Well, we're going to read and weep again
this evening in this mighty chapter.
You can see that we're going through from
verse twelve to verse twenty, just nine verses
this evening, only nine.
And if you give me five minutes at
each verse forty-five, then we might play
extra time both ways, though you would never
know.
But we'll have to do what the Lord
wants us to do, there will be no
hurrying over these very precious portions here.
And I've entitled this paragraph this evening, The
Son of Man, The Lord of Glory, because
I'm perfectly sure that this is one of
the chapters that the young folks can go
to when somebody challenges you about the deity
of Christ.
Somebody might ask you a question one day,
do you really believe that Jesus Christ is
God?
Well, I think this would be the best
chapter in the Bible to go to to
prove it.
There are three great first chapters that you
can go to.
You can go to John's Gospel, chapter one,
of course, where it distinctly says, the Word
was God.
You can go to Hebrews, chapter one, where
the father speaking to the son says, die
from, O God, is forever and ever.
And you can go to Revelation, chapter one,
and a three-fold cord like that is
not easily broken.
But I would think that this is the
strongest one of the three, because there are
some wonderful things here.
You remember I was pointing out to you
as we finished the class last week that
in verse eight God himself is speaking, saying,
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the ending saith the Lord, which is, which
was, which is to come, the Almighty.
If you take the first two words of
the verse and the last two, it reads
like this, I am the Almighty.
And nobody could gainsay but that is God,
because it's said in the middle of the
verse, F Jehovah.
The word Lord is the word Jehovah.
So this is God.
Now you can do this sort of deduction
very easily, young folks.
I am the Almighty.
He calls himself Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, so that you can say,
the Almighty Jehovah is Alpha and Omega.
There's no trouble about that, that's all in
the one text, and nobody will argue with
you about it.
You can talk to anybody like that and
say that Alpha and Omega is the Almighty
Jehovah.
And then you go down the chapter to
verse ten, and John is speaking now.
John is saying, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day, and old Williams, the
great translator, put it like this, I was
in the Spirit on the Sunday, and I'm
sure he's right.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day, and heard behind me a great voice,
out of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha
and Omega, that's the same person.
I don't think he would have any bother
about that, it's the same person.
And then he makes a little change in
it now, he says, I am Alpha and
Omega, the first and the last.
So that you can conclude this, that the
Almighty, the one who describes himself as Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the
first and the last is all one.
This is God.
There's no troubles with that.
There would be no arguments from anybody up
to now.
And so John hears this voice behind him
of the trumpet saying, and the voice goes
on to say, and brought Garcia right in
the book and send it on to the
seven churches.
And verse twelve says, where we commence tonight,
and I turned, that is, I, John, turned
to see the voice that spoke with me.
You see, when verse ten came, it says,
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day and heard behind me.
So he's turning to see the person who
calls himself Alpha and Omega, the first and
the last.
And I turned to see the voice that
spoke with me, and being turned, I saw
seven golden candlesticks and don't worry about that
for the moment, and in the midst of
the seven candlesticks one light on to the
Son of Man.
Is this who was talking?
Now if I could prove conclusively that it
is the Son of Man who is talking,
then there is no trouble at all for
evermore with the Deity of Christ.
Because the one who says, I am the
Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the ending, the first and the last,
if that is the Son of Man, then
the question's over, there are no more arguments.
Of course, when some of these boys come
round to the door and I corner them
with something like this, they try to escape
like this, they say to me, yes, this
is Jehovah and versaic, the Alpha and Omega,
he is the first and the last, this
is his voice that's heard.
But when John turned to see the voice
that spoke with him, he didn't see Jehovah
at all, he just saw the Son of
Man, and you're concluding that the Son of
Man said, I am the first and the
last.
Now that's a very subtle argument, it's not
worthy of even thinking about.
I detest anybody who's so wicked.
Now watch me very carefully.
I turned to see the voice that spoke
with me and being turned I saw seven
golden candlesticks and in the midst of the
seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of
Man, clothed with a garment down to the
foot, girt about the breasts with a golden
girdle, his head and his hairs were white
like wool, as white as snow, his eyes
were as the flame of fire, his feet
like unto fine brass, as if they'd burned
in a furnace, and his voice as the
sound of many waters, he had in his
right hand seven stars, out of his mouth
went a sharp two-edged sword, and his
countenance was as the sun shineth in the
sky.
And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead, he laid his right
hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not,
I am the first and the last.
Would you like to argue now, because if
you would dare to argue now I wouldn't
talk to you any more because I would
think you were wickedly stupid.
This is the Son of Man that's speaking,
isn't it?
Is this the Man of Calvary?
Because in a moment I shall prove it
is, because he says, I am he that
liveth and was dead.
So that the Son of Man, the Man
of Calvary, the one who liveth in the
power of an endless life, the Risen Lord,
is the first and the last, the Alpha
and the Omega, the Almighty.
You like to argue with me after the
meeting, because I would tear you apart, you
know.
You young ones, get the hold of it,
that's what I'm taking my time for.
