Transcript

Let's open our Bibles to the end, to the book of Revelation. As we open to Revelation 4 and 5, we're going to a part of the scriptures that is really important for this reason, most Christians, if you ask them if they're afraid to fly or to go through surgery or go off to the war they might die. They say, no. I'm not afraid because I know I'm going to what? Yeah, Heaven. Heaven. You know what? Chapter 4, and connected to it, chapter 5, are all about who is going to Heaven and what Heaven is. And there's a lot of misinformation on those two points.

Almost every year, a new book is published of somebody going to Heaven. And people rush in. I've pastored for 33 years. People rush in with it tucked under their arm, and they say, have you read? And they'll tell me something and it's in that book. And I'll say, no, I haven't read that one yet. And I wait for them to calm down. Then I say, is there anything in there that's not in the Bible? That differs with what the Bible says Heaven's like, and they think for a minute. And a lot of them haven't even studied what the Bible says about Heaven, they just read these books. And the other thing is, I ask them after that and we process that for a while, I say, does this say anything that's in the Bible? Yeah, I said, why don't you focus on the authoritative version? Why don't you focus on the only eyewitness account that God gave, instead of everything in the spectrum from that, that goes all the way to the demonic. Like Betty Eadie's book called Embraced by the Light. That's her out of body experience, and a demon inspired her to write that, not God. So, you have to be very cautious to know the primary documents about Heaven and who's going there. And that's what this chapter is all about.

So, this morning, Heaven is a word that God uses for where believers are headed. And it's interesting how He defines Heaven as we'll see in this chapter. Heaven is mysterious to many. It's a place of many fanciful speculations. But the book you're holding in your hand, God's word has given us all that He wants us to know about Heaven. Now our curiosity just eats away at us, and it sells books to write fanciful books that cover stuff the Bible doesn't. But I'm afraid that many people will have a dual disappointment. One is that it won't be what they thought it was. Two is, they won't even go. And this chapter covers and solves that.

As we open our Bibles to Revelation 4, we open to the very first words of the only guided tour of Heaven found in God's Word. This is the only guided tour of Heaven. This is the authoritative from God Himself, description of what Heaven is. Look at verse 1 of chapter 4. After these things, I looked and behold a door standing open in Heaven and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me. Now, for just a moment you can look up from your Bible, so if you've been reading Revelation on your own, you know that you've already read these words. In chapter 1 and in verse 10, the same thing happened earlier, only there was a voice like a trumpet that introduced the first three chapters. Now, after these things, that's chapters 1, 2, and 3, this door and the first voice. And he could be alluding to it's the same voice I heard in chapter 1 in verse 10, or the very first voice I heard. It doesn't really, it isn't absolutely clear whether it's literally saying it's the same voice I heard in chapter 1, or the first voice I just heard. But it doesn't matter, it's from God. And he said, like a trumpet speaking with me, saying... look at the end of verse 1, come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this.

Immediately, now look at verse 2, this is the key. Immediately, I was in the Spirit. Again, that's just like chapter 1 verse 10, in the Spirit, and behold. And here is the first glimpse through the door. This is the first thing he sees. You know that's why all these books that you read about Heaven, rarely do they have a focus, a focal point like God does. Look at what John saw. Behold, a throne set in Heaven, and one sat on the throne. And here comes this just unbelievable description. Okay. Think of what we're witnessing as we begin this morning. We're looking through the door of Heaven that's standing open. That's the first thing.

John, literal person. John in a literal place, Patmos. It's still there. You can go on a cruise boat or rent a ferry boat and go out there. It's off between Turkey and Greece, out off the western coast of Turkey. He was in that literal place. And he'd already seen some amazing sights in chapter 1. And after he saw all that, he looks up, and there's a door standing open in Heaven. And he gets to look through that door. Now, there's a lot of amazing, wonderful sights people have been able to witness over the years. This week they announced that they found 197 tons of platinum off the coast of Cape Cod. They saw it. It's on a wreck, that a German U boat sunk right off Massachusetts. It might solve Massachusetts budget's woes. I don't know. But can you imagine the eyes on those guys when their little diving machine crept into this 100 foot deep wreck? And that platinum that doesn't corrode, that doesn't rust, was just brilliantly shining after 50, 60 years? That must have been an unbelievable sight. How about when Edison flicked the switch and general electric started and the first light bulb. Can you imagine how people who had that smelly kerosene and all those other contraptions couldn't believe a light bulb. Or, I remember when I was little, our moonshots. Do you remember, any of you old enough, the Saturn 5 rocket? 7. 5 million pounds of thrust. Our little television set would vibrate. It was so loud, and the flames were flying. Those were all awesome sights. Treasure. I've always wondered what it would have been like. You ever look at all the wormholes and the pyramids and everywhere where people have dug in? Can you imagine? We know what Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter found with King Tut, because it's been on tour all over the place, but can you imagine the real treasures? Tut was a nobody. Can you imagine Rameses’s treasures when they wormed in and stuck their torch in thousands of years ago, and looked and that just glinted in their eyes?

