Okay, we're at Revelation 22
today, Revelation chapter 22. I'm taking a title for the message
from what is said in verse 6 about the Word of God. He said to me,
these sayings, These sayings are true. These sayings are faithful. Everything about God is true.
It's impossible for God to lie. Everything God does, he does
faithfully. Our salvation is based upon his
faithfulness, not ours. And the Lord God of the holy
prophets sent his angel to show unto his servant the things which
must shortly be done. They will come to pass in a very
short time. With the Lord, a thousand years
here is but a day. We are living in the last, last
days. So the title of the message,
I'm calling it, True and Faithful Sayings of God. The True and
Faithful Sayings of God. This is true not only concerning
this book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, but also can be
said of all the Word of God, the whole Word of God, the whole
Book of God, we call the Bible, is the Holy Word of God. Don't ever put a question mark
around this Word and say, well, I believe this part, and don't
believe that part. No, we take the whole body of
Scripture, And we believe all the Word of God because it's
all given of God. From the beginning in the book
of Genesis, all the way to the last, even so come Lord Jesus
in Revelation chapter 22, it's all a revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It all is given by inspiration
of God. It's to be read. is to be believed,
is to be studied, is to be meditated upon, and is to be declared in
all this world. As it says down here in verse
9 and verse 10, don't keep back anything. Don't seal. Seal not
the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at
hand. Don't hide it. declare it, preach it, God is
God and salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. All scripture we
know is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Now that's not talking about
being moral instruction in righteousness is declaring how sinners are
made righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter writes this, for
the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by God the Holy Spirit. What you read and what you have
in your hand is a very inspired, inerrant, Word of God. He said heaven and earth are
going to pass away. My word will never, no, never
pass away. His word is faithful, faithful
and true. He's told his church, the resurrected
Lord, to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Preach
the gospel to every, every creature. Now you think about that command
that was given to those apostles to go preach the gospel. They
had to travel by foot. They had to travel by boat. They
didn't have the means that we have today. We're so blessed
with means to take the gospel to every man, to every creature. We have so many excellent means
in our day to do so. not only from this pulpit, everything
that's been preached from this pulpit in the last 37 years has
been recorded and sent out all over the world. The radio ministry
that we have, been on the radio for 25 plus years, every Sunday,
morning, Sunday, every Sunday after Sunday for many, many years. We have the pulpit ministry here,
we have the radio ministry and the internet ministry. We've
been on the internet for over 17 years on sermon audio. We
put up over, and I look at this figure and I can't hardly believe
we've done this, over 5,000 sermons have we uploaded. I mean, it's
something you gotta put in manually and upload. It just doesn't happen
automatically. Over 5,000 sermons, including
Pastor Mahan, including my sermons over the last 17 years, and I
look at that download number on sermons that go out all over
this world, usually 60 to 65 foreign countries each month.
About 1,000 sermons each week go out of here. So far, 1.5 million
sermons have gone out of this ministry through sermon audio. And now on Sunday morning and
Sunday evening, we're rebroadcasting Brother Mahan's TV messages on
WPRG. Aren't you glad the Lord has
given us those means to go and preach the gospel? And it's an
expensive thing to do. I mean, radio time and TV time
and internet time, those all are expensive. But the Lord has
supplied our need. The Lord has supplied our need
through the generous giving of you and others. The Lord has
supplied our need to enable us to do so. And I'm so thankful
that we're able to send the Gospel out. We hear from people on the
Sermon Audio audience from California. I got a letter from a brother
in Texas recently who listens to our ministry on sermon audio. It was such a blessing. What
we preach here goes out all over the world. Our radio message
is heard all over the world because they stream it on the internet.