When somebody comes round to argue with you
about the deity of the Lord Jesus, you
just take your time with Revelation 1, and
I can tell you you can hold your
own with the devil, never mind with these
agents.
This is the Almighty.
Quite clear, isn't it?
No arguments.
So that's why I entitled the paragraph, The
Son of Man, the Lord of Glory.
Now we need to get into the details,
of course, from verse 12 down to verse
20, and I want to talk for a
moment or two about the symbolism of the
stars, and then I shall go on to
talk about the magnificence of the Master, because
there are so many great details here.
And then at the end of the chapter,
where he lays his right hand upon John
and says unto him, Fear not, I am
the first and the last, I am he
that liveth and was dead.
Behold, I am alive forevermore, and have the
keys of hell and of death.
This is a superman, because he's got the
keys of death and the keys of hell.
This is not just an ordinary refill.
There are so many angles you could prove
the deity of the Lord from this chapter.
We're going to look at this symbolism for
the moment, and then at the magnificence of
the Master, and then look at the sympathy
of the Saviour.
And I think it's a very rich portion
indeed.
You see, there are so many people, when
you turn to the book of the Revelation
to prove anything, if they're going to be
cornered or if it's going to upset their
erroneous teachings, they say to me, but this
book is full of symbols.
God uses symbolical language in this book, and
it just can't be understood.
Now, it is perfectly true that God uses
symbols in this book, and it is perfectly
true that there is symbolical language in this
book, but it is not true that it
can't be understood.
It would be very silly for God to
write a letter and use symbols that you
couldn't understand and then ask you to understand
it.
There are not only symbols in this book,
there are metaphors in this book.
Sometimes God uses animal metaphors to bring forth
truth the way he wants it.
But all the symbols and all the metaphors
that's used can be understood because God explains
them in the book.
You see, the trouble with some teachers is
that when you come to symbols like these,
see verse 12, I turned to see the
voice that speak with me, and being turned,
I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the
midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto
the Son of Man.
And you know, they want to make these
candlesticks so many things.
Now let me say this to you young
teachers, you're not allowed to make anything anything.
What would you know?
You're not allowed to work your imagination and
say, I think, or you suggest.
Oh no, God doesn't allow you to do
that.
You're to search the scriptures.
And if you search, you'll find a place
where God will explain the thing.
He doesn't let you loose, you know, with
your imagination.
See down in the midst of that magnificent
portion there where it talks about the Son
of Man, it says at verse 16, And
he had in his right hand seven stars.
That's symbolical again.
So that you have this symbolism of the
stars, and you have this symbolism of the
candlesticks.
And of course if you just search and
watch and wait, God explains it.
And you don't go far here until you
get the explanation.
The last verse tonight, look at it, verse
20.
The Lord is still speaking to John.
He's saying to him, The mystery of the
seven stars which thou sawest in my right
hand are the seven golden candlesticks.
The seven stars are the angels of the
seven churches.
And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are
the seven churches.
Now there's no trouble with that.
That's the symbolism explained.
God was just giving John a very attractive
vision.
He could see these seven golden candlesticks, something
that was very precious.
And in the midst of them, the Lord
of Glory was walking, the Son of Man.
And when we begin to examine these churches,
we find they were seven literal local churches.
Seven churches in Asia.
They were local churches.
One was at Ephesus.
One at Smyrna.
One at a place called Pergamos.
One at Thyatira.
One in Sardis.
One in Philadelphia.
One in Laodicea.
So the symbolism is quite easy here, because
God explains it in the very clearest of
language.
It's the seven churches.
You see, the local church is examined continually
by the Lord.
The Lord walks in the midst of the
churches.
Comes in here to examine the preachers sometimes.
How they look at all the sermons.
Measures every motive.
How they look at the members, too.
You don't hide anything from Him, you know.
He knows you're downshifting and you're uprising.
And you may fox me, but you won't
fool Him.
And His eyes go through the whole meeting.
Yet there's no trouble with that.
You see, the seven stars that He held
in His right hand, these stars are the
angels.
I don't want you to be confused by
the word angels.
It's an old Greek word.
And I know that the correct translation is
angels, all right, but the way we think
about them at times, we might think that
we were thinking about these shining angels from
the glory.
You see, the basic root meaning of this
Greek word that's translated angels here is the
word messenger.
Because the angels were messengers.
Ah, but in these local churches, there were
men placed in each church who were messengers.
Both the brethren and the likelihood.
Whether you like it or not, there were
seven churches and there were seven messengers.
And there's no getting out of it.
And let me tell you, they were responsible
for the spiritual condition of the assembly.
Because next week when we start, we'll be
starting the chapter two.
Here's how it begins.
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus
write.
Now, our Lord is talking to John.
He's saying unto the angel of the church
of Ephesus.
Now, you'd be wide enough awake to know
that our Lord is not commanding John to
write to a shining angel.
Who would deliver the letter?
5B, of course, wouldn't get you there.
No.
No, there's the messenger.
One of the Lord's messengers too.
And he's responsible for the spiritual condition of
the church.
