The sermon titled 'King of Kings, Lord of Lords' explores the book of Revelation and its main theme of Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It emphasizes the sovereignty of God over all of history and examines the seven sections or cycles of history depicted in Revelation. The letters to the seven churches are highlighted as representative of the challenges and virtues faced by all churches throughout history. The sermon also delves into the fall of Babylon, the final judgment, and the victory of Jerusalem. Overall, the sermon encourages listeners to embrace the knowledge of God's will, trust in His sovereignty, and respond to His call to come.

Revelation chapter 1, 5 verse 1. I'll be reading just the first three 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.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for words from heaven Sent into this world for our own hearts for our own lives and communities together to understand how you are operating in history. I pray that you would cause the blessings that are promised here to fall down upon this congregation, amen. Please be seated. So as we re-enter our studies in the book of Revelation, I want to remind us of where we've been in the book and to contemplate the flow of the sections, these seven sections in this letter, this epistle to the church, churches.

And I wanna just direct us to the truth. There's nothing more improving of the mind, there's nothing more happy-fying to the soul than the knowledge of God. And that's what we find here. As we survey revelation, you get a survey of the thoughts of God, things that he has done, and I believe revelation is perhaps the finest, the most graphic, the most beautiful testimony of the power of Jesus Christ in the Bible. And it is a concentrated, complete visual testimony of God's perfect control over all of history and including Everything in your life in my life.

That's happening right at this very moment in this time in history and I pray that You know the visions of the power of Jesus Christ that we encounter here will be such a thing that would choke out the insecurities, choke out the fears, choke out any depression to increase your joy. That's what I'm praying for in going back through Revelation and then continuing on as we return to it again, picking up the expositions next week. One of the remarkable things about the book of Revelation is that it's a look at the world through the eyes of God. By the way, I was asking Deborah when she thought it was that we stopped Revelation and started preaching on the church. Well, it was the first week in January that we started our series on the church.

So it's been a long time since we've been in the book of Revelation. And my last sermon in Revelation was Revelation 19, Alleluia, Babylon has fallen. So I want to bring some reminders as we pick up the expositions, particularly next week, and walk us through the book just by way of review. And the first thing I wanna remind us of is this is a letter, this is an epistle. This should be read like Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, except it's a different genre of literature.

It's prophetic literature, and so it is different, but it is a letter and we should read it that way. Secondly, it's understandable. I read the first three verses at the beginning here. This is a revelation. It's not a hiding.

It's meant to open your mind in imagery. Second, it has a very clear focus, and that is, the focus is Jesus Christ. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It would be a sad thing to stay away from revelation because it might be hard to understand because of the imagery. Because it's a revelation of Jesus Christ.

We need to see Jesus Christ. Thirdly, it's filled with symbolism. You see the language here in these first three verses. And he sent and signified it. He signified it.

These are symbols. These are pictures. They're very, very much like the prophetic imagery in the prophets. One of the reasons that people look at Revelation and they go cross-eyed is they haven't immersed themselves in the whole counsel of God. They haven't pondered Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and even the Psalms and Joel and Amos, the prophets.

If you read the prophets, you'll pick up the language of prophecy. And it's all carried forward in the book of Revelation. You know, most of what we read is common language, but it seems so foreign to us because we've neglected our Old Testaments and and But it's a book of symbols. It's like snapshots throughout history. It's like the way a filmmaker operates.

He shoots at one angle and then the same scene from another angle. And I believe that's what you find in Revelation. You find these cycles of history that are pictured in different ways. And then blessings are promised. Revelation begins with a blessing.

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy. And it ends in Revelation 22 verse 14. Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates of the city. And then another thing I just wanna remind you of is that revelation is meant to be obeyed. It's very interesting to notice that there aren't commands in revelation, but there are truths to embrace and to obey the implications of those truths.

And if you see a sovereign God, there's something to obey. To obey in your emotions to recognize that God is sovereign. To obey in the trials and tribulations of your life to recognize that God is sovereign. There are things to obey. There are implications that require us to obey.

Blessed is he who not just hears, but those who keep the things which are written. The instruction in Revelation is moral. All of our instruction in the church is moral. We have darkness to overcome in our own hearts. We need sufficient light, it's the light of Jesus Christ.

And we are contending with the powers of darkness. And so, the testimony in Revelation requires moral instruction. But this is pictorial theology. This is doctrine in pictures. John says, I saw.

