondservants, the slaves of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The Book of Amos, chapter 3 and verse 7 says this:\u00a0 \u201cSurely the Lord GOD does nothing unless He first reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets.\u201d\n\nWhy is it that so many Christians have sort of plateaued in their understanding of God?\u00a0 They\u2019ve never really submitted to His authority as disciples.\u00a0 The privilege of discipleship is an invitation to all Christians to come deeper into the things of God and what you discover is God is in the business of revealing things to us before they happen.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the bondservants are the target of this particular book.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that Jesus Christ, in John 15:15 said this to His disciples, \u201cNo longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.\u201d\u00a0 As we walk with Christ under His direction, under His power, we learn things; we have insight into things that we could never learn any other way.\u00a0 Yes, our lives are living sacrifices unto God as bondservants but membership has its privileges as the insights come to us in greater and greater proportion as we walk with Him.\n\nNow you\u2019ll notice also in verse 1 this word, \u201cThe Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show His bondservants the things which must\u201d what? \u201csoon take place.\u201d\u00a0 The reason I bring this up is there\u2019s an awful lot of confusion today on what that really means.\u00a0 There is a movement today called preterism.\u00a0 Preterism was taught to some extent by the late R. C. Sproul, it\u2019s taught to some extent by Hank Hanegraaff, and other somewhat popular Bible teachers.\u00a0 Preterism is growing in popularity throughout the Reformed community and movement.\u00a0 If you have your kids in home schooling in any sense they will reject many of the curriculum that is promoted by the home school movement, not all but some.\u00a0 They will reject the futurist interpretation of the Book of Revelation (that we\u2019re promoting here) and they will promote something called preterism.\u00a0 Preterism means past; you can describe it this way: stick a fork in it, it\u2019s done!\n\nThese are folks that are telling you that the Book of Revelation already happened.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that amazing.\u00a0 The beast is not the antichrist of the future, the beast is Nero in the first century, etc. etc. etc.\u00a0\u00a0 And how would they arrive at this conclusion?\u00a0 Through that word \u201csoon.\u201d\u00a0 And they\u2019ll tell you well, this can\u2019t be soon because this hasn\u2019t happened for 2,000 years so this had to be something that happened back in the period of the apostles or just after.\u00a0 Many people link it with the sacking of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D.\u00a0 70.\n\nSo that sort of demands that we start to talk about what this issue of \u201csoon\u201d means.\u00a0 These are what you call the time texts.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if you can see that screen very carefully but there\u2019s three words that are used:\u00a0 shortly or quickly, that\u2019s the Greek word tachos<\/em>.\u00a0 By the way, from tachos <\/em>we get the word tachometer, which measures speed.\u00a0 And then in the Book of Revelation, mostly at the beginning of the book and at the end of the book John will tell us that these things are \u201cnear\u201d or \u201cat hand.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the Greek word eggus<\/em>.\u00a0 And then John will also use the word m\u00e9ll\u014d<\/em> which means about to, or on the point of.\n\nAnd the preterist will seize on those words and say you know what, these things had to have happened in the lifespan of the apostles because of the words quickly, shortly, near, or at hand.\u00a0\u00a0 And I\u2019m here to tell you that those words can mean something that had to happen in the lifetime of the apostles, that\u2019s a possibility.\u00a0 But there are other possibilities as well.\u00a0 Those words that I just explained don\u2019t have a one size fits all definition.\u00a0 They mean different things, depending on the context that they are found within.\n\nTachos<\/em>, what can that mean?\u00a0 Well, that could be describing something happening very fast, within the lifespan of the apostles.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that used in 1 Timothy 3:14, \u201cI hope to come to you soon\u201d Paul says.\u00a0 When he says \u201csoon\u201d that means within the next year, two years, etc.\u00a0 But let me tell you something, tachos<\/em> can also be an adverb.\u00a0 What is an adverb?\u00a0 An adverb modifies a what?\u00a0 A verb!\u00a0 Adverbs in English typically end in l-y, Joe ran quickly; ran is the verb, quickly is the adverb describing how Joe ran.\u00a0 Tachos<\/em> can refer to something that when it happens it will happen fast, like an adverb.\u00a0 It\u2019s used that way in Acts 22:18 which says leave Jerusalem quickly.\u00a0 [Acts 22:18, \u201cand I saw Him saying to me, \u2018Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.\u2019\u201d]\n\nQuickly is describing the speed at which the verb takes place.\u00a0 You see that?\u00a0 Let me put it this way?\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of like going to fill your car up with gasoline and you\u2019ll drive in and it will say \u201cinsert credit card here\u201d and then something comes up on the screen that says \u201cremove card quickly.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not saying you need to remove the card in the next ten seconds or you don\u2019t get any gas (although maybe it is saying that, I don\u2019 t know).