It's good to be back with you.
Appreciate you having us. It's a blessing to fellowship
with you. And I pray, as our brother did,
that the Lord will give us the incomparable blessing of enabling
us and causing us to worship together. To worship our Savior. Can you think of anything better
than that? If the Lord will give us the grace to worship Him together. People are united in friendships
and are formed by people sharing certain experiences like going
into battle together and things like that. When you're in life-threatening
situations together, there's a brotherhood formed. But nothing
compares to gathering as God's family, as a bunch of sinners
huddling together. seeing if the Lord will reveal
himself to us and comfort us and give us the everything that
we need. And I pray he'll give us that
great blessing this morning to worship him together. And I've
already enjoyed being here, but that's what we're here for. May
he grant us that. In Revelation chapter 22, We'll really begin our exposition
in verse 10, but I just want to read up to that verse from
verse 1. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. Where our brother read there
in Psalm 146, it says, thy throne. O Lord, shall be established
forever. The Lord reigneth forever, even
thy God. O Israel, life comes from the
throne. There's no life until we bow
to God's will in salvation, to God's will in providence every
day of our lives. There could be no life unless
we look to his throne for mercy and grace and see everything
that happens to us as coming from his throne. And that pure
river of water of life, of course, is Christ himself. Life is Christ. In the midst of the street of
it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of
life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit
every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
his servants shall serve him. That's why no more curse, because
no more sin. Because of Christ and who he
is, we have the very righteousness of God in Christ, no more curse.
And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their
foreheads, and there shall be no night there. They need no
candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth
them light. And they shall reign forever
and ever. And he said unto me, these sayings
are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy
prophets sent his angel, his messenger, to show unto his servants
the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I, John, saw these
things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen,
I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed
me these things. Then saith he unto me, see thou
do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren,
the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. And you see all
of the mention in these previous verses to verse 10 concerning
the sayings of this book. I heard, I saw, I heard. And
it's said to him, keep, blessed is he that keepeth the sayings
of this book. And then he said to me, don't
seal the sayings of this book. Seal not the sayings of the prophecy
of this book. For the time is at hand, the
angel simply is saying here to John, don't conceal any of this,
seal it not. The word seal there is to conceal. So all that we've learned in
the book of God, everything you've ever learned, don't hide it,
don't hold it back. Everything God's ever shown you,
the time is at hand. Don't hold back, this is a message
to us. Not just talking about the book of Revelation, although
that's probably primarily the context here, but the whole book
of God, everything God has revealed. God now can seal things up for
a time. He said, I've got many things
to say to you, when he was speaking to his disciples. You can't bear
them now. That's sealed for now. But the
Lord opens those seals. He commands them to be opened.
And now, all the seals are open. Everything God has revealed in
this book. Don't hold it back This world needs to hear from
God We need to hear from God God's sheep And in all of this
book are shown that Christ is all everybody needs to know that
Don't conceal that We've seen in everything I feared, preaching
through the book of Revelation, I thought, I'm not ready, I'm
not ready. And then still not ready, one
day I began to study it and to preach from it. And you know
what I found out? It's the same message as every other book in
this Bible. Christ, his sovereignty, his
power to save, his great mercy and love toward his people. His
destruction of his enemies, all that God has revealed. Salvation
by the blood of the Lamb, redemption. He's redeemed us out of every
kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue under heaven, and we're going
to praise Him forever for it. And God shows that, and we're
to show everybody that'll listen to us. Don't conceal this. Show
them the terrible consequences of hating God and His Christ.
There are consequences. People talk about, well, God
just wants everybody to be saved. He's inviting everybody to be
saved. When I invite people to my house to say a dinner party,
if they don't come, they don't go to hell for that. This is
not an invitation. Don't conceal that. He said,
if you don't warn them, their blood is on your hands. Warn
people of the consequences of their clear indifference to the
Son of God in this world. Show them how that all of heaven
sings glory to the Lamb. Show them that. Show them all
of the enemies of God done away with, as we see in this book
of Revelation. Show them the conquest of Christ
over every evil thing. If you don't see anything in
the book of Revelation, it's that Christ wins. Christ wins.
Christ wins. His people win because He wins.
Conquering. victorious. Show them the scope
of Christ's redeeming power. A number which no man can number
will stand before his throne forever praising him because
you were slain and have redeemed us unto God by your precious
blood. Shine the light of the bright
and morning star. He said to us, you're the light
of the world. And as the moon reflects the light of the sun,
he's the bright and morning star. But we reflect that light as
God is pleased to use us to do that. You're the light, you're
the salt. But when he sent us out now to
shine, he said this, all power is mine. Therefore you go. Not all power is yours. All power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. Now you go. You go. And that's our authority. That's
our warrant to say what we do and to preach what we preach. The power of Christ. The authority
of Christ. His sovereign authority. As this book does, don't conceal
His glory. As this book has revealed the
glory of God in the face of His Son, don't hide that. Don't put
that light under a bushel. Glory to the Lamb, who alone
is worthy. Worthy is the Lamb, is our song.
