Could you take the word of God and turn to the book of the Revelation? It's a chapter number one. And as you turn there, I trust you know the treasure that you hold in your hand, the precious word of God. You think about those across the world who do not have a copy of the scriptures, maybe they have simply a part of the scriptures, but here we are in the West and we have a copy of God's word. and a faithful translation of God's precious word. And I trust that you know the treasure that you hold in your hand. And we're going to read part of that treasure. We're reading the first eight verses just of the revelation, the chapter one. And so let's hear God's word as it is read. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave on to him to show on to his servants things which must shortly come to pass. he sent and signified it by his angel on to a servant John who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things which that he saw blessed is he that readeth they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand John To the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the spirits which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth shall weal because of him, even so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, thee, Almighty. Amen, and we'll conclude. at the verse 8. Let's briefly pray. Father in heaven, bless our time around thy word. Fill me now with thy spirit. Grant dear God help as I preach the word. We offer prayer in and through Christ's lovely, precious, holy, and high name. Amen. At the beginning of this week, I set myself a very, very ambitious target for today's message. We've been considering together over the last number of months some of the names and the titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been doing that on an individual basis, or for the vast majority of times, we've been doing it on an individual basis, taking one title, one name, and then preaching a specific message, an individual message on that particular title. Well, I intended at the beginning of this week to preach on all of the titles and all of the names of Jesus Christ as they are found here in the book of the Revelation. But as I began to put things down on paper, I realized that such an ambitious target would not be met, to which I know you are all very much relieved. Well, today I want us to consider simply the titles that are presented to us regard to our lovely Lord Jesus Christ here in the opening chapter of the book of the Revelation. And then having done that, I want us, and I want to set aside this series of messages for the summer months in order that we might just have a little break with regard to this matter. And then take it up again sometime in the autumn, as we continue to do what our motto text has told us to do, that they cease not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. So as someone would say, I suppose we need to, as it were, strap ourselves in, and we need to give ourselves attention as we come to read the word and preach today. I want to cover quite a lot of ground in today's message, even though we have this narrower remit than what I had previously envisaged. Now I've said from this pulpit before, the book of the Revelation is not primarily a revelation of things yet future. Now the book of the Revelation is that. The book of the Revelation contains many prophetic utterances. and points us to things that are yet to take place. But that is not its primary purpose. I know a lot of preachers and they get a lot of mileage out of identifying who the 144,000 are in Revelation 14 verse 3. Others, they get a lot of mileage in who they believe the beast is and who the false prophet are. Some, whether or not the church will be present on earth when Christ returns or whether she will have been taken some kind of so-called sacred rapture. Well, for those preachers, they seem to forget the primary purpose for which the book of the Revelation was given to his church. Yes, the book does contain prophetic utterances. Yes, the book does contain those things which must shortly come to pass. But the opening statement in the book reminds us why the book was given. Because in Revelation chapter 1 and the verse 1 we read that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Miss Jesus Christ in this book and you miss everything. So then we need to ask ourselves, what does this book of the Bible teach us about Jesus Christ? Because Jesus Christ is the sum and substance of all special revelation that has been given in the Word of God. And thus we must find Christ in this book. We must not, as it were, simply tickle ourselves and excite ourselves about prophetic things whilst missing the hub, missing the substance, missing the sum and substance of this particular book, the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now some of the titles and the names that we'll find in this opening chapter of the book, and even throughout the book, are some of the titles that we have already spoken upon and preached upon. So we'll not be visiting those particular titles or names today. For example, in these opening eight verses, we come to read the title or the name Jesus. We come to read the title name Christ. We come to read the title Lord. Later on in this chapter, we also come to read