Revelation chapter 22 and verse
16. And as I read this chapter, in
particular the verse that we're going to look at tonight, I'm
required, I'm reminded and I'm required to look at the very
first verse of this book. Now, please remember, this book
was sent out, these letters, this is a common letter sent
to seven churches of Asia. They were living, vibrant churches. Even some of them had God spoke
to them through this letter and had serious recommendations to
them. and commendations to others. They were really a local, visible
body in a community. And it lists the communities
and tells us something about that. But those churches were
to have this letter read to them and spoken from this letter.
It was not a letter that was to be hidden. It was not to be
set aside. It was not to be considered as,
it's just too weighty for us to go through. And I think many
times people have that idea about this book is just too weighty.
I'll just not get anything out of it. A pastor mentioned to
me not long ago, he said, I would rather my people, and he's using
that. Please, he doesn't own them,
and I don't own you. But I consider you my people,
my friends. My people read one verse of scripture
a year with understanding, then 1,000 chapters and had no idea
what it meant. And that's really, as we look
at this book of Revelation, it's better to have one verse of scripture
with understanding or a dozen. And it's not to be considered
something that is to be hidden or is too mysterious for us to
read through, even though there are mysteries in here. But in
Revelation chapter 1 and verse 1, it helps us so much with what
this book has to say to us. This is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. This is the revealing of Jesus
Christ. This is the enlightenment. God
gives us the enlightenment as we go through here. And as we
read it, God opens up his word to us. Now, it's only by revelation
that we're able to understand one thing about this book. But
as we go over here to chapter 22 and verse 16, we have a comment
made by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is truly the author of this
book. It's not John. I've seen books,
the revelation of Saint John the Divine. He had no more to
do with it than we do. He was a recipient of it, and
he was used to write it down. but it wasn't his revelation.
It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that means the unveiling,
the opening up of, taking off the lid of, allowing us to see
the Lord Jesus in a way that he's spoken of in other places,
but here it is so intense because all of this book has a capacity
about the revelation of Jesus Christ. In verse 16 he says,
I, Jesus, Now, this is the authority by which this book was written.
This is the authority by which this book was sent, this letter,
I, Jesus. And if we get nothing else out
of this, it is for us to realize that everything that was said
in here was under the auspices and by the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ. When he spoke to those seven
churches of Asia, it was I, Jesus. When he gave us the different
dreams, or not dreams, but the different manners in which the
vials and the woes and all of those things, we have in the
background of those things, I, Jesus. This is what I want my
people to have. This is what I want my people
to read. This is what I want my people to understand. Now,
this is a chart and compass. When the Lord gave these letters
to these seven churches, remember they're under severe persecution,
and this book was a comfort to them. He never wrote a book to
them to discomfort them. Unless, as Paul brought out in
1 Corinthians chapter 15, unless you have believed in vain. Now,
there's no comfort here for unbelievers, but there is great comfort. And
we can say, believers can say with all honesty, this section
I really don't understand, but I certainly do believe it. And
going through the book of Revelation, we may say that more than we
might in other places. But it is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. He says, I, Jesus, have sent
mine angel. to testify unto you these things
in the churches. I want these things gone over
in the churches. I want these things brought up
in the churches. I want these things read in the
churches. I want these things preached on in the churches.
I want the church to be familiar with this book. It has some parts
that are hard to be understood, but it is continuously to be
read in the churches, as much as Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.
I've had people come to me and say, I've never heard any messages
from the book of Revelation until my pastor went through it. And
I found out where the Marvin Stoniker has gone through the
book of Revelation. Other pastors, they see the need. You just read
this and say, OK, we need to spend time here. Now this is
the second time we've gone through it and it might not be the last.
I don't know. This is something that God intended
for the churches to hear. I will take care of my people.
I will overthrow all enemies. I will put down all rebellions
against me. I will be totally successful
in all that I do. And that reflects on every page
in this book that how victorious he is and how glorious he is
to his church. So he says there, I am the root
and offspring of David, the bright and morning star. Now, as we
go back through this, I do want to say this, as of his deity,
he is David's creator. David would admit that. He is
my Lord. He is my creator. He's my physical
creator. But when it came to my spiritual
life, he is my spiritual creator. But it also says that he is not
only is he the root of David, he is the the root and offspring. He's the root of David, but he's
also his offspring. This is a miracle of God's grace
that he would ever send a substitute that was clearly in relation
to those he substituted for. He was totally able to substitute
for them. He came born as a man. He came
born of a woman as a man, and there was no sin in him at all.