We think of a lot of amazing sites, but what you're looking at right here is what few people in the history of this planet have ever really seen, especially with the eyes of faith. Because Jesus said, few people are going to go there, and the people that go there are interested in this, and the people that aren't, aren't. So, what you're looking at is a wonderful sight but nothing like anyone has ever seen in history compares to this. And these next two chapters, 4 & 5 that we study in Revelation starts with each of us, given this sight. And the sight comes to us through John's eyes instead of through some diving thing that is off the coast of Cape Cod.

We get to see this through the eyes of the last apostle, the one that loved Jesus. And Jesus loved him, and he sees this and writes it down for us. And as John is taken by the Spirit of God from his exile on that island, that's still there, and as he's taken to see through that doorway, what he sees first... look what it says in verse 2. Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in Heaven. Do you know the very first thing that God wants him to see is that Heaven is all about the throne room of the universe. It is the epicenter. It is the command center. It is absolutely the very middle of everything that is about God in this universe. And it's right there, this throne. And that's the first thing he sees. And that's the focal point of Heaven. And John starts writing this down. And what he tells us is a profound truth. Heaven is where God sits enthroned. It's not just a place somewhere.

People talk about Heaven like it's Shangri La. Somewhere, if we find it, or we think it's out there somewhere. Heaven is not a place somewhere. Heaven is where God is. See that's what marks it as Heaven. It's where God is enthroned. Heaven is the place, and it's made the place because God is there. And if you've ever wondered about Heaven, instead of buying another $9.99 book, read the one you have. Because this is everything. This is everything God wants us to know about Heaven. Because everything about Heaven He wants tied to His throne, to His presence, to Him sitting enthroned overall. And that's Heaven. And the people that are just all caught up, is my dog going to be there? And are we going to be able to take pictures? And are we going to travel? Or are we just having harps and sitting on clouds? The harps and clouds part isn't in the Bible either. You've read too many books if you have that. This is what God wants us to know, and He wants to recalibrate our minds with the truth. And if we'll listen, we will find all that He wants us to know about His place, His throne, and what life is like in the very presence of God.

Now, I remind you, this whole scene starts back in chapter 1, and this whole idea of this trumpet voice starts back in chapter 1. But, the glimpse of the throne of God, dominated by hard to imagine numbers of angels, it's just hard to compute. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of living beings moving. You watch one of Hitler's old rallies at the Munich Stadium with a couple hundred thousand, and it's scary. You multiply that a thousand fold, and put glistening white robes that just shine like the sun. And it's just, we go off the screen, it's boggling. It's so immense, it boggles our minds, but that's what John starts seeing through the door.

And what he sees is, number one, Heaven is dominated by the throne of God. And number two, Heaven is what surrounds God in His worship. And in a very real sense, that when we are in the word, and when we are worshiping God, we are orchestrating, we are joining in. In fact, when we celebrate communion... I love, twice a month here at Calvary we celebrate communion, and we join in the thanksgiving to God for our salvation, every time we celebrate communion, there are more believers celebrating than at any time in history. Why? Because the Lord is adding to His Church. And every day, and every moment, and every week, and every month that the Church celebrates Christ's death on the cross, there are more of us. And many more are around that throne, and we join with them, syncing. You've heard about the cloud? We sync with the real cloud when we're worshiping and when we're focusing on God.

Thirdly, Heaven is always described as God's presence and His dominion. It's not just a throne and it's not just God. It's His presence and dominion. He is not passive. He is not Santa sitting in the mall, that's some people's view. This white haired, old something. He is in dominion. He is dominating. All the events of this world are seen in the perspective of from God's throne. You understand that the floor is see through? It's a sea of glass, crystal clear. And since there's no sin, there's no slime and scum and like on our windows from the winter, it just you can't see out, you have to wash them. That crystal clear floor, you see all the events taking place. But they are taking place in our world, dominated by this overwhelming sight of God enthroned.