that title, the Son of Man. There in the verse number 13, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man. And these have all been considered already in this series of messages. And so we're really dealing with the names and the titles that are attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ that have not yet been addressed in this series of messages. You'll find the first three of these titles given to us in the words of the verse number five. Let's read that verse again. I am from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. The first title that we want to think about today is the title, The Faithful Witness. Notice the definite article. This is not a faithful witness, but this is the faithful witness. This is the one and only faithful witness. Now, the word witness is a Greek word, and you'll understand probably with regard to it, where we will get an English word. It is the word martyrs, martyrs. And it is from that word we get our English word martyr. the faithful martyr or the faithful witness, because that's what martyrs were. They were witnesses, witnesses of the power and of the ministry and of the truth of God. We think of Stephen, the first, we would call the first Christian martyr. I believe that Abel was the first Christian martyr, for he believed in the blood sacrifice. He believed in the cross. And yet the first New Testament Christian martyr, we think of Stephen, he was a witness. He was a martyr for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we find a title here, given to Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness. Christ's mission was to be the faithful witness of Jehovah. He would do that as he executed the office of prophet. As the Son of God bore witness, to the truth of God. This he came to declare himself before Pontius Pilate when he was put on trial before the Roman governor. In John 18, verse 37, looking into the whites of the eyes of Pontius Pilate, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, said these words, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice." Jesus Christ, he said that for this purpose, this cause, he came into the world, that he should bear witness, that he should bear witness onto the truth. Whatever you want to know about God, whatever you want to know about sinful man, whatever you want to know about salvation, you need to derive your information from the faithful witness, a faithful witness, a witness that will tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. In Proverbs 14, verse 5, we read these words, a faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. There is only one trustworthy witness, and that is the Son of God. He is the one whose testimony upon whose testimony we can entirely trust our souls upon. It is He, by His witness, who reveals to us the holiness, the majesty, the power, the excellence of our God. It is He who speaks about man who perishes in their sin, and it is He who declares that salvation is found only and exclusively in Him. wonder today, have you believed the witness of Christ, the faithful witness? His witness is presented in the Gospels. Have you believed the Gospels and the truth that we find in the Gospels? Why follow any other witness? Even if that witness comes from what you believe as a credible source, if God has already spoken through His faithful witness, the faithful witness of His Son in these last days, I ask you the question, are you going to believe and to place the witness of scientists above the witness of the faithful witness? Are you going to place above the witness of the faithful witness the witness of academics or philosophers? over and above the faithful witness of Jesus Christ, I say such is foolishness, and yet this is what you do. Every time you reject the witness of God's faithful witness, Jesus Christ, you reject the witness of the faithful witness. My counsel then to you is very simple. If you're a non-converted person, I want you to lead the council to believe the witness of Jesus Christ. Believe what he says about you. Believe with regard to your sinful condition, your lost condition, your estranged condition, your condition whereby you are alienated from the life of God. Believe his witness, but believe his witness that he has provided a remedy for sin. Believe as witness that He has provided a way of rescue, a way of deliverance, a way of salvation through the work of Jesus Christ as the sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. Believe as witness that He has power on earth as the Son of Man to forgive sins, and that He is able to save you from your sin. This is the witness of the faithful witness, Jesus Christ, and Christian, You are to believe his witness, his witness. When it comes to how you are to live your life and how you are to conduct yourself as a child of God, his witness tells you to love the brethren. Are you loving the brethren? His witness tells you to be holy. Are you living a holy life? His witness encourages you to be faithful. Are you faithful in your duties as a husband, a wife, As a child, as a church member, are you merciful? For that's his witness to be merciful. Do you show mercy to others? Are you salt? Are you light in this corrupting and darkening world? The faithful witness, the witness of the faithful witness. It