He did not have what we inherited. Now, as I was kind of reflecting
on Sunday, the message there, there was something I wish I
had brought out. Adam is the first male to bring forth a birth. And Christ is the second. He's the first Adam, Christ is
the second Adam. Christ brings forth, He is the
God-man that brought forth the birth of His church. Adam was
used instrumentally in bringing forth his wife. Now most of the
time, and there's a verse I've been hunting for and hunting
for and hunting for, it brings out, a man shall bring forth
a child, as if it was he was bearing that child. And it's
in one of those little odd books, Haggai or Zephaniah, and I've
been racking my brain trying to remember one word so I could
find it. It's there. I'll find it and I'll correlate
those two passages. But he is, in his humanity, he
is David's descendant. David's son, son, son, son, son,
brought forth this one into the world. Now, when we were looking
at Israel in the book of Exodus, and in the book of Joshua, and
Judges, and first and second Kings, there was a reason that
God had to preserve He could not throw out the dough. He had
to preserve Israel. He had promised His Son coming
through Israel. So we're going to find Israel
down to the time of Christ. After that, it is not necessary.
And in fact, He regarded them not. All right. This is a statement. This I Jesus is a statement with
regard to whose authority this letter was written. I, Jesus,
have sent this letter. I've sent my messenger. I've
sent my angel. Now, most of the time when the
word angel, and we were up at the hospital just earlier and
I saw a bumper sticker, something about angels. Most of the time
we think of fluttery little beings of some kind. Well, There's a
number of times in the Bible that the word angel is used.
It could have been translated very easily, just messenger.
If we look in the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3, I send this
to the angel of the church of Thessalonica. That angel is the
pastor. He is the messenger of God to
that community. And in fact, the bulk of the
responsibility for the soundness of that church depended upon
the faithfulness of that angel, that messenger. How much was
he in tune with the gospel message is really going to be how faithful
that church continues. I cannot tell you how much I
appreciated you allowing me to go visit with Brother Marvin
Stoniker, because we are close to the same age and we run in
the same groove in the ground. You know, we love Farside, but
we love the gospel. And it was just so much of a
blessing to see the value the importance of a pastor. And we both have a person that
brought us the gospel. Same person brought us both the
gospel. And he was down in Louisiana. And he's invited to come over
to hear Pastor Mahan preach. He's a Southern Baptist Convention
preacher. Didn't know the gospel. He thought he did. Heard Henry
preach and tore up his little playhouse. And he no longer,
once he was saved, he no longer could pastor that church because
they were just going in different directions. Well, I can only
say this. I can only be faithful in my
generation. And you too. We cannot and we
will never be able to secure the faithfulness of the next
generation. We can only be faithful in this generation. So that pastor,
now we don't find the church at Ephesus anymore. We don't
find the church, those seven churches. They're long gone. Now what happened to them, I
don't know. What persecution came in, I don't know. But they're
no longer there. And we cannot find the faithfulness
of Charles Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle today. In one generation,
it was gone. I don't know why. why that happens,
but it is. So the faithfulness of these
pastors, he is encouraging them, and he says, I send this letter,
I send this, my angel, to testify to you these things. Now the
angel he's speaking about here is John. John's going to send
this letter. these letters out. His messenger, faithful messenger,
is going to be sending these letters out to these seven churches.
And from there on, John's responsibility is over. His responsibility is
to be faithful in recording what the Lord gave to him. He's sending
them out. He's on the Isle of Patmos. He
has been exiled there. He's not at a party until the
Lord appears unto him. And then he would have never
traded that for anything. to be there alone with God in
this condition. Now, he probably felt a little
bit imposed on when he was sent there. All I'm doing is preaching
the gospel. And he ends up there, and lo
and behold, he's in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and the Lord
appears unto him and gives us this revelation that we enjoy
today. So he's called on to sin. Revelation
chapter two, would you turn back there as we think about this
angel, this messenger. And there are a few places in
the Bible where this word is actually translated messenger.
So it's not trying to stretch it at all. Let's just get away
from the fluttery little critters that sometimes we think of. Now,
there's no doubt that there are beings higher than us. God created
them. There's angels, there's messengers
that he created. And one third of them, fell with
lucifer and they are now bound in chains of darkness there was
no substitute for them there would never be a a savior or a redeemer. They
would never be redeemed out of that. They fell in their plight
and they will never ever be released. Hell was created for the devil
and his angels. So there are those beings. There's
good angels and there's bad angels. There's two-thirds of them that
stayed with God. Why did they stay with God? God
purposed it. Why did a third fall? God purposed
it. Why did Lucifer fall? God purposed
it. Don't ask me why. I just know
what happened. That's what happened in the scripture.
And sometimes we find things in the Bible God does, He asks
us to do for no other reason than He can ask us to do it.
That's all. He is God. All right. Revelation
chapter 2, verse 1. Under the angel of the church
at Ephesus. That's the pastor. The angel. He's not a guardian angel in
the sense that we often think of. He is the guardian of the
gospel. He is the guardian of what goes on there. And we find
there were several of the guardians that were given a faithful message
because they were continuing to preach a faithful message.
And there were some there that God said, unless this changes
the responsibility imposed upon those seven pastors, and faithful
preachers throughout the ages to declare the gospel, because
if the gospel is failed to be preached, what did he say he
would do to the churches? He would pluck their candlestick. And he has. And he is faithful
to do it. So the responsibility of those
who bring the message to continue bringing the message, that is
very, very important. And once that message is gone,
the light goes out. Now that is a sign of something.
If the light goes out, it is a sign of something. It's a sign
there's no more sheep there. There's no more. If there's sheep
there, there'll be a light. If there's no more sheep there,
there is no need for this light. We'll raise up a light somewhere
else. That's what God does. That's
why Ephesus died. The sheep were saved. And that's
why another church was started somewhere else. The gospel was
preached somewhere else. But the same responsibility is
placed upon the angel of that church to hold forth the word
of truth. staunchly, to not buckle, not
give, not give in, but continue. All right, and down through chapter
two and chapter three, seven times this phrase, theology,
is used with regard to the angel, the pastor of those churches.
This letter was sent to the pastor of the church, and he was responsible
for delivering this letter. And if he was not faithful in
delivering this letter or delivering the message of Christ, The responsibility
of God would come along and say, this is no longer mine. All mine
are saved. I'm moving on. So that's what
happened. That's what happened. That's
what continues to happen. We have churches, apparently
the light goes out because why? It's not that there's a whole
bunch of sheep that are there that the message has died for
them. No, the sheep have been saved. and he's going to take
his gospel somewhere else. Germany used to be a lighthouse. England was a lighthouse. And
they got so interested in philosophy. And as we go through the book
of 1 Corinthians, Paul does a masterful job of delivering the message
of the heir of the philosophy of man's wisdom. And that's where
Germany, they got philosophy. England, they got philosophy.
And what do we have now in America? Philosophy of man's dreams, man's
ideas. No country has ever been a Christian
nation. Now, countries may have been
built on Christian principles, but no country has been a Christian
nation. Now, there's been some Christians
in that nation, and it may be given over to Christian principles.
But there's never been a nation that's been a Christian nation.
That's just far cry. There's been lost people in every
generation. Some of them have just been used
by God as hewers of wood and drawers of water to make it possible
for other people to enjoy the freedom to hear the gospel preached.
That's the reason that they were there. All right. The angel,
seven times it's mentioned there. And also, would you look in the
book of Luke chapter two, excuse me, Luke chapter seven. Luke
chapter 7 and verse 24, the same word is used here. And when the messengers of John
were departed, remember John's in prison and he sends some people
over to inquire of the Lord. And these people are called messengers. Here, it's translated that way.
In Revelation chapter 2 and 3, they're translated angels. In
Revelation chapter 22 and verse 16, it's translated angel. Here,
it's translated messenger. I'm glad I'm not a translator. There are some things I would
have done just a wee bit different when it comes to those verses
in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 and over in Revelation 22 and verse
16. When it used the word angel,
I would have just put pastor or my messenger John. That would have just cleared
up a lot of things. But we wouldn't have all of this.
I'm sure God entrusts his angels to protect his people, but he
doesn't give just a guardian angel. He gives angels. And I am a whole lot stronger
in what the Holy Spirit does for us than what the angels do
for us. I'm a whole lot stronger in what the Lord does for us
with his great sovereign power than what the angels do for us.
And I'm not convinced of exactly what angels do, except they're
messengers of God. And you taking the gospel to
anybody is an angel, a messenger. The Lord all right, and when
the messengers of John were departed he began to speak unto the people
concerning John the messengers of John the the angels the messengers
of John and in that same book Luke Chapter 9 verse 52 again
the same word is used that we found over there for angels But
here we find it brought to us in this fashion Luke chapter
9 verse 52 the scripture shares this And and sent messengers
before his face and they went and entered into the villages
of Samaritans to make ready for him Jesus Christ sent messengers
ahead of him that Prepare the way he sent Messengers and those
pastors in the seven churches of Asia were messengers of God
To those churches and there's one thing in this verse in Revelation
is going to bring this out a little clearer there's one thing about
these messengers and They were only recording what they were
given and only sharing what they were given. That's what a true
messenger is. I'll never forget a time I was
in a situation and we had to write a letter. And the secretary,
we determined what the letter was going to say. And the secretary
wrote a letter totally different than we'd agreed upon. Now, I'd
never found out, but the person the letter got to happened to
be a friend of mine and sent me a copy of that letter. And
I had it in my hand. And then we had another meeting.
And I said, what is this? This is not what we agreed on
to send. This is someone else's words. Now, that's a false recorder. That is a false representative. That is a false reporter. This
is false when it's not according to what was given. And that's
what Peter, James, John, Paul, Jude, and the rest of the writers
of the New Testament, as well as the Old, we find them faithful
witnesses of what God intended to be shared, and John was one
of them. Now, I'm not sure that he understood
everything that he was writing about, but he was faithful at
least to write it down. All right? Going back to the
book of Revelation chapter 22 and verse 16, I, Jesus, have
sent. Now, he has the authority to
send this. To send it. It is to be dispatched. He is a reporter that has been dispatched
with the message. He is one of those guys coming
across the plains on a horse going from St. Louis, Missouri
to San Francisco, California. He did not tamper with the mail. It was entrusted to him. Pony
Express. Entrusted to him to take the
letter. Not to open it up and, well, he really didn't mean what
he said in this letter, dear. You know, mess with the letter.
No, he's entrusted to carry that letter. And that's what John
was. He was entrusted to carry the letter that the Lord had
given to him. And he was, as it tells us there, he was sent.
I, Jesus, I, Jesus have sent him. I have moved him this way. It is by my authority that he's
sent." And this word, there's a couple of places in Revelation
this word is used that just lends itself to a real special meaning
about this, and that's in Revelation 14. 14 verses 15 and verse 18.
When we think about sent, Several times I've been asked,
how are you called to the ministry? And I've just come up to this.
It was imposed on me. It was imposed on me. Just like
salvation was imposed on me. I was just going my merry way
to a devil's hell. That's what I thought, you know,
when I realized what I was. Now, I also believe in eternal
justification and eternal salvation and eternal sanctification and
all that, but we're caught in the middle not knowing what it
is. We just get to know, we find out what we really have been
given. But anyway, just going along there, and God imposed
His purpose, His will on me in salvation. And it's like, have
you ever grabbed the end of a toothpaste tube and squeezed it with the
cap off? You're going to get something
out. And that's just the way I feel. God imposed his will
on me. Left to myself, I would have
never done this. But it was imposed on me. Now
John, it's been imposed on him to do this. I've sent him. I've
sent him. Now here in Revelation chapter Chapter 14, verse 15, this is
interesting. I just found this very interesting.
Revelation 14, verse 15, it says, and another angel came out of
the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the
cloud, thrust in thy sickle. Now that word, those two words
thrust in is the same word as I sent. You see the force of
this? Thrust in. Have you ever run
a scythe or a hand scythe or a... It's hard work, number one. And you put a lot of effort into
it. It takes a lot of work. And he says, thrust in. That's what God did with John.
He thrust him into it. He imposed upon him, I sent you. And I got my handprints on your
back. That's what he did with John.