\u00a0 But what it\u2019s actually saying is when you remove the card do it fast, do it quickly.\n\nAnd what John is saying through this word \u201csoon\u201d or tachos<\/em> is simply this:\u00a0 when these events happen they\u2019re going to happen with great suddenness.\u00a0 Surely there can be some postponement of time before these events happen but when these events happen they\u2019re going to happen lickety-split, sort of like the flood in Noah\u2019s day.\u00a0 Noah preached about a flood according to Genesis 6:3 for a hundred and twenty years.\u00a0 [Genesis 6:3, \u201cThen the LORD said, \u2018My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s a long time; that\u2019s about half the length, duration wise, of the United States of America.\u00a0 That\u2019s a long time to be warning about a flood.\u00a0 But let me tell you something, when the flood came it came suddenly, didn\u2019t it?\u00a0 It came quickly.\u00a0 That\u2019s how tachos <\/em>is being used here.\n\nThis is why Jesus, when\u00a0 He describes these things in Matthew 24 analogizes it to a woman in labor.\u00a0 Every woman in labor knows that when birth pains begin to increase in intensity and frequency you\u2019d better get moving over to the hospital and the doctor better not look at his day time and say well I can\u2019t help you right not, I\u2019ve got a golf game I\u2019ve to tend to, I\u2019ll be back in a few hours.\u00a0 Because when the birth pains hit and they come in intensity and frequency that baby is going to be delivered whether you\u2019re ready for it or not.\n\nThat\u2019s what John is saying here; that\u2019s what he means when he says \u201csoon.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s not saying these things had to happen within his lifetime; he\u2019s saying that WHEN they happen they are going to overcome the unsuspecting world with tremendous speed or velocity.\n\nNow what about some of these other words, the word engys<\/em> is used many times in the Book of Revelation to describe the nearness of these events.\u00a0 So is the word m\u00e9ll\u014d<\/em>.\u00a0 But what you\u2019ll discover in these words is they can also mean, yes chronology but they can also mean imminency, meaning at any moment.\u00a0 There is no prophetic sign that must transpire first before these events come upon the earth.\u00a0 They\u2019re imminent, they\u2019re in a state of expectation, they can come at any moment.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how the word engys<\/em> is\u00a0 used in Philippians 4:5, \u201cthe Lord is near.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Philippians 4:5, \u201cLet your gentle spirit<\/em> be known to all men. The Lord is near.\u201d]\u00a0 The Lord\u2019s coming is so near it could disrupt this church service, it could cut short this sermon (some of you may be praying for that to happen), \u201cm\u00e9ll\u014d\u201d <\/em>is the exact same way.\u00a0 1 Peter 5:1, \u201cand the one who will share the glory that is to be revealed,\u201d it can happen at any moment.\u00a0 [1 Peter 5:1, \u201cTherefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.\u201d]\n\nSo these are not things indicating that these events happened in the first century contrary to what you hear from preterism.\u00a0 What it\u2019s revealing is the speed in which these things will happen and the any moment expectancy of these things as well.\n\nSo the vision goes from the Father to the Son, looking back there at verse 1, it continues on and it says, \u201cwhich God gave to him to show His bondservants the things which must soon take place, and He sent and communicated it by His angel\u2026.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0[Revelation 1:1, \u201cThe Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show His bondservants \u00a0the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, [2] who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even<\/em> to all that he saw.\u201d ]\n\nSo now the vision is going to go from the Father to the Son to an angel.\u00a0 And this\u00a0 is sort of a problem for John because John is going to receive this vision, not so much from the Father and the Son who originated the vision but the messenger is an angel himself.\u00a0 John, at the end of his little epistle, 1 John 5:21, writes this: \u201cLittle children, guard yourselves from idols.\u201d\u00a0 What is an idol?\u00a0 An idol is something that we elevate above God in importance in our hearts, money, power, pleasure, whatever the issue is that takes the place of God.\u00a0 John says we are to rid ourselves, \u201cLittle children \u2026 from idols.\u201d\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting how John, even the great Apostle John, didn\u2019t follow his own advice because what John does on the island of Patmos in the first century is he is so overwhelmed by this vision that he actually begins to worship the angel that gave the vision rather than God.\n\nYou\u2019ll find John doing this at the conclusion of the book, in Revelation 19:10, \u201cThen I fell at his feet to worship him.\u201d That\u2019s the angel that simply passed the baton off to John, \u201cBut he\u201d that\u2019s the angel, \u201csaid to me, \u2018Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God.\u201d Worship God the angel says, don\u2019t worship me, I\u2019m just an errand boy, worship the Lord!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And John says little children, rid yourself of idols.\u00a0 John became an idolater here, sort of in an embarrassing sense at the very end of his career, and he\u2019s sharply rebuked for it.