Feels good to see that. We have Bibles here. To the last book of the Bible, and to the last chapter of that last book of the Bible, which is Revelation 22. This morning we're going to be looking at verses 6 through 11 of this text. Contemplate coming to the Lord's table this morning. This text is quite an appropriate one. We're thankful for this particular passage, although it's a sobering passage that we're going to look at and will hopefully prepare us to come to God's table. It's further words that the angel of God gave to the apostle John. And so with that in mind, please listen as I read God's word. And he said to me, these words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His angel to show His servants what must soon take place. And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, you must not do that. I'm a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Let's pray and ask for God's Spirit to help us. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the different ways that You have given Your Word to us. Sometimes through a letter. Other times through a poem. and God hear through visions and words from angels. Father, who has the knowledge sufficient for such things to understand your word? We are so desperately in need of the help of your spirit. So we pray, oh God, that your spirit would bring us to a knowledge of what your word is teaching here and its right application in each of our lives. We pray it through Christ. Amen. Children, in the beginning of the book of Revelation, Jesus appeared to John. He saw Jesus, the glorified Jesus up in heaven. And when John saw Jesus, he saw something coming out of the mouth of Jesus. Do you remember what it is? It's in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 16. If you don't remember what it is, I'll tell you now. It says, there out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword. Now, when we think about a sword, we don't often think about it coming out of the mouth. We think about it in the hand, or girded here on our thigh, or whatever, in a sheath. But a sword coming out of the mouth, why that image? Well, first of all, it reminds us that this word, the sword, I should say, is the word of God. what John was seeing was the Word of God coming out of the mouth of Christ. And this is confirmed by that familiar verse in Hebrews, for the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. And what can it do? Piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, cuts deep and reveals what lies in the hearts of people. And it's a two-edged sword, the sword of the Lord, because it can both heal and harm. It can both save and judge. We saw the sword at work when John was to deliver one of the messages to the church at Pergamum there in chapter 2 of Revelation. to the angels of the church in Pergamum write this, the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. There's the sword. And after the message goes to this congregation that they have been faithful to withstand the persecution that they were undergoing, God through His Son gives a warning to this congregation because some of them are about to fall under heretical teaching and He says this to them, therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. That sword is too edgy. It pierces hearts and leads to salvation, and it pronounces judgments to others that lead to damnation. And we need to be careful not to mess with the sword of the Lord, because He's wielding it. There's another picture in Revelation 19 where the Lord is pictured as coming on a a white horse to conquer the nations. And it says this about him, from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that he may strike down nations and rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. This book of Revelation, now as we come to its end, emphatically calls its listeners to heed the Gospel. And it has ominous warnings to those who will not listen, who will not repent and believe this message. And that's why I'm calling it the prophetic gospel. For wherever and whenever it is preached faithfully, it's not only calling people to faith in Christ, and it's doing that, but it's also revealing and even predicting the destiny of the listeners. It's a blessing. to those who heed its words and listen to it, but it's a curse to all of those who fail to heed its message. And this morning I want us to really focus down on verse 11 because it's a puzzling verse. Verse 11, let the evildoers still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Because what this is doing is showing us the two-edged nature of the gospel. that whenever the prophetic gospel is preached, we can know one of two things is happening. We can know that those predestined to destruction will remain in their filthiness, and those elected to salvation will remain in their holiness. So let's reflect on that together. First, whenever the first edge, whenever the prophetic gospel is preached, know that those predestined unto destruction will remain in their filthiness. It's almost hard to read verse 11. It doesn't seem like something an angel would actually say that first half of that sentence. Let the evildoers still do evil. Let the filthy still be filthy. How can it be that God would command an angel to even say such a thing? It could raise questions. I'm sure it does in certain people's minds, even about the character of God who would make pronouncements such as this one? Well, to help us answer that question, we have to remember where we are in the book. We are at the end of the book, and the message has been preached through the book of Revelation. The judgments have rolled out and been stressed. The Lord is about to come, and the time for repentance is now. And that's why this angel is saying what he is saying. Notice the emphasis here on the idea of prophecy. He