Alright, we're in Revelation chapter 22, and I didn't really know what to call this sermon,
so the name of the sermon is The End, right?
It's the end of the book, it's the end of the entire Bible and everything like that.
And so, anyways, we're going to look at four quick things here in Revelation chapter 22.
And the first point I want to make is that there is a completion that takes place as
we get to the very end, okay?
Revelation 22 verse 1, and it says, And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear
as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life,
which bare twelve manna of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And so you see this here in Revelation chapter 22, and what it seems to indicate is that
the water is actually what keeps, you know, the tree of life going, okay?
And I believe there's a lot of symbolism here in these verses, and I don't claim to know
every single bit of symbolism with the twelve manna of fruits and yielding her fruit every
month and things like that, but I want to give kind of a practical application that
we can take from this, okay?
Now about a year and a half ago, I preached a series on biblical health, and I talked
about, you know, pretty much all manna of it, and I had one sermon on diet.
And one thing I mentioned was this, if you're trying to find out if something is healthy
according to God's Word, you can look that up in the Bible and see what is the connotation.
Is it a good connotation or is it bad, okay?
For example, alcoholic wine, it's always bad, right?
No question about that, but then you have other foods that will come up that are mentioned
that are considered, you know, in a good way in the Bible.
For example, land flowing with milk and honey.
Nowadays, honey is a miracle food.
Fifty years ago, people said it wasn't good for you, right?
And so the world changes their meaning, but we can actually learn a lot about diet and
nutrition just from the Bible.
What I want to highlight is the fact that water that's mentioned here, throughout the
entire Bible, water is mentioned in a very positive way, okay?
And I would say that if there's one thing that we could do for our health in terms of
nutrition, probably the most important thing is just drink a lot of water.
In all ways, I mean, it cleanses your body, it will keep you trim.
Water is probably the most important thing that we can do for our health.
And it mentions water here in verse one, it says, a pure river of water of life, clear
as crystal.
In today's world, you know, with all these pop and other sorts of sugary drinks and things
like that, you know, a lot of us, our health is deteriorated because of that.
Now it used to be people just drank water and you know what, they were a lot healthier,
okay?
And so water is something that's very healthy and you see it mentioned in a very positive
way.
In fact, you know, you see this big empire in the Bible, Egypt, who ruled the world.
The whole reason why they ruled it is just the fact that they, the Nile River, because
of the water and that is what made them a powerful empire.
Now we understand they became wicked and God took away any opportunities they had, but
literally water is what made Egypt the most powerful empire in the world, okay?
Now look at verse number three, verse three.
And it also mentions fruit in a positive light in verse two as well.
Throughout the Bible, fruit is a good thing.
You know, in today's world, there's some of these extreme diets which are zero carbs or
less than 30 grams of carbs to keep your body under ketosis, but fruit's a positive
thing in the Bible and milk and honey have a lot of sugar as well, but they're mentioned
very positively, okay?
So we've got to be careful with some of these extreme diets.
Look at what the Bible says about these various foods that's going to give you a lot of indication.
Water's a good thing, fruit's a good thing, okay?
Verse number three, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the
lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him.
The Bible says here there shall be no more curse, okay?
What is that referring to?
Go to Genesis chapter three, Genesis three, Genesis chapter three, and see what the Bible
teaches us is that since Adam and Eve sinned, this world is under a curse, okay?
I'll show this to you in Genesis chapter three, Genesis three, and it says in Genesis chapter
three, verse 17, and unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy
wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, thou shalt not eat
of it.
Cursed is the ground for thy sake and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
And before they committed this sin, before Adam listened to his wife, before she ate
of the fruit, they didn't really have to work that hard for a fruit to be produced.
I mean the ground was very fertile, it pretty much just produced itself.
But now what it's saying is cursed is the ground for thy sake.
Now it's going to be difficult.
Now it's going to be difficult to produce food and to make ends meet in life.
Before this in Genesis three, life was very easy.
Now we see when life was very easy, people get into trouble.
Why?
Too much free time is not a good thing for anybody, okay?
We have to find something to do in our lives.
We can't have just dead free time because man is sinful and we will get into trouble,
okay?
If you have a day off from work, you want to plan out what am I going to do?
Even write down on the schedule the night before from eight in the morning to nine in
the morning Bible reading, okay?
From nine to ten I'm doing this, you know?
Find something to do because otherwise if you have free time you end up sitting around
doing nothing.
I mean isn't it true, you know, you're waiting so much for a day off from work and you get
that free day off from work and it's like, oh man, I've been on Facebook for like nine
hours today, right?
Too much free time is not a good thing.
Because see, here's the thing, because they had too much free time they end up getting
into trouble.
Ever since then though the Bible says cursed is the ground for thy sake.
The Bible indicates it's actually very difficult to make it in this life.
And here's the thing, we should not be trying to make it too easy because God made it difficult,
right?
I mean there's that, it's not a religion necessarily, a philosophy from China like Taoism, the art
of effortless living.
God didn't intend your life to be effortless.
God intended us to work hard.
Our goal in life is not just to have a really easy life, everything's just great, lots of
money, you sit around and do nothing all day.
No, God intended us to work hard, to be busy, okay?
Life is difficult and it all comes back to Genesis chapter three with their sin, okay?
Verse 18, thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the
herb of the field.
And the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground.
For out of it wast thou taken, for dost thou art and on dost shalt thou return.
And what he tells Adam is from now on to produce your bread, to produce your food, it's by
the sweat of thy face.
You will have to work hard.
