All right, let's turn in our
Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter 22. We're going to begin
with verse 13 in today's lesson. And the lesson is entitled, The
Root That Shines Like a Star. The Root That Shines Like a Star.
That title was taken from verse 16, where the Lord Jesus Christ,
as he's revealing These truths of the last days to the apostle
John. He speaks, he says, I, Jesus,
this is verse 16. I, Jesus have sent mine angel,
my messenger to testify under you, these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring
of David and the bride and morning star. So this is the root that
shines like a star. Now, as I was, it's all been all this
past week, there's a church or a religious organization on Dawson
Road that always puts up their title, the title for the coming
Sunday's message. And all week it's been this,
it's in the form of a question. Did Jesus really think he was
God? Did Jesus think he was God? Well,
I can answer that question. The answer is a resounding no. He did not think he was God. He knew he was God. And I've often said, and I've
heard other preachers say this, If Jesus Christ, first of all,
he claimed to be God, he knew that. If Jesus Christ was and
is not God, then he was the biggest liar that ever walked the face
of this earth. And then secondly, if Jesus Christ
was and is not God, then we are idolaters because we worship
him. We worship Him as God-man, God
in human flesh without sin. He is the God-man. The Bible
describes Him, identifies Him as God in human flesh. The Word
made flesh dwelling among us. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. His name shall be called Jesus.
For he shall save his people from their sins. His name shall
be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. We don't worship anyone but God. We do not worship any human being
or any created being. God alone is to be worshiped,
and he is God. But the third thing is this.
if Jesus Christ was and is not God then we have no salvation
we have no righteousness by which to be justified before God you
see the gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God Romans
1 16 and 17 and it's the righteousness of God that righteousness is
what Christ Jesus Christ worked out on the cross as the surety
and substitute of his people, having the sins of his people
charged, accounted, imputed to him, and dying for those sins,
paying the price. And out of his death came righteousness
that's imputed, charged, accounted to us. And it's not the righteousness
of man. It's not the righteousness of
any human being. It's the righteousness of God,
Jesus Christ, God man. And that's why we stand before
God. We who are saved stand before God. Wash clean from all of our
sins, the sin debts paid in full for all of his people. He laid
down his life for his sheep. And that's why we stand before
God righteous. And that's what this is about.
We'll look back at verse 13. First of all, now think about
this. He says, I am alpha and omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Now who could
say that of himself, but one who is by nature, God. Alpha and omegas, you know that's
the first and the last letter of the Greek alphabet. And he
described the beginning and the end, the first and the last. His word is the first word and
his word is the last word. I often think about that, you
know, when, when dealing with our children growing up, we're
trying to discipline them. Sometimes we'd have to say that's
the last word. Well, God's word is the last
word. God's word is the final word, but not only the final,
his is the beginning. His is the first word. His word
is law. His word is set and cannot be
changed. This speaks of Christ as the
great I am. This speaks of him in his eternality. He's the eternal Christ. co-equal in every attribute of
his nature with the Father and the Spirit, the second person
of the Trinity. And it speaks of his immutability
that he cannot change. It speaks of the eternal Son
of God, the second person of the Trinity, co-equal with the
Father and the Spirit in every attribute of divine nature. But
it also speaks of this. It tells us that everything is
about Him. Everything is for Him. Everything
centers around Him. Everything is to glorify Him.
He has the preeminence in all things. For in Him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we who are in Him are complete
in Him. He has the preeminence. Now he
says in verse 14, he says, blessed are they that do his commandments. Now when people see verses like
that, normally they will think about the 10 commandments, but
listen to what it's saying and look at the context. It says,
blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have
right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates
of the city." Now what's he talking about? He's not talking about,
in essence, he's not talking about the daily life of a Christian,
he's talking about salvation. Salvation that comes to sinners
by the grace of God, not by keeping the law, Not by keeping the Ten
Commandments. See, remember, why were the Ten
Commandments given to Israel under the Old Covenant? Not as
a way of salvation. The tree of life is Christ and
salvation that comes by Him. There's life in Him. He died,
He was buried, He arose the third day, and life comes by Him. This body is dead because of
sin, But the spirit is life because of righteousness, because of
Christ. So the tree of life speaks of eternal life, spiritual life
that comes by the grace of God. It's unearned, it's undeserved.
If God ever gave us what we've earned and deserved, it would
be eternal death. So how can I, a sinner, all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, the wages of sin
is death, so how can I, a sinner, say that I have rights, that
I have a right, a claim to the tree of life, and to enter through
the gates of the city, into the city, that's the city of God,
that's the new Jerusalem, that's the citizenship that believers
have in the kingdom of God. So when he talks about keeping
the commandments there, what's he talking about? He's talking
about the gospel commandment. He's talking about believing
in the Lord Jesus Christ, resting in him, pleading his blood and
his righteousness alone for all salvation. That's what this is
all about. That's why he is God-man. The
word was made flesh for what reason? To bring life to his
people through his death. Nobody can claim a right to eternal
life, spiritual life, eternal glory based upon their keeping
the Ten Commandments. First of all, none of the Jews
under that system kept them. And people today who read the
Ten Commandments, they don't keep the Ten Commandments. I
don't keep them. None of us do. The commandments, the Bible says,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. And the conclusion is,
therefore, there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that
doeth good, no not one. It's impossible for anyone to
be justified based upon their law keeping. So blessed are they
who do the commandments. They're blessed with God's grace.
