Today we come to the final chapter of the final book in the canon of scripture, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Indeed, it's a chapter that bridges time to eternity. Recently, the mother of a member of our congregation was commenting on her daughter, who was always reading the Bible, and she asked her, When are you going to finish that book? She replied, you never finish this book. I will be reading it throughout my lifetime. God continues to speak through it every time I read it. People have asked me the question, what is your favorite book in the Bible? And I say, it's the one I'm reading now because God is speaking to me in the book that I'm reading. So that's the nature of the Word of God. By the way, that mother came to know Jesus as her Savior and Lord this summer, and now understands this truth. So we come to the final word of the Word of God, and we know that God goes on speaking, but what we have in the Bible is the all-inspired, all-sufficient, revelation of who God is and that its truth is sufficient for making us wise to salvation and to live godly lives in this world. 2 Peter 1, verse 3, Peter says, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him. How do we get the true knowledge of him? Through his word. And through his word, we are called out of darkness into light. He's called us by his own glory and excellence. He says later on that we are born again of the incorruptible seed of his word. Jesus said that his word is the means through which people come to know the truth of who he is and how they can experience the purpose for which they were made. and be transformed into his likeness. How about that? Jesus prayed in the Lord's prayer, which is John 17. The other prayer that's often called the Lord's prayer is really the disciple's prayer. But the Lord's prayer is when Jesus prays in John 17, and he says, sanctify them in thy truth. Thy word is truth. So he sanctifies us. He transforms us through his word. as those who are disciples of the Lord. And the disciples, another word for a Christian, but it means that when you are a Christian, you become a student, you become a disciple, you become a follower of Jesus. And I've often encouraged you to grab hold of the word. And I've used the five fingers as an illustration that you use, you hear the word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You read the word. And then you study the word. And then you meditate upon the word. You think about it deeply and you pray with the word. And then you memorize what's vital. Remember this is how Jesus dealt with the devil in spiritual warfare. He gave the devil the sword of the spirit, didn't he? With the word of God, it is written. So it's good to hide the word in your heart. So we're going to speak about the final word today. Would you join me in Revelation chapter 22? It's pretty easy to find this book. It's the last book in the Bible. And this is the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, chapter 22. And we're starting where we left off last week, verse six. And he said to me, These words are faithful and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his bondservants the things which must soon take place. And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he said to me, do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren, the prophets of those who heed the words of this book, worship God. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is near. Let the one who does wrong still do wrong, and the one who is filthy still be filthy, and let the one who is righteous still practice righteousness, and the one who is holy still keep himself holy. Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to 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 robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into that city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The spirit and the bride say, come. And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty, come. Let the one who wishes to take the water of life without cost. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming quickly, amen. Come Lord Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with us all. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you give us understanding of what we have just read and the ability to proclaim it. to do so in a way that pleases you. Change us as a result of what we learn. Keep us from distractions as we listen or any impediment, any argument that sort of rises up. We pray, Lord, that we'd humble ourselves before you and that you would give us what you want to give us this morning. Free us from any self-deception. We don't want to be hearers only of the word. We want to be doers. Help us to be doers, Lord. Lord, we pray for the lost in our midst, and we pray that you will give them a thirst for you, a longing to know you, and that you would draw them to your son, that you would show them their lost condition and their need for what only you can give. Lord, we thank you for our brothers and sisters gathered here this morning, and we pray that you will minister to their particular needs that you know about so well. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. The Apostle John, in his Gospels, he makes clear that Jesus is the full Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. What does that mean, he's the Word? He is the full expression of truth. Jesus says in Revelation chapter 22, what we've just read, verse 13, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. And he shares this title with the Father. The Father is introduced in Revelation chapter one, verse eight, saying the same thing. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. The Alpha and the Omega. The Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and the Omega is the last letter of What Jesus is saying here is that he is the entire alphabet, from alpha to omega, that articulates deity. He is the full expression of truth. He has made that claim before. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. By saying he is the beginning and the ending, he's saying, that he is the source of all and he is the goal of all, that all things are to be summed up in Christ Jesus. He is the beginning of, he's in the beginning of the Bible, when God said, let there be light, and he is the end of the Bible. We see him in the beginning as creator, we see him at the end as judge. We see him as head over a new creation. He has the first word as creator, he has the last word, as judge. And we can say that everything that God says, he says in and through his son. He speaks Christ-wise. All that is true about God and all that is true about the purpose of mankind is found in Christ. The apostle Paul speaks about the truth, but then he says the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. See how he defines truth? And Jesus, when he stood before Pontius Pilate, He asked Jesus, are you a king then? He says, I am a king. And he said, for this I have been born and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. The writer of Hebrews said it so well. In Hebrews chapter one, verse one, God, after he spoke long ago to our fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days, he has spoken to us. in His Son. And translations say, in His, these last days, He has spoken to us fully and finally in His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom He has also made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. My, oh my, that is all-encompassing, isn't it? So this is why you're here today. You're here to get to know the truth. You're here to get to know Christ. You're here to get to know the final word. And we're not just talking about the final word of the apostle John in Revelation, or the final word spoken by Jesus, but we're talking about the final word of God. God's final word is Jesus. You get that? God has spoken. He spoke in the past through our fathers, by the prophets, but in these last days, he has spoken fully and finally in the person of his son. The spirit of the prophets all speak of Jesus. And that's how we test prophecy. If it's not of Jesus and if it's not true to the word, it's false prophecy. It's a testimony of Jesus. And so this testimony stands, and that's what we read at the end of this chapter in verse 18. You can look down there. I'll get to it again at the end, but he's, John says, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. He's just saying that you want to be on the right side of this revelation because God so loved the world that he sent his son to deliver us from the wrath that causes us to perish. The wrath that he has against sin. And if we're on the wrong side of that, we take the punishment for our sin in our own bodies in hell. But Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment our sins deserve on his body. You choose, which are you going to do? You want to take the wrath of God in your body? See God's demonstration of love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, taking the penalty our sins deserve. I pray that the Holy Spirit calls you today. He calls you to trust Jesus, because Jesus is the truth, and he is the way to the Father. No one comes to the Father but by him. As we've learned, that Jesus said that if they do not honor the Son, they do not know or honor the Father. You cannot have the Father without the Son. And it's the Holy Spirit who makes that truth clear, and the testimony stands. He says, if anyone takes away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city. That means there's no entrance into what we learned about last week in the new creation and the new Jerusalem and what we know as heaven. Heaven is being where God is. So, folks, there's a better world coming. Yes, the most glorious of worlds, a perfect heaven and earth. We read about that last week. a world in which there is no sorrow, there are no tears, there is no suffering of death, a world of righteousness, a world of joy and life. And God wants mankind to know the message of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the Lord closes this book, everything he says has to do with the overall message. So what I wanna really convey today is why we need the book of Revelation. Why do we need this final word? And I've got 10 aspects to this final word that's recorded in this chapter that I want you to grab hold of. And these are searching matters too. When I bring up these aspects, I want you to be asking yourself, how do I relate to this? Do I have a hold on these words? Have I really grabbed hold of the meaning of this word personally? Do I know Jesus as he is revealed? in the book of Revelation, or am I serving a Jesus of my own imagination? And there's a lot of folk religion out there where people are just using the word of Jesus, the name of Jesus, and Jesus as they imagine him to be. I like to think of God as, well, you can think about God as much as you like, but if it's not true to the revelation that's in this book, you'll be adding to yourself the plagues that are in this book, and you are denying yourself access to the tree of life. It's so important that we know the revelation of Jesus Christ as it is in the book of Revelation. Are we trusting Jesus in the revelation? So the first thing I want you to notice is that this word is a word of assurance. It's a word that gives you confidence. Notice in verse six, and he said to me, these words are faithful and true. You can go to the bank with this word. You can have confidence No matter what's happening in your life, you can trust this word. These words are faithful and true. God has said this. He is faithful. What does that mean? He's consistent. He never lets you down. He upholds everything that he says he will do. Nothing that he has promised will fail to come to pass. He is faithful and he is true. Everything that he says, by the way, is coherent with reality. Even though you may have some professors and some people who are just anti-Christ and their attitudes may tell you differently, let me tell you that Jesus's truth will stand. Everything else will fall. Kingdoms will fall. How many people have boasted that they've had great knowledge and great answers to the social problems of this world, and we've just seen evidence of social disaster and social experiments over and over again. The word of God stands. He said to me, these words are faithful and true. And we must recognize, folks, that there are a lot of demonic deceptions out there. There are cultural ideas about heaven, for example. We have just read about heaven in the Bible. That's very different from heaven as you get in the movies today, you know, in Defending Your Life and all these other people going to heaven and they imagine it as a, all this nonsense about heaven. Lots of people are telling you stories how they went to heaven and they saw this and they saw that. If it's not consistent with what's in the Bible, it's false. This is the true witness about heaven. Even at funerals, I hear people talking about the afterlife and they're using all this sentimental fluff that has nothing to do with