\n\nAnd if that weren\u2019t bad enough, he does it a second time, three chapters later.\u00a0 Over in Revelation 22:8-9 it says this: \u201cI, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.\u201d\n\n[9] But he\u201d that\u2019s the angel, \u201csaid to me, \u2018Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Two times John has to be corrected.\n\nIt is the nature of the human heart to become idolatrous.\u00a0 It even is the nature of the human heart to become idolatrous within the church of Jesus Christ where people begin to worship the instrument that God uses rather than God Himself.\u00a0 And you look at denominations after denomination as they sort of fossilize, what happens in many cases is the people in that denomination are no longer worshipping the Lord, they\u2019re worshipping what God did through such and such or so and so.\u00a0 And so this is something that John himself, who warned about this, fell into being so enthralled with the vision itself.\u00a0 And it\u2019s something we need a warning about.\u00a0 We\u2019re not to worship people, we\u2019re to worship the Lord.\n\nWhat are we, after all, as servants of the Lord?\u00a0 We\u2019re just bondservants, fellow slaves.\u00a0 If the Lord has given you a spiritual gift of some sort, and by the way, on the authority of the Word of God every believer has at least one spiritual gift, what you will discover if and when God uses you for any significant reason people will want to naturally give credit to you.\u00a0 Just like John was trying to give credit to an angel.\u00a0 And our response to that is not to absorb the praise; if a person absorbs the praise they\u2019re on dangerous ground because Isaiah 42:8 says God will not share His glory with another.\u00a0 [Isaiah 42:8, \u201cI am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.\u201d]\n\nIn fact, 1 Timothy 3:6 says don\u2019t put a novice into a position of authority within the church because he will fall into the trap of Satan.\u00a0 [1 Timothy 3:6, \u201cNot a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.\u201d]\u00a0 We studied Satan in the Old Testament, Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, other passages, the sin of Satan was he began to attract the praise to himself, not seeing himself as an instrument of God but as the source of the blessing.\u00a0 And of course this is sort of a trap for those of us involved in pastoral ministry, preaching and teaching.\u00a0 People come up and they want to say, if the Lord speaks to them through a sermon\u2026 well, your sermon did this for me today, and I\u2019m so grateful for your ministry.\u00a0 And if we\u2019re not very careful with those words of adulation we\u2019ll start to sort of think, you know\u2026 you know it was a good sermon after all.\u00a0 And you know, I was up late at night putting this thing together and I deserve a little credit, don\u2019t I?\u00a0 NO, this is the work of the Holy Spirit; this is the work of God.\u00a0 We need to deflect praise of men back to God where it belongs or we find ourselves on shaky ground.\n\nI think it was Billy Graham, said here are the three \u201cG\u2019s\u201d to avoid in ministry, and if\u00a0 you watch how ministers fall and fail it\u2019s always these three words beginning with the letter G.\u00a0 Number 1, he said don\u2019t touch the G<\/u>irls\u2026sexual immorality.\u00a0 Number 2, don\u2019t touch the G<\/u>old, don\u2019t put yourself in a position where you\u2019re embezzling funds.\u00a0 And then the third thing he said is don\u2019t touch the G<\/u>lory.\u00a0 Don\u2019t touch, don\u2019t take for yourself that which is for God only.\u00a0 And so when people come up to me occasionally they\u2019ll come up and they\u2019ll say you know, your ministry is a blessing and this and that, I usually say well praise the Lord, praise God!\u00a0 Praise God that God can take a lump of clay and use us for His purposes.\u00a0 And that\u2019s sort of a great way to sort of get the attention off of ourselves and back to the Lord where it belongs.\n\nSo this vision comes from the Son, from the Father to the Son to an angel and notice that the angel, end of verse 1, beginning of verse 2, hands this off to John, the apostle.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice also in verse 1 John also is called a bondservant.\u00a0 [verse 1, \u201c\u2026 and He sent and communicated it<\/em> by His angel to His bond-servant John,\u201d] \u00a0We, as readers, are called bondservants, verse 1; John himself is called a bondservant.\u00a0 So he sees himself just as a slave passing off God\u2019s information to fellow slaves.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why John is called \u201cfaithful\u201d in his task.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t called, like Daniel, to understand every nuance of this, he was called to faithfully record it, just as Daniel, the prophet had done.\n\nAnd that\u2019s really the issue with God;\u00a0 God is not so much interested in our success as He\u2019s interested in our faithfulness.\u00a0 God may have called you to do something, whatever it is; it may be something minor, it may be something that doesn\u2019t get a lot of limelight but you just keep doing it and doing it and doing it and\u00a0 you\u2019re fitting into the pattern of John, who was simply faithful to record what God revealed.\n\nIf\u00a0 you look at verse 2 it says, \u201cwho testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even<\/em> to all that he saw.\u201d\u00a0 John was faithful to record God\u2019s final phase of His redemptive plan in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 And not only that, John was faithful in other things.