Voddie Baucham - The Last and Final Call

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Open your bibles if you will, to the last chapter
of the last book, chapter twenty two of Revelation, and
we will look today. I know it says thirteen to sixteen.
We'll look at twelve to sixteen, and you'll understand why

(00:22):
momentarily as you look here Versus twelve through sixteen. As
we look at this text, if you have a red
letter edition of the Bible, you will find that we
begin an end with red letters, begin and end with

(00:46):
the Lord's words. And if you look in the middle
of there, Versus fourteen and fifteen look like we are
framed by the red letters, and they actually are. This
is kind of a mini chiasm or a mini frame.
We've talked about these frames before, and this is one
of those frames where on the outside of the frame

(01:08):
you have the same thing. There is the announcement and
identity of the Christ. So that would be the outside frame.
You see that in verses twelve and thirteen, and also
there in verse sixteen, it's the same thing. There is
an announcement and an identification of Christ. In the middle
of it you have the identification of the blessing of

(01:32):
the saints and the curse of sinners, and so This
package altogether is a picture of Christ, who is the
judge and the effect of the judgment that he brings.
The effect of the judgment that he brings is twofold.
One it is a blessing for the righteous, and two

(01:54):
it is a curse or condemnation for the unrighteous. And
all of it is tied up in this idea of
Christ and who he is. In both cases, this identification
is crucial. That's why it comes at the beginning and
the end of this picture. The identity of the two
groups is contingent upon their relationship to Christ. That's what

(02:18):
makes them who they are. That's what makes them what
they are. It's their relationship to Christ. There's a reference
here to their deeds. However, their deeds are a direct
result of their relationship or lack thereof, with Christ, or
the nature of their relationship with Christ. Because everyone has
a relationship with Christ. Amen. You we were talking about

(02:40):
that all the time. You know, do you have a
relationship with Christ? Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?
You don't ever have to ask anyone that question. The
answer to that question is always yes. Amen. We all
have a relationship to Christ. For some he is our
deliverer for the others, he is our judge. In both

(03:00):
cases it's a relationship, and in both cases it's personal amen. Secondly,
the authority of Christ to reward or judge is contingent
upon his identity, so again in both instances, his identity
is central. First of all, his identity is central because

(03:23):
that's how we identify who these people are and to
which group they belong their relationship with him. And secondly,
his ability to judge and his authority to judge is
tied up. It is linked inexorably to who he is.
So both of those things are important. As we look

(03:44):
at this passage of the scripture, beginning of verse twelve, Behold,
I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to
repay everyone for what he has done. I am the
Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the
beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their

(04:07):
robes so that they may have the right to the
tree of life, and that they may enter the city
by the gates. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, and
the sexually immoral, and murderers and idolatrs, and everyone who
loves and practices falsehood. Jesus have sent my angel to

(04:29):
testify to you about these things. For the churches. I
am the root and the descendant of David, the bright
morning Star. Amen. This is a powerful yet brief statement.

(04:51):
In this statement, first and foremost, we see a picture
of who Christ is. He identifies himself clearly at both
the beginning and the end of this statement. Let's look
at his identity in the first part of the statement.
As the judge comes, there's almost a picture of a judge.
Here's the way I view this, this this passage of scripture.

(05:12):
Here comes the judge. The judge walks in, and it's
all rise, the Honorable Jesus Christ presiding, and he comes
to his bench, and he's identified as he comes to
the bench. And then judgment is passed. And then after
judgment is passed, it's all rise again as the judge departs.

(05:38):
As he enters, behold, I am coming soon, bringing my
recompense with me. First, Christ is the judge of the world.
His judgment number one is imminent. He says, Behold, I
am coming soon. His judgment is imminent. Now again, we've

(05:58):
talked about this before, but it's almost ironic to say
that in light of the fact that we're looking back
some two thousand years, and it's been said for all
that time that his judgment is imminent, and his judgment
is imminent, And as has already been noted, when we
think about Christ's imminent judgment, we do not think of
it in terms of our own understanding. We don't think

(06:22):
of it in terms of the way we count time. Again,
we've said on a number of occasions Peter's statement about
with the Lord dais is a thousand years and a
thousand years as a day is quite appropriate. Here. God
is not bound by time. So when we say that

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it is ineminent, what we mean is it could be
at any time. It was true then, and it's true now,
and should the Lord tarry for another thousand years, it
will still be true that the Lord could come at
any time. But you and I do not know when
that time is, which is again been stated here earlier
in another chapter that picture of him coming as a thief.

