To Him Who Loves Us And Releases Us From Our Sins

Good morning. As always, a real pleasure to be here with you. My wife, Zebra, and our two youngest boys are able to be with me today, which is great, so make sure you greet them, and congratulations. Open your Bible, please, to Revelation chapter 1. I'm going to read verses 1 to 6. Why don't you stand with me as I read it? Revelation 1, 1 to 6. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bondservants the things which must soon take place. And he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bondservant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near.

John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood, and he has made us to be a kingdom, priest to his God and Father. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. Well, I hope I didn't scare you by having you turn to the book of Revelation. It's kind of weird, isn't it, how we basically have two kinds of Christians, either those who are obsessed with the book of Revelation or those who avoid it like the plague. I suspect, I don't know.

Maybe there's both in this room. When's the last time you sat down with the book of Revelation and thought, you know, I'm going to really get some encouragement from this book? Well, and that's a shame. It's true, but it's a shame because how has that happened? So I'm not going to preach on the book of Revelation. That's not what I'm doing right now. But I do want to do one thing. The main verses I want to focus on are down like in... 5 and 6. But I want to say something about the beginning of this, and really just to help us, because we need to get our heads straight about the book of Revelation. So just me opening it up and reading from it brings to mind all kinds of things. And again, I'm not going to try to give you an overview of the book of Revelation or anything like that, but I do want us to be able to actually hear what he says without having all these other things in our minds.

some of which I think are wrong. So think about this. The great thing about the book of Revelation, all right? Here's a little secret. The secret about the book of Revelation, ready? You ready? You can actually understand it. You know how I know that? What? What'd he say? It's God's word. It was written to real people who actually, what? Understood it. So look at what it says. Look at verse 1. Well, not in verse 1, but it's actually, let me see here. Who's he writing to, right? He has an audience. Verse 4, John to the seven churches that are in Asia. So, and you know from the first few chapters, he's writing to seven actual churches, just like this church, just like my church, filled with people just like us, with problems just like ours, okay?

And so think about it. When he goes through those letters, that's probably the part of Revelation that most of us kind of feel sort of comfortable in, you know? So there's these letters to these seven churches. They're real churches. They're not figurative. They're real churches with real people, and they have real problems. They have sins that they're dealing with. Some sins they're dealing with not very well. They have false teaching in the churches, like, you know, Jesus mentions Jezebel and others, you know, in some of these churches, a woman who's teaching false and wicked things. They have weakness. They have lukewarmness, some of them, right? Just kind of a flat blah in their spiritual life. They have pride and ease, some of them. Some of them have some faithfulness, right?

In other words, they're churches just like ours. They're Christians just like us, and what they're going into is persecution and trial, all right? So just think about this. These are real people just like us in real churches just like ours with all kinds of failures, some strengths, all kinds of weakness, some trouble, all getting ready to go into some intense persecution, and the Holy Spirit inspires the Apostle John to write this letter to them, and it would have helped them, okay? It would have actually made sense to them. They didn't have to wait 1,800, 2,000 years till someone came up with the key and the right wall chart and the right whatever formula to figure out what the book of Revelation really means. The people who read it the first time got it and took comfort and encouragement from it.

And that really helps us to understand the point. All through the book of Revelation, you see this call to encouragement, to endurance, and to perseverance. Okay? You don't have to have a wall chart for that. And the wall chart gets in the way of that. Because it makes you think you have to have some special decoder ring glasses or whatever to make sense of it. And you don't. All right. So that's the first thing. It has an audience. Real churches like ours. And like us, in the kind of circumstances, really, that we're in, it has a point, encouragement, endurance, perseverance. And here's another thing. This might be a little bit controversial, but I just want to notice what it actually says. I want you to notice. Look at what it says. Look at the time frame. Verse 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bondservants, the things which must what? Hmm. Interesting.

And then he says, the end of verse 3, for the time is near. And then all the way back at the very last, one of the very last things he says in chapter 21 or 22, verse 12, behold, I am coming quickly. And in verse 20, he who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming quickly. So again, I'm not going to try to unpack the book of Revelation, but that should mean something to us. It certainly meant something to them, the ones who heard it the first time. All right? I just want us to recover the book of Revelation and read it like we do the Bible and actually take encouragement from it, okay? It is a message for us. So he sets the stage. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, things which are going to happen soon. He's writing to these seven churches that are in Asia, right? Real churches with real problems just like us and just like our churches.

