Okay, we come now to our final,
what I'm pretty sure is going to be our final message from
this series of revelation that we started way back in February,
10 months ago. And we come to the last passage
of the book of Revelation. And I've called it, appropriately,
the end of the revelation of Jesus Christ. We've got to the
stage where there are no more visions to be given. We're in
verses 6 to 21 of the last chapter, not only of Revelation but of
the whole Bible. So there are no more visions
to be presented to us. The picture that's being presented
to us is that God's kingdom has indeed been triumphant, that
God has triumphed, that God, that Christ, who is the Lamb
of God, who is God himself, that Christ and his bride, who is
his bride? Redeemed sinners, redeemed from
the curse of the law, redeemed from the curse of sin that would
separate them from God, bought back from it, bought into fellowship
with God, those who were elect in the sovereign grace of God
before the beginning of time, those who, as Jeremiah says,
were loved with an everlasting love, those who, as the Psalmist
says, were made willing by the Holy Spirit, in the day of his
power to come and to believe in God. These have been brought
safe through the tribulation of this world, through the great
tribulation, and they're confirmed. The picture of them in chapters
21 and the start of chapter 22 is God with his people, with
nothing in the way, with no sin in the way. They're confirmed
in eternal bliss. God's kingdom has indeed been
triumphant. And this is exactly this state
that we've seen in the last couple of messages of Revelation is
exactly the state that Satan strove to stop from happening. What did he do? What was it he
wanted to stop from happening? He couldn't stand the idea that
God would elevate man to be joint heirs with Christ. That God would
elevate man to reign with Christ, which is what the scripture tells
us will happen. Satan strove with all his might to stop that
from happening. He strove to prevent by the fall
in the Garden of Eden, the subtlety of deceiving Eve that thereby
Adam, who was not deceived, might, out of choice, choose to abandon
his relationship with his garden-maker. He strove to prevent the kingdom
of God being triumphant by disabling the coming of the promised seed,
because the promised seed right there at the fall in Genesis
3.15, that promised seed was the Christ of God, God himself
as a man coming to undo what Satan had done in the fall, to
redeem his people from the curse of the law. If he could disable
that seed from coming down through history, he would ruin redemption. He knew that he must come in
the middle of time, when the fullness of the time was come.
But if he could stop him from coming, and all the history of
the people of Israel, the people of God, right the way down to
the coming of Christ, was seeking to prevent it from happening.
And he tried to prevent God's kingdom being triumphant, by
falsely claiming that you can get to the tree of life. Do you
remember last week I pointed out the end of Genesis chapter
3, where God set up a guard to show, to prove, to ensure that
there was only ever one way to the tree of life. We must have
access to the tree of life, but there's only one way, and that's
through the redemption that Christ accomplished. The only way was
through shed blood, the blood of a perfect substitute, the
blood of God himself. Because it says, God has purchased
his church with his own blood. That's in Acts chapter 20. And
Satan tried to destroy that. He falsely claimed that you could
get to the tree of life, you could get to heaven. motivated
man in his unbelief and defiance to build the Tower of Babel,
whatever that was in Genesis 11. And God confounded the nations
and set them one against another. And Satan sought, once Christ
had accomplished his purpose, to destroy the kingdom of God
and prevent it from happening by persecuting the true Church. by seeking to sweep it into conformity
with his dark globalist kingdom. And we see it going on today.
It's been going on ever since Christ came and returned to glory.
But God has frustrated every one of Satan's attempts to prevent
the kingdom of God from triumphing. We've seen God's kingdom has
triumphed here. We, as we experience it in this
life here and now, look forward to the realization of it. But
it is accomplished. From the view of eternity, from
the view of heaven, it is entirely accomplished. God's people with
their Savior, in eternal glory, without sin. But he sought, by
persecution, to sweep the church, to sweep the people of God, to
sweep the bride of Christ into conformity with his dark globalist
kingdom. Now, God frustrated every one
of his attempts. How did he do it? With divine
gospel truth. The seals, the first seal, calling
forth a horse, a white horse, to go into this fallen world
of sin, of Satan, God sent forth the gospel of his grace. People
to preach it, people to proclaim the truth of God and the light
of God. He gave his word, he gave his
word. From early on, he gave his word.