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But his coming is imminent. But there is another sense
in which we understand the eminence of Christ's return in
this regard, because as the judge, all of us could
die at any moment, and in that moment we will
face him as our redeemer or as our judge. So

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while this is talking about the broader reality at the
end of the age, there is also a sense in
which for every one of us this is but a
heartbeat away. This judgment is imminent, and that's part of
the idea here. Part of the idea of this particular
set of statements is that we would examine ourselves. We're

(07:51):
coming to the close of the letter, and it's time
for us to recognize that this is not just an
academic exercise. But this has been communicated for a reason,
and the reason is that the judgment is imminent, both
in terms of Christ, who could come at any moment,
and also in terms of you, who could meet God

(08:13):
at any moment. It's only a heartbeat away. Secondly, his
judgment is warranted. He says, I'm bringing my recompense. The
Greek word that is used here is recompense. Is sometimes
translated as wages. Other times it is translated as payment.

(08:34):
I'm bringing my recompense. Sometimes it's translated this reward. He says,
I'm coming and I'm bringing my recompense with me. We've
already seen that individuals are going to be judged according
to what they do, according to what they have done,
according to their deeds. It's more than that, though, it's

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not only our deeds, because again, in order for a
deed to be righteous, it has to be the right thing,
done the right way for the right reason. If you
do the right thing, but you don't do it the
right way, you don't do it for the right reason,
it's not right. It's like the man who's in the
midst of a war, and in the midst of that war,

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he jumped on a grenade. He'd seen it happen before.
The individual who did it was heralded as a hero
because he saved his unit. So lo and behold, the
opportunity comes to the man jumps, and he falls on
the grenade, and he dies. He opens his eyes in hell,

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much to his dismay, and he can't believe it. I
just jumped on a grenade, and I just saved my men,
And here I am in Hell. What gives shouldn't can
I be in the other place? I mean, that was
a heroic deed that saved the lives of others. Yes,

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it was a heroic deed that saved the lives of others,
And you did it because you thought that doing it
would make you a hero. In other words, you did
it for yourself more than for anyone else. You did
it because you thought it would make God indebted to you,

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and that somehow God would owe you entrance into His
kingdom because of your deed, which again is completely and
utterly selfish. If it's not the right thing, done the
right way, for the right reason, and by the way,
the only right reason is the glory and honor of God,

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then it is sinful. Another way to say this, that
which is not of faith is sin. So when we
say that there is a reward for deeds, understand that
we're not talking here in terms of a scorecard, where

(11:12):
certain deeds are worth certain points and the points are
added up at the end. Because the fact of the
matter is, apart from Christ, you have no score. His
judgment is also individual. Notice he says, bringing my recompense
with me to repay each one for what he has done.

(11:33):
It's individual. Everyone's judgment is individual. We will stand before
God and be judged individually. This is important for us
for understand. This is important for us to grasp as parents.
It's important for us to understand that we can't be
righteous for our children. Amen. As children, it's important for

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us to understand our parents can't be righteous for us.
But it's also important for us to understand that the
other way. Our children can't be unrighteous for us. Our
parents can't be unrighteous for us. There is not a
sense in which God will judge us for what others
have done. We will be judged based upon our own

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actions and thoughts and attitudes and words and deeds. This
judgment is individual. You have to answer to Jesus. You
have to stand before his throne, you individually, and when
you stand before God, it will not be like judgment
in our understanding, because judgment and our understanding goes something

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like this. Did you hit the lady in her head
and take her purse? We'll see, Actually, you know what
happened was you know I'm poor? Then ask you if
you were poor, Ask you if you hit the lady
in your head and take your purse. Well, you know,
actually I grew up without a father. Okay, fine, but
that's not what I ask I ask you if you
hit the lady in the head and took our purse, Well,
you know, actually I have a drug problem. It's fine,