the heaven of the Bible. Mark Twain, you know, he used to say, I'll choose heaven for the climate and I'll choose hell for the company. Well, you know, First of all, he's unaware that the climate in heaven is worship and praise to the only one who is worthy of it, Jesus Christ. So if he doesn't like worshiping Jesus, he's got a bad climate in heaven. But also, hell is a place where there's no company. You are alienated, you are separated. There's no interaction with other human beings in hell. It's personal and private suffering and alienation. That's what Jesus said. It's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. You might say, well, maybe that's just imagery. Well, if it's imagery, it's pointing to something that's even more severe than what we know in our experience. Do we know weeping in our experience? Yes. Do we know what wailing is? Yes. Do we know what torment is? Yes. Do we know what suffering is? Yes. So if this is just a figure of speech, then it's referring to something that's very real, and the human language that communicates it is weeping, gnashing of teeth. What's gnashing of teeth? Ah! Ah! Missed it! Ah! Why? Why? Why? It's regret. Big time. Regret. That's hell. You don't go to hell for the company. I'll say, I just want to be with my friends in hell. You wish. Your friends wish that they'll have friends in hell too, but they won't. There is no friendship in hell. So we may not understand all that John is seeing here. And as I said, he's pushing the envelope of human description. Words are kind of failing him, but he's telling us the truth. And it's faithful and it's true. And when this book was written in the first century, they didn't have any clue as like global communication. John didn't have a world where everyone would be connected by the internet. He never knew in his lifetime of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear things. But you read the book of Revelation, you say, that's what it's talking about. You're talking about globalization. You're talking about people being able to see things all around the world at the same time and witness things all around the world at the same time. And you see these disasters that are just like would have been inconceivable in the first century. Let me tell you, Jesus has says, these words are faithful and true. Jesus knows the end from the beginning and he declares it. Secondly, not only is it a word of assurance, we have a word of authority. Who gave this revelation? The Lord. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel. In other words, the God of all those that gave us the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, those are the prophets. These, the God of the prophets, he sent his angel to communicate this message, to show his bondservants the things which must soon take place. This book came from God, it was communicated by his angel to his prophet John. And so it's a word that's not to be dismissed. Yes, it's written with the human instrumentality of a man, John, who was told to write, but it was inspired of God. This is one of those particular mysteries we've talking about, where how inspired is the Bible? All inspire, right? How much of it was written by humans? All of it. How much was inspired by God? All of it. It's one of those things where we see they're two sides of the same coin. As I've said before, how sovereign is God? 100% sovereign. How responsible are we? 100%. Those are the kind of mysteries that we have to get hold of. John is saying, I'm just simply a servant, a bond servant to the author of the Revelation. Thirdly, the final word is a word of urgency. He is showing his bond servant the things which must soon take place. Notice the word isn't might. This might take place. If you're really good, it's not gonna take place. It doesn't say that, this must happen. Judgment must fall upon the unbelieving world, those that dwell upon the earth. So there's an urgency to this message in Revelation 22, seven. And behold, I am coming quickly. He repeats this in verse 12. and 20 in chapter two, verses five and 16 and 311. He is saying, he comes quickly. Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he has done. He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming quickly. Amen, come Lord Jesus. Revelation 2.5, he speaks of the Lord coming quickly, but it doesn't mean coming at the end times in that particular sense. to the churches and he's saying, therefore, remember where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. In other words, he can come to bring judgment to you today. He can kind of bring a little chastisement here and there. He is very present right now, but he is going to come physically and visibly in his body. He's coming again. And we've learned about that throughout the Bible, but in particular in the book of Revelation. I am coming quickly, in Revelation 3.11. Hold fast to what you have so that no one will take away your crown. That's speaking about him coming to judge the church with the Bemisik judgment. You see, the early church was called to live in expectancy. We're about to have a wedding coming up at the end of the month, and there's expectancy. We've been praying for this occasion for a long while, praying. And the bride is expecting, and the bridegroom's expecting, and the family of the bride's expecting, and the family of the bridegroom's expecting. What does it mean? They're looking forward to the day that they've anticipated of a fulfillment of their covenant. And so the early church, right from the get-go, was given the promise. Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you and I will come and bring you to myself that where I am there you may be also. He means business. He's coming for his bride. And so the church throughout the ages has been living in expectancy. But you might say, hey, for 2,000 years, the church has been expecting and it's been a no show. Where is he? Well, first of all, God is patient and he's not willing that any should perish. Aren't you glad that he waited for you? Yes. But there is a day when he's gonna say, that's it, my bride's made herself ready, it's complete, and then he'll come. But all the parables, the teachings of Jesus about his second coming is that we should live every day of our lives as if it's our last. Because it keeps our focus. We focus on things that are important and things that are eternal. We recognize this. We call it the doctrine of imminence. which means that we live in a state of readiness. 