\u00a0 According to John 1:14 it says, \u201cAnd the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we even saw His glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.\u201d\u00a0 John says I was there at the first coming, and let me write to\u00a0 you a book about the first coming of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 We call that the Gospel of John.\u00a0 John was faithful to record exactly what the Holy Spirit surfaced in his mind about sixty years later.\u00a0 We call that John\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 And the faithfulness of John didn\u2019t stop there; God used him strategically to record the final phase of God\u2019s redemptive plan yet future.\u00a0 It\u2019s fascinating the role that John played in giving us the truths that we have; the first coming of Christ, the Gospel of John, the second coming of Christ, the Book of Revelation.\n\nSo we move from the title to the chain of communication and now we move to verse 3 which is the blessing.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled this message the forgotten blessing.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, what verse 3 says.\u00a0 \u201cBlessed\u201d that\u2019s the Greek word makarios,<\/em> it\u2019s the word that\u2019s used over and over again in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, \u201cBlessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.\u201d\u00a0 All of those blessings are beatitudes.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same word here, makarios<\/em>, so there\u2019s a blessing here for us.\u00a0 \u201cBlessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0This is the first of seven blessings pronounced in the Book of Revelation. \u00a0I call these, or these have been called the seven beatitudes of the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 It\u2019s the repetition of makarios<\/em>.\u00a0 First of all there\u2019s a blessing on the reader, verse 3.\n\nRevelation 14:13, there\u2019s a blessing on the dead.\u00a0 [Revelation 14:13, \u201cAnd I heard a voice from heaven, saying, \u2018Write, \u2018Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'\u2019\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Yes,\u2019 says the Spirit, \u2018so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 Those that die in the midst of these events because they\u2019re not here to experience the rest of them, \u201cabsent from the body is to be\u201d what? \u201cpresent with the Lord.\u201d\n\nRevelation 16, there is a blessing on those looking for the return of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Are you looking for the return of Jesus Christ or have we become so preoccupied with the things of this world that our eyes are no longer focused heavenward where they belong?\n\nThere\u2019s another blessing, Revelation 19:9 of the marriage supper participants. [Revelation 19:9, \u201cThen he said to me, \u2018Write, \u2018Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.\u2019 And he said to me, \u2018These are true words of God.\u2019\u201d]\n\nThere\u2019s another blessing, Revelation 20:6 of those that participate in the first resurrection.\n\n[Revelation 20:6, \u201cBlessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.\u201d]\u00a0 We\u2019ll be explaining all of these things as we go.\n\nAnother blessing on the reader, Revelation 22:7. \u00a0[Revelation 22:7, \u201cAnd behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.\u201d]\n\nThere\u2019s a blessing on those who partake, Revelation 22:14, the partakers of the tree of life in the eternal state.\u00a0 [Revelation 22:14, \u201cBlessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.\u201d]\n\nSeven blessings, the repetition of makarios<\/em>.\u00a0 Notice the number seven here; we\u2019re going to see the number seven quite a bit.\u00a0 Charles Ryrie says this, he says: \u201cThe number seven occurs fifty-four times in the book and appears more frequently than any other number.\u00a0 It is associated with completion, fulfillment and perfection.\u201d\n\nIn the Book of Revelation there are seven churches and seven spirits and seven lampstands and seven stars and seven seals on the scrolls and seven horns and seven eyes of the Lamb and seven angels and seven trumpets and seven thunders and seven heads of the dragon and seven heads of the beast, seven golden bowls, seven kings, etc. etc. etc. etc.\u00a0 Of course when we think of the number seven we think of the creation week, how God brought the whole thing into fulfillment in six days, rested on the seventh.\u00a0 And we see that same concept in the Book of Revelation where God is sort of bringing the whole thing, all of redemptive history together under one umbrella.\u00a0 Completion!\n\nIf you don\u2019t have any knowledge of the Book of Revelation you don\u2019t know how the story ends.\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t know how the themes that begin so early in the Bible find their resolution.\u00a0 I mean, how does the issue of sin get resolved?\u00a0 How does the issue of Satan get resolved?\u00a0 How does the issue of the nation of Israel get resolved?\u00a0 How does the issue of the church of Jesus Christ get resolved?\u00a0 How would we know these things had it not been for this divine disclosure where we learn the completion of all things.\u00a0 You simply cut yourself off from a knowledge of how things wrap up in God without a knowledge of the Book of Revelation.\n\nBut notice what it says here, verse 3, Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 1:3]\u00a0\u00a0 It never tells us what the blessing is.\u00a0 It tells me that if I become a student of the Book of Revelation I\u2019ll be blessed but what exactly is the blessing?