(13:04):
didn't ask you about your drug problem. I ask you
if you did what you did. See, the way we
think about justice is so incredibly clouded. We blame our environment,
we blame our upbringing, we blame our circumstances. Listen, when
you stand before God, the question will not be did

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you have the right parents? Did you have the right upbringing?
Did you have the right environment? That's not the question.
When you sin, it's because you are a sinner. That's
why you sin. And the fact of the matter is
the reason that the environment, the reason that the world
works on you and affects you, is because of your

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own sinful desires. You ever notice how even when we're
blaming our environment for our sin, the environment can only
make us go so far. I mean, you ask a
person who says, well, you know I did this because
of the way that I was raised, and you look

(14:07):
at that same person and say, well, well, how come
you never did whatever? You think about something else horrible?
And as a whole, No, I would never do that.
Well why because if the environment is the problem, then
you should be willing to do anything right. But there's
certain things that you won't do. You see, the reason

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that your environment was allowed to influence you in the
way that it did is because of the desires that
you already had. Take two men, put a glass of
scotch in front of him. One who's never had a

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drink before, doesn't have a proclivity toward alcohol, doesn't have
those physical desires in him. We'll look at it and
keep on walking. Another man whose body has tasted and
enjoyed and gotten used to tasting and enjoying while all

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of a sudden begin to have huge problems as he
stands and looks at the exact same glass. What's the difference.
The difference is the desires on the inside of us. See,
there's a reason that we give in to our environment,
and that is because of who we are as sinners.
So it's not as though we are morally neutral and

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the environment comes in and turns us into sinners. The
fact of the matter is we are sinful, and the
environment merely gives us opportunities to express our sinfulness. The
things that we like and crave, we run after him.
The things that we don't we don't think about, but
we don't avoid those things. The man who can walk

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by that glass of scotch, he doesn't walk by it
because he's good. He just has another proclivity, and if
you found what that thing was, he'd start having the
same kinds of problems. It is not your environment, it's

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not your upbringing. It is your sinfulness, it is your nature.
And this is essential as we understand the gospel, because
if I believe that my problem is my environment, I
don't need a savior. I just need a new address.

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If I believe that my problem is the world, I
don't need a savior. I just maybe need to get
my TV out of my house. My problem is my environment.
I may just need to get away from some of
my friends. I don't need to be born again because
there's nothing wrong with me. The problem is out there.

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Do you see how that perverts our understanding of the gospel. Again,
I'm not saying that there's not a problem out there.
There is a problem out there. But the reason that
the problem out there is a problem in here is
because there's also a problem in here that likes what
the problem out there is bringing to it. According to

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what he has done, this judgment is individual. You will
stand before God an answer for your words, for your thoughts,
and for your deeds. You will and it will not
be children playing in the courtyard kind of answers that

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will suffice. Yeah, but he hit me first, But what
did you do? We also see here that Christ is
the judge because he's God. There's a phrase used here

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three times in this passage that we've looked at that
phrases I am. That's an important phrase. He says, behold,
I am coming soon. And then he says again I
am the alpha in the omega first and the last

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beginning in the end, I am, I am, I am.
And then in that last verse we have another I am.
We have an eye Jesus, and then we have an
I am, the root and the descendant of David. This
I am phrase is important. Exodus chapter three and verse fourteen,
when Moses is standing there being confronted by God and

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he says, whom shall I say? Has sent me? Basically,
what is your name? God says to Moses in verse fourteen,
chapter three, I am who I am? And he said,
say this to the people of Israel, I AM has
sent me to you. John chapter eight, verses fifty six

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to fifty nine, same author as the author of Revelation,
as the one who records this Jesus says, your father
Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw
it and was glad. So the Jews said to him,
you are not yet fifty years old, and have you
seen Abraham. Jesus said to them, truly, I say to you,

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but before Abraham was I am. So they picked up
stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself and
went out to the temple. Why did they pick up
stones because he identified himself as the I am as God.
Don't you ever let anybody tell you Jesus never identified

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himself as God. He also says on the Alpha and
the Omega. Turn with me to the left and look
at the beginning of Revelation Revelation chapter one. Revelation chapter
one and verse eight. This is the first time we
see this phrase. Notice what it says. I am the

