Look at Revelation.
We're going to start in verse 5,
which is where we left off last week.
And we're going to try to make it
through verse 8 this evening.
We'll see what we can do.
But Revelation, verse 5,
we're going to read verses 5 through 6.
So it says,
And from Jesus Christ,
faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead
and the ruler of the kings on earth.
To him who loves us
and has freed us from our sins
by his blood,
and made us a kingdom,
priest to his God and Father.
To him be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen.
Now, I want us to notice something here
as we go through this
because it's easy to miss,
but notice that according to the Bible,
love is not a sentimental feeling,
but it's a sacrificial action.
Do you see that there?
It talks about how Jesus loves us,
but it doesn't just say
that he felt a warm, fuzzy feeling towards us, right?
Oh, Jesus loves you.
He feels a certain way about you.
It's nice and it's good and it's warm and fuzzy.
No, it says that Jesus loves us.
And what did he do?
He freed us from our sins by his blood.
And I want you to notice actually,
throughout the New Testament,
almost every time the New Testament
talks about Jesus loving us,
it always puts it with a demonstration of that love.
So we'll have some of these verses on screen.
John 3.16, which we all know very well,
for God so loved the world,
what happened?
He gave his only son
that whoever believes in him
should not perish,
but have eternal life.
Galatians 2.20,
I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me.
In the life I now live,
I live in the flesh.
In the life I now live in the flesh,
I live by faith in the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself up for me.
Ephesians 5,2,
and walk in love as Christ loved us
and gave himself up for us.
A fragrant offering in sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 5.25,
Lubbens, love your wives
as Christ loved the church
and gave himself up for her.
And then 1 John 4.10,
in this is love.
Not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us, right?
Plain, simple, stopped?
No.
And sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sins.
So do you see the repeated emphasis
in all those verses?
The Bible doesn't just simply say,
God loves you.
The Bible says God loves you
and he demonstrates or proves his love
in this way,
primarily through Jesus giving his life for us.
Jesus loves us not with a sentimental feeling
but with a sacrificial action.
He gave himself up for us.
It was a love that was demonstrated and proven.
When he died on the cross,
shedding his own blood
and by that act of love,
as we see in Revelation,
if we can put it back on the screen,
Revelation 1.5,
by that act of love,
he has freed us from our sins.
And so there's a great emphasis here
that love isn't just felt,
love is seen.
And if that's the case,
if it's true that love isn't something
that's simply felt,
love is something that's seen,
it means that we have to look at our own hearts
and our own lives, don't we?
Because then we have to begin to say,
well, you know, we talk about it all the time.
I love Jesus, I love God,
I love the church,
I love the Bible.
Okay, that's incredibly easy to say, right?
And you might even feel a certain way.
But the question is,
when someone looks at your life,
can they see that love?
Is it a visible love
or is it something you just have to tell people
so that they do know it?
Can they see it?
The Bible says in 1 John 3, 18,
little children,
let us not love in word or talk,
but indeed and in truth.
And so if our love never moves from our hearts
to our hands,
is it really love,
according to the Bible?
Do people know that we love the Lord
by what we say or by what they see?
It's something I think that we should all consider, right?
When you begin to look at your own life tonight
and you begin to reflect on your life,
do people say, hey,
I know that person loves God.
Well, how do you know?
Because they told me.
Or when someone looks at your life,
can they say, I know that that person loves the Lord
because I see it.
It is so evident.
It is so clear by the way that they treat their spouse,
by the way they interact with others,
by the way that they give themselves
to the mission of the church
and the kingdom of God,
to the spreading of the Gospel.
I look at that person
and they don't even have to tell me they love Jesus.
I can tell they love Jesus.
Do you see the difference there?
We shouldn't necessarily have to tell someone.
They should be able to tell.
What's the result of this?
If you continue in verse 6,
it says that Jesus,
obviously that first result,
he freezes from our sins by his blood,
but there's another result.
What happens as a result of us being freed from our sins?
Yeah, he made us priests.
That's right.
We are now a kingdom of priests.
That's what we're reading there in verse 6.
He made us a kingdom of priests to his God and Father.
And this is really important language here
because this is the exact same language
that was used of the people of Israel in the Old Testament.
So Exodus chapter 19 verses 5 through 6 says,
Now therefore,
if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant,
you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples
for all the earth is mine.
And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation.
These are the words that you shall speak
to the people of Israel.
So notice that the identity of people of God
is carried out by the church today.
All those who have repented of their sins,
who have trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation,
they are the people of God.
They are the kingdom of God
and the exact same language
that is used of the nation of Israel
in the Old Testament is used here of the church.
In the New Testament, we are a kingdom of priests.
Now, okay, that's really easy to say.
What does it mean?
What does it mean to be a kingdom of priests?
Spread the word.
Okay. Yeah, that's definitely part of it.
What else?
His chosen ones.
Yeah. Okay.
What else?
Facilitate worship.
Very good.
What else might priests do?
Okay.
To end of the church.
Yeah.
One of the key roles that priests had in the Old Testament
was that they were these mediators between God and man.
A priest would represent man before God
and then turn around and represent God before man.