No longer do you just get to walk outside and just it's like a grocery store, oh, I
got grapes, I got apples.
No, now you're going to work and work and work to make it in life.
And here's the thing, we are under that curse today.
We are under that curse and God expects us to work hard to make it in life.
Now I get it, this year has been a lot more difficult for most people than other years.
But look, life was not meant to be easy, okay?
When life was too easy, man got into trouble.
And when our life is too easy, we end up getting into trouble.
The Bible says that we are under this curse, but one day that curse is going to be lifted.
Go back to Revelation 22, Revelation 22.
This world is decaying, it's waxing old, right?
You see just the problems that happen, whether it be typhoons and volcanoes, and I believe
this stuff is going to increase until we get to the end because the earth is waxing old,
okay?
The Bible says one of the parts of the curse is the fact that man will have to work very
hard to provide his needs.
Now recently we started this series on fundamental family tips.
Now here's the thing, I didn't read the part about the curse, but the Bible says that the
woman will be subject onto the man.
That's part of the curse, okay?
And in sorrow she's going to bring forth her children and everything.
So I mean, don't blame me for that series, okay?
We see in going back to Genesis chapter three, okay?
Revelation 22 verse four, Revelation chapter 22 verse four, it says this, and they shall
see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads and there shall be no night there
and they need no candle, neither light of the sun.
For the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign forever and ever.
Now this is just like Genesis chapter one because before the sun was created, I believe
on day four, God said let there be light and there was light.
Genesis chapter one verse three, there was light before we had the sun, okay?
And when we get to the end, the Bible says, you know, we don't need the sun because God
is going to be that light, okay?
So this is going to be basically restoring things to what they were before the curse
was put on.
So point one was a completion.
Point two is companion in Christ.
Let me show this to you in Revelation 22 verse eight.
And I, John, saw these things and heard them.
And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which
showed me these things.
And so John is seeing all these things in the end times and his natural reaction is
to fall down before this angel and worship him, okay?
Notice what it says in verse nine.
Then saith the unto me, see thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren
the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book worship God.
So here's the thing, in verse nine, notice what the angel responds.
I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets.
Now in the Bible, the word angel means messenger, okay?
When we think of angel, we think of like in movies where they've got wings and stuff like
that.
And there are four winged and six winged angelic beings, if that's what you want to refer them
to, okay?
Where you could say cherubim and seraphim would fit underneath that.
But look, the word angel in the Bible just means messenger.
So sometimes when you're seeing the word angel, it's not angel like we're thinking.
It could just be referring to a human being, just a messenger.
And in verse nine, what we're seeing is this angel is a fellow servant.
This was someone who was a believer in Christ who died, who went to heaven.
I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets.
This is not an angelic being like we're thinking of.
This is a human messenger, okay?
I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets.
And see, John goes down to worship before this man.
Now should we worship any man outside of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Absolutely not.
Now what you see is John, who is a very godly person though, that is his natural reaction,
okay?
Now in this life, you know, we live in a day with internet preaching and things like that
and there's various pastors that some of us listen to and we deeply respect and everything
like that.
You know, one thing I've seen is that when people meet some of these pastors for the
first time, sometimes they can go a little bit overboard like John does here.
And I'm going to confess my faults one to another that I have done that before.
I remember, you know, many people here have listened to Pastor Steven Anderson and have
been either saved from his ministry or greatly influenced.
And I remember in 2008, I met him for the first time.
Me and my friends were listening online to him.
They had like the FWBC listeners thing and we hadn't heard preaching like this before
being independent Baptist.
It was really different.
And I remember he was going to be in Washington DC with Pastor David Berzins before Pastor
David Berzins was even married.
So this is way back, okay?
And I remember, you know, the night before and everything, I was just thinking, man,
what am I going to wear tomorrow?
It's like, if I wear this shirt, is he going to think all this guy's worldly or whatever?
I was really concerned with just how I was dressed, okay?
And then you meet these people and you find out they're just normal like everybody else,
right?
But it can be a tendency when you respect someone sometimes to go a little bit overboard.
And John in this story, he goes a little bit overboard and the servant says, you know,
don't worship me.
I'm of thy brethren, the prophets.
Now go to Acts chapter 10, Acts 10, Acts 10, Acts chapter 10.
This is something that actually comes up a few times in the Bible where there's people
that, you know, will go a little bit overboard with giving reverence to someone who's a godly
person or someone that they respect.
And in Acts chapter 10, we have this example.
And in Acts 10 verse 25, notice what it says, and as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met
him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.
Here Cornelius is worshiping Peter, okay?
Notice the response.
But Peter took him up saying, stand up.
I myself also am a man, okay?
Peter rejects this worship.
Now what's funny is the Catholic Church tells us that Peter was the first pope.
Do they not?
They say Peter was the first pope.
Isn't it true that people bow down and worship the pope all the time?
Do you ever hear him say, hey, stand up.
I myself also am a man.
Now he says, hey, I'm the vicar of Christ on earth.
Make sure you get down on your knees when you worship me, right?
It's like, you know, the pope never rejects worship.
I mean, he loves it.
He adores it.
People come down, they kiss his feet and everything like that.
They bow down before him, they worship him and everything like that.
Well, when this happens to Peter, who supposedly is the first pope, he says, stand up.
I myself also am a man, okay?
He rejects the worship.
So look, if Peter was the first pope, why is he not accepting the worship, okay?
Go to Matthew chapter four, Matthew four.
Matthew chapter four.
Look, we should never worship any man.
And you know, when we go overboard with our respect towards someone to the point where
we're worshiping them, you know what, we're in for a hard fall because man's going to
let you down, right?
