You'll find an authorized version of the Holy
Scriptures in the pew before you.
If you pick it up, turn with me
please to the last book of the Bible,
the book of Revelation.
Revelation, and we're going to read together at
the chapter 19.
The 19th chapter of the book of the
Revelation.
And we are reading from verse 11 to
the end of the chapter.
Revelation chapter 19, verse 11 to 21.
On the Lord's day morning, we read it
together.
We don't mumble it like Episcopalians, we read
it like good sound Presbyterians.
Let's read the word at verse 11 of
the 19th chapter of Revelation.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a
white horse.
And he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth
judge and make war.
His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns.
And he had a name written that no
man knew but he himself.
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped
in blood, and his name is called the
Word of God.
And the armies which were in heaven followed
him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean.
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the
nations.
And he shall rule them with a rod
of iron.
And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God.
And he had on his vesture, on his
thigh, a name written, King of kings and
Lord of lords.
And I saw an angel standing in the
sun, and he cried with a loud voice,
saying to all the fowls that fly in
the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves
together unto the supper of the great God,
that ye may eat the flesh of kings,
and the flesh of captains, and the flesh
of mighty men, and the flesh of horses,
and of them that sit in them, and
the flesh of all men, both free and
form, both small and great.
And I saw the beasts, and the kings
of the earth, and their armies gathered together
to make war against him that sat on
the horse, and against his army.
And the beast was taken, and with him
the false prophet that wrought miracles before him,
with which he deceived them that received the
mark of the beast, and them that worshipped
his image.
They both were cast alive into a lake
of fire, burning with brimstone.
And the remnant were slain with the sword
of him that sat upon the horse, which
sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all
the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Ending the reading at verse 21, and God
shall stamp with his seal of approval and
blessing this reading from his most holy and
precious word.
Turn with me please to the 19th chapter
of the book of the Revelation.
The book of the Revelation, chapter 19.
Here in these verses that I have read
to you this morning, and we have read
together, we have the grand finale of the
battle of the ages.
The battle between the true and only living
God, and the God of this world, Satan
himself.
And here we see this battle in its
finality, as heaven is opened.
And we are able to look into the
great eternity, and view the eternality of the
tremendous victory that Christ shall gain finally over
all the enemies of the gospel.
In reading this portion of scripture, there are
seven things that need to be noted.
First of all, we have the names of
the captain of our salvation.
We have the vision of the white horse,
and he that sat upon him.
And he bears, he is first of all,
faithful.
Secondly, he is true.
Thirdly, he is the word of God.
Fourthly, he is the king of kings.
And lastly, he is the Lord of lords.
So we lift our eyes heavenward towards eternity
this morning.
And we look to the great captain of
our salvation.
And thank God, every believing child of God
knows that the captain of his salvation is
faithful.
We live in a world of faithlessness.
Faithlessness is the characteristic of sin and sinners,
and of the whole fallen human race.
But thank God, the captain of our salvation
is faithful.
But then notice that as added to this,
he is true.
I remember the day I was sealed.
I rested my soul for salvation on that
great text.
Him that cometh unto me, I will in
no wise cast out.
And I found out, hallelujah, that it was
true.
And it has been true ever since.
What God says is true because Christ our
Savior is the truth.
I am the way, the truth, and the
life.
No man cometh unto God but by me,
he says.
So he is true.
And I can testify, and I am eighty
years of age, I hope to live until
I am a hundred.
And I can testify that he has always
been true.
I haven't been.
I have my faults and my follies, my
sins and my wickedness.
But Christ is always true.
How true is Christ.
He is true incarnate.
But then he is something more.
Look at verse thirteen.
He is the Word of God.
The Word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was
God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him, and without
him was not anything made that was made.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth.
He is.
He is infallible.
He is the Word of God.
He is not only infallible, but he is
the Christ whose Word abideth forever.
Heaven will pass away.
Earth will pass away.
But the Word of God will never ever
pass.
And then we notice he is king of
all kings.
All kings must bow before him.
And if they do not bow in time,
they will bow in eternity.
For every knee shall bow, and every tongue
shall confess.
And then he is Lord of all lords.
Five great titles to our blessing.
What a Savior he is.
But then secondly, if you look at this
passage of Scripture, you will find the nature
of his title.
First of all, we have the names that
he is called.
Then we come to the nature of his
task.
And what does he do?
Look at verse 11.
In righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Man has fought many battles, but there has
never been, in all the annals of man's
wars, a real war that was not without
the stain of sin on both sides.
But thank God, Jesus Christ is the one
who, in righteousness, he doth judge and make
war.
Christ's battles are stamped with righteousness.
And please note that he makes his judgments
first.
The war.
Every man is judged and righteously judged before
God makes war upon him and his wife.