is for us to then believe that witness and to live our lives in accordance to it. There is another title then given to the Lord Jesus Christ in this verse number five. For John goes on to say, from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead. Now, according to the record of Holy Scripture, you will know that Jesus Christ was not the first person in human history that was raised from the dead. You think about the widow of Zarephath's son. He was raised from the dead. We think about the Shunammites or the Shulamites woman's son. He was raised from the dead in the days of Elisha. We think about the widow of Nian and how Jesus Christ going into that city and meeting the buyer, meeting the coffin, how Jesus Christ touched that buyer and he raised that young man back to life again. We think about Jairus' daughter, another one who was raised from the dead. We think about that event that we thought about in our children's Bible club, the raising of Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 11. We think about the raising of Dorcas, the days of the apostles and in times of the book of Acts. All of these people were raised from the dead, according to the Word of God. This title, the first begotten of the dead, speaks to the fact that Jesus Christ was the first to rise from the dead, who would never die again. You see, all of those aforementioned people that I have spoken to you about, those that we meet in the Old Testament and all those that we meet in the New Testament that were raised in the dead, they eventually had to die again. We know that because they're not living. Dorcas isn't alive today. Lazarus isn't alive. I speak often physical terms, bodily terms. Their bodies were buried. They went into the ground, and thus they have died again. In other words, these were people who had two funerals, two wakes. But the Lord Jesus Christ, when he rose again, from the dead on resurrection morning, he rose to die no more. He rose to die no more. He is then to be seen as the first begotten of the dead, not in terms of time, but rather in terms of importance. Not in terms of chronology, but in terms of primacy. Not in terms of date, but in times of dignity. What made Christ's resurrection from the dead different from all others? was that Jesus Christ was the first and only person to be raised from the dead by his own power. He testified in John 10 verses 17 and 18, to lay it down, I have authority to lay it down, and I have power, authority to take it up again. Lazarus could not raise himself from the dead, neither Jairus' daughter, neither the widow of Nian's son, none of them could raise themselves from the dead, but Jesus Christ could raise himself from the dead. This is what makes him so wonderful. This is God raising himself by his own power from the dead. And at present, Jesus Christ is the only one who has a glorified, resurrected body. You see, whenever we die, we thought about this the last number of weeks in our gospel evening services. The body will go to the grave. Some will go into some crematorium, be burnt. but the body will be gone. It will decay, it will decompose. The body will then eventually be raised on the day of general resurrection to be reunited with the soul, to stand before God at the judgment. But Jesus Christ has a glorified body in heaven. He went into heaven in that body, this same Jesus, this physical Jesus, this Jesus with body. Remember they gave him fish to eat, broiled fish honeycomb when he found himself on the upper room and he partook of that and the Lord Jesus Christ he spoke about the spirit on a spirit unable to do that he wanted to present to them and to show them that he was there in all of his physical constitution his body the angels would say this same Jesus this bodily Jesus is so coming he's in heaven and all of his glorified His resurrected body. And all who believe in Him will have a body like unto His glorious body. When our bodies are raised from corruption and are clothed with incorruption, and our bodies and we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We'll be changed in the moment in the twinkling of an eye. These old bodies, these mortal bodies of ours, they will take on immortality. never to die again. He is the firstfruits of them that sleep, and we are the fullness of the harvest if we know him. Well, let me ask you, when your body will be raised and summoned from the grave, will it be transformed to be like unto his body, his glorious body? When at the day of resurrection You are summoned to stand before the first begotten of the dead. Will you be raised on to the resurrection of life or will you be raised on to the resurrection of damnation? These are the words of Jesus Christ. He speaks of the two resurrections, the resurrection to life, the resurrection to damnation. It matters not what some ungodly, unsaved minister will stand and say around your grave. with the effect that they will almost say that everyone will be raised on to the resurrection of life. That will not be the case. For only those who die in Christ, united to Christ, will find themselves raised on to the resurrection of life. What will your resurrection be? Will it be a resurrection on to life or a resurrection on to damnation? Jesus Christ is the first begotten of the dead. We go on in verse 