Revelation 22 thank you worship team.
Now Father, we do pray for the school, Sunday school teachers,
the junior church leaders, be with them, help them minister to
the children. Lord may the children love you.
May any who don't know you receive you as the Lord and
Saviour today. We pray for any here gathered
with us this morning and that don't know you that have come
seeking to find and call upon you.
We pray for this salvation. We pray today for all of our
hearts to be convicted, for our hearts to be corrected, Father,
for our hearts to be forgiven, and for Your grace and your
mercy to be new and fresh to us even this morning.
Again, Lord, give us good ears to hear.
Lord in Jesus name, Amen. As we complete our study in the
Book of Revelation, the title is I'm coming quickly.
Jesus said that we remember that scripture began with us in the
Garden of Eden book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, Genesis
chapter one. In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth. In Revelation 22 we see God had
has created a new heaven and a new earth.
In the book of Genesis God set the sun and the moon.
He said let there be light and there was and they both shone
distinguishing the day from the night.
Now in heaven there is no night, only light.
The light from the throne of God.
Genesis 3 The curse came as Adam and Eve fell for the lives of
the enemy. Who said if you eat this you
won't die? It's all good.
And a curse was announced after the fall of Adam and Eve.
Eve would would take time and trial in in in giving birth.
Adam would work the land in sweat and thorns and thistles
would grow and he would have to labour and death would come.
In Revelation 22, the curse is removed.
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve had to be driven away out of the
garden, the beautiful garden paradise, for their own eternal
sakes, away from the tree of life, so they wouldn't touch and
stay in their sin forever. In Revelation 22, the tree of
Life is restored and each and everyone, every believer in
Saint, who's in the new heaven. The New Jerusalem has access to
its wonder and we see a beautiful garden once again, a
paradise like no other ever formed.
Our home is a paradise. All that Adam lost, Christ the
second Adam has regained, and much more, much better.
So anything that you think is good now in heaven, it's going
to be far beyond how much better it's going to be.
And we can't, we can't explain that.
That's the wonder of heaven. That's why we all need eternity
in heaven, because we will just be amazed, amazed at at the
wonder of what we see, what we'll do, how we'll appear
ourselves, and the glory and the wonder of the throne of God.
Heaven. The Bible is the history of the
world, its creation, its fall and its end.
The Bible is God's story of Him sending his Son Jesus to rescue
us from our own mess. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes.
And that's all you have to do. On him shall not perish, but
have everlasting life. You get you live forever.
No separation from God ever again.
God sent his Son to rescue us. When you are rescued, it means
you can't save yourself. When the lifesavers paddle out
to you and grab you, it's because you're drowning.
You can't save yourself. Jesus came because we couldn't
save ourselves and it was our own mess.
We deserve judgement, but He restores us.
He forgives us and removes all of our sin.
The time in which you and I are now living, 2025.
We are awaiting Christ's return at any moment for His church
called the rapture. Jesus spoke of it in John 14.
Paul mentioned of it in one Thessalonians.
He was in Thessalonica of just three Sabbaths, Paul.
But in those three Sabbaths when he was in Thessalonica, Paul
gave them and unloaded the wonders of heaven, the wonders
of the rapture, and the glory of God that awaits us all and that
Jesus is coming soon must be important.
We're living in the last days prior to the rapture.
And then after the rapture occurs and the church is taken
out, the Bible says all hell will break loose.
There'll be 7 years as Daniel prophesied of this, the 70th
year of the 69 of the of the 70th years on the children of
Israel. The clock begins to tick the
last seven years and it's called the Tribulation.
Jesus will return at the end of that seven year period with his
church and end all conflict. The battle of Armageddon over.
He speaks and it's done. He will then establish his
thousand year reign called the Millennium here on earth, and at
the end of that thousand years he will cast Satan and all the
demons. The third of the angels that
fell with Satan will be cast into the lake of fire along with
death, where the Antichrist and the false prophet, as I said,
along with death will be. And then there's the Great White
Throne judgement, the second resurrection.
We're all unsaved who have died over the years since the
creation of the heaven and on earth and everyone who has died
without Christ will be resurrected, face the great
right throne judgement and we be cast into the lake of fire
forever. In chapter 22, we come to the
end of this prophetic book, a book that it's said at the at
the beginning in chapter 1. You'll be blessed if you hear
it, if you read it and you keep it.