And so they served as kind of a go-between.
And we know that there is only one mediator between God and man
and that is Jesus Christ.
But God has called us to imitate Jesus in that way in this world.
Primarily, as Brian said, by taking the word to the world.
That we are mediating the word of God to the world
proclaiming the gospel message.
We're also doing other things like facilitating worship.
We're telling people who God is the proper way to worship.
We're telling them how you can know more about God,
what he requires of people.
All of this is the responsibility of a priest.
And that's what he calls us to do.
We are a kingdom of priests.
And so all of this applies to our mission.
And notice what John says here.
He says it's all for the glory of God.
He says to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
And so we have a reason to have comfort.
We have a word of encouragement.
We have a word that will strengthen us and will embolden us.
And then I want you to see in verse 7
he's going to give us another little bit of comfort and hope for the church.
Notice what he says in verse 7.
He says, Behold, he is coming with the clouds.
Every eye will see him.
Even those who pierced him.
And all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
Even so, amen.
Now what's the good news slash word of encouragement here?
That's right.
Jesus is coming back.
That's the best news you could hear, right?
Like, I mean, the church is meant to be,
I won't say we are because we don't always,
we're meant to be waiting in anticipation, right?
Like, if you've ever been away from your spouse for any length of time
and you know that's not fun, like when you have to go to like the Southern Baptist Convention,
you have to be around politics for three days.
Rather than get to be with your wife, you're counting down the days, right?
You're like, oh, two days, three days, whatever.
And then daddy's coming home.
This is great.
Or like if she was away, mommy's coming home.
This is awesome because that's what we call each other now.
It's not even Anna and Alex.
It's just daddy and mommy.
So, but there's this great anticipation and you can't wait
and it just fills you with so much joy and hope and excitement.
That's how the church is supposed to feel about Jesus coming back.
We read here that even though you're in the midst of this broken, beat up world
that's full of sin and misery and hardship, Jesus hasn't forgotten you.
He's coming back for His bride and this is good news.
But also, I want you to notice this, even though it's great news for the church,
notice it is terrifying news for every person who has rejected God's grace
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
The Bible literally says here that they will wail or mourn on account of Him.
And so his return is a joy to the church, but it is terrifying to the unbelieving world.
Now, here's my question to you, church.
Is that fair?
Is God unloving to do something like in this case, send His son back
that will result in the wailing and mourning of countless people on earth?
Is God unloving to do that?
Is that unfair?
Okay, everybody's had their chance.
We got a no over here.
Okay, yeah.
The Bible says here no, even so, and I love this language, even so, amen.
And amen in the Greek here is just a way of saying like, let it be so.
And so the Bible is saying here, hey, it is great news that Jesus has come back for the church.
Bad news for everybody else.
Even so, let it be.
It is what it is.
That's the reality of the situation.
But here's the question that you're going to hear very often.
Go ahead, submit it to the podcast.
I'll answer it again there.
So that'll be fun.
What about those who don't have the chance to hear the gospel?
What about those who have never heard the gospel?
What happens to them?
Is that fair?
Maybe they would have possibly repented if they had heard the gospel.
But maybe they didn't even have a chance.
So what about those people?
They're still going to wail and mourn.
Yes, he does, Michael.
Thank you for jumping us straight there.
You've got to let the tension build a little bit, okay?
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to repeat it.
But yeah, Michael, he did give the right answer, right?
So what happens to those who never hear or who never had the opportunity?
Well, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter one that all people are without excuse.
Because the Bible says every person alive and who has ever lived
knows in their heart that there is a God.
They know it.
Very emphatically.
They know there is a God.
So there were without excuse.
The Bible says that every person alive has beheld the glory of God in creation.
They've witnessed his unseen attributes like his power and his eternal divine nature.
They've witnessed that in creation and the things that he has made.
And so all people are without excuse.
In fact, the Bible goes a step further and says that they know that God is real,
that there is a God, but what do they do?
They suppress that truth, right?
They don't want there to be a God.
So you just deny it.
You suppress it.
Because if there isn't a God, it means I'm God.
And I get to do whatever I want.
I get to make the rules for myself.
No one can tell me how to live and I don't have to feel bad about a single thing that I do.
It is the best news possible for me if there's not a God.
So the Bible says they suppress that truth.
They deny it.
They reject it.
And because of that, their punishment is just, isn't it?
So yes, there is going to be wailing and mourning on that great day of joy for the church
when Jesus returns, but they've had their chance.
They know that there is a God and they've denied that.
And our world hates to hear that, don't they?
Our world hears that and who do they point the finger at?
God.
Well, this is why I can never be a Christian.
This is why I can never believe in God.
Look at what he does.
How could anybody who's said to be love and loving possibly do that to people?
I mean, God is all powerful.
Why didn't he just write it in the sky?
There is a God.
His name is Jesus.
Repent of your sins.
Trust and... He could have done it, right?
Are we denying that?
No, he could have.
They love to point the finger at God and say, you were unfair.
You were unjust.
You were unloving.
Let me ask you a question, church.
Who's the finger supposed to be pointed at?
Yeah.
That's why it's not fun to hear this, right?
Our world wants to blame God for the fact that there are people dying without the Gospel.
Who did Jesus say is responsible for taking the Gospel to the nations?
Oh, that's us.
Now, how many Christians speak up, though, when the world is condemning God
and bashing God and saying, well, that God is evil, blah, blah.
What do we do?
We try to defend Him, right?
We're like the...
To use an example, if Judah were to break one of Ezra's toys
and then I come in, I'm like, Ezra, what did you do?
And Judah's like, hey, don't get onto him.
He's just a baby, blah, blah, blah.
He started trying to defend Him for something he didn't do.
That's what we do with God.
Our world's like, God is evil.
We're like, oh, come on.
He's actually really loving.
You got to just get to know Him, right?
He's got His Son named Jesus.
He did some great things for us.
We started to defend God like He's the one responsible.
Meanwhile, God said, hold on a second.
I told you to go to the nations.
Jesus said, go and make disciples of the nations.
That is the responsibility of the church.
And so we don't need to let the world condemn God
for the church's laziness and disobedience, right?
Just plain and simple.
If you don't like the fact that there are people dying
without hearing the gospel,
go take them to the gospel.
That's not on God.
That's on you.
That's on the church.
And imagine how many more people,
or how fewer people there would be
who hadn't heard the gospel
if the church had been doing its responsibility
ever since Jesus gave that command.
We might not even have that problem anymore, right?
But we want to put it on someone else.
We want to say someone else will go.
Surely God will call another person.
It's not my responsibility.
I'm here.
This is where I'm meant to be.
God will find some way to get something to them.
And yet, God will save His people from their sins.
But understand this, church.
He does that through us.
We are the ones meant to carry that message to the world.
We are the ones who have the responsibility
to take it to the nations.
And so next time you hear someone talking about
the fact that there are people who will die
without ever hearing the gospel,
I want you to understand that's because of us, not God.
And then ask yourself,
what are you doing to get the gospel to the nations?
What are you doing to help with that problem
of people who have never heard the gospel,
who have never heard the name of Jesus,
who have never read the Bible in their own language?
What have you done to contribute?
I'm just going to leave that there
because that's not the whole point of the sermon.
I just want to leave it there.
I'm going to leave it there.
Yeah.
There's a literal display of God's perfect creation.
Yeah.
Oh, I know all that.
Judah even knows.
I was like,
this is some planets lined up
and then we got to have this whole thing.
But yeah, there's literal display.
So people have enough information
to know that there is a God in heaven.
There's someone who exists,
who can bring all of this into being.
What they don't have is the details, right?
They don't know that they need to repent of their sins.
They don't might not know the name of Jesus.
They don't know what he did for them.
And so they don't know to repent, trust in him.
They don't know that.
That's our responsibility.
We are to take the gospel to the nations.
So let's again,
don't let the world blame God for the church's laziness
and disobedience.
And then finally, verse 8,
we'll conclude with this.
Notice what he says.
I am the Alpha and the Omega.
Says the Lord God.
Who is and who was and who was to come.
The Almighty.
So put simply,
He is the beginning and He's the end.
He was before all things
and He will be after all things.
He alone is the Almighty.
Now, this is one of those verses
you might want to memorize in Revelation
because it is such a comforting verse.
I mean, do you just think about all the things
that you've been through so far this week?
All the things that haven't gone right for you.
All the loops you've been through,
like your baby throwing up all over you unexpectedly.
And just all these things that start piling up in your life
and you're like, you know what?
I'm at my wits end.
I've got no more strength left in me.
I'm not, you know, like, I'm just out of energy.
I'm out of strength.
This is not how I thought it was going to be.
Something's got to change.
And then you remember this and you see God says,
I'm the Alpha.
I'm the Omega.
I'm the beginning of all things.
I am the end of all things.
I am the Almighty.
I am the one who was.
I'm the one who is.
And I'm the one who is to come.
No matter what happens in life,
there's always God.
He is the consistent presence that we need in this life
of hardships and difficulties.
And it is just so comforting to know as a follower of Christ
that we have the promise that he'll never leave us.
He'll never forsake us.
He is always with us and we are always with him
because we've been bought by the blood of Jesus.
And so the fact that he was and is and is to come
means that for that is and is to come.
We're part of that story now.
We get to be with him for all of that time
and we'll never have to be separated from him again.
All because Jesus did what we read here.
He freed us from our sins by His blood.
So I just wanted to conclude with this
and remind you that this is just the introduction to Revelation.
We haven't even gotten into the hard bits yet.
But it's this unveiling of God's plan
and he's promising us a blessing.
Hey, read this book.
Listen to this book.
He's going to obey this book.
You will be blessed.
He's assuring us that God is bigger
than the trials and the circumstances that we face.
He's promising us and reminding us
that the Spirit we need is with us at all times.
That Jesus is sovereign in rules over all things
that no matter what happens in this world
and wars and rumors of wars,
we know the ending.
We don't know who's even fighting, but we know who wins.
He will have the victory
and the best news of all
is that Jesus is coming back for His bride.
And that is something that we can look forward to
and we will say,
Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
Alright Gene, how about a word of wisdom?