Oh, thank God for the righteous war that
Christ has waged against sin, that we might
be delivered from sin.
Oh, thank God for the righteous war he
has waged against Satan, that we might be
delivered from sin.
Oh, thank God for the fearful war of
righteousness he has waged against man, that we
might be saved from sinful man.
Christ's wars are wars of purity, wars of
truth, wars of righteousness, wars of faithfulness.
We can look today down the history of
the many awful struggles that the Church of
Christ engaged in.
And how their enemies conquered them and put
them through bloodshedding, through torture to the Inquisition
chambers and to all the rest.
But above it all, there was one who
was making war.
And God's church will never be stamped out.
And God's work will never be stamped out.
And God's people will never be stamped out.
We are on the winning side.
Why?
Because of the nature of Christ in judgment,
in righteousness, he doth judge and make war.
But then look with me for a moment
at the nobility of his person.
You see at verse 12, we look into
his eyes and they're aflame of fire.
Oh thank God for the searching eye of
the Christ of God whose eyes are aflame
of fire.
The day that you were converted, the eye
of Christ searched you and exposed to your
view the hideousness of your totally deprived soul.
And you saw yourself no saint.
You saw yourself as a poor, wretched, guilty,
hell deserving sinner.
You said, who shall deliver me from this
sin of my heart?
Oh the fire of Jesus.
He baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with
fire.
This fire we need, for fire we plead.
Shem the fire.
The fire will meet our every need.
Shem the fire.
For grace to ever do the right.
For power to conquer in the fight.
For strength to walk this world in white.
Shem the fire.
His eye is as aflame of fire.
But notice secondly, it tells us here something
more.
It says, on his head were many crimes.
We have looked into his eyes.
Now we look to his brow.
The head that once was crowned with thorns
is crowned with a royal diadem adorns the
mighty victor's brow.
And what do we see here?
We see him clothed with the crown of
creation.
I laugh when I hear on the radio
and television these evolutionists.
And you know they have it down to
a tee, haven't they?
Things happened 300 million years ago.
They didn't happen 300 million years ago in
one month.
No, no, they always have it in nice
rounded figures.
Wonderful people.
But I love that verse.
Nothing was made, but he made it.
He made it.
He made it all.
He wears the crown of creation.
And thank God he wears the crown of
a new creation.
For if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature.
All things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new.
He wears the crown of providence.
How wonderful providence works out its ways.
I finished preparing for the Christian ministry.
I didn't know where I was going to
preach.
And one day there was a big cattle
seal in a place called Ballyclare.
And two prominent sealsmen and men who were
brought up in the cattle trade met.
They were both Christian.
Greatly blessed under the ministry of W.P.
Nicholson.
And one of them said to the other,
Our church is on the Ravenhill Road.
We have no preacher.
Things are very bad.
We have empty seats.
And there is no one to preach.
And the other man said, Well, we had
a young preacher preaching for us last Sunday.
And he said he was a talker.
And he said you should get him and
hear him.
So this man took the address of the
young preacher, which happened to be me.
And I got a letter from the Ravenhill
Road, from our old church, saying would I
come and preach for them.
I was only 19 years of age.
And I went along to preach.
I remember my text.
I preached upon the last verse of Isaiah
chapter 53.
Where we read those wonderful words that finishes
off that chapter.
The great things that Christ has done.
He has divided the spoil with the straw.
He has poured out his soul unto death.
He has been numbered with the transgressors.
He bare the sin of many.
And he made intercession for the transgressors.
And the people enjoyed the message.
And eventually called me to preach on this
road.
Two cattlemen in Valley Claire providentially met.
I had preached the Sunday before in one
of the churches to which one of them
attended.
And that's why I'm on the Ravenhill Road
today.
The providence of God.
God, our God, our Savior, wears the crown
of providence.
And all things work together for good to
them that love the Lord.
To them who are called according to his
purpose.
But notice, there's something more.
There is not only the eyes with the
flame of fire and the nobility of Christ's
person.
There's not only the various crimes.
The crime of creation.
The crime of grace.
The crime of providence.
The crime of the church and so on.
But there's something about him here.
Look at verse 13.
He was clothed with a vesture dipped in
blood.
That vesture dipped in blood is the symbol
of Christ's agonizing earnestness and life-sacrificing
dedication.
He gave his life.
What is his life?
The life of the flesh is in the
blood.
He gave us life, a ransom for our
souls.
And thank God, the highest nobility of Christ's
person is his precious, precious blood.
And when Christ comes back to this earth,
he will wear a vesture dipped in blood.
Because the blood is the life of his
people.
Oh, precious, precious blood of Jesus.
Shed on Calvary.
Shed for rebels.
Shed for sinners.
Shed, thank God, for me.