So without anything already God has blessed you because you've
heard it, you've read it, and I pray this is the important part,
that you're keeping it. We come to the end of it.
How will it all end? We're told how it will end.
For those who love Jesus Christ. There'll be a new heaven and a
new earth. The old has burned up, Peter
said, melted with a fervent heat, and eternity has come.
I can't comprehend eternity, can't fathom Revelation 22 verse
one. Let's look.
And he showed me a river of water of life.
Now this is John being showed. He's on the Isle of Patmos.
And remember, this is one of the angels who handed out the bold
judgements. So this is that Angel.
And he says John I shown, he's shown him the outside.
We looked at that on Wednesday, how tall it was, the New
Jerusalem. It's a cube, 1500 miles high,
long, wide breadth, perfect cube.
And now he takes John inside. Enter through the gates, 12
gates, a gate made of a Pearl, 1 Pearl per gate.
Walks in and he's showed me a pure river of water of life,
clear as crystal proceeding from where does the river flow from?
What's the the spring source? It comes from the throne of God
and of the Lamb capital L Lamb Heavenly Father.
And the Lamb capital L is Jesus Christ in the middle of its St
and on either side of the river. So the tree of life is the tree
of life. It's so big that it goes on
covers to both sides of this river that runs down this, the
middle of the street, the tree of life.
And this tree of life bore 12 fruits. 12 There's that number
again, each tree yielding its fruit every month.
The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
So John is now taken inside the New Jerusalem by this Angel, and
now he writes down what he sees. We're reading it.
He sees a river. It's no ordinary river.
Many Bible commentators question whether it's actually Aqua water
H2 oi believe it is, but there's more to it.
This river flows from the throne of God.
And this river is filled with an endless supply of divine life.
Remember to be in heaven. We learned last Sunday that you
had to be what? Thirsty.
Remember Jesus came to the woman at the well.
She tried everything she tried. She wanted to be loved.
She wanted to be protected, cared for.
And so she short thought she could find that in relationships
with men. It failed each time.
She had had five men and the one she was with now was not a
husband. When she met Jesus at the well
and she was going there to get a drink and Jesus said can you
give me a drink? And she was confounded.
Here was a male, first of all speaking to a female, which
wasn't done. He was a Jew, that's another
thing. And she was a Samaritan and
there was this enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans.
But Jesus was waiting for her. Jesus is waiting for each and
every one of us because we're like that woman at the world.
We, we've tried everything. We continue to try stuff.
It's funny, you know, we'll, we'll try something and it'll
fail. You know, we'll do, we'll try it
again. We try the same thing again.
But there's only one thing one way that's going to, that's
going to meet the ache that only you ever feel, that only you
know about. No one else knows about it.
You're the only person that knows yourself within.
But God knows you and he has an appointment.
He sent his son Jesus for you, as he did to the woman at the
well, and she came first. And he says, Jesus said, I can
give you water where you'll never thirst again.
And she said, how do I, how do I get that water?
And then he introduced himself. He says, I'm the Messiah.
I'm the one that you're looking for.
And she was so overwhelmed with joy, she left her water jugs and
ran into the city and said, hey, everybody, she's, she's, she's
not thirsty anymore. You got to come.
You got to come and drink what I've drank.
You got to come and meet this one.
Meet this one to be in heaven. You got to be thirsty.
Heaven will be filled with thirsty people who have found
Christ and now first no more. No longer chasing the
relationship after relationship, no longer trying to be the best
at achieve this. Get that?
That's why so many athletes, when they reach their pinnacle,
they win the gold medal, they break their record, they win the
the flag, the premiership, then what?
A mount on the top of the mountain.
It's lonely. Now, what do I do?
This is all I've lived for. You see, Jesus gives you a
reason to live each and every day.
And you know what? The best thing about eternity,
it's going to be more and more and more and more and more.
I've had one nightmare that I can remember as a child and it
was dying a first. I remember it vividly and I
remember my older brother. We were in the sharing the same
room. And in that nightmare I'm crying
out to him. Give me a drink.
I'm laying on the ground and you know how Australian summers can
get hot and I was laying on the ground.