\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of ink spilled on this.\u00a0 What is the blessing?\u00a0 I think it can mean different things for different folks but let me tell you how it worked in my life.\n\nWhen I got saved and finally started to grow in the things of God the very first area of Bible study that I became interested in was the area of Bible prophecy.\u00a0 That\u2019s always been a tremendous interest of mine and God did a dirty trick on me\u2026 actually it\u2019s not a dirty trick at all, it\u2019s a wonderful trick.\u00a0 Two hundred and seventh-eight of Revelations four hundred and forty verses allude to the Old Testament.\u00a0 So guess what I have to do to understand the Book of Revelation?\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to study the Old Testament.\u00a0 And frankly I\u2019ve got to study the rest of the Bible because the rest of the Bible reveals the themes that find their resolution in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Because the Holy Spirit gave me an interest in Bible prophecy and because this book has so much to say in terms of allusion back to the Old Testament I had to become a student of the whole Bible, all sixty-six books!\u00a0 And as I became more familiar with those prior sixty-five books suddenly the themes of the Book of Revelation started to make sense.\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s the blessing.\u00a0 Maybe an appetite in this world forces you to become a student of the whole Bible.\n\nAnother aspect of this blessing is you know where this world is headed.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to be gripped with fear and anxiety over the latest skirmish in the Middle East, over the latest fluctuation in the price of gold or over interest rates, over the economy, over the next election cycle.\u00a0\u00a0 You just sort of are relaxed about the whole thing because you know where the whole thing is headed.\n\nI\u2019ve watched basketball games, I played basketball, I\u2019ve watched many basketball games and I remember watching a game live on the edge of my seat cheering for my team, sweaty palms, not knowing which side was going to pull it out, and then the game came on later in terms of a taped delay, the exact same game, and because I knew the result, because I knew that my team was going to win, fortunately they did win, you could just sit back on the tape delay and\u00a0 you can just relax because you know what\u2019s going to happen.\u00a0 And this is what the Book of Revelation will do for you; you don\u2019t need to be in fear and gripped with fear about the future.\n\nSo many people live based on fear that they read on the internet about the latest headlines.\u00a0 I\u2019m not against looking at headlines, what I\u2019m in favor of though is interpreting those headlines through the lens of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 And it just gives you such a calming effect, the hysteria, the anxiety just starts to dissipate from life because we know where everything is headed.\u00a0 This is what I call the forgotten blessing.\u00a0 There is a blessing that God promises to those who become students of this Book.\n\nBut notice Revelation 1:3 very carefully, \u201cBlessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and\u201d what? \u201cheed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.\u201d\u00a0 The blessing is not just for those who read it and\u00a0 hear it but the blessing comes to those who heed it.\u00a0 And I believe that what is being described here is sort of a church service.\u00a0 It\u2019s part of the chain of communication, from the Father to the Son, to an angel, so John, to a book.\u00a0 Now who is this book dispatched to?\u00a0 To various angelos<\/em> or messengers of the seven churches.\n\nRevelation 2:1 says, \u201cTo the angel of the church in Ephesus write,\u201d in other words this book would ultimately be handed off to an angel of the church at Ephesus and six other churches and angelos<\/em> here, not in the first reference to an angel in the chain but a second reference to an angel in the chain I believe is a preacher or a pastor.\u00a0 John the Baptist, in Matthew 11:10 is also called in the Greek an angelos<\/em>, which means he was not a literal angel but a preacher.\u00a0 [Matthew 11:10, \u201cThis is the one about whom it is written, \u2018BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.'\u201d]\n\nAnd so when you look at this verse very carefully the blessing comes to those who read it to their congregations, I would take that to mean the pastors over the various churches in Asia Minor.\u00a0 And with the reading would also come the exposition of it.\u00a0 The exposition of it would be the explanation of it and the application of it.\u00a0 Did not the Apostle Paul tell Timothy, also in Ephesus, \u201cUntil I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and to teaching.\u201d \u00a0[1 Timothy 4:13]\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s what a pastor is supposed to do.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a preacher is supposed to do; he\u2019s supposed to read, expound or explain and apply.\n\nAnd as this ministry was being executed in the chain of communication there were those in Ephesus and the other churches that would hear these things.\u00a0 Consequently they would heed these things and they would apply these things and consequently the whole flock there in Ephesus and the other places would be blessed, sort of a miniature church service, a reading, an exposition and application to the hearer.\u00a0 The hearer hears it and the hearer applies it.