Okay, take your Bible now back
to your bookmark, Revelation 22. And we'll have this message
today, and then next week, Lord willing, we'll bring the concluding
message to our study through the revelation of Jesus Christ. I've really enjoyed it. I really
enjoyed it. It's been a blessing to me personally,
and I trust it has to you as well. I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 16. Revelation 22, verse
16. I, Jesus, the Savior, that's
what his name is, Savior, have sent my angel to testify unto
you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of
David. I am the bright and morning star. I am that I am. I am the bright and morning star. I am the way, the truth, and
the light. The Lord Jesus Christ is a fulfillment
of the prophecy of Malachi. The son of righteousness shall
arise with healing in his wings. He is the bright. He is all our
light. and He is our star. He's our
guiding star, our saving star. He is the star of salvation.
He's the star. He's all of it. Our blessed Lord
Jesus Christ is the eternal I Am. He is eternally God the Son,
who is God our Savior, God our surety, the surety of the eternal
covenant of grace, He is the same one who spoke out of the
burning bush, that bush that burned and was not consumed,
who spoke to Moses in power, in great glory, identified himself
as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He identified himself
unto Moses and to us as the I Am, that I Am. He is, look at verse
13, Revelation 22, I am Alpha and Omega. I am the beginning
and the end. He's everything in salvation.
He's the author and finisher of salvation. It begins with
Him. It's consummated in Him. All
things Him and through him and to him four times in this book
of Revelation the Lord Jesus Describes himself as the I am
Alpha and Omega now hold your place there and turn back to
Revelation chapter 1 Revelation chapter 1 Look at verse 8 Revelation
chapter 1 verse 8 I am I Alpha and Omega, the beginning,
the ending, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to
come, the Almighty. He is the Almighty. Look down
at verse 11 in this same chapter, Revelation 1, saying, I am Alpha,
Omega, the first and the last, what thou seest, write it down
and send it to you. Send it to his people, his church. Down in verse 18 in Revelation
1, look at verse 18, I am he that liveth and was dead, behold
I am alive forevermore. Amen. I have the keys of hell and of
death. He is the I am. Turn over to
Revelation 21 verse 6. Revelation 21 verse 6. Revelation 21, let's begin reading
at verse 5. He that sat upon his throne said,
Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write for
these things these words are true and faithful. And he said
to me, It's done. I am Alpha, Omega, the beginning,
the end. I will give unto him that is
the first of the fountain of the water of life freely. He
that overcometh shall inherit all things. I will be his God
and he shall be my son. I am that I am that I am. And then we have Revelation 22
verse 13. He's the beginning. He's the
complete alphabet. He's the A to Z in salvation. Everything starts with Him, is
accomplished by Him, and has its end in Him, which is to the
glory of God the Father. Now, it is no coincidence that
the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel identifies Himself as
the I Am. We just read a moment ago in
John chapter 8, verse 58, He said to those Jews, You can see why they got mad
at him. He said to them, you're a liar.
You don't know God. You're a liar. You don't know
God. You're not yet but 50 years old. Have you seen Abraham? He
said before Abraham was, I am. What's he declaring? He's declaring
that he is the eternal son of God. All through the gospel we
call the gospel of John, The Lord uses that phrase, doesn't
he? Not only in John 8, but he says, I am the bread of life
in John chapter 6. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. In John chapter 10, he said,
I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall have eternal life. And we read John 8 verse 12,
he said, I am the light of the world. And then in John chapter
11, He identifies himself as, I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me shall
never die. And then in John 14, when he
was asked by his disciples, how can we know the way? Remember
what he said? I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. And then he adds, no man can
come unto me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. Now, how important is that, that
a sinner believes in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is
it that big of an issue? Remember what we read? John 8,
24. If you believe not that I am,
you'll die in your sins. Now, we're born in sin, but my
soul, I don't want to die in my sin. I want to die in Christ,
don't you? I want to die in Him. Having
said that, let's take a look at verse 14. I want to work our
way down from verse 14, 15, and 16, these three verses. Blessed
are they that do his commandments, that they may have right privilege
to this tree of life. We know that tree of life is
Christ, and may enter in through the gates. The gate of that city
is Christ. He's the tree of life. And He
is the gate of that city, for He is the door. Blessed, blessed,
blessed. Now, in the Gospel of Matthew,
when the Lord Jesus Christ on that Sermon on the Mount, remember?
