Revelation chapter 22. We're going to look at two verses
this morning. Two amazing verses. They're all amazing. They're
all amazing, they're all his word. And these two are so amazing.
This is the last book of this Bible. Revelation. And this is the last chapter
of this book. This is the end. This is it. And this whole book. Says the
same thing. It says the exact same thing. All of the stories in this book
from Genesis 1-1 to Revelation 22-21 all say the same thing. All the people are separate,
thousands of years apart, and they all have the same story. The same person wrote their story. They all have the same author.
They all get to the same point. Our Lord gave us chapter after
chapter and verse after verse. So many. Revealing to us the mystery. The secret. secret things. And he closes
his book, he wrote the whole book, and he closes his book by summarizing the whole book
in two verses. He graciously tells us one more
time, one last time, what the whole book is about. And he does it clearly. As clear
as he's ever done it. As though he says, now make sure
you know this. I've told you and I've told you
and I've told you. And make sure that you know this. If a person really wants to know
what this whole book teaches. This is the Lord's summary in
two verses. Just like he inspired Solomon
to write, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Verses 16
and 17. Our Lord says, I, Jesus. Have sent my 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. And the spirit and the bride
say come. And let him that hear it say
come. And let him that is a thirst
Come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. That's what the whole book is
about. He begins by saying, I, Jesus. He's given us his testimony.
When we give a testimony, we raise our right hand and say,
They tell us, say, I. We say, I. They say, state your
name. He says, I, Jesus. He says his own name. The world calls him Jesus. Many people feel a freedom to
casually say his name, Jesus. The Lord God said in Matthew
121, call his name Jesus. Call his name Jesus. For he shall
save his people from their sins. But. I fear this name. I personally am afraid for carelessly
using this name. Although we know this is his
name. We pay this name the respect
that it deserves, the honor that it deserves. It's a name that's
above every other name. One day, just at the announcement
of this name, just at the declaration of saying this one name, every
single knee, every born on this planet is going to bow whether
they want to or not. Every single tongue is going
to confess whether they want to or not. They're going to hear
the name and then they're going to say that name is Lord. Have
to. It's a holy name. I fear this name. We all do,
don't we? And we love this name. We love
and respect this name. I know what my father's name
is. I know his name. But I don't
call him Marvin. I love him too much. I respect
him too much. Brother Henry, you call him Marvin.
If he comes here and you see him, you call him Marvin, wouldn't
you? That's because you're not his son. You're not His. You don't belong
to Him. You don't answer to Him. And you feel a freedom to casually
say His name. God the Father called Him Jesus.
And He called Himself Jesus. And His disciples, His apostles,
narratively wrote in the New Testament, Jesus did this and
Jesus said that because they were commanded by God. It's God's Word. God said and
Paul wrote. But when they talked to him,
they didn't call him that. They called him Lord. Master,
the Lord Jesus. They called him the Christ. He
said, you call me master and Lord and you say, well. So I
am. That's what I am. I saw an interview
a few years back with Laura Bush, First Lady Laura Bush. And they were asking her some
personal questions and she kept answering, well, you know, George
this and George that. It's just so strange hearing
her call him George. But she can do that. They, too,
are one flesh. It was OK for my mother to call
my father Marvin. They, too, are one flesh. But out of fear and respect for
the office he held, everybody else called him Mr. President. He says, I, Jesus, have sent
my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. An angel is a messenger. In Revelation
1, Verse 20, at the end of it, he said the seven stars are the
angels of the seven churches. The pastors. The messengers,
the preachers. In verse eight of Revelation
22. John saw these things and heard
them, and when I heard and heard and seen, I fell down to worship
before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things.
And he said to me, don't do it. Don't do it, I'm just I'm just
a messenger. Don't worship the messenger.
But I thought about the fact that the Lord has told all of
his people, all of his people meet together in the churches,
and he said, I've given every one of them a guardian angel.
I put a guardian angel over every one of them to keep the word
coming, keep the message coming. And he says that I've testified
unto you these things by sending an angel. He's saying I have
chosen to reveal these things to you through a preacher. That's
how I've chosen for you to come to know this. I've chosen preaching. The message we deliver is very
specific. It's very specific. Verse 16 says, I, Jesus, have
sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.
