Okay, let's sing. Sing number 60. Come ye sinners
poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands
to save you, full of pity, joined with power. He is able, he is
able, he is willing, doubt no more. He is able. When He stands to save you, full
of peace, He joins with all. He is faithful, He is faithful,
He is with you now, O Lord. You will be able to listen to
Him, and He'll help you be kind to Him. God's great bounty, glory, thine! Truly met, truly gazed, every
grace that brings us nigh. Without money, without cunning,
come to Jesus Christ and ride. Oh say does that star spangled
banner yet wave Dear as Jesus came to go, here
He carries me. He is the Spirit's rising King. All the fitness He required is
to fill your need of Him. Here He grows, ready in the garden,
on the ground the Maker lies. We behold you, here in our people
we rise. Lord, we honor God our Saviour,
Pleased with heaven, all his power to bear. We're all in blessed joy, Alleluia, alleluia, sing all
ye nations of the land. Well let's come now for the closing
session in this to Revelation 22 and verse 6 down to the end. a book that is quite remarkable
in the way in which it affects you, your thinking, your behavior,
your attitude to others. Revelation has told us, as God
said to his servant right at the start, the things that must
shortly come to pass in space-time creation before God's kingdom
finally comes. Outside of time it is there,
it is all accomplished. And we've seen Christ in his
churches in this world during this space-time creation. We've
seen the seals unfolding so that history unfolds. We've seen the
trumpets of judgment. We've seen the vials of final
judgment poured out. We've seen the rise of Antichrist
and the binding of Satan. We've seen his little season,
and that which is really Babylon, even though it looks like the
true church, it's the false church that is all around us. Throughout
history, and especially in these days, we see final judgment and
we see new heavens and a new earth. Has it affected us? Does
it affect us in the way we think? Well, here in these verses is
the conclusion of the whole matter. It's 16 verses, it's an epilogue. There's no new vision here, there's
no new revelation here. But do we see here the affirmation
of the key things that we've already seen? So first of all,
in verse 6, we have the affirmation of the truth of God. He said
to me, these sayings are faithful and true, and the Lord God of
the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the
things which must shortly be done. Which sayings? All of God's word, is what he's
talking about. All of God's word. The prophets,
he says, his holy prophets sent his angel to show his servants.
In verses 18 and 19, he puts that God at the end of the word
of God. I testify unto every man that
hears the words of this prophecy of this book. If any man shall
add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written in this book. And if any man shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy
city, and from the things which are written in the book. These
are the last verses of the Bible. matches what is said at the end
of the Pentateuch, the books of Moses. Deuteronomy 4 verse
2, you shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither
shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments
of the Lord your God which I command you. God has sworn, he cannot
lie, his word is truth. All of its revelations must shortly
all be seen to be done. They are done, but they must
be seen to be done. And that's No more and no less than what
this book gives us. God is speaking in verse 7. Behold,
I come quickly. Blessed is he that keeps the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. Verse 12. And behold, I
come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man
according as his work shall be. Verse 13. I am the Alpha and
the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
Verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent mine Angel to testify unto you
these things in the churches. I am the Root and Offspring of
David and the Bright and Morning Star. I, the Great I Am, he's
speaking, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Almighty
God, who is Jesus, Jehovah, Deliverer, Saviour, the One who is the Root
of David and the One who is the Offspring of David, the One who
is the King of Israel, the One who is the Messiah, the One who
is the Suffering Servant. And through the prophets and
through angels and preachers, through His ministry gifts that
He gives to His church in the wilderness to feed her there,
In this world of such shallow falsehood all around, here we
have the message of God regarding the truth of God, and the eternity
of God, and that which is the reality of God, and that which
must be unfolding in history but is already the case in eternity. It's happened. Christ is triumphant. What else is left to happen?
see here the reaffirming of the coming of God. This is what God
is telling his people here and now. Throughout this time, since
John wrote this down, the culmination of this world's history is the
return of Christ, that we shall see him, every eye shall see
him. Revelation has described the history of the world in amazing
accuracy, has it not? The unfolding of the visions
and how it matches the history of this world is so clearly,
this is the truth of God. And throughout, Christ's return
has been repeated. Here in verse 7, in 12, and in
verse 20, Christ himself asserts the truth of it. Why shouldn't
it be true? Why shouldn't it be true about
that as well? God has been so true about so many things. Why
shouldn't it be true about that? Christ himself asserts it. So
the end of all things is approaching. Do we look for it? Do we hope
for it? Do we long for it? It's a mark
of believers. Hope, faith, hope, and love.
Hope. Not a hope that it might be sunny
tomorrow, but a certain knowledge that what God has said is fulfilled. And He will fulfill it, and He
will bring it to pass, and He will show us. It is already accomplished
in eternity. Even so, come Lord Jesus, it
says in verse 20. or are we like those who made
excuses not to come to the marriage supper? You know the parable
of the marriage supper where go out and gather them in and
compel them to come in and some said oh well I've just married
a wife or I've got to bury my father or made all sorts of excuses
Are we like that, or are we, the people of God, expecting
the fulfilment in our experience of all of these things? Do we
stand with the unbelieving world and dismiss the idea of Christ's
return, or do we believe the truth of it? So, we see here
confirming the eternal judgment of God. If Christ's return in
final judgment is certain and imminent, because he always says,
I'm coming, it will come, be ready for it, be watching, be
waiting, be standing on the tiptoe of faith looking. We need to
heed the warning that we can't just sit on the fence about these
things. Look at verse 11. He that is
unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him
be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. Whatever state, this is what
this is saying, whatever state you are in when the end comes,
that's how you will remain for eternity. Unjustified, polluted
with sin, or righteous with imputed righteousness, and holy by nature
by imparted righteousness. That's your eternal state. Either
you are in Christ with the right to the tree of life, verse 14,
blessed are they that do His commandments. that they may have
right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates
into the city. You have that passport to enter
the New Jerusalem, absent from the body, present with the Lord.