I'm just thirsty first like I've never had before.
And he walked over me and he didn't give me a drink.
And I woke up and I told him off in the morning, Why don't you
give me a drink? I didn't know what I was talking
about. I was just a little kid.
But that first, I know that first.
You know that first alone. When you've been alone, you
maybe even be happily married, but you're still thirsty.
You're going to have to be happily married, have a great
job, healthy kids, all all those things.
And it'd still be thirsty, because the first God is created
within your thirst, and the first is to have a relationship
with Him. To be in heaven, you need to be
thirsty, but also you needed to be an overcomer.
Revelation 21 six and he said to me, it is done.
I am the alpha and the Amiga, the beginning and the end.
I will give up the fountain of the water of life freely.
We're talking about the river to him who first he, whoever comes
shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be
my son. Heaven as seen by this river
will be totally satisfying you and I, we long for that.
You know how often he's finally I could just get away from all
the problems that we're having. You know, the bank situation
lost my job or this this ache that I carry when my body
continually. If only I could be on a desert
island and just, you know, not have any worries.
Well, you don't get a desert island, you get paradise and it
will satisfy you. You will have that unbelievable
emotion and feeling in heaven of being absolutely satisfied,
quenched. John sees a prominent tree.
It's the tree of life. It bears 12 fruits every month.
And you go hang on a minute. Months.
I thought we're in eternity. Is this not eternity?
Time will continue. Time will continue.
John tells us that eternity will have distinction.
There'll be cycles and seasons of a sort.
We will be outside. We're not.
We're not bound by time, but time clicks on.
John describes this fruit bearing cycle and he uses what's
called an anthropomorphic term. In other words, it's describing
something that's divine and putting it into human terms so
we can relate to it. He says this is tree, the tree
of life, and it's got fruit. And you eat this fruit and you
get this, this this massive healing.
It says the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
nation's. You ask another question.
OK, well, OK, but if sin and disease and pain and tears are
known more, we did that Revelation 21.
Why then will the nation's need healing?
The word healing in our texts, and it's written in Greek is the
Greek word therapia. It's the root word where we get
our English translation therapeutic.
A better way to translate this would be you get life giving or
health giving. In other words, you'll find but
this is like an extra blessing. You get a supernatural vitamin
so our lives will be fully energised and exciting.
When you get to God, ask him, He'll explain this because I
can't. Verse three.
There shall be no more curse. That means death, pain, sorrow,
but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it and his
servants, it's us, shall serve him.
We're going to be doing stuff. They shall see his face, that's
the Lord's, and his name shall be on their foreheads.
It's interesting how the Antichrist did his copy, the
fake he gave the old barley tattoo. 666666 But God, he marks
you. We have a mark, and we have the
name written on our foreheads in heaven, the Lord's name.
There shall be no night there. Why does it say that you go?
What's the big deal about no night there?
They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord gives them
light, and they shall reign forever and ever.
What's the scariest thing that you usually face as a kid?
Well, I know darkness, man. I was terrified of the dark.
We had stables in our backyard and I would play up, do
something wrong and I'd run away, pack a case and I'd run
away and hide up the stables. But then I'd come home and sneak
in the bedroom window because it was dark.
I'm not staying up the stables in the dark.
There's Boogie 1 boogie monsters up there.
But why is it that we have this, this, this, this fear of the
dark, this, this, this, this. It just wells up and, you know,
and the, the wonder of how a blanket pulled over your head
can save you and that just protects you from any monsters,
doesn't it? There we go.
I'm in the zone, you know, But we have this fear of the dark.
And as a child, for me, it was very, very real.
I was so scared of the dark. And my auntie lived next door.
She used to like cigarettes. She smoked a lot.
So my auntie would come and Oh no, my auntie's coming.
She's wanting me to go down the shop and it's dark to get her a
packet of cigarettes. I'd hear a shuffle, a side gate.
Go, Mom, I've got to go to the shop for Auntie Mill.
It's dark. And our street, where we lived
in Hampton Rd, we had one street light and then the next one was
500 miles away. And the vampires lived under
that one. Because I watched every vampire
movie as a kid. It was just healthy.
Anyway, she come in Keith Love. Could you go down the shop and
get a packet of cigarettes for your auntie?