Jesus sent us Revelation as a reminder. Heaven is a real place that exists at this moment. Now, the show you things are going to take place after this doesn't discount the fact that at that moment he saw the worship of God that's taking place right now. It's very interesting to think about, that right now this is happening. Right now, the cherubim are around Him. Right now the thunders and the voices. Right now, there's the glassy sea. Right now. This is Heaven, God's presence at the throne is right now.

After these things in chapter 4 verse 1, summarizes the words and events of the first three chapters. But it's a new scene that's unfolding before John's eyes. And it's just as real as those early churches. The throne of God is just as real as all the seven churches. Which, by the way, you can take a Moslem tour to see them. Because the Moslems know they're there. And they make a lot of money driving Christians around to see these literal places that are still there. Just as real as the ruins of these cities is the throne of God. And so, it was happening to John on Patmos. And the message was, Heaven is real.

But Heaven is real, with that see through floor and that big throne, while during John's life it was real. 2,000 years ago. And I want you just to think about... have you ever thought that this was impacting John too? He was not glorified. He was not perfected. He was just a servant. He was just a channel through which God was speaking. And here's John, a prisoner, an old man with all the aches and pains, and if even half of Foxe's Book of Martyrs is true, this guy went through horrible stuff. He was the last representative of Christ, and they treated him that way because they hated Christ. They had tried to boil him a live in oil. And they had done all kinds of other things. Timothy had been dragged out of the church. The place where John lived in Ephesus, Pastor Timothy as in Paul's son in the faith, had been dragged out of the church and killed by a mob. And I'm sure they didn't just smile at John and throw him a bouquet. He went through a lot.

But think about what he was thinking about. The scenes of Revelation 1 through 3 were given to him on the island of Patmos, between Roman Asia Minor, modern Turkey, and Greece. But John was a prisoner right then. Being a follower of Christ didn't get him a notch higher in life. It made him at the bottom. And he was a prisoner on an island. And a man by the name of Domitian who ruled from 81 to 96 AD for 15 years. This emperor, put him there. You know what the first lesson is? God's on the throne even when you have problems. See, a lot of people think the Lord has taken a day off when my child got in that horrible car accident, or when I had cancer, or when I lost my job. God, must have been His day off. He isn't up there on the throne right now. And John sees that even when he is a prisoner on this penal colony of Patmos, God is on the throne, and they're all still singing. He's surrounded by the perfections of His worship.

Domitian's father, let me give you a little history lesson. A lot of people don't like history, but this is fascinating. Domitian's father's name was Vespasian. Probably Vespasian doesn't mean much to you. But if you ever look at a picture of the city of Rome, you see what he built. Almost every photograph of Rome, people try and either get the Vatican or the Colosseum. That's what his dad built. And so, while Vespasian was building the Colosseum that would have literally thousands of believers bleed to death in its sands, while Domitian's dad was building that arena seating 80,000 people. God was still on His throne. See, that's what John was, he was getting calibrated. He was getting synced with God. Domitian's brother, another famous guy. His name was Titus. He was an emperor for just two years. He didn't get much time. Dad lived too long, and Titus lived too short, and he only got to reign two years. But Vespasian's first son, Titus, we remember him as the Roman general who destroyed Jerusalem in A. D. 70 and massacred a million plus Jews. He's the one who knocked down the temple and just ruthlessly killed them. And the ones he didn't kill, he dragged off and sold into slavery, or they died anyway. Now you know what John was thinking? God was on the throne. While Jerusalem was pulverized, and the Jews blood flowed. God is on the throne. While Vespasian's building this arena of death. God is on the throne. While Domitian relentlessly persecuted throughout the provinces believers and especially banished the last living disciple of Christ, John, to the Isle of Patmos. God was still on the throne.

It's a great lesson to think about. That it doesn't deter from God being on the throne when bad things happen to good people. It's part of His plan. And John learned that. And the vision of Christ in Revelation 1 and the letters to seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 are literal events, with literal letters, to literal historic places. And so, the sights and sounds of Revelation 4 and 5 are equally real, that are totally literal. And John is presented with the fact that while Romans were doing their thing on Earth, above all the emperors, all the soldiers, all the persecutions, and all of life's many details, God was still ruling the universe seated on His throne, and the perfect symphony of adoring worship was playing distinctly in His presence.

