There are five unsealed truths. The first one we just looked
at. This is what it is. The way that God views all men is the way that those men are. God's fair. The way God views
them. He looked at all men in Adam,
and this is what he said, and Adam all die. Why? Because they are all unjust.
They are all filthy. So they all die. They are either going to die
in themselves eternally, or the elect because God chose to show
mercy. He chose a people in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ and had compassion on them. But God
was fair. In Adam, they all died. Some
of them died in a substitute. Some of them died in a Savior.
But God is fair. That's the first point. I told
John, don't seal this up. And the way that God views all
men is the way that those men are. Secondly, here is the second
point. Verse 12, ìO John, and behold,
I come quickly, and my reward is with me.î to give every man
according as his work shall be. Behold, I come quickly. That's
the second point. The Lord comes quickly to reward
all men according to what He says they deserve. The period when the unchanging
sentence shall be passed upon the unjust, the filthy, the righteous,
and the holy is not going to be a remote, long, one of these,
you know, a thousand years with the Lord is as a day. What we
consider long time. rebels against God will say,
where is the promise of His coming? He said, and He told John, you
write this down, I come quickly. To some, He has already come. He has come and taken them out
of this world. To some, He is coming quickly. But to all, He is coming. I come
quickly. And my reward, my pay, what is due, the wages, is coming
with me. There is going to come a day,
he said, when I come. And all men, we have looked at
this, we looked back on the great white throne judgment just a
couple of chapters ago. And all men are going to stand
before Almighty God. And what God says is right according
to God is the way that it is. There are going to be some that
will stand there and say, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in Your name,
cast out devils in Your name, we did many mighty works. And
He said, You workers of iniquity, I never knew you." What God says
is so, is so. The Lord is going to judge, or
that is, He is going to declare His ruling. Now, I said before,
a judge makes a judgment. Now, it may be for or against
the accused, but what the judge says is the way that it is. That's
the way the judgment goes. I rule for you. I rule against
you. His judgment, His ruling upon all men is going to be,
as I said a moment ago, in one of two men. Now you can say,
well, yeah, but you know, I was here and I lived there and I
did this and I was this and I was that. God Almighty is dealing
with all men in two men. In Adam, disobedient, unfaithful,
filthy, unjust, or in Christ. righteous and holy, all men. 1 Corinthians 15.22 sums up the
whole matter right here. Listen to this. For as in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Being in union with Adam, we
were conceived in sin because of our association with Him,
with His nature. It came forth from our mother's
womb, speaking lies. That is, lying on God. You leave
a man to himself. Now, as I said before, I never
had to teach any of my kids to lie. I didn't have to teach any
of them to lie. I just watch them. Just listen
to them. Who did that? I don't know. Liar. You know who did it. I know who
did it. Liars. But give a man enough time, and
I'll tell you the ultimate lie. He'll lie on God because he doesn't
know God. All come forth. Being found in
Adam, death is the reward. I come quickly, John. You write
this down. Behold, I come, and my reward,
my wage, is with me. The wages of sin is death. By one man, Adam, sin entered
this world. Now, this death that is justly
due is going to be found, as I said this morning, in one of
two places. We were all born in Adam. All
of us, all of us born in Adam. This death is either rendered
at Calvary for all of God's sheep in their substitute, or it will
be rendered in the day of judgment. And He will say, bind them hand
and foot, cast them into everlasting darkness. There will be weeping,
wailing, gnashing of teeth. In Adam. What does that mean,
in Adam? It means to be considered as
one left to himself. I'll just sum it up. In Adam.
In Adam, all die. You know, we get a picture of
a man, Adam. Well, that's how I do it. I don't
know. I think in pictures. So somehow
in my mind I get a picture of a man in a garden in Adam, you
know. In Adam means to be left to oneself. Left in rebellion before Almighty
God. being found in Christ, is to
be found and dealt with as righteous, holy, and faithful in a substitute. Now, I'm going to be real honest
with you. I understand that to a certain
degree. By faith, I believe it. But to be able to explain the
depth of that, I don't know how to say that. But I know this,
that God Almighty says, I've dealt with my people, my elect,
my chosen in my Son. And that settles it. That's enough. In Christ, in Adam. Now, the reward of the wicked
is this. Luke 13, 27, I know you not whence
you are. Depart from Me, you workers of
iniquity. The reward of the elect is this. Well done. Thy good and faithful
servant Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Turn over to Isaiah
40. I want to read something to you. Here is total judgment. Here it is right here. Isaiah
chapter 40, verse 9 to 11. Isaiah 40. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings
Get thee up to the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that bringest good
tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength,
lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand." If you have a margin there, it says, against
the strong. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him. Behold, His
reward is with Him, and His work before Him. And he shall feed
his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead
those that are with young." God Almighty is to His people to
show mercy. So there's the second truth that
the Lord has set forth. John, don't close this up. God Almighty, first of all, He
said this. As God says men are, as God considers
them, that's the way they are. Either the Lord has left them
to themselves or the Lord has shown mercy to them and compassion. He said, secondly, I want you
to understand this, I'm coming and I'm going to reward every
man according to the reward that he is due. Verse 13 sets forth
the third. saying that is not sealed. I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the
last. This is the third saying that
is not sealed, and it's this. God sets forth in this verse
the right that He has to do what He says. Number one, he says,
I'm going to deal with all men as I say they are. Number two,
he says, I'm coming quickly and I'm going to give you exactly
what you deserve. Number three, he says, the reason
I'm doing this is because I have the right to do it. The first two words of this verse
sets forth who he is. He says, I am. I am. He told Moses in Exodus 3.14,
and the Lord God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said,
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath
sent me unto you. I am. Now listen. I set forth
these five unsealed things this morning. What I'm doing is I'm
reading the Word of Almighty God. As a messenger from God,
the messenger of God, the pastor that God has sent forth to declare
God's Word, I say this on the authority of who God Almighty
has set forth that He is. This is the reason I tell you,
number one, that Almighty God is going to deal with all men
the way God says they are. Some he's left to themselves,
and God will do right. He's just. He didn't make them.
They made themselves. They rebelled against God. And
God left them alone to do what they wanted to do. And if God
leaves a man alone, that man will do just exactly that very
thing. He will rebel against Almighty
God, and God will put him in hell justly. God gave him exactly
what he wanted. If God Almighty shows mercy to
him, Choosing Him and His Son to be holy and without blame
before Him in love, Almighty God will deal with that man's
guilt justly. And His Son having come into
this world and says, I'll pay. I'll be made what they are. I'll
become them. I'll become them. And I'll deal
with you. And God dealt with Him and forsook
Him. He forsook His Son that He might
not forsake His people. Almighty God says, I'm going
to come and I'm going to give every man exactly what he's deserving. Does God Almighty show mercy?
Yes, why? Because He's put away their guilt.
The guilt that they openly rebelled against Him with. Thirdly, He comes here and He
says, this is why I do what I do, because I've got the right to
do it. He is as the I Am. This is what He is saying. I
Am the self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal and unchangeable Jehovah. The same yesterday, today and
forever. The Lord told in John 8, 58,
some Pharisees, Jesus saith unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, before Abraham was, I Am. So the one who possesses the
right to pronounce judgment is the Alpha and the Omega. That
is, he's the first letter of all things. Take all things,
everything, take everything, everything, he's the first letter.
That's what Alpha means, the first letter, the Greek alphabet. And he's the final letter of
all things. I am the Alpha and the Omega.
The first word, the last word. I start it, I end it. What I
say goes. And I like that. I like that. What Almighty God says, He said,
I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the beginning and the end.
I am the commencement or the chief of all order, of all time,
of all place, of all rank. And I am the conclusion. Of all
goals, I'm it. I am the termination or the result
of all things. Things are as God says they are.
I'm the first and the last. I'm the before and the farthest
is what that means. I don't understand eternity. I say I do, I don't. I don't
understand. But the first and the last means
the before and the farthest. He's got the right. So He, the
Eternal of both extremes. I've heard Brother Scott say
one time, he can't even say, you know, beginning, eternity
past and eternity future. It's eternity. It's just, you
know, I don't know. Why does He have the right? He
says, because I'm the Alpha and the Omega. I'm the beginning
and the end, the first and the last. This is the way it is. John 1, 1-3. This is the way
it is. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God, and all things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. Does that include all men? It says all things were made
by Him. And He did that which He did
because that's what He chose to do. He has the right. He has the right to do what He
will. I want you to turn to Romans
9. I quote this a lot. But I want you to look. I think
it's good to look at that verse of Scripture and read this. When I said in that first point,
as God Almighty says that all things are, I can think of no
better portion of Scripture to set forth that this is the way
God says they are. I told someone one time, I can
read these Scriptures, and if I say, well, they're just not
so, does that change them? It's not going to change a bit.
It's not going to change one bit. I'm going to tell you, this
is the way it is. I'll just write this down. Romans
9.21. Hath not the potter..." Now,
who's the potter? Well, you know who the potter
is. God's the potter. God's the one that does all of
it. God's the maker. "...hath not the potter power
over the clay of the same lump..." Okay, we're all. We're all. It's
an unclean thing. I know we are. "...but does God
have of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another
under dishonor. Does God have the right to take
and make one man one way and another man another way and leave
one to himself and show mercy to him? Does God have that right?
What if God, willing... Now you listen well. Listen well
to what this Scripture says right here. What if God, willing to
show His wrath Now, there's no way in the world you're going
to get around this Scripture. What if God, willing to show His wrath
and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels
of wrath? Now, you see that next word,
fitted to destruction? If you've got a margin in your
Bible, you're going to find that that says, made up. Made up. What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted made up to destruction, and that He
might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy
which He had aforeprepared unto glory? I'm telling you, the first truth
that we looked at is that the way God Almighty says men are,
that's the way they are. A rebel against God will raise
his hand and say, I don't think that's fair. Well, I'm going
to tell you one thing right now. Here's the way it is. If you
leave this world in rebellion against this God right here,
and you don't bow to this God right here in mercy, I mean,
in wrath, Almighty God will put you in hell. You say, I don't
think that's fair. It doesn't matter. If God gives
you a heart to bow to this, you'll bow to Him. And you'll say, Lord,
as You say You are, You are. The way God says men are is the
way they are. When God says, I come quickly
and I'm going to reward every man according to that which I
have said he's going to get, that's the way it is. When God
says, I have the right to set forth this because I'm the Alpha
and the Omega, that's the way it is. To make one vessel, it
said. To make one vessel in verse 21. That word make right there means
a point. Look it up. That's what it means.
Does the potter have power over the clay of the same lot to a
point? One vessel under honor and another
under dishonor. This is the way it is. Point
number four, verse 14, back in Revelation 22. 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. This
is the fourth truth that John was told. Don't seal this up. Blessed. God has spoken well
of. Blessed are they. Happy is that word too. Happy. Happy are they. Blessed are they
that do His commandments. Now, this truth is so only in
the union and communion that the blessed have in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Of ourselves, we can do nothing. Now, I'll tell you, I know and
I understand. Listen, God's people love. They
come, they sit, they hear, they believe. God's given them faith
to believe. But they place no confidence whatsoever in what
they have been able to produce. Paul says, I am what I am by
the grace of God. I believe by the grace of God.
I trust by the grace of God. I love Him because He first loved
me. Nothing started with me but rebellion in Adam. That's the
only thing that started with me. Everything else in mercy
and grace is God Almighty has done something for me. Blessed
are they that do His commandments only as being found. What is it to do the commandments
of God? Obviously, the Lord said that
they do them. What are they? Blessed are they!
John 6.29 says this is the work, this is the deed, this is the
toil, this is the act, this is the labor of God that you believe on Him who He has sent. This
is what it is to do the commandments of God. You believe that Almighty
God has said, you haven't done anything. My Son has done it
all and I've charged it to you for obedience. What He's done,
I've done. Blessed are they that do. Well
done, good and faithful servants. What did they do? They believed
God. They believed God showed mercy to them. They believed
Almighty God to have compassion on them. That's what it is to
work. What is it to work? What must
we do to work the work of God? This is the work of God that
you believe on Him whom He has sent. Believe Him. Trust Him. John, don't seal that up. Salvation
is by grace. through faith. And that's not
of yourself. It's the gift of God. Man, by
nature, thinks that everybody possesses faith and all I've
got to do is I can kind of drum you up, drum up a little, you
know, get you going and get some music and bands and stuff like
that and get you clapping and waving and we just have a grand
old time and just shouting and all that, and I can drum up the
faith that's already in you. It ain't there! It's given unto
you to believe. All men have not faith. There
is nothing that is more honorable, more acceptable to Almighty God
than the yielding by the faith that He has given to God's report of the Lord Jesus
Christ being the Messiah, the Savior of His people. Psalm 119.2
says, Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, that seek after
Him. with the whole heart. What do
they do? They believe God. They believe Him. And they have
no confidence in the flesh. None. None. They're just struggling
people that's going through this world and this body of sin and
death. And they realize it every day
and they realize it more every day. But for the grace of God,
where in the world would I be? What in the world would I be
doing? What would I be thinking? If God didn't show mercy to me,
they're blessed. They treasure the testimonies
of the Lord. They search the Scriptures for
understanding because they love Him. They want to hear it. Tell
me again, as I've said before, tell me one more time how God
has shown mercy to me. Tell me one more time. I love
that message. I love it. Oh, my. Thank you. They are blessed,
the Scripture says, because they have a right. A right? Blessed are they that
do His commandments that they may have right to the tree of
life. A right to it? The word right
is privilege. That is what the word right means.
It means that they have the privilege. Why do they have this right,
this privilege? I'll tell you who it is. It's
because of Him. Because of Christ. Not by merit
in themselves. Totally by the grace of God.
But God says they have a right to it. Christ Jesus earned the
right as their federal head. They have a right to the tree
of life. A right to Christ. He's given
Himself to them, and they give themselves to Him, willing in
the day of their power. Their right is the result of
Christ's imputed righteousness. Do you think He's got a right
to enter? Yes, sir. Why? That's my obedient
son. I'm well pleased with him and
all in him. I'm pleased with him. They have
a right to. We're heirs of God. and joint heirs with Christ.
Can you understand that? I can't either. That's the way
it is. All those for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ is their representative and their federal head, all for
whom He died as a substitute, they have a right to feed upon
Him who is the tree of life. He said, I'm the bread. I'm the
bread. that My Father has given you.
He that eats of Me, he'll never die. Never die. He said, that
bread that Moses gave you in the wilderness, they ate that
and they died. He says, the bread that My Father
gives you is life. That's what God's people are
doing this morning. They're eating of the bread.
They're feasting upon Him. They're hearing these points.
These are sayings that God hadn't sealed up. God calls men as they
are, as He sees them. Almighty God says, I'm going
to reward them the way I say that they're going to be rewarded.
The Lord says, I have the right to do that. And He says, these
are blessed, blessed, blessed that they may enter in through
the gate into the city. The gates that we looked at a
few weeks ago for which the names of the twelve tribes were written
set forth and represent the Lord Jesus Christ who is the door.
He's the door. Remember that? It had twelve
gates. And it had the names of the twelve tribes that were representative
of all God's elect. And those names were written.
And what that set forth is that those names that were written
means a particular people have a particular gate. The Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the gate. He's the door.
Anybody else that tried to climb over and come in another way,
what were they? Thieves and robbers. They that
come in to enter in by this city, by the door. They don't come
in by stealth. They don't come in some crooked
way. They don't come in as thieves, but they come through as conquerors.
Conquerors through Him who loved them and gave Himself all. That's
how they come. And they shall possess that city
forever. Why? God has given them a right.
A right to enter into heaven. A right to! And lastly, verse 15. This is the last. Don't seal
this up. For without are dogs and sorcerers,
or mongers, murderers, idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh
a lie. Where there is no work of God
Almighty by His Holy Spirit, there can be no obedience of the commandments of God. What
I am saying is this, without Almighty God imparting a new
heart, giving faith, no man believes God. No man is faithful. No man
has any part in Christ. Don't seal this up, John, for
without, outside that holy city, outside of grace, outside of
mercy, outside of compassion, are dogs. That means morally
and spiritually impure. Rebels is what they are, all
of them. They may mean well, they're dogs. They're impure. Philippians 3, 2, Beware of dogs,
of evil workers. of the concision. That's what
they are. Evil workers. Dogs. Pretenders to be believers. Pretenders. Tares among the wheat. Inconsistent, irreverent, contentious
evil workers. Deceitful. The concision, that
is the mutilators. Haters of the gospel. Dogs and
sorcerers. That is, all who pretend to produce
supernatural effects. I got to thinking about that
and came to this conclusion. Sorcerers. Any man that believes
that he can produce life by his own ability, by his free will.