Or are you eternally outside? Because look, for without, verse
15, without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers,
and idolaters, and whoever loveth and maketh a lie. This is the
ones warned about throughout the scripture. Sorcerers, superstitious
believers in dumb idols, and all others who refuse to submit
to the truth and righteousness of God. It says they even love
and make a lie. So we see here God pronouncing
His call. In verse 17 we have the call,
Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is
athirst come, and whosoever will let him take the water of life
freely. When I used to work in London,
I used to commute into London and in and out of King's Cross.
And it's very busy at King's Cross, about six to seven o'clock
on a weekday evening, you've probably got a train leaving
every couple of minutes. And when it's about to go, they
say, the train at platform nine is the such and such a train
to where I was going. This train is ready to depart.
If you want to go travel on it, join it now because it's going.
And I see this is almost like that. It's a gospel call to repentance
and faith, and that remains open until the very end. Look at verse
10. Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the
time is at hand. Preach it openly. This is why
we preach. This is why we preach in this
world, because there are the elect of God there who yet don't
know it, and they need to hear it, and they need to be called
out by it. So we don't seal it up, we preach it. We keep it
open to public scrutiny, and we preach it, and we declare
it. Because right through this time, the white horse must continue
to go forth in this fallen world, right to the very end, saying,
come to Christ in faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. And the Spirit and the Bride
say, come. and let him that heareth say
come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him
take of the water of life freely say come believers say to Christ
come and fulfill the kingdom but also to those who are athirst
come come because there it is while it is still the day of
salvation they that hear the call should come tell others
to come any who are athirst come to the waters of life Having
heard the truth of God, the revelations, the judgments of God, the blessings
of salvation, and being made willing, as God says of His people,
to come into the fold of God, people made willing in the day
of His power, come now, because the door is open. Look how wide
open the door is. But don't wait. The train is
ready to depart. Will you be on it? What is the
fare? I can't go, I haven't got the
necessary righteousness to go. It's free! Take of the water
of life freely. Verse 14 Blessed are they that
do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree
of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. There
is a blessing in fallen humanity. In Isaiah 65 verse 8, you see,
now we don't see all of the elect of God called out. That's why
this world is still here, because God still has his people to call
out in this world, under the sound of the preaching of the
gospel. In Isaiah 65 verse 8, Thus saith the Lord, as the new
wine is found in the cluster of grapes, and one saith, Destroy
it not, for a blessing is in it. So will I do for my servants'
sakes, that I may not destroy them all. This is the day of
salvation. the blessings of salvation are
there. And verse 14, there's a qualification that they may
have the right to the tree of life. Salvation is the qualification
to that right to the tree of life, to the heaven of God, qualified
to the tree of life in the city of God. In Colossians, Paul writes
to them, giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. made
meet, qualified to be partakers of that inheritance. What must
I do to be saved? What does the Word say? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. As John
said, he that believeth on the Son has everlasting life, and
he that believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abides on him. Heed the call and come to Christ. in faith, and make, as Peter
says, your calling and election sure. This is the blessing that
is on the true people of God. So finally, the words of Revelation,
and the final words of the whole Bible, verse 21, of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. The final words of Revelation,
the final words of the whole Bible, what more can he say,
as that hymn says, what more can he say than to you he has
said, are a blessing of grace on the believing people of God.
As long as this present world lasts, we must wait patiently,
we must look for the certain coming of Christ, because he
is coming again. How many times does he say it?
Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me. All of the
promises of God are there for his people. The blessing of God's
undeserved, gracious favor is upon us. Is that not a great
comfort for the people of God? What a basis for ongoing trust. Well, I've been extremely brief
there, but I'm going to end it at that point. So, let's just
pray. Our Heavenly Father, we've spent
quite some time looking through this book. Lord, we know that
we don't see all things perfectly. Our Heavenly Father, we know
that we no doubt have faulty views at times, but Lord we pray
that you will bless the truth that we've seen, that you will
bless it to us, that you will cause us to feed upon it, to
be encouraged in our God, to look unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, to know that in your realm of eternity
all things are accomplished, everything is done, the kingdom
of God is indeed triumphant. We bless you and praise you for
your truth. We pray that you will be with
us. We thank you for the friendships and fellowship that we have established
in coming here. We pray, Lord, that you would
be pleased to bless that and continue it, that we might know
more and more together of the truth of our God in our Lord
Jesus Christ, of the gospel of your grace. Lord, prosperous
for your kingdom we pray. We don't look for great numbers,
we don't look for anything that the world of religion regards
as that which is to be sought at all costs, but above all we
desire to be in your will and purpose, to do your will, to
serve you as you lead us and guide us, to follow your leading,
to hear your voice speaking to us. Lord be pleased to do that
and lead us and direct us So now bless us as we go our separate
ways soon. We pray that you will be pleased
to be with us for Jesus' sake. Amen. There's probably no better way
to conclude than to sing our doxology. Now unto Him who is
able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. It's cold, go on to get lunch. Please stay and join us for lunch
and some fellowship and farewells to Alan and Christine. Thank
you.