So why does God give us this sight of Heaven? Why did He crack open the door? What is the intent of chapter 4? Why did John... since it didn't stop all that bad stuff, why does it even matter? Why does God crack open the door? We can't enter the hallowed ground of Heaven captured in Revelation 4 and 5, without first reminding ourselves why we're even getting to chapter 4 and 5. It reminds me there, the art world was shocked this past couple weeks. A missing Leonardo portrait was found. It's probably worth over a hundred million dollars. Leonardo da Vinci, he was a painter and everything else, an inventor. There's a portrait that had been missing. for literally centuries. It's from a book that he, by consignment, painted for a rich family. And when you open the book, there's a section that's been torn out. And an art collector was at an auction, and this picture came up for sale, and it was like this, and he looked at it like that, and he noticed there were three notches that were in the side of that painting. And he looked at that, and he looked at that, and all of a sudden he said, I bet that fits in that book. That is not an 18th century painting. That's a 100 million dollar original Leonardo, the missing painting. He saw that because he saw where it had been cut out of this book. A lot of people only see Revelation cut out. It's a 12,000 dollar 17th century something. But if you see Revelation as it fits in the book, all of a sudden it just, it makes complete sense.

Why does God give us this sight of Heaven? Because all the words packaged in these 404 verses of Revelation; spread across 22 chapters, are dominated by the binding... where they belong. And so, if you turn back to Revelation chapter 1, I want to show you the first three verses. That's actually our text this morning. Don't fear, we really are going to study Revelation 4 and 5. But we can't study it apart from the connection. Okay?

In Revelation chapter 1, I want you to look again at what God said. And I want to underline three little phrases in this opening that God wrote. And each of these phrases are very simple. Remember last week? Revelation is simple. It's so simple that all the slaves and poor people of the 1st century understood it and went to the arena knowing God was on the throne and His arms were open wide. And as soon as they got out of Vespasian's arena they knew where they were headed. It's simple. But I want you to see how life changing this whole book can be. If you connect it where it belongs, what God wrote it for. Revelation chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. And what we're going to do is, you've got your Bibles open, but let's all stand and we're going to read it on the screen, so we can read it in unison, because I want to get you a little sense of what it's going to be like. Because, if you die in a plane crash, or on the operating table, or whatever way the Lord takes you home before He returns, you know what one of the first things you'll hear in the background? It's this voice of the multitude that are worshiping God. And in a little sense we can sense that as we read God's words.

 Here we go, let's read together these verses. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near.

Three phrases, you can see them up there. The revelation of Jesus Christ. Number one. Which God gave Him to show His servants. Number two, this is a very special book, it's not about prophecy, it's a revelation of Jesus Christ. And it's not to fight over. It's for His servants. It's only for people serving God. And finally, there's a blessing attached at the end of that passage to those who read and those who hear and keep the things that are written in it. God is watching to see whether we will take the time to see Jesus Christ revealed. Whether we will, as we see Him revealed, bow before Him as His servants. And then say, I want to keep, and I want that blessing. Because I want to keep the things that You have written down that are for me. That's what the whole book's about, and that's why God sent it to us. Let's bow for a word of prayer.

Father in Heaven, I thank you that we can stand and hear the sound of many voices saying the words that You wrote. And I pray that this time that we spend in Revelation 4 and 5 will be perhaps for some the most intimate time they've ever experienced with You. That maybe during this time the connection will be made and that they will realize Heaven is real and I am your servant. And Jesus you're the real treasure and that's really all that matters. Teach us. Open our hearts, illumine us, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.

You may be seated. As you're seated, I just want to just go through these phrases with you before we go. Number one, this isn't merely the book of Revelation. Don't just say, oh, we're studying the book of Revelation. It's the revelation of what? Jesus Christ. Always remember the primary. Where this book fits in the binding is, God designed it to be a revelation of Jesus Christ. And if you don't get Jesus Christ revealed, then you're reading it wrong. You're looking for the wrong stuff. I meet people all the time, they're just walking around with their head down, and they're just trying to count the toes and look at the toenails and see if they match Gorbachev's, of one of the beasts or Ahmadinejad, or whatever his name is, and they're just, they're looking down instead of looking up and seeing the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that's what this is about. Whether you agree with dispensational eschatology, which I completely do, and Paul did, or whether you agree with biblical prophecy, or whether you believe in end time events, whether or not you do, it doesn't really matter. This book is supremely about Jesus Christ. Never lose that connection.

That's what's the problem is. That's why this book has been lost to the Church for centuries. Because the Reformers said leave it alone. It's confusing just leave it. No, it's supremely about Jesus Christ. No other book in the Bible claims to be that. Every word of this book, every event, every teaching in the book of Revelation is tied to Christ, and supremely reveals something about Him. That's the front end of it. That's the intention of it. Any other usage of it is misusage of it. That's what God wanted. Let me repeat, no other book of the Bible is like this one. No other book is declared by God to be the full unveiling of Christ. No other book is given completely as a book about Him. The last book is unique. And when we allow it to be, it's very transformational. All of a sudden, we know, we who are alive in Christ during the time of His Church, we know exactly what we're supposed to be doing, and what He expects from us. It just clears up the fog. And we realize that, we're here for a purpose, and we see ourselves, like last week, in the picture. And we see how we should be progressing more and more to His likeness to please Him.