He spoke to individuals who preserved it. So with divine gospel truth,
he frustrated Satan's purposes to destroy the kingdom of God.
With war between the nations, that was the red horse, he frustrated. Satan's purposes in building
a globalist, godless kingdom. With economic disharmony, that's
the black horse of those seals. With economic disharmony on a
grand scale, you know that verse that says, hand-to-mouth existence
for nearly everybody but don't touch the oil and the wine, don't
touch the riches of the rich, and has it ever been more polarised
than it is today? The vast chasm that there is
between the hand-to-mouth existence of the vast majority and the
colossal, obscene riches of a tiny minority. And he sent forth the
pale horse of disease and death so that this globalist utopia
of Satan's imagination would never be realized, for a quarter
and then a third of humanity are swept away by it. And then
there was his justice that couldn't ever be ignored, for there was
the cry of justice from under the altar of God, crying out
for recompense against Satan and his sin and the sin of his
kingdom. and he sent forth the gradual
destruction of this creation, this beautiful creation that
God has made, but he sent forth the gradual destruction of this
creation's ability to support comfortable life. You know, we
hear a lot about global warming and climate change and the need
for net zero and all of these things. This is utterly futile
nonsense. Man has no ability to do anything
about any of these things. But I'm telling you, are things
changing? Well, if they are, they're slowly
changing, but they are going to change. This world is going
to become impossible to support human life. in time to come,
before too long. History has unfolded down the
centuries. History has unfolded exactly
as God's Word has revealed. You might remember from three
or four messages ago, maybe a bit more than that, the history of
the world, of the empires of the Old Testament. God's Word
revealed it before it happened. And now, in 2023, we await one
final thing. What is the one final thing that
we're waiting for? It is Christ's return. Christ to come in judgment,
to end this creation, to usher in a new one. We've seen all
of these things. And you might say, well, so what?
What's that got to do with me? Well, I'll tell you, it's got
everything to do with every single one of us, you included. Either
you are with God and with his people, or you're with Satan. There's no sitting on the fence,
there's no half measures. Either you are with God and his
people or you're with Satan. If you are with God and his people,
heaven's bliss is your eternal state. If you're with Satan and
the unbelieving world that despises the things and the truth of God,
that calls God a liar, if you're with him, what the scripture
calls the lake of fire awaits. Oh, here's a hellfire preacher.
Oh, I thought we'd got rid of all of those. I'm sorry, as long
as the word of God says it, I will stand here unashamedly and preach
it. The word of God says that if you're with Satan, amongst
the unbelieving hordes of this world, what scripture calls the
lake of fire. That's symbolism. What it means
in reality, I don't know, but it doesn't sound very pleasant
to me. The lake of fire awaits. But, so, where we've got to is
God's kingdom is triumphant, and everything that Satan has
tried to do to stop that from happening has been frustrated
by the purpose of God. How could it be otherwise? God
is God. God is the source of life. God
rules over all things. God has moved everything according
to his eternal purpose. It couldn't be any other way.
But, before this book of Revelation, Indeed, before the whole Bible,
because Revelation is the last book of the Bible, the last revelation
from God given in history by the Apostle John about the year
A.D. 95, before this book of Revelation and the whole Bible,
before it closes, we see the affirmation in these verses,
verse 6 to verse 21 of the last chapter of the last book of the
Bible, we see the affirmation of five key things. And this is what I want to bring
before you this morning. The affirmation of five key things. I've got the coming of God is
affirmed, is underlined, so you're in no doubt. I've got the judgment
of God. Don't think for one second that
this world is going to end without the just judgment of sin. All
sin. Your sin. My sin. All of it.
We've got the affirmation of the only solid basis of truth
for this life and eternity, which is the Word of God. That's number
three. Number four, we've got the affirmation
here in amongst these things, the clear affirmation of the
call of God, the call to come and believe him and to trust
him before it's too late. And finally, we've got the underlining
in the last verse of the grace of God. The grace, because do
you know, Moses said to God, Lord, show me your glory. And
that will do. Show me your glory. And he said,
this is my glory. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. So, five key things affirmed. The first one is the coming of
God. Don't think for one moment that
things are just going to bobble along exactly as they are at
the moment. In 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 24, it states it
clearly. It states it throughout the scripture.
