Okay now, we're turning in the
last chapter, the last book, Revelation 22. And I'm taking
the title for the message from the last verse. Revelation 22,
21, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. What a benediction, what a prayer.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. And then he
says, in the book of God closes with amen. So be it, so be it. So I'm taking the title for the
message from the last verse, that verse 21, the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It
is amazing grace, is it not? When you consider what we are
and who we are, it is amazing grace. What a fitting and proper
way to end this whole sacred volume of Holy Scripture than
to declare that salvation is by the grace of God, only through
the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does
that mean? That means that salvation is
of the Lord, from the beginning to the end. Salvation is totally
and completely by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not only by Him,
but it's found in Him. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son hath not life. John the Baptist said
this of the grace of God. Of His fullness have we all received
grace for grace. That is the reason that God states
in His Word, the reason for grace. Grace for grace. Grace because
of grace. We have the grace of God because
God is gracious. He is merciful. When the early
church were disturbed by those who said, except you be circumcised
after the law of Moses, you cannot be saved. And they had that Bible
conference there in Jerusalem. And Peter finally stood up and
said this, we believe. through the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that we're going to be saved just exactly the
same way God saved those Gentiles. The Jew or the Gentile, God saves
every sinner whom he wisely saved by his grace alone. So we believe
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that we shall be
saved. The Apostle Paul, when he writes
about the grace of God. He says, For you know the grace
of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he
was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that you through
his poverty might be made rich. Oh, give thanks for his grace,
grace and grace alone. The Apostle Paul, when he sits
on death row, in a Roman dungeon cell, he writes back to Timothy
reminding him it's God who saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our work, but according to his own
purpose and grace, giving us in him before the foundation
of the world. Thank God for His grace. Apart
from the grace of God, we would have no salvation. Apart from
His grace. And whenever you read about the
grace of God, it's always sovereign grace. Sovereign grace, effectual
grace, irresistible grace, calling grace, enlightening grace, electing
grace, loving grace, the electing love of God. Now, for the last
17 months, We've been going through the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ in this book of Revelation. This makes our third time that
we have studied through this book in the last 29 years. It
has been personally to me a great blessing and a process of learning
and refreshing, a refreshing of many things about the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. labored, and studied, and studied,
and read, and read, and studied, and prayed, and written, and
meditated, and it's a joy. It's a joy to do those things.
Yeah, we labor in the gospel, but it's a labor of love. It's
a labor of love. I hope it's been a blessing to
you as well. All these messages have been posted on Sermon Audio,
as I said earlier. You can go there if you missed
any, and if you would like to listen to them again, I could
actually put all the messages on the Revelation in two or three
CDs. I can put about 20 messages on
each CD. So if you would like a copy,
I could make that for you. If you would like to have a copy
of the complete study that we've done through the Revelation,
chapter 1 through chapter 22. Now, the book of Revelation is
about Christ. It's a revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We've read many exceeding great
and precious promises in this Revelation, haven't we? God gives
us many exceeding great and precious promises, lest we despair of
our hope of salvation in Christ Jesus, for we have a good hope
through grace. Now, we could spend the rest
of the morning reading the precious promises He's given unto us,
but let's just read one. Turn back one chapter, into chapter
21, verse 1, Revelation 21, verse 1. This is the precious promise
God gives to every believer. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away
and there was no more sea, no more trouble. And I, John, saw
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his God, and
God himself shall be with them and be their God. Verse 4, God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no
more death, no sorrow, no crying, neither shall there be any more
pain for the former things. or passed away, and he that sat
upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he
said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. I'm Alpha, Omega, the beginning
and the ending. I will give to him that is the
thirst, the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh
shall inherit all things. I'll be his God, and they shall
be my people." What a promise. Exceeding great and precious
promise that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Word of
God gives us many exceeding great and precious promises. No doubt
about that. lest we despair of any hope of salvation. And the
hope we have in Christ is not just a wish, a shot in the dark.
We have a good hope through grace, a good hope through grace. But
also in the Word of God, and we've seen this in the Revelation,
we read about many awful, dreadful warnings, plagues, trumpets of
judgment, bowls of wrath, about the holy strict judgment to come,
lest we presume And imagine that we're justified by our good works
or our religious morality or by our religious doing. Now,
listen to me. I'm all in on morality. But morality
is not righteousness. Morality is not salvation. We're
saved by the grace of God alone. So let's look at this solemn
warning that's given to us in verse 18 and 19. And then we
look at verse 20 and 21. A solemn warning is given here
from the lips of the Lord Jesus who says it's impossible for
him to lie. Look at verse 18, Revelation
22. And I testify, I testify. Now, his testimony is true. He
gives exact evidence. I testify unto every man that
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, and we've heard
them, we've read them, we've preached them. If any man shall
add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written in this book. I don't want to add one thing
to what God has said. Likewise, verse 19, not only
is there a warning about adding to the word of God, but taking
away from it. If any man shall take away from
the words of the prophecy, the book of this prophecy, talking
about the whole word of God, God shall take away his part
out of the book of life, out of the holy city, out of the
tree of life, from the things which are written in this book. To take away from the things
of God, God is saying you have no part with me. You have no
part with me. Now what a solemn warning from
the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says there in verse 18, I
testify. This is the one who is the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one that reigns
over all things. I, the Lord Jesus Christ, give
evidence. I bear witness unto everyone
that hears these words. You're hearing them right now.
The Apostle Paul writes this about the testimony of God. I
testify, brethren, I came, when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech or wisdom, but declaring unto you the testimony
of God. That's what we declare. We declare
the testimony of God. Now, I know in religious circles,
they always have this testimony meeting. Everybody stands up
and shoots off their mouth about their testimony. The testimony
we have is the testimony of God. It's what He has done, not what
we have done. All the Word of God from Genesis
to Revelation is God-breathed, God-given, and is the testimony
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you this Scripture.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. This is 2 Timothy 3.16.
And it's profitable for doctrine, it is profitable for reproof,
for correction, profitable for instruction in righteousness,
how God makes sinners righteous by His grace, and how He justifies
them by His blood. The Word of God is given of God. All Scripture is given of God.
Let me remind you what we read just a moment ago from 2 Peter
chapter 1, knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture
as of any private interpretation, private composition of men, For
the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by God the Holy Spirit."
Do you realize what you're reading, what you're holding in your hand,
is the very inspired words of God, the very testimony of God
given unto his people? The entire Bible, all 66 books,
is the inherent, infallible, verbally inspired Word of God. It is to be received as such
by believers, loved and submitted to without question. Don't put
a question on the Word of God. It is a complete revelation of
Jesus Christ. No additional visions or prophecies
are expected. Everything we need to know has
been already given unto us. We read in the book of Daniel,
concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he came
to finish transgression, Daniel 9, 24. He came to make an end
of sin by the sacrifice of himself. He came to make reconciliation
for iniquity. He came to bring in everlasting
righteousness. He came to seal up the vision,
that is to fulfill all scripture, and he is the anointed prophet
of God. All the scripture tells us about
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything we need
to know about God and the way of salvation is revealed in this
book. We don't need another book. There
is no other book. The Bible does not just contain
the Word of God. That's what some people say.
Well, I believe the Bible contains the Word of God. No, the Bible
is the Word of God. It is the Word of God. True faith
is built upon the strongest evidence And that strongest evidence is
what? The Word of God. We believe the
things we believe because that's what we read in this book. The
Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.
James, right, of his own will, begat he us with the Word of
Truth. The Word of Truth. Peter writes about it, we are
born again by the incorruptible seed of God. We're born of God
by the Word of God. The message of the Bible, therefore,
is not to be altered to suit our thinking or molded to fit
our religious ways. People often say, well, I don't
know what the Bible says, but I know what I think. Uh-oh, you're
in trouble. Our thinking is always wrong.
We need to be taught of God. The message of the Bible is not
to be altered to suit our thinking or molded to fit our religious
ways. Nothing is to be added nor anything
removed. We have no right to believe any
doctrine that is not taught in the Word of God. Do we? No, sir. We have no right or reason to
reject any doctrine that's taught in the Word of God. All is to
be received, heard, and believed, and obeyed. Now, let me give
you a story. I had a friend of mine years
ago. He was involved in a religious organization and the Lord taught
him the gospel of God's saving grace. And he was called into
question before the church about this doctrine of election. And
he took a Bible and he said to those people, he said, well,
all through the Word of God, we read about God's electing
love, God's electing grace. And he said, if you don't like
it, just take that page and rip it out. And he started turning
his Bible. He'd rip out another page. He'd
turn over to another page about elections. He'd just rip that
out, too. People were so horrified. But isn't that exactly what they
were saying? We have no right to remove anything
out of God's Word that He teaches. Now, I think he made a very,
very strong point, didn't he? We have no right or reason to
reject any doctrine that is taught in the Word of God. All is to
be heard, received, believed, loved, and obeyed. We should
be like those noble Bereans when Paul preached the Gospel to them.
Remember, they went home and they searched the Scripture,
they received the Word of God with readiness of mind, and they
went home and searched the Scripture to see if these things be so.
And I would encourage you to do the same thing. If what I'm
preaching is not found in this book, don't believe it. But if
I'm preaching what's found in this book, then as a believer
we believe all things. For the cause, Paul said when
he wrote to the church in Thessalonica, for this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of
God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of
men, but as it is in truth, the word of God that effectively
works in you that believe. The Word of God has an effect
on God's people. It's a sharp sword, quick, quick,
powerful sword. Believers, what do believers
believe? We believe everything written
in the Word of God, don't we? Believers receive, believe in
all things written in the Word of God. Listen to Paul as he
makes his defense before those religious Jews. He said, this
I confess unto thee, that the way which you call heresy, So
I worship the God of my father, believing all things which are
written in the law and in the prophets, and have hope toward
God this day. Christ in you, the hope of glory. So we believe all things that
are written in the word of God, don't we? Absolutely. The message
of the whole book of Scripture is about salvation of sinners
through Jesus Christ and Him crucified. His glorious person
and His effectual redeeming work. Who He is and what He did. We
are redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? I make no bones about it. He
is God our Savior. That's what the book teaches.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, He didn't come to destroy the Law and the Prophets, He
came to honor all the Law of God. And that's what He did.
Christ fulfilled the Scripture for us. How Christ died for our
sin according to the Scripture. Now hold your place there in
Revelation 22. And take your book, the Bible, God's Word,
and find Luke chapter 24. The last chapter in the book
of Luke. Remember, we studied through
this, the risen Lord, walked along the road, and he
met two men on the road to Emmaus, and he had certain questions
for them. And these men said that the one
they'd hoped to be the Messiah had died, and it's the third
day, and we don't know if he's alive or not. Verse 24, certain of them which
were with us went to the sepulcher and found found it, even as the
women had said, but they saw him not. The tomb was empty,
but the Lord, at first they did not see him. And then he said,
verse 25, Luke 24, 25. Then said he, he said unto them,
O fool, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory in the beginning of Moses? and all the prophets,
He expounded unto them in all the things, all the Scripture,
the things concerning Himself." So you go back all the way to
Genesis 1, all the way through Revelation 22, all the Scripture
is about Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Right in the same chapter,
Luke 24, this is the risen Lord after He appeared to the eleven,
And he said unto them, verse 44, These are the words which
I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses,
and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Then he
opened, opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
Scripture. He said to them, thus it is written,
and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead,
the third day, that repentance and remission of sin should be
preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these
things. So he took the Word of God. I'd want to hear that sermon,
wouldn't you? Beginning at Moses and all the
Scriptures. He expounded unto them in all
the things concerning himself. It doesn't matter where you turn
in the Old Testament or New. It always tells us about the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Always, always, always. In the
Word of God, we find out the Word of God is able to make us
wise unto salvation. You remember Paul? writes about
young Timothy, thou from a child has known the Holy Scriptures
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God alone
can make us wise unto salvation. In the Bible we find out how
we became sinners. We're born that way. And Adam
all died, and Adam all sinned. By one man's sin, entered into
this world by one man, and death by sin in whom all have sinned. We all sinned in that. We're
all guilty. We're all guilty before God.
Before God, we're born that way. Born dead in sin, shapen in iniquity. We also learn the lesson in the
Word of God, how God saves sinners by his grace. By one man's disobedience,
we are made sinners. That's Adam. When he sinned,
we sinned. By another man's obedience, we
are made righteous. That's the second Adam, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad salvation based
upon his faithfulness, his obedience, his righteousness? We learn how
God saves sinners by His grace. Call His name, Jesus, He shall
save His people from their sin. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. In the Word of God, we learn
only, we learn about the only remedy, how sin is put away. You know, sin is very difficult
to put away. How many animal sacrifices were
given through the Old Testament? How many millions and millions
and millions of animals died shedding their blood, never atoned
for one sin? They pictured the way of substitution. They pictured the way of the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read and learn about the only
remedy how sin is put away. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. You can make all the sacrifices
you want. It will never atone for sin.
Never atone for sin. Never. We read in the Word of
God about the only righteousness that will justify us. You must
have a righteousness. You must have redemption. The
only righteousness that God will accept is that righteousness
that He's provided. He is the Lord our righteousness.
Blessed is that man to whom God imputes righteousness without
works. We read a moment ago, or I did, Romans 5, 21, where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. When you're taught
of God, you count all things lost, dung, and ruined, that
you may win Christ and be found in Him, who is all our righteousness
before God. So, I testify to every man that
heareth the word of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall
add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written therein, the wrath of God, the holy judgment of
God. The second aspect of this is
verse 19. If any man shall take away. Now,
I don't want to add. My soul, I don't want to take
away either. I think this is what most religious preachers
are guilty of. I'm not talking about God's preachers. I'm talking about religious preachers,
false preachers. They take away from the words
of God. They take away from the glory of God. They take away
from the power of God. If any man shall take away from
the words of the prophecy of this book, God shall take his
part out. his part out of the Book of Life,
out of the Tree of Life, out of the Holy City, from the things
which are written in this book. Now, what is this saying? Any
alteration or compromise is strictly forbidden upon severe penalty. This verse is not teaching that
God saves sinners and later condemns them. A lot of people think,
well, when a A person is born into this life. God writes his
name in the Book of Life. And then when he grows up and
sins, God erases that name. And then when he gets religious
and makes a profession, God writes that name back in. And then when
he messes up and sins, God erases that name. And then when he repents,
He puts that name back in there. What foolishness! Show me that
in the Word of God! God saves His people with an
everlasting salvation. So what's being said here? I
want to know what's being said here. Here's what He's saying. Those who take away from the
Word of God, they have no part in the Book of Life. They have
no part of the Tree of Life. They have no part with this holy
city of God. Those who think they are included
in the book of life, who compromise, deny, and reject the gospel were
never included in that eternal covenant of grace. They were
never taught of God. He will take away all that that
person thinks or presumes he has in that day of judgment. because they're hiding, as I
said on the radio program this morning, they have hidden in
a refuge of lies and God will expose them in that day of judgment. In other words, those who deny
and reject the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as it's revealed
in the Book of Life, they have no part with Him. Now, you remember
this story. In John chapter 13, when the
Lord Jesus Christ came to wash the disciples' feet, I can illustrate
it with this scripture. When the Lord Jesus took a towel
and girded himself and kneeled before his apostles and started
washing their feet. Peter is sitting over here and
watching that. You remember what Peter said?
Lord, you'll never wash my feet. Peter was pretty bold to brag.
You remember he said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake
you. Remember he said that? He denied the Lord. Peter said,
Lord, you'll never wash my feet. Remember what the Lord said? If I don't wash you, you have
no part with me. Remember what Peter said next?
Lord, not only my feet. but my head, my hands, wash me
all over." Now, he's talking about being made clean in the
blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. If He doesn't wash us,
we have no part. If He doesn't redeem us by His
blood, we have no part. If He doesn't save us by His
grace, we have no part. If we take away from the Gospel
and believe another Gospel, we have no part. You see what he's
saying there? That's strong, isn't it? That's
powerful, isn't it? You remember those we're going to see in our
study. After we finish with the revelation
here, I hope to begin a study in the book of Matthew. And in
chapter 7, when the Lord is giving those final words there on the
Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, and He said to those Jews, He
said, He that doeth the will of God, and he that believeth,
the will of God, that's the child of God. And I said, whoa, wait
a minute, Lord. We preached in your name. We've
done many wonderful works in your name. We've done all these
wonderful things, and we've done it in your name. They presumed,
didn't they? They were trusting something
they had done. And remember what he said to them? Depart from
me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. You had no
part with me. You were trusting what you did
rather than trusting Christ alone. What a horrible thing to realize
when it's too late. Judgment has come. The Bible
is the eternal, unchangeable Word of God. It is to be read
faithfully. The word is a lamp and a light
unto our feet, is to be read carefully and prayerfully, is
to be preached always. When should we preach the word
of God? All the time. Whenever we have an open door,
we're to preach the gospel, preach Christ and Him crucified. We're
to hear and believe as it is the word of truth that effectually
works in us. We're to, as believers, submit
and obey the word of the Lord, for it's a sort of a spirit We
are to take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God. Now, let's close by looking at
verse 20 and verse 21. He would testify these things. Now, His testimony is sure. Do
you remember we read in Peter we have a more sure word of prophecy? We have a sure foundation, the
foundation of God standing sure, having a seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are His. The testimony of the Lord, He
which testifies these things saith, Surely, certainly, exactly,
I come quickly. Talking about the second coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, He ascended to glory thousands
of years, about 2,000 years ago. He's been on His way back ever
since. Quickly. He said, I come quickly. Surely
I come quickly. Amen. Even so. We say, even so,
Lord, come. The message is repeated. Surely
I come quickly. The second coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ is certain, definite, and sure. He will come again
soon. And every believer's desire is
to see Him. We say, amen. Even so, come,
Lord Jesus Christ. We started in Revelation chapter
1 where it says in verse 7, the Lord says to us, Behold, I come
quickly. That is, He's on His way. He's
on His way. The Lord is on His way. The two
men, the messengers in Acts chapter 1, we read about those who said
to the apostles when the Lord Jesus Christ ascended up to glory,
they said this same Jesus shall come again in like manner." This
same one. This same one shall come again
in like manner. Three times in this last chapter
he talks about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
verse 7. Behold, Revelation 22, 7. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed
is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Again in verse 17, the Spirit and the bride say, come, and
let him that hear us say, come. Come, Lord Jesus Christ. We're
anticipating His coming, looking for that blessed hope and glorious
appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity. All the promises of the Lord,
He has spoken unto us, and He's spoken a lot of them. Not one
word, not one promise will fail. All the promises of God are certain,
sure, and true. All will come to pass. Not one
word will fail. Our Lord said in John 14, I go
and prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive
you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. The Lord
is on His way back. When's He coming? I don't know. But I know He's
coming again. We'll be looking for him every
day. The hour and the day no man knows
but the Lord himself. He'll come suddenly, quickly. Now, look at the last verse. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. See the reference there, Romans
16, 24. It says the same thing. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Go back and look at this.
I looked at it again this morning to make sure I was right on this.
In every epistle that Paul writes, he closes every epistle, every
epistle he closes with this statement. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. Every one he closes with.
those words. But I like this one especially
found in 2 Corinthians 13, 14. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all. Amen. That's a good place to
leave you, isn't it? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. We know that salvation is by
His sovereign, free grace alone. His grace is eternal, electing
grace. He elected a people unto salvation
before the foundation of the world. It's his redeeming and
justifying grace were justified freely by his grace to the redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the effectual saving grace
of God for by grace are you saved through faith and that now of
yourself is the gift of God. It's a sovereign distinguishing
grace. He'll have mercy on whom He will.
He'll be gracious to whom He will be gracious. Of His own
will begat He us with the word of truth. It is His infinite,
rich, and free grace. Sovereign grace, rich grace,
free grace, justifying grace, electing grace, saving grace,
immutable, persevering, keeping grace. It is fetching and calling
grace. God fetched you. He called you
by His grace. What does that say? Wherefore,
brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. How do we know anything about
our election? By our calling. He calls us with the gospel.
So the last word. What's the last word? What do
you say? Amen. What does that mean? So be it. So be it. I'm glad
that it's that way. Salvation is all of grace. So
I told you as we worked our way through the revelation and saw
all the trumpets of judgment and the vows of wrath, I told
you that in the end, Christ wins. devil, and all his enemies are
defeated, and we win. We are winners in Christ. We can say with the Apostle,
thanks be unto God, who has given us the victory. He's given us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.