This last book is what God wants us to think about, Christ in our everyday lives. This is the picture of Him that we need to keep before us. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Who He is today. Everything He's planning to do from today until we join Him forever. This connects. A lot of people's mind, they don't have a connection. Jesus is off healing the sick and making the blind to see and then He gets captured, dragged off, crucified and rises and goes to Heaven. And all of a sudden, we've lost Him. And this is the connection. This is where He is today, what He's doing today in His Church... chapter 1, 2, and 3. And in the worship of Heaven, chapter 4 and 5. It's just amazing.

Secondly, if you look in the middle of verse 3, look at Revelation 1:3 in your Bible. There's a second phrase that can slip right by us if we're not careful. Those words frame all of our studies in this book. Those words are the responsibility of every believer. Now, if you're a believer, if I'm a believer, we should be His servants. And if we're His servants, we want His blessing. We want His approval. His blessing means His approval. He approves of what we have responded with by blessing us. By pouring out His favor on us. There are people in Kalamazoo that equate God's blessing with a Hummer or a gated community. The Early Church didn't know anything about Hummers and gated communities. They equated God's blessing with peace as they faced being burnt at the stake. They equated God's blessing with boldness as they were led off to great punishment or even death. They found this not to be materialistic. They found it to be the desire of their heart to please God in all that they did. And you don't have to wait until you get to some financial or social or economic level to please Him. You please Him in poverty, in distress, or in great riches.

But this is a responsibility of every believer. Revelation contains a final and complete statement in verse 3 of what every believer needs to know and do to get blessed by God. I love it. I love one place. I love to not have to run all over the place to get the message. It's very simple. It's in verse 3. This is the first beatitude, it's called theologically, the first blessing. There are blessings all the way through the book of Revelation. You find these little things. This is just the first one. And it shows us the intent of the book. Notice what the Lord says in Revelation 1:3. These words, in the book of Revelation, this book, 404 verses that He is launching into, in the opening lines here are so important. God says above and beyond all the promises already attached to you, in Christ, in My word, here's a bonus. Don't you love bonuses?

Don't you love... I remember when I started out, when I first was at Grace Community Church, in the 80s. It was a roaring 80s, and Grace was going through a little downturn. So, they said, you can only work half time, you have to have another job, so I sold Anacin, Dristan, Primatene, and Preparation H, and Advil. And I loved it. And you know what the company said? They said, we'll pay you $18,000 a year, but we will give you a bonus if you sell lots of our stuff and it will be equivalent to 60 percent of your total pay, $10,800. Oh boy, that was so much fun to win that bonus, because the 18k was great, but boy, that bonus was great.

Look at verse 3. This is the bonus. Above all the promises already attached to My word, God says, here's a bonus. Blessed, that's My favor, My blessing poured out. Blessed is he who reads. So, in a real sense, I'm getting blessed right now from the Lord. I'm reading this to you. Those who hear. There, there's one of the joys of coming to church. Just hearing the word of God, especially the book of Revelation, is a blessing. But there's a specific blessing. Look at this, those who read and hear the words of this prophecy. So now we've localized it, not to just general Bible reading, this is tied to this 404 verse package. But that's where most of us stop. Now here's the middle. This is the crux. This is the responsibility of every believer. Those who read and those who hear the words of this prophecy and, now look at those big words right in the middle, and keep those things which are written in it.

Did you know that in Christianity, who is going to Heaven? Who is going to see this, what's in chapter 4 and 5 is tied to this. This keep, whatever version the Bible you have, whatever it says after, blesses he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and whatever word you have, that word is huge in the New Testament. That word describes who's gone to Heaven. That word, the Greek word is tereo. It means that they guard, that they treasure, that they hold on to, that they possess as their very own the truth. But it's not just any truth. It's the truth of this prophecy that blessing is attached to. Now, believers hold the truth, but there's an added blessing to those who hold the truths of this book.