That's why I must be faithful to the
Lord in this place at all times.
Because I'm held accountable for this great loss.
And I may tread in your toes and
know right well I'm doing it.
And I assure you I'll tread as hard
as I can even when I know that
I am not responsible to you.
I neither seek your smile or fear your
frown.
I just have to be true to the
Lord.
And if you don't like it, you can
lump it.
Because you'll be held accountable for what you
have.
Now, there are angels here and there's no
getting out of it.
There was an angel at Ephesus and an
angel at each of the churches.
There was a messenger that God had sent
there.
And this is one of the reasons that
a whole lot of re-meetings are only
nonsense.
Because God's messenger is not there.
And you play about with it.
And you bypass God's order.
And the gifts that God has given you
lay to the side.
You're going to play it out.
I am only fooling your time away.
You don't know that you love to play
at ministries.
You're like kids.
Go where the gift is and learn.
Thank God for this class.
In a bombed town these days, look at
it.
And I wouldn't keep this going for 20
years if God hadn't given me gifts.
You're not just as daft as all that.
No, we need to recognize gifts.
And we need to know the messengers that
God has sent.
And we need to listen carefully when God
speaks through them.
If symbolism and metaphors don't matter, let's go
to Revelation 13 for a moment so I
show you something about the metaphors.
Revelation 13.
And John speaking again.
Verse 1.
And I stood upon the sand of the
sea, and saw a beast rise up out
of the sea, having seven heads and ten
horns.
When we come to this, we'll do the
whole verse phrase by phrase.
Just take the ten horns out now.
It is symbolic, isn't it?
What does it mean, that phrase?
I'm not allowed to even think.
It wouldn't matter what I think.
That doesn't make no use of me saying,
I think that the horns mean this.
So that I've got to get down to
it and pray about it and say, Lord,
what are you talking about?
Now, this is a beast that's rising up.
He has seven heads and ten horns, and
upon his horns ten crowns.
Now, come across to Revelation 70.
Revelation 70.
And John is carried away here in the
spirit again into the wilderness in verse 3.
So he carried me away in the spirit
into the wilderness, and I saw a woman
sit upon a scarlet-colored beast full of
names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten
horns.
We're back to the same beast, the same
ten horns.
Now, down the chapter we've been here, see,
verse 12.
And the ten horns which thou sawest are
ten kings.
You wouldn't like to come round to argue
with me now, would you?
And all the suggestions that you made in
your mind just mean nothing unless you worked
it out like that.
These are ten kings.
This is an amalgamation.
In fact, this is a picture of the
common market.
But we're not on that tonight, so we
don't need to go.
I'm only showing you the symbolism.
And the symbols don't need to puzzle you.
The answer is somewhere.
You need to search and watch and wait,
and God will speak.
Go back to 13 again till I show
you a metaphor that's there.
13, verse 2.
And the beast which I saw was like
unto a leopard, and his feet were as
the feet of a bear, and his mouth
as the mouth of a lion, and the
dragon gave him his power.
Supposing we take the word dragon out.
You could take leopard, you could take bear,
you could take lion, you could take dragon.
Was God mean?
Now, as you switch from chapter 13 back
into chapter 12, you can see this in
verse 9.
And the great dragon was cast out, that
old serpent called the devil and Satan.
There are all the words you would need
anymore.
Serpent, devil, Satan.
So that the dragon is the metaphor that
God uses to describe the power and the
ferocity of the old devil and Satan.
So that symbolism, or metaphorically speaking, doesn't hinder
you from understanding.
That is if you'll allow God to talk
to you and you take your time to
find it out for yourself.
It's just because some folks won't search the
scriptures and they want to be clever and
they say it suggests this and suggests that
and half the time it's baloney.
So take your time and let God tell
you what it is and it will not
be too bad at all.
Now let's get back to this first chapter
again.
Verse 12, And I turned to see the
voice that spake with me, and being turned
I saw seven golden candlesticks, these seven churches
of Asia.
And in the midst of the seven churches
one like unto the Son of Man, and
I like this title.
You know this is one of the titles
our Lord Jesus had in the days of
his flesh.
You remember again and again he preached like
this, The Son of Man is come to
seek and to save that which is lost.
And right through the scriptures you'll find that
more times than any he was called the
Son of Man.
And I think that possibly this is the
title that John used again and again.
John knew him as the Son of Man.
Now I want you to get the hold
of this.
This letter of John's the best scholars say
that it was written in A.D. 96.
Now get the hold of that, A.D.
96.
Supposing to make the sum easy we say
our Lord died in A.D. 33.
It's 63 years later.
But he hasn't changed.
He's the same Jesus.
Just the same.
You know when you don't see a fellow
for 63 years there's a bit of a
change you know.
Bit of a change.
You've got to take into consideration when you
study this that John must be a pretty
old man now.
I don't know what age he was when
Jesus called him.
Supposing he was 20.
I don't think he was, I think he
was older than that.
He was a well-seasoned fisherman.
He may have been thirsty.
Well is it 63 years later?
He's over 90 now.
He's an old man.