You know, and sometimes people do this at churches.
Sometimes people will be at a church and then they respect their pastor, you know, I mean,
obviously you should respect the man of God, but sometimes people, people go to extremes.
They either don't show respect or they're just like worshiping where anything that their
pastor says, they're going to believe it no matter whether the Bible says it or not.
I mean, is this not true that in a lot of churches, you know, you, people believe certain
things and the reason why they believe it is that's what my pastor said.
It's like, does the Bible say you, you have to keep the sacraments to go to heaven?
Well, I mean, that's what my pastor told me.
And it's just like, well, you better have a Bible reason for believing something.
And the same is true in our church.
I mean, Hey, I'm glad if you like our church and you like the preaching and everything,
but I always encourage you to read the Bible for yourself.
You say, why?
Because I'm going to say things that are wrong.
I'm going to let you down.
I'm going to be wrong on things.
Men of God make mistakes in the Bible, not just, you know, doctrinal mistakes, but even
just one day, maybe they're in a bad mood and everything.
It's like, Oh man, I never thought, you know, that person would, would, whatever loses temper,
right?
It's like, no man makes mistakes.
Be very careful not to worship any one man too much.
Okay.
The only person we should be worshiping is God.
Okay.
Matthew chapter four.
So what's interesting is that Peter rejects worship, but Jesus Christ never rejects worship
in the Bible.
Matthew four, verse eight, again, the devil taking them up to an exceeding high mountain
and show them all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.
Okay.
And I believe in another cross reference here, it says all the Kings were shown in a moment
or an instant or something like that, but notice the devil's taking them up to an exceeding
high mountain and he can see all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.
Look, there is, there's no place on earth where you'd be able to see everything unless
this is actually a miraculous event.
The devil actually gives them the opportunity to see all the kingdoms of the world in a
moment.
Okay.
Now the reason why I mentioned that is because I've heard people try to use this verse to
defend a flatter earth and they say, well, it's gotta be flat because to see all the
mountains in a moment of time, it must be flat.
Here's the thing.
Okay.
I don't care how high that mountain is, you're not going to be able to see like 20,000 miles
away.
Okay.
This is actually a miraculous event where he is able to see everything.
Okay.
That's a weak argument to try to prove a flatter earth.
Okay.
Verse nine, and sayeth on them, all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall
down and worship me.
Then sayeth Jesus on them, get thee hence Satan for it is written, thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.
He says him only shalt thou serve.
Go to Matthew 14, Matthew 14, Matthew 14, Matthew chapter 14.
And what you see is throughout the Bible though, Jesus Christ, he accepted worship.
You say, why would he accept worship?
Because he was God.
What Jesus said is that the only person we should be worshiping is the Lord thy God.
So why did Jesus Christ accept worship?
Right?
That proves he's God.
He said thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.
And yet Jesus Christ accepts worship throughout the entire Bible.
You say, why?
Because he's deity.
Because he's God.
Okay.
Jesus said there's none good but one that is God.
Was Jesus good?
Absolutely.
He was sinless.
In him is no sin.
He was perfect.
So look, there's none good but one that is God.
Jesus was good.
That's proof he was God.
Okay.
He was sinless.
He was perfect.
Matthew 14 verse 33.
Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him saying of a truth thou art the son of
God.
So they come and they worship him.
And what Jesus Christ said earlier in Matthew is thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and
him only shalt thou serve.
And yet in Matthew chapter 14, Jesus Christ is accepting worship.
Why?
Because he's God.
Jesus Christ is God.
In the beginning was the word.
He has always existed.
Okay.
He has eternally existed as the son of God.
Okay.
He was not created by God.
Jesus Christ is God.
Okay.
Now look, we understand the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost.
That's a whole other sermon.
But look, Jesus Christ, he is God.
God was manifest in the flesh, referring to Jesus Christ.
Go to Matthew 16, Matthew 16, Matthew chapter 16.
It's very rare that you run into people that will say, I don't believe Jesus is God, but
I believe the Bible.
And the reason why is because the Bible is just incredibly clear that Jesus Christ is
God.
The only ones that really deny it are the people that are in these cults.
Right?
Pretty much every cult denies Jesus being God.
They're like the only ones.
Because there's many proofs you can find that show Jesus Christ is God, just verse after
verse after verse.
And the argument they use against it is always, well, that just doesn't make sense to me.
They don't have a Bible verse.
They're just like, it just doesn't make sense.
How could he be God if he's the son of God?
That's the big argument.
But are there not 50 verses that say he's God?
Absolutely.
Right?
Matthew 16, verse 13, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
disciples saying, whom do men say that I, the son of man, am?
They said, some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias and others, Jeremiah's are one
of the prophets.
He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am?
So Jesus is comparing himself to John the Baptist, Elijah and Jeremiah, some of the
greatest people that have ever lived.
Verse 16, and Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
In verse 18, when he's talking to Peter, he's not saying that Peter is the rock, okay?
He's saying, upon this rock I will build my church, okay?
Because the Lord God is our rock, that's what it mentions throughout the entire Bible.
Jesus Christ was deity and the church was built upon him, okay?
Go to Revelation 22, Revelation 22.
So what we're seeing here in this point, the companion in Christ, is that there really
is no comparison between Jesus Christ and any other man that's existed, okay?
Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man.
There's no comparison.
Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, he was perfect, and all of us are sinful people that
make mistakes.
I stand up here and I preach sermons, and you know what?
I preach sermons, I say things, and then sometimes I'm guilty of not following what I preach
all the time perfectly.