5 to read that he is also termed here as the prince of the kings of the earth. The word prince might suggest to your mind that he is in some way inferior to the kings of the earth. However, the word prince that is used here means first in rank, first in power. It's translated chief, the chief of the kings of the earth, the first, the first in rank when it comes to the kings of the earth. Jesus Christ as the prince of peace is first among the kings of the earth. He is king of kings. This is one of the titles used in the book of the Revelation. He is king of kings. He is the ruler of rulers. He is the Lord of lords. You know, we often apply the word prince to an heir to the throne, and Christ is the heir of all things. He has been made the heir of all things. And we often apply the word prince to an heir to a throne who has not yet been invested with absolute sovereignty. But the word here, however, denotes that he actually exercises dominion over the rulers of the earth. Albert Barnes, in his commentary, he wrote these words, no language can more sublimely denote his exalted character. or his supremacy. Kings and princes sway a scepter over the millions of the earth. And the exaltation of the Savior is here expressed by supposing that all those kings and princes constitute a community over which he is the head. Christ is the head of all things. The head of the church, the head of his people, the head of the body, and the head of the kings of the earth, all are subservient unto him." How glad we are to know that today, that there is a king in glory under which all the kings of earth must submit themselves to. They only do his decree, what he has purposed for man to perform. We think about how even That ungodly king Cyrus was used by God to bring back the children from captivity. The heart of the king is in the Lord's hand, and he turneth it whethersoever he willeth. He is the undisputed king. He is the chief, the first in order, the first in rank, the first in dignity, the first in power. Sadly, many in our world do not acknowledge that. Neither do they submit to his keenly authority or rule in their lives. Why is that? The simple reason is because they do not savingly know him, and therefore they will not submit to him. Are you one such person? Are you an individual that does not submit to the rule and the authority of the king? The chief of all, the chief king, the one who is before, first in rank, first in power, the king of the princes or the prince of the kings of the earth. Are you like those that we read there in Luke chapter 19, verse 14, whenever they said this concerning their master, they said, we will not have this man to reign over us. Is that your attitude today? With regard to Jesus Christ, I will not have Christ to rule over me. I live my life as I please and as I want. and I'll suffer the consequences of that. I'm glad and I'm happy to do that, preacher, but certainly to kneel and to bow and to submit myself to the prince of the kings of the earth, I will not be doing that. Christian, Jesus Christ is the prince of the kings of the earth. Why then this fretting? Why then this worrying? But who rises to power and who doesn't? He's the king. He's the prince of the kings of the earth. He is lord of all. He is king of kings. And in his hand he holds firmly the scepter of universal power. He is the one who has been invested with the prerogative to be the ruler of the nations. And all kings will submit to his kingly authority. He is the prince of the kings of the earth, and therefore we must not fret. We must not worry. We must look to the throne where the king sitteth. May God help us to do that. If you cast your eye down there now to the verse number eight, we come to meet in this verse two more titles that are given to the eternal Son of God. The first of them being the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. Those words, Alpha and Omega, they nearly have me breaking out in a cold sweat. And I'll tell you why. As a former student of the Whitefield College of the Bible, I got to know Alpha and Omega very well. And I was studying Greek. You had to study kone Greek, kone Greek, ancient Greek for two years. And in that course, I had to learn the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet. The first letter being alpha, the last letter being omega. And boy, did I write out those words and those letters thousands of times as I tried to get words into my thick head. I had to do it thousands of times, and that is no exaggeration. Thousands of times, Alpha and Omega. When Jesus Christ speaks of himself here as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, he isn't speaking about alphabet letters. What he's really saying is he is the beginning and he is the end of all things. Really that second statement, the beginning and the ending, is really a clarification with regard to Alpha and Omega. This is where it's giving us the definition of what Alpha and Omega really is. He is the beginning and he is the ending. We would say something like this, he's the A to Z and he's everything in between. He's the A to Z. and everything in between. God is the absolute beginning and God is the absolute end. Everything originates ultimately with Him and everything will ultimately end with Him. As I prepared for today's message, I read the following. This description of our Lord as Alpha and Omega sets the context of the entire book, the book of the Revelation. For God is the beginning and the end. The rest of the book will present a sweeping vision of the history and the fate of the church, which includes periods of persecution and struggle. Yet through all of this, God is the beginning and the end. The one which is, the one which was, and the one which is to come. In other words, He is sovereign over all things. Nothing happens outside God's sovereignty. And in the end, our God will accomplish His good purpose for His glory and for our blessing. Knowing and believing this about the Son of God is truly a source of hope and a source of comfort for the Christian in every age until Jesus Christ returns. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending. First of all, let's develop this a little for a period of time. He is the beginning and the ending, the Alpha and the Omega of creation. Creation. Our Lord is the Alpha, the beginning of creation in the absolute sense. Before Him, there was nothing. You see, that's a difficulty with regard to the evolutionists. The evolutionists will say with regard to the creation of what we see around us, they will say, well, there was at a time, sometime in the far distant past, there was matter. That matter in some way came together, created some kind of cosmic explosion, and thereby created the planets and the stars and the world and for life to exist. And so they go as far back as that moment when matter existed and when the cosmic bang, the big bang occurred. But they need to be, if they were being honest, they need to go further back and ask themselves the question, where did the matter come from? Where did the matter come from? You see, matter cannot just exist. Matter must be created. And thus God created all things. Now we don't believe in evolution. We believe the record of Genesis chapter one, that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. We believe that to be true. We believe the word of God from beginning to end. We don't, as it were, set aside Genesis one, two, and three, and then move into Genesis chapter four. We believe all of the Bible, every part of it. And so we believe with regard to God's creation. Jesus Christ was there before anything ever existed. He never had a beginning, and he never will have an end. He was there from the beginning, from everlasting to everlasting, our God. That's what Moses wrote in Psalm number 90, in the verse number two. There was never a time that he was not, and there will never be a time where he will not be. For he is not only Alpha, he is Omega. He is the ending in the absolute sense. having created the world, and presently he sustains the world, he upholds the world by the word of his power, he will bring this world to a climatic end. Climate change will not do that. Global warming will not do that. Nuclear war will not do that. God will bring this world to its full end. For he will cause the heavens to be dissolved with fire, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. When he returns, as we are told by Peter, he is the alpha of creation. He is the omega of creation, and he's everything in between. He created the world, he will end the world, and he will sustain the world. So don't be worrying about rising seas, and don't be worrying about carbon dioxide. God will give enough oxygen for man to live until he bursts the eastern skies and the king will come in glory and in great power. So don't be getting anxious. You know, there are a lot of young people and they actually suffer from climatic trauma because they've been told this nonsense and it's nonsense. The record of scripture tells us that God will bring everything to its full conclusion with regard to creation. He is the Alpha and Omega with regard to revelation. When we say that Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last letter of the Greek alphabet, we're saying that he is the sum and substance of all divine thought and revelation for man. You see, you need letters to make up words, and you need words to make up sentences, and you need sentences order to make up paragraphs, and you need paragraphs in order to make up a revelation, a book. In Jesus Christ, He is the Alpha, and He is the Omega, and He's all that's in between. He is the full compass of revelation. He is the sum and substance of both the law and the prophets, We find him there at the beginning of time when he creates the world. He speaks all things into existence. And then we find him in the last book of the Bible when he brings all things to its rightful end. He's everything within the book of the revelation, within the book, within the special revelation. He is the one great theme of both the Old and New Testaments. The whole Bible, the whole Word of God is designed to testify of Jesus Christ. He said as much. Search the Scriptures, John 5, 39. For in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. One preacher said, in Christ the Messiah, in Jesus the Savior, in the Son of God the Redeemer, all the truths of the Bible center. To him all the types and shadows point. Of him all the prophecies give witness. While all the glory of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation cumulate, cumulates at the cross of Christ. The Bible would be an inexplicable mystery from first to last, but for Christ, who unfolds and explains it. He is the one, the golden key, which unlocks the divine arcade of revelation. Christ is the Alpha and Omega of the revelation. And so away with any of these special and extra revelations that modern prophets and preachers boast about. Jesus Christ is the first and the last revelation of God to man. And child of God, whenever you pick up your copy of the scriptures, for you to read them, look for Jesus Christ. Look for him. Read it. and with this realization that this book is all about Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and in its pages He comes to speak to your soul. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega with regard to creation, revelation, salvation. In Hebrews 12 verse 2, we read that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He, along with the other members of the Godhead, begins the work that brings us to faith in him and he'll see to that work's completion. Writing to the Christians in the city of Philippi, Paul, he writes in Philippians 1 verse 6, being confident of this very thing that he, which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He is the Alpha and the Omega of salvation. Are you here today trying to work your way to heaven? Oh, let this truth deliver you from such futile attempts. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and ending of salvation. Talmage, he said, when the world broke loose, begin about sin. When the world broke loose, the only hand swung out to catch it was that of Jesus. Isn't that a beautiful thought? When the world broke loose, the only hand that swung out to catch it was that of Jesus Christ. The entirety of my salvation, its commencement, its continuation, its completion is found in Him who is the Alpha and the Omega. What better ground of confidence, child of God, can you have than that? He began it. He'll end it. And He'll see you safely through because He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending. Note the second title there as we rushed on to close out the message. Think about that title at the end of the verse 8. Which is, which was, which is to come, The Almighty. The title The Almighty is applied exclusively to God in Scripture. No man is called Almighty in Holy Scripture. It's a word, it's a title that appears 57 times in both the Old and New Testaments. The title finds its first appearance in Genesis chapter 17, verse 11, to the father of the faithful, Abraham. Let me read that. When God establishes his covenant with Abraham, he reads, and when Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. The title's final appearance is here in Revelation 1, in the verse 8. Jesus Christ is the Almighty. Now, He's not just mighty, He is almighty. Which simply means that He has all power. All power. Turn, would you please, just very quickly to Genesis 19. Genesis 19, verse 16. We appreciate you listening. Genesis 19, in the verse 16. I maybe have the wrong reference here. Let me read it as I have it here. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. You can try and find that, I'm not just too sure. There it is, verse six. I've got a one in front of my six, that's my problem. Revelation 19, verse number six. Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. That word omnipotent is the exact same Greek word as almighty that we find in Revelation 1 and the verse 8. In other words, the almighty one is the omnipotent one. He is the all-sufficient one. That's what the word suggests. The word almighty is the Greek word panokrakator. And this is what it means. You don't need to remember that. This is what it means. Remember this. The one who has his hand on everything. The one who has his hand on everything. It speaks to me about God's sovereign control over everything, everything past, present, and future. Oh, boys and girls, Take that home with you today. God has his hand upon everything in your life. If you're a Christian, those things that worry you, maybe those things that people have said to you in school and you've come home and you've maybe went to your bedroom and you've cried about it and nobody else knows about it. I want you to know if you're a Christian, God's hand is on you. God's hand's on everything in your life, the good and the bad. God's shaping you, and God's molding you, and God's sanctifying you. These are truths. This is a truth that we should take home with us today for our comfort. Think about it like this. The One who has saved you, Christian, the Almighty, the Omnipotent One, this One has power to keep you, and He's got power to uphold you. And He's got power to bear you, and He's got power to carry you through to the end of life's journey, through all of the difficulties and the trials and the tribulations and the troubles that you meet, and all of the temptations that you meet, and all of the infirmities and the afflictions that you feel, even in your bodily frame. He's able to carry you. He's the Almighty. He's the Omnipotent One. I am seeing you to the end of life. He's not going to abandon you in death. By His power, He's going to carry you across the river. And He's going to bring you right into the very presence of God. Oh, let it comfort your