So anybody who has internet can pick up going to all the world
and preach the gospel. I think about this picture. where
the Lord said, the gospel shall be preached in all the world,
and then comes the end. We're near the end. We are living
in the last days. Now, I'm not an alarmist. I don't
know when the Lord is coming back, but I do know this, He's
on His way. It says in chapter 1, He said, Behold I, behold
I coming. That means the Lord Jesus Christ
is on His way back. He's coming back to receive us
unto Himself. Now, let's look at verse 6. I
want to look at verse 6 down through verse 13, and hopefully
we can get through these verses in a timely fashion. These sayings,
are faithful and true, and the Lord God of His holy prophets
sent His angel, the angel or ministering spirit sent forth
to minister to them who are the heirs of salvation, to show unto
His servant the things which must shortly be done." Look right
across the page at verse 16. Revelation 22, 16, "...I, Jesus,
the Savior, the Sovereign Lamb of God, have sent my angel to
testify unto you these things in the churches." God sent a
messenger with a particular message concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful and true are all of
his sayings. Faithful and true. Notice it
says there, the Lord God of his holy prophets. The holy prophets
of God had but one message. Doesn't matter what Old Testament
prophet you're talking about, or New Testament apostles, they
all bear witness to the glory of the person of Jesus Christ
and His successful work. You remember it's recorded for
us in Luke 24, when our Lord said to those two men on the
road to Emmaus, beginning of Moses and all the prophets he
expounded unto them, and all the Scriptures, the things concerning
himself." What is this book about? Old Testament and New. It's all
about the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
what preaching is all about. It's repeating what God has already
said. Paul said, we preach not ourselves,
but Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for
Christ's sake. The Apostle Paul, as he sits
in a Roman prison cell, writes to young Timothy and says, I
charge thee to preach the word, preach the word, preach the word,
and show unto his servant, verse 6, the last part, the things
which must shortly be done. Now, two key words there, must
and done. The Lord Jesus Christ must come,
He must suffer for our sin, He must be crucified, He must be
risen again from the dead, He must be seated in the heavenlies
having accomplished our salvation, and therefore it's done. It's
done. What Christ has done for us,
is completely done, completely done, showing the things that
must come to pass, that must be done, telling sinners that
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ is finished. We studied in our
Bible study this morning from Hebrews chapter 1, where it says,
Christ by himself purged our sin, and he sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. Why did he sit down? His work
was done. Who raised Him from the dead?
God raised Him from the dead, and ascended to glory, and He
seated there in the heavenlies, and God accepted everything Christ
did for us. He was delivered for our offenses,
and raised again for our justification, and established for us eternal
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 7. He said,
I come quickly. He says this three times in this
one chapter. Again, down in verse 12, he said,
And behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to give
every man according as his work shall be. And then again in verse
20, He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Which means, so be it.
Even so. Even so. Come. Come, Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord our God is coming back. His second coming is imminent
and impending. Our Lord said, if I go away,
I'll come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there
you may be also. Turn back over here to Revelation
chapter one. Remember where we started over
here in the Revelation chapter one? Look at verse 5, 6, and 7. Jesus
Christ is a faithful witness. He speaks faithfully. He speaks
all the word of truth. He's the first begotten of the
dead and to the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him
that loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood, hath
made His kings and priests unto our God and His Father. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. Verse 7 says, Behold, He
cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. And they also
which pierced him, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall wail
because of him. Even so, Amen, even so come,
Lord Jesus Christ." He's on his way. He is coming back for his
bride. Remember, he bought us with his
own blood. He bought us with his own blood,
and he's going to take home what he bought. He bought us with
His own blood and He's going to take us to glory because He
redeemed us with His own blood. And we're going to enjoy Him
and He's going to enjoy us. We are called the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's called His bride. The Lamb's
wife. He bought us. He purchased us
with His own blood. And He's going to enjoy us forever
and ever and ever. Behold, the Lord said, I come
quickly. Now look what it says in the
second part of verse seven. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of this book. Now that's not only the sayings
of the revelation given to John, but the sayings of all the word
of God. All the word of God is to be
heard as such, as it is in truth, the word of God, is to be heard
as such, is to be read as such, is to believe the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is that man, happy is
that man who hears the Word of God, receives it, and believes
it, and rests the whole hope of his salvation based upon what
God says in His Word. Not based upon my feeling. Not
based upon my emotion. The foundation of faith is the
word of the Lord. We believe the gospel because
this is what he said. This is what we read. Blessed
is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. The apostle writes this. For
this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when
you receive the word of God, which you heard of us, you received
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of
God, which effectually worketh in you that believe." So when
you read the word, do you read it as God's truth, faithful and
true word? When you hear the word preached,
declared, do you receive it as such? Do you keep it? Do you
receive it and keep it in your heart as the Word of Truth, the