They're blessed with God's mercy. And God's grace reigns through
righteousness, not by our law keeping, but unto eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So our rights,
are not by our goodness, because we don't have any. We have Christ,
and he's all we need. He's our whole salvation. He's
our all in all. Over in John chapter one, it
talks about, in verse 12, those who have received him. To them
gave he power. Now the word power there doesn't
mean ability. The word power there means the
right. right to become the sons of God. What right do I have to call
myself a child of God, a son of God? Well, it's even to them
that believe on His name. Well, what is His name? Well,
He's got many names because just one name won't describe Him,
but over here in Revelation 22, 13, here's His name. He's the
Alpha and the Omega. He's the beginning and the end.
He's the first and the last. He's the tree of life. My life
is in him. My righteousness, Christ is my
righteousness. I don't have any righteousness
in myself. You see, when God, the Holy Spirit
gives us life within, regeneration, conversion, the new birth, that
doesn't make us righteous within ourselves, as some people say,
but it does cause us to look out of ourselves to Christ alone
for righteousness. And that's a blessing from God.
Now, what is God's commandment to his people in order to have
right to the tree of life? Now, God issues forth a lot of
commandments to his people. We who are believers today, we
have a lot of commandments in the New Testament that are given
to us. And they are commandments of
love and obedience and faith, all of these things, things we
are to do. But we are forbidden by God to
do anything, to try to do anything in order to attain or maintain
righteousness, in order to be saved. To do anything by way of obedience
in order to attain righteousness or to be saved is against God's
commandment. God commands us to look to Christ. God commands us to submit to
Christ righteousness as that which alone gives us right to
the tree of life, entitles us to eternal life and glory. God
commands us to trust him and to rest in him as our Sabbath. So that's what he's talking about
there. Blessed are they, verse 14, that
do his commandments. that they may have right to the
tree of life. We have life in him and may enter
in through the gates into the city. I'm a citizen of the kingdom
of heaven, the eternal city. Now look at verse 15. He says,
for without, that is outside of this city, he says there are
dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, and whoever
loveth and maketh a lie." Now, when you read passages of scripture
like that, most people relegate those things. They assign those
things only to the openly immoral, perverted criminals of society. For example, people would say,
well, that can't be referring to anybody who's religious or
anyone who's sincere. But I'll tell you what, if you're
going to think biblically, think like a Christian, bring all of
our thoughts and our imaginations into submission to Christ and
his obedience, you need to learn that this refers to all unbelievers. No matter what their station
of life is, no matter what their condition, no matter what their
state is, whether they're in prison or whether they're in
a palace, whether they're in a house of ill repute or in a
false church, This is what it refers to. For example, for without
our dogs. The reason I believe he uses
this language is that was a common term that the unbelieving Jews
used for the Gentiles. Gentile dogs. And as I've always
said when I go to that, these dogs didn't have papers. They
weren't purebreds. These were cur dogs that roam
around in the garbage. These were unwanted, outcast
animals. Well, if you look over in Philippians
chapter three, the apostle Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit
to speak this way in Philippians three in verse one, when he says,
finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same
things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it
is safe. And then he says, beware of dogs. Now, who's he talking about here?
He says, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the
concision. And then he says, for we are
the circumcision. You know who he's talking about
there? He's talking about unbelieving Jews who claim to be Christian,
but who were trying to come into the Gentile areas where the churches
were and bring Gentile believers under the old covenant law of
circumcision. In order to be saved, in order
to be righteous, in order to be more holier. And Paul's saying that they're
dogs. In other words, they're outcasts. They claim to be Christian,
but they're not. And so in verse 15 of Revelation
22, he says, outside of the city, outside of the citizenship that
we can have in Christ, outside of that, they're dogs, they're
outcasts. Sorcerers, he says, that's false
religion, that's superstition is what it is. Whoremongers. Certainly that would apply to
people who are involved in the fleshly appetites without any
regard for the glory of God or anything. But he's talking about
here those who are following the great whore, Babylon. Prostituted
themselves out in their false religion. Murderers. Certainly
that would include those who are killers of men's persons,
men's physical bodies, people's physical bodies. But he's also
talking about soul murders. Remember in John chapter eight
and verse 44, when Christ was speaking to the Pharisees and
he said, you're of your father, the devil and the lust of your
father you'll do. He was a what from the beginning?
A murderer. When Satan brought about the
fall of man by tempting Eve, He didn't pull out a knife or
a gun and shoot her, but he did murder her. Murdered her soul. That's when death comes. Die
and thou shalt die. That's what the Lord said. Every
false preacher that is standing in a pulpit today is not only
spiritually dead himself, but he's murdering souls. When you
point sinners, to go on the broad road that leads to destruction,
leads to death. That's soul murder. And somebody
says, well, they don't mean that, they don't intend, no, they think,
they're deceived. They think what they're doing
is correct, it's the right way, but it's not. So they're murderers. Idolaters, you know what idolaters
are? Those who worship another god.