heart. And let it comfort your heart that His hand is in all of life's events, whether they be good or bad. His hand is on it all. And it will ultimately, ultimately, At some point, it will ultimately bring glory to Him and work out for your goods. He is the Almighty. What a comforting truth for the child of God. But sinner, this truth that He is the Almighty, there's no comfort there for you. This truth should terrorize you today. The Almighty. The question is asked in Psalm 90 verse 11, who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. He is the Almighty. While you could have known his power in redemption, in eternity if you die in your sin, you will know his power in damnation. This moment, the Almighty has power to save you. But before this meeting concludes, you may come to find out that he had also power to damn you. Isn't that a solemn thought? that before this meeting concludes, this Almighty One, this One who is mighty to save, this One who could have redeemed you and saved you and rescued you from your sin, you might find out when your soul is launched out into God's eternity, even before this meeting concludes, you will also find out that He had power to damn you. There's one last title, and with this I briefly make one comment. You find there, it's used in the verse 11 and in the verse number 17, and it is the title, the first and the last, the first and the last. I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, verse 17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he lay His right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last. Isaiah uses this title, the first and the last. He uses it off Jehovah. He uses it in chapter 41, verse 4. 44, verse 6, 48, verse 12. And thus Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who now comes to employ this title, the first and the last, what is he doing? He's making a claim on deity. The Jehovah of the Old Testament, the first and the last. I am He. Some people think, well, these terms are contradictory. The first and the last? I know that the boys and girls, you had your sports day a few weeks ago, didn't you? Well, whenever someone came first, they didn't come last. Unless that was there's only one person in your class. I suppose that could have happened. Someone had to come first. Someone came last, but you can't be both. But you see, whenever these terms are used of Jesus Christ, they really point to the reality that he is above time. He is beyond time. He is not a timeless being. He doesn't work to time restraints or to spatial constraints. He is above these things. He is beyond these things. They will fill the heavens, he says. And so he's first and last. And again, he's everything in between. In other words, he is preeminent over all things. He is before all others, he comes before others, he is before all things, and he is after all things. Now, here's the question. Is he this in your life? Is he the first? And is he the last? Does Jesus Christ take first place in your life. Beloved, the Christ who lived, bled, suffered, died, rose again, and ascended back into heaven, he should be first, and he should be last, and he should be everything in between. He is my everything. He is my all. May God bring us to that place where we can say with the Apostle Paul, for to me to live is Christ. I don't know if I'm there. Sometimes I think I am. And then I find myself throughout the week knowing that I'm not. He's my first, He's my last, He's my everything, is He? Is He? We've covered a lot of ground today. I trust that what we have said about the Lord Jesus Christ today and also in previous months will have brought you to at least a better understanding of not only who Jesus Christ is, but what Jesus Christ has, what he is, and what he has yet to do for us. We'll leave it for there today, and in the will of God, we'll take up the subject again in the autumn months. May God help us to love our Savior. May he be to us Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, and everything in between. Let's unite in prayer together. Our loving Father, we now commit in the preaching of thy word to thee we thank thee for the attention We thank Thee for the children present here today and so attentive to the Word of God. We thank Thee for their behavior. We thank Thee for their listening. We thank Thee for the young people, the adults, all who have gathered today. We pray that Thy Word will have been a blessing, a challenge to all of our hearts. May we dwell, meditate on these things. May it be to the enriching of our souls, the strengthening of our lives, the encouragement that we might walk with thee, that we know that we walk with one who is the Almighty, the one whose hand is on all things. Lord, come and answer prayer, part us with thy favor, and may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit, and the communion of the Spirit of God, abide and rest upon every redeemed child of God until the day breaks and all shallows flee away, We offer now prayer in Jesus' name, praying that help will be given this afternoon and in this evening's meeting, and Lord, that we'll rally, rally to the gospel, and Lord, that we'll be supportive of thy work and thy cause in these days when there are so many who are falling away. Answer prayer, we offer prayer through Jesus.