If you want to know why Revelation is the most important book to the daily life of any believer, here's why. Do you see those words? It's an inexpressible blessing from God. He says, I know what's happening in the world. I know this book was sent after the Church began. This book was sent for the Church's benefit. And if you're saved this morning, you're in the Church, and this book is to us. That's why it's so vital. And God says, the blessing will be on those who take the time to read, hear, and do what I've told them to do. This book contains the things that God says constitute My desire for My servants, and that's us. We're saved to be God's servants. And servants do what they're asked to do. They do what their master desires. And they do what they're commanded to do. So, what does God want us to do? He wrote it down, more specifically than anywhere else in the Bible, this is directed. I told you a year ago, the word Church occurs more in Revelation 3 than anywhere else in a similar section of the Bible. It's the densest load of truth for the Church of anywhere in the Bible. What does God want us to do with the truths of this revelation, the clear responsibilities for us as believers. One word sums up, in verse 3, keep. God wants us to keep them.

I think about this all the time. I think in pictures. I have a phonographic mind. What phonograph means is what I see, I talk about. When I travel, I always see, when you go through those new scanners, the ones you have to go like this, that they always are criticizing. They make you take everything out of your pockets. Even a Kleenex. They say, do you have something in your pocket? You should see the looks on people's faces. The non regular travelers, because they're caught in that moment, and they have to take either their purse, or their wallet, or whatever is really dear to them, they have to take it out of their pocket. And they look back at that conveyor belt, and they look at all those people, and they've read all the newspapers... that they steal stuff and everything. Oh, they don't want to let go of that, and it's so hard. And they put it in a little basket, and they run it like this. And they keep their eye on it, they don't want to lose it. You know what? That's a picture of keep. They don't want to lose it. Keeping is, you know where it is all the time, and you don't want to lose it. And what the Lord says, look at verse 3, the clear responsibilities for us as believers is to keep the things which He's written.

The Greek word that God chose here is one of the key words that describe the life of followers of Christ. They protect, guard, and hold on to the Bible. In fact, they know it better than they know sports, they know it better than they know all their friends machinations on all the social medias. They hold to this. It's important to them. You know what? I think, that if you went like this in our generation, this is a digital device, this is a Bible, and you were grabbing something out of their hands, which one do you think they would let go of first? Wouldn't be this one (cell phone). People sleep with this. People do not even know where this is much of their life (Bible). The world has a hold on us, and Jesus said, if you're Mine, you are holding on to My truths.

Let me quickly, lest I meddle, go to Matthew 28. Real quickly, turn to the end of Matthew. I want to show you this word in action. We're going to do a quick word study. If you have a pen, you can circle these in your Bible, and you will have a complete word study on one of the key words of the New Testament. It's the word tereo, which is a description of believers. Believers tereo. They guard the truths of God's word. They hold on to them. Their relationship to God is described as holders of His truth. They love it, and they want it, and they can't turn loose of it, and they endeavor to have it near them all the time. Look at Matthew 28. We call this the great what? Commission. Yep, it's familiar territory. Now watch the focal point of the Great Commission. It says, Jesus came and spoke to them, verse 18. Said, all authority is given to Me in Heaven and Earth. Go therefore make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Now verse 20. All of that is preamble, we hype up the 19. The goal is verse 20. The goal is to get all the people of all the nations that. That they bow to Christ so that verse 20 takes place. This is what the Lord wants. Teaching them to observe all the things I've commanded you. You know what? We're big on the going and getting, and we drop them. And we forget that they're supposed to... The way you know you're a believer, is if you're holding. That's the word right there, teaching them to observe. In the New King James, the word tereo is translated from Greek into English as observe all the things I commanded you. Right there in the Great Commission. Jesus said the whole focus of you disciples going out is going to all the world, and when people make a profession and publicly declare that through baptism, you know it's real if they begin to observe, tereo, hold My truth.

Let me show you, Jesus talks about this again. Look at John 14. John 14, right? Let not your heart be troubled. My Father's house are many mansions. If it weren't I'd tell you. I'm the way, truth, and life, that's John 14. In the middle of that chapter, Jesus starts explaining who is going to be in the mansions. Who are the followers of the way, truth, and life? And in John 14, starting in verse 15, Jesus said this, If you love Me, tereo, keep. There's the word we're looking at, My commandments. Verse 21, he who has My commandments, and there's the word again, keeps them, is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Look at verse 23. Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves Me, he will, there's the word again, keep, tereo My word, and My Father will love him. And we will come to Him and make our home with Him.

You know what the greatest assurance is of salvation? Not, by the way... little Haley was not saved in the front of the church. Even if I would have put water on her, she would not be saved. You understand that? That dedication didn't save her. Yet, I bet there are people sitting here this morning, that truly if I pushed you in a corner and said, Are you going to Heaven? You'd say, my parents christened me. That does not save you. What saves you is the engrafted word that you have to consciously receive in your heart so that you become a lover of the truth. There are people all over the world, but especially in Western Michigan, that think because their parents did something to them, they're going to Heaven. And they get mad if you say, when did you get saved? I was saved, always been saved. Or when the pastor asked me to recite after him when I was 13, I got saved then. Did you? How do you know? Right here. Jesus said, if anyone loves Me, he keeps My word, and the Father will love him. Verse 24, he who does not love Me does not keep My word. What He's saying is that the essence is whether or not the truth has come into your heart and life and whether you embrace it now. Not, did someone do something to you, or did you say something? Or, you know what the other half, the non-Reformed half, they say, oh I went forward. Great. Did anything happen? Did God do anything inside of you? Because salvation is when we receive this engrafted love for the truth. We love the truth more than anything else.

That's why a perennial anorexic Christian is revealing they're probably not a Christian. They're just anorexic. They're not a Christian if they have no appetite, this is the source, the locus, this is the body, this is the fountain of truth. It's loving and eating the word of God. Paul put it this way. In 2 Timothy 4 verse 7, he said, I fought a good fight. I finished the course. I have, what? Kept. I've held on to the end. They stripped everything away. They took my clothes, they took my health, they took my freedoms, they're taking my life, but I've never let go of the faith, the truth, the word.

Let's end by going to 1 John chapter 2, really quickly. That's near Revelation, so you know that we're almost done. 1 John chapter 2, we have exactly 5 minutes. 1 John chapter 2, look at verse 3. What are the signs of authenticity? How do you know who's going to Heaven? How do you know who's going to be the ones that go through that open door to Heaven? The Bible's clear. The sign of authenticity is keeping, holding, guarding, grasping, never getting far away from the truth. That's all. Not a decision. Not something someone did. Not something I did. Not however many times I've prayed the prayer. It's whether or not I am one who cannot, by God's grace. Now remember, it's God who wills and to do inside of us, but is this operative in our lives?

Let me show you what I mean. 1 John chapter 2 verse 3. Now by this we know that we know Him. Boy, that's an important verse. You ought to underline that. This is how we know we're saved. This is how we know we have eternal life. John has already said this in John 17:3. This is life eternal. They may know Thee. So, he's already said that salvation is a person. It's not something I do or something someone does to me. It's a person that I actually become a part, livingly a part of, and that He lives in me and all that. But now he gets clear. Look at this. By this we know that we know Him. If we keep, there's that word, tereo, His commandments. Verse 4, he who says I know Him and doesn't keep His commandments. What's one of His commandments? My word is more than your necessary food. Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. People that disregard that are showing they don't understand what salvation is. You can't be saved apart from the living and abiding word of God. That's why you have to be very careful about people that say, oh it's not true, it's a bunch of fairy tales. They're evidencing their unsavedness when they say that. Because it's the living and abiding word of God that converts and saves us.

Keep reading. Look what it says in verse 5. Verse 4. He who says I know Him and doesn't keep His word is a liar. There's the word keep again, and negatively used. If you don't keep it, you're a liar. The truth is not in him. Verse 5, Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. Look at chapter 3, verse 22, another one, and whatever we ask we receive from Him. So, this word holding, tereo. 1 John 3:22, is tied to our prayers. Whatever we ask, we receive Him because we keep His commandments. It doesn't mean I have this list, like the ten commandments and I'm really good at keeping them. No, it's not an external conformity trying to pride myself, that I don't do all those things. It's not that. It's loving Christ so much that everything that He says, I want to obey. I don't perfectly do that. I don't. Some people don't even know everything it says in there, but the attitude is there. They're saying, whatever Your word reveals, that's what I want.

But look at verse 22. Whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments. We do the things that are... Remember I told you Christian life is simple? Here are the commandments we're supposed to keep. What is pleasing in His sight. Look at the end of verse 22. Remember I said you can reduce the whole Christian life down to pleasing God. Period. Pleasing God, not family, not friends. God. How do I know what pleases God? He wrote it down. See, it's simple. By pleasing in His sight. Verse 24. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him and He in us. By this we know He abides in us by the Spirit He has given us.

Chapter 5. He says the same thing. Verse 2. By this we know we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 1 John 5. Same thing as in 3. For this is the love of God, we keep His commandments. And what's interesting is, verse 18 of chapter 5 says, we know whoever is born of God doesn't sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself. I thought, God did everything. No. The evidence of salvation is that the work that God begins, He that began a good work in us, it starts showing out and I start keeping myself from sin. How do I do that? The grace of God that brings salvation teaches me to say no to sin. It, God, gives me the power to say no to sin. I can't on my own say no to sin. God gives me the power not to be enslaved to fear, to lust, to pride. God. But if I never avail myself of it, I'm probably not a Christian. Because Christians are connected to the power source, and they respond.