Word of God? Those blessed of God to hear
the Gospel of Christ and to receive it by God-given faith are indeed
blessed of God. They're happy. There are happy
people who hear the Word of God. Our Lord said, Blessed are your
eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. God tuned
your ear. He said, My sheep, they hear
My voice, I know them and they follow Me, and I give to them
eternal life. Now look at verse 8, Revelation
22 verse 8, And I, John, saw these things. Now John sees these
things in a vision, but he sees these things in a reality. And
I heard, I saw, and I heard, And when I heard, and when I'd
seen, I fell down to worship, to worship, to worship. Now notice
this, before the feet of the angel, which showed me these
things, then he said to me, see thou do it not. I'm your fellow
servant, and the brethren, the prophets, and of them which keep
the sayings of this book. You worship God. You worship
God. Don't worship me. John, the faithful
servant of the Lord, bears his personal testimony to all that
the Lord has revealed to him, and all that he has seen, and
all that he has heard. That's why I read in the beginning,
1 John chapter 1, He said, that which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with
us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. These things write we unto you,
that your joy may be full. That's what someone who is a
witness, who bears his testimony, he bears testimony to what he's
seen, and what he has heard to be true. And that's what John
is saying here. He heard the word of truth. He bears witness to the word
of truth. But notice the second part of
verse 8. John, so overwhelmed with this
vision, and we've seen this before in chapter 19. We'll go back
over there and read it again in just a moment. John said,
when I heard these glorious things, of the tree of life, of the water
of the river of life, about seeing the face of the Lord, about being
with Him forever and ever and ever, about the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. John, so overwhelmed, he falls
down before the feet of this angel, which showed him these
things, and the angel rebuked him. John, the faithful servant,
bears personal testimony to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But here John commits a terrible sin. You mean the Apostle's sin? Yep, he did. He fell down to
worship the angel. Now, we've seen this before.
Turn back to chapter 19. Look at verse 9. And he said to me, Write, Blessed
are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And
I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, See thou
do it not, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have
the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony
of Jesus, the Savior, is the spirit of prophecy. Worship God,
don't worship the angel. The Word of God is very revealing
about the true character of believers. Why didn't the Lord just leave
that part out? Why does the Lord expose the frailty and sinfulness
of John? To show us that we are sinners
at best. The Scripture on many occasions
exposes the frailty of our sinful nature. Instead of leaving out
the occasion of believers falling into sin and failing God, it
rather exposes them. All through the Word of God,
I could give you many, many examples, but let me just mention three
or four. Abraham, the servant of God, lied about his wife,
Sarah, to protect his own hide. He said to that king, she's my
sister. Why did he do that? Because he was a sinner. He was
trying to protect old Abraham. How about David? David, the sweet
psalmist of Israel. David, the king of Israel. David,
a man after God's own heart. took another man's wife, committed
adultery, and then turned around and had him murdered. Why didn't God just keep silent
on those things? To show us that salvation is
for sinners. To show us that salvation is
through the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, not by
what we do. How about the Apostle Peter?
Peter said, Lord, John may quit, But if you go to Jerusalem, I'm
going to draw my sword and I'm going to fight every one of those
rebels. What did Peter do? Our Lord said,
before the rooster crows three times, Peter, you're going to
deny me three times. Before a little Jewish maiden,
Peter was so frightened, he said, I don't know Jesus Christ. I
don't know who he is. Peter denied the Lord. How about
the Apostle Paul? Did the apostle Paul have any
failings, shortcomings? We study in the book of Acts
chapter 21, verse 26, when he went to Jerusalem there to make
defense for the gospel, to satisfy those Jews, he agreed with them
to offer a blood sacrifice in the temple. Paul? Exactly. And here we see John
falling down before an angel, not once but twice. Now why doesn't
God just Just not reveal and expose the weaknesses of man.
To show us that salvation is for sinners. Salvation is for
sinners. Remember what we read a moment
ago in 1 John? When John writes about, he said,
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our
sin. He said, when you sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We
have an advocate. His blood cleanses us from all
our sin. Peter writes later, he said,
we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. You see, salvation
for sinners. He came not to call the righteous,
but sinners unto repentance. Why does the Lord show us these
things? To show us the best of men are only men at best, and
salvation is by the free and sovereign grace of God alone. Alone. To teach us of our own
sin, to teach us that salvation is by His grace, to reveal unto
us that Christ must be our righteousness alone before God, and to keep
us looking to Him alone for all of salvation. Look at verse 9
back in our text. And the angel, the messenger
of God, said unto John, don't do that. Don't fall down before
me. Don't worship me. I'm just one
like you, a fellow servant, and of the brethren of the prophets,
of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings
of this book. Worship God. Now that's what
we need to focus on. Worship God. The Father seeketh
such to worship him in spirit and in truth. John here is rebuked
by an angel. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. We're not to worship
angels, are we? We're not to worship men, not
even apostles. We're not to worship any kind
of form of idolatry, whatever it may be, whatever form it may
be. When the apostle Paul and Barnabas were in the city of
Lystra, and they healed that man, and all the people got all
religious and excited and said, the gods have come down to us.
And they went to worship Paul and Barnabas. And Paul ran out
and said, stop, don't do that. We are men just like you, sinful
men that need to worship God in Christ. He stopped him immediately,
abruptly, and said, don't do that. So we don't worship men. We don't follow men. We look
to the Lord Jesus Christ as everything in salvation. Everything in salvation. We're to worship the true and
living God. God turns us to Him from our idols to serve the living
and true God. That's what happens when God
does a work of grace in us. He turns us to God, the true
and living God, and in doing that, He turns us from our idols
to serve the true and living God in Christ. We're going to
study in the book of Hebrews, we are to worship the Lord Jesus
Christ as God our Savior. In Hebrews 1 verse 6 we read,
When he bringeth his first begotten into the world, he saith, Let
all the angels of God worship him. Worship him. If Jesus Christ is not God, we're
in big trouble. Because we worship him as God. If Jesus Christ is not God, we're
idolaters. If Jesus Christ is not God, we
have no hope of salvation. The Apostle Thomas owned the
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, he fell down before
him and said, My Lord and my God. He is my Lord and he is
my God in all things. Now look at verse 10. He saith
unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Don't seal it up. Don't hide it. For the time is at hand. The
time is at hand. Now we learn what we're to do
with the Word of God, we're to declare it. Keep nothing back,
declare all the counsel of God, all the counsel of God. The Apostle
Paul, when he gives his last instruction to the elders at
Ephesus before going to Jerusalem, he writes, I kept back nothing
that was possible unto you, but I've showed you and I've taught
you publicly and privately from house to house testifying to
the Jews and to the Gentiles, repentance toward God and faith
toward the Lord Jesus Christ, I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God." What are we to preach? All the
counsel of God. What is all the counsel of God?
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's all the counsel of God.
And the time is at hand. The time is at hand. If there
was ever a time to plainly and boldly declare the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Boy, that day is right now. When
there's so much heresy, there's so much false religion, so much
false preaching, so many false prophets. John said, you know
it is the last time because there are many false prophets in this
world and we're plagued with them. We are plagued with them. The risen Lord instructed His
church to go and preach the gospel to every creature. The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is always ready to go and to preach Him,
because the gospel of Christ is the power of God and the salvation.
The apostle put it this way, what will it done to me if I
preach not the gospel? If I preach not the gospel, what
will it done to me? What will it done to me? But
if I do preach the gospel and you won't have it? That woe is
unto you. Woe is unto you. Paul said, we
preach not ourselves, but we preach the Lord Jesus Christ,
His person and His glorious work. You remember in our study through
the book of Acts, when the early church went out preaching the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were beaten on many
occasions. They were arrested, they were
beaten, and they were commanded not to teach or preach in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ anymore. What did they do? They went out everywhere preaching
Christ and Him crucified. They said, we cannot but speak
the things which we have heard and seen. And they saw a lot. And they could not and would
not be silent. The time was at hand in that
day, and the time is at hand right now in our day. Now, that
being said, Look at verse 11. This is one of those verses that
needs to be looked at very carefully, that needs to be studied very
carefully. He that is unjust, when the Lord
comes back, when the Lord comes back, there's going to be a resurrection
of the just and of the unjust. those who have done good unto
the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation. When the Lord comes back, He's
going to find those who are just and those who are unjust. He's
going to find those who are in Christ and those who are not
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what it says in verse 11.
