Finding Peace in God's Grace: Part 2b - Revelation 1: 5b-6

1:24As I started looking at these verses several weeks ago, I asked. The question: Is the gospel enough? Is the gospel good enough for you? And what I mean by that is the gospel good enough to set your soul at peace? Is the gospel sufficient to put your life into a permanent state of peace, contentment, satisfaction, and enjoyment? Is it sufficient? I think there's a lot of people these days, and as I preach this, I preach this to my own heart. That for some reason, the gospel just isn't enough. We need something else.

2:23It's like somehow the news that God sent His only Son to die in our place, who caused us to be born again, who promises to satisfy us with every good thing, somehow that isn't sufficient to put our souls at rest. We need something else. I want to submit to you: there's something really wrong with that picture. Something really wrong. If we do not find our peace in God's grace, As expressed in the gospel, we will not find peace anywhere.

3:09Until you find peace in God's grace, you will not be satisfied in this life, nor will you be fruitful in the situation that God has placed you. Look back at verse 4. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace. Seven churches in Asia, we looked at those last time, right? Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Byratira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. All this area really is about an area about the size of the Texas Triangle, Austin, Waco, Houston.

4:00It's not that big of a geographic area. Seven churches in this area. Probably a circuit that John is very familiar with, clockwise would go, minister to, a lot of interaction over the three decades that John was in. Ephesus. And so we want to find peace. He gives us Steps to finding peace in God's grace. And that's what I want us to look at this morning: continue where we left off, finding peace in God's grace. What is grace? Well, grace is favor, graciousness, help, goodwill. So if we think of grace as God's goodwill, that's what we pray when, that's what the psalmist would say: May God shine his face upon you. The idea is, May God look upon you favorably. If there's anything we wish for anybody, it's that God's face would be upon you to bless, smile, not to frown. I don't want the frown of God on my worst enemy. I want the favor of God.

5:26That's what the psalmist would pray over and over, because under the frown of God, we wither, humanity dies. But under the favor, we flourish. Word for peace is that idea of Hebrew shalom, welfare, calmness, well-being, contentment, surrender, the wholeness. And John is writing. So that these churches would be at peace in knowing that God's grace, God's favor, is upon them. He sends them a greeting. Notice it is from John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace and peace to you from him. And he goes on: from him who is, who was, who is to come, from the seven spirits who are before his throne, from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. We looked at all those last time.

6:39From. And John is really sending greetings from this distinguished list of persons. Grace, favor to you. You know, if I came in here today and said, oh, by the way, the Queen of England sends greetings to you. What does that imply? That implies I've had some kind of contact with the Queen of England, and the Queen of England really does send her greetings, right? Or I'm a liar. I would not be so bold to speak on behalf of the Queen of England if it were not true, right? Well, John is not just sending these. These are not just little simple statements to make. You feel good. John is saying, grace and peace to you from him who is. I come with a message from him.

7:39He wants you to be at peace. He is the source of peace. He is the source of human wholeness. And his favor is the source of human wholeness. And John's situation, as he was writing to these churches, it was anything but peaceful. Wherein the persecutions of Domitian, probably some of the most intense up till this date, specifically aimed at emperor worship, they are facing some very difficult times. Their situation is anything but peaceful from a worldly perspective.

8:36When we think about our times, whatever your unique situation may be individually, whatever our unique situation may be corporately as a church, as a nation, whatever they may be, whatever our current situation may be, God wants his people to be as peaceful. Peace, even in the middle of difficult times, individually, corporately, whatever you are facing. And these words have been a source of strength not only to that first generation, but every generation since, and they are a source of strength and encouragement to us today.

9:25God wants His people to be at peace in whatever they are facing. God wants you to be at peace in whatever you are facing. So, how do you find it? Well, three steps. Three steps to finding peace in God's grace. Last time, if you remember, we looked at the first. First, you need to know the source of grace and peace. Who is the source? Well, look back at 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. The very source of life itself sends you His favor. Everything you see sprung from Him. The eternal life itself sends His favor. Listen, life knows how to make life and knows how to make it abundantly. Doesn't that set your heart? Heart at peace, just knowing that the Lord God Almighty, the eternal life itself, has sends his favor.

10:45The Lord God Almighty, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, those individuals and ultimately the individual who are responsible for administering his will. Seven, completeness. Stand ready before his throne to do his will. Grace and peace to you from the Lord God Almighty, the one who is and is to come, and from those and from the one who is responsible for carrying out his will. So it's not going to be an administration problem. You don't have a problem in the executive branch. You don't have a problem with the administrative branch. Grace and peace be to you.