You say, why?
Because I'm a sinner just like everybody else.
I do my best to follow what the Bible says, I do my best to serve God, but you know what?
We're all sinners.
We make mistakes.
There is no comparison, though, between Jesus Christ and anyone.
Even John the Baptist, who was the greatest born among women, the Bible says.
No comparison, though, with Jesus Christ.
Revelation 22, verse 13.
In Revelation 22, there are a couple proofs right after what we saw in verses 8 and 9
that show Jesus Christ is God.
Says this in verse 13, I am alpha and omega, okay, which is basically the beginning and
the end of the Greek alphabet.
I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, okay?
He says I am alpha and omega, the beginning.
Now these cults say that Jesus was created.
Some of them say that Michael the archangel turned into Jesus Christ, that God created
Michael the archangel.
This is what the Jehovah's Witnesses believe.
And then Michael the archangel turned into Jesus Christ, okay?
But Jesus said, I am the beginning, which means he wasn't created by anybody.
He was here at the very beginning.
In the beginning was the word.
He wasn't created by God.
He is God, and he was here at the beginning.
He eternally existed as the son of God in eternity past, okay?
He says I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Verse 16, verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in
the churches.
Notice this, I am the root and the offspring of David.
What he's saying is, you know what, I came before David and I came after David, because
he's the beginning, he's the end.
I am the root and the offspring.
And look, you can trace those genealogies to Jesus Christ, but look, Jesus Christ predates
those genealogies.
Now yes, in his human flesh here on earth, he comes from those genealogies.
He is the offspring, but he's also the root, because in the beginning was the word.
He has always been here.
I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star, okay?
Now go to Isaiah 14.
I don't have this in my notes.
Let me turn there myself, Isaiah 14.
What Jesus said was he is the bright and morning star, okay?
The bright and morning star.
This is a term for Jesus Christ, okay?
Now, I should have prepared myself.
I don't have false Bible versions in front of me.
Is anybody reading from NIV out there?
No, I'm just kidding.
But let me show you Isaiah 14 verse 12, and I'll just show you a reference to Satan in
the Old Testament.
And in the modern versions, they actually change this.
They change the wording, okay?
Isaiah 14 verse 12, it says, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?
Okay, this is clearly referring to the devil.
It's clearly referring to Satan.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?
Notice this, son of the morning, okay?
Now we saw in Revelation 22 that Jesus Christ is the bright and morning star, and Satan
in Isaiah 14 is referred to as son of the morning.
But did you know that in the modern versions, they change son of the morning to morning
star or day star in some of those versions, and they take out Lucifer?
They take away Lucifer, and then they change it to morning star or day star.
So look, as you're reading this, because Isaiah 14, this is telling you about Satan being
fallen from heaven, kicked out of heaven.
And in the modern versions, it doesn't mention Satan's name, but it says the bright morning
star.
So you'd walk away if you're going to take that word for word and compare spiritual things
with spiritual.
Man, Jesus got kicked out of heaven?
That's what it teaches in the NIV.
That's what it teaches in the modern versions.
They change the son of the morning to the morning star.
See, look, we believe at our church, and this is not a sermon on the King James Bible, but
we do believe the King James Bible is perfect.
It's preserved.
Every word of God is pure.
Every word is right.
And the modern versions have changed things.
They've corrupted things.
They've confused people.
So you literally at churches, you know, you never, I mean, I was at a church one time
and they had a projector and everything.
They'd show the verses up here and they'd preach from the NLT.
Two minutes later, the new King James.
Two minutes later, the ESV.
Two minutes later, you know, the NLT.
Two minutes later, this version.
I mean, literally 15 versions per service.
Do you realize how confusing that is?
I mean, God is not the author of confusion, the Bible says.
And you go to some of these churches and they preach from a lot of different versions.
I remember at this church, they had a Bible study one time because they had a Bible study
every week.
And I remember I was in the group with the assistant pastor because they would divide
into groups and they changed it each week and everything.
And me and my friend had just recently become King James only.
And so the text was on 1 John and we're going through 1 John 5 and actually go to 1 John
5, 1 John 5, 1 John 5, 1 John 5.
We're going to hit some rabbit trails here tonight.
All right, this is the end, right?
So that's the name of the sermon.
So we've got to hit everything.
1 John 5, 1 John 5.
And it says in 1 John 5 verse 7, this kind of ties in the sermon as well as we're talking
about the deity of Christ.
It says in 1 John 5 verse 7, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
This is the best verse.
If you're going to look at one verse in the Bible to prove the Trinity, here's the verse.
These three are one.
That is the Trinity, okay?
These three are one, the Father, the Son, or the Word, and the Holy Ghost, okay?
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost.
These three are one.
But you know, this verse is just taken out of modern versions like the NIV.
It's not there.
The greatest verse in the Trinity, and it just goes from 1 John 5 verse 6 to 1 John
5 verse 8.
In some of the NIVs, what they do is they take verse 8 and then they cut it in half
and they make it look like they didn't take a verse out.
Where you think you're reading verse 6, verse 7, verse 8, but they actually just removed
a verse and turned verse 8 into two verses.
And in some renditions of the NIV, they just take out verse 7, they don't even put anything
in there.
But they take out the biggest verse on the Trinity, okay?
And so I was at this Bible study, and we were going through 1 John 5, and you know, me and
my friend were excited because we were like, oh, you know, maybe we can share the King
James topic with this pastor and everything like that.
And so we're reading between the various versions, and we had the King James, and he had the
John MacArthur study Bible, right?