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Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is,
who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. So
now Jesus says, first of all, I am, And in
case you think, well that's not enough, he says, I
am the Alpha and the Omega. The same phrase was

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used to reference God in chapter one. Jesus is God.
He is the second person of the Trinity. They're in
that same paragraph in chapter one. There is the identity
of all of the persons of the Trinity, the identity
of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit.
And we've seen that reiterated throughout revelation. Not only have

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we seen that, but we've seen the unholy Trinity, which
is actually the opposite of the true Holy Trinity. So
we see that God, the Father is God God, the
Son is God God, the Spirit is God. But the
Father is not the Son, and the Son is not
the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. One
God in three persons, one in their unity and communion

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and essence and nature, but distinct in their person. So
Christ can judge because he's God. He's the only one
who can judge, because he is God. He is the

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Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning in the end.
He is the first and the last. He is God God.
And this is crucial. First of all, because he's God,
he is able to reward the righteous. Look at verse fourteen.

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Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they
may have the right to the Tree of life, and
that they may enter the city by the Gates. Now
this is the seventh. Again numbers in the Book of
Revelation so incredibly important. We've seen seven iterations of this
picture of history and history being brought to its consummation,

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and we see these things repeating. We've talked about recapitulation
again and again and again the seven vignettes. There are
also seven blessings or seven beatitudes in the Book of Revelation.
This is the seventh one. The first one is Revelation
one to three. Blessed is the one who reads aloud

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the words of the prophecy. And blessed are those who
hear and who keep what is real and in it.
The second one is in chapter fourteen, verse three. And
I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this. Blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.
Blessed indeed, says the spirit, that they may rest from
their labors for their deeds follow them. There's blessing and

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deeds again. Sixteen fifteen is the third beatitude. Behold, I
am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who
stays awake, keeping his garments on that he may not
go about naked and be seen exposed. There's blessing in
garments again. The fourth one, Revelation nineteen nine. And the

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Angel said to me, write this, Blessed are those who
are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. And
he said to me, these are the true words of God.
Number five, chapter twenty and verse six. Blessed and holy
is the one who shares in the first resurrection over
such the second death has no power. But they will

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be priests of God and of Christ, and they will
reign with him for a thousand years. The sixth one,
chapter twenty two, verse seven. And behold, I am coming soon.
Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the
prophecy of this book. And now the final Blessed to
those who watch their robes, so that they may have

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the right to the tree of life, and they may
enter the city by the gates. The righteousness here is
an alien righteousness. It's interesting. He says that he has
come with his recompense, and he's going to reward everyone
according to their deeds, according to what they've done. What

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have these people done they watch their robes. There's one
other time when we see this reference, and that's in
Revelation chapter seven and verse fourteen. Talking about those who
survive this great tribulation. I said to him, sir, you know,
And he said to me, these are the ones coming
out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes

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and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
In the blood of the Lamb. What makes their robes white?
The blood of the Lamb. This is not works righteousness.
This is righteousness as a result of Christ's work. This

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is not righteousness that is earned. This is righteousness that
is imputed. This is not righteousness that is our own.
This is righteousness that is alien. It is an alien righteousness.
It is a righteousness that is ours because of the
blood of Christ. There is a fountain filled with blood
drawn from Emmanual's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood

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lose all their guilty stains. That is how you wash
your robes white. I was sinking deep in sin, far
from the peace, sore, very deeply stained within, saking the
rise no more. But the master of the sea heard
my despairing cry from the waters, lifted me. Now safe
am I? What can wash away my sins? Nothing but

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the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus, Oh precious, is the
flow that makes me white as snow. No other found.
I know nothing but the blood of Jesus. It is
only the blood of Christ that washes us clean. This
is His sacrificial substitutionary death on the cross on our behalf.

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Make no mistake about it. Those who stand before Him
and are blessed, and are righteous and have on white
robes are not there because they're better than other people,
or because their environments were more pure than other people,
or because their parents did a better job than of
the people. It will be because they have come to
Christ in repentance and faith, because they have believed in

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his finished work, because they have cried out to Him
for mercy, and having cried out, they are washed in
the blood of the Lamb. That's who's blessed. Those who
trust in Christ and Christ alone, the righteous is evident.
Righteousness is evident in their deeds. It has an impact.