Then cometh the end. I'll say it again. Then cometh
the end, when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God,
even the Father. Jesus testified repeatedly. He is coming back. He came once
as a baby in Bethlehem, born to Mary, a virgin, conceived
of the Holy Ghost, to come and redeem his people from the curse
of the sin, the curse of the law. Jesus, who is God, grew
as a man. He is a high priest for his people,
who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He's lived
in this flesh yet without sin. And he testified repeatedly that
he's coming back to this world in judgment. First time he came,
he came to save. This second time he's coming,
it's to judge and to end all things. And when will it be?
We don't know. It will be unexpected. And again
and again, the illustration is used, as it was in the days of
Noah, when Noah was preaching that the world is going to end,
there's a flood coming, I'm building an ark because God has told me,
and they laughed him to scorn, and they carried on marrying
and giving in marriage and trading and doing everything that the
society all around us continues to do as days go on, and they
kept on saying, like they do today, that this cannot possibly
happen, but as unexpectedly as it was in the days of Noah, this
world will end. That's the word of God. The word
from heaven is that. We have it here. The world scoffs
at it. The world says, how can this
possibly be? The brains of this world say,
how can it possibly happen? Look at this great big universe
that we live in. Look at these billions of years
and the billions of years yet to come. Look at the vastness.
Look at the billions of galaxies. Look at the incomprehensible
vastness of it. Who on earth is bigger than that
universe? Who on earth can stop this? And
the answer, quickly and straightforwardly, is I'll tell you who's bigger
than this universe. The God who created and upholds
it. All of the laws that hold this
universe together All of the laws that do that are upheld
by the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Hebrews 1
tells us. For God's kingdom to triumph,
this world must end. It cannot carry on as it is.
We cannot have the kingdom of God triumphant while there is
still a kingdom with sin in it. It cannot be. While delusions
of evolutionary uniformitarian so-called science, if that's
big words, then what I mean is like Darwin's theories and all
that sort of thing, that the whole so-called science world
swallows hook, line and sinker, that things just carry on the
way they always have and nobody has got any power to stop it,
whilst that carries on to deceive most, Confirmed truth, that which
we can really observe, that which we can really go and touch and
pick up and feel and measure and look at, confirmed truth,
real historical archaeology, and not speculation based on
the paradigm that you start from, real true observation aligns
with the biblical testimony. It really does. I defy anybody
to refute that. Revelation began with an affirmation
of Christ's return. You know, this is what's being
affirmed here. The first affirmation, God is coming back, Christ is
going to return. In Revelation 1 and verse 7,
one of the first things said, one of the first things given
to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos was this, Behold, he
cometh with clouds. and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. There it is, clear. He's coming again. And now in
this chapter 22, it's repeated three times. Look in verse seven. Behold, I come quickly. That's his God speaking. Behold,
I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. Behold, I come quickly. Verse 12. Did you not hear it
the first time? Verse 12. And behold, I come
quickly. And verse 20, he which testifieth
these things saith, surely I come quickly. He's said it three times.
He's coming again. This world is going to end. Christ
is coming again. And what did it say in Revelation
1? Every eye shall see him. Every eye shall be aware of him
coming. It's a clear affirmation of his
impending return. And why is he coming back to
this earth? He is coming to judge. He is
coming to end. He is coming to create new. Are
you summoned to the marriage supper of the Lamb? We saw it
in Revelation chapter 19, the marriage supper of the Lamb,
the consummation of the marriage of Christ with the people he
loved from before the beginning of time. Are you summoned to
that marriage supper? Will you come? In the Gospels,
Jesus told a parable about my supper is ready, go out into
the highways and byways and invite them to come in and they all
made excuses. They said, oh, I've just bought
a field and I've got to go and check it out. Oh, I've just bought
a new car and it needs a test drive and excuses, excuses. Will you come to the marriage
supper of the Lamb or will you make excuses? Will you persist
in unbelief with the rest of the world? You see, When is it
going to come? You see, when you make excuses,
you say, well, it doesn't really matter. It's probably not gonna
happen now. Jesus said this in Matthew 24 and verse 44. He said,
be ye also ready. Ready for what? Him coming again
for the end. Be ye also ready. Listen to this. For in such an hour as ye think
not, the Son of Man cometh. There are many stories around
this, but there's one I remember being told a long time ago a
Bible teacher, a Mr. Guthrie, said to his students,
students of preaching, and he said to them in one of his lectures
one day, he said, do you think Christ will come today? And he
went round, and no, no, none of them thought he would come
today. He said, it's interesting that, because he said, for in
such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Let's
affirm again what is affirmed here, the first of these five
key things. God is coming. Christ is returning. And he's returning, secondly,
for judgment. It is for judgment. Sin must
be judged. God, in perfect holiness, must
recompense. He must pay. He must cause to
be paid the debt of every violation of his righteousness. Every sin
must be paid for. Every sin must receive its double,
as it says in Isaiah 40, its complete, perfect, balancing
wrath, to balance it from the offense against God and who he
is. God cannot continue without just
judgment. God would not be God, and God
cannot cease to be God, but he would not continue without the
just judgment of every sin. And it's appointed is that day.