In Matthew 5, 6, and 7. He gives nine Beatitudes. What we call the nine Beatitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
God. Blessed are they that mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed
are they who are meek. And then he gives those nine
different blessings. Blessed are they that are hungry
and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which
persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Blessed are you when you're reviled,
and you're persecuted, and when people say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my name's sake. God's people are blessed.
They're blessed in Him. But did you notice in our study
in this Revelation, there are seven blessed things that are
mentioned in the Revelation? Have you noticed that? Let's
go back and look at them. We've seen in our book, in our
study in the book of Psalms, There are many times the statement
is made about God's people being blessed. We've seen that, haven't
we? Blessed, blessed, blessed. One of my favorite is found in
Psalm 32 where it said, Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity. That's a blessed man. That's
a blessed man. But in the book of Revelation,
we've seen this statement about God's people being blessed. Let's
look at one of them here found in Revelation 22 verse 7. We saw this last week. Behold,
he said, I come quickly, blessed is he that keepeth the sayings
of the prophecy of this book. And then again in verse 14, it
says, blessed are they that do his commandment. I want to take
just a moment and let's turn and look at these. Go back to
chapter 1 again, Revelation chapter 1. We find the first one there. Here's five more of those blessed
in Revelation chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed is he that readeth,
and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those
things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. You're
a blessed person who takes this word and reads it as it is the
Word of God, and believes it in your heart. You're blessed
of God. So, blessed is that man that
readeth, and those that hear the words, not only of the revelation,
but all the Word of God, because it's all a revelation of Jesus
Christ. Now, turn to Revelation 14, verse
13. Revelation 14, 13. These will
be familiar to you, we've been over them. Revelation 14, 13,
here's another one of those, blessed. And I heard a voice
from heaven saying, this is chapter 14, verse 13, write, blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord. And fourth, yea, saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them, they don't precede them. Blessed are those
who die in the Lord. Remember, the psalmist said,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And then turn to chapter 16,
verse 15, 16, 15, Behold, I come as a thief, that is, he comes
suddenly. Blessed is he that watcheth,
and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame." Blessed is that man who is looking for the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're looking for Him. Blessed
is He that lives by faith, that perseveres in faith, that keeps
the sayings, that keeps the sayings of the Word of God. Now, another
one is found in chapter 19, verse 9. Chapter 19, verse 9, He saith
unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. He saith unto me, These are the
true sayings of God. Blessed are those who are called
of God unto this marriage supper of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, being
married to Him. And then in chapter 22, verse
7, Behold, I come quickly, Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings
of the prophecy of this book. So, we see the beatitudes or
the blessed man that's described here in the revelation. Now,
let's take a good look at verse 14 for just a moment and we'll
move on. Blessed are they that do his commandment. You see that?
That they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in
through the gates into that city. Now, Blessed are they who do
His commandments. Now most people who are not taught
of the Lord, who may be very religious, who might read something
like that, and they would come up with the conclusion that I
must do His commandments. In other words, they're thinking
in their mind, they're thinking back to the Law of Moses, thinking,
I must do the Law of Moses to be saved. Well, we know that
that's not what's being said here. This is not saying that
believers are under the Law of Moses, that sinners are justified
by the deeds of the Law. There's not a hint of that in
this verse. The Scriptures are clear on this
point. By the deeds of the Law shall
no flesh be justified. were justified freely by His
grace through the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the curse of
the law. So He's not referring believers
back to the law. If righteousness comes by the
law, then Christ died in vain, Galatians 2.21. So he's not pointing
us back to the law. However, believers do receive,
submit, believe, and are obedient to all the commands of the gospel,
to submit to his lordship, repentance toward God, and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, believing all things that are written therein.
