Walking in the Footsteps of the Faithful and True

Don Parmely

New Life Family Church

Walking In The Footsteps of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Revelation 19:11–16

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Some of you like to plant plants.

Now is NOT the time!

Wow! According to what I saw, Thursday the high will not quite get up to freezing.

So, not a good time for plants.

But an experienced gardener knows the seasons and watches intently for signs that spring is coming.

Last Thursday i was on the other side of the mountains and saw that the Red Bud trees are getting ready.

But, after that last frost gardeners are filled with excitement — they will get to plant!

Similarly, Jesus spoke of the signs of His coming, encouraging us to observe and be vigilant.

Are we discerning the signs all around us?

The world may seem chaotic, but just like that gardener, with faith, we can prepare our hearts for the beautiful return of our King, knowing that He is always faithful to His promises.

Our text this morning tells of that return.

Revelation 19:11–16 (LSB) Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sits on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; having a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself, 13 and being clothed with a garment dipped in blood, His name is also called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may STRIKE DOWN THE NATIONS, and He will RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON; and HE TREADS THE WINE PRESS OF THE WRATH OF THE RAGE OF GOD, the Almighty. 16 And He has on His garment and on His thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

This passage gives us a revelation of Jesus. That He is:

called Faithful and True,

His name is also called The Word of God

He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

We see the armies in heaven…

Clothed with fine linen, white and clean,

And we see them following Jesus on white horses

What a glorious revelation of Jesus!

Who Is This Jesus?

But, when we think of Jesus, who do WE see?

Do we see the Jesus of Christmas, lying in a manger?

Do we see the Jesus of His adult ministry on earth — walking the duty roads of Israel?

Do we see the Jesus of the Crucifixion, hanging on a Cross between 2 thieves — which is not a sign that Jesus is a political moderate like a mega-pastor said this past week?

Do we see the RESURRECTED Jesus spending a short time with His disciples before He ascends back to the throne.

Do we see the Ascended Jesus at the Father’s right hand making intercession for us?

Or do we see the soon-coming king depicted in our text this morning?

At least all of these Jesus’ have connection to the Bible.

But I fear that many, including lots of Church-going folks, don’t read their Bible and are seeing some Jesus concocted by culture.

Or, maybe worse, an image made in our likeness — the way WE want Jesus to be.

The reason I ask about who we see when we think of Jesus is because we are supposed to look more and more like Him everyday.

Because, the Holy Spirit is conforming us to the image of Christ:

Romans 8:29 (LSB) … He also predestined [us] to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers;

Chuck Swindoll, writing in his book: The Mystery of God’s Will says:

God is working His will in us. He is shaping us into the image of Christ, which means:

His Son’s discipline

His endurance

His faithfulness

His purity

His attitude

His whole philosophy of life.

God’s goal is to make us like His dear Son. And that is a lifetime task … our lifetime, that is.

… The overarching, big-picture will of God is not centered in the petty details of everyday life that WE worry over. The will of God is primarily and ultimately concerned about our becoming like Christ.

The question is:

Will we resist God’s will to conform with the Bible’s portrayal of Jesus or will we cooperate and align with it?

When the Apostle Paul got knocked off his high horse on the road to Damascus, Paul told King Agrippa …

Acts 26:14–15 (NKJV) … I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Acts 26:14–15 (TPT) … I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are only hurting yourself when you resist your calling.’ 15 “I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

Apparently the Greek word could mean Hebrew or Aramaic

But my main point is that in rebelling against God, Paul experienced great difficulty.

It was like he was incessantly kicking against some sharp spikes.

CBL:

this Greek noun translated “goads” denoted a variety of things: “goad, any sharp point, spike, spur, instrument of torture, sting of a bee, sting of a scorpion, sting of an animal,

That same situation is US when we resist God’s will for our lives — God’s will that we think like Jesus, that we talk like Him, that we behave like He behaved.

How much better to walk in alignment with God’s will.

His will that we be conformed to the image of Jesus.

So, this morning I urge us…

NOT to work at being more holy, righteous, faithful, true…

In our own efforts we cannot accomplish these things.