The New King James or NIV or whatever.
And it's on 1 John 5 verse 7, and then all of a sudden, you know, one of us was reading
it and then all of a sudden he looked very confused.
He's looking at his Bible, and me and my friend Joe were just thinking, oh, man, he's going
to get it, right?
And then all of a sudden he's like, can you read that again?
And we read it again, and he's like, what's going on?
And we're like, and we explained to him, your Bible actually took a verse out.
And then all of a sudden this was his response, oh, that's good to know.
He's like, you know, when I preach from this part of the Bible, I'll make sure not to use
this version.
And it's just like, why don't you just get rid of that version, right?
It's like they took out an important verse.
You say, Brother Stuckey, why would they do that?
Because of the fact the devil's always trying to corrupt God's word.
He's trying to corrupt it.
Look, God gave us a perfect Bible, and look, the devil throughout the Bible is trying to
corrupt his word, confuse people, deceive people.
It makes sense he'd create all these modern versions to confuse people, okay?
Now go in your Bible back to Revelation 22, Revelation 22, Revelation chapter 22.
And so point number one we saw here was the completion of things.
It goes back to the original state, way back before the fall of man, way back before the
curse.
Then we see kind of a comparison between this companion and Christ, how nobody compares
to Jesus.
And point three, we're going to see a comparison between the saved and the unsaved in Revelation
22.
It says in Revelation 22 verse 11, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still.
And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.
And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.
And he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Now you say, Brother Stuckey, I'm confused because don't we believe that salvation is
by grace through faith?
It's not of our works.
Absolutely.
You say, well, why does it talk about being unjust or holy?
Do you have to be holy to go to heaven?
You do have to be holy to go to heaven.
But here's the thing.
What is holy?
Holy means perfect, completely righteous, completely perfect is what it's saying.
The Bible says there's none righteous, okay?
No, not one.
And so here's the thing.
When we die, the reason God declares us innocent is because we have no sins on our record.
None.
Because when you get saved and you receive everlasting life, your soul is perfect.
So even if you commit a million sins in your body, your soul is perfect.
So when God looks at you, it's not like he's determining, am I going to make them innocent
or guilty based on their lifestyle?
He looks at us and says, there's no sin.
You're innocent.
Why?
You're imputed with God's righteousness.
So everybody who's saved, when they die, you know what?
There's nothing on their record that's going to make them guilty.
No sins.
But here's the thing.
If you're unsaved, you've got a million things on your record.
So when you get to the very end, someone's either going to be completely holy and righteous,
meaning no sins on their record because they're saved, they have eternal life, or they're
going to be incredibly filthy and unjust.
You say, why?
Every single one of us has done a lot of things wrong.
And look, you know, God sees every secret thing you do.
God is omnipresent.
Every single sin you've ever committed, God is aware of that.
Now, if you're saved, it's gone.
As far as the east is from the west.
If you're not saved, though, every single one of those sins you're going to pay for.
So he looks at two groups of people.
You're either he that is unjust, let him be unjust still.
He which is filthy, let him be filthy still.
But then it compared to he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.
And he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Verse 12, and behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according
as his work shall be.
You say, wait, Brother Stuckey, salvation is not based on works.
Here's the thing, as saved people, we get rewarded for the good deeds we do.
Okay?
Nothing you've ever done wrong is going to be brought up, but you're going to be rewarded
based on the work you did.
What did you accomplish in your life?
Right?
I mean, if you get saved and you never go to church, you never read the Bible, you never
pray, you never tell people about Jesus, you're not going to get rewarded for much.
There's not much work.
But if you get saved and you start serving God, you're going to have big rewards.
Now for an unsaved person, they are also rewarded for the work they do.
Now being unsaved, there's nothing good that's going to come up.
They're going to be guilty for every sin they commit.
Everyone is going to be judged by their works, okay?
But the determination of whether or not you go to heaven or hell is what did you believe?
And those that go to heaven, the work that they're being rewarded for is every good thing
they do.
Those that go to hell, they're also judged by their works.
What's funny is, unsaved people, they want to be judged by their works.
I mean, isn't it true we go soul winning and you explain the gospel, you explain the gift
of God is eternal life, and people reject that and say, well, you know, I'm just going
to trust what I do.
Right?
You start the conversation, they say, well, I think there's an 80% chance I'll go to heaven
because I'm very nice.
You explain how it's a free gift, and they reject that, and they want to trust in their
own flesh in what they do.
Okay?
And you know what?
They're going to be rewarded based on the work they do, and they're going to be guilty
because none of us are 100% innocent, okay?
They will be guilty and have to pay in hell for each and every sin they committed because
unless you're perfect, you've got the guilty sentence, okay?
Verse 14, blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life
and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Look, if you're saved, all God's going to see is you doing his commandments.
He's not going to see you committing any sins or doing anything wrong.
But let's talk about the people that aren't saved.
Verse 15, for without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters,
and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Okay?
Now, you look at some of these sins that are mentioned in verse 15, and look, unsaved people,
it's only their sins that are going to come up, okay?
They didn't believe on Jesus Christ, and so their sins are going to come up and they're
going to pay for them.
And it lists some bad things like a sorcerer is pretty bad, right?
A wizard or a witch, I mean, that has the death penalty in the Bible.
You know, a whoremonger, it's pretty bad.
A murderer is pretty bad.
You say, why does God hate dogs so much, right?
In verse 15, I mean, for without are dogs.
Well, dog is actually the term in the Bible for a male sodomite, okay?
And so a male reprobate is referred to as a dog.