We do believe, We do abide. We do keep His sayings in that
we receive them and believe them, believing all things that are
written in the Word of God. Now turn to 1 John chapter 3.
Here's what he's talking about. He's talking about the command
of the Gospel. 1 John chapter 3, right before
the Revelation here. 1 John chapter 3. And you might want to jot a reference
in there. I don't know if there's one given there. I believe there
is. 1 John 3. 23. Look at 1 John
3, 23. And this is His commandment. that we should believe on the
name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave
commandment. So that's His commandment, is
to believe the Gospel, to come to Christ and rest in Him. As
many as were ordained to eternal life, they do believe the Gospel. They do come to Christ. And there's
a great blessing in hearing His Word, His testimony, His precept,
and His commands, that they may have the right that they may
have right to the tree of life. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by what? The Word of God. We read a moment
ago, you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Those who believe the truth of the gospel have right or entitled
or privilege to the tree of life and that is the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. Let's see if we can find that
and read it. Turn back over here to the book of John, the book
of John, look at chapter one in the book of John. And here we see why they believe
the gospel. John chapter 1, "...he came unto
his own, his own received him not," verse 11, "...but as many
as received him, to them gave he power," notice the marginal
reference, "...right or privilege, to become sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name." Now, he gives us the reason why
we believe on his name, which we're born, born of God, not
by the blood, not by the fleshly inheritance, not a blood, talking
about our fleshly lineage, nor of the will of man, nor of the
flesh, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
which were born of God." You see that? We receive Him and
believe Him because we're born of God. Whosoever believes that
Jesus is the Christ, that man is born of God. As many as were
ordained to eternal life believe the gospel. We believe only according
to the working of His mighty power. They have the right, the
privilege, to life and salvation in Him. He that believeth on
the Son, what, hath everlasting life. Now, and they may enter
in. We have right and title to enter
in because we enter in through the gates. Christ is the gate,
the door. We enter in in Him. He's the
forerunner. Because He enters in, we enter
in with Him. Now look at verse 15, for without,
without Christ, Without Christ. And that's what we are by nature.
Without God, without hope, and without Christ. Without our dogs. And notice the reference on that
word dogs. Philippians 3, 2. You know what
he's talking about? He's not talking about four-legged
dogs. Two-legged dogs. He's talking about false preachers.
Beware of dogs. Without our dogs, false preachers. Preachers. Sorcerers. They're
whoremongers. They're murderers. Murderers
of men's souls because they don't preach the truth. They are idolaters. They make the creature the centerfold
message of their preaching. Self. Become idol worshipers
of self. And whosoever loveth and maketh
a lie. God doesn't use the lies of men
to teach people the truth, does he? The truth sets us free, the
truth of who God is, the truth of who we are, the truth of what
the Lord Jesus Christ had done for us, the truth of who He is
and what He has accomplished for us outside of that city. No mercy. No pardon. No salvation. Strict justice. Those outside
the city are enemies to the Lord Jesus Christ and His church.
They love and they embrace lies. They hate the truth. They love
their idols and they hate the true and living God. The carnal
minded enmity against God. You see how special it is for
any sinner to believe the gospel? It's by the grace of God that
I am what I am. We are everything that's said
there in verse 15. By nature. That's what we are.
None righteous, no not one. You say, well that's not me.
Yes it is. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Without. I want to be within. Within by
His grace. I want to be found in Him. not
having my own righteousness according to the law, but that which is
found in Christ alone. Now, in verse 16, I, Jesus, talking
about the Savior, have sent my angel to testify unto you these
things in the churches. The root, I am the offspring
of David, I am the bright and morning star. The bright and
morning star. We have in this verse another
good description of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a sovereign,
risen, enthroned Lord who sends his angels, who sends his messengers
to declare the truth of the gospel. Do you remember In the early
parts of this Revelation chapter 2 and 3, the seven churches,
the pastor of those seven churches were called angels, remember? His messengers that were in his
right hand were called the seven stars. The angels were messengers
sent to the churches with the message of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. God still calls and sends his
messengers. Those even today that are chosen
and privileged and sent to preach the gospel declare the same message. Christ is everything in salvation. He is the I am that I am. In him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily. Thanks be to God that he's still
calling and sending out gospel preachers. We've been blessed
in our day to see I can think of four generations of preachers
that God has sent that I know of. In the day of Ralph Barnard,
A.D. Muse, back in the 50s. And then
Henry Mahan and Scott Richardson back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
And then the third generation of preachers that God raised
up, Don Fortner, Todd Nyberg. The fourth generation of preachers
that God's raised up, Kevin Thacker, Gabe Stoniker, four generations
of preachers. You think there'd be a fifth?
Might be, don't know. But God is privileged to call
and send out, and here's the point I'm making, it pleased
God through the preaching of the gospel to call out these
people. Aren't you glad that God sent you a gospel preacher?
He sent me one. As we read through the word of
God, we see Our blessed Lord's character is described by many
names. He's described here by four names. He's called in the Gospel of
Isaiah, Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Throughout the Old Testament
we have a seven-fold name of Jehovah. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
will provide. Jehovah Sidcanu, the Lord our
Righteousness. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our Shepherd. article on the table out there
with those seven names of Jehovah. But for just a minute, let's
look at these four names that are given here in Revelation
22 verse 16. He says there, Jesus, Jesus. What does that name mean? Savior. He's the Savior. It's a name
of His humiliation. It's a name of His condescending
grace to take flesh unto Himself. You remember, we're going to
see this when we study through the Gospel of Matthew, that the
angel of God was dispatched from the throne to speak to the heart
of Joseph concerning Mary being with child and said, don't put
her away, she's with child of God the Holy Spirit. And when she brings forth that
child, you call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. He is what he's called. Jesus
means Savior. He is what he's called. He is
God our Savior. Even as he sits enthroned on
the glorious throne, he's still called our Savior, the Lamb of
God who takes away our sin. Now think about this. The God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, died for our sin. They put him, they took
him down from the tree because he had died. He bowed his head,
gave up, yielded up to go. They put him in the tomb three
days. On that third day, he came forth.
Forty days later, he ascended to glory, and he's seated in
the heavenlies as the God-man mediator. I remember a sermon
years ago I heard, forty-some years ago. There's a man in glory. with nail print in his hand.
What does his presence there mean to me? It means I have salvation. He's a forerunner who has entered
in and the God-man mediator. He is seated on the throne and
we're seated in him right now. He is the Savior of His people.
He is what He is called. He is the Lamb of God that takes
away our sin. The Lord did not come to make
salvation a possibility for His people or to put them in a savable
state. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
saved them and justified them by His blood. That's why we read
over in chapter 1, when we read over there, the saints of God
who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, they sing unto Him
who loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. To
Him be all the honor and glory, both now and forever. So He is,
I embrace Him as my God and Savior, my Lord and my Christ. Don't you? He's my Savior. He's the only... There's salvation
in no other. I know that. He's my Savior. And every believer can say that.
He is my Savior. And then the second name we have
here is the root of David. You see that? I am the root of
David. I am the root of David. Now let's
turn to Revelation 5. We've seen this before. Revelation
5. Look at verse 5. Revelation 5, verse 5. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He's the
root of David. He hath prevailed to open the
book and to loose the seven seals. So the Lord Jesus Christ is not
only our Savior, He's the root of David. The Lord Jesus Christ
is all and in all in salvation. He is the Alpha and Omega of
David's salvation and ours. He's the author and finisher
of our salvation as it was with David. David said, the Lord is
my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? David said, the
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Every believer can
say that. My salvation is traced right
back to his roots. The meaning of it, old John Gill
said, that Christ as God is David's Lord and head, from whom he had
his being, both in temporal and in spiritual sense, by whom he
was supported, saved, and sustained, true of every believer in Christ. He's our root. He's, and I mean
by that, he's the cause of our salvation. He's the first cause
and he's the last cause. He's every cause of our salvation.
And then thirdly, the Lord Jesus Christ is the offspring of David,
King David. We read just a moment ago, he's
a lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah was a kingly tribe. When
old Jacob, dying, blessed his sons, He said to Judah, you can
go back and read it, Genesis 49, the scepter shall not depart
from Judah until Shiloh come. Judah was a kingly tribe. The
scepter will not depart from Judah until Shiloh come. He's
called the son of peace who made peace for us with his own blood.
You can trace the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ back to
the family of David. You see that in the book of Luke
and in the book of Matthew. Because he was born of a woman,
born under the law to redeem them that were under the law.
Both Mary and Joseph were of the family of David. That means
the Lord Jesus Christ was a real man. Born of a woman, born under
the law without sin because he was conceived by God the Holy
Spirit in the womb of the virgin. Mysterious thing, isn't it? He
had to be both God and man in one person, the God-man. Without
controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. He had to be both. I'll tell
you why. God alone cannot suffer. Man
alone cannot satisfy. But the God-man did both. Satisfied
the holy law of God and suffered under the penalty of his own
law. Think of it. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Now, lastly, we have His deity
declared. He's the bright and morning star.
The bright and morning star. Now, as I drove over here this
morning very early, about six o'clock, Pulled out on this road
and drove down this way. I looked up in the sky and there
was a big, full moon, just as bright and shining. But that
moon has no light in itself. That moon has the reflective
light from the sun. The Lord Jesus Christ does not
have any reflective light. He is the light. He is the light. He is the bright and morning
star. He is the sun of righteousness
with healing in His wings. The glory of God shines in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. This declares His deity as God. I am that I am. The Lord Jesus
Christ is a full revelation of our God, for He is God our Savior. He is the light and revelation
of the gospel that's revealed in our heart. The glory of God
shines in the face of Jesus Christ. We read a moment ago, our Lord
said, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Unto you that
fear my name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing
in His wings, Malachi 4.2. He's the fulfillment of that.
He's our bright and morning star. He shines the brightness of His
glory in us when He reveals Himself unto us. In Numbers 24, The prophecy
says, and there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall
rise out of Israel. Who is that? Christ, the Lord.
In Luke chapter 1, old Zacharias said, He is the day spring from
on high who has visited us to give light to them that sit in
darkness in the shadow of death. He's our light. He's our life. Peter said, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy, where unto you do well to take heed
as unto a light that shineth in the dark place until the day,
until the dawn and the day star arises in our hearts. And that's
what happens when God reveals himself unto us. Christ is a
morning star that drives away our darkness, our spiritual ignorance,
our deadness, He drives away our spiritual pride and He breaks
us and gives us humility to bow to His Lordship. He denies them
of a broken heart, save us such as be of a contrite spirit. He
calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light. He is that
bright and morning star. He is. You know, back years ago,
and I say this reverently. You know, back years ago, there
was, I guess back in the 60s, when rock and roll was rock and
roll, and they had a song about Jesus Christ Superstar. You remember
that? I mean, it was an awful, awful
song. because it diminishes character. But we can really say in our
heart and say it reverently, he is the superstar, isn't he? He is my superstar. He is the
son of righteousness with healing in his wings. He's hid these
things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes,
even so, father, for so it seems good in your sight. Isn't that
a blessing? Who is he? Jesus the Savior. He's the root and cause of our
salvation. He's the offspring of King David,
the real man. He's the bright and morning star. He's our revelation. The glory
of God shines in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.