Thank you. Open the Scriptures
to that portion that was read to us, the last chapter of the
last book of the Bible. This is the 22nd chapter the book of the Revelation. I hope that God will meet with
us this evening and again bless as the word goes forth. As we have already read these
21 verses, I wonder if you notice the repetition First of all, the Savior saying,
I come quickly. He said that in verse 7. He said,
Behold, I come quickly. He says it in verse number 12.
And behold, I come quickly. Then in the next to the last
verse, verse number 20, He which testified these things saith,
Surely I come quickly. Amen. We look for His return. We want Him to come back. We
long to see Him. Oh, what joy it will be. when the great Redeemer makes
His entrance into this world. Scripture says, every eye shall
see Him. Oh, what a sight! You can't even
imagine, can you? You think about your Savior at
one who redeems you unto God. He comes back. He is coming back
someday in the clouds. And it will be the very same
Jesus who came the first time to save us from our sins. The angel said to the disciples
there in Acts chapter 1, when the master ascended back to glory. He said, why do you stand here
gazing up into the heavens as though you'll never see Him again?
This same Jesus, not another, this same Jesus, this one you've
seen ascend up into heaven, He shall so come again from heaven
in like manner as you've seen Him go. That one who had flesh and a
body like we've got when He is on this earth, He's still got
that body. He's still the God-man. When
He comes back, we're going to see Him. We'll rejoice when He
returns. That's when He'll bring everything
to a standstill. That's when all the righteous
will be raised, those that have died before us, those who died
before whatever saints are living on this earth when the Lord comes
back, their bodies are going to be raised, bodies of our relatives,
our dear friends, people that we worshipped with, all the way
back to the body of Abel, the very first believer who died.
Nobody could ever find the grave of Abel, but the Lord knows where
every speck of his dust is. Because He redeemed him body
and soul. And all of God's people are going
to be raised from the dead. Oh indeed, their souls are coming
back with Christ Jesus. And there will be a reunion of
that body with that soul. That's when mortality puts on
immortality. That's when corruption puts on
incorruption. And it's all going to happen
in a moment in the very twinkling of an eye. That's what the Scripture
says. And we'll be with Him, we'll
be like Him, and this will be an everlasting fellowship between
the Lord and His people. No wonder that John said there
in the 20th verse after the Lord Jesus, after He said, Surely
I come quickly. Amen. John said, Even so come,
Lord Jesus. Even so come. I can think of nothing more joyful
than if while this message is being delivered. That One of
whom we speak. That One whom we love. That One
we rest in. I can think of nothing more joyful
than this. He should come back right now. And then as it were, arm in arm,
we'll rise up together to meet Him in the air. Wouldn't that
be wonderful? What a thrill that would be to
our souls to be immediately changed into His
likeness. Be with Him forever. But, if
He doesn't come back, we're still going to be with Him forever.
We are just going to go one by one. Instead of all of us going
together as a congregation of believers, we are going to go
one by one. He is going to come back for
us in death. So that is one of the repetitions in this last
chapter, but here is another one. And it is the repetition
of the word, saying. Notice in verse number 7. Well, first of all, verse 6.