Any man that thinks that he can produce. Look at that. Wow, look,
he made something. A sorcerer. Any man that thinks
that he can produce by his own free will, life. He's a sorcerer. Whoremongers. Spiritual prostitutes
who give allegiance to any but the Lord God Himself. spiritual
prostitutes, whoremongers, what they're trying to do, they're
serving a little g-god that they say is the true God. Whoremongers, unfaithful, unfaithful,
murderers, criminals whose heart and purpose is the hatred of
God and His people. They hate God, they hate His
gospel, they hate His people. And they say, I will not have
that man to rule over me. Idolaters, worshipers of the
false one that bow to any but that God has set forth of himself
in scriptures. And whosoever loveth and maketh
a lie, blessed are they that do his commandments, that they
may have a right. to the tree of life, enter in
through the gates of the city, for without her dogs, sorcerers,
whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh
a lie," whosoever has affection for, embraces, agrees with a
lie, a falsehood, that is, anything that is contrary to the truth
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, whosoever makes a lie.
That's what's on the outside of God's mercy and grace. And
the foundation of these sayings that are not to be sealed, that
last verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto
you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring
of David and the bright and morning star. Here the Lord sets forth
at the end of these five things that are not to be sealed, His
sovereignty, His Godhead. I, Jesus, have sent mine angels. Who sends messengers? Who sends messengers from God
but God? I, Jesus. Then He sets forth
His eternality. I am the root and the offspring
of David. Here we see the God-man. I am
the root. I am the source of. I am the
source. I am the one from which David
came. I am the root. But he said, I
am the offspring as a man after the flesh. Paul said in 2 Timothy
2, 8, Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised
from the dead according to my gospel. He's the Messiah. This is the reason He has the
right to say, don't seal these five. He says, I am the bright
and the morning star. Long before He was the offspring
of David. That is, long before He was born
in time. The Lord shone bright and He
shone glorious by faith. in his people. His people saw
him. This is what he said concerning Abraham. He said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. He saw it and was glad. He was the bright and morning
star to Abraham. Abraham saw him. Knew him. And though he has come once,
once in humiliation, once in suffering, Let me tell you, you
that believe, you know who He is to you right now? He's the
bright and morning star. You look forward. By faith you
see Him, the Son of Righteousness, who shall surely return the second
time in power and glory to receive all His people unto Himself. These are five sayings. Don't seal these up, John. Don't
seal this up. Time's at hand. Here's the five
sayings, John. The way God Almighty says men
are, that's the way they are. He's sovereign. He's the potter. He's got the right. He told Moses,
Moses said, show me your glory. He said, I'll show you. I'll
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on
whom I'll have compassion. Almighty God has the right. John,
don't seal this up. I come quickly. And when I come,
I'm bringing the reward that I say every man is going to receive. Why do I have the right to do
that, John? I'm the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. And don't
seal this up. Blessed are all they that do
His commandments, all those that I have looked upon in my son
that believed, that had been granted faith. They're blessed
people. And don't seal this up. Every
man that's standing in a pulpit, every person that's sitting in
a pew, just because they're sitting in church, that doesn't make
them a believer. That doesn't make them a child
of God. There's a lot of tares. You'll know them by their fruit.
You'll know them by their fruit. Almighty God is going to give
all of His people heart after Him. And as I said last week,
they're going to act like a believer. They'll talk like a believer.
They'll exhibit faith in Christ. They'll see Him. Five unsealed
truths that have been set forth from the beginning, and we're
coming down to the very end. And the last four verses, I think
four or five, I can't remember now, I've got Lord willing to
finish up the book of Revelation next Sunday. If the Lord tarries,
I'll see you then. Okay, Gary.