\n\nAnd this is very important because a lot of people think that the sum total of spirituality is hearing things or reading things.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s not what the Bible says.\u00a0 The blessing comes to the person who applies in their daily walk, in their daily life, the things that they\u2019re learning.\u00a0 Don\u2019t think that you will have the blessing of God simply by filling your notebook up with information and your mind up with all kinds of interest\u00ading details. That\u2019s not where the blessing comes; it comes from heeding, it comes from application, it comes from allowing the Holy Spirit to deal with us in areas of our lives where they may not be right with God and the Holy Spirit, through the application of the Word of God will say well, this needs to change under My power!\u00a0 And we say to the Lord, I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to change this habit, or this mental state or mental pattern that I\u2019m in but I\u2019m willing to be taught, I\u2019m willing to be open to Your leading and Your empowerment to change.\u00a0 That\u2019s the life that\u2019s blessed.\n\nJesus, in the Gospel of John, chapter 13 and verse 17 says this: \u201cIf you know these things you are blessed if you do them,\u201d see that?\u00a0 Knowledge was never meant to be the final step in our growth process.\u00a0 It was meant to be a first step; knowledge has to turn into application.\u00a0 Knowledge has to turn into wisdom.\u00a0 What is wisdom?\u00a0 Knowledge applied.\u00a0\u00a0 There are a lot of people out there with knowledge but very little wisdom because they\u2019ve never applied what they\u2019ve learned and consequently they\u2019ve never experienced the blessing of God.\u00a0 The way we say it around here is orthodoxy (correct belief) preceded orthopraxy (correct practice).\u00a0 And I would encourage you as we move through this to allow the Book of Revelation to do that in our individual hearts.\n\nJames 1:22-24 puts it this way.\u00a0 \u201cBut prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. [23] For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; [24] for once<\/em> he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he is.\u201d\u00a0 The growth in the Christian life, the progress in the Christian life, the maturing in the Christian life comes from the application of truth, truth or knowledge becoming wisdom.\n\nNow one other quick thing I want to draw to your attention is this word \u201cprophecy\u201d in verse 3.\u00a0 \u201cBlessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 1:3]\u00a0 That word \u201cprophecy\u201d is probably more important than you can possible realize.\u00a0 And the reason I say that is because what you\u2019re going to hear on the History Chanel, ANE, Mysteries of the Bible, they\u2019ll bring on some guy with a PhD from Harvard and he will say \u201cthe Book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature.\u201d\n\nAnd they\u2019ll say this over and over again, it\u2019s \u201capocalyptic literature.\u201d\u00a0 And what in the world is\n\napocalyptic literature?\u00a0 What are they even talking about?\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you exactly what they are doing.\u00a0 They\u2019re comparing the Book of Revelation to all of these other non-inspired books, I have many of them listed on the screen, that originated around the same period of time and what they\u2019re trying to sell you on is you cannot interpret the Book of Revelation literally.\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 Because that\u2019s not how you understand all of these other apocalyptic books.\u00a0 And they will cast derision on those of us that want to hold to a literal interpretation of the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 They say well how can you interpret the seven heads of the dragon literally?\u00a0 Or the seven heads of the beast?\n\nAnd what I\u2019m going to try to teach you is all of the symbols in the Book of Revelation can be identified and once you identify them there\u2019s a way to discover the reference or the meaning behind each symbol.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we saw in the Book of Daniel, didn\u2019t we?\u00a0 The head of gold is meant to be understood as Babylon.\u00a0 The chest and arms of silver is meant to be understood as Medo-Persia, etc.\u00a0 With each symbol is a reference behind it.\u00a0 But what these academics will do is they\u2019ll throw you into a state of confusion; they\u2019ll try to convince you that the Book of Revelation is not meant to be understood literally because after all, we all know that the apocalyptic books are not literal.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t been exposed to this your kids or your grandkids have been exposed to this mindset.\n\nNotice Brian McLaren\u2019s statement, he\u2019s one of the leaders of the emergent church.\u00a0 \u201cThe Book of Revelation is an example of popular literary genre of ancient Judaism known today as Jewish apocalyptic.\u201d\u00a0 Sounds so scholarly, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 \u201cTrying to read it without understanding its genre would be like watching Star Trek or some other science fiction show thinking it was a historical documentary instead of being a book about the distant future it becomes a way of talking about the challenges of the immediate present.\u201d\u00a0 See what he just did there?\u00a0 He took the whole Book of Revelation, which is yet future,\u00a0 and put it into the present and also put it into the past. What is he doing?