Now you say, why does God use the term dog?
Because every term in the Bible, there's a reason why he uses that.
And I'll tell you what, you know, I really got an understanding of this about a decade
ago when I went soul-winning.
I remember I was going soul-winning with my friend, and, you know, we saw, because, you
know, dogs will go what they say in heat, where basically they're just, you know, we'll
sleep with whatever, right, when dogs are in heat.
And we saw this male dog just attack this female dog from behind, right, and just started,
you know, raping that dog.
And then the dog scrambled away and got away, and it just started attacking another dog.
It's like disgusting.
I mean, we were trying to go soul-winning.
We're like, what in the world is disgusting?
But it's like, that's what the sodomites are like.
That's actually what the Bible is trying to teach us.
And, you know, it was disgusting to see, but it was really giving insight on they will
attack whatever.
They will attack anything for without our dogs.
There's a reason why the Bible uses that terminology.
And throughout the Bible, is that not true?
In Genesis 19, Judges 19, they'll go after anything.
Is that not true?
It's like, wow, it does really fit with dogs.
You say, what about female reprobates?
Okay.
Well, they're given the term of swine.
What's a swine?
It's a pig, right?
And so the Bible's saying, you know, a swine or a pig.
Now I would say probably the reason why that terminology is given is because, you know,
honestly, pigs are some of the most disgusting creatures that there are out there.
And so it's giving a very derogatory term because this is how God looks at that sin
and looks at these people.
It's like, you know, you look at the guys, they're like dogs, okay, very disgusting,
the things they do.
And then you look at the women that should be ladies and they're referred to as swine.
Okay.
He's saying for with outer dogs, he's referencing people that are reprobates, okay.
Most specifically sodomites, okay, and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters.
And he lists all of these bad things, but then he says, and whosoever loveth and maketh
a lie.
And what he's doing is driving home this point that even for a lie, a person deserves
help.
Every single person in this world is guilty.
Everybody needs a savior for just one lie.
You're guilty because think about this.
If you go on trial for committing a crime, okay, let's say you're on trial for murder
and let's say you're guilty of it.
It doesn't matter if you've done five million good things and only one bad thing.
You're guilty for the action you did and see in God's perfect, you know, perfect law and
his measure of going to heaven, he says, any sin makes you worthy of going to hell.
And so even for one lie, you would deserve hell.
And even the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin.
Thinking a foolish thought is a sin.
Say, man, I wish I was like LeBron James and I could have all these millions of dollars.
Yeah, it's a sin.
It's a thought of foolishness, right?
Even the thought of foolishness is a sin.
So look, every single one of us is guilty.
And he's highlighting here in verse 15 that even for telling one lie, you would be guilty.
Now go to Romans 2, Romans chapter 2, Romans 2.
And I'll show this to you in Romans chapter 2 as well.
And oftentimes, you know, people get tripped up on these passages, you know, where they
look at things and they say, well, man, it looks like if you commit these sins, you're
going to go to hell.
What you have to understand is God's trying to show people, hey, you need a savior, that
you're guilty.
Because us as saved people, there are going to be no sins on our record, zero sins on
our record, and we're going to be innocent.
Romans 2 verse 6, who will render to every man according to his deeds, just like in Revelation
22, Romans 2 verse 6, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to them who by
patient continuance and well doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life,
but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
indignation and wrath.
Verse 7 is referring to saved people.
Verse 8 is referring to unsaved people.
Verse 9, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first
and also the Gentile, but glory, honor and peace to every man that worketh good to the
Jew first and also to the Gentile.
So look, in God's eyes, you're either saved or you're lost.
Okay, it's one or the other.
Okay, go to Revelation 22.
Revelation 22.
Look, we understand there's a multitude of verses that just say, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
So don't allow somebody to pull out one verse that maybe you can't explain and then just,
Oh, I don't know what to do now.
Right?
I mean, once you decide what you believe and you know why you believe something and you
can back it up.
Look, there might be a verse that gets pulled out that you have trouble explaining.
That doesn't mean you just change everything you believe because there's one verse you
don't understand.
Okay?
I mean, good night.
There's plenty of verses in the Bible I don't understand, right?
I kind of think it's funny sometimes you have these people that believe in works salvation
and they have like their set verses they go to to try to prove their point.
Like they'll go to James Chapter two.
Faith without works is dead.
And we've heard that a million times, right?
Faith without works is dead.
Or they'll go to to Matthew seven verses 21 through 23.
You got to do the will of the father to go to heaven, right?
Unless you do his will.
They have these set things that they go to which are easily disproven.
Sometimes I read the Bible and I think, man, I could come up with much trickier passages
to explain than them.
The problem is they don't read the Bible, so they don't really know what those are.
Right?
Look, there are going to be some past as maybe you don't fully understand, but there's plenty
of verses that say salvation is by faith alone.
And in this chapter, it's basically showing you the comparison of those that go to heaven
versus those that go to hell.
God only sees the good you do.
God only sees the bad that they did.
Okay, Revelation 22 verse 17.
Revelation 22 verse 17.
And the spirit and the bride say, come and let him that heareth say, come and let him
that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.
Now look, if you were just looking at this verse alone, does it not sound like we have
our free option if we're going to believe on Jesus Christ?
I mean, whosoever will, I mean, there's that song we sing in the hymnal whosoever will
may come.
Right?
And it comes from this verse.
The Bible says whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely.
But you know, there's a very popular religion out there, very popular amongst Baptists here
in the Philippines that deny this.
They don't believe it's whosoever will.
Right?
