OTY: The Revelation (3) -Kay Arthur
PRECEPTS FOR LIFE
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The following is an actual transcript of the PRECEPTS FOR LIFE Broadcast. For the purpose of filling transcript requests quickly, they have received only light editing. If you have questions concerning the material covered in this broadcast, Kay has published a number of books explaining the Scripture in depth. These books may be ordered by contacting the telephone number or address printed above.
It seems strange to have to ask you this question, but do you know what sin is?
Sin means that you‟re going against God.
Sin means that you‟re doing your own thing. Sin means that you‟re breaking God‟s holy law. And do you know that there are consequences to that? Not only judgment follows sin, but addiction comes with it. How would you like to be released from your sins?
We‟ll talk about it today.
In our last program we were looking at Revelation, chapter 1, the introduction to this book that tells us the things that are shortly going to take place. We see that this is a revelation that God gave to His servant, to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ in turn, gave it to His angel. His angel in turn, gave it to John on the Isle of Patmos. John in turn, sat down and wrote a letter to the seven churches in Asia.
And it says, “To the seven churches that are in Asia;
Grace and peace from Him who is, who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness.” Now we marked every reference to Jesus Christ. And we began to make a list of everything that we learned about Him.
And in the last program we got up to the end of verse 5 let me read verse 5. “And from Jesus Christ …,” number one, “… He‟s the faithful witness …,” number two, “… He is the first-born of the dead …,” and number three, “… He is the ruler of the kings of the earth.” And the fourth thing that we learn about Him is this: “… To Him who loves us …,” He loves you, “… and released us from our sins.”
What does it mean that we were released from our sins? It means that no longer when you come to know Jesus Christ, no longer are you under the penalty of sin. The wages of sin is death, but Jesus died in your place. When Jesus Christ hung on that cross, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that God took Him, “Jesus, who knew no sin and He made Him to be sin for you and for me so that you and I, in turn, might have the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus.”
In other words, we exchange our unrighteousness for righteousness. We exchange our sin for forgiveness of sins and the imputation or the putting to our account or putting on the ledger or depositing in the bank the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God.
In other words, you and I who were sinners are now, by an act of justification, declared righteous because someone took the penalty for your sins. So He released you from the penalty of your sin.
But He not only released you from the penalty of your sin, He released you from the power of sin. The power of sin is that flesh within you. It‟s that old man within you that all these years until you came to know Jesus Christ, just lived habitually His own way. It‟s the old you that died. It‟s the old man in you that died so that you became a new creature. So no longer are you a slave to sin.
Now this message is laid out for us by the apostle Paul in Romans, chapter 6, 7, and 8 where he talks about the process of sanctification, how you and I, who were sinners, are made holy. And there we see the release from the power of sin.
But some day when we die, when we hit heaven we are going to be released from the presence of sin because there‟s no sin in heaven. “God is
of pure eyes than to behold iniquity. And don‟t be deceived; the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
So this is what it means. So you want to write that down in your list as he tells us about where this grace and peace comes from. He tells us a lot about Jesus and he tells us that Jesus released us from our sins. Do you know what that means?
That means that you‟re forgiven. That means as Romans 8:1 says, “There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.” It means that it‟s all under the blood.
You say, but it‟s not right that somebody be set free from their sins when they‟ve done that to me. Listen, Jesus paid for their sins in full and Jesus is not going leave them as the same person that they were because that old man, what they were died and they became a new creature in Christ Jesus.
“So henceforth, we look at no man and judge him according to the flesh, but we see that he‟s a new creature in Christ Jesus.” It‟s all right. Everything that God does, Beloved, is all right. He‟s a fair and just and righteous God and He can be trusted. So it says that, “… He released us from our sins…,” How did He do it? “… by His blood, without the shedding of blood ….” and Hebrews says this and Leviticus says it, “Without the shedding of blood, there‟s no remission of sins ….” there‟s no payment for your sins. The only thing that can redeem you from sin is not the corruptible things of silver and gold.
You can‟t buy your way into heaven. You can‟t work your way into heaven. You‟ll only get it by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. Now that blood is very, very important because it‟s untainted blood. Jesus was born of a virgin.
And because He was born of a virgin He has God, it was God‟s seed in Mary that produced Jesus and God is without sin. Jesus is without sin. And the only way that He could taste sin was by tasting death for you and me, becoming our substitute.
So you and I, “… were not redeemed …,” as 1 Peter, chapter 1:18 & 19 says, “… with corruptible things, such as silver and gold from our vain, our empty, our useless manner of life.