Now, not just then. To glorify the Lamb, that lost
sinners might hear and see and believe on the Son of God. It's
a word to us. John wrote all of it, because
the angel said, don't seal up any of this. Write it down. And
now that's a message to us, though. If John wrote it all, we're to
preach it all. If the apostles and the prophets wrote everything
that God showed them, we're to preach everything God showed
them. that he's shown to us. It's an urgent message, isn't
it? Time, the time is at hand. There's a timetable. There's
a time limit. The time is at hand. Don't seal
it. And God, give us the spirit of
that in this wretched world. I know to say we're outnumbered
is an understatement. Our voice in this world is When they told Bartimaeus to
shut up, you know what he did? He cried louder. Because he knew that Christ is
all. 2 Corinthians 6, we then as workers
together with him, can you believe that? Beseech you also that you
receive not the grace of God in vain. That's right now. That's when the gospel is preached.
Don't receive the message of His grace in vain. For He saith,
I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I secured thee. Behold, now is that time. Now is the accepted time. Don't
receive the grace of God in vain this morning, because now. There
is no tomorrow. And if there's a tomorrow, there
won't be a tomorrow tomorrow either. Now. And I like the way this is worded.
Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day. It doesn't even say today is
the day. It says now is the day of salvation. And look at verse
11. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. This is the time which is at
hand that he was just talking about. The time is at hand where
whoever is unjust will be that way throughout eternity. He which
is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous,
that will never change either. That's never going to change.
Let him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy
still. Now this is a declaration regarding that time that is at
hand. The time at hand when whoever is filthy, there's not going
to be any cleansing anymore. What a sobering statement. No more cleansing. When the time that is at hand, Is the present time and this
is how it's going to be and always remember now. This is when the
lord returns clearly But also when you die Which might be? today Might be before you walk
out that door today This is this is that time for you then Whatever
you are then you're going to be forever the unrighteous and
filthy Banished from God, but not just hell is not just the
absence of God. It's every bad thing God can
do to you Glory is everything you can't think of anything good That heaven is not because Christ
is all Hell is not just the absence
of that it's the very furious wrath of God against your sin
forever because you can never pay for it. That time is at hand,
one way or the other. When you meet the Lord, maybe
when he returns to this earth in person, but the Lord may say
to you tonight as he did to that rich man that said, well, boy,
I better build some bigger barn. Look how rich I am. He said,
you fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Whatever state your soul is in
at that time, it will always be, and the consequences of that,
of your condition before God, will be experienced, whatever
they are. Now, that's not true right now, and this is important
for me to say. That's not the way it is right
now. The state you're in right now
may not be the state you're in when you leave this building.
It may not be. You may be filthy now before
God. He may wash you in his blood
before you walk out that door in your experience of his grace. You may be unjust now and yet
leave just because of the power of Christ to save. But the time is at hand when
that's no longer the case. This morning, It's the way it
is now. He that is unjust, come to Christ. But the time is at hand where
there won't be any of that. If you're filthy now, by God's
grace, you may wash your robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. But
that's right now. That's now. Now is that time. The only way
a filthy person before God can ever be clean is by the precious
blood of Christ. That is, when he went to Calvary
and died on the cross, he died as your lamb, as your representative,
as your righteousness, as your propitiation, which just means
sin offering. If you're holy in the sight of
God, if you're righteous, nothing can ever change that. Being found in Christ, not having
your own righteousness, but his righteousness, that can never
change. And those two states of being,
filthy or clean, unjust or just, they have consequences. That's
what we see in the next verses. Look at verse 12. And behold, I come quickly, and
my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work
shall be. Now the reward here is dues paid
for work. It's the paycheck. It's what
you receive for what you've done. So you say reward is a good thing. Not necessarily. The reward of
sin is death, the wages of sin. That's the word here. Romans
6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And there in Romans 6.23,
it's wages for your sin, but a gift to sinners. The gift of God is eternal life. Wages what you're owed for your
sin. But if you receive eternal life
from the Lord Jesus Christ, it's his free gift. You see that in
the very chapter we're looking at right now. Come take the water
of life, but freely, freely, without money and without price.