Real quickly, what truths do we need to guard today from chapter 4? Go back to Revelation 4 so you know that you finished, okay? We're going to finish in Revelation 4. What on Earth can we take home from this chapter? Number one, Heaven is real. That means start planning on the best thing being yet ahead. Start believing everything in this final book is really happening. Heaven is real. It's a real place. Heaven is real.

Okay, I'm going to give you a quiz. It's on the board. Here's the quiz. What's point number one? Say it out loud. Do you know what? If you keep that before you, it's transformational. That clear glass floor, someone sitting on that throne looking through it, right to us today. You know what He's saying? Do you think I'm really up here? Are you living like you want to please Me or yourself? See? Heaven's real. He's really watching.

Number two, the second truth. God is on the throne. That's true even if you're being persecuted like the early believers, if you're suffering at the hands of your enemies like John on Patmos, or if you're just struggling to make it through one more day because life is so hard. God is still on the throne. He was on the throne when they built the Colosseum. He was on the throne when Titus murdered a million plus Jews. He was on the throne when John got incarcerated. And He's on the throne today. God is on the throne all the time, and His power isn't waning. He's not like solar storms, there's no variation. He's on the throne. So, Heaven is real, and what's the second truth? God is on the throne. And when your car skids off, or your job skids off, or your kids skid off, God is still on the throne. And that's what Revelation teaches.

Thirdly, I am His servant. God saved me to be His servant slave forever. That's who He wrote this book to. That's what I'm designed for. That's what makes me hum spiritually. All my systems are calibrated to run best when I'm serving Him. That means everything is secondary to serving God. Here's the test. Tomorrow, this represents the cyber world (cell phone), this represents God (Bible). Which one's more important, and first? Those of you who sleep with this (cell phone), try sleeping with this (Bible). You would get a backache, it's bigger. This does not lead to righteousness (cell phone). It's empty and vain and transient. This is what God's servants long for, this is the Bible. By the way, you might have a guess, but I know what I'm holding up. It's the Bible. It's God's Word. I am His servant. Okay, what's the third truth? Without peeking at the screen. I am His servant.

And here's the final one, just for you to go with. Christ is my true treasure. That means the measure of what matters in life is Christ. For me, living is Christ. He is that which is worth waiting for, sacrificing for, and living for. Christ is my treasure. Let's all stand. And Heaven is real. God's on His throne. I'm His servant. And if I really am, Christ is my treasure.

Now, two things I want to remind you of. Number one is that after the service, as soon as I say amen there will be godly men and women. At the end of every service, the invitation is open. If you need to talk to someone, pray with someone, you need to get started with Christ, you need to get back on the trail, there are godly men and women who love, they just live to minister the word of God, they'll be here. Number two, the most confessed sin in the Church today. You want to know what most, I've been a pastor 33 years, you know what publicly confessed is the number one sin? People say, I just don't pray enough. They just, people feel comfortable confessing that. A lot of other things we don't talk about. Tonight, we're beginning a year long, and this is the foundation. A year long, what I'm calling, concerts of prayer. We're going to devote ourselves to prayer. We're going to pray alone. We're going to pray out loud, all of us. We're going to pray in little groups, circles.

But tonight, I'm going to begin showing you how we can come to God. What is prayer all about? Prayer is like the spark in the cylinder, you can put as much gas vapor in there as you want, nothing happens till it ignites. Prayer ignites the word and the work of God in our lives. And tonight, we're going to practice that. We're not just going to talk about prayer, we're going to pray. And we're going to use the objects of the Old Testament tabernacle. That is the most beautiful picture of Christ in the Bible. It's this incredible, beautiful, pointing to Him. We're going to use that, and stop and pray, and stop and sing, and stop and pray. So, if you want to, stop saying, I don't pray enough, and you want to really learn, grow in prayer, that's what we're going to study tonight.

Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father in Heaven, I pray that you would draw to Yourself this morning people who are struggling, saying, ah, I don't know. I don't know if I'm in. I pray that You would convict them and draw them and help them to have the assurance that they've received in grafted word, which will save their souls. And for the rest who know You, may we realize You're the treasure. We're Your servants, and we need to start living like it in our daily choices. And we ask that in the precious name of Jesus and for Your glory, we pray. And all of God's people said, amen. And God bless you as you go.