says in verse six, the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets has sent his angel to speak these words because he's coming soon. Verse seven, blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Then in verse nine, he reminds John that he's a prophet along with his other brothers who are prophets. And then, and we'll look at this in a moment, verse 10, don't seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. This is a book of prophecy. And it's at its end. And what's being predicted is about to take place. The incredible promises of blessings and the horrible judgments are at hand. We have to keep that in mind, first and foremost. And then there's a force of meaning behind verse 10, where the angel tells John, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of the book. What does he mean, do not seal up the words? You might remember earlier in Revelation that there's the scroll with the seven seals, and those seals are broken by the Lord, and as he breaks them, things begin to happen. That's the idea here. It means that the words of this prophecy are going to be immediately applied. They're going to happen now. We're told back in the book of Daniel that Daniel was given visions about what kingdoms would rise and fall after the time of the Babylonian Empire. You know, the Persians and the Greeks and the Romans and so forth that would come later. And Daniel was told in chapter 8, verse 26, the vision of the evening and mornings which was told is true and then the angel says to Daniel therefore seal up the vision for it refers to many days in the future. So you seal the prophecy when it hasn't unfolded yet but you don't seal it or you open it when the time is near and that's exactly what he says in verse 10. Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is near. Time The season of the gospel has arisen. It's in the hand. And on this first edge of the sword, what we have to understand is what is being taught to us here when the angel is saying, let those remain in their filth. Let those people remain in their dirtiness. Let those people remain in their evil. is that we're really talking here about the doctrine that's called reprobation. The doctrine of reprobation. Not only has God chosen to elect people unto salvation, but he's also predestined others to destruction. That's a hard thing for the human ear to hear. This isn't my word. This is the word of the living God. And he doesn't say it just here. He makes it abundantly clear elsewhere in Scripture. The book of Romans chapter 9. You want to see this doctrine expressed, read Romans chapter 9. Where in verse 13, Paul says, so that the purpose of God according to election might stand, it was said to Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. And God said that before those two boys were even born. Their path was set. And in verse 18, as Paul anticipates in Romans 9, the human objection to such a hard truth He says, God will have mercy on whom he desires, and he also hardens whom he desires. For God, he goes on to say, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. We object. It's too awful. God's Word says it. And when we begin to question it, God says back to us, Indeed, O man, who are you to reply to God? Will the things formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me this way? It's not just John that says things like this, or Paul that says things like this. consistent teaching for all the prophets. Peter says as much in 1 Peter 2, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. It's with this doctrine in mind, this understanding in mind, But the angel says this, let the evildoer still do evil and the filthy still be filthy. You want to keep holding on to your sins and your filth? Go ahead. Go ahead. It's an awful, awful thing to hear. and has applications to us in the church. Three never applications to you. First of all, never assume anyone can wait to respond to the gospel. Never assume that anyone can wait to respond to the gospel. These statements are being made to us. There's a sense here of urgency being made because the time of salvation is now. It's at hand and you can't wait. You can't wait. Sometimes we're so polite when we're speaking about eternal things. We're so polite when it comes to men's souls that we don't say what they need to hear. Sometimes we act like we're, you know, our friends selling a Mary Kay product. You know, if you want to purchase some, it's okay. If you don't, it's okay. I'll take your order whenever it's okay. It's okay. If you ever decide to follow Jesus, just let me know. I don't want to hurt your feelings. Friends, knowing the gospel should put an unction and an urgency in every one of our lives. It's not just a preacher that needs to have it. We all need it. We all need it. How can we know the gospel? Know that there's only two eternal destinies that come. And I have an urgency to say to our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, today is the day of salvation. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't say wait, because some person might reach the point of no return when the gospel's no longer available to them. If we lose our urgency, we've lost the gospel. Never assume anyone can wait. Never assume second application, the hero will respond favorably to the gospel. Never assume that people are going to respond favorably to the gospel. Perhaps that's not an application you really need to know, because you already probably have experienced that. But we can never make assumptions that someone's just going to respond favorably to the gospel because I'm the one sharing it with them, or you're the one sharing it. Friends, the gospel is like the sun. On some hearts, it softens them like wax, and on other hearts that are like clay, it hardens them. That's what the gospel does to people. It either awakens them to the glory of God and the beauty of salvation in Jesus Christ, and an acknowledgement that, yes, there's a judgment awaiting this world, and so I need to be ready for it, I need to stand in Christ to be ready for it, or people resist it and push it away and get hard and defiant even further against God. Sometimes, sometimes we may be preaching the gospel to those who are reprobate, but here comes the third number. Never assume you ultimately know those who are damned. Never assume that you know those who are ultimately The secret things belong to God. And that includes what's going on in the hearts of people. We just can't see in there. We don't have the eyes to know what's going on in there. We have to wait and see. And remember, there have been some pretty vile people that if we were looking at them and we were guessing where they were going, we'd say, oh, yep, there's a reprobate. Then God saves a thief on a cross while he's taking his last breath. Or he saves a vile, this is what he called himself, a vile persecutor of the church named Saul who became the great Apostle Paul. So we always hold out hope, but even then I have to say this. Those are unusual cases. Extraordinary No one, no one should take comfort in the fact that I can enjoy my wickedness as long as I want and then one day I'll turn and get right to the Lord. That very heart, that very heart, I hope it's not one of your hearts, but that very heart is playing with a two-edged sword that you don't want to follow. very heart is taking the rock that God calls the rock of salvation, and it's stumbling over that rock. And that can be eternally devastating to the one who does so. Remember that thief was dying painfully. Remember that great apostle had to suffer greatly as a Christian. We shouldn't mock God by hearing the gospel and saying, I'll think about it on another day. No, today you think about the gospel. Today we make others think about the gospel. But you come today to the Lord's table. You're to come in faith. You're to come cleansed, saying, I'm not like that, because I don't have filth anymore, because I'm clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You come in humility, because you know His body was literally, literally broken to make you whole. By His wounds, you can be healed. So we have to know that's one of the things that the Gospel, this two-edged sword, is saying. It leads us then into the next side of that sword. Whenever the prophetic gospel is preached, know that those elected to salvation will remain in their holiness. Those elected to salvation will remain in their holiness. Let the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. It's interesting at this point to notice the reaction of John as he's hearing these things. John says, Here's a man being very honest about his own foolishness. John says, when I heard these things and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. Then he's rebuked by the angel, and he listens to him. I find this utterly incredible, because you've got to remember who we're talking about. This is the Apostle John. He had lived with Jesus for three years. He had worshiped Jesus. He knew that he weren't supposed to worship anyone else. He'd seen Jesus ascend into heaven after the resurrection. And we've gone through this, you go through this incredible book. When Jesus first appeared to him, he worshipped him rightly there, fell down like this. But then later on in this book, as he sees these seven seals and these seven trumpets and these seven bowls of wrath, as he sees the great beast judged by the Lord, As he sees all these other incredible things unfolding, he does what he had done on one occasion beforehand. He had fallen down at this angel's feet before and tried to do this, got corrected. And yet so incredible, so awesome is what he's seeing as he forgets himself, worships this angel. In one sense, I think we can understand. He's just so overwhelmed he can't think straight. My friends, in some ways I would almost hope that this could happen to us today. That in light of what I've just spoken about regarding the doctrine of reprobation, and then knowing that God, out of all the peoples on the earth, has chosen you, and brought you to a knowledge of Himself, and revealed these incredible things to you, these heavenly, eternal realities to you. You might blabber a little bit. I know how to pray. I know how to respond. The wondrous favor that belongs, as you see, The doctrine of election is not a theoretical doctrine. It's a demonstrated one that God proves in life and experience. I love the answer one time J.I. Packer gave when he was asked, what does reformed mean? I use this when I get asked. Packer said, reformed means God saves sinners. saves sinners in the fullest meaning of that short sentence. He called his people, he chose them before the world was even founded and then called them to be his people out of all the other people of the world. And he called us, chose us before the foundation of the earth so that we could be what? So that we could be holy. and blameless before him, as Ephesians 1-4. And that's why this angel says, let the righteous still do right, and let the holy still be holy. You see, the charge that's often laid at the feet of those who call themselves Reformed, who believe in the doctrine of election, is that this teaching will cause people to be complacent in their Christian living. If God has chosen you and saved you and forgiven you, then you can do whatever you want. You can live however you wish, because there's nothing that can happen to you as a result of that. Why bother evangelizing if God's going to bring to Himself whom He will? Why bother praying if God's going to do His will? Friends, we are not elected. We are not chosen. unto wickedness, and unto unbelief, and unto disobedience. We are chosen unto holiness and to be blameless and do what God tells us to do. That we believe that God who ordains the ends also ordains the means to those ends and we better follow Him because we fear Him, because we love Him. We should be awed Like John, we should be overwhelmed by our high calling and the knowledge of heaven that God has given to us, and we should respond. And if there were three nevers to the doctrine of reprobation, here are three always to the doctrine of election. Always believe this. Always believe that God has his elect reserved for the gospel, that God has his elect reserved for the gospel. You remember when Paul was on his missionary journey and he was in Corinth and things weren't going well. Not many were receiving the gospel there and the Jews were making things difficult for him. He was persecuted. There's not much fruit and God comes to him. Acts 18, the Lord says to him, do not be afraid any longer but go on speaking and do not be silent for I am with you and no man will attack you in order to harm you for I have many people in this city. We must always believe that God has his people out there prepared to hear the gospel. And it's our duty to make sure that they do hear the gospel because God ordains the means to the end of those elect coming to his knowledge. Far from being complacent about evangelism, the reformed evangelists should go out with hope and with joy, waiting for God to bring out one of those diamonds out of the rough and show us one of his elect, one of our future brothers and sisters coming to a knowledge of himself. Talk about all these children that God is blessing us with. We can give thanks for them. We know there was action taken for them to be here. I will say no more. There needs to be action. in order for the gospel seed to be planted into the hearts of people around us. Let's take it to the lost around us. Another always. Always believe that the elect will be dynamically changed by the gospel. There's an unbelief that has crept into the church today. An unbelief in the power of the gospel. that somehow we can say we're Christians and yet there's no life change because the gospel can't change really people's lives and hearts. You hear things like you cannot expect a transgender person to think any differently. You can't expect a homosexual to go against their desires. Oh yeah I can. No yeah you can. Because the Bible expects that. The Bible expects that people will be utterly transformed from the inside outward by the gospel. That their dead hearts, yeah, their dead hearts can't do anything else but what you've just said. Their dead hearts can't change their desires. Their dead hearts can't think the way that they should think. But a heart made alive by the Spirit of God coming under the power and the influence of the Lord Jesus Christ will change It will change. For some people, that's a threat. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can't take away the gospel from being and make it non-threatening. It is a threat. It is a threat. It was a threat when I heard it. My life, my lifestyle. It's a threat to all. Let's remember there's a greater threat being changed by the gospel. There's the threat of being judged for rejecting the gospel. So let's preach a gospel that tells people they could be dramatically changed by it. And finally, always believe that you are not wise enough to know who the elect will be. That's the other side of that coin. Don't think you know who the elect will be more surprising than those who respond negatively to the gospel, or those who initially, perhaps even for a good period of time, respond to the gospel and then fall away from the gospel. There are some people who respond to the gospel, seem to have genuine faith, and then they leave the gospel. Sadly, I've seen in my lifetime and experience, too many undergo that. There isn't an irreversible Judas type of fall that some people go through. That's another warning to us. Why we have to make our calling and election sure that we're always walking in a manner worthy of the gospel. And the way we know who the elect are is that we rest the promises of God their fruit will be sharp. They will come into the church, they'll bear fruit for His glory, and they will remain. Isn't that what it says here? Let the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. How do you know if you're one of God's elect? You can't stay away from the stable. You can't bear the thought of being separated from union with God as you come and take of this table, as you feed on the Lord, as you practice unity with the body of Jesus Christ. He said there's nowhere else I can go. I have to remain here in the wholeness and in the righteousness of Jesus. And then we know, as we see that, who the elect truly are. It's a double-edged sword. Let us believe it, and let us wield it appropriately, in our own hearts, and in the lives of those around us. Father in heaven, how thankful we are that you have sent your son into this world to give us such a gospel. And we thank you, O God, that he gave his very life for people like us, so that if we believe on the Lord Jesus, we'll be saved and have life everlasting with you. Father, we need these times where we come to you sober-minded because we realize there's so many out there that lie in great darkness. Lord, help us to take the gospel to this community and beyond. Watch what you do with that gospel, oh God. We know for some, it will result in life and salvation. It'll be an aroma of life to them. But for others, they will show the darkness of their own hearts. It will smell as an aroma of death. Thank you, God, saving us, for helping us to smell the sweetness of your gospel. Bless us now as we come around your table to commune with you. We pray it in Christ our Lord. Amen.