He said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true. That's
the first thing. These sayings are faithful and
true. Look at verse number 7. He says,
Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. Thirdly, verse 9, Then
saith he unto me, Seeth thou do it not this messenger before
whom John bowed down to worship? He said, Don't do that, for I
am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, them
which keep, here it is again the third time, the sayings of
this book, worship God. And then verse number 10, here's
the fourth usage, and he saith unto me, don't seal or seal not
the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at
hand. Don't seal up the sayings. In
other words, the book stays open, for now. It stays open for now. This is an interesting word,
this word sayings. I love doing word studies. If
you took a Strong's Concordance, or any concordance for that matter,
Bible dictionary, you look up this word, it is actually the
word, word. It is identical to that which
is located and found in John chapter 1, where it says, In
the beginning was the Word. That is, in the beginning was
the sayings. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God
speaking to us. He's God making Himself known
to us. All that we know about God. All
of the revelation of God. That which God speaks to us about
and God has indeed spoken to us through His Son who is the
Word. He's the Word. He's the sayings
of God. So that's what this word sayings
means, the word. The Word. This book that we have
in front of us, this book that we have opened up to, this is
the Word of God which speaks to us of that incarnate Word,
even the Lord Jesus Christ. And the sayings of this book
make up the Word of God. Here are the sayings of this
book. That's the title of the message. Now what do we know about these
sayings? Well, look with me in Psalm 78. Here's the first thing we know
about these sayings. They're dark sayings. In fact,
this was read to us at the very beginning of the service by Brother
Joe there in Proverbs chapter 1. But we're going to read out
of the Psalms, Psalm 78. What do we know about these sayings?
They're dark sayings. In other words, you can't understand
them without light. You've got to have spiritual
light to understand. God's got to illuminate your
mind and your heart. He's got to turn the light switch
on. Notice what it says here in Psalm
78 verse 1, Give ear, O my people, to my law, to my word. Give ear,
O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words
of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of
old. Dark sayings of old. How old? As old as God. As old as God. And they are dark sayings. That
is, the natural mind can't comprehend them. The natural heart doesn't
receive them. You see, the natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit of God. Neither, indeed, can
he know them. Because they've got to be spiritually
discerned. We're in the dark. We're in the
dark, so the sayings of God are to us, in our unregenerate state,
dark sayings. Dark sayings. We can't comprehend
them. We can't understand them, we
can't grasp them, and we can't even believe them. Because to
us, they're dark sayings. The absolute authority of God,
that's a dark saying to the natural man. Our absolute depravity,
that's a dark saying. God's election of some people
unto salvation, that's a dark saying. The redemptive work of
our Lord Jesus Christ. His effectual atonement of our
sins by His blood. That's a dark scene. Our Lord
Jesus dying that God might be just and justify. That's a dark
saying to us. Because as I said this morning,
we're naturally receptive to the message of salvation by works. You've got to do for God. And
then we preach the grace of God. We preach the absolute obedience
of our Lord Jesus in His life and in His death. We preach His
blood. We preach His righteousness,
we preach the free and sovereign grace of God, and people say
to us, those are dark things. And the reason they're dark things
to us is because of our own spiritual deadness. The Savior said in the book of
Matthew, He said He spoke in He spoke in parables that it
might be fulfilled by the prophet, which the prophet said, I'll
open my mouth in parables. I'll utter things which have
been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Dark sage. It goes on, verse 3, if I may
just read two or three more verses here. "...which we have heard
and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them
from their children, showing to the generation to come the
praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works
that He has done. For He established a testimony
in Jacob." He has given out His testimony. He's given out His
law. He's given out His Word. And
we're not going to hide them from people. We're going to openly
give a proclamation of the Word of God. And we know that by nature
these are dark sayings. And we ask the Spirit of God,
give people light, oh God, so that they can understand. If
it's left to you, if it's left to me, we'll never get it. I
said, well, maybe one of these days it will kind of click in
our minds. No, it won't click in your mind.
Because you don't have the mind of Christ. Because you don't
have a spiritual nature that only the Spirit of God can give
you. You don't have the new man formed in you. Who is it? Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. You've got to have Him who is
the light. Otherwise, these would just be
dark sayings. They are dark sayings. And look
at John chapter 10. Here is the second thing. I said the sayings of this book
are dark sayings, and the second thing is the sayings of this
book are offensive, offensive sayings. Look at John chapter
10. Look at verse 19. And I'll just read this verse,
make a few comments about the previous verses, but verse 19
says, there was a division therefore again among the Jews for these
sayings. Well, what's he been saying?
