The Focal Point of Future Things

Transcript

GRM 1076
03/25/2012
The Focal Point of Future Things
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We’ve been talking about the subject of prophecy. And I just want to pull things together, not by overviewing prophecy, but just by drawing our attention again to what the bible says is the focal point, as it unfolds future things for us. The message that the churches of Jesus Christ are to take to heart and live in light of. We’ve looked at some of the future prophetic things. We’ve looked into the end of all things in the book of Revelation. And I want to just tie these things together. Go back to the beginning again and then be sure we’re focusing where the word of God says we are to focus. There are exciting things going on in the world. Its exciting to look and see what the bible says about future things. To see perhaps some of those things beginning to unfold even in our day. But we are moving towards a climax that the scripture has talked about.

To appreciate that, we have to go back to the book of Genesis. So, lets go back to Genesis. And just review some things we’ve been talking about. The opening three chapters of Genesis are foundational to understanding all the rest of scripture. The first chapter gives an overview of creation. God’s work of creating the world in six days. Then in chapter two he unfolded more specifically the details of the creation of man, created as male and female, and the beautiful garden that God placed them in. Chapter three records the disaster of the rebellion of man, as male and female; in their disobedience to God and the consequences of that disobedience; death, suffering, pain and so on. We noted in a previous study in chapter three of Genesis, He gives specific areas of consequence to the woman in verse 16, particularly having to do with children, and the pain that will come in childbirth. To the man, consequences of sin, having to deal with the difficulty and hardship of providing necessities for his family. And for both, male and female alike, physical death is the end. Spiritual death impacted them with the breaking of the relationship with God, the God who came and walked with them in the garden in perfect harmony and fellowship. Now when He comes they hide themselves from His presence. And physical death will be the consequence, at the end of verse 19. They will return to dust. And as the chapter closed, man was excluded from the garden and from access to the tree of life. He cannot partake of the tree of life. God is gracious in this context. He has intervened to provide salvation. And pictured with the death of the animals and the clothing of Adam and Eve with garments of skin, the wages of sin is death. And that will haunt them and has haunted mankind down through the ages and continues. We’ve had some of our number who experienced physical death even this past week. It’s a reality, it overtakes us.

So, we have the consequences of sin, ruin, pain, violence, death. In chapter four of Genesis, you had one brother killing the other. Cain kills his brother Abel. Then, it’s followed up with a man named Lamech, who boasts that he has killed a man who offended him. And you see the consequences of sin, and the violence and death. When you come to chapter five, you have the history of the descendants of Adam. And you’ll note, the relentless theme that comes. The end of verse 5, “and he died.” The end of verse 8, “and he died.” The end of verse 11, “and he died.” The end of verse 14, “and he died.” The end of verse 17, “and he died.” The end of verse 20, “and he died.” The end of verse 27, “and he died.” The end of verse 31, “and he died,” the consequences of sin. There is a manifestation of God’s grace in that list. There was Enoch, a man who walked with God. And Enoch did not die, because God took him, a reminder of God’s grace intervening.

And so, with sin that occurred in Genesis three, we have a division that will occur among mankind down through history. A pattern of sin and death and a pattern of experiencing the grace of God. God’s provision of life and salvation. And those two continue on down until we move into eternity.

You keep going through Genesis and come to chapter six. You come to the flood of Noah. The flood of Noah tells us something of the tremendous catastrophic consequences of sin that envelope all humanity, all creation. So, we pick up in Genesis 6, and just pick up with verse 3, “The Lord said, ‘My spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless, his days shall be one hundred and twenty years’.” Theres a one hundred twenty years until the devastating judgement will come, that will wipe out man and animal alike. Verse 5, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Verse 11, “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.” Man is totally corrupted and controlled by his sin. So, the earth has become a violent place, a corrupt place, a place of overt and continuous rebellion against the Creator.

But there is the manifestation of God’s grace and salvation in this. Noah and his family have found grace in the sight of God. And God is going to spare Noah from coming judgement. So, you see that distinction drawn out. The earth has come to a time of God’s judgement, but God will preserve those who have trusted in Him, down to the one family, Noah. And so, He preserves Noah through the flood; God promises He will. And through chapters 6,7 and 8 we have the fact of the flood.