Because most Bible Baptist churches, you got these Calvinist pastors that don't believe
we have free will, and they don't believe you have a free will choice to believe on
Jesus.
Either God picks you for heaven or God picks you for hell.
And you know, you could be just born and God looks down at you and he says, man, you know,
for my glory, I want ermine to burn in hell.
That's what the Calvinists teach.
Everyone who goes to hell is for God's glory, they say.
So God just wants some people to burn in hell.
Does that sound like the God that's a loving God?
No, see, the Bible says whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.
When people go to hell, it's because they chose to reject the salvation of Jesus Christ.
It's not because God made them go to hell.
It's not because God didn't want them to go to heaven, okay?
He's not willing that any should perish, the Bible says.
He's not willing that any should perish, whosoever will.
So we see the comparison mentioned here.
And lastly, let's look at a caution that's mentioned in Revelation 22, okay?
Revelation 22 verse 18.
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book,
if any man shall add on to these things, God shall add on them the plagues that
are written in this book, okay?
The Bible says that if you add on to the things of this book,
if you were to add to God's word, the plagues are going to come upon you,
meaning you're going to spend forever in hell, okay?
Verse 19, verse 19.
And 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 and out of the holy city and
from the things which are written in this book.
So there's a strong warning here in verses 18 and
19 of adding to or removing from God's word, okay?
Now there's different applications we can make.
One of the big applications, probably the biggest I've heard,
is when people would take God's word, his perfect word, and
then they would change it.
They would add to it.
They would remove from his word.
As I mentioned earlier, in the NIV, they just take out 1 John 5.7.
What are they doing?
They're doing exactly what it says in verse 19.
They just take verses out of the Bible.
I mean, they take out the verse where it says that Jesus came to seek and
save the lost.
I guess that's not an important verse to them, right?
They just take verses out of the Bible, and in these modern versions,
they try to change doctrines, so they add to the Bibles as well, okay?
Now look, I understand in a lot of languages there is no perfect Bible.
But look, in 1611, God gave a perfect Bible in the English language.
And here's the thing, in today's world, Christians argue about this,
but nobody argued about it 100 years ago, because the King James was the standard.
That's what everybody read.
I mean, if you said you've got a Bible, it wouldn't be, well, which version?
It would be the King James Bible.
That's the one that was just the standard for hundreds and hundreds of years.
And people have made modern versions.
You say, why would they do that?
One reason is for money.
People that make Bibles make a lot of money.
I mean, here's the truth, people buy Bibles and they don't read them, right?
And so look, if you wanted to become rich, then you know what?
One good way to do that is just make up a Bible and say, hey,
this is the, I mean, just call it the completed word of God.
We finally completed it.
Oh man, I'm gonna buy that.
You're not gonna read it, but they'll buy it from you, right?
And these modern versions, they do this, they make money off it, right?
And so a lot of times they do it to make money.
And I want you to realize when you look at these modern versions and
you look at where these things came from and the people involved in this,
these were bad people.
A lot of them were Satan worshippers.
A lot of them were Sodomites way back before anybody was a homo, right?
These are people that were not godly Christians.
And they were responsible for making these versions.
And here's the thing, due to copyright laws,
you must change the words a little bit.
You can't just put out 99.9% the same thing.
No, it's gotta be changed by at least I think 2%, if I remember correctly.
So here's the thing, even if you only wanted to make one change,
you'd have to change a lot.
And so you got all these modern versions that have changed like a thousand things,
thousands of things and everything, it just leads to confusion.
You say, why did they do that?
For the sake of money?
Or because they were evil people trying to just corrupt people and confuse people?
I mean, why would you take out Lucifer from the Bible?
Why would you take that out?
As far, if I remember correctly,
that's the only time Lucifer is ever mentioned in the Bible.
Now we know that's referring to the devil, but
what if you take out the only reference and change it to the morning star?
Why would you do that unless you're trying to do it for money or
you're an evil person, right?
And see, somebody that would do this, that would take God's word and
then make these changes, this is an unsaved person and
they will lose their opportunity to be saved.
They will have their name removed.
They will have these plagues added to them, okay?
So one big example is with these modern versions where they take out of God's word
and then they add to God's word.
I think another example is that there are preachers that are not saved.
And look, I want you to realize, if somebody's gonna create a false version
of the Bible, there's a good chance they were probably already reprobate
before they did that.
But if you weren't, then, well, you crossed over, okay?
But I believe this would also apply to preachers that would just intentionally
change God's word when they preach, just change the message.
What I mean is this, I've heard people say this before when you hear false
preachers, and they will misquote verses or intentionally be misleading with
what the verse is saying for the sake of making money, right?
And you know what, I do believe that there are people that enter into Christianity,
so to speak, for the sake of making money.
And you know what, when they're doing it for the purposes of money and they
intentionally change God's word, then I believe they would cross
over to being a reprobate.
There is a famous cult leader, so to speak.
I think his name was L. Ron Hubbard, like the head of Scientology.
Who knows Scientology?
Have you guys heard of that?
Scientology?
Nobody's heard of Scientology?
No?
Okay.
Somebody.
All right, thank you.
God bless you.
I see that hit, right?
And Scientology is like a cult.
I guess maybe it's only big in the US.
And this is the religion of celebrities.
And it's a really weird thing.
Like the Earth is trillions of years old, and there's these alien type things,
confusing stuff and everything.
But before he started that religion, there's a famous quote he had where he
said, hey, if you want to make a lot of money, start a religion.
What happened a few years later, started a religion, and he became very rich.
He went from just being a science fiction author to be really, really rich.