He that is unjust or he that is unrighteous Let him be unrighteous
still when the Lord comes back. That's not going to change who
you are. And he which is filthy, that is guilty, sinful, let him
be filthy still. Here's the other side of that
story, the other side of that coin. He that is righteous, those
who are made righteous in Christ, who is the Lord our righteousness,
let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. When the Lord comes back, he
said, behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me to give
every man according to his work. I'm Alpha, I'm Omega, I'm the
beginning and the end, the first and the last. Eternity will not
change the state, our state, or standing before God. When
He comes back, you're either blessed in Christ or you're cursed
in Adam. The judgment seat of the Lord
Jesus Christ will not be a trial to see who is guilty or who is
just. The judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ, judgment will
reveal everything, but it will change nothing. There will be
no changes in eternity. God has appointed a day in which
He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he had raised
from the dead. In the Day of Judgment, the only
thing that matters is this. What is your relationship to
the Lord Jesus Christ? Salvation is in Him. That's why
Paul said, I count everything else lost, dung, and ruined,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Where do you want
to be found when the Lord comes back? In Him. in Him. He is the Lord our righteousness. Those who die in their sin will
be raised in their sin, will be punished in their sin, will
spend eternity in the punishment of that sin against God. And
the fire of God's wrath will not purge away one sin. That's why condemnation is eternal
condemnation. Whatever spiritual condition
of your soul, whatever the spiritual condition of your soul, when
the Lord comes back or when you die, it will be the same throughout
eternity. It's appointed that the man wants
to die after that judgment. Judgment. Death will not change
your standing before God. He that is unjust, unrighteous,
he will be unrighteous still. He that is guilty, he that is
filthy, will be filthy still. The coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ will not put away your sin. Not the second coming. He
came the first time to put away our sin, the sin of God's people.
Now the message is clear, it's powerful, it's plain. Those who
die in their guilt, in the filth of their sin will be guilty and
filthy for all eternity. Those who die without Christ
as their righteousness, as their atonement for sin, are unjust,
guilty, and filthy forever before God. There's no such thing as
a second chance, as some folks like to say. Well, we'll have
another chance. Well, there's a big problem with
that word chance. Salvation is not by chance. Salvation is by
the grace of God. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not in the Son shall not see
life, but the wrath of God abides on those. Those who refuse to
believe the gospel, who refuse to hear the word of God, who
refuse to believe the word of God, the wrath of God, the curse
of God's law, and the just condemnation of God, abides on every unbeliever. For the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the
Lord. Now, here's the good news of
the gospel. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. That's why our Lord said, seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things will be added unto you. He that is righteous. Now, how
is a sinner made righteous? Certainly not by anything we
do, is it? Blessed is a man to whom God
imputeth righteousness without works. Blessed is that man to
whom the Lord hath put away his sin, to whom the Lord will not
impute sin. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is our righteousness before God. For excepted in the Beloved.
He that is righteous, that is righteous in Christ, let him
be righteous still. will be one with Him and be just
like Him. Righteous still, righteous still
in Him. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord. They are made righteous in Christ.
We have a justifying righteousness charged to us. That's our legal
standing with the justice of God, not guilty. Not guilty. God made Him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Those by His grace made righteous
and holy in Christ shall be that way for eternity. Our standing
in Christ now shall be our standing in Christ then and forever, perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. Now listen to these two scriptures.
Let's just turn and read one of them. Turn over here because
you can find it real easily. Turn to Revelation chapter 1,
and then right across the page is that little book of Jude,
the Apostle of Jude. Remember, he writes this in the
little book of Jude, verse 24. The little book of Jude, verse
24. Now, he says, to Him that is able to keep you
from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy, through the only wise God our
Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power both now and forever."
Who is going to present us, and get a hold of that word there,
faultless? When the Apostle Paul writes
in Colossians chapter 1, he writes this, to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in God's sight. To present you. The Lord Jesus
Christ as His bride, He presents us to the Father clean, white,
and holy, redeemed with His precious blood, robed in His righteousness
before God. That's good news, is it not?
Now turn back to Revelation 22. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that is holy, Christ is our
holiness. He is our sanctification. He's
made unto us sanctification, set apart to be holy in Christ. Verse 12, Behold, I come quickly.
My reward is with me to give every man according to his work. God's going to bless everyone
according to his work or condemn everyone according to his work.
Every unbeliever will be judged by his work and come up short.
Every believer will be judged by the precious, justifying work
of the Lord Jesus Christ and be rewarded forever. He is our
reward. Those who stand in the flesh
will be judged by the flesh. Those who stand in Christ will
be judged in Him as holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight. Now, who says so? Who says so? Look at verse 13. I am Alpha, Omega. I am The beginning,
the end, I am. The first and the last. Who has
the last word on this? I am. Who is this I am? It's the same I am that answered
Moses out of that burning bush, Lord, what is your name so I
can tell them Who sent me? And he said, I am that I am. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
great I am. He said, I am the door. I am
the bread. I am the light. I am the resurrection. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. The Lord Jesus
Christ is everything. He's the I am of all our salvation in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
and in all. The first cause and the last
end of all things in our salvation. He's the author and finisher of our faith. What does that
teach us? It teaches us this. Salvation
is of the Lord. He saves His people with an everlasting
salvation.