And then he says this. This is his greeting, his salutation, full of help for us, okay? Verse 4. John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Grace and peace. Grace to you and peace. Grace is God's kindness. It's his favor. It's his help, especially to those who deserve none of that. So grace to you. God's grace to you. And what? Peace. We should think of that Old Testament word shalom, right? Peace, security, safety, happiness, blessedness.

So this is the greeting from God to us, to you. Grace to you and peace. And of course, notice this is always the way this is. It's always grace first and then peace. And all these greetings all through the New Testament, very often grace and peace. It's never peace and grace, right? Because God's grace comes first and he gives us peace. You don't work yourself up into that. He gives it to you as a gift. Grace to you and peace, security, safety, happiness, blessedness. Now look at who it's from, this grace and peace. From him who is and was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ. Do you know who this is from? This is from the Trinity.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is him who is and who was and who is to come. This is a way of talking about what God calls himself. Remember what God calls himself in Exodus? I am, all right? This is a way of saying that. He is eternal. He goes backwards as far as, you know, beyond what you can think and forward and now he is. who was, who he is to come, this is Yahweh, this is I am, this is God the Father. So grace and peace from God the Father and, what? From the seven spirits who were before his throne. Now, there aren't seven Holy Spirits, okay? This is a poetic, kind of a Hebrew way of talking about the Holy Spirit, the infinite, perfect, Spirit of God, who is before his throne, before the throne of the Father. He rules the world through his Spirit. And so you have grace and peace from God the Father, grace and peace from the Holy Spirit, and then from Jesus Christ. Look at what he says about Jesus Christ. He says three things. He calls him three things, right? Do you see this? From Jesus Christ,

The faithful witness. That, I think, is talking about Jesus as the prophet, okay? He is the prophet. He is the one who speaks. He speaks from God, and he speaks with authority and faithfulness and truth. He is the witness, the faithful witness. And he's the firstborn of the dead. And if you think of the, that means the resurrected one, right? The one who has been raised from the dead by the power of the Father, but he's the firstborn from what? From the dead. So he is the priest who offered himself as the Lamb of God, the perfect, spotless, pure Lamb of God without blemish or spot, and he offered himself and raised from the dead. Now he's the firstborn from the dead. This is Jesus as a priest. And then, The ruler of the kings of the earth. This is Jesus as a king. He is the prophet, the priest, and the king. He fulfills all of the offices of the Old Testament. He is all of that perfectly. He is prophet, priest, and king. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this last one. Ruler of the kings of the earth. I think this is very important for us to get today. Jesus Christ, it says, is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

That is his title. He is king. This is why later in the book of Revelation, it calls him king of kings and lord of lords. He is the ruler of kings. He's the king of kings. He's the ruler of lords, the lord of lords. All of them. He decides who becomes a king or a president or a governor or a mayor or a senator. or a chancellor, whatever you have, right? Prime minister. He is the king who decides who the kings are. This is what it says in Daniel, right? He raises up kings, he casts kings down. This is all in the hand of Christ, the ruler of the kings of the earth. He decides who becomes a king. Now, is that encouraging to you or not? It should be. He controls what kings do.

Remember what it says in Proverbs. The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. It's like a stream of water. He turns it whatever direction he wants. No king, no president, no Supreme Court justice. None of them are autonomous. They're not apart from God. He rules them. And they're accountable to him for what they do. It doesn't mean, because it says that he rules them, it doesn't mean they... obey. It doesn't mean that they bow to him, but he does control them. He decides who becomes a king, a ruler, an authority. He controls what they do, and he will triumph over them. He will triumph over them. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. 1 Corinthians 15. Listen to this. This is just a little glimpse into what our Lord Jesus is doing right now. I didn't write down what verse I wanted. He says this. Well, he's talking about the resurrection in 1520. He says this. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, right? The firstborn from the dead. He has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

but each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits. After that, those who are Christ's that is coming. Then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. That's what he's doing now. He must reign. He's reigning now. He's the ruler of the kings of the earth. These aren't things that will happen sometime in the future. This is what he is now. This is what he's doing now. He's ruling over the kings of the earth. He is ruling in such a way that he is putting all his enemies under his feet. He's the prophet. He's the priest. He's the king. That should mean something to you. That one, actually these three, the father, the son, the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Son, give you right now this salutation, this greeting, grace and peace. Grace and peace. There is nothing outside of the control of the Father, the Spirit, and the Son that can disturb that, that can take that away from you, that can...