Though his eyes may have been growing dim
like the rest of us they might have
been sore than in his early days yet
he immediately recognizes the Son of Man.
He hasn't changed.
The lady coming in for the meeting she's
just sitting over there I spoke to her
tonight.
Mrs. Hewitt.
Johnny's wife.
I said how long is it since I
led you to the Lord?
Got the thinking cap on you know.
23 years ago I led Mrs. Hewitt to
the Lord.
23 years ago.
Both her and I were better looking men
I can assure you.
Yes she was a nice young woman then.
Not too old yet but 23 years of
her older course.
And it was a great night.
It was the last night of the mission
at Kilicho Main when I pitched the tent
there before the church was ever there.
She was saved that night.
She had been steadfast and unmovable ever since.
One of the ones that you would be
proud to know.
But you know when 63 years rolls past
here's John looking at him now.
He's still the same Jesus.
You know he never changed.
And there's a lot more than 63 years
rolled past since John turned this and the
Lord hasn't changed.
And he never changed.
He's the same yesterday and today and forever.
It will be this same Jesus when he
comes again.
But you know although it's the same Jesus
I want you to see the magnificence of
the Lord.
Watch this.
And in the midst of the seven churches
one like unto the Son of Man clothed
with a garment down to the foot and
gets about the breast with a golden girdle.
You know John had never seen him like
that before.
He'd never seen him dressed like that.
You see all the days of his ministry
our Lord Jesus wore the robe of a
lowly Nazarene.
He came from Nazareth and he was known
as a Nazarene.
And he wore the garb of a Nazarene.
And when the soldiers took him to Calvary
they tore his garments up they parted his
garments among them.
That's his outer garment, the Nazarene one.
But his under vesture was very precious and
for it they cost lots.
But we will learn a lot about it
later on in this book and I think
we will.
But he's dressed differently now.
He's got the long robe right down to
his feet and he's got the golden girdle
and it is not round his loins.
It is round his breasts.
You know this this is a high priest.
That's the point that's being made.
You know, John is not only seeing this
in Jesus but he's seeing him now as
our great high priest after the order of
Melchizedek.
You know, when we talk about anything golden
you know what gold is.
It's something that never changes.
It's something that keeps its value.
You know, this speaks of something that's everlasting.
And you see it's round his breasts.
And every mother here knows that when the
baby, when the wee boy falls you pick
him up, you hold him near your breasts.
This is the place of comfort.
This is where all the consolations are stored.
You see, this is our great high priest
with all the sympathy working for you.
The girdle means service.
It's a great picture we're seeing because we're
seeing this in Jesus.
Yet we're seeing him as our great high
priest.
Have a look at verse 14.
His head and his hairs were white, white
as white as snow.
I wonder how many of you remember when
we were in the book of Daniel and
that's not too long ago.
Let's go back there just for a moment
shall I show you this.
And we're at Daniel chapter 7.
Daniel 7.
I think you remember this great vision that
Daniel had.
This was his first great vision.
The other one belonged to Nebuchadnezzar and the
writing on the wall was by the hand
of God.
But this was a vision that Daniel had
in the night.
You remember he saw four great beasts.
Verse 3.
And we don't want to go into them
now.
The first, verse 4, was like a lion
and the second like a bear and the
third like a leopard.
You should be connecting that in your mind
with Revelation just now, but don't bother.
Verse 7.
I saw in the night vision, behold, a
fourth beast, dreadful and fathomless.
And he watched these beasts.
In verse 9.
I beheld till the thrones were cast down
and the Ancient of Days.
That's a great phrase.
It's a capital A.
And it should be a capital D too.
In some of the old translations it is.
The Ancient of Days.
It's a title for God.
Whose garment was white as snow and the
hair of his head like the pure wool.
His throne was like the fiery flame and
his wheels as a burning fire.
Fire is three measured and came forth from
before him.
Thousands, thousands ministered unto him.
One million.
And ten thousand times ten thousand, which is
one billion.
And there was one million seraphims and seraphims
around them.
And there was one billion angels before him.
And the whole picture is the Ancient of
Days.
And his head and his hair is white.
It's like wool.
Have a look at what it says in
Revelation 1.
Because if I were being cornered or tried
to be cornered by some of the friends
who take away the deity, I would go
into a few details in the chapter.
You see his head and his hairs were
white like wool as white as snow.
Because it's not only this same Jesus, our
great High Priest.
It's the Ancient of Days.
He's still God, you know.
He never ceases to be what he always
was.
Although at times he becomes what he never
had been.
Don't forget that.
When he took upon the form of a
servant, he became what he had never been
before.
But he didn't cease to be what he
always was.
He was only God manifest in flesh.
Now have a look at this again.
It says here in verse 14, And his
eyes were as a flame of fire.
You've ever seen those sort of eyes that
look through you?
I get blamed for this.
I'm sure more than a hundred times in
life folk come here and say he looks
through you.
Well maybe he does.
We had a girl waiting behind the house
Tuesday night.
Kept me to twelve o'clock after the
meeting.
And twelve was striking when Harry Edgar and
I were leaving.
And she said to Harry Edgar in the
wee room, she says, he just looks through
you.
Well I don't think that I'm able to
do that.
But I'm not afraid to look straight at
you.
Maybe that's what gets them sometimes.
I don't blink about it.
But I can tell you the Lord can
look through his eyes like a flame of
fire.
He can set you after you now.
You see, he's the judge of all the
earth.
It's one of the titles given away back
in Genesis.
It's he.
Abraham said, shall not the judge of all
the earth do right?
And this is the one who's here.
You see, this is the wonderful revelation of
Christ.
This is what this book is all about.
You remember that.
The book begins in the first verse, in
the first phrase, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Well, this is the thought of the revelation
of Jesus Christ.
You just see him.
He's the son of man.
This in Jesus.
He's always our priest.
He's the ancient of days.
He's the judge of all the earth.
Look at his feet.
This is the mighty bit, verse 15.
And his feet like on to fine brass,
as if they burned in a furnace.
You know, it's not so many months back
when we were doing the tabernacle in the
wilderness.
And you remember I explained to you about
the altar of burnt sacrifice, made of brass,
fine brass.
It might well have been copper.
But it was here that the fire raged.
It's here the lamb was raised.
And it's here that the fire consumed the
lamb.
But it never consumed the brass.
And you know, one of the differences between
the types, the lambs and bullocks and goats
that were offered the types, one of the
differences between them and the Lord Jesus as
the offering, is that in the Old Testament,
the fire consumed the lamb.
Ah, but that Calvary, the lamb, consumed the
fire.
That's why the feet like brass are still
there, burned in the fire.
Yes, he had been way down in the
depths where there was no standing.
But he has survived.
I think it's the Lamb of God that's
here.
It's the great picture.
It's the Son of Man.
It's the same Jesus.
It's our great High Priest.
It's the Ancient of Days.
It's the Judge of all the Earth.
It's the Lamb of God.
See that at the end of verse 15.
His voice.
As the sound of many waters.
By the day that I stood at Niagara
Falls and listened to the waters going over,
you could hear the thunder of it.
I remember quoting the text.
His voice.
As the sound of many waters.
If you listen to the shepherd's voice, you
know why we are followers.
The sheep hear his voice.
He calls his sheep by name.
One of these days he'll come to the
air and he'll just shout.
And only the sheep will rise.
None of the goats will move.
Just the sheep.
Because it will be the shepherd's voice.
Yes, you can see the picture developing, isn't
it?
It's like going through round a picture gallery
and seeing a whole jumble and then somebody
comes along to explain it.
It's wonderful.
I know that some of the modern paintings,
they would take some explaining.
You know about the two wee fellows on
the bare feet and rags that went down
to the art gallery in Belfast?
Come along, here's a great big splash on
the wall.
Go on, all sheep.
The wee fellow says, Johnny, let's get out
of this.
There'll be a mosque for this.
Well, this is really wonderful material.
You see, in verse 16 it says, He
had in his right hand seven messengers, is
the word.
Now you're going to get it.
He's the master of the messengers.
You see, I try to tell all the
young preachers around me, you know you're no
use whatsoever except you're in the Lord's hand.
The Lord needs to pick you up and
lay you down at times and shift you
here and shift you there.
And you'll have to be prepared for that.
You have to be a vessel unto on
a sanctified meat for the Master's use.
Something that he can handle.
Something that he can control.
Something that he can use to his glory.
And if you're not in his hand, you're
no use.
If you're in the hand of a party,
they'll make a mess of you, won't they?
Some of the boys won't be directed by
a party.
They just have to do with the brethren
so they're not in the Lord's hand at
all.
Some of them are directed by politics.
They need to be in the Lord's hand.
If he's the master of the messengers, you
know, he's the great friend that's here.
Verse 16, He had in his right hand
seven stars.
Now watch this carefully.
Out of his mouth went a sharp two
-edged sword.
You know, this is the captain of all
salvation, and he can use the sword.
I think that possibly one of the greatest
studies any preacher can ever make in this
book, and I mean this, is to just
see how the Lord Jesus handled the Word
of God.
I'll tell you, it'll surprise you.
His power came out of his mouth at
times.
Let me do a bit for the young
preachers.
Let's begin in Matthew's Gospel.
Matthew, chapter 4 it is.
Gospel by Matthew, chapter 4.
And it's our Lord in the wilderness.
And the devil comes to tempt them.
Verse 3, When the tempter came to him,
he said, If thou be the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread.
Now listen to the Master.
But he answered and said, It is written,
Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God.
Did you see how quickly he quoted the
Word of God?
Do you know where the quotation came from?
You see, I tested a meeting out once.
I was allowed to do this.
And I found out of all the believers
that were in the meeting, some of them
saved for 40 years.
They didn't know the quotation or where it
was.
Well, it's out of the book of Deuteronomy.
And you see, some of us would never
think of going to Deuteronomy to make it
a sword to strike the devil.
But it was a two-edged sword came
out of his mouth.