If your wages in the end, when the Lord comes back or when you
leave this world, if your wages are not eternal spiritual death,
Then, as Romans 6.23 says, it is through Christ Jesus, our
Lord, that that happens. Otherwise, you get what you're
owed. Don't ever say, I want what's
coming to me. Not in a spiritual sense. Taking your sin, the Lord Jesus
Christ, suffering the penalty of your sin in your place, taking
your sin, taking the consequences of your sin upon himself, putting
away your sin by the sacrifice of himself, as it says in Hebrews
chapter 9. This is why we preach Christ
with urgency. He said, behold, I come quickly. And not only are the unjust going
to stay that way, but they're going to get what's coming to
them. And we know that's eternal hell.
He comes quickly. He said, I come quickly. And
you might say, well, Chris, it's been a long time since this was
written. According to who? According to who? 2 Peter 3a,
but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day
is with the Lord as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as one day. If he comes back today, you know
what you'll say? That was quick. When there's something you're
wanting to happen really bad, you know, and it seems like forever,
it's never going to happen, it's never going to happen, and then
it does, and you look back and you're like, it really wasn't that long,
I just, I'm just like a little kid, you know, I just couldn't
wait. God's time is never too long.
It's never too long. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness. Men are, but not the
Lord. But he's long-suffering to us-ward. Isn't this interesting? It doesn't
say he takes his time. It doesn't say he's slower than
we are or whatever. The reason that the Lord hasn't
come back yet today is because of his long-suffering grace for
his elect. Not willing that any should perish,
but that all of those he loved from eternity and chose in Christ
should come to repentance. You want the Lord to come back
now? I kind of do, but you know what? There's a few folks I'd sure
love to see saved before that happens. How about you? The Lord is long-suffering. He's not willing that any of
his sheep should ever perish. They're not going to. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved. What manner of persons ought
ye to be? Would it change who you are if
you could always see everything around you burning up? and know
why it's burning up? Because the Lord's done with
this thing and we're going to be with him forever now. Will
that change your attitude or your manner of life? Looking
for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved And the elements shall
melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens. We're not just sick of this earth.
We're looking for a new one. And a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
of him in peace without spot and blameless. In other words,
in Christ, being found in him, an account that the longsuffering
of our Lord is salvation. He saved somebody you love today
or tomorrow or a year from now. Rejoice that the Lord was longsuffering
like he was with you. Verse 13 of our text, I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning, and the end, the first, and the last. I want you to think about something
for a second. When summing up the origin and the goal of everything, the alpha, the origin, and the
goal of everything. You know how God sums that up?
Everything. Here's how he does it. I am. I am. I am Alpha and Omega. What's the point of everything?
I am. What's the source of everything?
I am. What's the purpose of everything?
I am. In the beginning God, first words of this book, the last
words, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
The Alpha and the Omega. God purposed salvation and chose
his elect in Christ Jesus before the world began. And the very
apex of what salvation is, is us being with Christ and just
like Christ. From start to finish, salvation
is of the Lord and salvation is Christ. Alpha and Omega, Paul said, we
preach Christ. The better place that people
talk about, he's in a better place, she's in a better place.
Paul said, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ,
which is the better place. which is far better. God's first promise of grace
was Christ, the woman's seed. God's last promise to sinners
is his son saying, behold, I come quickly. The believer's response to this
last promise is what? Even so, Even so, come, Lord
Jesus. Come and establish your kingdom,
your eternal kingdom. He taught us to pray, thy kingdom
come. Come and establish your eternal
kingdom, Lord. Come and put an end to every
enemy and all of the hatred and injustice and destruction that
the enemies of God wreak upon this world. Come and wipe our
tears away. Come and receive us unto yourself
that where you are, there we may be also. Come and change
these vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto your glorious
body. Even so, come Lord Jesus. You are the one thing we need. Come. Come Lord Jesus and come ye sinners
to Him. In the last part of this chapter
the word is to sinners come. And sinners cry out to Him. Come. Our Lord's prayer in John
17, his high priestly prayer was part of it. Father, I will
that those whom you've given me be with me where I am. He says come, and we say to him,
come. The one thing we need, let me
ask you this question this morning. What prayer do you have this
morning? What is the deepest? And we have a lot of when you
pray, I'm sure you don't just pray one thing usually. We have several lots of things
that we ask the Lord and things that don't even come to mind
that we need. But. What is that one prayer
of your heart? That sort of puts everything
else into perspective. And let me ask you this, what
prayer do you have that the best answer to that prayer would not
be the Lord coming back right now? Verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent
my angel my messenger to testify and to use these things in the
churches. I am the root and the offspring
of David and the bright and morning star. May God give all who speak for
him, whether from a pulpit or in the living room for your children
or your husband or wife or just somebody that you love and you
want. The Lord's given an opportunity for you to speak for him or to
say, come with me and here. the gospel preached, and just
somebody you care for. God, give us the grace, as long
as we live, to testify this. Look at the testimony. I, Jesus,
have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the
churches. What things? Again, I am. May everything we say for him
be that. who he is, including what he
did because of who he is. His work is integral to his person. The root and the offspring of
David, the root of David, the origin and the creator of David,
and yet the offspring of David. David came from Christ. And yet,
in God's wonderful purpose and grace, Christ came from David.