1 Corinthians chapter one, we learn that the early church at Corinth, a church that was filled with the spirit, not lacking in any gift, had lots of problems, but they were awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Are you waiting eagerly for the revelation of Jesus Christ? I pray that this time in the book of Revelation will do that, that it'll have that impact, that you will be living every day. You know, there was a sampler written on my wife's mother's wall by her kitchen, she says, Only one life will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last. What a great reminder. But I would change that a little bit because it's not just only what's done for Christ, it's what's done in Christ. Because otherwise it's just works. But you want it to be gold and precious stone and not wood, hay and stubble. So only one life will soon be passed, only what's done in Christ for Christ will last. Yeah. 1 Corinthians 16. Verse 22, if anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. He's saying it's a life or death matter, whether you know Jesus. Then there's this word, maranatha. What does that mean? Literally, our Lord is coming. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. So this is the word of the apostles to the church. Be ready, Jesus is coming. Get your house in order. You don't know. When doctors tell you to get your house in order, you know that, okay, the diagnosis isn't too good. You gotta be ready. And Jesus is saying to us, no matter what our state is, whatever our health is, get ready today. Be ready for his coming. Philippians chapter three, verse 20. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory. So it's not just a spiritual coming, is it? It's a physical coming, and we will have a physical body. Notice that it says, he will transform the body of our humble state, and believe me, the older I get, the more humble I am about the state of my body. I'm going to be transformed by the grace of God from this humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. And there's no complaints about the body of His glory. Not one of us are going to say, oh, I wish I didn't have that freckle. Everybody's going to be totally happy with the body that they have in the resurrection, the body of His glory. How do we get it? By the exertion of His power. Wow, what power that he has even to subject all things to himself. I believe if he can subject all things to himself, he can take care of me and take care of you. 2 Timothy 4, verse 8, Paul prays knowing that the time of his departure, that's how he speaks of his death, is at hand. He says, now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day, and not only to me, but all those who love and long for his appearing. And I just asked you a question. Do you long for and love his appearing? How do you, do you have the assurance? It's an assuring word. Do you understand his authority? It's a word of authority. Do you understand the urgency? This is a word of urgency. We need to hear this message. Fourthly, This is a word of promised blessing to those who heed. Notice the rest of verse seven. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book. What does it mean to heed? I know we covered this in our first message, but that was like 40 messages ago. What does it mean to heed the word of God? The actual word means to listen under. It means to be ready to receive a command. It's a word that promises protection and guarding. So to heed the word of God means that we are not just going to listen, but we're going to obey it. James says in James 1.22, he says, but prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. We don't want to be deluded, do we? We want this blessing that's given to those who heed. Another way of putting it, it's taking it to heart. Taking the message to heart. Let it shape your perspective. The Apostle Paul says that we look not at things which are seen, but things that are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. To heed the word of God not only means that it shapes our perspective, but it gives us certain hope. And even though we read of the disasters of judgment coming, as believers, we have a certain hope. You know, you have to clear the table, clear away the junk before you have something beautiful set. And the Lord wants to set before us a table that is beautiful, but he has to clear all the stuff off the table first. And that's what he does. He gives us a certain hope, not a wishful hope, but a certain hope. and optimistic realism. He gives us the big picture. We know that we're just pilgrims in this life. We're just passing through. This doesn't mean that we're irresponsible. This doesn't mean that we engage, that we don't engage with the world around us, that we don't better the world around us, but it means we're not living for this world. The church is not bringing in the kingdom. That's never in the Bible. Jesus brings in the kingdom, he builds the church, we work together with him, he will bring in the kingdom when he returns. We experience the kingdom of God now because the kingdom of God is not religion or rule keeping or meat or drink, but it's righteousness, peace, and joy through the Holy Spirit. We have the rule of God in our hearts. So we have this kingdom mindset. We seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. We want to be pleasing him in everything we do with a certain hope and with optimistic realism. When I say realism, I say we're living in a sinful world. I mean, just think of the shootings that we've had in this country in the last 24 hours. No surprise, according to my Bible, because the Bible tells us about what's in the heart of man. And every human heart is basically got the finger on the trigger. If you don't realize that, you haven't spent enough time with yourself. But we are murderers in our hearts. We are. And the heart is deceitful above all things and incurably wicked. Has your psychiatrist been able to cure it? Has any social program been able to cure it? Even a pastor can't do it. Jesus has to do it. And he doesn't cure the old heart, he gives you a new one. He says, your old heart's incapable of responding, it's a heart of stone. But I'm giving you a new heart, it's a heart of flesh, that it's pumping with the blood of the Spirit. It's the mind of the Spirit, and it's the Spirit of Christ in you that enables you to live a God-pleasing life. Nothing else will do. That's realism. It also means that we let the Word of God inform our decisions. I love the testimony we just heard from Rebecca. She shared the gospel, but then she was driving away and the Holy Spirit