You know I often quote Hebrews 9.27, it is appointed unto man
to die once, and then what? The judgment. Appointed to die
once and then the judgment we all have an appointment with
death and then the judgment and look at verse 11 that we touched
on last week he that is unjust let him be unjust still and He
which is filthy let him be filthy still and he that is righteous
Let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy
still as it says in Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 verse 3 the way the
tree falls. It's not moving. That's where
it's gonna lie. It's too heavy the way it falls. If you leave this life in a state
of sin and filthiness before the justice of God, that's how
you will stay for eternity. But if you're righteous, let
him be righteous still. How are you righteous? You are
only righteous in the redemption that Christ has accomplished. You're only righteous because
of the righteousness of God, that he has made all his people,
when he bore their sins, being made sin, he who knew no sin,
made sin for them, that they might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Whatever state you're found in
and you can't escape, You will thus be judged and you will remain
for eternity unjust, unjustified, polluted with sin, or righteous
with the imputed righteousness and holy nature and imparted
righteousness of God in Christ. That's your eternal state. And
the judgment is certain. It's affirmed here again. Either
you are in Christ with the right to the tree of life. We were
thinking of that last week, access to the tree of life. Either you
are in Christ, believing in him, trusting in him, because he has
paid your sin debt in his death and shed blood at the cross of
Calvary. Either you are in Christ with the right to the tree of
life and a passport to enter Jerusalem, or you're eternally
outside of him. and judged outside of him. Look
at verses 14 and 15. Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and
may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are
dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters,
and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Inside are those that
Christ has made the righteousness of God in him. They are the ones
that have done his commandments. What are his commandments? I'll
tell you what his commandment is. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. What must we do? That we do the
work of God. This is what Jesus said to those
Jews. Believe on the one whom he has sent. That's it. That's
what it is. We'll see more of that in a moment.
Blessed are they that do his commandments. What is his commandment?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that they may have a right to
the tree of life. It's in believing that you have
a right to the tree, a right to it. You're qualified for it. You're made meat for it. You
have a right for it. But outside are dogs. religious
prostitutes, those who are unfaithful to God. It says sorcerers are
outside, superstitious believers in dumb idols, that's most of
religion, and all others who refuse to submit to the truth
and righteousness of God. And all of them, verse 12, are
judged. He says in verse 12, behold I
come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according
as his work shall be. That's the judgment that is affirmed
here. Every man according as his work
shall be. What are his works? I've already
said one of them, John 6, 29. What must we do that we do the
work of God? Believe on the one whom he has
sent. That's what it is. In John chapter 3 and verse 18,
He that believeth on him that is on Christ is not condemned. Judgment's coming to determine
condemnation or entrance to life. He that believeth on Jesus is
not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because
he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And verse 36 of that same chapter, he that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. That judgment is coming, and
that judgment is sure. You see, in Romans 3.31, we read
that it's by faith alone, by belief in Christ alone, that
the law's righteous requirements are established. Paul asks, do
we make void the law through faith that you get right by doing
right things? Do we make void the law through
faith that says look to Christ and him alone? No, by faith we
establish the law of God. And then thirdly, the third thing
that is asserted here is the word of God. Look at verse six.
He said unto me, these sayings are faithful and true. These
sayings, which sayings? Which sayings? In the immediate
context, the book of Revelation, but you know, I'm sure it applies
to all of God's Word, because it says, look, these sayings
are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy
prophets, Old Testament prophets, sent his angel, messenger, to
show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. I
think that's pretty strong evidence that that is referring to the
whole of the Bible. And then look at verse 18. I
testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of
this book. If any man shall add to these things, God shall add
to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out
of the holy city and from the things which are written in this
book. Wouldn't you think that the last... Two verses before
the very end of the Bible is the sternest warning to add nothing
and take nothing away from this book. It's also echoing a warning
in the Old Testament given in Deuteronomy and chapter four. Deuteronomy and chapter four
and verse two. Ye shall not add unto the word
which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from
it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I
command you. And then in Malachi, Malachi
chapter four, Malachi chapter four and verse four, last book
of the Old Testament, and two or three verses from the end
of it, Malachi four, verse four. Remember ye the law of Moses
my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel,
with the statutes and the judgments. Don't take away from them. You
must keep them. God has sworn and can't lie. His word is truth. He cannot
fail for it to be done exactly as he speaks. He says in Isaiah
chapter 8 and verse 20, to the law and the testament, the scriptures,
if anybody speaks not according to this word, there is no light,
there is no truth in them. That's the yardstick, that's
the measure. If anybody speaks not according
to this word, there is no truth in them. And here God speaks
and reaffirms again in verse 7. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed
is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Verse 12. Behold, I come quickly, and my
reward is with me, to give to every man according to his work.
In verse 13. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last. Verse 16. I, Jesus, have
sent mine angel to testify to you these things. Verse 18, for
I testify unto every man that heareth these words. It's I that
is speaking. It is the great I am that is
speaking. It is God that is speaking. He
is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last. First and
last letters of the Greek alphabet. I am the first and the last.
I am the source, the origin of all things, and I will be the
culmination of all things, is what he's saying. Almighty God,
Who is Jesus? He is Jesus, which means deliverer,
which means saviour. He is, in verse 16, the root
and the offspring of David, and the bright and the morning star.
He's the root of David because David, the king, the supreme
king in Israel. David the king came from Christ,
and he is the offspring of David, because from David, if you look
at the genealogy in the first chapter of Matthew, you will
see that he came from that genealogy. He had to, to be the seed of
God, he had to come from that. He is the root of David. He is
the origin of David, but he's the offspring of David as well.
He's the one that came in the flesh to fulfil everything that
the Old Testament had said concerning the Messiah. Try the prophets,
said John, whether they be of God. He who confesses that Jesus
Christ is coming, he who confesses that the God of Scripture, the
God of the Old Testament, the God who is the sovereign God
of grace and particular redemption, came in the flesh in the person
of Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, it's him. He is the one.
They're of God. They're of God. He sent his angel. He sent his angel, his messenger,
through prophets, through preachers, ministry gifts to the church
in the wilderness separation from this world. His name is
the Word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, His name
is the Word of God. We saw it in Revelation 19 and
verse 13, where there's an image of Him on a white horse. He was
clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called
the Word of God, the Word of God. In John's Gospel, chapter
1 and verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. That Word is Christ. The Word
of God is Christ. Christ is preeminent in Psalm
138 and verse 2. The psalmist writes concerning
God, thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. And in Philippians chapter two
and verse nine, Philippians chapter two and verse nine, wherefore,
speaking of Christ, wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him, Christ, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus, Every knee should bow of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. He's exalted His Word, who is
Christ, above all His name. is the firm foundation that we
have, ye saints of the Lord. We're going to sing that at the
end. What more can he say than to you he has said? In 2 Peter
1, thinking about all of the things that religious folk claim,
Peter had been up on the Mount of Transfiguration and seen marvellous
things, but he said in verse 19, compared to that going up
on the mountain of Transfiguration, he says, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy. Whereunto ye do well, that ye
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. Your
word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path, says the
psalmist in Psalm 119, I think, isn't it? Verse 105. Until the
day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. The day star.
What does he say here? I am the bright and morning star
in verse 16. This is the word of God. Heed the clear warning to neither
add to it nor subtract from it. It's right here at the end of
the entire book of Revelation and the entire book of the Bible.