Because it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God. If Christ is David's son, how
then did David call him Lord? That was the question that the
Lord asked the religious Jews that made it to where they wouldn't
even ask him another question. by God's grace, we know how and
why David called him Lord. Though without Christ was not
anything made that was made, including David, him being God
the creator, yet in God's eternal glorious grace toward his beloved
elect, God sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin, and he condemned sin in the flesh for us, in the person
of Christ. Without Christ, there would be
no David. But God's grace is so wonderful
and mysterious and condescending to sinners like us, that in his
saving providence, without David, there would be no Christ. God
made it that way. But by the instrumentation of
man, I know that before David was, Christ is. The Lord Jesus
said, before Abraham was, I am. We know that's true by God's
grace. But by the instrumentation of
man, the God-man was born into this world that he might be that
merciful and faithful high priest. Unto God for us, not that Christ
was born of a man. He was not. He is the seed of
woman. Joseph, not yet having known
Mary, the Lord was conceived of the Holy Ghost. But in the
lineage of David, David's son, and yet David's Lord. And so
unto us in the city of David is born a Savior, which is Christ
the Lord. And he said, I'm the bright and
morning star. We think of stars as way out
there, little twinkly things. Our sun is a star. A star does not reflect light. It is light. It's energy. It's power. It's life to an entire
population of people, an entire planet, as Christ is the only
life for any sinner. If anyone on planet Earth has
or will have life, it's Christ, the source, and life himself. He's the bright star because
he's the brightness of the glory of God. Hebrews 1.3, who being
the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his
person and upholding all things by the word of his power when
he had by himself purged our sins. You see where God's glory
is seen? You see the context of where
it says Christ is the brightness of God's glory. He purged our
sins on Calvary by himself. He offered his own soul in offering.
He purged our sins and sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. That's the brightness of God's
glory right there. The person Christ in him crucified. And he's the morning star. The
day star. He is the sun in heaven itself. The city had no need of the sun,
neither of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God did
lighten it. And the lamb is the light thereof. May he reveal himself to us now. May we see His light in this
dark world. His light in this dark heart.
God has shined in our hearts. The God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. The God who in the beginning
said, let there be light and there was light. That's what
happened to me. He shined in my heart. That God
that commands light. He didn't offer it. He didn't
make light available. He says, let there be light,
and there's light. Paul said, that's what happened
in here for me. He commanded the light to shine
in my heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God. Where's that, Paul? In the face
of Jesus Christ. May we see this morning the bright
and morning star. Listen to what Simon Peter, turn
with me, I haven't had y'all turn to anything because I didn't
want to be too long this morning, but turn with me to 2 Peter chapter
1 for just a minute. 2 Peter 1.19 Now before this, before verse
19 in 2 Peter chapter 1, Simon's talking about how they saw the
Lord. They witnessed Him. They saw Him reveal His glory
on the Mount of Transfiguration. But look at what he says in verse
19, we have also something more certain than that, more reliable
than that. Something more sure than that
the word of prophecy the word of God the scriptures a more
sure word of prophecy where and to You do well, and this is him
talking to us and me talking to us this morning Where and
to you do well we do well That we take heed that we take heed
that this is not just another Sunday morning message that we
agree with and go on. We need Him more now than we
ever have. We need to look to Him more now.
We need to not seal the truth that He's revealed to us now
more than ever. Take heed as unto a light that
shineth in a dark place. That's the bright and morning
star. But listen, how long, Simon? How long do we do that? How long
do we take heed? How earnestly do we need to apply
ourselves and take heed under this word of prophecy? Until. Just keep hearing it. Keep coming
and worshiping together. Bring everybody you love that'll
come with you. Until the day dawn. Until the sun comes up. in somebody's
heart, and I'm in my heart, in your heart, until the day dawn
and the day star arise in your hearts. You know what that dark
place is? A light shining in a dark place? Oh, this world is a dark place.
But the context won't allow for us to think it's this world. It's this heart. And the day star arise in your
hearts. Christ is the one who, if he
enter your heart by grace through faith, he's the hope of glory. If he
rises in your heart, you have a sure hope of glory. And here's my prayer for us all
this morning. Dear God, shine in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of your glory in the face of your son.