What words has the Word of God been speaking? Well, he's been
speaking about himself being the shepherd, the shepherd of
the sheep, He has been speaking about those
who believe Him, those who are His own, those who are His elect
being His sheep. He has spoken about the necessity
of the shepherd laying down his life for the sheep. He has spoken about the fact
that He knows His sheep. He knows His sheep. Now He knows
all about everybody, but there's a group of people from old eternity
He knows. He loves them. He loves them. His entire heart is devoted to
these people. They were given to Him in covenant
mercy. This great surety of the sheep. This shepherd of the sheep, He
received us as a gift from the Father. He committed Himself
to lay down His life for us that we would live forever. And moreover, the laying down
of His life, that would be what He would do.
He says in the previous verse, verse 18, He says, no man takes
My life from Me. No man taketh it from Me. I lay
it down on Myself. I have the power to lay it down.
I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of My Father. He knows whom the Lord loves.
He saves. He saves. He brings to Himself. He knows His people, but He says
to these people, I don't know you. Depart from Me. Everything
you've done is just more iniquity. It's just iniquity upon iniquity. But we cast out devils. Iniquity. But we did many wonderful works.
We built hospitals and orphanages over in Africa somewhere. Iniquity! Iniquity! But we took doctors
over there and dentists over there and we've done a lot of
good in the world and we fed the hungry in our community.
Iniquity! Iniquity! That's what Christ
says. Because that's all the natural man is capable of performing
and doing is just more iniquity. That's all he can do. There's
none that do it good. No, not a single one. You reckon anybody believes that
anymore? There's an offensive saying. You go to some of these religious
institutions that are doing all these things, and they got kitchens,
soup kitchen, and they got pantry kitchens, and the hungry go there.
And that's a good thing to do as we consider things. I'm not
saying that that's wrong in itself, but here's the problem. It's not done for the glory of
God. And anything's not done for the
glory of God's sin. I don't care what it is. That's
why the Apostle Paul said, whether you eat or drink or whatever
you do, do it all for His glory. You went home or you went to
a restaurant today after the message this morning and that fork full of food you put
in your mouth, did you put it in your mouth for the glory of
God? I went home and grilled out hamburgers. And I must confess, and I don't
mean to be funny in saying this, but I was thinking to myself
when I was eating that. I was thinking, I did a good
job with these. I cooked them on the smoker.
And all that good smoke flavor and them kielbasa sausages, it's just more iniquity. Thank
God the sins of God's people are under the blood. But the sins of these folks, he didn't pay their sin debt. You see, everybody he loves,
he's paid their sin debt. He says, depart from me. Depart
from me. Now watch this. Verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, These sayings of mine, these sayings
that have got to be heard and that have got to be obeyed. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, don't leave that out, I will liken him unto a wise
man, which built his house upon a rock, The rock Christ Jesus. The rain descended, the floods
came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it
fell not, for it was founded on a rock. These are people who listen to
His sayings. You remember what He said back
there? In verse 21, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
What is the revealed will of the Father? What is it? Hold your place there and go
to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. exactly what is the will of the
Father. Now I know God has His revealed
will and that which He's purposed to do. What is His will of command
to us? To everybody. Look at verse 40. And this is the will of Him that
sent me. John 6, 40. that everyone which
seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day." That's when
He comes back and we start off the message that way. But this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth
the Son, those look to the Son, we look to the Son of God, and
believe on Him. That's the revealed will of God. And over here in Matthew chapter
7, we hear His sayings. We hear His sayings. Life is
in Christ. God's salvation is in Christ. Forgiveness of sins is in Christ. Righteousness is in Christ. Everlasting joy and happiness
in heaven is in Christ. God says, you come to My Son,
you see My Son, you look to My Son, you flee to My Son, and
we flee to Him. You see, it is good to hear the
Word of the Lord. But He said, it's not good enough
just to hear. You've got to do what He said. Now watch this. See, look at
verse 26. And everyone that hear these
sayings of Mine, hear the same thing. Hear the same message. Hear the same gospel. Salvation
by grace. Salvation in Christ Jesus. Everyone
that hears these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, you don't
believe. You don't look to Christ Jesus.
You don't flee to Him. You don't embrace Him. You don't
fall before Him as a needy sinner. You don't cry out to Him, Oh Lord, show me mercy or I die. Everyone that hears these sayings
might hear the very same sayings. It's like here tonight. Those
of you here, those of you watching on the internet, just like this
morning, everybody is hearing the same things, right? Everybody
is hearing the same words. But not everybody is acting upon
the words. Those who don't do them should be likened to a foolish
man. You are a foolish man. You are a foolish woman. You
are a foolish young person. If having heard that life is
in Jesus Christ and salvation is fully the grace of God in
Him, and that our God specializes in saving undeserving, hell deserving
sinners, you are a foolish man if you don't flee to Him. You
are a foolish man. And he is a fool whom God calls
a fool. Isn't that right? I tell you,
if God calls you a fool, you are a fool indeed. He is likening you to a foolish
man because you are building your house on the sand. Because
everybody in here, you figure, somehow or another I want to
wind up in heaven. But if you are not building on
the rock, You're foolish. You're just absolutely a fool. He says the rain descended, the
floods came, the winds blew, beat upon that house and it fell. And watch this, great was the fall
of it. Great was the fault. You build
your hope for heaven. I want to go to heaven when I
die. I want to be with the Lord. I read something just yesterday. I think it was in yesterday's
paper or yesterday on the internet. I forget which. About a great
athlete who died. And he changed his life. He said
he changed his life. And he started living better
because he didn't want to go to hell. That's not doing what God said.
God didn't say change your life. God didn't say lay down old habits
and take up some new habits. God said, look to my son. That's
what God said. God said there's a way of salvation.
Enter in at the straight gate. You're on the broad road that
leads to destruction. You say, well, I think I'll clean
up my life. I've got to make some changes.
Boy, I've had people tell me that. I know I need to make some
changes, preacher. No, God needs to change you. That's what needs to happen. See, anything else you build
on the sand. These are His sayings. These
are His sayings. Great was the fall of it. And
boy, when he finished these, look at verse 28, these sayings,
when he finished these sayings, the people were absolutely astonished
at his doctrine. They just kind of dropped their
mouths. Wow! He preaches with such authority.
That's what they said. Such authority. No wonder the Savior said this.
Go over to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. Look at Luke chapter 9. And I'm
going to have to finish this message. I'll probably finish
it next Sunday night. Because I'm just really... I'm almost
at the end of my introduction. Almost. I've got the meat of
the message to go yet. That's nothing new for me, is
it? My apologies to our tape director
here, media director, whatever kind of title you wear. I appreciate
his labors. But look here in Luke chapter
9. Look at verse 43. And I'll tell
you what led up to this. Luke 9, 43. The Savior, He's
cast the devil out of a boy. Verse 43 says, They were all
amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered,
every one, at all things which Jesus did, He said unto His disciples,
watch it, Let these sayings sink down into your ears. These sayings. For the Son of Man shall be delivered
into the hands of men, but they understood not this saying. And
it was hid from them that they perceived it not. And they feared
to ask Him of that saying. They didn't understand what He
was saying, but they were afraid and embarrassed to ask Him about
that saying. Well, what has he been saying? What were the sayings that he's
referring to? He said there, let these sayings
sink down into your ears. That's our responsibility. That's
our responsibility. Oh, that these sayings of our
Lord will sink down into our ears. All the way down to our
hearts. And here's the question. What
sayings? But you got to go back into chapter
9. I tell you, here's one of them. Look at verse number 22. Verse 21, Luke 9, 21. He straightly charged them and
commanded them to tell no man that thing saying. Here's one
of his sayings. That some man must suffer many
things. and be rejected of the elders
and chief priests and scribes and be slain and be raised the
third day." That's one of the sayings. I'll
tell you another saying. About eight days later, He's
up on the Mount we know as the Mount of Transfiguration with
Peter, James and John. He revealed to them His glory.
And there also appeared with him in his glory Moses and Elijah. And look at verses 30 and 31. And behold, when he was transfigured,
and behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses
and Elias, or Elijah, who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease,
spake of his exodus, That is of His death which He should
accomplish at Jerusalem. That word accomplish means fulfill. Fill to the full. That's what
fulfilled means, to fill to the full. This matter of redemption,
when our Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us, He filled it to the full.
You can't add any more to it. It's done. The blood, the blood,
the blood. That's what we need. That's what
He shed. That's what puts away sin. Without
the shedding of blood is no remission of sin. That's what the Scripture
says. This is His decease that He should
accomplish. He should fulfill to the full.
And boy, that's our hope, isn't it? He fulfilled it in Jerusalem. He filled it to the full. Everything
the Holy God demanded of us, our Lord Jesus has completely
satisfied. That's our hope right there.
Here's my hope and here's my plea that when Christ died, He
died for me. There it is. There it is. What sayings? What sayings? Notice down in verse 35. There came a voice out of the
clouds saying, here is another saying. You better pay attention to this
saying. This is a voice of God. This
is my beloved son. Simon Peter had said earlier,
let's build three tents. One for you, one for Moses, and
one for Elijah. This is a wonderful place to
be. But wait a minute. Wait a minute. Moses and Elijah, they're sinners
saved by grace. It's like us. There's only one of the three.
to be worshipped and adored. And here is the saying of God
the Father, this is my beloved Son, hear Him. Hear Him. And so our Lord Jesus over here
in verse 44, having set forth before them substitution, satisfaction,
redemption, the accomplishment of His crucifixion, and His own
identity set forth by the Father, He says to His disciples, Oh,
let these sayings sink deep in your ears. Oh, that they would, that we
might rejoice in Him whom to know, His life everlasting. Well, let's sing a closing song. Brother Joe, glory to His name,
number 489. Glory to His name. And maybe,
if the Lord is willing, I'll finish this message next Sunday
night. Because next Sunday morning,
I want us to go with Brother Paul to Athens. We're going to
take a trip next Sunday morning Maria to Athens with Paul. And then next Sunday night, we'll
maybe finish this up. And by the way, before I forget,
Wednesday night, Brother Bill Parker is going to be here. He's
going to be speaking Wednesday night. Give my poor voice another
chance to rest a little bit. So I appreciate him accepting
my request to speak for us while he's up here. That will be Wednesday
night. We look forward to that. All right, let's sing this together.
489. If you need a songbook, stand. Down at the cross where my Savior
died Down for cleansing from sin I cried There to my heart
was the blood applied Glory to His name Glory to His name Glory
to His name. There to my heart was the blood
of Christ. Glory to His name. I am so wondrously saved from
sin Jesus so sweetly abides within There at the cross where He took
me in Glory to His name Glory to His name Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood
applied. Glory to His name. O precious fountain that saves
from sin, I am so glad I have entered in. There Jesus saves
me and keeps me clean. Glory to His name. Glory to his name Glory to his
name There to my heart was the blood of life Glory to his name
Also, remember Linda Black. Linda's going to Cincinnati tomorrow
night. She's going to have back surgery
Tuesday morning. And we pray God's blessings upon
you. Guide the surgeon. Hope everything works out well
for you. And you'll be there for a couple
of days anyway, I think is what you told me. You can greet her. I don't mean to embarrass you,
but I want people to know. You know, when we're getting
ready to go through surgery or something of that nature, folks
want to know and be prayerful for you. So you remember Linda
as she goes to Cincinnati. Well, hospital. It's not a hospital. It's an institution. Oh, my. Oh, my. So many things that I could say. We'll just remember you. How's
that? Okay. Come to this fountain so rich
and sweet Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet Plunge in
today and be made complete Glory to His name Glory to His name
Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood
applied. Glory to His name.