11:33And from Jesus Christ, the anointed one, God's anointed ruler. Favor to you from him. And John goes on to describe him as we looked at last time. Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. You can trust what he says. The Christ of Scripture is the Christ of Scripture. He is the Faithful, and you don't need another. You can rely on Him, faithful, firstborn from the dead, firstborn, the preeminent one, the one who has come out of the grave. And I'm not talking about just come out of the grave to go back in. He came out, put on a glorified humanity, and that glorified humanity is now in the very presence of God Almighty.

12:28Humanity in the presence of God Almighty. Favor from Him to you. If you get a letter from someone like that, that should be enough just to put your heart at peace, right? So often it doesn't. Why? Because we don't believe. Listen, I love that expression. I'll diverge for just a minute. Firstborn from the dead, decay didn't set in on him. Decay didn't set in on him. You know, one of the painful aspects of middle age is watching the decline of your parents.

13:19I don't know when middle age begins. But I think once you get to 40, you're in it. I think of 20 as, okay, you're still kids. 30, yeah, you're still kids. But when you get to 40, I mean, you are in middle age. You're not wherever you put it. You're in middle age, right? And one of the things that happens in middle age, you've lived long enough to start feeling a little bit of the decay in your own life, right? And you're seeing decay all around you. You're once heroes. You start seeing decline, right? I mean, there was a time when I thought my dad was invincible, right? I mean, I didn't think he was one of these guys that just, no matter what happened, I knew he would land on his feet. No matter what came against him or whatever he was involved in, I knew somehow by an act of divine intervention, if that's what it took, he would land on his feet. And as time goes on now, he can't even tie his shoes without help, right?

14:37It's the client. And by the way, one thing about this middle age is, kids, you know why your parents start getting nicer to you when they're middle age? Because they know what power of attorney is. They start knowing what's coming, and so all of a sudden your parents start getting a lot nicer in middle age, right? Ooh, we know where we're headed. Right, right. So, no matter who your hero is, eventually you're going to see decay set in. As if the testimony over all of humanity, about every individual and every kingdom that has ever come, you see there is one ruler over them, and that is death and decay.

15:25And so, our worship must go beyond the realm of this earthly life. I don't care how great of a football player, I don't care how great a hero he may have, they decline, right? But there is one who has come out of the realm of death. Our worship is due to him, firstborn from the dead, right? There is one greater than my father, there is one greater than my greatest hero, there is one who has come out of the grave, firstborn, preeminent one. There's more to come. That's what that means.

16:16So, he, the firstborn, life itself, the God who is, the God who is to come, has set his favor upon you. And the one, the anointed one, who Has come out of the grave has set his favor upon you. So whether I'm dealing with issues of broken down life or I'm dealing with issues in the grave, whether it's myself or others, there is one who's greater than the grave. And he wishes me peace. He has set his favor upon me.

17:00Do you see how this truth should revolutionize who you are? This truth will cause you to be born again. The problem with many of us is we really don't believe it. Oh, yeah, God, thank you for the gospel, but you know, I really need this. Oh, I know all that Jesus stuff, but I need this. Isn't that a picture of us? Stop. Take in what the gospel gives us. And that's what John is saying. Stop and think.

17:41And there's one more description there. The ruler of the kings of the earth, Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Even in times of political upheaval, political change, God. People are to be at peace because the one who is the ruler of every single ruler is Jesus Christ. Now, that should put your heart at peace. I mean, who's in office impacts the way we feel? Look beyond and see who is the ruler and the one ruling. Not just hopefully, one day will come and rule. No, the one who is presently ruling and one day will come and rule directly. But he is king. He is God. He rules a king. So when you think about this, that life itself, the one who is, the ones responsible for carrying out his will, Spirit of God, and those spirits, ministering spirits, and Jesus Christ set their favor upon his people.

19:22That should bring peace if you believe it. No, it should. It will. Let this truth take in, and the gospel will be enough. So, first, how do you find peace in God's grace? Well, first, you need to know the source of grace and peace. Second, and now we're ready to move on in this passage. All that's been review. Now we want to move on to the second step: understand how God's grace manifests itself. You need to know the source of peace, of grace and peace, and then you need to understand what grace looks like in your life. Look back at verse 5: to him. You notice that? To him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood. And he has made us a kingdom of priests to his God and Father. Notice, and then he starts again: to him, to him who loves us and released us, right? To him be glory. To him. It's like John is carrying on, and then all of a sudden he interrupts himself. He gets all excited about what Jesus has done. He's just spoken about Jesus, to him. He's referring back to Jesus Christ, firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him be glory and honor. Be glory and dominion forever.

21:01But then he interrupts himself. Before he gets to that second thought, he says, to him, and then he carries on more about Jesus, who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom, priest to his God and Father. So John erupts in this doxology. He gets excited. Having talked about Jesus, he wants to further bring him glory and honor, but before he even wants to elaborate more about Jesus. And so he gets excited and he erupts in this glorious praise. He interrupts himself.

21:48And he gives us three verbs here that are descriptive of how grace or how God's grace manifests itself. Three verbs here, and we'll look at them. First of all, how does God's grace manifest itself? Well, it manifested itself, manifests itself by Jesus loving us. By Jesus loving us. Look back at verse 5. To him who loves us. It's a present. To the one who is loving us, the one who loves us and keeps loving us. This is his presence. Present. This is how God's favor manifests itself, is by Jesus, His Anointed One, loving us.

22:41So, when you think about love, what's the difference between love and grace, or love and favor? What is the difference between love and grace? Well, can't separate the two, really, but favor is what precedes love, right? Love is that sacrificial devotion. Love is grace in action, his favor put into action. So, when we think about love, we think about sacrificial devotion for the well-being of another. That's what love is: sacrificial devotion. We speak all the time about the love of God that moved him, that has brought about his sacrificial devotion of himself for our well-being. That is his love, but it's his favor, it's his grace that sets all that in motion.

23:41Favor. Really, you can think of it as the precedent for sacrificial devotion. May God's face shine upon you. Why is God's love upon his people? Why? Is it because we're special? Well, apart from him, no. No, this happens in him. He is good. Why has its origins in him? Not because we're a bunch of swell people. This is what grace is. It's something that is on his side of the fence that comes out of his goodness to love that which is unlovable is good. And that's what he does. He loves.

24:51He loves his people. And so God's grace manifests itself by loving. It was his love that moved him and continues to move him for our well-being. So the first way that God's grace manifests itself is by Jesus loving us. And then John goes on to show us how. He continues, how this grace continues to manifest itself. This love shows up. Look back to him who loves us and has released us from our sins by his blood. So the first way God's grace manifests itself is by Jesus loving us. And the second way God's grace manifests itself is by setting us free from something that had bound us. And what is that something? Our sin. Look back to him who loves us and released us, released us from our sins.

26:12You think of an animal. If you've ever seen an animal caught in a trap, it moves some of us, right, to see that animal not suffer, to get out, right? Sin is depicted here as something that binds us. Sin had bound us. Now, imagine with me, if you will, a pair of real police handcuffs. I mean, not just the fake ones. I'm talking the real ones. Handcuffs. That so, well, in case that didn't hit you, let me see.

26:58Maybe this will, okay? Think of handcuffs for a moment. Think about what's being depicted here. How do handcuffs work, right? You, well, you go on like this and write something like this, and they're on there, right? Now, I need to get, well, let me show you what the picture is. Let me take this a step further. Okay, let me walk over here. You guys getting this? Okay, get this? Okay, so think about what now. Now, I'm in trouble, right?

27:43You're going to have to move the pulpit over here. I'm not going to be able to really move around at all. But this is what sin does. This is the picture that's being described. Sin makes our world really, really small. You see this? This is you in your sin. If you do not know Christ, this is you. Your world is very, very small. You have left, you are not free. You are bound to the smallness of your own desires, to your own ways, to your own definition of right and wrong, and it is a prison.

28:30We need to be released, right? I mean, you can do a lot of things here, right? I mean, you can still go to church until that church gets into the way of what you really want to do, right? You can do a lot of things. But the bottom line is, your world is really, really small. Could somebody help me get out of here? All right, I need somebody who has a little bit of compassion for my situation. Somebody who's going to get me out of this situation. And what does he do? He comes and he releases, right? Thank you. By the way, I love our men in uniform.

29:32It's not an easy time being a policeman. Let's pray for them and remember. And thank you. But here's the picture, right? Right? Sin is a horrible place. Sin has deceived us. Sin has incarcerated us. And so if you're in your sin, let me tell you how your life goes. You're forced to excuse your sin or deny your sin or blame others for your sin. Or you're forced to defile your conscience and say, No, I'm not in sin.

30:18Listen, this is the way the world lives, right? Challenge you, God. But to be released, something has to happen. Somebody has to have compassion for us in our small, little world. And Jesus Christ. So, John, to Him who loves us and released us from our sins. That's how grace manifests itself. It releases you from your sins. The King James, if you read your King James, it's going to say washed, right? Washed. Well, the Greek manuscripts, the best manuscripts, and clearly is release.

31:15Release. Now, the thoughts are not mutually exclusive because throughout the book of Revelation, you're going to have that concept of washed, that sin defiles, it stains, it needs to be cleansed. And so there's the idea of cleansing. Cleansing throughout, very, very biblical. But here, the concept here is one of release. And the two thoughts aren't too mutually exclusive because the one who has been freed from sin has been cleansed from sin. Listen, when you are married to your sin, you're also defiled by your sin. That's what makes humanity not operate like God originally intended.

32:02It defiles us, sin defiles us, sin traps us. Sin bound us. But look back. His blood released us to him who loves us and has released us from our sins by his blood. The power to release is in his blood. The word says by his blood, but the preposition is really in, means close to the same, yes. But the power, the key to release us is in his blood. How does that work? Well, we know our guilt if you're halfway honest with about anything.

33:00Know that you have sinned against God. You know your guilt. And you also know, the scripture makes it very clear, that you know that God is just. And so you've got a problem. Real awareness of sin, real awareness of the justice of God. What do you do? Well, these truths should motivate you to look to God, right? Look for His release. And you know, when we come to believe that God's wrath against me has been poured out on another, and when that truth really sets in, I am released from the guilt of my sin. I understand now that God can be just and justify me at the same time. I am released. Do you believe that? That's why he went to the cross.

34:05He had grace towards us. He didn't want us living in the confines of our small, little, selfish desires. He wanted us to be released into the expanse, the limitless expanse of God's opportunities, of God's freedom. It's not God's. Will that's limiting. It's our will that is very small. He is so large. And yet sin has deceived us. So I know that God can be just in forgiving because he has released us in his blood. That's the key.

34:59So the first way God's grace manifests itself is by Jesus loving us. The second way God's grace manifests itself is by Jesus setting us free from something that had bound us. And the third way God's grace manifests itself is by Jesus making us something that we were not. Look back at verse 6. He made us into something that we were not. And he has made us, verse 6, to be a kingdom, priests to his God and Father.

35:33He has made us. He released us. Past tense, something he did. And he has made us. Past tense, something he did. He is currently loving us. And that love finds expression by releasing, by having released us, and by having made us into something that we were not. And he. Has made us into be a kingdom, priests to his God and Father. Look at those two words: kingdom, priests. What's a kingdom? A kingdom emphasizes dominion, a place of his dominion. He has made us to be a kingdom, that is, vassals of his royal power. When we're talking about kingdom, I don't mean just vessels. I mean vassal. Not just because I'm from Texas. Vassal, it's the idea of a subject. You get this from the feudal system, where a vassal is a subject of a lord or a monarch.

36:47So as a vassal, or as a subject of a lord or a monarch, that vassal, that individual, has all the privileges and obligations therewith. So as a kingdom, he has made us into vassals of royal power. And there are a couple concepts associated with that. First of all, is the rulership over the subject. Rules over the subject. Bottom line is there cannot be two masters over a kingdom. There's one ultimate master, right? Jesus said in Matthew 6, 24, no one can serve two masters. You'll either You'll hate one and you'll love the other. You'll love the one, you'll be devoted to one, you'll hate the other.

37:37Eventually, you cannot have two ultimate masters, you have one, and a child of the devil must ultimately obey him. Even the children of the devil can go to church, they can even go to Bible-believing churches, but they cannot believe. There'll come a rub, but you cannot believe what the Bible says in some places. Eventually, there's going to be a rub between these two ultimate authorities. You cannot be a child of God and a child of the devil.

38:18So, the idea of kingdom implies a rulership over a subject, but it also implies the rulership through a subject, not just over. Vassals are subject to their ruler, but vassals are the way the ruler exercises his authority over a domain. God's kingdom is a sphere where he reigns. We are a kingdom in the sense that God is presently reigning over us, but also that his dominion is exercised through us as his vassals. Adam was to exercise God's dominion over the earth. And so not only did Jesus release us by his blood, but he has also made us into something very special. A kingdom. A kingdom. We are vassals of royal power. But there's a second term here: priests to his God and Father.

39:25Priests to his God and Father. Not only did he make us vassals of royal power, he made us vassals of worship. Worshipful service. Vassals of priestly service. I'm not going to get into this here. We're not talking about mediators. This is what was wrong and continues to be wrong with the Catholic Church. Mediators. No, there is one mediator. There is a confusion about what the Bible says about us being His priests. We are not mediators between. It doesn't say we are mediators, that we are priests between God and man. That's not what it says. We are made priests to His God and Father.

40:27There's one mediator, 1 Timothy 2. There's one God, one mediator also between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all. Next week is Reformation Sunday, right? We don't celebrate Halloween. We celebrate Reformation Day around here, right? That's the day when Martin Luther goes and puts his 95 thesis on the wall, right? There at the door, there at Wittenberg. And I want to take next week, we've got a speaker coming in the morning. We've got Jared Wilson coming. In the evening, planned before all the festivities of watching Luther or something like that on the big screen, there'll be some of that happening. But one of the events in the evening service is I do want to talk about what fundamentally was wrong in the Catholic system. And it wasn't just, it wasn't just their view of salvation. That's what ignited the Reformation, right?

41:46They got to where they could take salvation and sell it, right? Put the coins in, and when the coins go in, a soul from purgatory springs. You've heard that. But I want to say. Submit to you that long before that, that's just what ignited the whole Reformation. Was okay, this abuse had gotten so far, but what was behind it, driving it? They had a wrong view of the church, they had a wrong view of the priestly service in the church, and that spills over into every other doctrine. I hope you'll be able to come for that. We'll spend some more time talking on that, but we're not talking about he has made us to be mediators between God and man, not in the sense, yeah, we pray for him, but that's not what he's talking about, worship. We sacrifice ourselves, we give ourselves. You remember in Exodus 19:5, the Lord speaks to Israel. It says, 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 priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel, not just the sons of Levi. If you will, if you will let me reign over you, if you will give me the dominion in your life, Israel, you will become a nation of priestly worshipers.

43:25It's a kingdom of worshipers. So. To worship. Obedience is fundamental to worship. And so, as kingdoms, think about this: as kingdom of priests, we will reign. That's the image. A kingdom of priests, those under his dominion who lovingly want to give all to him. In fact, let me read to you chapter 5, verse 10. Obviously, we're not going to get through all this today. But 5:10. And you remember this song that they began singing about the Lamb.

44:15Worthy are you to take the book, to break its seals, for you were slain, speaking of the slain lamb, and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God, and they will reign upon the earth. There is this beautiful picture of God's redeeming work. And these are going to be the ones that reign upon the earth. The rest of Revelation tells how they come to power.

45:04You remember years ago the old Coke bottles that you could redeem? Do you remember those? I know some of you guys don't even know what I'm talking about. But it used to be that Dr. Peppers came in bottles, and Coke's came in bottles, and you'd pay like 10 cents for these bottles to use them, and then you'd have to, you could bring them back, and guess what? They would give you your 10 cents back. It's called redeeming redemption. You could have these bottles. How many of you remember that? Yeah, okay, great. So you remember, and you remember going out, okay, and when you need money, what do you do? You go out and find Coke bottles, right? Even if they're muddy, even if they're all there, you go and you go to the grocery store and you take all these dirty, used bottles and you take them to them, and they'll give you money. And then what do they do with them? They take them back to the plant, right? And what do they do? They take them and they wash them. They have a way of really washing them and making them clean. And if they're too far gone, they melt them down and they make more bottles out of them. It was a great system, right? But it gives you a picture of redemption because then that bottle could be used again, right? It could be used for what it was originally purposed. We see that. Concept of redemption with humanity. Listen, we were made to worship Him. It is sin that has deceived us and made our world really, really small.

46:43But He came to release us by His blood, in His blood, so that we would be a people, a kingdom, priests, a kingdom of worshipers. That's who's going to reign upon the earth. And nothing, nothing is going to stop that from happening. That's what the book of Revelation tells us. Firstborn from the dead, ruler of the kings of the earth. Grace and peace to you. So, assurance of God's love does not come from our circumstances, but from a fact of history, the cross.

47:30And when evil seems to cloud or darken our circumstances, we need to remember something that Jesus said. It is finished. There cannot be a higher expression of God's favor toward you than in the cross, a fact of history, where you have been released. So don't go back to your sin. You're released. You have been made into a kingdom. Of worshipers. So let's worship Him. I didn't get as far as I liked. But we'll end here today.

48:15Heavenly Father, we thank you. And indeed, you have given us new life by the release in your blood and in the gift of making us new. Father, we find our purpose. We're delighted by your favor. Father, and as we come to you with people with various circumstances, various issues, various sins plaguing us, various conditions, Father, we come to you as the life giver, the one who rules over all. And Father, we want knowledge of your grace to be enough to set our souls at peace. Forgive us, for we have so quickly moved on from the cross, moved on from the gospel, and have plagued ourselves and disturbed our souls within us, and even called into question your goodness. Forgive us, Father, and thank you. Thank you for the release we have and the new life we have. May we go and live in that freedom. In Jesus' name, amen.