I'd like for you to turn with
me to Revelation chapter 22. I've got some things to say that
may be a bit controversial or at the least perhaps different
than what you've ever heard over the years. And I want to begin
here. This is a quotation out of Ecclesiastes. Solomon, the son of David, the
prophet of God, said if a tree fall toward the south or toward
the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there shall
it be. It's not gonna change after it
falls. If it fell to the north, it's
gonna lie to the north. If it fell to the south, it's
gonna lie to the south. it's gonna lay exactly where
it falls. And I think if you'll study that
passage in Ecclesiastes chapter 11, you'll find that what he's
talking about has to do with the death of a man and the way
they go out to meet God after death. And this is the subject
of Revelation chapter 22 in verse 11. Now the prophecies of the Holy
Scriptures have been an open book. He told John in the previous
verses to this, he said, don't seal up the writings, don't seal
up what I've told you, for the time is at hand. What time? What time is at hand? Well, it's
that time of reading, that time of revelation, that time of consideration. And the prophecies of the Holy
Scriptures have been an open book. That's why God gave the
revelation. A man told me one time, he said,
oh, he said, now wait a minute, wait a minute, let's don't talk
about predestination. He said, that's, the secret things
belong unto God. And I said, the secret things
he don't reveal. What he's revealed is no secret. He's revealed those, now all
these things are written for our good, for our profit, is
what it says. These things are profitable.
They're not to be sealed out, they're not to be hidden, they're
not to be ignored. The prophecies of the Holy Scriptures
have been an open book, a book translated into nearly every
language under heaven. A book available. You might say,
well, I ain't got a Bible. Well, it's not hard to get one. I'd venture to say you wouldn't
have to go very far before somebody gave you one. The Bible is a
book available. It's easy to obtain. It's a book
written in the language of the common man. I remember when Kathy
first got diagnosed with cancer, I ordered a book on that disease.
And then I had to order another book to tell me what that book
was saying because I couldn't understand it. It was written
in the language of doctors. And the Bible's not written that
way. It's written in the language
of common men, just common men. It's a book filled with everyday
illustrations. A sower went out to sow. I can
understand that. I can get in on that. Went out
to sow. He threw some seed out there. He planted it and hoped to see
it grow. So this book is filled with everyday
illustrations and allegories and parables and types, symbols. It's a book which is without
controversy the Word of God. A man that argues that the Bible
is not the Word of God is an ignorant man. He's a fool. He's
a fool. And I don't have time this morning
to go over all the evidences But here's just a few. Everything
the holy prophets wrote was confirmed to be the word of God by Jesus
Christ, our Lord. Every word of it. He confirmed
it to be the word of God. God himself confirmed the writings
of the men who wrote the holy scriptures. And he did so by
miracles and wonders and signs and gifts of the Holy Ghost according
to his will. God himself confirmed it. I'm
gonna tell you something, if a man comes in here and thumps
somebody on the forehead and they fall out on the floor and
go to shaking and all that kind of stuff and he gets them by
the hand and raises them up, that's no miracle. But now when
you call a man three days dead out of the tomb, that's a miracle.
I'm gonna listen to that man. If a man comes to him with leprosy
and half of his face is gone and his mouth's covered with
a rag and he said, Lord, if you will, you can cleanse me, and
the Lord cleanses him, I'm gonna listen to that man. And that's what the apostles
told him. He said, God confirmed these
things with miracles and wonders and signs, which he did right
in your midst, as you yourselves also know. You saw the blind
man that he healed, and you knew who he was, and you knew he'd
been blind his whole life. Everything the holy prophets
wrote was confirmed to be the word of God, by Jesus Christ
and confirmed by God himself through miracles and wonders
and signs. And then thirdly, by the fulfillment
of its promises and warnings. The Bible is the only book ever
written that every prophecy that it's made has been fulfilled.
And I've got no reason to doubt that those prophecies concerning
those things which are yet to come will be fulfilled. Everything
in this book has come to pass exactly as God said it would. And then there's an honesty set
forth in the scriptures which confirm its divine inspiration. It takes and records and exposes
the sins and weaknesses of its most imminent people, Peter. God didn't hide what Peter did,
did he? Solomon, Samson, David, Mitho,
he didn't hide anything. He tells it exactly the way,
there's an honesty in the word of God, which if you'll read
it, you won't find that in any other book. Find somebody's biography,
everything they ever did wrong, they don't put it in the book.
They just tell you all the good things that this fella ever did. They won't tell you. You don't
know anything about that man, really. And you could go on and on and
on. But the Bible is, without controversy, the Word of God.
But my point is that the Bible is an open, available, and easy-to-read
book. You may not understand everything
that's in it, though if you continue to study it, the Lord will bless
it and he'll give you an understanding of what it says, but there's
plenty in there that you can understand that's in everyday
language. And yet men lie around and speculate about heaven and
hell. They speculate about faith and
unbelief, about baptism, the local church, the preaching of
the gospel, the moral life, the hope of glory, and eternity. They sit around and speculate
it and ignore the Word of God. They'd rather risk their souls
on the words of a popular philosopher than the plain instruction of
the Word of God. This is the time of revelation. He tells John, don't seal up
these prophecies. Don't seal up what I've told
you. Listen to this. This is over
in the book of Proverbs. Solomon is writing and he said,
wisdom crieth with that. Wisdom does. She uttereth her
voice in the streets. She crieth in the chief place
of concourse, in the openings of the gates. That's where all
the business was done, at the gates of the cities. And she
cries in the openings of the gates and in the cities. She
uttereth her voice, saying, how long, you simple ones, will you
love simplicity? And you scorners delight in their
scorning. And the fools hate knowledge.
And now what they do, they hate knowledge. They like to tell or hear some
new thing, but they don't want to know what God says. And what God says is the one
thing that I know is going to come to pass. I mean, I've said things to my
own children, to my own wife, that never come to pass. I either couldn't do it or wouldn't
do it. But not God. If God tells you a thing's gonna
come to pass, it's gonna come to pass. Why do we want to ignore
what God says? He said, turn you at my reproof. Behold, I'll pour out my spirit
unto you, and I'll make known my words unto you. The book of God is a book of
redemption. It's a book of salvation by grace
and all of this through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And the written word is God's
testimony concerning the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. And these things, John said,
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that
they may believe on the name of the Son of God. And I've lost
count, I lost count of all the times when I've tried to point
out this or point out that in the word of God only to see men
run back to their denominational creeds. We don't believe that
way. Well, it don't matter much what
we believe, what matters is what you believe. What you believe. Make God be true, Paul said,
and never a man a liar. And then John says this, if we
receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. I don't expect you to believe
something because I say it, I expect you to believe what I say because
I'm quoting from the word of God. This is the witness of God which
he's testified of his son. He that believeth on the son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar. Because he believeth not the
record God gave of his son. So here's what he said, the time
is at hand. What time? The time of revelation,
declaration, and consideration. Paul said he renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the
word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. He opened up the word of God,
he declared his gospel from its pages, and submitted both himself
and his message to those he spoke to, and let them judge accordingly. Let them judge as they saw fit.
And he said, I do that knowing this, if my gospel's hid, it's
hid to the lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them." That's
the story of every man, woman, and child born of Adam. They're
born and live in an age of grace. That's the age we live in, the
age of grace. What's going on in this world?
The grace of God being manifested. We live in a day of grace, a day in which the full canon of
scripture and more evidence to prove it than in any other age.
And there's simply no excuse for anyone to remain in his ignorance
except for the sin of his own rebellion and unbelief. And some, by the grace of God,
do submit to God's means. They do receive the things of
the Spirit of God and the testimony of God's servants. They do believe
God. Some do. And some lay hold upon
the message of false prophets and the message of a deceived
mind and lay hold of their lives and find a false confidence in
their refuge of lies. Some do. Some believe and some
don't. That's just a fact. Now then, both believers and
unbelievers die. They both die. Their hearts quit beating, their
minds quit functioning, and they go out to meet God. What then? What then? Is that where their
destinies are decided? When they go out to meet God?
Is that where their destinies are gonna be determined? Will
they finally be judged? What happens when a person dies
and goes out to meet God? Revelation 22, verse 11. Here
it is. 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. That person who dies in a state
of guilt and condemnation, dies under the curse of the law and
the wrath of God, That person who would not receive the testimony
of Christ and the wrath of God abides on him, he goes out to
meet God in that state, he'll spend eternity in that state
of guilt and condemnation. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. Who are the unjust? We're surrounded by them, he
speaks of them in the word of God. Who are these unjust souls? Every unregenerate son of Adam
whose name has not been written in the Lamb's book of life, he
is unjust. Unjust. He's never heard the
gospel. He's never been born of God.
He's never believed in or on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's never
confessed Christ or walked with Christ or entered into the rest
of Christ. He's an unjust man. An unjust
man is a man who trusts in himself. He trusts in his own ability.
He trusts in his own power. He trusts in his own wisdom.
He's a man who trusts in himself in some useless kind of religion
and his ability to keep the law and live a righteous life and
be rewarded for his goodness. He that's unjust, let him be
unjust still. And he that's filthy, who's that?
Who's that? Isaiah 64, 6. We are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we all
do fade as a leaf, and all our iniquities, like the wind, have
taken us away. Job said this in Job chapter
15. He said, what is man that he
should be clean? What is man that he should be
clean? And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous. Behold, God putteth no trust
in his saints, yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How
much more abominable, now watch this, and filthy is man that
drinketh iniquity like water. Who's filthy? Every unregenerate
son of Adam. An unsaved man, an unregenerate
man, is an abomination before God. And even his righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. And any man who dies in his filth
shall spend eternity in it without any possibility of change. Any unjust man who dies in a
state of condemnation shall go on for eternity in a state of
wrath. The scripture said, the wrath
of God abideth, abideth on him. He shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him. But it also talks about the believer. It says, he that is righteous,
let him be righteous still. When God saves a man, he makes
him righteous. How does he make him righteous?
Well, first by imputation. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. Believers are chosen vessels,
men and women chosen of God in their substitute and in their
representative. God put them in an eternal union
with his son and his life's obedience is their righteousness. Christ
is our righteousness. Paul said, oh, that I might be
found in him not having my own righteousness. And it's a perfect righteousness,
and it's a continual righteousness, and it's an eternal righteousness.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. And then secondly, we're made
righteous. We're made righteous by impartation,
being born of God. That new man, that new creation,
or whatever you want to call it, is righteous. It thinks righteous
thoughts. It's righteous. John said, whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him
and he cannot sin because he's born of God. That new man in
you, Christ in you, that new man cannot sin. He'll want to sin, he does desire
to sin, He's not gonna sin. That new man is righteous. 1
John 3, 10. He said, in this the children
of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. And then quickly, he that is holy, let him be holy
still. Our holiness is in Christ. In
him, the whole character of God is manifested in perfect harmony. In the believer, the character
of God is admired, it's understood, it's rejoiced in, and it's worshiped,
and his life is patterned after that. He lives a life careful not to
violate the character of God. And the judgment bar of God We
talk about going out to meet God then, the judgment bar of
God is not to be a trial to determine your guilt or innocence, but
rather to declare the guilt and innocence of all who stand before
Him and execute the penalty of justice upon the wicked and the
reward of justice upon the righteous. Judgment will reveal everything. Are you listening? But it's not
going to change anything. Isn't that what that verse is
saying? He that is unjust, is he going to change when he dies
and goes out to meet God? No. No, he's not going to change. Judgment will reveal everything.
All the hidden things of darkness will be brought out into light.
It'll reveal everything, but it changes nothing. Now, here again, what Solomon
declares. If a tree fall to the north or
fall to the south, wherever that tree falls, that's where it's
gonna be. Now that's what God's telling John by his holy angel
in Revelation 22, 11. He's telling you, he that's unjust
is going to be unjust still. He that's filthy is going to
be filthy still. But he that's righteous, he's
going to be righteous still. And he that's holy, he's going
to be holy still. And our righteousness and holiness,
thank God, is in Christ.