Sure. I only will.
Thanks. And we had a big old door, big
old wooden fly wire door and I would be out that door, swing it
open on my bike, ripped down to the shop, pick up the packet of
cigarettes. Rothmans pedal back and the door
would close behind me as I got home.
I was like lightning. I was terrified of the dark.
But it says here, no darkness. We have no fears.
There's no fears. You know, when you and I can't
comprehend, you know, there are things that happened during our
days as we go about our lives and something happening and all
of a sudden this this fear arises or they're not home yet
or it's late or looks like this they're selling the company and,
and all and these fears just rise up in heaven.
None of that, none of that. But how could there be no more
curse? Why does he even mention that
since death and the curse has been lifted?
Because it says the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it.
A curse implies here distance between God and man.
Because death in the Bible for a Christian is always mentioned as
sleep, but death for an an unbeliever is death.
It's it's judgement, death, separation from God.
But in the New Jerusalem, that once great impassable chasm
where our sins separated us from a holy God, we'll shrink to
nothing. The curse will be gone.
God's blessing will grow more and more each day in eternity
because every day we'll discover something new.
We will all make wonderful, just unbelievable discoveries each
day. And God's boundless grace and
His love will be so much more because there's something
special that God has also placed in our hearts.
And that is we actually want to touch God.
We actually want to feel God. We want to feel the warmth of
Him. We want to see his face.
We're not people who want to worship God from a distance.
We will serve God in the new Jerusalem.
Life will be anything but boring.
Now John turns his focus from what he sees now to those who is
writing this last passage to the believers you and I John wants
the Saints of God because this Bible prophecy book, the Book of
Revelation, is written only to Christians.
John wants the Saints of God who read this prophetic book to be
ready and to get ready for this amazing future that's coming.
And so three times John mentions Jesus is coming.
Have I told you Jesus is coming? Verse 7, verse 12 and verse 20.
Now the early church believed that Jesus could return for them
at any moment. That's how they live.
They believe, well, He's just gone and He's coming back any
moment as we are. The generation, as I said
before, that we are living in the last days prior to Christ's
imminent return. What should we as Christians
here at Calvary Chapel, Secret Harbour 2025 be doing right now
knowing all that we've read? Verse 7, Jesus says behold, I am
coming quickly. That word quickly there means
it's the Greek word Taco. When we get our word and the
Moto all new Rev heads takamina, it means house.
It's fast, I'm coming and when I come it's going to be really
fast. When I come, it's going to bang.
This happened, Paul says it's going to be faster than the
twinkling of of of the eye measurement, not the blinking,
but the actual twinkling of of the eye.
The church will be here and in the twinkling of an eye faster
than that gone measure how that's going to impact the
world. I am coming quickly now He says,
blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this
book. What does that mean?
They say now I, John, saw and heard these things.
And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet
of the Angel who showed me these things.
Then the Angel said to me, see that you don't.
Hey, don't do that, John, for I'm your fellow servant and of
your brethren, the prophets and of those who keep the words of
this book worship God. When you and I, as believers
studying no Bible prophecy in the way God intended, it will
help to purify us. We will live differently with
our eyes on heaven, our hands loosely on the things of this
world, and our lives busy serving the Lord with all that
we are capable, 1 John 33 says. And everyone who has this hope
in him purifies himself just as he is pure.
That means our eyes are constantly, our minds are always
thinking, our conversations with our children, you know, Jesus is
coming soon. I love talking to our grandkids
and having them ask, is he coming soon?
When is he coming? What's going to happen in
heaven? Because that's what you and I
are to. We're on that.
We're in the the terminal at the airport.
We're just waiting. We're ready to go.
You know, when you go to the airport, you're going to fly
somewhere. You think about where you're
going to go. What's the temperature going to
be like? What time will we get there,
what we'll do, where we'll stay? The apostle Peter wrote to Peter
311. Since everything around us is
going to be destroyed, old heaven, old earth, what holy and
godly life should you live? Peter asked the question.
How should you live? He said then tells us how,
looking forward to the day and hurrying it along, Peter says we
should be living holy and godly lives, lives that display our
love for Christ. In other words, I can see that
the way you live, the way you speak, the way that you manage
your whole life, your resources, your time, your family tells me
you're a Christian. We're looking for God, waiting
for the Lord to come. Can I, can I see that?