But we were redeemed with the precious blood of a Lamb …,” a Lamb, now listen carefully, speaking of Jesus, because you want to know that because of what comes in Revelation, chapter 5, “… a Lamb without spot, a Lamb without blemish.” So this is one of the things that you would add to your list.
You
see God wants you to understand the book of Revelation.
God wants you to know what He is saying here. And, so He is going to make it known to you as you come face to face in an inductive way with the Word of God, observing the text, discovering what does it say, interpreting it accurately, letting scripture interpret scripture and then applying it to your life, in knowledge, in what you believe and in the way that you behave.
Now when we talk about scripture interpreting scripture I‟m afraid if I don‟t tell you this that I‟ll forget to; so let me do it right now. Of the 404 verses that make up that comprise the book of Revelation, 278 of those verses of the 404; so 278, over half of them, almost three quarters of them allude to Old Testament scriptures with the highest concentration of scriptures being found in Daniel, in Isaiah, in Ezekiel, and in the Psalms.
So what Revelation is, is Revelation is an interpretation of those things that were given to us in the Old Testament that have to do with the things that are going to take place in the end times, that have to do with the things that are going to take place in the day of the Lord. Now he goes on to say and we‟re making our list on Jesus.
And this is what you do: you mark key repeated words and it says in verse 6, “He has made us to be a kingdom priest to His God and Father.” So in this list of things that we‟re learning about Jesus I want you to see that He has made us a kingdom, that we are part of a group of people that love and worship the King and belong to His kingdom.
If you belong to His kingdom you‟re under His rule.
If you belong to His kingdom you‟re under His dominion. And if you go back to Daniel, in Daniel it talks about, in fact, let‟s go back to it for just a minute, as in Daniel, chapter 7. This is the place that I‟ll take you. But in Daniel, chapter 7 he‟s telling what‟s going to happen in the end times. As a matter of fact he‟s giving a taste of what is coming in Revelation. And in Daniel, chapter 7 it‟s talking about what‟s going to happen in the end days and it‟s talking about the antichrist.
It‟s talking about the little horn of Daniel, chapter 7. It‟s talking about the man of lawlessness of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. It‟s talking about the antichrist of 1 John, chapter 2. And all of those are embodied in the same person. And it says, “But the court will sit for judgment and his dominion …,” this antichrist,
this man of lawlessness, this beast of Revelation 13, this little horn of Daniel, chapter 7, “… his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.
Then …,” time phrase, and you would mark it with a clock. “… then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven …,” Have you got, “… all the heavens under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one. His kingdom, His dominion will be an everlasting kingdom and all dominions will serve and obey Him. This is what is to come.”
Now I want to ask you a question: Whose kingdom do you belong to? You see you either belong to the kingdom of Satan or you belong to the kingdom of God, one or the other.
There‟s no in between. There‟s no riding both sides. Un, un, you either belong to Satan or you belong to God. And the way that you move from belonging to Satan to belonging to God is to have your sins forgiven. And the only way you can have your sins forgiven is by believing in the One who lived and died for you, the One who released you from your sins through His blood. That‟s the only way.
So whose kingdom do you belong to? Do you know that you have forgiveness of sins?
You say I‟m really not sure. Well listen to me very carefully. If you‟re not a new creature in Christ Jesus, if things haven‟t changed since you said that you believe in Jesus or that you received Him, you‟re not a child of God.
You say what am I going to do? We‟ll talk about it after the break.
PART TWO
You get a blessing for heeding the words of this Book.
So how do you heed the words of God?
Well if you have not believed in Jesus Christ, if you have not received Him, if you have not become a new creature in Christ Jesus, then this is what I would suggest. I would suggest that as soon as this program is over that you simply get on your knees and I would say get on your knees because when you get on your knees you‟re showing your humility before God.
When you get on your knees, even as King Solomon did, the wisest man in all the world and the king that had a reign like no
other king, the wealthiest king in all the world, even that king got on his knees before God, in the presence of God‟s people and he lifted his hands to heaven.
And I would just suggest that you get on your knees after this program and that you say, “God, I am a sinner and I need to be released from my sins. And according to this Book there‟s only one way and that‟s through believing in the death of Your Son. That‟s in understanding and I can‟t really understand it, but that‟s in the belief that He did it through the shedding of His blood, through His death, so that I might have life.
And God, I am dead. I am dead in my sin and I want to be released from it.”
You know the words aren‟t important because God looks at the heart. So there‟s no magic formula. Salvation is simply recognizing who Jesus Christ is, that He is God, that He is one with the Father, that He is the only way to God, that He is the payment for your sins, that He is the lamb of God that will take away your sin and just simply saying I need You. I want You. I receive You.