Those who worship God, not as God reveals himself to be, not
as God identifies himself and distinguishes himself in his
word, but they worship God as they think him to be. And normally
they bring God down to their level and make him like themselves. In other words, man's idol, main
idol is himself. And he says, and whosoever loveth
and maketh a lie, What is that lie? Well, that lie has anything
to do with salvation that does not line up with the commandment
over here, the gospel of salvation by the sovereign grace of God
through the Lord Jesus Christ and based upon his righteousness
alone. And so in verse 16, He comes
to, he says, I, Jesus. He identifies himself without
any question. Here's Jesus. Jesus, that's the
name Yeshua. In the Old Testament, Joshua
or Yeshua. What does it mean? His name shall
be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's what the name means. It's
the certain salvation. of every sinner whom Jesus Christ
represented, substituted himself, stood as surety on the cross,
and died for. There'll be no sinners in hell
for whom Christ died. His name is Jesus. And he said,
I, Jesus, have sent mine angel, my messenger, to testify unto
you these things in the churches. You remember the seven churches
in Revelation 2 and 3 of Asia Minor. But this is to all churches,
all true churches, this is a message from God. And here's what he
says, I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning
star. What is the root? Well, the root
is the source of all the fruit. He's the source of everything. Christ said, I'm the vine, you're
the branches. It's the same kind of language.
He's the beginning of it. And he says, I'm the root of
David. The root of David. What does that mean? He's the
root of David's salvation. He's the root of every sinner's
salvation. Every sinner who is saved. But
he's also not only the root of David and he's also the offspring
of David. In other words, he's the source
of David's salvation, and yet he's the child of David. How
can that be? You know, back over in Matthew
chapter 22, in this chapter, the Lord is being confronted
by various groups of people who were trying to trick him. They
were trying to get him to say things that they could accuse
him, for which they could accuse him of being a lawbreaker or
being against Rome or against the Jewish law. And each time
he put them in their place. The Lord is, his wisdom was just
so infinite. And after they had finished their
questions, it says in Matthew 22, it says in verse 34, it says, make sure I'm at the right passage
here. Yeah, it says in verse 41 rather, It says, while the
Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what
think ye of Christ? What do you think about the Messiah?
You claim the Messiah is coming. What's your thoughts? Whose son
is he? And notice their answer in verse
42. They say unto him, the son of David. Well, that's the same
thing over here in Revelation 22, 16, saying he's the offspring
of David. They were right. You know, and
what that's speaking of is the human nature of Christ. The human genealogy of Christ,
it ran through Adam, I mean it ran through Abraham and to David. Matthew 1.1, you know when Matthew
speaks of the genealogy of Christ, he begins that way. The son of
David, the son of Abraham. And that's speaking of his humanity. His humanity had a beginning.
He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy
Spirit without sin. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. But look on in verse 43 of Matthew
22. Well, he said unto them, how then doth David in spirit
or by the Holy Spirit call him Lord? Saying the Lord said unto
my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? Think about that. If he's David's
God and David worshiped him, How could he be called David's
son? And it says in verse 46, and no man was able to answer
him a word, neither dared any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. They couldn't answer. Now I can
answer that question. Can you? You can. He's both. He's David's God. He created
David. He's the Savior, David, and he's
David's offspring, David's son, according to the faith. He's
God-man. Now, can I explain all that?
No, and I don't need to. That's a mind-boggling truth.
That's a miracle. That's too high above us. But
I know it's true. He is God in human flesh. Back over there in verse 13 of
Revelation 22, he said, I am. Alpha and omega. It's one of
the I am statements that connects him to the statements that the
Lord made to Moses back on the mount. I am that I am. Jehovah, the Lord, our righteousness,
I am. And he's the root and the offspring
of David, the bright and morning star. He's the sun rising in
the east and setting in the west. Here he comes to do his great
work, rising out of the east, and he finished the work setting
in the west. So Christ is all things to his
people. And this deity and humanity of
Christ, though it's a mind-boggling truth, it's a necessary truth.
The Bible teaches us over here in Hebrews chapter 2 as well
as other passages that he had to be made flesh and blood without
sin. Verse 14 of Hebrews 2, for as
much then as the children, God's children, God's elect, are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same
that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took
not on him the nature of angels. You see, God did not unite with
an angelic nature, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. That's
God's elect. Wherefore, verse 17 of Hebrews
2, in all things it behooved him. He was indebted, obligated. Why? Because of a covenant he
made with the Father and the Spirit before the foundation
of the world, whereby the sins of God's elect were charged to
him. And he was obligated to pay that
debt, behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. In order
to pay the debt, he had to become human. He had to unite with humanity
without sin, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God and make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. he had to pay the sin debt. He
had to bring forth everlasting righteousness for his people
and bring about their salvation.