convicted her, right? And she said, get a Bible for that person. And the Lord was informing your decision. She made a decision, she purchased the Bible, she brought it back and gave it to the guy. Going back, she's getting the gospel of John ready for him. It informs your witness. The reason we've been studying the book of Revelation is so we can share it. Share the hope of the book of Revelation. What a blessing, we get to know the future before it happens. How many people are climbing the ladder of success only to discover that their ladder is leaning against the wrong wall? Right? And then it's too late to do anything about it. But we get to know the truth. And we get to build our lives on a solid foundation. We get to build our lives with silver, gold, and precious stones that won't perish in the judgment as being a total waste. And my word to you as a pastor, my heart is don't waste your life. Don't waste your life just living for yourself. Let the word of God inform your decisions as well as your perspective. May it influence your witness. Secondly, may it influence your church life, your church life. What did we learn from the book of Revelation? Jesus walks in the midst of the candlesticks. What are the candlesticks? The churches. It's the church gathered in community. And what does the church do in that corporate life? We call it the body life, the life of the body of Christ. where every member has a gift, everyone has a function. When we gather together, we make the invisible God visible. It's called the body of Christ. We become his hands, we become his feet. People get to know Christ. They get to know Christ more by us being a community than they do as us being individual lights. It's true. And so Jesus is seen as he walks in the midst of the candlesticks, the gathered church. And we are here to be a corporate witness to the hope of the gospel. also our stewardship. We let the Word of God, we heed the Word of God by letting the Word govern how we Handle what we have of material goods. Who gets to use our guitar? Who gets to stay at our house? Who gets to, you know, how we share hospitality? I spoke with one woman last week after the service, and she says, you know, I never had a home in my life. I had no home life ever. She says, but now I'm a Christian. And I said, I just have a home everywhere. And she says, I want to share my home with everybody. Isn't that true? That when the Lord just gets a hold of your life, it says Rosaria Butterfield wrote in her book, she says, the gospel comes with a house key. You know, you just, the Lord now, he's the one who owns your treasures and your talents and your time. Lay up your treasures in heaven, Jesus said. Let the word of God inform you. How do you use your material things? How do you steward your finances? We also let the word of God impact us. We heed it by letting it fuel our pursuit of holiness. In 1 John 3, verse two, beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. And believe me, if we study the word of God and we study the book of Revelation, we're not gonna be shocked. But I tell you, a lot of people are going to be shocked when they see him as he is, because they didn't imagine him as being as he is. Everyone who has this hope fixed on him, what does it say? Purifies himself, even as he is pure. So I am so grateful. I am not the same person that I was before I started this book. I don't know about you, but It's had a purifying effect in my life. I can just say that. It has given me a greater sense of urgency and purpose than I've ever had before. And it's through letting this word dwell in me. It's through heeding the word. And there's so much more that I want to learn at the feet of Jesus. So if you believe that Jesus is coming quickly, then you don't wanna live in sin, do you? You don't wanna hear like, you fool. Jesus speaks about that, doesn't he? He speaks about people who've built all their bigger barns and just live for themselves. And he says, you fool. I wanna hear, well done, good and faithful servant. Don't you? Yeah. So this is a word of promise blessing to those who take heed to the word. Fifthly, it's a word that calls for worship. And you think about it, the privilege that we have. We get a little foretaste, as far as human words allow, of the New Jerusalem, our home. And we seek the city. John gets so overwhelmed when he has this revelation, that he falls down and he worships, he worships just an angel. And I don't think he was really deceived, I just think he was overwhelmed. You know, he's just saying, this is just so amazing. And he just bows down and he worships. Notice what it says in verse eight. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he said to me, do not do that. I am an angel. I'm a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren, the prophets, and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God. I like the way that he describes Christians. He says, those who heed the words of this book. That's a great description of a Christian, isn't it? And we need to ask ourselves, am I a Christian? Am I a fellow servant? Am I on the same trajectory as the angels and as the brethren, the prophets and those who heed the words of this book? So worship the Lord. Do we recognize the awesome privilege of knowing what's made known in the book of Revelation? We sing the song, I stand, I stand in awe of you. But do we really do that? And I'm challenged on that. I want every time that we gather and we sing these songs to really worship the Lord and not just sing, but to stand in awe of him. This is a word that affirms the united focus of authentic service. Verse nine, but he said to me, do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours. and of your brethren, the prophets, and of those who heed the words of this book. So in this one verse, we have a description of the angels. Who are the angels? Our fellow servants. We have a description of those who gave us the Bible. Who are they? They are our fellow servants. The New Testament and Old Testament authors are our fellow servants. And then we have the description of believers. Believers are fellow servants. And so we have something in common with the angels. We're gonna be so excited to see the angels and to be with the angels because we've been on the same team. And we're gonna be singing about the same Jesus and worshiping the eternal counsels of God. And the same thing with the Old Testament and the New Testament authors, we're on the same page, aren't we? And I just ask you the question, is this a description of your life? Seventhly, it's a word that's to be declared now. It's a word for now. And this is where I take issue with a lot of commentaries on the book of Revelation. And there are different interpretations as far as how these things work out. Where are we now? Are we in the middle of a tribulation? Are we, where are we? That's not the main thing. And I do believe that And as I said before, in the rapture of the church, and I believe in the tribulation period, the seven year period. And I think the evidence of scripture is in that direction. And if you read through the book of Revelation, it points back to over 800 verses in the Old Testament. So if you wanna understand the book of Revelation, you get the picture in the Old Testament. But I believe that this is a word for now. The futurists will just say, well, this is all going to happen in the future. It's not for us today. And they don't bother with it. There's some people who say, oh, we can't understand the book of Revelation. I just don't read the book of Revelation. There's some people who say, it's just entertainment. Someone said, who's not a believer, he just said, oh, that science fiction part at the back, that's a bit strange. It's not fiction. It's not fantasy, it's real. And it's to be declared now. How do we know this? Verse 10. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is near. What's he referring to? In the book of Daniel, remember Daniel was told to seal up the words of this prophecy because it's not for now. And we have that twice in Daniel. Daniel chapter eight, verse 26. The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given to you is true, but seal up the vision for it concerns the distant future. Daniel 12, four, but you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase in knowledge. And there was even a time as we were reading the book of Revelation where John, you know, he's been told to write. How many times he is told to write? Revelation 1.11, he's saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches. Revelation 1.19, write therefore the things that you have seen and those things that are and those things that are to take place after this. Revelation chapter two, verse one, to the angel of the church in Ephesus, right, and he goes through all the churches, the angel of the church of Smyrna, right, to the angel of the church of Pergamon, right, to the angel of the church of Thyatira, right, to the angel of the church of, and he goes on and on and on, Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea, right, but then he gets to a point in the book where the Lord says to John, stop writing. Do you remember that in chapter 10? He said, when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down. So there are some things that we're still gonna find out. And we've learned even the secret name of the Lord. We don't know these things. There are things that we will learn in the future. But when it comes to this book of revelation, it's for today. It's not sealed up for the future. It's for now. It's relevant now. And you may say, well, these things are gonna happen in the distant future. Even if it is in the distant future, you need this revelation now. It is to be proclaimed, declared, taught, read, heard, meditated upon, memorized, now. It's protecting you from error. You know, because this may be your last week on the earth. And then you're going to find that you're in the book of Revelation, in the future, and you're going to want to make sure that you're not going to the lake of fire, and you're going to be in the eternal city. It's relevant for your life now. It's a word that seals your future. It seals your future. How you respond to the gospel of God will determine your eternal destiny. We have an interesting verse here, it's in verse 11, it says, let the one who does wrong still do wrong, and the one who is filthy still be filthy, and let the one who is righteous still practice righteousness, and the one who is holy still keep himself holy. What does this mean? It means that right now you have a window of opportunity to choose. whether you're going to experience righteousness in the future or you're still going to live dead in your sins. One road leads to life, the rest leads to destruction. Wide and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many go that way and they're going to be fixed in that selfish state. So, you know, it's basically you're living for self now and you're going to be stuck with yourself alone in torment and separated from God and others for eternity, that's hell. So he's saying that the future is sealed. Your response to the gospel will determine your eternal destiny. No person is saved by keeping the commandments because we don't have the ability to keep the commandments in ourselves. We keep the commandments because we are born again and we love Christ and we want to follow him. But we don't keep the commandments in order to be saved because that's not possible. We believe that Jesus Christ forgives our sins through his death on the cross and in order for us to be saved. And this enables us to live the gospel and eat of the tree of life. Ninthly, this is a word of warning of judgments to come. The judgment for believers is the Bema Seat Judgment. It's the judgment of our works, not for our sins. But the Lord says, I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he has done. And isn't that assuring that the Lord does take notice of the things that happen in your life? He knows what is on your plate. He knows what you're dealing with. He knows when you dignify the trial and you turn to him and you trust him. And there's reward for that. There's silver, there's gold, there's precious stone. But he also knows what the works of the flesh are like and that they profit nothing. The flesh profits nothing. So what are we going to do? At the Bema Seat Judgment, that's the judgment of the believer's works, the Bible says that everyone will receive the reward because salvation itself will be a reward, but there'll be some people who'll be saved just as by fire. They're gonna see that their life really didn't amount to that much because they've been living in delusion instead of in reality. So we know that at the Bemissi judgment, rewards will be given. In 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse 11 through 15, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on the foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire. In other words, the day of judgment is gonna make instantly clear what was of Christ in your life. Only that which is of Christ will last and stand the test. 1 Corinthians 3.14, he says, if any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through flames. Paul says again in 2 Corinthians 5, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, knowing that this day is coming, we persuade men and we are made manifest to God, and I hope that we are being made manifest in your consciences. So there is a word of warning of a judgment coming for believers, but believers get to eat of the tree of life and go to the eternal city. But there are those who are excluded from the eternal city. And that's what we read about here. These are those who were at the white throne judgment that we read about in the previous chapter. These are the unbelievers. And these are the words that are used for unbelievers throughout the Bible. Outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the immoral persons, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. He's basically describing the sin nature in Toto here. So dogs in the Bible, we often think of our dogs as lovely pets and we like to have dogs, but in the Bible, the imagery is used of scavengers that are unclean. For example, it was a word in the book of Deuteronomy that referred to male prostitutes. In Deuteronomy chapter 23. And we see that dogs were also pictures of pagans. You remember Jesus even referred to the Syrophoenicians, who were outside of the covenant. He said he was using what they were calling unclean animals to give an illustration that this woman was no dog, that she was a person who was actually believing, whereas the Israelites weren't. So it's a picture of also the self-righteous Pharisees were called dogs. Beware of dogs, Paul says in his third chapter to the Philippians. These are people who think that they can become righteous through slavish good works. but dogs basically are speaking of unbelievers. Sorcerers, we get the same word that we have for drugs there, pharmakos, it's basically occult arts and turning to the occult and there's immoral persons. Now there is something as an immoral person today. Today, there's no morality. You would think today that there's not such a thing as sexual immorality. Everything goes and every person has a right to express themselves sexually as they want to. But the Bible says that's not true. There's something called immorality. And those that are practicing immoral lifestyles are excluded from what we know as heaven, the eternal city. And murderers and idolaters are excluded. Those who love and practice lying are excluded. You might say, why are there lists in the Bible of these works of the flesh? It's because we are easily deceived. We say, I'm a Christian, but you know, I just love living with my lies. I'm a Christian, but I still want to dabble in this and dabble in that. And we are deceived. We have so many lists in the New Testament. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 9, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. He was saying to the Corinthians, You know, you think that you're Christians, but if you're living this way and you're not repenting over your sins, it shows that you're not right with God, that perhaps you've not been born again. And you need to assess carefully. He says, do not be deceived, neither fornicators, that speaks of having sex outside of marriage, idolaters, adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." And then he says something that's very important for us to remember, such were some of you. That means that we should be, when we reach out to people who are lost, we shouldn't expect them to behave as if they were Christians. We just recognize that they're lost, that they're blind, to this fact, but they need the warning because if they continue in their sin, they will be excluded from the city of God. He says, but you were washed and you were sanctified. and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. And finally, there is this word of invitation. I love this because we have, it's just coming from heaven so strongly. Revelation 22, 13, Jesus says, I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Do you want to know who I am? I'm the sum, of all truth, the sum of all things. I am the word of God. I am God. This is his claim to deity. I've shared this verse with Jehovah Witnesses, and they get to the end, and they'll say, who is this? And they'll say, oh, that's Jehovah. And then I said, read on for the next two verses. I, Jesus. This is Jesus speaking now. Jesus is taking the claim of deity in this verse. And then in verse 14, Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they might have the right to the tree of life and may enter the gates into the city. How do we enter the city? How do we eat of the tree of life? Only by trusting in the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Bible tells us that our own righteousness is but filthy rags. We've got no leg to stand on when we appear before Holy God. We need to have our own life washed, our sins washed away by the blood of Christ. That's what it means to have your robes washed in the blood of Christ. No one's ever saved by keeping the commandments, of course, as I've said, but we keep the commandments because we love Christ and we want to follow Christ. The person who is accepted by God is the person who has washed his robes in the blood of the Lamb. and that person has the right to the tree of life, that person has an entrance into the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city of God. Verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright and morning star. This is another claim to deity. Jesus is the Messiah, the descendant of David, the promised son. He's in that line of the tribe of Judah. He fulfills the prophecy in regard to his humanity, but he is not just the son of David, he is what? The root. In other words, he's the one who created David. He is the creator. He is both the root and the offspring of David. He's the bright morning star. What does that mean? What's the star that you see that lasts throughout, even in the early morning you see, it's the brightest star. And the brightest that can possibly be seen. It's another picture of Christ. The brightest of all beings in all the universe, the very son of God himself. It's also pointing to the fact that he's the fulfillment of the prophecy in Numbers 24, 17. There shall come out of Jacob a star. Jesus is declaring that he is the promised Messiah, the bright morning star. And so this is why we study the book of Revelation. We know that it's a word of assurance. It gives us confidence. We can bank it on this. These words are true. We can live our lives in its light. It's a word of authority. God is the author of the book of Revelation. Jesus is who he says he is, the son of God. He's given us the good news, and it's urgent that we share it. We need to recognize the urgency of the message. We need to see that this is a word that's to be declared. It's for now. It's a word that also focuses us on the same purpose that the angels have and that the prophets have. We're united in this purpose. We're servants of Christ. And then we can see that this is something that it seals our destiny, heaven or hell. And that it's a final word. It's a word that invites us to come. And this is the beautiful invitation. The spirit and the bride say come, the Holy Spirit, We've had the Father say, I am the Alpha and the Omega at the beginning of the book. Then Jesus says, I am the Alpha and the Omega in this chapter. And now the Spirit is saying, with the bride, who's the bride? The church saying, come. Let the one who hears say come, that's you. And when you hear the word of God and you receive the water of life, you start saying come and drink too. You want to share it. And let the one who is thirsty come. And let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. You know, there are three comes just right in this chapter. The call of the spirit, the call of the bride, and the call of the one who hears. to drink of the water. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You who have no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor on that which does not satisfy. How do you buy this water? By hearing. Hearing the word of God and believing, heeding. Listen, listen to me, the prophet says, and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest affair. Give ear and come to me. Hear me that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. My faithful Love, promise to David. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. This is the good news. If he who calls upon the name of the Lord. What did we speak about in the beginning of the service? God's made himself known. Jesus is God. He is Lord. He who confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart that God has raised him from the dead. This speaks of belief that his accomplishment on the cross truly pays for your sin. God has declared that it is a good payment by raising him from the dead. If Jesus died on the cross and he was simply a martyr, or if Jesus died on the cross and he himself was a sinner, there would have been no resurrection. But God was declaring that Jesus is who he is by raising him from the dead. And so you can bank on the fact that sins can be forgiven by looking away unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. You remember the woman at the well? Boy, she was thirsty. She was living in shame. She would come out in the noonday sun and she would just feel like, okay, no one's watching me right now. I guess I can go and get a drink. She was really thirsty. And Jesus engages her in a conversation and says, could you give me something to drink? And she's even amazed that someone's talking to her because she's a Samaritan and here is a Jew coming from Judah up and speaking. And she says, how can you ask me for a drink? Jews do not associate with Samaritans. She's amazed at the mercy of conversation. Jesus says, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Living water? Wow, I'm in the market for water, but living water, water that gives you life, water that promises you more than what you can get from the well here? Sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and his herds? Jesus answered, everyone who drinks this word, listen to this, will never be thirsty again. Satisfied, satisfied. Are you satisfied with Jesus? Has he quenched your thirst? Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And the woman said, sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. And so many people recognize Jesus as a life enhancer and say, give me this water. But Jesus wouldn't let her go. What'd he say? Go get your husband. Oh, that's a touchy subject. My husband, let me see. You might be referring to the person I'm living with right now. "'And I have no husband,' she replied. "'Jesus said to her, "'You are right when you say that you have no husband. "'The fact is you have had five husbands "'and the man you now have is not your husband. "'What you have just said is quite true.' "'Sir,' the woman said, "'I see that you're a prophet.' "'Our fathers worshiped on this mountain.'" And then she changes the subject. I'm really a religious person and our fathers, you know, used to worship here and we're just waiting for the Messiah. And then Jesus says, "'I, who am speaking with you, am he.'" I'm the one you're waiting for. Well, you know what happens? She believes. And she, the real kicker, she leaves her water pot. She forgets even why she went to the well. She leaves it. She goes away. And what does she do? She goes around town saying, come and hear this man who knows everything about me. And all the men are saying, oh boy. I hope he doesn't know everything about you. But she goes around saying, come, come. The spirit and the bride say, come. What's the first thing that she does? She leaves her water pot and she goes out and say, come and drink what I'm drinking. And her water pot's still there at the well. John chapter four. Don't you love that? Because Jesus satisfies us on a whole new level. Do you have that? This is the word of invitation. And the final words in the book are, and if anyone takes away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. He who testifies of these things, he says, come. Come. Yes, I am coming quickly, amen. Come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with us all. Let's pray. Oh Father, thank you. There's so much that we've had to consider today in this final word. But we end with the word of grace. The grace of the Lord Jesus being with us. And because of who he is as the final word, we can have assurance, we can have authority, we can have assurance that you gave this word to us as the author of it. And we thank you, Lord Jesus, that we are profiting by this word. It will never be the same because we've heeded it. We are truly blessed. And Lord, I pray that today you would cause those people who are saying yes, not just to sit on the fence, but to come to you and to trust you even as the woman at the well did and be satisfied with this living water. In Jesus name, amen.