I send this message back. And when we find the Apostle
Paul, well, I think probably if we went back a little further,
the book of Isaiah, Isaiah was really thrust into the preaching
of the gospel. He was imposed upon by people,
but he was more imposed on by God. Jeremiah and Paul in his
ministry, all of the stuff he took as a minister, and he delineates
that one time, beaten, left for dead, stoned, shipwrecked, and
all this God imposed, thrust him in, and that's what he did
to John, his messenger, his angel, he thrust him in, and it tells
us going in there in verse Revelation chapter 14 verse 18 and says
another angel came out of the altar Which had power over the
fire and cried with a loud voice to him that had the sharpsicle
saying thrust in thy sharpsicle Thrust it. He sent it in. That's
what he did with John. That's what he did with Peter
That's what he did with Paul. He thrust them in right into
the middle and Paul had been saved very short time and they're
trying to kill him and Now, his time was a little different than
we have now. His friends were different than
we may have now. The Pharisees, they had not much
tolerance with their friends. And when Paul was saved and began
to preach out of the Old Testament, Jesus, who they, I think a bunch
of those guys were involved in the crucifixion, When they begin
to preach Jesus Christ as the Savior that they had crucified,
they're ready to kill Him. But He was thrust into that.
He was thrust into the preaching of it. He was imposed upon Him. Now it says, I, Jesus, back there
in Revelation chapter 22, I, Jesus, I, Jesus, have sent mine
angel I am the supreme being. I am God Almighty. I am Jesus,
the crucified one. I am the Messiah. I am the Redeemer. I, Jesus, by my authority, I
have thrust in my messenger, my angel, my servant, John, to
testify. Now, I want to break in the action
here for just a moment. Pray for me next week the 11th
at 3 in the afternoon. I am been called to testify in
a legal case. Now, what's it called? Depositions. Give some depositions. You still
raise your hand. You still promise to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You can be tried
for lying on the stand in a deposition. It's as serious as sitting in
a courtroom. Now, this is the pre-stuff. I've been asked to
do that. Well, here John had been thrust
into this. He says, I want you to testify. That word testify means to witness. I want you to record it, to witness,
to report it, to testify. I want this report only what
is given. Please do not add to nor take
from this message. When people try to make God successful,
I cannot listen to the radio station on Sunday without hearing
something about somebody having some para-church organization
outside of the body, outside of the local body, that is trying
to help the church be successful. And that's terrible. My dad got
involved with a group It wasn't what they were doing was bad.
It was just, well, we can't get it done through the church. Why
in the world can't the church pass out Bibles? Why can't the local body pass
out Bibles? Why do we have to depend on someone else to do
that for us? A parachurch organization. and all kinds of people are trying
to make the church successful, trying to make God successful,
and the Lord himself said, I'm going to thrust in my messenger.
I have him to testify, it says there, I, Jesus, have sent mine
angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I want
you to testify in the churches, to report only what is given.
No trying to help God out Being a reporter only of God's acts,
actions, and words. That's what John was to do. Report
only what is given. Now, I think the Apostle Paul
and John too saw things that they were not asked to report
on. The Apostle Paul said he knew a man 15 years ago, whether
in the spirit or out of the spirit. I think that's Paul himself.
When he was stoned, he was caught up to the third heaven. He saw
things he could not speak about. That's reserved for those who
are there. But he could not report on that.
But he didn't report on things he hadn't seen either. He was asked not to report on
this. Daniel was also, shut up the book. That's enough. Don't report it. But don't report
less than the message. That's so apparent when the apostle
Paul was used to write there, I have shunned not to declare
the whole counsel unto you, all of God's message. He could go
out of this life innocent before God. I have done what you've
asked me to do. I've run my race well. Even though
it cost him so much and really cost him his life in Rome, he
delivered the message faithful. Now, Adline sent me a report. I don't know what's happened
as a result of it. Some guy over in Iraq or Iran that they were
going to execute for not He said he believed in the Lord Jesus.
He was of that nationality. And that didn't fit with the
state plan. And he was going to have to pay
with his life. That happens. That happens. Has happened. Happened in the past many, many
times. People say, I don't know whether I could do that. I don't
know whether I could do that. I won't know about it until that
time comes. That's when we'll know. All right? witness to report,
and then he says to report this to the churches, seven churches.
Now it's interesting about the word church. Two places in the
book of Matthew I want to read, and every other passage of scripture
that mentions the church will fit in one of these categories.
The Lord Jesus used this word very, very seldom. There's many times he could have,
but he only used it in two passages of scripture. Every other passage
of scripture is going to conform to one or the other of these. All right, book of Matthew, chapter
16, book of Matthew, chapter 16, glorious passage of scripture. It tells us that every hard,
evil, wicked, demonic, devilish scheme developed by man or beast
or Satan himself will not destroy the church. I take great comfort
in that. It's a wonderful passage of scripture.
