The Rights and Rejections

Study of Revelation • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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Revelation 22:14-15

Do you remember growing up and your parents leaving a note for you. It would have important instructions for you to do. And occasionally it might be tagged with a post-script comment.

Well, the Lord has given the bulk of Revelation to us, and this last chapter serves as the PS comments. This wonderful book has been written for the seven churches, and the Lord wants to give some important final details for all who read to understand.

(Read Scripture)

Handling children can be a difficult job, you want them to do good and follow the rules. But if there is no incentive for them to do that, why would they? So, when we want them to be good, we will say if you behave I will give you a reward.

Now you may not necessarily agree with this approach, but the Lord does. In fact, the Lord shares with us in these verses the reward for those who are obedient, and he identifies those who are not.

As we begin our study, I want you to see these five comments that Jesus speaks about in these verses.

His Comment about the Rewarded Saints (vs 14)

· If there is one thing that Christ desires among His people is obedience. Obedience is a recurring subject that is spoken of throughout the Bible.

· We find example after example of this:

o God wanted Adam and Eve to be obedient

o God wanted the Children of Israel to be obedient

o God wanted the Kings to be obedient

o God wanted the Disciples to be obedient

o God wants the Church to be obedient

· Even in the scripture he talks about the importance of obedience

o 1 Samuel 15:22 “…behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…”

o John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments”

o James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

· When we are obedient to God, He recognizes that and He rewards us.

· Now the opening of the verse says blessed are they which do his commandments. So these are those who are obedient.

· They are blessed, now remember, the book of Revelation opened with a blessing.

· Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand”

· So there is a blessing for those who are obedient to God.

· In verse 14 we find two ways he rewards the saint for being obedient.

· He rewards by giving them rights. This is not a privilege but a right. A right is something that cannot be legally denied. A privilege is something that can be given and taken away.

· God is giving rights to His children. Now there are two rights that we see God rewards His children with.

· The first, is the right to the tree of life. Do you remember the Tree of Life?

· Our mind often goes to the book of Genesis, where the Tree of Life was removed from the Garden of Eden.

· At that point the tree was a privilege. And man disobeyed and the privilege was taken away.

· Well, here, the tree is no longer a privilege, it is a right. Now what did this tree grant?

· If gave life to those who ate from it. We learn that God took the tree away in Genesis, because if man ate from it in his sinful condition, he would remain forever that way.

· In essence, the curse of sin would not have been able to be removed.

· The tree provides sustenance, as we find this will be the food source for the New Jerusalem.

· The tree provides healing, as the painful past of nations are healed through its leaves.

· The tree ultimately is a symbol of God’s power that is given to saved humanity.

· Now the world does not have a right to this tree, because this world is fallen into sin. But those who have partaken of Christ, have ate of the tree of life.

· Because what Christ did on the cross is symbolized through the tree of life.

· Now there is a second right that is given to the believer and that is the right to enter through the gates of New Jerusalem.

· This is a prestigious right, in the fact that not everyone is permitted to enter in. We learn about them in the next verse.

· But those who are a believer and follower of Christ, will find that they have the right to enter in.

· In ancient times, a person may come to the city gates and be denied entrance for various reasons. But a person who is a citizen of the city would not be.

· As a citizen of the city you are afforded these special rights.

· This is the most elegant, regal, and beautiful city that will ever exist. Nothing that the super rich of this world could even come close to affording.

· Only those who have been born-again into the family of God are permitted entrance because God has given them this right.

· They will not be stopped by the angel guarding the gate and refused entry, they have the legal right as the child of God to be able to enter.

· Now those burning in the lake of fire, would certainly like to enter into the city, but will never will, because they are not a citizen of that city. They have no rights.

· They gave up their rights by denying Christ into their heart. So, since they denied Christ entrance, the Lord will deny them entrance into this eternal city.

His Comment about the Rejected Sinners (vs 15)

· Now we have seen the Rewarded Saints, but now we find the rejected sinners in verse 15.

· Not everyone will get to see this beautiful city that has been prepared for the bride of Christ. Some will be outcasts that will never walks the golden streets or touch the foundation stones of this heavenly place.

· What man likes to think, is that everyone will be accepted into heaven regardless of the life they lived.

· While this city will have people who on earth may have done vile things, the one thing that has granted them entrance is the fact that they found salvation through Christ during the acceptable time.

· There is no asking for forgiveness in the hereafter. Once the final breath is taken, the opportunity to be saved ceases as well.

· In this verse we find four categories of people who will be outcasts in the New Jerusalem.

· The first who are excluded are the foul ones. The scripture called them dogs and whoremongers.

· Now I know we have a lot of dog lovers in our church, man’s best friend. Well, in biblical times, dogs were not looked at as a pet. Instead they were detestable animals that represented the abominable things.

· It isn’t that dogs were not around, in fact we read about how dogs came and consumed the carcass of Jezebel.

· 1 Kings 21:23 gave the prophecy in regards to this and in 2 Kings 9:32-36 that prophecy became a reality.

· So, when the scripture talks about dogs here in verse 15, what is it referring too? Well, this isn’t the dog lover, but those who are abominable.

· People who live their lives according to their own rules. They disregard the Word of God, and refuse to be obedient to God.

· Dogs of that day were typically untrained. And since they were untrained they were a nuisance. They damaged property, they ran wild, often attacking people, they were quite problematic.

· Well, a person who rebels against God, is like a dog. They will not be obedient to God, but instead they are wild, and as the Lord may approach them they run away.