It's here with a warning. It says, blessed is he, verse
seven, blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of
this book. How do you keep the sayings of
the prophecy of this book? It's simple. Believe God. believe God. Let God be true
and every man a liar, believe God. Fourthly, and I've got to
be quick, the call of God is clearly here. I use this illustration
when I wrote my book the last time we went through this. I
used to commute in and out of King's Cross Station in London,
and you'd get to the station at, say, 6.20 going home, and
you'd hear the announcement that the train to Cambridge is at
platform 10, and we'll call it a whole list of places, and it
will depart at 1622. And it would say, this train
is now ready to depart. If you're intending to travel,
join the train now, because if you're any later, the doors will
close and you will be cut out. There's a gospel call to repentance
and faith, and it remains open until the very end. Look at verse
10. It remains open. That Gospel call remains open. The invitation remains open.
He saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book, for the time is at hand. Keep it open. Keep preaching
it. Don't seal it up. Seal not the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. Keep it open to public
scrutiny. Preach it. Declare it. The white
horse must continue to go forth in this fallen world to the very
end. And what is the white horse going
forth saying? Come to Christ in faith. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Look at verse
17. I know I often refer to it, but look at it there. The Spirit
and the Bride say, Come. God's Spirit. God's Spirit is
the one without whom we cannot see the things of God. The natural
man receiveth them not. They're spiritually discerned.
The Spirit gives that sight of the soul to see these things.
The Spirit and the Bride, who is the Church, who has heard
the call, they say to everybody else around, Come to Christ while
there is time. Come to Christ now while it's
the day of salvation. Come and fulfil the kingdom of
God is the message also to Christ himself. The Spirit and the church
say to Christ, even so, come Lord Jesus, as we see right at
the very end in verse 20. Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus. It's a call to him, but it's
also a call from the Spirit and the bride to people around saying,
come, let him that heareth. you who've heard the word of
God and believed it, say to those around you, come to Christ, here
is an open door, come to him and let him that is a thirst,
whosoever thirsts, said Jesus. John chapter 7, that great day
of the feast, the last day, whosoever is a thirst, let him come to
me and drink of the water of life Freely. There it is again. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Whosoever will. Who will? Those
whom the Spirit of God has made willing, as it says in Psalm
110, verse 3. He makes his people willing in
the day of his power. Has he made you, unbeliever,
willing to believe him? Praise God for his grace and
mercy and patience. Has he made you willing to come
into the fold of God? Come, look now how wide the door
is open, but don't wait, as that analogy said, the train is ready
to depart. Will you be on it? Oh, you say,
I've got no fare. I cannot pay the fare. I don't
have the righteousness that I need. Look, take of the water of life
freely, freely. Isaiah said it, 55, verse one. Ho, everyone that is thirsty,
come to the waters. Drink, buy without money and
without price. It's free, it's available there.
The blessing of salvation is for you if you will only come.
You'll be qualified to enter God's city. In verse 14, you
may enter through the gates into the city. You may have the right
to the tree of life, access to the tree of life. Is that not
exactly what Paul said to the Colossians? Colossians 1 verse
12, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet, fit,
qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. What must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved,
asked the Philippian jailer? Answer, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Heed the
call, and come to Christ in faith, and make your calling and election
sure. And then finally, the fifth thing
that is asserted here, in verse 21, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all. He asserts the grace of God.
The grace of God is the glory of God. The grace of God is that
key thing of God. He's powerful. He's holy. He's
omnipotent. But he said, Moses said, show
me your glory. And the thing that God showed
him was I will be compassionate to whom I will be compassionate.
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. The grace of God. So finally, the final words of
Revelation, the final words of the whole Bible, As we're going
to sing in a moment, what more can he say than to you he has
said? Those final words are a blessing
of grace on the believing people of God. And as long as this present
world lasts, we must wait patiently, looking. for the certain coming
of Christ. He's coming. He's definitely
coming. God's word promises the blessing
of God's undeserved, gracious favor on all who believe him.
What a comfort that is. Five assertions. The coming of
God, the judgment of God, the word of God, the call of God,
and the grace of God. all that you might hear and trust
and believe. And call on the Lord Jesus Christ,
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved.