Coming Soon: This is Your Last Warning. (Revelation 22:6-21):
Introduction:
This is Your Last Warning: 4 Truths to Embrace Knowing Jesus is Coming Soon.
- Worship is only for GOD. (Rev 22:6-9)
- Your CHOICES now have eternal consequences. (Rev 22:10-15)
- The Invitation is for TODAY. (Rev 22:16-17)
- Don't MESS with the Message. (Rev 22:18-19)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:04-01:05
This is your last warning.
01:06-01:07
Revelation 22.
01:09-01:30
If you've been with us on this journey that started last October, we've seen the seven last years of the earth known as the tribulation, as the Apostle John has described God's judgment on sinners in the seal trumpets and the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments.
01:30-01:37
And we've followed the rise We saw the fall of the Antichrist in his capital city, Babylon.
01:37-01:43
We have seen the return of Jesus Christ, the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth.
01:43-01:46
We saw the last revolt of Satan.
01:46-01:48
And we saw the great white throne judgment.
01:50-01:56
With that, we saw the vaporizing of this heaven and earth.
01:56-02:23
And we saw Jesus Christ say, "Behold, I am making all things new." the creation of the new heaven and the new earth, the new Jerusalem was revealed, an eternal blessing, and perfect fellowship with God promised for His people." So, if you were with us last week, we saw the description of heaven - what eternal heaven is going to be like.
02:24-02:40
So, as this revelation is closing, as John is closing this, because the Holy Spirit is closing the Word of God, you can imagine that He has some pretty serious things to say.
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Right?
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God's closing His book.
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These are some last words that God wants to leave you with in light of everything that we've studied over these past several months.
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So jot this down if you have an outline.
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This is your last warning.
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Here's four truths to embrace knowing that Jesus is coming soon.
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The first one, number one, worship is only for God.
03:10-03:14
Look at verse 6, where we left off last week.
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"And he, the angel, said to me, 'These words are trustworthy and true.
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The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, and sent His angel to show His servants what must soon take place." Interestingly, that's the same kind of wording that we saw back in Revelation 1.
03:39-03:42
Verse 1, and it's a reaffirmation of the truth.
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Everything that we've studied, this is all true.
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And, it's coming soon.
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Verse 7, "And behold," this is Jesus speaking now, "Behold, I am coming soon!" Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.
04:06-04:15
You know, the book of Revelation has been spiritualized, and it's been ignored, and it's been rejected, and it's been ridiculed.
04:18-04:25
But for those with faith that say, "I believe this is the Word of God," the book of Revelation as an incredible blessing.
04:28-04:35
In verses 8 and 9, John identifying himself, I think this is the first time he mentions himself by name since chapter 1.
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He says, "I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.
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And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.
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But he said to me, 'You must not do that.
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I am a fellow servant with you your brothers the prophets and with those who keep the words of this book worship God." Like whoops! If you've been with us in this series you're like, "Wait a minute, didn't we cover this passage?" No! It happened again! Like chapter 19 verse 10, the exact same scene happened where John gets so caught up in seeing these things of God, he's just like, "I gotta worship!" Now look, I wasn't there. So there's a part of me that wants to give John the benefit of the doubt. Because in 1910, yes, it says he worshipped the angel. It's pretty more explicit, but here it says, "I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel." So this little part of me that wants to give the benefit of the doubt is like, "You know, it doesn't explicitly say that he worshipped the angel, it was probably worship that was meant for God, but, but, but it was completely inappropriate. And church, we have got to watch out for that. Now Now listen to me very closely.
06:09-06:14
It is okay to have a favorite preacher.
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It is okay to respect someone who has ministered the Word to us.
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But we live in a celebrity-driven culture.
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True or false?
06:29-06:31
Who are the people that we idolize?
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The actors and the athletes.
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and, "Oh, what did they tweet?
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And what did they say?
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And what are their political views?
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Oh, we just can't get enough of that stuff!" We idolize these people.
06:44-06:50
And that has crept into the church with this whole celebrity pastor thing.
06:52-06:57
Where the church becomes a cult of personality.
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And you're like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, I don't think that's happening here." Good!
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Okay?
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It shouldn't.
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But it happens in the church.
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Like with John, it was the angel.
07:15-07:20
With us, it can be John Piper.
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It can be Beth Moore.
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It can be Dave Ramsey.
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It can be Ken Ham.
07:29-07:30
It can be Andy Stanley.
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It can be James MacDonald.
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I am not criticizing these preachers and teachers any more than I am criticizing the angel in the text.
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But we need to be careful, church.
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We need to be careful of John's accidental slip into idolatry.
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Hear this, church, please.
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We too can get so caught up in the spiritual ecstasy over the things of God, that we start worshiping the Messenger instead of worshiping God.
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And as Revelation closes, here's a reminder for us from John's giant, enormous mistake.
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Let Revelation draw you to Jesus Christ, Because people and angels do not deserve worship.
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Jesus Christ does.
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People are going to let you down.
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Even your favorite celebrity pastor.
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People are going to let you down.
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Jesus Christ will never let you down.
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People can't save you.
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Only Jesus Christ can save you.
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So here's a reminder for us.
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Look, don't worship the messenger.
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Worship God.
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Number one, worship is only for God.
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Number two, your choices now have eternal consequences.
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Look at verse 10.
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"And he said to me, 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.'" That's why we had this whole series in the first place.
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Don't seal it up. Proclaim it.
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You see, this is reinforcing this truth.
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God wanted us to know these things.
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And I've heard preachers - this is going to sound harsh, whatever - but I've heard preachers say, "I will never preach Revelation!" Have you read Revelation?
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He says, "Don't seal it up. Get it out!" Right? God wanted us to know some things.
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And that's why we took it straightforwardly.
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How many times did I say that over the last few months?
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We're going to take this straightforwardly.
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We're going to take this straightforwardly. Why?
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Because I don't believe God gave us a riddle book.
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I don't believe God was like, "Oh, I hope they figure out this puzzle that I wrote for them." I don't believe that at all.
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I believe God wanted us to know some things about Him and about what's coming.
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And He says, "Okay, John, we're going to write this down so everyone has this objective source to know what's coming." Now look at verse 11.
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Verse 11 says, "Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy." What?
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I mean, you read this verse, you're like, "Okay, I get that there's a call to strive to be righteous and holy, and I get that.
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I totally get that.
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That sounds very consistent with everything else I know about the Bible.
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I get that. But the first part of this verse, "Let the evil doers still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy?" What does that mean? Why would God say that?
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Why would God say that?
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Well, I want to talk to people in the room right now who are parents.
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Confession time.
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How many of you parents - now this is raise your hand, and we are in church, so you have to be honest - how many of you parents have caught yourselves saying something that your parents said to you?
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Raise your hands.
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Oh, like every parent in the room.
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Well, guilty, okay?
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Guilty myself.
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And this verse, you know, when he says, "Let the evil doer still do evil, "filthy still be filthy, "righteous still do right, "holy still be holy." It got me thinking that, you know, when we were kids, we'd be out somewhere in public, misbehaving.
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And parents, you get this.
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When you're in public, Kids have a tendency to sort of let go of their behavior.
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Why?
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Because it's not like mom can lay the hammer down right there and we'd act up.
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We'd be in Hills.
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For those younger people, Hills was this department.
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It was like Walmart before Walmart.
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But we'd be in Hills, and we're acting up because we're like, what's mom going to do about it here?
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It's not like mom's going to lay the hammer down in Hills, right?
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So we'd act up, and we'd be carrying on.
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And we knew that mom couldn't do anything then.
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But something that mom would say, that I've caught myself saying, and something that most parents in this room, if not everyone, has said to your own kids in the same scenario, keep it up.
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How many parents have said that?
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Your kid's misbehaving in public.
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Keep it up.
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"Keep it up." That's exactly what the Lord is saying here.
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See, Mom would say that. Mom would say, "Keep it up, keep it up." And we knew what that meant.
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Mom was saying, "You know what, just keep misbehaving because I'm noticing." And eventually, eventually we're going to be leaving hills.
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And eventually we're going to be home.
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And then, then you're going to get it.
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So when Mom said, "Keep it up," we were like, "Okay, you know what?" doesn't really mean keep it up.
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Mom's just making a mental tally.
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For the whooping that I get, it's going to be justified.
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Keep it up.
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It wasn't an encouragement to misbehave, it was actually a very serious warning, and that's what the Lord is saying right here.
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The Lord is saying, "Okay, you want to ignore Me?
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You want to read and hear everything that I've said to this point, and you want to just completely disregard my Word.
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You want to read all this, and you just want to continue to sin.
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Keep it up. Go ahead. Go ahead.
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Because just like eventually we were going to leave hills, look at the next verse.
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He says, "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay everyone for what he has done.
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So Jesus says, "You want to sin?
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If you want to sin, go ahead.
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Go ahead and sin.
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Ignore all the stuff that we've been talking about.
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You want to be unfaithful to your spouse?
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Go ahead, be unfaithful to your spouse.
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Do you want to steal at work?
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Keep stealing at work.
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Do you want to be a cheat?
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Do you want to be dishonest?
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Do you want to do that?
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Is that the kind of person you want to be?
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Go ahead.
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Keep doing it.
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doing it, but know this, I'm coming soon, and I'm bringing my recompense with me to repay everyone according to what they do, so keep it up, but eventually you're going to pay for it, because your works, your works reveal your heart, and to what you've done, good or bad.
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Your actions have eternal consequences.
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Further elaborate on what he's talking about.
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Look at verses 13-15 with me.
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He says, this is again Jesus speaking, He said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
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Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and that they may enter the city by the gates.
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Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." Again, same theme here, right?
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There's two camps.
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He's going to repay everyone according to what they've done.
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Your works reveal your hearts.
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There's two camps.
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The first camp is for the people who have received Christ, who love Christ, who seek to follow Christ.
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They receive the robes of righteousness.
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We've seen those come up a few times in Revelation.
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It's the righteousness that Jesus Christ Himself gives you.
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You're not righteous. I'm not righteous.
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We can't be righteous.
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Jesus gives us His righteousness, and biblically that's depicted as a robe.
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He says, "Here's a robe of righteousness that you're going to wear." through faith in Christ.
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Those who receive Christ, love Christ, seek to follow Christ, receive eternal life, receive residence in heaven.
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That's one camp.
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Then the other camp are those who love their sin more than they love Jesus Christ.
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And we see another sample list of the sins.
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And we've talked about these things very quickly.
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Jump to the second thing in the list.
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The sorcerers.
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That's where we get the English word "pharmacy." People that use drugs in occult worship.
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That stuff still happens today, by the way.
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Next on the list, the sexually immoral.
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All forms of sexual immorality.
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And a reminder that Jesus said it's not just what you do, it's a heart thing, it can be lost.
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Sexually immoral.
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Murderers.
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Again, it's a heart thing.
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Jesus said if you hate someone, it's the same as committing murder.
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Idolaters - that's anything in your life that receives your time, attention, devotion more than Jesus Christ. That's idolatry.
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Deceivers - people who practice falsehood.
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We've talked about those things.
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But the thing that jumped out to me on this list was the very first thing, verse 15, the dogs.
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The dogs.
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And when I...
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Look, I'll be honest with you, I'm a dog person.
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You guys know that.
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Cats, not so much.
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Dogs, everyone should have a few dogs.
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That's not from the Lord, that's just my opinion.
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So anyway, so I see this list of not great things, right?
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wicked, sinful things.
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And the first thing on the list is dogs.
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Well, it's not what you think.
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We love our dogs.
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But understand, in biblical times, to call someone a dog was a pretty bad insult.
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Just jot this down.
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Philippians 3.2, same concept here.
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It was an insult to call someone a dog.
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When we think of dogs, we think of our little pets.
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We put the bows and the sweaters on, right?
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We carry around in our little bags.
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Is that what we think of?
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But understand, when the original audience was hearing this, they were thinking more of the wild dogs.
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And I know I've shared this story with this church in the past, but this is the kind of dog that this is talking about here.
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I was in Thailand in the '90s.
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We were getting ready to set out on our next leg of the trip.
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And I remember I was standing in this field.
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It was just at the edge of the mountain, jungle area.
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And it was just this little field.
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And I looked up, and I saw this enormous tan dog running at me.
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And I don't mean tail wagging, do you have a milk bone running at me.
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I mean hair up on its back, teeth out, I think you are a milk bone coming after me.
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It was just like, (growling) and it's going like slobber everywhere and it's running after me.
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Here's a part of the story where I'd like to be brave and tell you about some valiant fight that I had.
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I was completely paralyzed with fear, completely paralyzed.
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I just remember standing, you know, give me a break.
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I was like 21 at the time.
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I just, no, I wasn't, I was 20.
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Didn't have my birthday yet that year, That's not important, but I was standing there, and this dog is coming after me, and I just remember thinking, "This is how it ends." It was a good run.
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"This is how it ends. I'm going to be eaten at the base of a mountain in Thailand." And this dog was running, and I was just completely frozen.
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And then all of a sudden, this rock comes out of nowhere, hits the dog, and the dog's like, "Brrr!" takes off running into the woods.
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And I looked over, there was this little Thai kid that was just sitting in the dirt, just kind of playing with sticks, just playing in the dirt.
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He saw this dog coming after me.
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I found this out later through translators.
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He saw this dog coming after me and picked up a rock and just whipped it, made the mother of all shots.
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I think he's pitching for the Yankees now.
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Like, he hits this dog.
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So we had this giant garbage bag full of candy that we were taking to the villages and give them to the kids in the villages.
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Oh, I grabbed that bag of candy out of the truck and I went up to this kid and I'm just like dumping it on him.
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It's like raining candy on him.
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Like, why did you tell us that story?
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Because when he's talking about dogs here, that's what he's talking about.
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Filthy, vicious, garbage-eating scavengers.
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That's really what dogs are.
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Now look, I love dogs, But your dog, no matter how you dress them up, groom them, or what clothes you put on them, your dog at its very base is a filthy, vicious, garbage-eating scavenger.
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And that is a very appropriate picture, and I believe that's why it's at the top of the list.
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Because dogs are completely driven by their appetites.
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They are completely driven by their appetites.
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And you're like, "Well, not my dog. I train my dog to do some really cool tricks." How'd you train your dog? Probably with food, right?
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He's only doing it for his own appetite.
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And that's the picture here.
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With all of these other sins, the bottom line is this.
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It's living for your fleshly appetites.
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I do whatever I want to do.
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I sleep with whoever I want to sleep with.
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I am involved in whatever activity I want to be involved in.
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It's whatever I want to...
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You're a dog.
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You're no different than a dog when you live that way.
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And he reminds us, "By the way, dogs aren't in heaven." I don't know about your pet. He's not talking about that.
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I get asked that all the time.
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But the people that live by fleshly appetites?
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Not there.
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So, you know what's coming soon, and you know who's coming soon.
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So, Jesus is saying, "Keep it up." Keep it up.
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Jesus is saying, "Do what you think is best." But it's clear what actions are going to bring what consequences.
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So keep it up.
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Thirdly, the invitation is for today.
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The invitation is for today.
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Look at verse 16.
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"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.
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I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." Again, Jesus reminds us He's the messenger.
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And He reminds us His credentials as the source of the message.
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I love this. Jesus says He's the root and the descendant of David.
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At the same time, He says, "I am the origin of David, and I'm also like David's grandkid." Like, how can that be?
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Because Jesus, fully God and fully man at the same time.
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Speaking to His humanity, His divinity, the root and descendant of David.
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Jesus also says He's the bright morning star.
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That's a reference to Numbers 24.
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Look down at the next verse.
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"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come!' And let the one who hears say, 'Come!' And let the one who is thirsty come.
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Let the one who desires to take the water of life without price." The invitation is for today.