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We see this in Revelation nineteen seven and eight. I
believe this is related. Let us rejoice and exult and
give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb
has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It
was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright
and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds
of the saints. So this washing, this righteousness, is an

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alien righteousness. It is Christ's righteousness, but it is also
an active righteousness. It is a righteousness that makes us
positionally righteous. We are right with God positionally, but it
also makes us actually righteous. We actually walk in righteousness,

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We actually walk in holiness, upright and circumspect before the Lord.
Why because the spirit that raised Christ from the dead
abides in us. We are made new, we are made whole,
we are made clean. Our very inclinations are changed, our

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desires are changed because of the finished work of Christ
and his imputed righteousness. God made him who no sin,
to become sin for us that we might become the
righteousness of God. In him, we are righteous, and that

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righteousness will manifest itself, and we will grow in that
righteousness spies sin increasingly as we grow in that righteousness,
we will be aware of it increasingly as we grow
in that righteousness. It is so ironic because oftentimes what
happens with believers is we'll go through, We'll go through

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these kind of phases, and you have believers and we're introduced,
you know, to Christ and his righteousness, and we're transformed,
and we look and we see the sins, and they're
easy to spot because it's the big stuff. It's all
the big stuff, you know, and the world is just
black and white. And then we get to a place where,
you know, we've taken care of the big stuff and
we're okay for a while. And then there's another place

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that believers come to, and that's the place where you
recognize that even though you're not doing the big stuff,
you're still struggling with the same things. They're just not
manifesting themselves like they used to. And all of a sudden,
you're thinking about the minutia of sin. And sometimes that
can bring you to a point of crisis because you

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can think, you know, after all this time, I'm still
a rotten, ruined, dirty scoundrel just like I was. Maybe
I'm not even saved at all. You know, I'm sorry
ronic about that. In the believer, the only reason that

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matters is because you're saved. My favorite thing to say
to believers when they come to me and they say,
I'm just struggling what are you struggling with. I'm just
struggling with assurance of my salvation. I'm struggling with believing
that I'm saved because I see the sin in myself
and I hate the sin in myself, and I'm worried
against it. I'm not gaining victory and I's oh, stop

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right there, I've heard enough. What do you mean. I
haven't even begun to tell you. You don't have to. I've
heard enough. I've heard. You're struggling and you're at war.
You're on the right side. Now. We can talk about
mortifying your sin, but we're not talking about your salvation anymore.

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Because who do you think makes you hate the sin
in you? Do you think you can be lost and
hate the sin in you? You think it can be
lost and struggling with the sin in you? You think
it could be lost and at war with the sin
in you. Now, granted, we need to fight, but you
need to understand the side you're on as you fight.

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Thank God for that. Thank God that you hate your sin.
Thank God that you see it even in the smallest ways.
Thank God that it bothers you still, thank God that
you don't want it to be a part of you.
Thank God that you recognize that it ought not be so,
thank God that you don't want it to be so.

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Thank God for that. That's the grace of God in
your life. So, yes, we're actually righteous, but that righteousness
increased in us, which means we're still sinners, but we're saved.

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We're saints. We're saints. We're saints who remember some stuff,
some of it too fondly. Amen, we're saints, and that
righteousness is rewarded. There's two things here. I love these.

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First there's the Tree of life. The first atom was
excluded from this tree. The last atom brings us back
to it. Hallylijah, the tree of life. God's bringing this
thing full circle, and there we have access to the
tree of life. And secondly, the city. So first, our

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union with the first atom has been transformed. We're no
longer under his federal headship. We're now under the federal
headship of the last Atom. And then the city. There's
a picture of the city, the Bride of Christ. Our
union with the last Atom is finally realized and consummated.