I am. I am. We preach Christ. We preach He
is. He was, and He is, and He's always
going to be. He's everything. We preach Christ. We preach He is everything. He says of Himself, I am the
root. I'm the root. You want to know
a secret? I'm the root. And he goes on to say and the
offspring. I'm the root and I'm the offspring. Of David. And I am the bright star. And I am the morning star. I'm all these things. Christ
is all. The Lord asked Peter, whom do
you say that I am? And he said, you're the Christ. We all collectively agree and
believe thou art the Christ. That is what we believe. We believe Jesus is the Christ. The anointed one, the Messiah. Now, the question is, what does
that mean? What in the world does that mean?
If we go ask anybody anywhere, do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? They will all say, except for the Jews. Yes. His
name is Jesus Christ. I believe he's the Christ. Do
you believe he's the Messiah? You sure do. What does that mean? When we say we believe that,
what do we believe? What do I believe? What do I
think about Christ? What think ye of Christ? This is what we believe. If somebody
asks, what do y'all believe down there? This is what we believe.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the root. We believe it's Jesus Christ
who is the beginning. The origin. Most people believe that Jesus
Christ is a created being 2000 years ago. They talk about Jesus
and talk about Jesus and Jesus is the way to God, and then they
talk about God, you know, whoever he or she is. Two separate people,
we believe that Jesus Christ. Is our maker. We believe Jesus
Christ is the one who spoke this planet into existence. He is
the one who made us. We believe Jesus Christ is the
one who spoke to Moses in the burning bush. He's the one who
gave Noah the dimensions of the ark. He is the one who wrestled
with David. It's Jesus Christ. We believe he's God. He is God. Whoever he is, it's Jesus Christ. And we believe we are convinced
of that and we are convinced he is the offspring. We believe
he's a man. One hundred percent man. Who was tempted in all points,
just like we are, but those points never got a hold of him. Sin
never got a hold of him, he overcame every bit of it. flawlessly. He walked this life as a man,
perfectly. As our substitute, he's a man.
He's a man. Well, which is he? Is he God
or is he man? Yes. We all believe strange things,
don't you? Yes. We believe Jesus Christ is the
bright star. We believe He's the sun that
shines in His strength, the 12 noon judge of the earth. We believe light exposes sin. He is that light. He's the light
that shines down and exposes everything. We believe we can't look at Him. We believe we cannot look at
Jesus Christ. He's too holy. We believe he is the judge of
the earth. When the cowboys talk about going
to meet your maker, we believe that's Jesus Christ. We believe he's a consuming fire,
the sun that shines in his strength. And we believe He's the Morning
Star. We believe He's the Son of Righteousness
with healing in His wings. We believe light came into the
world. We believe we cannot look upon
Him. And we believe if you look, you'll
live. Don't we? No man can look, but if you look,
you'll live. In Him is life. The sun that
comes up and shines and things grow and this cold, dead ground
is warmed. That's Jesus Christ. We believe
He's mercy, forgiveness, hope of a new morning. So what is
it to believe the truth about Jesus Christ? according to His
Word and His testimony, is to believe He is 100% God and 100%
man. It's to believe He is the first. He made it all and He is the
last. He is the one that's going to
fold it up. It's to believe He is just and He is our justifier. It's to believe that he is completely
sinless, no sin, no sin. And we believe he became sin. He was just covered in sin. We believe he is our lion and
we believe he's our lamb. We believe he is the standard
by which we're going to be judged. He's the standard. And we believe
He bore our judgment because of His standard. No man can keep
it. We believe no man can come to
Him. It is not possible. No man can
come to Him. And we believe, whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely. Verse 16, the Lord says, This
is me. I, Jesus, have sent my angel
to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root
and the offspring of David and the bride and morning star. This
is me. Verse 17, he says, This is you. This is what the book says about
me. In verse 17, this is what the book says about you. After seeing this and hearing
this, verse 17 says, The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. The Bride says, Come. I've fallen in love. Come. This book is about the man and
his bride. That's what the whole book is
about. It's about the man and his bride. This book is written
from this man to his bride. The words of warning and judgment
to the unbelieving world are for the comfort of the bride.
He does not have to tell the unbelieving world judgment is
coming. They'll find that out after the
last day. They don't need to know that. But the bride, in
order to be saved, needs to believe. And he has to send a messenger
to tell them so that they'll believe. And all of the words
of warning are for him to say, all this stuff is going away.
This is what I'm going to do to them. You're not going to
have to deal with that anymore. This is from the man to his bride. It's a love story. And hearing and seeing this story,
the spirit and the bride say come. That's the reaction. Come.