\u00a0 He\u2019s discarding the literal method of interpretation, he thinks he has a right to do that because after all, the Book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature.\n\nThe direction that folks are moving in is you interpret the Gospels through one lens but when you get into prophecy you interpret it through a different lens.\u00a0 And we at Sugar Land Bible Church reject that.\u00a0 We believe that the same literal method of interpretation that\u2019s used anywhere else in the Bible, including the Book of Romans, you use in the Book of Revelation, it\u2019s just in Revelation it\u2019s more difficult because there\u2019s a lot more symbols involved.\u00a0 But when you understand the rules of interpretation what you\u2019ll discover is there\u2019s a way to understand what those symbols are and what they mean.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll be sharing with you those rules.\u00a0 I\u2019m not changing the method of interpretation one iota as we move through this book.\n\nAnd this is where the doctrine of preterism comes from.\u00a0 How do you fit this whole book into the past? Well, apocalyptic literature has exaggerations in it so that\u2019s obviously what the Book of Revelation is doing.\u00a0\u00a0 Kenneth Gentry, a well-known preterist, says, \u201c\u2026the preterist view does understand Revelation\u2019s prophecies as strongly reflecting actual historical events in John\u2019s near future,\u201d i.e. A.D. 70, \u201cthough they are set in apocalyptic drama and clothed in poetic hyperbole.\u201d\u00a0 [Four Views of Revelation, <\/em>p. 38.]\u00a0 There are many other quotes I could give you.\n\nThis chart, I wish we had time to go through it all, shows you the difference between the apocalyptic books and the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 The Book of Revelation was inspired by God; the apocalyptic books were not.\u00a0\u00a0 The Book of Revelation predicts the future.\u00a0 None of those other apocalyptic books do.\u00a0 They pretend they were written in the past but they trace history rather than predicting the future.\u00a0 And on and on we could go with these differences.\n\nAnd the reason I bring this to your attention is John never says the Book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature; he calls the book an apokalopsis<\/em>, an unveiling, but he\u2019s not saying it\u2019s apocalyptic literature.\u00a0 In fact, if you want to understand the literary style of the Book of Revelation he tells you what it is right there in verse 3, it is \u201cprophecy.\u201d\u00a0 What is prophecy?\u00a0 It is history in advance; that\u2019s prophecy, designed to change the moral outcome of human beings.\u00a0 That\u2019s what John is seeking to do in the Book of Revelation.\n\nIt\u2019s also interesting here in verse 3 he says, \u201cfor the time is\u201d what? \u201cnear.\u201d\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 It had to be fulfilled in the first century?\u00a0 Not at all, \u201cnear\u201d there, engys<\/em>, means what?\u00a0 Imminency, it can happen at any moment.\u00a0 It\u2019s a statement of the overhanging expectation of this book, not that it had to happen in the first century.\n\nThen we move to the author, notice Revelation 1:4, John is the author, you\u2019ll see his name there at the beginning of verse 4.\u00a0 [ \u201cJohn to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.\u201d Revelation 1:4]\u00a0 You know, we kind of read over this word \u201cJohn\u201d and we forget what the Lord did for John.\u00a0 You remember who John was?\u00a0 Remember John was a man that was so dominated by hatred that when Jesus and His disciples entered a Samaritan village in Luke 9:51-56 and they rejected the message, John said Lord, shall we not call down fire from heaven and destroy these people.\n\n[Luke 9:51-56, \u201cWhen the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; [52] and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. [53] But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. [54] When His disciples James and John saw this,<\/em> they said, \u201cLord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?\u201d [55] But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, \u201cYou do not know what kind of spirit you are of; [56] for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men\u2019s lives, but to save them.\u201d] And they went on to another village.\u201d]\n\nAnd yet who did John become?\u00a0 He became the love apostle.\u00a0 God worked so strategically in John\u2019s life that he became known as a man of love.\u00a0 And how did Jesus do that?\u00a0 How do you transition a man of hate to a man of love?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s a little clue in John\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 John never called his own name out but he calls himself \u201cthe disciple whom Jesus loved.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 John didn\u2019t understand everything there was to know about Jesus but he knew this much, that he was loved by Jesus Christ.\u00a0 He was unconditionally accepted by Jesus, the Lamb of God.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that when you realize that you\u2019re unconditionally accepted by God it\u2019s easy to let other people off the hook, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 It\u2019s easier to accept other people.\n\nAnd if you\u2019re struggling today with bitterness and anger toward somebody else I would simply invite you to do this: bask in the love of God, the unconditional acceptance of God as we are \u201cin Christ\u201d\u00a0 and as we grow in that it\u2019s easier to have tranquility and peace in our personal relationships.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think this was a lessons that John learned overnight.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s something that was developed in his character and it took around sixty years for Jesus to get John moving in this direction.\u00a0\u00a0 Sixty years have passed between the incarnation and the events that we\u2019re reading about here.\u00a0 John will write five books of the New Testament: The Gospel of John, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01 John, 2 John, 3 John, and the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 John was a work in progress, sort of like that lump of clay on that potter\u2019s wheel that the Lord just kept beautifully working in his life and in his character and he became the man of love transitioning away from a man of hate and anger and antagonism.\n\nYou continue on with verse 4 and it says, \u201cJohn to the seven churches that are in Asia:\u201d now we know who the audience is, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Seven struggling churches in Asia Minor.\u00a0 And what I want to show you here is that the geography is literal.\u00a0 Asia is a real place.\u00a0 In fact, every piece of geography mentioned in the Book of Revelation is literal.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you that as we go through.\n\nYou say well who cares?\u00a0 Here\u2019s why you should care; one of these days, hopefully before the rapture, we\u2019re going to get to Revelation 17 and you\u2019re going to run into a city there named Babylon.\u00a0 And most of the Christian world will try to convince you that Babylon doesn\u2019t mean Babylon, Babylon means Rome, Babylon means Jerusalem.\u00a0 I just got back from New York City, I saw the Statue of Liberty, somebody sent me a book trying to argue that New\u00a0 York City and the Statue of Liberty is what Babylon represents.\u00a0 Other people say it\u2019s Las Vegas, San Francisco, Washington D.C., not that those cities aren\u2019t Babylon-like, sort of, but that\u2019s not how geography is developed in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Babylon means Babylon!\u00a0 Well where is Babylon?\u00a0 It\u2019s in Iraq, that\u2019s where the center capital of the antichrist will exist in the last days.\n\nAnd then we\u2019ll close with this, verse 4, the greeting.\u00a0 Notice what he says there in verse 4, \u201cGrace to you and peace,\u201d John, to the seven churches in Asia, \u201cGrace to you and peace\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 What is grace?\u00a0 It\u2019s unmerited favor from God, favor that you do not deserve, favor that comes your direction because of your acceptance and relationship to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And once a person receives grace they receive peace from who?\u00a0 From God.\u00a0 Before a person gets saved they have no peace with God.\u00a0 In fact, Romans 5:10 calls us pre-salvation enemies of God.\u00a0\u00a0 [Romans 5:10, \u201cFor if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that when a person hears the gospel, hears what Jesus did for them through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, and receives that as a free gift they experience something called reconciliation.\u00a0 The conflict between sinful man and a holy God is called off.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why trusting in Christ is the most important decision a human being can make because if a person has never trusted in Christ they don\u2019t have grace from God nor peace.\u00a0 They\u2019re at enmity with God.\u00a0 And yet God loves us so much that we will not fall into His condemnation so He sent His Son to pay the penalty in our place.\u00a0 We celebrated it at the Lord\u2019s table this morning, through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension and the final words of Christ prior to His death were what?\u00a0 \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 Translated from the Greek verb tetelestai<\/em>, paid in full, nothing else for me to contribute other than to receive it by faith.\n\nWell, what if I don\u2019t receive it by faith?\u00a0 Then the warfare between yourself and God continues and you\u2019re headed off into a Christless eternity.\u00a0 What a mistake it would be to go through your life and never get this issue resolved.\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of a more foundational issue to get fixed than this.\u00a0 Can you?\u00a0 And so if you\u2019re here today for the first time, uncertain of your eternity, if you\u2019re listening by way of live streaming and you\u2019re uncertain of your eternity, our exhortation to you here at Sugar Land Bible Church,\u00a0 the best that you know how, in the privacy of your own mind and thoughts and heart is to trust in what Christ has done for you.\u00a0 It\u2019s not necessary to raise a hand, to walk an aisle, to join a church, to give money, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you receive, by faith, as a gift, what God has done for you and you move into grace and peace.\u00a0 You can do that right now even as I\u2019m talking.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that you want more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for this prologue and this exciting journey that we\u2019re on as we move into the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 I do ask, Father, specifically that we would not just go through the Book of Revelation but the Book of Revelation would go through us, and You\u2019d develop us into Christlikeness and You disclose to us what the future may have as we leave, after studying this book, with optimism and hope.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t