He was the captain of our salvation and
he never failed.
And three times here, he quotes, It is
written.
And each time, it's out of the book
of Deuteronomy.
So he knew the book of Deuteronomy inside
out.
Now, let me do this for you.
Go on to Matthew chapter 12.
Verse 1.
At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath
day through the corn.
And his disciples were in hunger and began
to pluck the ears of corn and to
eat.
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said
unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which
is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath
day.
And he said unto them, Have ye not
read?
How quick that was.
What David did when he was in hunger
and they that were with him, how he
entered into the house of God.
And do you know where he's quoting from?
He's quoting from 1 Samuel 21.
He just knew this.
You know, this is the two-edged sword
that went out of his mouth.
And this is what you have to learn
to do in life.
Not to argue.
Not to play your wits against them.
If you start to argue with the devil,
he'll absolutely confound you.
And if you start to argue with Pharisees,
they're not much better.
Just quote the word of God to yourself.
But you have to know exactly what to
quote.
You have to know the two-edged sword
bit.
And the battle's over, I tell you, every
time.
Have a look at this again.
This is Matthew 19.
Matthew 19, verse 3.
The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him
and saying unto him, Is it lawful for
a man to put away his wife for
every cause?
And be answered and said unto them, now
watch it again, hath he not read that
he which made them at the beginning made
them male and female?
There's a lot in that, you know.
He didn't believe in evolution.
He believed that men and women were created.
And I'll tell you a wee bit.
He believed they were created at the beginning.
Has he not read that he which made
them at the beginning, the wee word, sir.
Right at the beginning, not a thousand years
later.
At the beginning.
Watch what he said now.
Hath he not read that he which made
them at the beginning made them male and
female?
And said, for this cause shall a man
leave father and mother.
Where does it say that?
In Genesis chapter 2, sir.
Yes.
My dear friend, he believed the Genesis story.
He believed it.
It's a two-edged sword.
And he really staggers the Pharisees.
You see, if you watch the Lord, have
a look at Matthew 23 just for a
moment.
Matthew 22, it says.
Verse 23.
Matthew 22, verse 23.
The same day came to him the Sadducees,
which say there is no resurrection.
And asked him, say, Master, Moses said, If
a man die having no children, his brother
shall marry his wife, and raise up seed
unto his brother.
And there were with us seven brethren.
And the first, when he had married a
wife deceased, and having no wishes, left his
wife unto his brother.
Likewise the second also, and the third unto
the second.
Last of all the woman died also.
She was a tough one, wasn't she?
Seven of them.
Too many for them.
Verse 28.
Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she
be of the seven?
They all had her.
They thought they were smart fellows.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do
err not knowing the scriptures, nor the power
of God.
For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor
are given in marriage, but are as the
angels of God in heaven.
But as touching the resurrection of the dead,
have ye not read, that which was spoken
unto you by God, saying, I am the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
God is not the God of the dead.
If God said, I am the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of
Jacob, he's not the God of the dead,
is he?
They must have been living.
He's quoting from the book of Exodus.
Oh, how wonderful our master was.
You see, he knows all about Deuteronomy.
He quoted the Psalms.
He can go to 1 Samuel.
He quoted from Jonah.
Why, you'll find out as you begin to
put together the quotations he quoted from the
whole of the Old Testament.
You know, when the two were going down
the road to Emmaus and they were all
confused, it says, Beginning at Moses, the first
five books of the Bible.
Beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, knew
all the prophets.
He expounded onto them in all the scriptures.
This is this two-edged sword that went
out of his mouth.
That proves him to be the captain of
all salvation.
And dear young men, you learn this book
and learn to quote it and learn to
quote it correctly.
Because the misquoted, you're helping the devil.
You know, misquotations are terrible.
Two boys came to the door, not so
long ago, Mormons they were, talking about there's
no going to heaven when you die.
I said, I don't think you could say
that now.
And I purposefully misquoted the thing.
Purposefully, let me tell you.
I said, you know, the Lord said to
the dying thief, this day shalt thou do
with me in paradise.
And the big fella jumped on us, you
see.
He thought I didn't know.
I was only opening the gate for him.
It's not right to do that, but never
mind.
He said, ah, this day.
This day means he's looking away forward into
eternity.
This day.
I said, you see, Master, it's not this
day at all, it's today.
The book says today shalt thou do.
But I knew what he would say, you
see, anticipates.
Learn to quote it correctly.
It is not a sharp, two-edged sword
if you're misquoting it.
You'll have blunted the weapon and the devil
will use it.
It's too awful to finish this wonderful magnificence.
Have a look at it again.
You see, it's the same Jesus.
It's our great High Priest.
It's the Ancient of Days, the Judge of
all the Earth, the Lamb of God, the
Shepherd of the Sheep, the Master of the
Messengers, the Captain of all Salvation.
See the last bit of verse 16.
On his countenance was as the sun shineth
in his strength.
You know, he's the altogether lovely one.
You know, in those verses, 13, 14, 15,
16, you have a revelation of Jesus Christ
given by God the Holy Ghost and it
brings to you the magnificence of the Master.
