Finding Peace in God's Grace Part 3 - Revelation 1: 5b-6

1:14Chapter 1, verse 4. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is, 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.

1:54Well, we've started this series of finding peace in God's grace. And so far, we've looked at trying to answer the question: how do we find peace in knowing God's grace? Well, Scripture is very clear that we need to. Peace isn't something that's going to come out of your circumstances. Peace is going to come out of knowing and believing in God. Someone might think, well, if only people would treat me right, then I'd have peace. It would be nice if people would always treat us right, right?

2:44But peace doesn't ultimately reside there. Or somebody might think, well, once I become a somebody, then I'll have peace. Once I pursue and become a somebody in the world's eyes, Then I shall find some sort of peace in being a somebody. And so many give their lives to being a somebody in somebody else's mind, only to find out it ends up empty. Or it may be that you think once I can win the affections of such and such person, or whether it be a potential relationship for matrimony, or whether it be a relationship in the employment or whatever relationship.

3:44Sometimes I think if we could just get that right relationship, right? Get people to have a high esteem of me, then I will be able to be at rest. So there's all kinds of pursuits. The one thing that Scripture makes very clear is that in this life you are going to have troubles. You live in a fallen world. People aren't always going to treat you right. People aren't always going to think you're a somebody. In fact, most people are going to think you're a nobody. Get used to it. That's life, right?

4:26In this world, we're going to have troubles. Our hopes, many of our hopes, many of our aspirations are going to go largely unmet. That's life on planet Earth, fallen world. And we have to live here. And all that's okay because the true source of peace isn't in any of these things. And it's almost by passing through this world, we realize that. And it causes us to look for that which endures. Where is the source of eternal rest?

5:10Where can my soul find peace? Well, it's in God's grace, knowing God's grace. That's what John writes back at verse 4: John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace. Grace to you and peace. After all is said and done about this book, after all, as he sits down and writes this letter, having received the whole revelation, he sits down and writes with the big purpose of, I want what I write to give you peace. I want you to understand the grace that is revealed in you and will be revealed in you, and let this set you. Soul at peace.

6:03So there is grace. You need to find your peace in God's grace. And there's three steps to finding peace in God's grace. And we've already looked at a couple of them. Remember, first, you need to know the source of grace and peace. Back at verse 4, grace to you and peace from Him who is, who was, and is to come, from the seven spirits who are before the throne, and from Jesus Christ, faithful witness, firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. This list of distinguished persons wants your soul to be at peace. The God who is, who is to come, wishes your eternal peace. Just that alone ought to set your soul at peace. And those, the Spirit of the living God who is responsible to carry out His will, He wants you at peace. And the one He sent, Jesus Christ, the perfect man, the new man, the eternal man, He wants your soul to be at peace. So you need to know the source of grace and peace. Peace ultimately comes out of the favor, the grace of this list of distinguished persons.

7:29Second, you need to. Understand how God's grace manifests itself. Look back at verse 5 to Him who loves us. You see, the first way God's grace manifests itself is by Jesus loving us. You want to know how God's grace manifests itself to you? It is by Jesus Christ, the perfect man, eternal man, loving you. That's how it manifests itself. And he released us from our sins by his blood. The second way God's grace manifests itself is by Jesus setting us free by something that had bound us. What had bound us? Our sins. Our sins. We were incarcerated. We were bound to live independently from God, to go our own way. We were hardwired.

8:23That our ultimate authority was ourselves and what seems good to us and the pursuit of our own satisfaction. That is, in essence, what sin, and it deceives us. And like a set of cuffs, it has cuffed us to this disposition to live independently of God. That's the whole lesson of the tree, the knowledge of good and evil, right? To live independently from God. But he has set us free from that internal disposition to go our own way, to pursue. A whole nother way, His way.

9:05And so He set us free by His blood. Costly. And the third way God's grace manifests itself to us is by Jesus making us something that we were not. Look back. And He has made us an act of creation. Same language. He has made us to be a kingdom, priest to His God and Father. Jesus loving us, that is the way God's grace manifests itself. And specifically, He released us from the sins that bound us. And He has made us into something new, a kingdom of priests. The word kingdom implies dominion. It's the place, a realm where a certain sovereign has dominion, right?

10:07The word priest involves the fundamental idea of worship. So he has made us vassals of his royal power, and he has made us vassals of priestly worship. Dominion and worship. That's all revealed. Before moving on, I want to make sure we understand a little more about this metaphor of the priesthood because that's what you are if you're in Christ. The Spirit of God over centuries laid a fundamental understanding for us in the pages of Scripture for us to understand who we are. And the metaphor he uses, priests. Priest to His God and Father. Now, what is remember going back? So, we're going to take a little excursion. You remember those, we had a Ford excursion. Anyone know it? That's like the homeschooler version of a band, you know, big old thing, huge. They don't make them anymore. But you take an excursion. The idea is to take a little detour, look at the landscape. Well, I'm going to take a mini-excursion here and think about this idea of the priesthood. Remember, back in Exodus 19 and 5, as Israel had come out of Egypt, God tells them, Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of fruit. Priests and a holy nation. Notice that these words were not just for Aaron and Levi alone. They were for all of Israel. You shall speak these words to the sons of Israel. They were to be a nation of priests. And the functions of the Levitical priesthood were daily reminders of what God wanted for all of his people, even if their specific duties looked a little differently.

12:34And so, if we quickly think through the functions and the nature of the priesthood that God established way back in the Old Testament, you remember there are really three functions that come out. The first functions of the priesthood deal with sacrifice. The priests sacrifice. They sacrifice. Now, the priests themselves are not necessarily, are not the atoning sacrifice, very different, right? But they're the ones performing the sacrifice, right? They're the means, but they are not the sacrifice.

13:23But they would sacrifice. But they would not only just sacrifice the animals and all. That was necessary for temple worship and the ceremonial functions of the temple or the tabernacle and then the temple, they really sacrificed themselves in many ways. This Levitical tribe didn't get to own any land, the Lord was their inheritance, and it was a gift to them to be priests, to sacrifice. And no one called, no one just up and did this on their own. They had to be called, they had to be chosen. Chosen. The whole priestly order was chosen. Not just anyone could come.

14:18Deuteronomy 18 makes it very clear that the priests were to have no other inheritance. Priests also, according to Leviticus 21, had to be without blemish. No one could, they couldn't just come up and start offering sacrifices. Not just anyone could come, they had to be chosen. They had to be without blemish. And we see as Hebrews start, as the author of Hebrews is reflecting on this, he's thinking that Christ Himself was the Son appointed by God. Is even Christ didn't take this duty upon himself, but God gave it to him, called him to a son, perfect forever.

15:13And the son, if you remember, who has made everyone in him perfect forever, right? Already, those he's sanctifying, he is already made perfect by his sacrifice. And so John can say, we are priests. And priests sacrifice. They give of themselves. Listen, you may be in the industry of education. You may be in the industry, in the medical profession, you may be in the construction industry, whatever level, whatever you're at in there. But above all these things, you are something else. Priests. Facilitating vassals to bring about worship. Worship upon the face of the earth. Worship in you, worship through you.

16:22And dominion and worship go together. You cannot worship God without being under His authority. And so, priests, one of the functions, and these functions were given by God to the priesthood. They didn't just say, you know what, I think what this world needs. No, they were given. God had specific functions for the priesthood. The first was the priesthood, the priests would be, would sacrifice. Second, priests would intercede. In fact, before I even go to that, it's important to understand where Israel's failure was. Malachi 1 spells all this out, right? Where was Israel's failure in the area of sacrifice? They started bringing blemished animals before the Lord, less than the best, as if God is someone who deserves our leftovers, our undesirables. Listen, think about this in the context of us today as priests. God deserves the highest, the best, all of.

17:31And as priests, chosen and perfected, how much more are we to be people who are in the routine of giving of the best of ourselves to Him? Second, priests intercede. That's what they do. That's what they would do. To be a people of prayer for all nations, right? Very clearly written out. They had specific duties of leading in prayer. In fact, by the time you get Jesus coming into the temple, what is his main issue? And what drives him to the point of turning over the money changers and clearing house there? What was that all about?

18:30Yes, it was supposed to be a house of prayer. And so you see Israel's failure there. They failed to be a house of prayer for all the nations. Right? Third thing, third function of the priesthood was that they witness. The priests were to be that witnessing community, witnessing community of the glories of Almighty God and the worship to His name. And everything they did was arranged around these functions. It's interesting that we heard a sermon last week on Jonah 4 about Israel's failure of going to the nations, right? Of failure in being that earthly witness. To all the nations.

19:33By doing what they were supposed to do in the land and be obedient and carry out the functions that God gave them to do, they would be witnesses to the glory of God across the world. So these are some of the basic functions of the priesthood as we survey the Old Testament. And God is still seeking worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, the same kind. John 4:23, as he tells the woman, He is seeking worshipers. Notice, worshipers aren't seeking Him, God is seeking worshipers. It's God who's seeking worshipers. It's not like we're going to say, okay, let's figure out what God is like, and now let's figure out how to worship. No, it's the other way. God is seeking worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. And it inevitably involves standing upon His sacrifice and then ourselves being living sacrifices, being people of prayer for all nations, and being people who declare His glories, who witness to Him.

20:54Well, all this, He has made us to be kingdom priests. All this prepares us for what comes next in Revelation chapter 1. So come back to Revelation chapter 1 and notice how we find peace in God's grace. I'm going to look at the third installment this morning. Number one, know the source of grace and peace. Number two, understand how God's grace manifests itself. And number three, show gratitude for God's grace. Look back at verse 6. And he has made us to be a kingdom of priests to his God and Father. Then notice the words, to him. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. To him. Notice back in verse 5, the expression, to him. So you've got the John starts, to him who loves us. You notice how he interrupts himself. To him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood and has made us to a kingdom and priests to his God and Father. To him, to him be the glory and dominion forever. So John picks up his thought after interrupting himself. Let me now finish what I'm saying. To him be the glory. And dominion forever and ever.

22:34That's in this verse and in this context, there are three ways that we show gratitude for God's grace. Three ways that we show gratitude for God's grace. First, and this really should go without saying, by not going back to sin, right? If he has released us, if he loved us enough, and released us from our sins by his blood, be a good steward of your freedom. You're not showing gratitude at all if you go back to your sin.

23:14Listen, he has freed you, he has released you. It's not, you're not bound anymore. You are free. You remember the handcuffs? You remember some of you over here, and I went to all the trouble to handcuff myself to a rail over there. That rail, maybe giving you a picture of what sin is, maybe, and being bound to that sin, the handcuffs. Well, he has come and done away with the handcuffs. He has released us. There are no more handcuffs. We are no longer hardwired to sin any longer. We are no longer. Hardwire to do our own thing.

24:05He's released us from that. So don't walk. There are no handcuffs anymore. You are free. So don't go over there and hang around those same places of sin anymore. It doesn't hold you. So don't let it. Don't give in to it. You're free. You're free. Use your freedom. Be a good steward of your freedom. Use that freedom to honor him. Don't go back to the old haunts of your old ways. You are free. And I can prove this to you. You say, well, I still sin, even in some of the old ways. Yes.

25:02But if you're born of him, guess what? You don't feel the same way about it anymore, do you? There's something different. Used to be the ultimate authority: if it seemed good to you, it would be fine, you would do it. And then you could blame, excuse, or figure out a way to just keep on doing it. Now, when you walk in those patterns, there's another principle, there's another ultimate authority. In your life, you no longer are at peace.

25:35A fundamental change has taken place. A disposition, an ultimate principle of wanting to please Him. That's why repentance is part of the gospel. Very much so. Death is in our sin. Smallness. And then the question comes to us: Have you ever thoroughly repented? Have you ever thoroughly owned, done a survey of your life, and thoroughly looked at places where you have transgressed and the pattern? And have you ever just laid those out before the Lord and said, Lord, forgive me.

26:26Lord, I see the wicked power of sin. I feel the horrible separation that it causes. And I'm going to be honest with you, Lord, and I'm going to be honest with those around me. I don't want this anymore. Well, that's why he shed his blood. It was costly. We are not a people who pursue our own ways. We are priests to Him, a kingdom of worshipers. That's who we are. So use your freedom to worship Him, to let Him have dominion and to let that show up in all of your relationships. You're free to do so, He'll take care of all the implications of that by a creative act.

27:37He made us into something new. So don't go back to your sin. That's showing gratitude. Lord, thank you for your grace. I'm not going back there again. And help me not go back there again. Help me not to be deceived. And Father, if I do, bring me out quickly. Right? It's a whole new way of living, a new ultimate principle. But a second way we show gratitude for God's grace is by letting Him be seen. Letting Him be seen. Look back at verse 6: To Him be the glory. To Him be the glory. What is glory? Glory.

28:32Glory fundamentally boils down to letting him be seen, wanting him to be seen, wanting him to get the credit, wanting him to be great in people's eyes. It's not just the occasional tipping of the hat and pointing upwards. No, giving glory to Jesus is an ongoing disposition that earnestly desires him to be seen in all of our circumstances. That's what giving glory to him is. We want him to be seen. Listen, people don't need to see us. Shocking, isn't it? Right? They really need to see him.

29:19I mean, what good does it do a person if they worship you or if they worship me? What good does that do anybody? None. Right? It puts them in negative territory. Right? You and I cannot save anybody. Right? You and I cannot shepherd anybody. Right? Oh, we can make disciples after ourselves, but who needs that? There's one individual that needs to be seen. It's Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory. Let Him be seen. Each of our circumstances are unique opportunities for us to bow down and let Him be seen. And that's what a priesthood does.

30:16I'm far more interested. This is what a priest is. A priest is far more interested in Him being seen than making Himself known. Listen, we cannot satisfy the deepest longings of humanity, can we? No, there is one who can. To Him be the glory. To Him be the visibility. There's a threat to giving glory to Him, isn't it? Isn't there? There is a threat. And what's that a threat? Asserting ourselves, right? That's the ongoing struggle, right?

31:05What keeps people from being seen, what keeps people from seeing God in our lives, is when we assert ourselves, when we want ourselves to be understood, when we want ourselves to be acknowledged or even understood. We can elevate ourselves and eclipse letting people see God in our circumstances. Listen, we are. Not the source of spiritual vitality. We're not. People need to see Christ. He is. Ultimately, there's only one human being that needs to be exalted, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Earth needs to receive her King.

31:55And it's not you, and it's not me. I mean, wouldn't it be nice if every institution on planet Earth existed to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, you just think about how wonderful that would be. We head off, and I need to renew my driver's license. So I head off to the Department of Motor Vehicles, and not only do I get my driver's license renewed, but I come out having had a religious experience, an encounter. Wow, my time at the Department of Motor Vehicles was so uplifting. I know Christ better. And then I take off to the grocery store. And wow, I go in, and what a glorious experience that would be. Everybody treated me like I was Christ Himself, apart from the worship. You know, they treated me with, wow, and so my grocery shopping. And then all of a sudden I leave and I. Think I can't wait to see what's in store for me down at the tax office. I know somehow God's going to exalt Himself in my even down at the tax office. Right?

33:15Could you imagine a world like that? The world has yet to see that, but it is coming. Could you imagine every class at Texas AM was on track with the God of the universe? Every endeavor, every scientific study, everything that you did over there in any field was a God-exalting experience. Could you imagine if all of our foreign policies, if everything that the United States ever did brought glory to God across the globe, that every interaction we had state to state would uplift and exalt the name of Jesus?

34:17Welcome to the book of Revelation. Revelation is that account of the breaking in of God. God's kingdom into every institution upon planet earth. We can't even think like we've never, there's never been a nation like this. There's never been a place where God's glory was so thoroughly entrenched in every layer of society that to go from one place to another place to another place was just a continual, enriching, worshipful experience revealing the God of the universe.

35:03Well, it's coming. Revelation gives us that account of the events of the earth that are going to take place before that great and glorious day when earth really receives her king in all layers of society. Until then, until then, we have a privilege. We have a privilege. We're not the source of spiritual vitality. But the amazing gift, the amazing privilege is that even though we are not the source of spiritual vitality, we are the evidence that it exists.

35:56We are the evidence. As a kingdom of priests, Having come under the dominion of God, we have become a kingdom of worshipers. And we serve as a window that the source of spiritual vitality exists. The source of life exists. I'm living testimonial to that. And so we give Jesus glory by letting him be seen. Wouldn't it be nice if every interaction that you had with somebody was a God-exalting encounter for that person? Whether it was whatever the relationship, whether family member, anybody who comes in contact with you, that it would be this God-glorifying exchange. Whether you're a father, mother, husband, wife, brother, sister, employee, employer, student, teacher, whatever it is, if every encounter with you just so elevated the name of Christ that people left feeling that God had been in their presence.

37:25That's the privilege we have now. Even as we wait, this glorious. Day. So we give glory by letting him be seen. It doesn't do any good for anybody for us to exalt, assert ourselves. It never has. It never will. So let your ambition for Jesus or let your ambition in life in all your circumstances, difficult, easy, whatever they may be, let your ambition be for Jesus to be seen, for Jesus to be esteemed, for Jesus to be embraced.

38:15To him be the glory. To him be the glory. I don't need to be seen. I don't want to be seen. It doesn't do anybody any good for me to be seen. To him be the glory. That's what John is saying. Let him be seen. So we show gratitude for God's grace by, number one, not going back to our sin. Number two, by letting him be seen. And number three, by letting him have dominion. Look back again at verse 6. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. So be it.

38:56Let him have the dominion. Listen, there's only one human being that needs to have dominion over planet earth. It's Jesus Christ. It's not us. It's not. Let him hold sway over our hearts. And let him, by coming under his dominion, let him impact the little spheres of life that we are in. Fundamentally, what is worship? I think we turn over to Revelation 4 and just give you a preview. A couple worship scenes in heaven, chapter 4 and chapter 5. We'll get there soon.

39:55Soon, as the Lord describes soon. Might take us a little bit into 2022 before we get there, but just looking at verse 8, here's a worship scene. Chapter 4 and chapter 5 are these worship scenes, and I just want to read to you what takes place in verse 8 of chapter 4. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings and are full of eyes around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever, the 24 elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever. The way they give glory and honor is to fall down before him.

40:55And they will worship him and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy are you, O Lord, our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created. Now look again, chapter 5, verse 11. Again, in this worship scene, then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory. So it's not just God who is worthy, but the Lamb is worthy of all these things, right?

41:51And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and the things in them, and I heard Saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped. Bowing down as it is in heaven, it's that physical expression of an inward yielding. That's what it is to be letting him have dominion. That inward bowing, that inward yielding to his ways, to his thoughts. Worship is fundamentally bowing to him. You cannot worship him without bowing your hearts before him.

42:48And when you remain obstinate in your own ways, you cannot worship him. You know, when you're one thing about bowing, if you bow before the Lord, the person behind you can see him. You know, right? If somebody stands in front of you and blocks the view, the beautiful thing about bowing is it gets you out of the way and it points you, it orients your life to the one that they should be looking at, right? Well, in all of our sacrificing, In all of our interceding, in all of our witnessing, we are to yield to his desires.

43:39And so we should show our gratitude for God's grace by wanting others to see him. And we can only let others see him by letting him have the dominion. Let him have the glory and the dominion. So, what are some of the practical functions of worshipers today? Well, we want Jesus to have dominion over our thoughts, over our ways, so that people can see him. That's what it means to be a kingdom of priests. And John. John is saying the very same things that he saw happen in heaven. Bowing down, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

44:31So be it. Amen. Earth doesn't need us to be exalted. So, back to the big picture. How do we find peace in God's grace? Well, first of all, know the source of grace and peace. Second, understand how God's grace manifests itself. And third, show. Gratitude for God's grace. One of the opening questions I asked when I first started this into verse 4 is: Is the gospel good enough for you? Is the gospel good enough? Does it set your soul at rest?

45:26If it doesn't, if you need something else, you don't know the gospel, or you have failed to really take in all that the gospel says about who you are, about who God is. No, the gospel is enough, it should promote peace. God's grace is sufficient. In fact, God's grace is upon his people to such an overwhelmingly extreme degree that it's sufficient. The gospel, no matter what situation we may be in, the gospel is sufficient to give us cause for rejoicing and rest in our present circumstances and an anticipation for what God's going to do next.

46:22You need to find peace in God's grace because sometimes in life that may be the The only thing you seemingly have. Let this truth take in deeply. Let it take root. Let this truth, if you do not know Christ today, you're invited to know Him. Surrender your life to Him. Believe the good news. You need to be born again by the truth of God's overwhelming favor toward you. Well, the Book of Revelation, as we continue, the content that is being unveiled is going to do two things. Number one, it's going to equip us to face the future.

47:22Number two, it's going to put us in a place of perfect peace. And so I hope you'll continue to join us as we continue our journey through the book of Revelation. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your kindness, for your goodness, for your favor, your grace that is extended to sinners. And not just lightly, but oceans, deepness, vastness in your grace. That overwhelms the deepest depravity and dysfunctions that sinful man has created. Your grace is greater, Father, and what that says about us today.

48:19Father, help us to appropriate to our lives. Father, thank you for your truth. Help us to respond and to be those priests who joyfully leave, sacrificing, interceding, witnessing, all in the spirit of joy and satisfaction and rest in you. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.