And when you do that, John 1:12 says, “As many as receive Jesus, to them He gives the power, the authority to become the sons of God.” And when you become a son of God, you become part of His kingdom. You become a priest unto God. That means that you are set apart for God. Let me show you something.
Let me just kind of cheat a little. You want to cheat a little?
You say no, I want to get saved. I don‟t want to cheat. I‟m talking about just jumping ahead in Revelation. Let me show you something. Let‟s look at Revelation, because we‟re making that list on Jesus and I want you to look at verse 6. “He has made us to be a kingdom, priest to His God and Father.” Now priests offer sacrifices. And the sacrifice that you offer is the sacrifice of yourself.
Romans 12, verse 1 says, “I beseech you therefore brethren that you present you body a living sacrifice to Him ….” It means that you deny yourself. It means you take up your cross. It means that you follow Him. It means that it‟s no longer about you. It‟s now about God. It‟s not you who lives.
It‟s Christ who lives in you. I‟m giving you all these scriptures. If you know the Word of God and you‟ve heard it before, then you know that what I‟m saying is just Bible. But if you haven‟t heard it before I can tell you this, that God will explain it to you as He goes along
and as you go along.
But let‟s cheat a little, okay? You see I‟m putting quotes around that cheat a little. And let‟s go ahead and look at Revelation, chapter 5. In Revelation, chapter 4 they‟re looking at God who is on His throne. In Revelation, chapter 5, they‟re looking for someone who is able to take a scroll and to break its seals. And that scroll is the title deed to the earth, someone who is able then to bring the just judgment of God upon the face of this earth.
And there‟s no one found worthy in heaven or on the earth or beneath the earth. There‟s no one found worthy until all of a sudden one approaches. And it says in verse 5 of Revelation, chapter 5, “Stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah …,” That‟s a description of Jesus Christ. “… the root of David …,” that‟s a description of Jesus Christ, “… has overcome, so as to open the book, the scroll and its seals.” Now when it talks about the lion that is from the tribe of Judah it goes all the way back to the book of Genesis.
So much of Genesis is in Revelation. It‟s awesome. But it goes back to the blessing that Jacob gives to each of his twelve sons.
The twelve sons make up the twelve tribes. And when he comes to Judah he talks about Judah as a lions whelp. And it talks about Judah, that the scepter will not depart from Judah. In other words he is going to be the king of the earth. Now, the ruler of the kings of the earth, that‟s what we saw earlier in Revelation, chapter 1. All right, so it‟s the lion that‟s from the tribe of Judah that comes out of nowhere, so to speak, to Him that‟s sitting on the throne to take the scroll. And He‟s also described as the root of David.
Now what does it mean the root of David?
Well it means this: that God made a covenant with David. And that‟s in the book of 2 Samuel. And He told David that there would be someone that would sit on his throne forever and ever. And what He was promising him was that the Messiah, the Promised One, the Christ… Christ means Messiah. Christ is Greek.
Messiah is Hebrew. Would sit on the throne and would rule, rule over the earth, rule over the nation of Israel.
So it says, “… the Lion that‟s from the tribe of Judah, the root of David has overcome so as to open the book, the scroll and its seals …,” And it says, “… and I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing …,” now listen, “… as if
slain.
Jesus will bear in His body the brand marks of Calvary for all eternity.”
So it‟s a lamb, as if slain. It‟s like a piercing in His hands where He has the marks of the nails that were put in His hands. And it says, “… having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” You say hey, I‟ve seen that before.
That‟s right, you did. You saw it in Revelation, chapter 1; “… from the seven Spirits which are before the throne of God ….” So you see it again. Now do you see how when you stop and you mark the text and you observe it you learn so much? And God is teaching you this. Verse 7 and, “He came …,” Jesus came, “… and took it out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”
Who‟s the One sitting on the throne? God the Father.
“And when He had taken the book, the scroll, the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders…,” these are what is around the throne of God, that worship Him night and day, “… fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
Hey, all your prayers have been collected in golden bowls and someday they‟re going to be poured out on the earth and all those prayers that are righteous prayers and just prayers and prayers according to the Word of God, are going to see their fulfillment.
And it says, “And they sang a new song, saying …,” and they‟re singing it to the Lamb, “„Worthy art Thou to take the book and to break its seals, to take this scroll that is title deed to the earth and break its seals, for Thou was slain and did purchase for God with Thy blood …,” and you understand that, “… men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.‟”
Precept Ministries is Precept Ministries International.
Everybody, everywhere, anytime, anyplace, any language, any age, one message: the Bible, and one method: inductive. Why? Cause there are going to be people there from every nation and, “Thou has made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God.”
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