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This is the reward. The reward is eternal life in
perfect union with Christ. That's the reward eternal life in
perfect union with Christ. This goes back to the other
issue of our constant struggle with sin as believers. You know,
one of the other reasons that we get so upset

(33:46):
about that because we have you heard this word again.
You heard this word before. I let's say it again,
an over realized eschatology. We want things that belong to
the Age to come, but we want to experience them
in the present age. So in the age to come,

(34:07):
I will be perfect. Any age to come, my communion
with Christ will be unbroken. Any age to come, there
will be no more sin in me. But that's the
age to come. But when I look at myself on
the here and now and I don't see what's been
promised to me in the age to come, and I
get upset with myself or upset with God, I haven't

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overrealized eschatology. It's like the kid who's upset because he
knows what he's gonna get on his birthday, but his
birthday hasn't come yet, and so he's depressed. What's the matter,
I didn't get my gift today. It's not your birthday,

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I know, but I just want my gift. You're like
eight months away from your birthday. I know, but I
just I just wanted, I just really want it. And
I'm just I woke up today and I didn't have it,
and I'm just I just don't even know if you
even loved me, because I woke up today and I
don't have my gift that you said you were gonna
get me. And see, we hear that and we chuckle.

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But that's you and me with our overrealized eschatology. I know.
But you said that this sin was gonna be taken
away from me and that I wouldn't have to worry
about it anymore. Yeah, that's when you die. You're not
dead yet, I know. But still, then there's the punishment

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of the unrighteous. Notice this, There's been all these statements
about Christ returning and crushing his enemies. Vivid picture in
nineteen of this warrior who comes and dispatches his foes.

(36:02):
Notice how understated this is. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers,
and the sexually immoral murderers and idolatrs and everyone who
loves and practices falsehood. There is one word that describes
their judgment. Here, everything else describes them. One word describes

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their judgment outside. That's it. That's all outside. What's our reward,
tree of life, eternal life, city, perfect communion and union
with Christ? Where are they outside? Where there is no

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tree and there is no communion? Justice is served. We
don't see a picture here of justice being served. We've
already seen the picture of justice being served. But now
we see a picture of the result of that justice
having been served. Christ is vindicated. These individuals are outside

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the gates. The wicked get what they have desired and deserved.
Let me say that again, the wicked get what they
desire and deserve. It's always ironic to me when we
talk about people who never wanted to be with Christ
or never wanted to be with Christians, never wanted to
be with the Church, and they die and we say

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that they've gone to a better place to be with
the God that they didn't want to be with here,
how does that work. These individuals never wanted God, they
never wanted Christ. They wanted themselves and their own desires.
That's what they were characterized by. They didn't want to

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be with God. And now they get what they desired
and what they deserved. It's a familiar list. In twenty one,
Chapter eight, we have an almost identical list. But as
for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers,
the sexual, immeral, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars, their portion will

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be the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which
is the second death. We have the introdution of the
idea of dogs that which is detestable. It's not an
exhaustive list, it's a symbolic list. On this edition of
the Dogs. Listen to this from Alan Johnson. Such are

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the dogs i e. Those who practice magic arts, etc.
Visa VI. Those who rebel against the rule of God
Deuteronomy twenty three eighteen, where the dog signifies male prostitutes
Matthew eleven or fifteen twenty six, where dogs refer to
gentiles Philippians three two to three, where dogs refers to

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the judaizers. There is no doubt that such people will
not be admitted through the gates of the Holy City.
Dogs just kind of an all encompassing term here, the
sexually immoral kind of an all encompassing term here. Murderers
and idolators. Again, murderers has to do with the horizontal commandments.

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Idolators has to do with the vertical commandments, and those
who love and practice falsehood. That's everybody, everybody who's false,
everybody who's idolatrous, everybody who's hate filled, all of them.
And the kind of capstone of all of that is dogs.
This is horrendous language. There is no boasting or gloating here.

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It is just a simple, understated fact that the unrighteous
will not inherit the kingdom. The unrighteous will not be
with Christ. The unrighteous will not taste of the Tree
of Life, the unrighteous will not be part of that city,

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the bride of Christ. The unrighteous are simply outside. Well,
what happened to the lake fire? There's still lake fire.
All of that's still true. But again this is just
a restatement. And this restatement, the point that's being made
here is not so much a point about the punishment

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that is being endured by the unrighteousness. But the statement
here is about the distance and distinction between those who
are His and are with him and those who are outside. Finally,

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all rise, the verdict has been rendered. Jesus have set
my angel to testify to you about these things. For
the churches. I am the root and the descendant of