Can your neighbours see that you, can your kids see that in
mom and dad, that mom and dad are ready for the Lord?
With our beliefs, Our beliefs, because of what we've read in
the Word of God, are controlling our behaviour.
Well, we're not going to worry about that, son.
There are more important things in life.
What you need to get right is your relationship with God right
now. That's the most important thing.
We live out the life that the Bible declares is a godly life,
showing our faith to be alive. Real people say, well, I'm a
Christian and you go, that's news to me because I can't tell.
I can't see it in the way that you live, the way that you speak
and the way that you go about your activities and energy.
It's not. It's not clear.
It's a life that's devoted to pleasing God.
That's where the word St comes from.
It's not invented by the Catholic Church.
The word St Hagios is a word that means this instrument that
is made in the temple for the temple, and that's where it came
from. This instrument is made for the
sole purpose of the worship of God.
Guess what? You're a St And so you are made
for the sole purpose of the worship of God.
It's the first commandment. You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your
strength. That's why you're created.
We should wake up each day looking forward to it being the
day of the Lord that He's coming back.
How can we hurry it on? That's impossible, isn't it,
Keith? To hasten.
That's what it means to have. It means to have eager
anticipation. It's when you and I talk about.
As we gather and we go, we finish chapter 22 today.
Man, I've loved the Book of Revelation.
Jesus is coming soon. As we're talking.
You know what that's doing? It's hastening, it's it's, it's
pushing it on. It's soon.
It's any moment it will happen on that day.
Peter goes on to say he will set the heavens on fire.
The elements will melt away. That's the old heaven and the
old earth in the flames. But you and I, we're looking
forward to the new heavens and the new earth.
He has promised a world filled with God's righteousness.
And so dear friends, Peter goes on to say, while you are waiting
for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living
peaceful lives that are pure blameless in his sight.
All that to Peter, chapter 3, verse 11 to 14.
Our study of this prophetic book should change the way we walk
before God to drop off the unimportant cares.
If you study about heaven and revelation and you think this is
the word of God you believe it is, then the study of this
should help us as we realise realise Jesus is coming at any
moment. Heaven awaits us to drop off
unimportant cares of this world that are burning our time,
wasting our energy, choking our walk with God.
And we should start to think and live more with an eternal
perspective. If something happens and I'm
growing old, if something happens as you grow older,
hopefully we grow wiser. When we're young, we got energy.
As you get older, you still have energy, but you run out of gas.
Takes time to recover. So as you get older, you refine.
I need to, I need to focus more on what I'm doing.
Guess what? You need to do that when you're
young. You need to focus your life.
You say, Well, Keith, I'm. I am busy.
Yeah. You're busy doing your stuff.
You're too busy for God. Many people are too busy for
God. Jesus is never too busy for us.
We got to look at our lives and really examine.
I don't care whether you're 6 or 70, examine your life.
Therefore we also, the writer of Hebrews says, since we are
surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight and the sin and here's what happens that so
easily ensnares us. We get caught up and stuff and
let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us.
Keith, what are these weights? It's everything and anything and
anyone that hinders your progress.
You know what? There's a lot of good weights,
good things that are weighing you down.
I realised that in my life as I began to get more and more
serious with God. There is stuff you know, I can
do that I can be involved in that.
We can do that as a family. But then I got to realise, you
know what, no, we don't because they'll take us away from our
time serving and being with the Lord.
You will keep. That's a pretty boring life.
Well, that's a choice. Serving God is never boring.
Being in God's will is never boring.
It's always wonderful, it's fulfilling.
That's the reason why we're here.
You know when you have that eternal perspective in our I
have a paddle board, it's a large larger than a surfboard
and they made out of epoxy and this other types of foam and
chemicals and stuff. And they have what's called a
breather valve in them. The breather valve was a little
black thing so that when you store any heat that generates
inside the board, it it lets this valve automatically lets
out the hot air so the board stays intact and nothing starts
bubbling and exploding. Well, guess what, If you start
to live your life with an eternal perspective, it creates
A breather valve. And when problems come your way,
you know what happens? You go, yeah, it's pretty bad.
You know what? The Lord's coming.
The breather valve clicks in, doesn't get you to explode.
You don't melt. You can take the heat and just
but the Lord will. Well, God will sort that out,
The breather valve, John says you've read these things, you've
heard all about these things, you've seen these things.
Now blessed are they who do them.
The Bible calls this wise or foolish living.
A fool is a person who lives as if God doesn't exist.
Because the storm is coming and we see it.
We see it in our government. I tell you, it won't be long
before preaching the Bible will be hate speech.
There'll be rules. They'll say you want to be a
church, then you're going to and you want to be involved as a
charitable organisation, then you're going to have to do this
and we're going to go, guess what, we're not doing that.
There's coming a time when in your own personal situation
you're going to have to define God.
I'm not doing that. I'm not being part of that.
That's not me. My faith.
You need to stand up for your faith, defend your faith, stand
up for your faith and declare sorry and I'm not apologising,
but my faith, my what I believe in says that's not right.
I can't do that. I'm a Christian, Jesus says in
Matthew 724. Whoever hears these sayings of
mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his
house on a rock. It's a father.
It's a husband like Noah who gets his children to Christ.
Noah is my mentor, the greatest father that I know.
Why? Because out of all the billions
that lived at the time of the great flood and evil was
everywhere, Noah sat in the ark. And opposite Noah said his wife,
his three sons and their three wives.
And I went there and when God closed the door, I tell you
what, Missus, Noah should have said.
Noah, you're a wonderful husband.
Ham, Sham and Japha should have said, oh man, Dad, it's raining.
You're awesome. He saved them.
That's your job, Dad. That's your role, your ministry.
You're to lead, you're to guide, you're to protect, you're to
read. The first person that heads out
the door to come to church, it's got to be you.
The first person that says, let's pray about that.
It's it should be you be a Noah. So our walk with God should have
changed since we started reading, hearing and living the
commands of this book. The Book of Revelation has it
has our study through this book changed anything in you.
Secondly, as your life turn in its worship of God.
Since we've studied this book. Verse 9 and he said to me, see
that you do not do that for I'm your fellow servant, your
brethren, the prophets and of those who keep the words of this
book worship God. Have you not become, I have
overwhelmed by the enormity of the judgments of God that will
befall this world, But more importantly, have you not been
staggered by the glory, the wonder and overwhelming detail
of the new heaven, the new earth, the new Jerusalem and
John's description that you have in detail.
He's described it again, highlighting the wonders of
God's grace that you'll not experience the trauma and the
calamities of the tribulation When we read about what's ahead
of us now. How can we remain casual in our
walk with God, lukewarm in our worship of him?
We can't. John 423 Jesus said, but the
hour is coming and now is and he said this to the woman at the
well, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in
spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to
worship him. Studying the Book of Revelation
has impacted our personal walk with God, our personal worship
of God. And now thirdly our witness.
How's that verse 10 and he said to me, do not seal the words of
the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand.
It's soon. The Angel tells John, don't
hideaway what I've told you all this stuff, all that you've
seen. Tell everyone about it.
Don't seal it up. Don't keep it to yourself.
Do you know the the Book of Revelation is the first book I
read as a new Christian, you know, Wow, you did.
Yep, read the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of John.
You know, same bloke wrote both the Book of Revelation.
The coming of the Lord was the message that got me saved.
It's the message today. Why?
Because we're living in the time that Jesus is coming.
It's the message. If you see a bunch of kids start
talking about the tribulation, start talking about have you
ever been in the army? You know there's going to be a
World War. Start giving them the details.
Tell you what, they'll soon listen.
You know why? Because you're talking
everything that's already written in the paper.
How can we read about the coming tribulation where half the
world's 8 billion people will perish so quickly, 4 billion
about the Wick will fall. How can we?
And that's only by Revelation Chapter 9.
Four billion have gone, half the population and the wickedness
that's going to be unleashed demonic beings, the judgements
of God, the falling and not to be moved by these awful things
to warn people to avoid them to come to Christ to receive him as
their Lord and Saviour. In verse 17 it says and the
spirit and the bride say come, let him who's hears say come,
let him who thirsts. There it is again, whoever
desires, let him take the water of life freely.
And who desires? The Spirit is the Holy Spirit,
while the church, we're the bride.