And he is talking about all of his people out of all ages. Now
there's one thing about the word church, it always means a called
out assembly. That's what it means, called
out assembly. But it means it in two senses. The called out
assembly of all of God's people are assembled at the feet of
Jesus presently in spirit. Some have gone on, the rest are
in spirit waiting. And it also means a called out
assembly in a local community. But they're always called out
assembly. Now Matthew 16 verse 18, I say unto thee, thou art
Peter upon this rock. Now the rock is Christ, it's
not Peter. I just see him pointing to himself on this rock. I'm
the rock. That rock was Christ. Read it.
We read that in 1 Corinthians there, chapter 10, this last
week. That rock was Christ. That's
this rock. Upon this rock I'll build my
church and the gates of hell. That word means and building.
Doesn't mean it was completely built in the past. Doesn't mean
it's completely built now. But when the last sheep is saved,
that is completely built. I am building my church, I'm
calling out my assembly, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it." What comfort God gave to the church in that verse
of scripture. Everything that can be thrown
at the church will not destroy it. Now, it might tear it out
in this area, but there's going to be some place that the gospel
is going to be preached, God's going to be calling out his people,
and they'll be in the assembly. They'll assemble at the feet
of Jesus presently. Everybody that's saved, past,
present, and future, will assemble at the feet of Jesus. There will
be an assembly. Everybody. Presently, those that
have gone on before, the first one that went on before was Abel. Young man, Old Testament. He's
there first. All of those that have gone on
before up to this present time are sitting at the feet of Jesus In spirits Waiting for the resurrection
when their bodies are assembled with them and they'll do it in
body and we are there in spirit also now that's what it says
there now go over to Matthew chapter 18 and and verse 17,
Matthew chapter 18 verse 17, we could substitute the church
at Ephesus, the churches of Galatia, the church at Corinth, the church
at Thessalonica, the church, all the churches, the local assemblies
of the saints. Now, it is very difficult for
me, and I think that you agree to a point, most of you at least,
it's very difficult for me to call a group of people that are
assembled together locally and deny the deity of Christ, deny
the sovereignty of God, deny the redeeming virtue of the blood
of Christ, it's hard for me to call them a church. Maybe little
c? They're assembled together, yes.
But those that are the churches of God, they hold the truth of
the gospel. Yesterday I went down to Portland
to pick up Nancy, and you know, it just helps me if I have something
to do when I'm anticipating picking up my bride. So I dropped by
and visited with Vida for a couple hours. Enjoyed the visit, she
seemed to, and she mentioned something. There's a group there
that's predominantly in that place there. She says, you know,
I just begin to wonder if these people even know the Lord. Number one, they don't want to
talk about him. Number two, when they do talk about him, they
say, you have to be baptized too. And I just mentioned, if you
have to add anything to salvation, it is not salvation. If you have
to add baptism. So anyway, there's a whole bunch
of people that get together on Sundays and Sunday nights and
Wednesday nights But if they don't hold the doctrines that
are contained in the scripture and trust Christ, I fail to find
that they are a church in its purest sense. All right, let's
look at this. Matthew 18, verse 17. The Lord Jesus is talking here.
He says, and if they neglect to hear them, now here's a problem
that has come up. You can go back and read this.
There's a problems come up. And he says, if they neglect
to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to
hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.
Now there's somebody in the body that is declaring error. There's
someone in the body that just is contrary all the time. The
church has the responsibility of following this pattern. Now
that's the local group. That's here in the Dalles. Our friend down in Central Point,
he called up Donny Bell one time and he says, how many times have
you had to do discipline down there in 35 years? He says, not
once. Not once have we had to do discipline down here. He says,
why is that? He says, most of the people discipline
themselves. They come here, they listen,
they don't like it, they leave. They've disciplined themselves. It just happens so seldom. In
the church I grew up in, that was the common thing. About once
a month. You know, I remember a young
lady that went to a dance, and she was disciplined for it, and
she had to confess that in front of the church. She never, ever
came back. Now, it wasn't worth coming back
to, that's one thing. But you know, the things that
happen in the name of discipline. Well, here it is right here.
The first verse that we read about the church is the body
of Christ. It's all believers assembled
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an assembly. Someone
tells me it's not an assembly. It is an assembly. We assemble
at the feet of Jesus. We listen for every word. Every word, let me hear. Oh,
the old, old story. Let me hear the words of Jesus.
We are assembled to hear. And then there is a manner in
which in a locality, in a community, people that love God's word and
love the Lord will assemble together. Now, there's some reasons for
this. We are in a terrible world. And we need a respite. And we
get together for a respite. We get together. Oh man, I can
have an hour and a half or two hours that I don't have to worry
about anybody picking on me. It's a respite. I have some time
to sing songs that if I did it over here in the store, they'd
probably haul me in. I get to hear the word. I get
to delight in it. I get to read the Bible. I'm
not ashamed to open the Bible here, you know. It's just a good
place. In the church, it's calling out
or called out assembly. Those who assemble, who delight
in the gospel in a place, assembling together to worship the Lord,
hear the gospel and fellowship in the gospel and in a locality. And that's what we do. Now, somebody
back there in West Virginia says, how do you like West Virginia?
I said, it's a beautiful place, but there would be no reason
in this world for me to come to this town except for this
assembly. Why would I go there? Now, I've
been places just to sightsee. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy sightseeing. But to go spend a great deal
of time to move someplace, my goodness. I wouldn't move there
if there wasn't that assembly. And those people have found that
out, too. For over 55 years, that's the reason they're there.
That's the reason they're there. The reason I'm here is this,
and I've told Jean Harmon several times the only reason in the
world I would ever move to California would be Rescue Baptist Church.
Now, I'm not intending at all to ever move there, but that's
the only place down there that I would even think about moving
to. Not just because it's California, but because it's a barren land.
All right, these churches, called out churches, and then going
back over there to that latter part of that verse, it says there,
I am the root, it's chapter 22,
I am the root and offspring of David. This is why I have this
authority. I am David's creator. I am David's
descendant. This is why I have this authority.
This is why I can write this book. Now it's interesting. I'm not going to finish this
verse. We're about out of time, but I do want to read just a
little bit about this word root. I am the root. Would you turn
with me to three verses and we'll close. Romans 15. Romans 15. Romans 15 and verse 12. And again, Isaiah saith, There
shall be a root of Jesse, And he that shall rise to reign over
the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust." The root of
Jesse. The creator of Jesse. All right? We have the descendancy
of here. We have of the Lord Jesus. All
right? Then I want, would you turn with
me to the book of Revelation 5.5. Revelation 5 5 What a verse here in the book
of Revelation. This just really shares with
us the reason for Revelation 1.1, the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Revelation chapter 5, verse 5,
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not. Behold, the root
of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven
seals. the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The root of David is the Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ prevailed
here. He's the one that was testified
of out of Jesse. This is the Lord Jesus. He is
the root of David, the offspring of David. Now, there's another
verse that really, when I read this, I said, oh, no wonder this
passage of scripture has such significance. It's Luke chapter
8, the parable of the sower. This really, I didn't have to
clear up anything, it just made it clear, I would say that. I
didn't have any doubt about that in this passage of scripture,
but when you find another verse of scripture that helps you,
it just clarifies it better. You just realize the point of
this In Luke chapter 8 is the parable of the sower, and the
Lord Jesus Christ talks about the wheat being thrown out on
the ground, and some fell among thorns, and some fell among stones,
and anyway, and then some fell on good ground. But notice in
verse 13, They on the rock, are they which,
when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root. Same word. They don't have Christ. They appear, I mean, oh man,
gushy forth. Boy, they wept a long time. But they have no root. Doesn't mean that they had a
little root. Doesn't mean they had a dry root. It means they
had no root. Have no root. Which for a while,
believe, and in time of temptation, fall away. Christ is the root
of David. The offspring of David. He has
been promised as being the root of Jesse. He is the one coming. And here in the middle of this
passage of scripture in the book of Luke, he says, here's a whole
flock of people that go through the pretense, great religious
things, but they have no root. When it says no root, then I
just, I pondered as it doesn't say they didn't have enough root.
Didn't say they had too little root. It says they had no root.
They're just sterile on the ground. They appeared to come out. But
have you ever thrown the seeds into water? What happens if you
just leave them there? Oh, they'll get that root, but
they'll just die. But these have no root. Now, Lord willing, we'll
finish up verse 16 next time. I do want to spend a little time
on that last thought, the bright and morning star. There's so
much said in the Old Testament about this. I've ran out of time,
though. It's good to go through books
because we can unhook up and unhook just any place. So we'll
stop there for tonight.