Now, in verse 19 of chapter 1 is kind of an outline or maybe, you know, a very big picture of what's here. I write these things which you have seen, that's the past, and the things which are, in other words, things that are happening in John's contemporary moment, and the things which will take place after this in the future. So John is writing about a historical spectrum. One of the most remarkable things to me about Revelation is that it really reveals the world as we know it. These visual representations speak of the realities during the church age.

We've seen these things happen all throughout church history. It's a very important matter because one of the most pressing questions that people have is how are they supposed to understand the world? Why is there on the one hand so much beauty and on the other hand so much danger in the world? Why is there so much conflict? Why is it that there are so many people that have hope?

They have hope for everlasting joy. They have confidence. And then there are those who are afraid. Why is that? Why is there moral evil?

Why is there war? Why is there disease? One philosopher said it like this, why is there both beauty and bombs in the world? Because that's the real world that we live in. Revelation teaches us that you can trust the God of both beauty and of bombs because he's in control.

And it's very striking to recognize that the life of Jesus Christ is like that as well. In Christianity you have a crucifixion, But you have a resurrection. This is the real world. And revelation, you know, helps us to see the world as it really is. And as the world is as it really is, There's one fact that we need to know more than anything, and that is that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He's the ruler of the kings of the earth. And you know, that's what we're doing today. We came together today, really for one reason, is to say that Jesus Christ is Lord, that there is only one Savior, and there is only one supreme source of truth, and that's the word of God. We gathered here today to say that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is risen.

He saves sinners. He controls everything. And so this is a book that proclaims so clearly the sovereignty of God. And I was just contemplating the sovereignty of God quite a bit the last few weeks considering coming back into revelation. Here's Charles Spurgeon.

I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes. That every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens, that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. This is the sovereignty of God. This is what you see in Revelation. God is in control of everything that happens in history.

But God's sovereignty doesn't just mean that he controls the stars and the weather, but that he actually controls every decision that you've ever made. My friend, Jeff Johnson, just wrote a book on the sovereignty of God. Here's what he says. We may want a God who is able to intervene when we ask for his help. But we are not so sure we want a God who actually determines and controls whether or not we even ask for help.

We're not so sure we want a God who rules over what we feel, think, say, and do. That seems to be a bit too intrusive. But in reading Revelation in preparation to come back into this study, the most overwhelming thought for me is that God is sovereign over every moment of history. And that dovetails down to every moment of your life and my life. And I hope that's a comforting thought to you today.

Because I have a great motive. I want you to see your life under this great doctrine, the sovereignty of God. I want you to be comforted that you would choke out everything that contradicts the one true God and a vision of God in your own mind. To be so filled up with the knowledge of His will that you're not rattled even by your own perfections or the perfections of anybody else because the way God has built us He's built us so that we being filled up with the knowledge of his will, we choke out everything that's contrary to his will. The business of a Christian is to choke out the things that contradict God.

And I think what's in Revelation is a great help for us to choke it out, to choke out the small views of God, even regarding the way that we look at our own lives. Choke it out, choke it out with God. You know, last year, we had a pasture. We have cows that eat grass in pastures. We had a pasture that was a sea, it was just like an ocean of weeds with yellow flowers.

You'd look across this pasture and that's all you'd see are weeds. And so We started talking to farmers about what to do, and, you know, of course, you know, we thought we should just get out some defoliant and just spray and kill them, kill, kill all those weeds and replant, so we had this one guy out to talk to us, and he said, he said, don't spray it. He said choke it out. The only way you'll get rid of these weeds is to choke it out with grass. So choke it out, plant it and take care of it and you'll choke out the weeds.

And as it turns out that's exactly what happened and we didn't have a sea of yellow flowers this year. We had grass. We choked it out with grass. And I think there's a principle here for our own lives and even for our understanding of Revelation and why a book like This is so critical for us. Let the visions of God and his sovereign hand in every part of history choke out every fear, every insecurity, everything that contradicts what God has said.

Choke it out, choke it out with God. And so, I want us to think that way about Revelation. Now, you have an outline in front of you, and you can see that I've divided Revelation into seven sections. This outline is not original to me. It's a compilation of various outlines that I've encountered.

But these sections in Revelation, they depict cycles of history. And these cycles of history, these seven cycles of history, they end with visions of the second coming of Christ and or the final judgment, or of heaven. And my understanding of Revelation, you'll know this if you were here through this series, is that these are repetitive cycles of history that happened during the church age. There does seem to be an escalation of intensity as the chapters roll on. So let's just walk through some of these cycles of history.

The first section is the letter to the seven churches. And I think one of the great themes here is I know. I know. I know who you are. And these are the first three chapters in the Book of Revelation.

These are letters to the churches. They, these letters are for the, both for the comfort and the defense and the correction of all churches. The, I believe these are representative churches. They are churches that existed in real places in real time. You can go to the cities where they existed today and some of us have been to some of these places.

But these are, I believe, representative churches. The problems and the virtues that exist in these churches are the kinds of problems and virtues that have existed in every church during, since the resurrection. One of the most remarkable things about this first section is you notice that Jesus Christ is in the midst of the churches. He's walking among his lampstands. He sees all.

He knows all. He says, I know your works. Jesus Christ has perfect understanding. And if you'll notice, and we can't get into much detail here, but in chapter 1 verse 5, It starts with the death and the resurrection, and then he comes in clouds. It really presents a whole picture of the history of the churches.

And so, Jesus identifies these churches by name. They have various sicknesses. And God is speaking to these churches about their troubles And we come across a church in Ephesus. This is a church that had lost their first love. By the way, I was driving yesterday, and we passed Ephesus Baptist Church.

I thought, I hope they haven't left their first love. Maybe this is the book that, this is the letter that they concentrate on. The church in Smyrna was a persecuted church. The Lord tells that church, don't fear anything that you're getting ready to suffer because the devil is about to throw some of you in prison so that you'll be tested. The church in Pergamos was a compromising church.

They lived in a very corrupt society. He says, I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And they've embraced various harmful doctrines, the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Then you have the church in Thyatira, beginning to verse 18. This is a corrupted church.

Jesus says, I have these things against you. He says, because you allow that woman Jezebel, you allow. And this is a very, very important truth. A church, a family, a person is always going to be governed by what they tolerate. That's so important.

What you tolerate will govern. They were tolerating Jezebel, which was a whole, I believe, a whole picture of harmful ideas about life. And then you have Sardis, this was a dead church. You haven't, they had a name that they were alive, but they were dead. You have Philadelphia, a faithful church.

You have kept my word and not denied by name. And then finally, the church in Laodicea, the lukewarm church. He says I know, I know, I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. Well that's a good question to ask this morning.

Am I cold or hot? It's here to stimulate us. It's here to move us beyond where we are out of a state of coldness. And So then after these first three chapters, the second section begins in chapter four and you know, this section, second section opens with the lamb and the seven seals of the scroll. And you're probably familiar with dispensational authors who think that the rapture, which I don't believe there's any such thing, the rapture takes place between chapters three and four.

In fact, I actually heard a sermon by John MacArthur this week where he said, where is the rapture, I quote, it is in the white spaces between chapter three and four. So keep looking for it. So you have, you have the lamb and the seven seals of the scroll. This section, this cycle of history spans from chapter four, verse one, to chapter eight, verse one. It begins with a picture in heaven with Christ.

It's just such a beautiful picture. There's so many pictures of heaven in Revelation. They're so thrilling. But Christ is the center of these chapters. He is the crucified and risen Christ.

The message here is that he has control over history. This imagery, these symbols that describe how to think about Jesus Christ are astounding verse 2 in chapter 4 immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne set in heaven and one sat on the throne and he who sat on the throne there was like Jasper and a sardius stone in appearance and there was a rainbow around the throne in the appearance of an emerald so just remarkable beauty you know John is trying to describe the beauty of Jesus Christ, and he's just trying to pull from earthly representations of beauty, stones and rainbows and all kinds of things to try to describe this. It's just so remarkable. And you have the creatures around the throne. And you move into Chapter 5 and there is a scroll.

And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back. And of course the scroll is the story of history. Who is the one who can open up the seasons of history? And there's only one. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, verse four.

The root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. In other words, to let loose the things that will be happening in history going forward. And just the imagery is so beautiful. You have these seven seals. The first seal is the presence of a conqueror.

I believe that's Jesus Christ. The second seal, there's conflict on earth. There's a red horse who removes peace from the earth. The third seal, scarcity on the earth. There's this black horse that illustrates inflation.

Three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil and the wine. You know, the world goes through deflationary, inflationary cycles, cycles of poverty, cycles of deprivation. There are wars, there are corrupt rulers, there are calamities that happen. They've always happened. They will continue to happen until Christ comes again.

The fourth seal, widespread death on the earth. This is represented by a pale horse in verse seven. And the fifth seal, the martyrs, the martyrs who are crying out, how long, oh Lord, will it be till you avenge your servants? And then the sixth seal are cosmic disturbances. Chapter 6, verse 12, the sun black, the moon like blood, natural disasters, God controlling the weather and everything.

In chapter seven, you have the 144,000 who are sealed. And these are, I believe, these are the saints of God throughout history. But what you have here in this section is a picture that God rules the world. Just like it says in Psalm 97, verse four, His lightnings light the world. The earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax in the presence of the Lord. The heavens declare His righteousness. Nahum 1.5, the mountains quake before Him. The hills melt and the earth heaves at his presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it, who can stand before his indignation.

Yes, God does use the weather as a tool of his indignation in the world. The third section is a prelude to the seven trumpets, and which again end in final judgment. And of course, you know, all throughout this section from chapter eight verse two, all the way to 11, 19, it's a picture of natural disasters and fires and pestilence and destruction. Let me read 810, verse, chapter 8, verse 10. Then the third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch.

It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. The third of the waters became Wormwood and many men died from the water because it was made bitter." This is God's judgment on a wicked world. He does activate his own creation to judge the world for his own glory. In the first trumpet, vegetation is struck.

In the second trumpet, the seas are struck. In the third trumpet, waters are struck. In the fourth trumpet, the heavens are struck. In the fifth trumpet, locusts from the bottomless pit. I think these are demons, you know, going throughout the earth.

And the sixth trumpet, you have this activity around the Euphrates, 200 million, just an astounding number symbolizing demonic forces dressed in all their dramatic colors. They're fiery red and hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow, just a remarkable picture of demonic activity. And then in the next section, in the fourth section, you just continue to have these pictures. But what's so clear from Genesis to Revelation is God is the creator and he's the ruler of all creation. In 1 Chronicles 29, 11, we read what it means that he reigns.

Yours, oh Lord, is the greatness, the power, and the glory, the victory, the majesty for all that is in heaven and in earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, Oh Lord, and you are exalted as head over all and by the way that includes you and me In job 34 21 we read that that God's eyes are on man for his eyes are on the ways of man and he sees all his steps there is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves In Psalm 44 21 we learn that God is tracking with all your secrets, for He knows the secrets of the heart. In Psalm 139 2 through 4 We learn that he knows everything. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought from afar.

You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways, for there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. All the activities of everyone's lives are under God's sovereign care. Job 12, 13, with him are wisdom and strength. He has counsel and understanding if he breaks a thing down it cannot be rebuilt if he imprisons a man there can be no release if he withholds the waters they dry up if he sends them out they overwhelm the earth with him our strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

This is God's sovereign hand over all things. Let the thoughts of God choke out your fears. Let the thoughts of God give you confidence to know that He has all things in His hands. You're under His scrutiny and under His care. In the fourth section, there's this war with the dragon, chapter 12 to 14, verse 20 here he is casting down he he's casting down the devil and in chapter 12 one it starts with the birth of Christ and then it continues to describe opposition to him.

And then it describes his death and his resurrection and then the devil and the beast and Babylon, the enemies of the church rise up and it concludes in the final judgment in chapter 14, verse 8. You know, the first 11 verses in this section show us the kinds of suffering the devil imposes upon his disciples and the power behind the sufferings of the people of the world who turn away from God. What happens in this section is the curtain is pulled back and you can see what's driving the enemies of God, the enemies of God in the media, in the entertainment industry, in the educational systems. You'll see what they're trying to do and how harmful it is. But also, what happens to people who persecute the church of God?

But Satan is thrown down. He is cast down as we read in chapter 12 verse 10. You know, There's so many wonderful and terrifying images here. One of the wonderful images is the wings of a great eagle. The wings of the eagle are symbols of God's protection of his people.

He protects his people. He carries his people on his wings. You have the beast coming out of the sea and the beast coming out of the earth, and you see the brutality of the secular state. You know, I know there are lots of people who are worried about the oncoming brutality of the secular state. It's happened before, it will probably happen again.

This is a picture of reality. The secular state always does what the secular state does. And that is to dominate and control your life. I mean, you have, you know, people at the World Economic Forum that don't ever want you to own a car or your house, you're just going to view your house and your car as a service that you pay them for. You know, one of the largest corporations in the world is behind it.

Don't you think it would be really good for them if they had everybody paying rent to them, if everybody was paying rent to Black Rock, how about that? I mean, this would be really a fantastic play. But the nations of the earth, The beasts of the earth wage war against the church. And this is all pictured here. The mark of the beast, what's that?

That's the mark of the world. I don't necessarily think that it's a physical mark. When you get to heaven, you have the mark of the Lamb on your forehead, but it's the mark of your life. You know, you can tell worldly people by what they believe, what they say and what they do. That's the mark of the beast.

And then, in the fifth section, you have the seven bowls of wrath. And again, this ends in the final judgment in chapters 15 and 16. And, you know, you have this imagery of the Battle of Armageddon that ends in the final judgment you have the same same features here in chapter 15 is a beautiful image a sea of glass mingled with fire. Chapter 15, verse two. And I saw something like a sea of glass mingle with fire and those who have the victory over the beast.

So Believers are depicted as on this sea of glass mingled with fire. Joe Beakey says they're celebrating God on the sea of glass. And what are they saying? Great and marvelous are your works Lord God Almighty just and true are your ways Oh King of Saints who shall not fear you Oh Lord and glorify your name for you are holy for all nations shall come and worship before you for your judgments have been manifested then you have these bowls of wrath you know the the first bowl loathsome sores the second bowl the sea turns to blood the third bowl the waters turn to blood the fourth bowl men are scorched the fifth bowl there's darkness and pain and the sixth bowl the Euphrates is dried up the seventh bowl the earth is utterly shaken and great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath Men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail since that plague was exceedingly great. The sixth section, chapter 17 through 19, the fall of Babylon and the mother of harlots is destroyed.

You have the judgment of the great harlot and you have the the woman and the beast and the fall of Babylon and that line that rings in various places in Scripture, Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen. This is why Isaiah said, you know, You've loved your little idols, but there'll be a day where you'll just wanna throw them away. You wanna get them so far away from you because Babylon will fall. That will be that day if you don't know the Lord and love the Lord, follow the Lord. The world mourns for Babylon's fall.

They mourn all the money loss and all the pleasures that they had. In one hour, she is made desolate. It happened so quickly. I don't think it's a literal one hour. I think it's just a very, very speedy collapse of Babylon.

The mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it, Babylon, into the sea saying, thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down and shall not be found anymore and then the seventh the final section the victory of Jerusalem the bride of the city of God, of the temple, of the tabernacle, all the beauties of the kingdom of God come together here. And there's just such celebration and beauty. Christ is on a white horse. The beast and his enemies are defeated. God is in control.

The Lord reigns. It really is a blessing when thoughts of God are so great in your mind that they choke out the weeds. They choke out the impurities. They choke out the fears. They choke out the insecurities.

They choke out the hatred that you have for your boss. The revulsion you have for your spouse they they choke out the mistreatment you have for your children They choke it out because your eyes are fixed on Jesus Christ And so we'll engage these these last three chapters in the coming weeks. We'll see what God had in mind all along. And he has designed all of history to culminate in these things. Chapter 22 verse 1 and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Well, a Christian has been drinking from that water all along. Chapter 22 17 and the Spirit and the bride say come and let him who hears say come let him who thirsts come whoever desires let him take the water of life freely Such a great part of the message of Revelation is a call to come. Come to the God who controls all things. Come to the God who has a river of life. Come to God who has trees that the leaves are for the healing of the souls of the nations.

Come to God. The Spirit and the bride say come. All of these things, you know, they may be terrifying, but they're also meant to cause you to come to his river and drink and live. The book ends with these words, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

So I just wanted to remind us of the theme of the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And he calls his people to come. And I wanted to remind us that, you know, it's a God who's got you to the place that you're at right now in your life. And while you may need to repent of some things that got you there.

The truth is, it was God that got you there, and you're right in the place where God has you. And He says that He's bringing you along. In Philippians 2 13, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. And that God holds your life in His hand. In Job 12 10 it's clear in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

That even our movements, even your movement here today was in God. In Him we live and move and have our being, Acts 17, 28. Even the wrath of man in the nations of the world are in God's hand. The psalmist in Psalm 76 10 says, surely the wrath of man shall praise you. Solomon told us that the lap is, that the lot is cast into the lap, but every decision every decision is from the Lord and God is sovereign in salvation just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us acceptable, accepted into the beloved.

You know, I got up this morning and I was reading Romans 5 And I thought, this puts some of this together, Romans 5, 1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and not only that but we also glory in tribulations. God is the God of all tribulations. Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

So Let the thoughts of God choke out everything else. Let's be a people like that whose eyes are fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful that you are the ruler of the kings of the earth and that You have Your eye on the sparrow, that not a hair falls to the ground without Your knowing, that You know our thoughts, that You know our steps before we take them.

Lord, I pray that You would take all these things and thrill the hearts of all of your people today. Amen.