This is good. But it gets better. Look at what he does next. This is kind of in the middle of verse 5, right? So you have... The salutation, the greeting, and now you have something else. This is what we call a doxology. We sang the doxology, right? Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Doxology just means glory word. A word of glory. A word of praise, right? A word of praise to God. And there's all kinds of them all through the Bible. There's all kinds of them in the New Testament. They usually come kind of at the end, but this time in the book of Revelation, it's at the beginning. And look at this glory. Look at this word of praise. To him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood, and he has made us to be a kingdom, priest to his God and father, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Look at what he says. He is praising.

the Lord Jesus. He is praising him. We need to be taught how to praise him. Here is an example. He teaches us how to praise him. And he's praising him for what he's done for you. Now look at these things. To him who loves us. What does that not say? Does the Holy Spirit know how to write? Yes, the Holy Spirit knows how to write. He invented language, right? All right, remember when God created the world, how did he do it? By speaking. Okay, he knows how to speak. He knows how to speak precisely. He knows how to form verb tenses, okay? And so why do I say that? Because what this says is not he loved us, past tense. It doesn't say he will love us. It says he loves us. So easy to like...

distance ourselves from the love of Jesus, right? Yeah, I know he loved me, like what, 2,000 and some odd years ago, I think is what it says. He died on the cross, and he demonstrated his love, you know, and he, I mean, I kind of get that, that that was good, and he loved me. I get that, you know, when I'm in heaven, he will love me. What about now? What about now? Does Jesus love you now? The Holy Spirit, who knows how to write, who knows how to form verb tenses, said he loves us. To him who loves us. Present tense, right now. He loves you. Right now. You're still trying to push it away. Don't. He loves you right now. He loves you. Right now. As we sit here together, he loves you. And that's a present.

no matter where you are, when you are. That's like the world you live in, if you're one of his children. You live in the constant reality of his love. What is his love like? Well, the Bible tells us all kinds of things, but since John wrote the book of Revelation, let's stick with John, all right? I want you to open your Bible, go back to a couple places here. In the Gospel of John, John 13. John 13, 1. This is what's coming up in about a week and a half, right? Maundy Thursday, the Last Supper. We celebrate that. Look what it says, John 13, 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. He loved them like to the max. He loved them.

Totally. His love is to the max. Look at chapter 15. Flip the page. Look at verse 9. This is Jesus talking, and he's talking to his people, and he says this, verse 9, 15, 9. Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. Now, just wrap your mind around that, okay? So there's a comparison. Just as the Father, this is Jesus speaking, just as the Father loves me, I love you. Okay? So how does the Father love the Son? How does God the Father love God the Son? Is he stingy with his love to his Son? Is he a nitpicker? There aren't any nits to pick with Jesus. You understand? Is he, like, reluctant?

Is he hesitant? Is he cold and distant with his love? You know, I don't know why she's so upset. I told her I loved her that one time. If it changes, I'll let her know, right? Is that the kind of love the father has for the son? Is it temporary? When did the father's love for the son start? Anybody know? Nobody knows? Yeah, it never did. There is no start. We're talking about the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, living eternally in perfect love for one another. So it never started. When will it stop? Never. Read the verse again. Verse 9, just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Right? Just like that. Not stingy, not temporary, not partial, not cold, not formal, deep.

eternal and free. Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. This should blow our minds. One more verse, 15, 13, just right down the page. Again, Jesus says, greater love is no one than this, than that one lay down his life for his friends, right? So it says in Revelation, to him who loves us. So John Owen, you know, old Puritan guy, He said this, paraphrasing, the biggest sin, he says it, the biggest sin you can commit is to refuse to believe that God loves you. It is to call him a liar, number one. It is to call him harsh, right? Just like the guy in the parable, oh, I knew you were a harsh master, so I buried the thing in the ground, remember that? He says, you wicked slave.

to impugn the character and the word of God, of Christ, to somehow refuse to believe his love for you. Owen says, biggest sin there is. So he loves us. What else? He loves us and released us from our sins by his blood. Released us from our sins. Freed us. Freed us. Redeemed us. Released us from our sins. What does that mean? We all hopefully immediately think of the fact that he's freed us from the penalty of our sins, right? Forgiven us for our sins. We've sinned over and over again, and we deserve death, judgment, wrath, and hell. But he's freed us from those penalties, right? He's freed us from that. No more wrath, no more judgment, no more death.

No more hell. Free. Or we might think of someday, someday, we will be free from the presence of sin in heaven. No sin. Finally be done fighting it, bearing up under the consequences, even in this life of our sin, right? Someday we'll be free from that. But here's the thing that we don't, we find hard to believe, okay? And that is that he frees us from the power of our sense, the power. When you come to certain theological convictions, okay, this is a Reformed church. I come from Trinity Reformed church, right? When you come to certain theological convictions about all kinds of things, like, for example, the depravity of man, okay? This is the truth of Scripture that...

If you start fiddling with the depravity of man, how bad are we really? If you take that away, if you water it down, if you muddle it up into something that the Bible doesn't teach, that we're not really totally bad in all of our parts, but there are parts of us that are free and can do things apart from... We're just kind of not dead, but we're just kind of mostly dead. That is a domino that if you tip that over, all kinds of terrible things flow from it if you deny that truth, okay? But here's the backside of that. It's easy when you're reformed and believe in total depravity to somehow think that as Christians, as God's people who have a new heart and who have the Holy Spirit, we are still in bondage to our sin, okay?

Do you understand what I'm saying? Oh, yes, I'm a terrible person, and I always will be, and there's nothing I can do about it. Someday, I know I'm forgiven, but someday, I know I'll be free from this in heaven, but for now, what can I do? I'm totally depraved. I'm totally depraved. I'm bad, bad, bad. Well, that denies the powerful working of God's Spirit. It denies regeneration. It denies that he's given you a new heart. It denies that he's given you the Holy Spirit so that you will be able to walk in his ways. That's all the prophecies of the Old Testament talking about our day and the work of Christ. That's what they say. He has freed us, delivered us, loosed us from the power of our sins. We are no longer slaves to sin. You are no longer a slave to your sin. To think you're a slave to sin.

is to think of yourself as if you were, think about the Israelites coming out of Egypt, right? They've been freed from the house of slavery, from the house of bondage. They don't belong in Egypt anymore. And yet they kept kind of wanting to go back. But they'd been freed by the Lord. You are not a slave to sin. If you are a slave to sin, you do not belong to Christ. Because he freed us from our sins. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Do you believe that? It is the only way you will have any hope of doing battle with your sins. That your sins have been forgiven. That you're on the way to being free from their presence altogether. But now he has given you his Holy Spirit to fight. And he loves you. He loves you.

Do you believe these things? He loves us. He's released us from our sins by his blood. He did not shed his blood in vain. Look at what else it says, real quick. And this is kind of like a, he's interrupting himself. You know, he's tripping over himself in praise. And he says this, and he has made us to be a kingdom, priest to his God and father, a kingdom. Citizens of a new kingdom. He's transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son. Citizens with authority and royalty. In Revelation 5.10, it says, we are a kingdom of priests and we will reign with him. 1 Peter 2.9, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. God's people set apart, made a kingdom called priests.

We have access to God. That old, you know, the veil has been torn into. We have full access into his presence. And we can offer our lives as sacrifice. Our lives, our praise, our bodies as living sacrifices. We are priests to God. We have access to him. And we're a kingdom. Not a little scattered hovel of... Refugees, we are a kingdom. And here's what he says. To him, he comes back around. To him, to him, the one who loves us, the one who released us from our sins, the one who made us a kingdom and priest to his God and Father, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Glory, kingly majesty, dominion, kingly rule.

This is what the whole book of Revelation is about, which is to say it's what the whole Bible is about. Nothing can happen to you apart from this kingship of Jesus Christ. So what are we to do with this? Well, he teaches us how to praise, so praise him. Praise him for the right things. Believe him that these things are true of you. He loves you. He has freed you from your sins. by his blood. He has made you a kingdom and priest to his God and father. Don't you dare not believe that. Love him back. You know how it says, we love because he first loved us. Love him back. He loves you. And serve him in holiness. He has freed you from the power of your sins. Stop living as if you're a slave to your sins. You're not. Serve him in holiness with the power of his spirit. Submit to him.

He is your king with glory and dominion over you. Submit to him. Praise him, love him, serve him, submit to him. Who are these promises for? Who is this for? It's for those who are God's people. If you don't believe these things, you're not of God's people. Wouldn't it be great if you were? Wouldn't it be great to know that Jesus loves you? To have him forgive your sins? and free you from the slavery to your sins, wouldn't that be great to have access to him? All of that comes to you if you will bow your knee to him. Bow your knee. Call out to him to save you. This is something you cannot do for yourself. That's why he says, grace to you and peace. Come to him. Believe what he says. Live as if these things are actually true. Live as if it's actually true.

in all the little nooks and crannies of your life. Let this seep down into the pores of your life. I'm pumping gas. Oh yeah, he loves me. Changing a diaper. Oh yeah, he's freed me from my sins. This is true. May God help us to believe it. Let's pray.