And what does the bride say in this chat passage?
We're telling other people to come.
We are to with passion, with love, and with all of our
hearts, say to those who are currently sitting under the
judgement of God for their sins outside the family of God.
We're saying come in, get saved, come and hear about this.
Let me tell you about what's going to happen.
God desires you to come. We can tell them that He invites
you to come. Come and have eternal life.
So we've have our walk, our worship, our witness, and now
our work. Verse 12 Behold, I'm coming
quickly, and my reward is with me to give to everyone according
to His work. The new Living Translation puts
it this way. Look, I am coming soon, bringing
my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.
One day each and everyone of us who are believers will stand
before Jesus Christ on our own in heaven.
And based on your service now that you've done in your life,
you will be tested as to your work for him.
Based on that test, you will either receive a reward or have
a reward withdrawn. Burn up, Paul says in Two
Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 For we must all appear before
the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the
things done in the body according to what he has done,
whether good or bad. Romans 1412 Paul said.
So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.
There's not much time left. Jesus himself said I must work
the works of him who sent me whilst day.
The night is coming when no one can work, but we have a choice.
Verse 11 it says he was unjust, let him be unjust still.
He was filthy, let him be filthy still.
He was righteous, Let him be righteous still.
He is holy, let him be holy still.
It's your choice right now, today how you live.
Jesus desires willing hearts, not reluctant ones.
Can you imagine getting married and standing opposite the bride?
She's going, I'm not sure about this or the OR the bridegroom
and you're, you're the bride and you're just standing there and
he's going do it. Shall we really?
You'd be thinking, oh this is great.
Jesus is after passionate and eager servants, not half hearted
and disinterested ones. Every day you make choices that
mark your destiny. If we are wrong in this life,
then we will be more wrong after death.
But if we are right in this life, we will be even more right
in our new and glorious home than we could ever imagine or
think. Follow with me as we read to the
end, verse 13. Jesus says I am the Alpha and
the Amiga, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have
the right to the tree of life may enter through the gates into
the city, but outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually
immoral murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practises
alike. Now I'm saved in heaven.
I, Jesus have sent my Angel to testify you these things in the
churches. I am the root and offspring of
David, the bright morning star and the Spirit and the Bride.
Say come and let him who hears say come, let him who thirsts
come whoever desires. Let him take of water of life
freely. For I testify to everyone who
hears the words of the prophecy of this book.
If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues
that are written in this book. If anyone takes away from the
words of the book, of this prophecy, God shall take away
his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book.
He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming
quickly. When I come, it's going to be
fast, Amen. Even so John says come, Lord
Jesus, the last prayer, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all, Amen. It was Billy Graham who said,
you know, I've read the last page of the Bible.
It's all going to turn out all right.
Jesus said I am coming quickly, Taco speed.
When I come, people are going to be there and then gone, just
disappeared. This now is the third time in
this final section that Jesus has made that statement.
He say I'm coming and when I come man, it's going to be fast.
Do you think he's trying to tell us something?
I'll just go to I'm just going to no, gone, done.
Jesus is coming quickly in the sense that when he does come it
will happen swiftly and the prophecies of this book will
take place then in a very rapid succession. 7 years man, I want
after the other 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 balls, second
coming, thousand years, New heaven, new earth, it's going to
happen. Your hearts sang in Symphony
with John's words. Even so, come Lord Jesus, you
have the greatest message for Australians today.
The Book of Revelation is the most exciting book that you can
share with someone who's not a Christian because you know what?
They're all interested in what's going to happen at the end?
How's it all going to turn out? The answers are always in the
back of the book. Jesus Christ is the answer.
We have a job to do. We have a mission.
Proclaim the good news. Let's pray, Heavenly Father,
help us to keep, to live out and to share the messages of this
wonderful book. And Lord, help us to speak to
our relatives, to our neighbours, to our friends,
husbands, wives, dads, mums, brothers and sisters, children,
that when Jesus comes, it's going to be so fast you don't
want them left behind. If you're here today and you
don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, I will pray
with you, show you the Scriptures just as someone
wonderfully did for Helen and I and showed us John chapter 10,
Romans chapter 10, verses 9 and 10, that if you believe in your
heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord,
you shall be saved.