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David the bright and morning Star. There is a reiteration
here of the deity of Christ. First, I Jesus sent
my angel. This early on is attributed to the Father
who sent his angel with this message. So again Christ
is being identified with the Father. But there are a

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couple of things being said here. Number one, you've been warned.
You've been warned the immediate warning of revelation itself. I
sent my angel. We see that in the first part.
But there's all so the broader warning of the law
and the prophets. He says, I'm the root and the
descendant of David. In other words, you've been warned. I've

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warned you here in this particular book, but you've also
been warned by the rest of the Bible. He is
the one who has been promised. He is the root
and the descendant of David. He is the promised Messiah.
So it's not like this is new. You've been warned
again and again and again, and this is your last warning.

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Kind of like being at the airport last and final call.
I counted one time, and they said that six times.
Sometimes sometimes it gets crucial. Sometimes it's the last and

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final call in general for the flight sometimes it's Davis
Party of two final call. In case you were wondering,
we're waiting for you, Davis Party of two. This is
your last and final call. And they say it again
and again and again and again and again. And when
they do that, here's what happens. We sit there and

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we go really, it's not really the last and final
call because you said it six times. Come on, people,
just say last and final call and then close the
door and leave. Unless you're a Davis Party of two.

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Then you run huffing and puffing and out of breath
and they've given you the last and final call six times,
and you give them your ticket and you smile at
him and you thank them, and you get on the
plane and the door closes. Hey, you take a deep breath.

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Then you're not annoyed that they said it six times
or sixteen times. You're just grateful for the time when
you heard it, and you're just grateful that you were
there to hear it. And that's ultimately the message here.

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We need to respond to this last and final call.
And you can look at it and say, yeah, but
this last and final call has been out there for
so long. That's the wrong way. To look at this.
For the unbeliever, you need to believe that Jesus is God,

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that he's the second person of the Trinity. Last and
final call. You need to believe in the sinfulness of
sin and then the sinfulness of your sin. Last and
final call. You need to believe in the atonement of
Christ and that the atonement of Christ is the only

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payment for sin that is acceptable, and that it's your
only hope and that only through Christ dying for your
sin and you receiving that by faith and turning from
your sin, can you be made right with God and
make it. Last and final call. You need to believe

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in the judgment to come, and that that judgment is
imminent and that you stand right in the cross hairs.
Last and final call. To the believer, we need to

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examine ourselves when you hear the last and final call.
Are you annoyed or are you anxious that Davis party
of two will get on board. If you're annoyed, you're

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arrogant and prideful and selfish because you don't care about
Christ having the fullness of his reward. All you care
about is you have in a seat. Shame on you,
Shame on you. If you're annoyed when you hear the
call of the Gospel, shame on you. If you're tired

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of hearing the call of the Gospel. When you hear
the call of the Gospel, and you hear last and
final call again and again and again, you don't get annoyed.
If you know what it's like. If you remember what
it's like, you rejoice. You rejoice in the fact that

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you heard the last and final call, and you rejoice
in the fact that Christ is still making that last
and final call, and that with everyone who hears and
everyone who responds and everyone who heeds, Christ is glorified

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all the more, and we get that much closer to
the final consummation of all things, last and final call.
Let's pray. Father. We bow before you as a humble

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people and a grateful people, grateful that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. For those of us
who are His Our gratitude is overwhelming. We also bow

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before you as a humble people and a desperately wicked
and needy people for those under the sound of my
voice who have not heeded that final call. My prayer
for you is that you would be merciful and that
in your mercy they would be saved. Lord, we bible

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for you as a grateful body of believers who rejoice
in the great privilege of commemorating, week after week after week,
the mercy that has been bestowed upon us with the
person in work of Christ. And we bow before you

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as an anxious body of believers, desperate to see the
Gospel proclaimed and sinners saved. And Father, I pray that
for all of us we would embrace this truth from

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whatever side of the gate we find ourselves, that those
who are on the outside, who would repent and run
to Christ and come in, And that those who were
on the inside would rejoice, walk in righteousness and proclaim

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the truth like one beggar telling other beggars where we
found bread. Grant by your grace that this would mark us.
For we pray these things in Christ's name and for
his sake. Amen.