· A dog is not a sheep. A sheep in the bible is pictured as a child of God. A dog has more intelligence than a sheep, but yet they refuse to come to the master.

· Those who are dogs in this passage, live a life wild and separate from God.

· Now many cities of today, have problems with stray dogs and cats roaming the streets. They are untamed and they bring in other problems.

· We try to combat the problem with dog catchers. That way litter is not overturned and fleas are not infesting the area.

· Well, this city will not have a problem with dogs running wild, the person who is untamed by God will have no part into the city.

· The second part of the foul group is the whoremongers.

· These are people who are driven by their sexual desires, who defile the holiness of marriage for their lust of the flesh.

· Remember that sex was designed by God for marriage, but the desires of the flesh are very powerful and many violate this gift by abusing it outside of marriage.

· The whoremonger is a term we define as someone who seeks out prostitution. But in reality, the scripture is referring to any sexual sin when it calls out this group.

· Now when you think of city today, there is always that part of the city that is shady. It can be referred to by many names, a common name we call areas like this is the red-light district.

· Well, this city is not going to have this problem, because this kind of behavior will not be permitted within its walls.

· The city will have a clean presence throughout, no fleshly desires will be on the hearts of those who enter. The lust of the eyes and flesh will not reside in the citizens of this great city.

· The second group that we identify in this verse is the faithless. Notice who are included in this category.

· The scripture says the sorcerers and idolators.

· Now sorcerers of John’s day were people who were involved in witchcraft. They used drugs to bring on a high that ultimately opened the person to demon possession.

· This same practice goes on today. We may not call them sorcerers, but that doesn’t change what they are doing.

· Ultimately a sorcerer, or one who places their faith in drugs or other substances to get them through life, will find that there is no place for them in this great city.

· America has a tremendous drug problem. According to Plan Street research, 37% of America’s population struggle with illicit drug use.

· Chances are, you have someone you know that is struggling with this addiction.

· But it isn’t just drugs that have a hold on many Americans, but alcohol addictions are also among this as well.

· It is estimated that 15 million Americans struggle with alcohol abuse each year.

· Why do people struggle with drugs and alcohol? Well, the truth is, the have placed their faith in these substances.

· Its not that a person who has been addicted to these things can’t go to heaven, but when a person relies on this for their happiness and are dependent on them rather than the Lord, well, the Bible says they will not enter into New Jerusalem.

· This city will be drug free. This isn’t a city where you walk and in the back alleys find a person shooting up.

· This isn’t a city where someone has been involved in a serious accident because they were drunk.

· This is a city that is free from all of this kind of behavior.

· Now along with the sorcerers the idolators will not have a place in the city.

· The biggest idol among people today is the worship of money. In fact, the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil.

· People worship it, they crave it, they long for it, when they have it they are constantly looking at it, thinking about it.

· It has become their god. Now I know we need money to operate in our society. But our focus is not about money. Our focus should be God.

· That’s not to say that it is wrong for us to make money, you may be blessed with a good paying job where you make lots of money.

· But that money is not to be your god. Don’t let it become an idol. Nor anything else. Because idol worship will not be in this city.

· You know we have a lot of churches, what is the old saying around here? There is a church on every city block.

· Well, there might be a lot of churches in a city, but there are also a lot of banks.

· But like I said it isn’t just money that people worship, it is stuff. Think about a city today, how many retail stores there are.

· According to the National Retail Federation there are almost 129k retail establishments in North Carolina alone.

· We make stuff our idols. But this of course is just a small sample. This city is not about idols. All of this stuff we put our faith in rather than God, this is not permitted in New Jerusalem.

· Now there is a third category and that is the fierce. This group is not permitted in the city. Who is this? Well the scripture calls them here, murderers.

· I have never had a desire to go to New York City. Growing up all you ever heard about places of this magnitude was the crime rate, and particularly the murder rate.

· Cities are often a dangerous place. In New York, in the last 28 days there have been 30 murders. (nyc.gov)

· This is not a city that will have a single murder. This is not a place where you will fear walking down the street, because murderers will not be permitted in.

· Now God takes murder seriously. But God also forgives murderers. Moses and Paul.

· There are people who have committed murder here, who will be forgiven and be in New Jerusalem. But a person who hasn’t turned to the Lord and found forgiveness will not be permitted into heaven.

· The final category we find is the falsifiers. What we find in verse 15, those who love and maketh a lie.

· Perhaps the most common sin that takes place today is that of the lie. Lies range from what we deem as small lies to horrible lies. What is a lie? It is a concealment of the truth.

· A person who tries to deceive another with a falsehood. This is the reality of our society.

· We see governments that maintain power with the lies that they tell. We see the wicked avoid punishment because of the lies that they tell. We see lies being told from children all the way to adults.

· People will often turn to a lie than turn to the truth. Con-men, deceivers, there are people who love telling lies just to see how much they can get away with.

· Well, this city is not a place for that kind of behavior. Those who tell lies will have no place there.

· Now you might be here right now, and you are thinking, I have told a lie. Am I not going to be able to enter in?

· Well, have you asked Jesus into your life? If you have, then that lie has been forgiven.

· This city is going to be a place of purity.

So, in conclusion we find that these two verses gives the citizens rights, and those who are not permitted to enter in.

Jesus is making this very specific, so the question which we leave with tonight is, have you become a citizen or will you find that there is no place for you there? Our next study will be on the 26th and we will look at verses 16 & 17.