When you come to chapter 9, God establishes a contract, a covenant with Noah. And through Noah, He is establishing this covenant not only with Noah but with all the descendants of Noah. And you realize, we are all the descendants of Adam. And we are all the descendants of Noah, because Noah and his line, were the only ones to survive the flood. And so, we read in verse 9 of Genesis “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants,” your seed, “after you.” It comes down to our present time. Verse 10, “and with every living creature that is with you.” All the animals that have been taken onto the ark and preserved through the flood. Verse 11, “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” Verse 12, “God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.’ ” So, we call this the Noahic Covenant but it is a covenant with mankind and God’s promise that He will not destroy all the earth again with a flood. He doesn’t say that there won’t be floods. But all the earth will not be destroyed with a flood again. He does not say, all the earth will not be destroyed, because it will.

Turn over to 2 Peter 3, we’re going to come back to Genesis, but come to 2 Peter 3. Talking about the time when so much time goes by people say, where’s the promise of the Lord’s coming? Where is the reality of God’s judgement? Nothing changes, everything goes on as it has been from the beginning. Verse 5, “For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.” Now, note this, verse 7, “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men.” Verse 10, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” We talked about this. You come into Revelation 21, we have a new heaven and a new earth for the former heavens and earth were burned up. There will come a time when God will bring His final devastating judgement on all creation. This is in the context of what is going on now. There is salvation provided. Verse 9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” And those who come to repentance, must remember these truths. Verse 11, “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for” the new heavens and the new earth. Living in light of what God has said about the future -- coming, destroying judgement and coming eternal blessing.

Come back to the book of Genesis, chapter 15. Some time has gone by, and God has called Abraham and his descendants to be a people, and ultimately a nation that will belong to Him. In chapter 15, He reiterates the covenant with Abraham and establishes it; cuts the covenant. And then He tells him, that He’s going to give a land to them. It will be the land of Canaan, but it will not be theirs until they have experienced 400 years of slavery in Egypt. In verse 16 of Genesis 15, “Then in the fourth generation they shall return here", to the land of Canaan where Abraham is as God establishes this covenant, “for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” We see the principle here. Before the earth had built to a time of judgement, under the flood of Noah, it had come to the point God said he would not withhold His judgement any longer. Then He promised after that flood that He would not destroy the earth again with a flood. And Peter reminded us, but the earth is being held, reserved for judgement by fire. And we see… the principle I wanted you to pick up in verse 16 is Israel cannot go into the land that is inhabited by the Canaanites, the Amorite being the dominant people mentioned here, until the time has come for their sin to be judged. The iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete. So, we talk about ripening for judgement. It’s hundreds of years until the iniquity of the Canaanites is going to be such God will say, no more. And He’ll send Israel in, and what are they to do? Kill every man, woman and child. It’s time for judgement. And these specific areas of judgement, even though God is not judging the world in this way since the flood, He is and has brought judgement on individual nations and individual people, during this time. The Canaanites being an example.

Israel itself, the descendants of Abraham, come under such judgement. Come over to 2 Kings 17. God honored His word. When Israel came out of the land of Egypt, after 400 years of slavery, they ultimately were enabled to go into the land, and they were to conquer it and destroy the Amorites and all the Canaanites of the land. It was time for God’s judgement. But what happened, Israel went into the land, and over time they assimilated the practices of the people that they destroyed in the judgement of God, and began to adopt them themselves. So, in 2 Kings 17, God is ready now, He is going to bring His judgement on the northern 10 tribes of Israel. The nation has split under Solomon’s son, you remember. The 12 tribes are divided, 10 tribes, the northern tribes, and then 2 tribes, Judah and Benjamin, usually just called Judah, the southern kingdom. And we are told, verse 7 of 2 Kings 17, “Now this came about.” Now what comes about is, verse 6, “the King of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria.” God’s judgement on them, why? Verse 7, “Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God.” He’s the one who had brought them out of Egypt. And what? “They had feared other gods.” Verse 8, “and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced. The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the Lord their God.” The idea -- we are the Jews, we are the descendants of Abraham, we are unique among the nations of the earth. But they failed to live as a people unique, a holy people because their God was holy.

Verse 13, “Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, say, ‘Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statues according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets. However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. They rejected His statutes and His covenant. . . they followed vanity and became vain.” And they became like the nations around them. The result is God’s judgement comes on the northern 10 tribes.

Turn over to 2 Kings 2, some time has gone by. The northern kingdom goes into captivity, I think its 760 BC, around there. Now we come down to 586, and Israel is going into captivity in stages, 597, there are three stages in the captivity. But God is ready for the Babylonians to punish this other kingdom. Judah didn’t learn anything. They didn’t adjust their ways. God brought that devastating judgement on the northern ten tribes. Judah didn’t say, “We better get right with the Lord and walk in a way that’s pleasing to Him.” They just continued on as though, well yes, those northern ten tribes, they deserved it. But they go on.

So, we find in 2 Kings 23:26, “However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah” Verse 27, “The Lord said, ‘I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’ ” You come down into chapter 24, and you have records of this judgement. And a reminder, verse 2 “And the Lord sent against him…” Jehoiakim the king, different peoples, “He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken through His servants the prophets. Surely at the command of the Lord it came upon Judah.” So, what you see here is the reminder of that principle of the surety of judgement. Now under the flood it was worldwide. But since the flood His judgement has occurred on individual peoples and nations and individuals, period. And it is a reminder that God brings judgement on sin. And continues the pattern.

But God graciously gives evidence of His dealing with sin. The great act of grace comes in the gospels with the coming of Christ and when John the Baptist introduces Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” God’s provision of a Savior. And throughout history from back when He provided garments for Adam and Eve, He had graciously intervened and bestowed His grace and salvation on some. But all that centered in the work that Christ would do on the cross. That is the foundation for God being able to provide forgiveness. The work of God continues in the world.

Come to Romans 1, we studied that not too long ago. We see the picture here, what was going on in the day when the Spirit of God directed Paul to write this. The sin of man continued and the wrath of God against sin continued and continues. These are reminders of coming wrath and coming judgements. Paul talks about the gospel in verses 16-17, which “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” A man’s need of this salvation is because of his wicked, sinful condition before a holy God. So, verse 18 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” So, you see the condition is continued, even as it was in the days of Noah. Every intent of their hearts was only evil continually.

And here you have “the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” who don’t know the truth. No, that’s not what it says. They know the truth, they suppress it. They refuse to acknowledge it as we have talked about. This is important. There is not such thing as a person on the earth who doesn’t know he’s a sinner no matter what they say. There are liars who say they don’t think they are, or they don’t think they need salvation. But everyone knows. They “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” You see, this is the characteristic of their life. “Because that which is known about God is evident within them,” or among them, “God [has] made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” And you may have underlined in your bible some of these expressions; in verse 18, “who suppress the truth;” the end of verse 20, “they are without excuse”. Creation reveals almighty God, and man responds to that by suppressing it, refusing to acknowledge Him. “They are without excuse.”

That’s why we say there’s enough revelation in creation to condemn a person but not to save a person. Why? Well, the creation doesn’t reveal, as you look at creation all around you, the death and resurrection of Christ on the cross. But the amount of revelation that is revealed shows man closed to revelation from God, he suppresses it. I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to see it. Don’t tell me about it, don’t show it to me. “They are without excuse.” That’s the condition they are in, God says. Their heart and mind, they are without excuse, they are suppressing what is so obvious it cannot be denied. But they refuse to recognize it and give glory to God. “For even though they knew God…” How did they know Him? By what He had revealed. “They did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.” Because the knowledge of God was the beginning of wisdom, and they refused to know God and acknowledge Him they are fools, they profess themselves wise. “And exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

As we’ve talked about as we study this, man worships the creation in one form or another. Man worships himself. What’s the ultimate authority? Some of you are as old as me, and can remember the 60’s. I saw something on TV on the history channel, and they were talking about what changes happened in different periods of time. I just happened to see the 60’s. And they did the 70’s and 80’s I think, following. But the ‘me’ generation, it’s all about ‘me’. And really, that’s the way mankind is, isn’t it? What is the ultimate authority for men today? You can’t even bring God into the discussion, can you? Keep your religious ideas to yourself. But you can promote all kinds of godless activity. And that is acceptable.

And Paul goes on to say what this is, verse 24, as a result of man’s refusal to acknowledge God. And keep this in mind because we’re going to come back to it. At the very last closing verses of the last book of the bible, this is what happens. God reveals Himself, man refuses to acknowledge God, suppresses that truth, is without excuse, chooses to worship the creation, including themselves. Therefore, God gives them over to their sin. He doesn’t cause them to sin. It’s sort of like you raise your children. They get to be adults, they are doing things that you don’t approve of, but what do you have to say? You’re an adult now, you make your choices, and you will suffer your consequences. That’s what God has done with man. Man is determined he will pursue his sin. He will not acknowledge God. He will not submit to God. God says, go your way, but you will bear the consequences. “God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions.” This three-time statement, “God gave them over.” And the example He uses is homosexuality. Men with men, women with women, perverting the natural function and exchanging it for the unnatural. The end of verse 26, the “women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.” These are degrading passions. Important. We see this is going on around us. We live in a society, in a world that is promoting these things as normal, acceptable. They become the first nation to recognize these kinds of things as marriages. Nations have practiced them always in their sin.

We see what? A development as the world is ripening for judgement. We say, “Well, I think it’s ripe.” No, it took hundreds of years for the Amorites. But we should see as believers what is going on. Verse 28, the issue is “they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer.” Is that not correct? Don’t bring God into the discussion, that has no place outside the small confines of a religious group or a church. There you can talk about God, otherwise don’t talk about Him. But who is deciding what’s right and wrong? Those who have made themselves God, who have replaced God with themselves. We tell you this is ok. We say this is acceptable. We say this is normal.

And we see before our eyes what Romans 1 says. We see not only a nation doing this, but a world also doing it. That’s what makes us see, as we’ve looked at prophetic things and specific prophetic events, we see all in all a world that is what? Ripening for judgement. So blatant. Are they ashamed or embarrassed by their immorality? No. People live together and don’t get married. Anybody think anything about that? No. It’s just what we do. That’s the way it is. And you shouldn’t speak against it. And any kind of sexual activity, that’s private, keep your own religious beliefs to yourself. Which is another way of saying, don’t tell me what God said, I don’t want to hear it. I’m not open to it. Shouldn’t surprise us. We look at prophetic events, we say it’s exciting. We look at what God says He’s doing when He’s pouring out His wrath. That means man becomes more open in his sin because God is turning man over to what he wants to do. And that is preparing the world for coming judgement. This then becomes the most significant things. We look at some of these specific events that are interesting and exciting, with Israel and so on, they are important. We ought not to lose one that is going on in such open, blatant ways. I mean, you can have the highest leaders in the country speaking out in favor of the practices that God says here are unnatural, contrary to nature. The Creator says, this is a violation of what I created you for, how I created you to function. These kinds of relationships go beyond the perversions of immorality. Because they cross the boundary between what is natural and what is unnatural.

Who are we to say it’s unnatural? So, verse 28, “They did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.” That’s just one clear example. When you cross the line so clearly between what is natural and unnatural, and everyone knows this is not natural. But they are determined, they will continue to push it, and show it as acceptable, too. It is viewed as natural, but it never will be. And in their heart of hearts and minds and minds, they know, but they will not acknowledge God. And so, they are turned over, and the sin just permeates everything. Verse 29, “being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful,” this could go on. You see how permeating sin is. And then note the last verse, “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” We’ll pass laws to encourage it, to protect it. This is serious business. But say it’s sin, it will bring judgement, people don’t want to hear about it today.

I downloaded something last night from a survey, The Question that Died. If you were to die tonight, do you know for sure that you would go to heaven? It’s been a question that’s been asked to initiate evangelistic conversation. But they took a survey, it’s an evangelical group, took a survey. 46 percent of the people said they never thought about it. Isn’t it amazing? We’ve come to a point where almost half the people in the country don’t even give a thought to where they are going to spend eternity, whether they’ll go to heaven or hell when they die. They’re not even saying that they are convinced they are going to heaven. I don’t know, I don’t even think about it. Can we be any clearer on we just exclude God. He’s not even part of my thinking. Oh, I never thought about that. Why? I’m busy about me, my life, doing what we want. Breaking down barriers so people can do whatever they want and this is the result.

You know, chapter 2 goes… People like to pick out and say, I do this, but I don’t do this. And sin becomes what is acceptable and not acceptable and gets shifted around. And then the gods of this world decide what is unacceptable behavior and what is acceptable. When I was young certain moral behaviors were viewed as unacceptable by all in the world and viewed as perversions. Today, now they are supposed to be acceptable. And it just goes on. It changes. A major psychological organization is changing pedophilia. We say, well, that is something everybody agrees on. They say we shouldn’t be using such a pejorative term. They are minor attracted adults. You see, its something built into them. So, we move everything to that discussion. The discussion on homosexuality has been moved from the legality to discussion of the emotional. How cruel it is to make people who are burdened with enough problems, to lay on them a sense of guilt. And then you bring children in. What about children who have two women as parents or two fathers, how do they feel going to school and being told they are sinners, and their parents are going to hell? This is a terrible thing to do to people. We stir up the emotions, pretty soon, everybody is saying, yes, we shouldn’t be like that. Where does God come into the picture? Is there right and wrong?

Reminder, verse 4 of Romans 2, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and [forbearance] and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” You see what’s happening? Like we saw about the Amorites, they are not yet ripe for judgement. We think, oh, we’re getting by with it, it’s fine, its going on. But we are storing up wrath for the coming day of wrath.

And so he goes on to talk about the distinction again. There is salvation. There are those who will receive life, but there are those who will be condemned.

Come to the book of Revelation, chapter 1. We pick this up, because important that we see where we are as a church. The book of Revelation is addressed to the churches, plural. Individual, local churches, seven of them in chapters 2 and 3 in Asia Minor. We’ve looked at this. But those seven churches are selected by Christ, because through them He’s giving a message to His churches that is pertinent down through to our present day. The book opens up in chapter 1:3, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” And those emphasis -- blessing on those who hear and heed these things. You just don’t hear it. You pay attention to it, you put it into practice. The time is near. And that’s an emphases. Verse 7, “He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him. . .the earth will mourn over Him.” In this context, there is a distinction here. There are those in verses 4, 5 and 6 who have experienced salvation through faith in the One who loved us. The end of verse 5, “and released us from our sins by His blood.” They’ve experienced His salvation. Then he goes on in chapters 2 and 3 to address the seven churches. We’ll come back to that.

Then from chapters 6 to 19 we have judgment on the earth. Coming to chapter 19, the return of Christ to earth. Chapter 20, the millennium. And then the great white throne, sentencing people to an eternal hell. Chapter 21 and 22, talking about the blessing of the redeemed. I want to pick up some things at the end of chapter 22 because important. At the climax of the scripture, at the climax of this great book on coming events, here’s what Jesus Christ has to say. A reminder in verse 6, as we looked at, “ ‘These words are faithful and true’; and the Lord, the God of the Spirit of the prophets, sent His angel to show His bond-servants,” what? “The things which must soon take place.” Remember chapter 1:3, “the time is near”. These are addressed to the churches. The church is to be living in light of the fact that the time is near, the imminent return of Christ. It’s a purifying hope. Verse 7, “Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” Verse 10, John is told, “not [to] seal up the words of the prophecy of this book,” they are open and they are to be known and understood. Why? “The time is near.”

Now, note this, “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy. Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” You might get the idea, in verse 11, that the time of salvation is over. These are imperatives. They are imperatives of omission. And remember when we were in Romans 1, we noted the importance of that. Man is determined not to acknowledge God, not to submit to the revelation of God. To worship the creation not the Creator, including man himself. So, God gave them over. So, the point here in verse 11, the one who does wrong, still does wrong, the one who is filthy, those who are committed to continue in their sin and the rejection of God, continue that path. Those who have submitted themselves to God and bowed before Him, trusting in Christ, they are to live according to that pattern. Your life manifests who you are. You’re not saved by your works, but your works reveal your condition, your heart. Jesus said, sin comes out of the heart. It’s the heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked. And so, the behavior of people reveals their condition. If your heart has been changed then righteousness is to characterize your life. Holiness is to characterize your life. And we live in light of the fact Christ is coming quickly, His reward is with Him. The wages of sin is death. That’s the reward for sin. The reward for those who have believed in Christ and experienced His righteousness, the reward is eternal life, as we’ve seen, in the presence of the new Jerusalem, and a new heavens and a new earth.

Verse 13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” You know how final this is. However, you say it, “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end,” I am the eternal God. This is the way it is. This is the way it will be. Man puffs himself up. Man makes statements. Man sets down rules and regulations. There is only one eternal God. Man ignores Him at his eternal consequences.

Verse 14, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life.” Remember the tree of life? In the first part of chapter 22, we’ll be in the new Jerusalem on the new earth. People can come in and partake of its fruit. Different fruit each month of the year. They may enter the gates to the city.

Note here again the warning, outside are the dogs. Might as well be honest. How God sees unregenerate people. The dogs of the Middle East, not the household pets. I was told last hour I should use the word domesticated. Well, whatever. The dogs in the Middle East are not the nice household pets. They are the scavengers of the streets. Not appreciated, not loved. These are the despised. Here’s how God sees them. Verse 15, “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.” Outside the city. Remember the gates of the city are open all the time. Why are they outside the city? You see here right at the end of God’s revelation, with the closing of verse 21 of Revelation 22, God’s special revelation to man is complete. And He reminds them, excluded from the presence of God in eternity are the sinners. Where are they? Come back to chapter 21:8, “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Eternity in hell. That’s why they are excluded from the city. They are in hell. Judgement has been passed. Those two lines: of sin and death and sinners who will not repent and those who by the grace of God, have experienced the salvation of God. The line of sinners, unredeemed, has come to its appointed end, judgement in an eternal hell. But for the believers, it goes on, in the glory of God’s presence.

Verse 16, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches.” You ought to underline, “for the churches.” The first time the churches have been mentioned since chapter 3. Chapters 2 and 3 talk about them, but churches aren’t mentioned until this point. For the churches -- individual, local churches. This is a message for the churches. We think, well, yes, this is for the unbelieving world, they need to hear this. That’s fine, they do, but its interesting, this is Christ’s message for the churches.

Come back to chapter 2, just a couple of examples. In chapters 2 and 3, Christ is giving the message to the churches. Note the condition in the churches. He’s addressing people in the churches. The church at Pergamum, chapter 2, picks up with verse 12, and he gives a word of commendation to believers in the church who have been faithful. But verse 14 of chapter 2, “But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.” People in the church tolerating teachers in the church whose teaching leads to immorality. We battle that in the churches today. We don’t want to address immorality. I mean, we live in an imperfect world and we want everybody to feel welcome, so the church becomes tolerant of things. We are to be tolerant, we’re to be open, we must be willing not to see our view as the only view. Verse 15, “You also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.” That’s a warning in chapter 19, that is fulfilled. When He comes at the second coming, what? The sword out of His mouth destroys enemies. This is to the churches.

There’s a promise in verse 17, as there is at the end of each of these letters, to the overcomers. A reminder, in the church there are not everyone in that church, that local church, that is necessarily an overcomer. The church better be careful that it draws lines clearly. We think we’ve done something when we’ve got a church that’s made up of all kinds of people. Fine, if you mean all nationalities, all races, all languages, that’s great. But all kinds of practices, immoral sinful activity? How much is church discipline practiced today? Not very much. Well, we don’t want to be viewed as judgmental. Well, the church at Pergamum was pretty tolerant, too. And Christ said, you better deal with it. Those unbelievers are on a track of judgements.

Thyatira is the next church. Look at verse 20, they are saying some positive things about the conduct of believers. “I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.” I’m going to bring her into judgement, and everyone who follows that teaching. You see, this is addressed to the churches. They need to be cleaned up. These are to be comprised of the saints, the holy ones, those who have been set apart by God for Himself. It doesn’t mean we’re better than others. The distinction is between those who have been cleansed by God and those who have not. The church becomes accepting of these things, pretty soon you can’t tell any difference between the church and the world. And they do surveys now, and churches that claim to be bible-believing churches and churches that don’t. I mean, the conduct -- is about the same kind of practices. What has happened to the church? “He who overcomes”, verse 26, is the promise to believers.

Come down to chapter 3, the church at Sardis is in really bad shape. He says at the end of verse 1, “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead.” Here’s a church that was known as a believing church, but Jesus said, you’re really spiritually dead. You just have a façade that people look at and say, oh yeah, that’s a believing church, but you’re a dead church. Verse 2, “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain.” Verse 3, “Remember what you have received and heard.” Verse 5, “He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments.”

And then you have the church at Laodicea, beginning in verse 14. And the whole church is in wretched condition. Not one good thing said about it. It prides itself… here’s the church of the day! It’s neither hot nor cold. We don’t deny true doctrine and we don’t make an issue of it. This is the place where everybody can be comfortable. And you’re doing well. You’re proud that you’re lukewarm. Nobody can accuse you of being cold. And nobody accuses you of being hot either. “You say,” verse 17, “ ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” And you need to experience finding Christ, the salvation only He can provide. Isn’t it something? We are about 95 AD, Christ selects seven churches out of a region, and this is their condition already. The last of the apostles is not even in the grave. And this is what the Lord of the church says the condition is.

And so, we have the book of Revelation that reminds us. We begin here, the people sit here week after week that have never trusted Christ, raised in the church and never trusted Christ. It’s a tragedy, a travesty. It’s worse when we begin to make adjustments so those people can feel like they are Christians. I need to be honest, your behavior, your life indicate you don’t belong to the Lord of the church. He graciously cleanses us from our sin, forgives us, makes us new creatures. The old things go. Your life is old things. You can’t claim to be a new creature. This is not harsh, this is not unkind. You realize there will be no fudging it when we stand before the Judge who judges impartially. We think we’re being nice and over time people will just grow into it. Doesn’t happen. So, the message of salvation, we carry it to the world.

Come back to Revelation 22. But it starts right here. He’s saying to the churches, verse 16, “ ‘I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant [offspring] of David, the bright morning star.’ The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” So, you see that in the context of verse 11, sinners who persist in their sin, are turned over to their sin by God. But the invitation is still open. Come while there is still time, place your faith in Christ while there is time, while there is opportunity. You say, oh, I’ll think about it. Don’t think about it, do it now. You don’t know what you’ll be thinking tomorrow. Sin is deceptive, do it now.

Then there’s a warning, and a warning to the churches, because these are given to the churches. Verse 18, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.” In other words, how you handle the word of God, reveals whether you belong to God or not. There are no allowances here for true believers to take anything away from the word of God or to add anything to it. Paul said, my hands are clean from the blood of all men, because I have taught you the whole council of God. That’s why we just don’t focus of what some man has decided are the essentials. We can not take away from the word of God. Is the book of Revelation one of the essentials? He said, if you take anything away from it. I can take away from it by just ignoring it. We choose not to teach it, we choose not to talk about it, we choose not to make that an issue. In other words, I’ve removed it from the word of God. I can’t remove anything; I can’t add anything. This is God’s word. They say, well, I don’t believe it is. Well, you can make that decision, but there is no other place where you can learn with clarity the truth about the eternal God who is displayed in creation, but in the word He has given. And how gracious He is, to give us a word that we can read and heed and submit to.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord, for Your greatness, Your power, Your sovereignty overall. Lord, we live in a day, as we look at the world around us, and we are reminded of the awfulness of sin, the impact of sin, the pervasiveness of sin, the arrogance of man when his sin refuses to acknowledge You. Refuses to bow before You. We see the awful consequences as men persist in their sin and move towards the surety of coming judgement. Lord, we have come to know the salvation that You’ve provided in Jesus Christ. It’s Your grace that has brought us to this salvation. Lord, as Your church established in this place we must take hold of these truths. It must be a reality for us in our lives. We must live righteously as a holy people set apart to You. We must be faithful, persistent, consistent to manifest Your grace. To share this glorious gospel with those who have yet to come to salvation. Thank You for blessing us so greatly. We thank You in Christ’s name. Amen.