No! I simply urge us to…

Recognize the attributes that the Holy Spirit is developing in our lives so that we do not resist them, but surrender to them - cooperate in what the Holy Spirit is trying to do.

Alignment

So, again I ask, what does Jesus look like?

How does He think?

What does He sound like?

What does He do?

Who is He?

Over the last several months I have preached Bible messages that have told us that …

Jesus is holy.

He is good.

That He came to seek and to save the lost —to make sure they hear the Good News of the Kingdom.

Jesus faced persecution — He died for our sins. He is with us when WE face

persecution for following Him.

Jesus was a man of faith, who modeled faith, who gives us faith.

Jesus is not only holy, but He is righteous — as we saw last week, He is the

King of Righteousness AND the King of Peace

The Lord willing, we will continue to look at the attributes of Jesus — and we will never exhaust them

because they are infinite in number.

He has attributes that are beyond our comprehension.

But the attributes we WILL look at are attributes with which the Holy Spirit wants to bring us into alignment.

That process of alignment, of conforming to the image of Jesus may look like what we see in:

Jeremiah 18:1–6 (LSB) The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying, 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was ruined in the hand of the potter, so he turned around and made it into another vessel, according to what was right in the eyes of the potter to make. 5 Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares Yahweh. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

God told Isaiah in: Isaiah 45:9 (NLT) “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’

May we instead surrender to what the Lord is doing in our lives.

Yes, it will hurt.

The flesh resists what the Holy Spirit wants to do — to make us like Jesus — but let’s surrender anyway.

Why?

Because He is making us into a masterpiece that defies description.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.

May we align with what the Holy Spirit is doing in us.

Soon-coming King

As we gaze again at the Jesus of Revelation 19:11-16, may we see attributes of the King that the Holy Spirit is perfecting in us.

In particular we see a King who is called Faithful and True.

In an age of unfaithfulness, may the Holy Spirit make us more faithful.

Faithful first of all to God — His will, His purposes accomplished in and through our lives.

But also, faithful to our spouses — like Ephesians 5:21-33 describes.

Faithful to our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren.

Sunday evening before last I was inspired by Brother Ron Broadhead as he told of how he and Sister Cynthia would have a VBS for their grandchildren.

Even though they were raised in church, their children were not taking the grandkids to church.

So every summer the Broadheads would do everything they could to pour the Word of God into their grandchildren.

They would do everything they could to tell them of salvation through Jesus.

They were being faithful to do what

Deuteronomy 6:5–9 (LSB) [commands] “You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as phylacteries between your eyes. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

As I am reading through the Bible this year (I hope you are still on track!) I was reading through Deuteronomy.

And over and over Moses commands Israel to be faithful to God by teaching their sons and grandsons, their daughters and granddaughters about the God who brought them out of the slavery of Egypt.

God wanted Israel to teach their children so that they would NOT follow the ways of the nations they were defeating.

We may not be warring to occupy a land that God has given us, but we are in a spiritual battle for the Kingdom God wants us to enter.

The culture around us is doing everything it can to get us to compromise, back off, don’t be so fanatical.

But Jesus is calling us to follow Him in faithfulness — faithfulness to His Word.

Faithful in prayer.

Jesus asked in Luke 18:8 (NLT)… when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”

Faith that prays?

Jesus was faithful to BRING the message of salvation — will we be faithful to TELL the lost of salvation.

Will we speak truth to our culture?

Last Wednesday night, while we were studying the truth of God’s Word here at the church, over 7,000 university students gathered at the University of Kentucky to hear the Gospel truth.

2,000 of them came to an altar to embrace that truth, to embrace salvation through Jesus Christ.

Jesus is calling us to follow Him in truth — to proclaim the truth because His truth is LIFE.

Jesus said in John 6:63 (LSB) “The Spirit is the One who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Not just truth — certainly they are! — but spirit and life.

Jesus calls us to be sanctified, set apart FROM evil, set apart TO God by truth.

Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:16–17 (LSB) “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.