You know, no wonder this happened to John.
Verse 17.
And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet to the death.
You know, John had no quibbles about worshiping
the Lord Jesus.
And the Lord Jesus didn't stop from either.
You remember when Peter came into the house
of Cornelius, why Cornelius and all the Gentiles
fell down at his feet.
Peter said, Stand up!
I am a man like thyself.
The Lord Jesus allowed people to worship him.
When he calmed the storm, they, every man
in the boat, it says, they all fell
down and worshipped him.
Here's John at his feet.
John's just worshiping at his feet.
There's no self left in him.
I fell at his feet to the death.
And here's the lovely bit.
And he laid his right hand upon me.
Oh, I think you're going to see the
sympathy of the Saviour here.
You know, there was a tenderness in that
touch.
You know, sometimes the old folks seem to
think the Lord has forgotten all about them,
not a bit of them.
When you're youthful, days are gone.
And old age is creeping on.
And your body bends beneath its load of
care.
He will not leave you dead.
He'll be with you to the end.
He'll touch you, you know.
You know, this moves me sometimes when I
think of this old man.
When I think of this prisoner, for he
was a prisoner on this island, a prisoner
of the Lord, of course.
When I think of this suffering saint, when
I think of this man who may have
thought that everybody had forgotten about him and
nobody cared, I want you to get this.
The Lord of glory came and touched him.
He'll touch you.
He won't let you just be forgotten about.
He is not unmindful, you know, to forget
your labour of love in the past days.
He just touched you.
What a touch it was.
One thing, the Lord coming to touch you
is just to clap you on the back.
Yes.
Who is attending this matter?
Says, he laid his right hand upon me,
saying unto me, Fear not.
You know, he has come to comfort you,
hasn't he?
He's the comforter here.
He said, Fear not.
I am the first and the last.
You know what he said to John.
You know, he's just coming as nice as
ever a person can come and clapping him
on the back and saying, Listen, John, don't
you worry about anything.
I'm God.
What a person to meet when you're lonely.
Somewhere in the shadows, you will find Jesus.
And if you look tight enough, you'll find
he's God.
Says, John, don't you be a bit afraid,
son.
I'm God.
I'm the first and the last.
Yes, I'll tell you this, there's faithfulness here.
It's the faithfulness of a friend.
Where's your Queen?
He says, I am he that liveth and
was dead.
Get the wars in now.
A fellow said to me once, in all
this resurrection life, it's all nonsense.
Oh, I believe that he hung on the
cross all right.
I think he just swooned in a sort
of a coma and then was resuscitated.
And he's a liar, I said.
He said, you're calling him a liar.
If he said he was dead, if you
say he fainted, if he said he was
dead, which one do you think I should
believe?
I said, you're just a liar.
That's all you are.
And to me, you know, you're trying to
work out something.
I was preaching here on Sunday morning on
this word wars.
All wonderful things in it.
You know, if you go back to John's
Gospel sometimes, you'll find, in the beginning was
the word.
When anything began that ever had a beginning,
the word was, it was there.
And then it says, the word was God.
When you look back, you know, he was
God.
And then it says, he was rich.
Though he was rich, yet for us he
was rich.
He never was rich down here.
He must have been rich before he came
here.
He was born in this table.
There were times he had not regularly fed.
But he was rich.
He was rich before he came.
He was the eternal son.
He was tempted.
He was tempted in all points like as
we are.
He was dead.
He was buried.
That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15,
the Gospel that I preached unto you by
which you are saved, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
was buried.
He was raised again for our justification.
He was seen already.
Take the word for you to see.
It's right through the book like a wonderful
string of pearls.
He was dead, friend.
Yes, he says, I am he that liveth
and was dead.
And this little bit is very interesting, isn't
it?
He says, Behold, I am alive.
I wrote a book on that one, so
three words, I am alive.
When Mary was standing at the tomb and
her heart was breaking, her whole emotional being
had gone bust, he just came out of
the gloom and said, Mary.
It simply meant, I am alive.
I'm alive to help you with your emotional
problems.
See the man that fished all night and
caught nothing.
Well, when he sold the net, John Brown,
he said, It's the Lord.
You know what he was saying with the
fish.
He said, I am alive.
I am alive to help you with your
business problems.
I am alive to help you with your
emotional problems.
See the two go down the road to
a mess and they don't know who he
is or where they are.
The faith has gone.
The shadows have come.
He just came and broke bread.
He just said, I am alive.
I am alive to help you with your
religious problems.
I mustn't go into a breach again.
He'll be here all night.
Friends, this is a wonderful thing, isn't it?
This is the truthfulness of the teacher.
This is the bit that I love more
than any other bit, I may as well
say to you.
Verse 18, I am he that liveth and
was dead.
Behold, I am alive forevermore.
Amen.
And have the keys.
There is a mess of that word.
Keys of hell and of death that I
believe with all my heart.
This must make him absolutely superb.
He is chosen to be the superman that
he is.
Nobody else would ever claim to have the
keys of death and of hell.
Nobody has.
Do you know what it means?
It means this, that when he rose from
the dead and he's alive in the power
of an endless life, it means, it means
that he didn't break out of the grave.
I don't like this bit about breaking out.
Talk about up from the grave he arose.
One of the verses says he tore the
bars away.
Bologna, he tore no bars away.
That's breaking out.
He didn't escape, you know.
He avoided death.
He stood up.
He triumphed.
I'll tell you this, round his goble, the
keys of death hang now.
I'll tell you a wee thing, I cannot
die until he puts the key in the
door.
I'll tell you a thing, and that's a
wonderful thing to get the hold of.
Because we all have wee pains.
Some of us have big ones.
And we get wee notions, and sometimes big
notions, no matter how long you're saved.
Just wonder what's happening to you at times.
Not so long ago, I lost about two
stone inside two or three weeks.
If you have any sense, you begin to
think what's happening inside.
If it could be cancer, couldn't it?
You know, that was quick as lightning.
Everybody's the same.
We're all built with the same sort of
stuff, you know.
Then I know this.
I cannot die.
And I cannot go in through that door
of death, of cancer, unless you put the
key in the door and turn it.
And if that's the door you select for
me, then that's the best door I can
go through.
You know, it begins to steady you up
in life.
Let me do this.
Let's go back to the last chapter of
John's Gospel.
John's Gospel, chapter twenty-one.
You remember the Lord saying to Peter, Lovest
thou me more than thee?
And you remember him saying to Peter, saying,
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
See, at the end of verse seventeen.
Thou knowest all things.
Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus said unto him, feed my feet.
And the Lord said to him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, that is, unto Peter,
When thou wast young.
It's one of the reasons that I'm sure
that these men that Jesus called weren't just
youngsters.
They'd served at the fishing.
He's passed that stage.
When thou wast young, thou girded'st thyself, and
walk'dst whether thou wouldest.
I'm sure that was like Peter.
He just did what he liked when he
was a young fellow.
But when thou shalt be old.
It is wonderful if the Lord said that
to you.
Maybe you're about thirty years of age and
the Lord says when you shall be old.
He couldn't die young yet.
He's bound to go on till he's old.
No matter what happens.
No matter what epidemic comes.
The Lord has said, When thou shalt be
old.
So he'll be old.
There's one thing to it.
The Lord said to him, When thou shalt
be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands.
Stretch forth your hands, do you see?
That's the way you do it then.
When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch
forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee.
So they're going to die, his hands out
like that.
And carry thee whether thou wouldest not.
This spake he, the Lord Jesus, signifying by
what death Peter should glorify God.
How did Peter die?
On a cross.
He was crucified.
The Lord was telling them when, way back
there, long before it happened, because the Lord
knew what key would put in the door
for him.
He said when you're old, they'll crucify you.
And history says this, when they went to
put Peter on the cross, he says turn
me round.
I don't want to die exactly like the
Lord did.
I want to be crucified upside down.
And to his credit, he was crucified upside
down.
But the Lord knew.
And the Lord knows how you'll die.
He knows the door that you'll go through,
and the door that I'll go through.
So I went to a big barn the
other day.
There I already arrested him and Danny, and
took him into the barn site, put him
again in the wall.
The rough little guy came with a gun,
and the other fellow says shoot him.
And he says, there's a suit against the
wall.
Peel.
Peter remembered what he heard in the class.
He's going to kill me unless the Lord
turns the key.
Never turn the hair on.
Two men look at him with a gun,
one on the mind to kill.
The boy says, who are you?
He says, I'm a child of God.
I'll go to heaven as you pull the
trigger.
But you can't do it until the Lord
allows you.
He says, get your cookies here.
This is something that this class of young
folks and old folks and me say we've
been a whole lot.
Nobody can touch you until the Lord allows
it.
My dear friends, Big Paisley, to his credit,
came to see me away about two in
the morning.
I don't like them coming at two in
the morning.
I said, you know what's going to happen
to you, bud?
You're going to get shot, and I'll go
step, and I'll get blamed for it.
He said to me this, and you know,
there's a lot of lovely things about him.
A lot of lovely things.
He said, Willie, I belong to the Lord.
And I'm an immortal until my work's done.
There's nobody I'll tell me before that.
You got the hold of this.
Friends, you know we should shout hallelujah.
The Lord has the keys.
There's nobody opening the door, only him.
And when he opens the door for me,
I hope I'll have enough faith to shout
hallelujah as I go through.
He's a great chapter.
He's a great saviour.
Next week he has solemn things to say.
We're singing that wonderful song tonight.
Amazing Grace.
894.
We'll just sing the first verse.
And we'll sing the third verse.
And then we'll sing the verse that's not
there.
When I've been there ten thousand years, bright,
shining as the sun.
First, third, and we'll put that other one
in.
894, please.
We thank
thee for thyself.
And we thank thee for thy grace.
And we thank thee for thy truth.
Help us in our fear.
With thy blessing.
Take us to our homes in safety.
And to thee be the glory.
Amen.