Look, people use religion for the sake of money.
Don't be naive.
There are preachers here in the Philippines that they get into this
Christian thing only because of the purposes of money.
That's what they care about.
You say, what's the proof of that?
The things they preach that come out of their mouths?
Good night.
I mean, if the preacher is always preaching about money, is it really hard to guess
what's inside their hearts?
Right.
And look, you know, the majority of Baptist churches here in the Philippines,
I stand by my words.
They're not Baptist at all.
Okay.
It's like the more I think about it, it's a complete mockery of what?
Because you will never find Baptist in the US or other places, which is money,
money, money.
It's like the first fruits offering, cheerful giving this offer.
I mean, they have like five official offerings I read online that they teach,
and only one of them is tithing.
It's like, don't be mad at me in a week and a half when I finally preach that
sermon on tithing.
Okay.
I mean, they've got like five different offerings that you're supposed to be doing
during the.
It's ridiculous.
That shows what's inside of their heart.
And look, I promise you, many of those pastors, they got into religion for the
purposes of making money, not because they actually cared about people.
Some other examples of adding to God's word.
You know, you might not realize this with the Mormons because the Mormons use the
King James Bible.
Okay.
And the King James Bible is perfect so far as it's translated correctly is what
they say.
So they don't believe it's perfect, but they sort of do.
Okay.
Now, the King James Bible is below the Book of Mormon in their eyes, and probably
the Doctrine of Covenants and Pearl of Great Price would trump that.
But here's what's interesting.
Their founder, Joseph Smith, actually made a Bible.
You might not realize this.
And it was called the Joseph Smith translation.
So I've never heard of this before.
Yeah, because the Mormons reject it.
It's like the founder of your religion made a Bible, and he changed all the verses.
I mean, I was reading some of the verses yesterday.
I forgot to write this down.
I was going to bring it.
Like John 1.1 is changed so much.
Like instead of in the beginning was the word, it changes the word to gospel.
And it's just like completely changed, like to promote their religion and promote
their beliefs and everything like that.
The Joseph Smith translation, you say, why have I never heard of that?
Because the Mormons don't use it.
They use the King James Bible.
It's like that was the prophet of God on Earth, and he gave you a Bible, and you rejected
it.
Okay.
And yet Mormons don't see a problem with that.
Then you got this guy, Kanye West, who supposedly just became a Christian several months ago.
I mean, in the past, like 10 years ago, he took the Bible, he took out the name of Jesus,
and he put his name there.
Right.
And he did a concert that you can see.
This was on our old Verity channel where he was doing a concert, and all of a sudden he
called Jesus up on stage.
And there's this guy with this long white robe and long hair look like the Jesus you
see in the pictures from Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci and all that stuff and everything
like that.
This weak, effeminate Jesus, which is not scriptural.
And he brings them up on stage.
It's just like making them.
And then all of a sudden this bright light shines and everything like that.
Just making a mockery of Jesus.
Right.
And he made his own version of the Bible.
They just took out the name of Jesus and just put his name in there instead.
Look, you're adding to and removing from God's word.
And if there's any chance for him to get saved, you say, Do you think Kanye West is saved?
Well, no.
Say why?
Well, the proof is in the fact that his name was removed from the Book of Life.
If he had a chance 10 years ago because he was adding, he literally put his name in instead
of Jesus Christ.
Look at Revelation Chapter 22 verse six, Revelation 22 verse six.
Look, the reality is some of the most wicked people attach themselves to religion.
Some of the most wicked people that have ever existed attach themselves to religion.
People have this idea.
Well, so and so is a Christian, so he must be a good person.
Like he's a Christian pastor.
Look, the reality is when you're looking at Christian pastors, they're either very good
or very evil.
There's really no in between.
They're either very good or they're very evil.
And usually there is one Eliza and 450 false prophets.
Most of them are bad.
Most of them are corrupt.
Okay, so point number one we saw was completion point to the companion Christ point three
a comparison point for a caution of adding to and removing from God's word.
What about the conclusion?
Look at verse six, Revelation 22 verse six.
And he said on to me, These sayings are faithful and true.
And the Lord God of the holy prophet sent his angel to show on his servants the things
which must shortly be done.
Behold, I come quickly.
Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Now, I certainly believe that that could apply to all of the books of the Bible.
And of course, it's the last chapter in Revelation.
So I think there's a reason why it's the last chapter.
But I do believe it's also specific to the Book of Revelation, where if you were to actually
read and hear and study the Book of Revelation, that it will be a blessing to you.
Verse 20, He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.
Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen.
Now we covered a lot in the Book of Revelation.
And look, the Book of Revelation is not it's not the most complicated book, because I want
to just kind of drive home.
The very beginning of the book says the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And revelation means to be revealed.
That's what we call the book, the Book of Revelation.
And look, the end times is not some dark and super complicated thing where we can't understand
anything.
No, God's actually trying to reveal to us.
You say, Why would he do that?
Because God wants us to know what's going to take place.
He wants us to be prepared.
He wants us to be prepared for the Antichrist and the coming of the New World Order and
all of these different things.
So I encourage you to read the Book of Revelation, study the Book of Revelation.
And it's not just end times prophecy.
There's a lot of great information we learned from Revelation.
Let's close in word prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to study
this book the last 40 weeks or so, and so many things we learned from the Book of Revelation
and so many things about end times prophecy, God.
And help us as a church just to love your word and to read your word, even the confusing
parts of the Bible, to study your word and to read it and to learn more and more each
and every passing day.
We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.
Take out your hymnal and turn to 200.