Turn with me, if you would, back
to Revelation chapter 22. Revelation 22. I would like for us to look at
and, I pray, enjoy together The last verse of the Bible. And that's what I've titled this
message. The last verse of the Bible. Revelation 22 verse 21
says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. When I read that the other morning,
I was studying and searching and looking for the message,
and sometimes I end up going all over the place. And when
I came across this verse, it was like I read it in slow motion. It's a very short verse, and
I was able to read it word by word. The grace. of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all. Amen. Amen. All I want to do tonight is word
by word go through this verse and see if the Lord will let
us enter into it and let us enjoy it together. And I want to start
with the two words, you all. This is a beautiful thing said
here. There's just some precious things
said right here. And I don't want to get to the
end of the message, not knowing exactly who he's saying these
things to. If anyone was to hear this, I
think about this every time I preach. If anyone was to hear the gospel
for the first time, Or maybe if God opened a heart for the
first time, maybe the gospel has gone into the ear thousands
of times. But if this is the time that
the Lord opens a heart and a man or a woman hears, I want them
to know who the gospel's to. And I don't wanna wait till the
end of the message to get there. So we're gonna start with the
two words, you all. Those of us who know that we
are centers to the core, and that is a very small group of
people. There are some people who believe they are centers.
There are some people who believe they are great centers, but still
not to the core. Some believe they are sinners
and they are truly ashamed before God. Some people are not ashamed
before God, but some are. And those of us who are truly,
truly ashamed of what we are, there are moments and times when
we hear these things, especially when we first hear these things,
that we think, He can't be saying this to me. He just can't be. not be in the ruined center that
I am. He just can't be. Well, maybe He can, maybe He
is. So let's take a minute and find
out here, all right? Our Lord is speaking to all those
who are gonna be in glory with Him. That's who He's talking
to right here. If you look at the end of chapter 21, verse
27, it says, There shall in no wise enter
into it, and that's speaking of glory, that's speaking of
heaven. There shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defileth. That's why we read things like
this and think, well, he can't be talking about me. Nobody's
coming in who would defile it. It says, there shall in no wise
enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life. That's who's going to be there.
Those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. Now, who
is written in the Lamb's book of life? In John 17, our Lord said, Father,
it's those who you've given to me. Every person you've given
to me. That's who it is. It's who the
father on purpose gave to Christ on purpose. Look with me, if
you would, at Romans chapter eight. Romans 8 verse 29 It says for
whom he did for know He God the Father Whom he did for know that
means who he knew beforehand All right, and I see if the Lord
will let you enter into this. Okay? Didn't he know everybody
beforehand The ones that he knew before,
before the world was made. Didn't he know everybody? Aren't
known unto God all things? Didn't he do all things and create
all things? Didn't he know everybody beforehand? Here's the answer. Not in a saving
way. To those who are not written
in the Lamb's book of life, this is what he's gonna say to them.
Depart from me, I never knew you. Physically, he knows all, he
created all, he controls all. There's nothing that's outside
of his knowledge, nothing. But lovingly, Talking about loving
with an everlasting love. Lovingly, the ones that He knew
unto salvation, they are the ones that the Father selected. Chose, elected, the scripture
says. Gave to Him. Chose to bring to
Him. Chose to conform them into His
image. Verse 29 says, Whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son. That's what He predestinated
all of the people in the Lamb's Book of Life to be. Conformed
to the image of His Son. Amazing. And He did that that
He, the Son, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called." That's who the
you all are, the ones who the Spirit has or
will call. Verse 30 says, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified. Chosen by the Father, called
by the Spirit, justified by the blood of the Son. That's why
it's called the Lamb's Book of Life. Every soul in that book needed
the death of the Lamb of God. They all needed the sacrifice
in the blood of the Lamb of God to put away their sin and to
redeem them back to God, redeem their soul back to God. And in
doing that, every soul in that book, the Lamb's Book of Life,
and every soul that He's talking to in the last verse of this
book, the you all, every soul included in the you all, verse
30 right here ends by saying, them He also glorified. Them, every one of them. He raised
them up together with Him and seated them with Him in the heavenly
place. To them, He gives eyes to see
Christ as He is. To them, He gives a heart of
faith to believe on Christ for who He is, who He really is. Believe His gospel, believe His
word. If anyone wants to know, am I
one of them? Am I one of the you all? That
can be answered with this question. Do you believe on Him? For who
He is, who He says that He is, the Lamb of God, the only mediator
between God and man? I tell you what men and women
naturally think. They think they are a mediator
for themselves with God. They think they are their own
mediator between God and man. Has the Spirit given faith to
believe that there is one mediator between God and man? Do you believe his word? If I
want to know if I'm one of the you all, that verse was written
to you all. If I want to know if I'm one
of the you all, do I believe everything he has said in this
book? Do I really believe that all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God? Do I believe that there is none
righteous in themselves? No, not one. Do I believe that salvation is
in no other but Christ alone? No other name given among men
but His. No other name. Obviously that
means Buddha, that means Muhammad, but forget about them. There
are people who don't even think about them. Let me give you another
name that people like to add. Mine. Fill in the blank. No other name means not mine.
Not his and mine. Salvation is not in Jesus Christ
and Gabe Stoniker. It's in Christ alone. Christ
alone. Do we believe that salvation
is of the Lord Jesus Christ alone? And do we believe that the salvation
that he came to accomplish for his people, he finished it? Do we believe that he was able
to perform that which he came to accomplish? Do we believe
that was God manifest in the flesh, the all-powerful one?
If people believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was all-powerful,
they would have a different view of the Lord Jesus Christ. Really. If so, if we believe that, flesh
and blood didn't reveal that to us. The Father which is in heaven
did. And what that means is, in spite of our sinfulness, we've
been included in the you all. And if we're included in the
you all, then our sin has been dealt with in Christ. And the
last verse of Scripture in this whole book is written to us. If that's the case, if God has
done that for us by His Spirit, through His Son, then this last
verse is written to us. All right, go with me now back
to Revelation 22. Verse 21 says, the grace. The grace. The one and only grace
that there is. You know, everybody talks about
grace. Everybody has a form of grace
that they think grace is. There's only one. The grace,
the one and only grace that there is that comes from the one and
only source that there is. There is not another. There's not another. There's
not another gospel. There's not another giver. There's
not another gift given among men whereby we must be saved. The. The, all right now, get
a hold of this next word. Grace. Ask the Lord, we had a message,
whenever it was, last time about ask the Lord to help you in the
middle of the message. See if he'll let you get a hold
of this. Ask the Lord to help you on this. Thank God this last
verse in his book does not say the wrath. Look at verse 21. All right,
think about this. The wrath of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Think about that. Thank God it does not say the
anger. You know, the anger of the Lord
has been kindled before. The Lord is angry with the wicked
every day. That does not say the anger of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. The judgment of the Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all. Thank God, it does not say that. Not to the you all. Not to the
you all. Now, outside of Christ, those
things are so. What I just said, that is absolutely
the case. That is the final word, outside
of Christ. But in Christ, to the you all,
he said, grace. When you look up the word grace,
this is the definition of it. It means graciousness. It means good will, loving kindness,
favor, and I love this one. It says that which affords joy,
pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, and loveliness, grace. Grace. What is all that describing? Graciousness, goodwill, loving
kindness, favor, that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness,
charm, loveliness. What's all that describing? Christ. Christ. He is the grace. He is the grace. He is the gift. His love, His sacrifice, His
mercy. Everything that the Father gave
to us in Him, it was all grace. If it came from Him and if it
came in Him, it was grace. He is that grace. Verse 21 says,
the grace of our. Our, not just the Lord Jesus
Christ. But our, this is what David said. He said, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. He said,
I am your God. You are my people. In Adam, we belong to him by
creation. In Adam, every soul on this earth,
every soul that came from Adam by his creation, we belong to
him. In Christ, he belongs to us. He belongs to us. He's ours. Now, I'm not going to name any
names, but we had a dear sister who wanted me to baptize her
a few years ago. And when she came to me about
it, she said, she said to me, I've been baptized for every
reason under the sun that you can think of, just not the right
reasons. And I said, really? And she said,
yeah. She said the first time I was
baptized because my mama wanted me to be baptized. And she said the second time
I was baptized because the preacher at that time wanted me to be
baptized. And she said the third time I
was baptized because the denomination we were in wanted me to be baptized.
And that's how it is, isn't it? You know, you have pressure.
Mama wants you to be saved. Preacher wants to know that his
ministry is successful. That's what he judges it by,
wrongly. So they're pushing that. Don't
you want to get baptized? Got another one. I made you baptized
last month. Well, she went on and listed
all these reasons, and she said there are no reasons at all.
No true, it's not water, it's the confession of the heart. Well, she said, I wanna be baptized
one more time, this time, last time, which is really the first
time. She said, I wanna be baptized this time, and here's the reason why. She
said, I want to be baptized. Not someone else wants me to
be baptized. I want to be baptized. And she
said, do you know why I want to be baptized and what I want
to confess in his baptism? And I said, what's that? She
said, he's mine. He's mine. Honestly, I can't
think of a better, clearer, reason for wanting to confess the Lord
in believer's baptism. He's mine. That's what the Lord
has revealed to me. He's mine. You think about this
great man who owns everything and has done everything and created
everything. He's mine. Well, he's all of
ours. Yeah, but he's mine. He's my
husband. He's my maker, he's my friend.
He's my God, he's my king, he's mine. Union with him, I am his, he
is mine. Oh, the union of Christ and his
people. The union of the suffering and
the punishment and the death of the cross? Aren't you so glad
you experienced that with Him? How did it, you know, how did
it feel? How did all that punishment feel that you endured in Him? with Him, being absolutely one
with Him. When our Lord says that a husband
will take his wife and they will be one flesh, He doesn't use
figures of speech. One flesh. Absolute union with
Him. Oh, the union of the resurrection
and the redemption and the glory of eternal life with Him. The union that has been freely
given to us with and in Him. Verse 21 says, the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The grace of our sovereign. That's what Lord means. Sovereign,
owner, controller, God. who gave Himself, humbled Himself
down to be the servant, the substitute for His people, the grace of
our humble Savior. Oh, the grace of our humble Savior. Oh, the graciousness of this
man. That's what Jesus means, the
man, the Savior of sinners. Lord means He's the one who judges
sinners. Jesus means he's the one who
was judged for sinners. Christ means both of those positions,
both of those offices, both of those responsibilities are found
in the person of the same man. Lord Jesus Christ, God, man,
both, union of both. Verse 21 says, the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with. With means near to, close to,
alongside of, in the company of. When you have someone that you're
close with, in the company of, alongside of, you're in union
together. You're with each other, you're
for each other, with. That's what our Lord is for us.
He said, I'll never leave you. That's what he says in the last
verse of his book. I'll never leave you. The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all. Every one of the you all's. I
want to be a you all. I want to be a you all. I want to be a whosoever. Whoever he makes to be a whosoever,
whoever he makes to be a you all. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all. Amen. That word means firm. When you look it up, that's what
the word means. Firm. It means trustworthy. It means
surely. It means so be it. It means truth. That's the truth. Amen. It comes from the Hebrew
word that means faithful. Full of faith. What it means
when you say amen, this is what it means. I believe. I believe,
and we do by His Spirit. It has been confirmed to us and
we do the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. We believe. All right, let's
stand together.