And he says, let him that heareth. He that hath ears to hear. Turn
over to Matthew 13. Matthew 13. Verse nine says. Who have ears to hear, let him
hear. And the disciples came and said
unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered
and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But to them it is not given.
For whosoever hath ears to hear, to him shall be given the mystery. And he shall have more abundance,
but whosoever hath not ears to hear, from him shall be taken
away even this life that he has right now. Therefore speak I
to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither
do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear and
shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have
they closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see. And your ears, for they hear.
For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which you see, and they haven't
seen them. And to hear those things which
you hear, and they haven't heard them. Let him that heareth. Him that
heareth, or her that heareth. What? Heareth what? What do we hear? He said, this
is what my sheep hear. My voice. My voice. The call goes forth. He said, I sent mine angel. The
call goes forth. What is the call? What does he
say? Come. Simon, follow me. Come. Whosoever will, they will. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and be ye saved. Come. If the Lord has given you
and me Ears to hear. That is a gift. That's a present. By grace are we saved. By free
gift are we saved through faith. And faith is not of ourselves.
It is a gift of God. Hearing, this ear to hear is
a present from God to His bride. The call is free grace. We preach free grace, we believe
salvation cost a price that no man can pay, and we believe it's
completely free. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
paid it all. The call goes forth, mercy is
great, grace is free. It's free. He that hath ears
to hear this, let him hear. The Lord said in verse 17, the
spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say
come and let him that is a thirst. Come. We said that this book
says the same thing all the way back in the Old Testament, in
Isaiah 55, he said, ho, everyone that thirsteth come. In the middle
of the Bible, Matthew 5, verse 6, he said, blessed are they
that hunger and thirst after righteousness. I'm going to fill
them. At the very end of the Bible, he says, whoever is a
thirst, come. The whole Bible says this, come. If anyone says, I think I do
hear this. Not just with my ears, I think
my heart is hearing this. Something's going on right here,
I think I'm hearing this. I want this. And I think I need this. Come. Come. Lord Jesus, I come to thee. Out
of my sickness, into thy health. Out of my want, into thy wealth. out of my sin and into thyself."
Lord Jesus, I come to thee. Whosoever says, could this be
for me? Will the Lord have me? Will the Lord save me? Whosoever
will, whoever has this desire, whoever the Lord has given this
heart to say these things, Let him take the water of life freely. Whosoever will. Come. Come today. Today. Today is the day. The sinner that hears this. Here. And sees this. Here. Starts to
say, I'm starting to see things in this word. I didn't even know
we're in here. If the center ever really gets
a hold of this, their response is going to be how? How? I believe the word, I'm a believer.
I believe it. I've read it and I've heard it.
It says no man can come except the father draw him. That's right. That's the truth. We preach the
truth. No man can come except the Father
draw him. Period. That's the truth. Here's
the gospel. All that the Father giveth him.
Shall come to him and he that cometh. He'll in no wise cast
out. Whoever says. Now I don't just
hear this. Now I hear him. Something's different. My soul is starting to thirst
for him, not just heaven, him. And I think I love him. I think
I really do love him. How can I come to Him? I want
to. How? The Lord gave us the answer to
that at the beginning of verse 17. He said, The Spirit and the
Bride. It is God which worketh in us
both to will and to do. The Spirit and the Bride do something. They say, come to me. Lord, come to me. I can't come
to you. All this time, I thought I could.
All my life, I thought I could. I thought I was working for my
right to come to you. That's what I thought. And now
I hear, and now I see, and I realize I can't. I just can't. False and full of sin I am, and
thou art full of grace and truth. Lord, I'm unworthy to come to
you. I can't. I hear your call, and
I can't. My only hope is that you would
come to me. That's my only hope. Save me,
Lord, lest I perish. Your Word says, whosoever will. Am I one of your whosoevers? Salvation is of you. You choose
whosoever you will. Am I a whosoever? Am I a sinner whom you've made
willing in the day of your power? Whosoever the Lord has given
a heart to say, help, Lord, help. Have mercy on me, come unto me,
please come unto me, because I just cannot come to you. Whoever the Lord has given a
heart to say that, this is the answer they will receive. Verse
20 says, he which testifies these things says, surely I come quickly. Amen. I'm a very present now. And I'll come quickly. Even so, Lord, come. That's the whole Bible, isn't
it? That's the whole point. May the Lord come to us. Verse
21 says, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen.