Well, we're going to be right there where Brother Mark just read the last words of the Book of God. Final words. Like he said, I don't know that I'm going to get through all those verses. I'm in no hurry. I just want to kind of bask in the light that God gives us here. I've entitled the message, the phrase that is found in verse 16. where it talks about Christ being the offspring of David and he's the bright and morning star. And that's the theme of the whole Bible. That theme can be stated in different ways, obviously. But from Genesis to Revelation, this is a book of Christ. In the beginning, God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. all the way through the glory of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in the end, we see this is about the glory of Christ. And there are several things that are brought out here to close out God's book, the revelation of his glory in the salvation of sinners through the blood and the righteousness of this glorious person who is both God and man. He's called the offspring of David in verse 16. That's his humanity, his holy humanity. And the bright and morning star, his deity, and both combined in union. That's what the old writers called the hypostatic union. No mixture of deity and humanity, but a union that can never be broken. God manifest in the flesh and he's the bright and the morning star because he shines through the whole Bible and the whole Bible is to be viewed in this light, the bright and morning star. The first issue that John is shown here is the issue of worship. Worship And that's a good way as we close out the book of God. The issue here is worship God alone. And what happens, let's just read verses eight and nine again. I, John, saw these things and heard them. This messenger of God sent forth by Christ to show John these things, this is by revelation. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, the messenger, which showed me these things. the messenger then said he unto me see thou do it not don't worship me he says for I am thy fellow servant and and of thy brethren the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book worship god worship god what happened here is John being awestruck by this vision mistakenly bowed down to the to worship the messenger the messenger quickly said, don't do it, don't do it. No creature, no man, no woman, no church leader is to be worshiped, only God. It was stated in the first of the commandments to Moses in Israel, thou shalt have no other gods before me. No creature is to be worshiped, I think about what Christ told the woman at the well in John chapter four, when he told her in her Samaritan ways, and they had their own little temple, and he says, you worship you know not what. You know, that is a commentary on most religion today, right there. They don't know what they worship. They think they're worshiping God. I'll just give you a heads up. Turn to Romans chapter one with me. They think they're worshiping God, but they don't know God. They don't know the God of the Bible. They don't know who he is. They don't know how he works and what he's done, what he's accomplished. They think they do. They worship a God who's trying to save everybody, who loves everybody, if you'll just cooperate. And that's not the God of the Bible. he told that woman, he said, you don't know what you worship but he said we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. Now what he's referring to there, there were many of the Jews who didn't know God either but they had the proper elements, they had the temple, they had the tabernacle, the temple, they had the holy of holies, they had the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat, All of those were proper types of Jesus Christ in the salvation of sinners by which the Lord God identified and distinguished and revealed the glory of who He is and what He would do so that they could worship. Christ told her in John 4, He says, but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers, now that's what I want to be, how about you? I want to be a true worshiper of God. I don't want to be someone who goes through life in religious paraphernalia and religious exercise and find out that I didn't know God, or more importantly, find out in the end that He didn't know me as far as electing love and grace. Remember He told those in Matthew 7, I never knew you. He knew who they were. He knew their hearts. He marked them out for destruction before the world began. That's what the Bible says in Romans chapter nine. But oh, to come before God and not to know Him. Christ said in John 17, this is life eternal, that they might know thee and thee only and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. He told that woman, he said, the hour cometh now is when the true worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. If what I'm telling you about God is a lie and you believe it, you're not worshiping God. Do you understand that? If I say something about God that is not according to the revelation of Himself in this Word, in the Gospel, how God can be just and justify the ungodly, how He saves sinners, through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh, who Himself is to be worshiped, who accomplished the salvation of all for whom He lived and died and was buried and rose again the third day, for whom He now sits at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us, who protects us, who provides for us, who preserves us and will bring us to glory. That's the God of this book. Worship him in spirit from our hearts in truth. God is a spirit, he told the woman, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Well, look at Romans 1 and verse 18. He'd been talking about the fact that the gospel is the revelation, number one, of a person, a specific person. That's the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh. made of the seed of David according to the flesh, declared to be the son of God with power and his resurrection from the dead, God-man. And secondly, it's the revelation of a work that this person has accomplished, and it's called the righteousness of God. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Man has no righteousness. Man cannot work righteousness. See, this is the issue that was set forth in Genesis when God removed the fig leaf aprons from Adam and Eve and slew an animal and made them coats of skin. That's the righteousness of God. That's Christ's righteousness imputed to His people. And so man has no righteousness, so if we're going to be found righteous in God's sight, that righteousness must come from Him. And it does come from Him in the person and work of Christ. He said in the book of Isaiah, I bring near my righteousness, not yours, not mine, but his. A seed shall serve him, the psalmist wrote. And they'll proclaim his righteousness. They'll say, he's the one who's done this, not me. Salvation is not conditioned on me, it's conditioned on Christ. And I'm the fruit, the result, the product. of his power and his grace and his goodness. So that's what he's been saying. Well, why do I need the righteousness of God? Well, look at verse 18 of Romans 1. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. That's the first problem that identifies men and women naturally in the total depravity of sin. Holding the truth in unrighteousness. And what does that mean? Well, look at verse 19. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them, and he's going to talk about that, in nature, the power, the glory, and the wisdom of God, in the conscience, in the law. But look at verse 20. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, by creation. even His eternal power in Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because that when they knew God, what they did know about God, they glorified Him not as God. They didn't seek more. They didn't find more. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image, made like to corruptible man, to birds, four-footed beasts, creeping things. For this reason, wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, took the truths that can be seen in creation and turned them into a lie. Why or how? Thinking that they could make themselves right with God by their works. by their decisions, by something other than Christ and his righteousness alone. And they worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever. You see that? Well, over here in the last book of the Bible, the last chapter, here's what he says. You worship God, but you cannot worship God without knowing God. And you cannot know God without knowing Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, in the glory of His person and the power of His work. I love this passage in Philippians chapter 3, Philippians 3 and verse 3, you're familiar with it, where Paul says, for we are the circumcision. And he's talking to both Jew and Gentile in the church at Philippi. Well, the Gentile males had not been circumcised, but what is he talking about? They hadn't been circumcised physically like the Jewish males. But he says we are the circumcision. Well, what's he talking about? He's talking about the new birth. He's talking about spiritual circumcision. You see, that's what it takes for us to worship God. We have to be born again by the Spirit and brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works and idolatry. We have to turn from our idols to serve the living God. And in order for that to happen, we must be born again. That's what Christ said in John chapter three. We must be given life from the dead. And that's what Paul's saying. We are the circumcision. We've been spiritually circumcised in the heart, in the mind, the affections, the will. And he says, how do you know that? Which worship God in the spirit. We worship God from the heart as we're guided by the Holy Spirit in the truth. And how do you know that we've reached that point by the grace and power of God? We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now that word rejoice means we glory or we boast in Christ Jesus. Somebody says, are you saved? What do a lot of people turn to when that question is asked? Well, I made a decision when I was 12 and I got baptized Is that what you're good? That's what you're glorying in. Do you realize that I? Glory in Christ Jesus we sang it what can wash away my sins Not the waters of baptism Not the decision I made nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and plea This is all my righteousness. You see what I'm saying We worship God in the spirit and we know that because we rejoice, we boast, we glory in Christ. Let he that glorieth, glory in this, that he knows God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says we have no confidence in the flesh. That's how this book concludes. This is repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Worship God. And that's what we're here to do this morning. That's what I want to hear from the pulpit. That's what you want to hear. Who is God? What is He like? Tell us about Him. Christ, the bright and morning star, shows us all we need to know the true and living God. And there's more. I'm sure when we get to glory we'll see things we haven't seen yet, but we've seen what God wants us to see. We've seen what God reveals to us enough that we can worship Him in spirit and in truth as we look to Christ and rest in Him. Well, the second thing that this angel brings up is the necessity of revelation. He says to John, look at verse 10 of Revelation 22. He saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand." Don't hide these things. Don't conceal them. It's high time. And then here is the issue. It's the reality of the standing and the state of sinners before God. He that is unjust. Now who are unjust? Those who are without Christ. Those who have no mediator. Those who have no righteousness. That's unjust means unrighteous. Those who are not forgiven. Those to whom God imputes iniquity. Remember David said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Well, the unjust here are those to whom God does impute iniquity. Their sins are charged to them. And he says, when Christ comes back and this whole thing is over, he that is in that state and standing before God in that way, let him be unjust still. It won't change. There'll be no salvation. There'll be no repentance. There'll be no change. When Christ comes back, how you are found is how you will stay eternally. Think about it. And he says, he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. The filth of sin. That's what that's talking about. Found in your sin. You remember Christ told the Pharisees, if you believe not that he is, the way he said, if you believe not that I am, the I am, you'll die in your sins. Let him that is filthy be filthy still. It won't change. But look here. and he that is righteous." Now who's that talking about? That's justified sinners. Justified by the grace of God in Christ. Their righteousness is not by their works. Their righteousness is the imputed righteousness of Christ. And they have been made whole by Him. Let him that is righteous, let him be righteous still. That won't change. People say, well, we're going to stand before God and find out where we're going to live. No. If you're going to have a mansion or you're going to live in the alley or what, something like that, no. The righteousness in which we stand before God is not one that we've brought up and worked out. It's totally Christ. And that's how we worship God. It's all connected, see? You can't get away from it. and he that is holy set apart by God. That's what that means. Let him be holy still. That's how we're found. Oh, that's why Paul prayed in Philippians 3, oh, that I may know him and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith or the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which we receive by faith. Boy, I tell you what, this is something, isn't it? This is the revelation. And here's the thing. If you know the gospel and you worship the true and living God through Christ, you know it now. You won't have to wait to find out. Somebody said, well, are you going to go to heaven? I said, well, I hope so. I'll find out in the end. Well, you will, but I'm telling you what you'll find out. you'll find out the bad news. Do you know Christ? Do you know him in the glory of his person and the power of his finished work? And then here's the third thing. The reward. Reward? Yeah. Reward singular. That's important. It doesn't say rewards plural. Look at verse 12. Behold I come quickly now listen to the language of scripture and my reward is with me to give Every man according as his work shall be according to his work Now what does the Bible say about our work I'm getting ready to do probably several messages on the issue of good works But let me just show you something that that kind of provides the basis for all of it when we talk about good works. Look at Ephesians chapter two. We quote this verse all the time. We mainly quote verses eight and nine of Ephesians two. But we need to be well aware of verse 10 also. But look at it, Ephesians two. Verse eight. Ephesians two and verse eight. If I can find it here, yeah. Now it says, for by grace are you saved through faith. You're saved by grace. Now what does the Bible tell us about grace? Well, you can say it many ways, but I think about Romans 5.21 in light of this. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace is not God helping you to help yourself. Grace is not God giving you a leg up. Grace is not God providing a possibility of salvation if you will cooperate or believe. That's not grace. That's a false gospel. Grace is God's riches, God's righteousness at Christ's expense. That's a good way to put it. So for by grace are you saved through faith. In other words, this salvation is brought to our persons in our experience by God-given faith And that's not of yourselves. That God-given faith is not of yourselves. It's not a free will decision. It's not a choice that you make out of your own goodness or your own wisdom. It's the gift of God. And I'm sorry, God doesn't give it to everybody. How do you know that? The Bible says he doesn't. Not all men have faith. And he says in verse nine, not of works, lest any man should boast. If God has saved me, I don't have any reason to boast in anything that I've done or chose to do. Do you understand that? Our glory in Christ. Well, look at verse 10. For we are his workmanship. A sinner saved by grace is not a self-made person. He's a person whom God made. We are His workmanship. And we're created in Christ Jesus. It is upon the basis of the glorious person and finished work of Christ. Christ did all the work. And you were created in Christ Jesus. And look at these words, unto good works, not because of good works, but unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. That's the whole basis there of salvation. And good works are the fruit, not the cause, not the ground, but they're the fruit. And there's several other things we can say about good works, but go back to our text, Revelation 22, verse 12. Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me. Well, what reward is he talking about? Well, read the Bible. Do a study on the word reward. It's the reward of grace. It's the reward of God-given grace. It's the reward of what Christ has earned for me, the reward of righteousness, the reward of glory, the reward of heaven. All of it. And it's a reward that is freely given to all of His people, and this reward of grace shines And here we go back to the bright and morning star, shines on the people that he saved. And by his grace, they're called good. And their works that are aimed towards the glory of God and motivated by grace and gratitude are revealed to be good works. Not because of any merit in them. The only merit we have before God is Christ. But because they're the work of God, ordained and done in us, and reveal that they're fruit unto God. But now the works of unbelievers, what are they? Fruit unto death. That's what he calls them. Evil deeds. Remember in John 3, 19, how the light shines on those who hate the gospel to expose their evil deeds. That's their works aimed at saving themselves. So here's the bottom line about the reward. It's the reward of grace for his people. His reward for the wicked is the reward of punishment, which is the just wrath of God against their sin. His reward for the just is the reward of eternal life and glory, which is the reward of grace based upon the righteousness that he accomplished. It's an inheritance, the scripture calls it, incorruptible, freely given to his people based on the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the wicked will receive what they have earned by their works, for their work is fruit unto death, the product of unbelief and self-righteousness and pride. Remember Matthew 7, depart from me you that work iniquity, I never knew you. The just, the justified, the righteous, the sinners saved by grace will receive what Christ has earned for them, for their work is fruit unto God, the fruit of faith and love and gratitude and grace. That's the reward. Those who speak of earned rewards in heaven, they don't know what they're talking about. They're mercenaries. But God has made His people willing, loving, bond servants of Christ. Well, here's the next thing. The reality of salvation and condemnation revealed on one basis. How do we relate to Christ? Our relation to Christ. Look at verse 13. He says, I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. There's the fullness of Christ. In the beginning, God. And what's the last verse of Revelation 22? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. He's it. He's all of it. And he says, blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates of the city. Think about that. What is it to do His commandments? Well, what does the Bible teach all the way through? People take verses like that and say, well, now see, if you're trying to be a good person, that's what that means. No. Now, don't get me wrong. Should we try to be good people? Yes. That's not an issue here. We should try to be the best of people. best servants of God, best witnesses of Christ, best brethren to one another. But what are God's commandments? Has God, think about it, in this book from Genesis to Revelation, has God ever commanded a sinner to keep the Ten Commandments, let's say, in order to be saved? And the answer is no. In fact, He forbids it. He said, listen to me, all the law can do is condemn you and by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified. So what are his commandments? Believe on his son whom he hath sent. It's the gospel commandment. Repent of your dead works. And we know that in order for a sinner to do that, God must do a work. In order for you to believe, in order for you to repent, God must give you the gift of faith. The gift of repentance. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. So all who believe in Christ, who have repented, it works. And what does John 3.18 say? He that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. My point is this. The reality of salvation and the reality of condemnation has to do with our relationship with Christ. All who are found in Him, believing in Him, they'll enter in through the gates of this glorious city, the new Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new earth. But look at verse 15, for without outside are dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. And what is the biggest lie? All the false gospels that are preached around this world. That's the biggest lie of all. Because those who buy into that All their sins are charged to their account. But all who are found in Christ, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ and God. In other words, what I ought to be concerned with now here on this earth is my relationship with Jesus Christ. And I'm concerned about my relationship to you too, but that's connected. Without a relationship with Christ in the grace of God, in the power of His grace and goodness, it all means nothing. How do I stand with Christ? Because outside of Him, there's nothing but death and damnation. And then the next point is the whosoever will. Look at verse 16. He says, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I'm the root and the offspring of David, the bride and morning star. We've talked about that. And the spirit and the bride say, come. Here's Christ sending forth the Holy Spirit to bring his people to himself. And let him that heareth say, come. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. and let him that is a thirst come." Thirsty for what? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after what? Righteousness. Somebody said, well, everybody's got a thirst after righteousness, not the right thirst. Because you see, the only one that can fill this thirst is Christ in the merit of His work of righteousness. And then He says, whosoever will. Whosoever's willing, let him take of the water of life freely. Well, we know the Bible teaches us that man by nature is not willing. No man can come to me except the Spirit of God which has sent me. Draw him and I'll raise him up at the last day. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned. If left to ourselves, none of us will desire to come to God. But Christ said this in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He said this is the will of him that sent me that of all which he hath given me I will lose nothing but raise it up again at the last day. And they shall all, he said later on, after he said that about no man can come to me, he said all that come to me, he said that he makes them willing He gives them a heart, that's the new birth. This is the reality of salvation in the whosoever will. If you're willing to come to this Christ, this God, worship this God, it's a God-given gift. You're His workmanship. And then the final word. I said I might not get through this, but I could say a lot more about each one, but let's just read these final words. The final word, verse 18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto the things, these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. That doesn't mean that a person who's saved can lose their salvation. It's not like that false preacher said that when you're born, God writes your name in the book, then when you first sin, he erases your name out, and then when you accept Jesus, he puts your name back in, no. All he's simply saying here is that those who will not receive the testimony of Christ, the bright and morning star, the gospel of salvation by God's grace in Christ, they have no part in the book of life. It's not that their names are written out or erased out, but whatever part you had of life, this life here, you'll have no part in everlasting life, eternal life in Christ. he says in verse 20, he that which testifieth these things say surely I come quickly amen even so come Lord Jesus and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Is there any better way to conclude the book of God than that? Even so come quickly Lord Jesus. All right.