But fourthly, notice the number of his armies.
It says here that when he comes, he
comes with the armies which were in heaven
followed him.
You know, Christ in this portion of Scripture
has armor, as we shall see, and weapons.
But those that follow him have no weapons
at all.
There's no mention of any sword, or shield,
or spear.
It just tells us this.
It says concerning these armies that follow him,
they're clothed in fine linen, white, and the
armor and the weaponry of the church.
What is it?
It's holiness.
It's purity.
It's a pure church that wins the battle.
It's a pure man that wins.
Holiness is the weapon that this world fears.
It's Robert Murray McShane who said, The devil
doesn't worry if the preacher's a clever preacher.
He doesn't worry if the preacher is a
scholarly preacher.
He doesn't worry if the preacher is an
eloquent preacher.
But the devil is scared like it was
witch if the preacher is a holy preacher.
The strength of the church doesn't lie in
any skill but conformity to Christ.
And when we're conformed to Christ, we have
a power no devil in hell can shake.
And we have a strength that no devil
in hell can overcome.
That's why God has called his church to
put on the fine linen that's white and
clean.
Oh for a church that is pure through
the washing of the blood of the lamb.
Oh for a church that has on the
garments of Christ which are clean and white.
Oh for a church whose members are noted
not for anything of earth, but they're noted
with the fact that the diadem of heaven
is theirs.
They are clean that bear the vessels of
the Lord.
A holy church, a holy preacher, a holy
Christian is the one that brings catastrophe to
the devil and victory and conquering power to
the church.
Then we have also here the naming of
the weapons in the hand of the captain
of salvation.
Out of his mouth goeth a sharp, and
this sword is a smiting sword.
He should smite the nations.
The Lord has a sword, it is the
word of his mouth.
And with that word he will bring all
men eventually to conformity to his law and
to his will.
I was greatly struck when studying this portion
of scripture with verse 12.
He had a name written that no man
knew, but he, him, I have spoken to
you of five names that he has in
this portion.
But there is a name that no one
knows.
In heaven, when you get to heaven, your
whole heaven will be spent learning that name
which at this moment is unrevealed and is
known only to himself.
But in the glory land the people of
God will learn the fullness of his name.
You know what the Bible says?
It says, I have not seen.
No man's eye, the ear hath not heard.
No ear has ever heard.
Neither hath it entered into the heart of
man.
No man can ever imagine it.
I cannot see it.
The ear cannot hear it.
It has not entered into the heart of
man.
What?
What God has prepared for those above.
Up there in the glory land, every day
they are learning the new name of Jesus.
I hear the shouts of the saints today.
As a new revelation of Christ is in
the glory land, and every glorified saint with
the white robes upon them are shouting the
praises of Jesus.
I long for the day when I shall
join them in the great revelation when Christ
shall tell us the full meaning of his
name.
The angel came and said to Mary, call
his name Jesus.
He'll save his people from their sins.
And in heaven we'll learn what it is
to be really and truly saved from our
sins.
Note also, not only have we the sword
to punish and the rod to order men
to keep God's commandments, but I was struck
with the fact of his third weapon.
What was the third weapon that Christ had?
The sword?
Yes.
The rod?
Yes.
But he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God.
And I stopped as I read that.
And I said, Lord, what is this weapon?
The Lord said to me, it is the
foot of my Son.
Remember, he's to tread his enemies beneath his
feet.
Remember the promise given to our fallen first
parents.
The devil shall bruise his heel, but he
shall bruise the serpent's hand.
And there's a day coming when the Almighty
Christ will tread all his foes beneath his
feet.
This is the most powerful weapon of all.
The blessed treading of the feet of Christ
upon the heads of all those who rebel
against him.
And then, finally, we have the fact of
this great victory that he's going to have.
And on his vesture and on his thigh.
Why on his thigh?
That takes me back to the old wrestler
called Jacob.
Jacob's thigh had to be touched before the
Lord got the victory over him.
And Christ has written upon his thigh, King
of kings and Lord of lords.
And poor Jacob, the supplanter.
He went over the brook and he was
whole and he was straight.
But in that battle of wrestling, God took
the crookedness from Jacob.
And he was limping.
His thigh had been touched, he was limping.
But he was Israel.
He was a prince.
And thank God when God touches us and
takes the twist out of us.
The Lord Jesus Christ shows to us the
fact that on his vesture and on his
thigh.
There is a name written, King of kings
and Lord of lords.
I trust that everyone in this service will
crown Christ the King of kings and the
Lord of lords in their lives.
Amen and amen.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank thee for the
sweetness of thy word.
Write it upon all our hearts.
And oh God, may we see Jesus.
And may we sing.
And may we shout the victory in his
name.
And everybody say, Amen.