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And actually right here we see two invitations are given.
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First, the Spirit and the Bride and the One who hears say, "Come." It's to Jesus. "Come." But then there's an invitation to the thirsty that says, "Come." In other words, these are two sides of a coin.
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One side of the coin is saying, "Come, Jesus!" And the other side of the coin is saying, "Come to Jesus." In other words, this is just very simply the prayer and the message of the church.
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Right? As a church, that's what we pray.
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We pray, "Come, Lord Jesus," and that's our sermon.
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and we get up and we say, "Come to Jesus!" Are you thirsty? Are you satisfied with what life has been giving you? No?
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Well, Jesus satisfies you.
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So come to Jesus. That's the invitation.
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You see, even with the warning of, "Keep it up. You want to sin? Go ahead and sin." But I'm coming and I'm bringing my recompense at the same time.
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He's saying, "I want you to come to Me, because I'm coming soon." So one more time, one more time, He gives the invitation.
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You need to come to Jesus Christ now.
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He's offering you living water without price.
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Without price. It's free.
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Because He paid the cost with His blood.
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He's provided the way.
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You see, that's the truth of the gospel.
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The gospel of Jesus Christ is not, "Hey, hey, hey, get your act together, and then come to Jesus." It's, "You come to Jesus, and He will get your act together." Because He loves you as you are, but He loves you too much to keep you that way.
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But today, today is the day of salvation.
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Because the worst thing that you can do is to put Him off.
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The worst thing you can do is put Jesus off.
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Because you can reschedule that dentist appointment, and you can cancel that appointment with your accountant, and you can no-show a work meeting.
27:40-27:43
I don't recommend any of those things, but you can do it.
27:44-27:49
But, "Jesus is coming soon," he said.
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You can't postpone Jesus.
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You can't cancel this.
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And you certainly can't no-show.
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Now is the time, today is the day, the invitation is for today.
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And number four, don't mess with the message.
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Don't mess with the message.
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I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
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And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book.
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God's written Word is complete.
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And here, he's telling us, in no uncertain terms, don't mess with God's Word.
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Okay? Don't mess with it.
28:57-29:00
It's done. It's complete. Don't mess with it.
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Like, well, can you be more specific?
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He was more specific, actually.
29:05-29:08
He says, first of all, don't add to it.
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You're like, well, who in the world would have the audacity to add to the Word of God?
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I don't know, maybe the Mormons?
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They use the Bible and the Book of Mormon, among some other books that they put on par with the Word of God.
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They have added to it.
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What about the Christian scientists?
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Who use the Bible, yes, but also use science and health with key to the Scriptures.
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Who else?
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The Jehovah's Witnesses.
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They use the New World Translation of the Scriptures.
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It's a little more subtle because there's just some additions in the text itself.
29:52-29:57
A couple of words here and there that completely change the meanings of some passages.
29:58-29:59
But they've added to it.
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Don't add to it.
30:04-30:06
Secondly, he says, don't take away from it.
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So many liberal churches.
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Genesis is just an allegory.
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Noah is exaggerated.
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Jonah is a fairy tale.
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Revelation is too controversial and confusing and irrelevant, so we just avoid that.
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Well, to underscore the seriousness of the warning, God says if you add to His Word, He's going to add these plagues to you.
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And if you take away from God's Word, the blessings of heaven are going to be taken away from you.
30:47-30:51
Now, both of those are bad. Right? Can we agree on that?
30:51-30:52
Both of those are bad.
30:54-31:03
But the warning sounds like taking away from the Word of God is actually the worst of the two.
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Why?
31:06-31:17
Because with the Mormons and with the Christian scientists, with Jehovah's Witnesses, yes, they add, and that's bad.
31:20-31:28
But, please hear me, adding "at least" leaves the gospel intact.
31:28-31:33
That is, the Bible itself is still there.
31:35-32:01
So, someone in these cults, someone involved in one of these cults, for example, actually could - it's hypothetical, it's possible, and I'm sure it's happened - actually read the Bible and come to Christ despite what the church teaches.
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I mean, isn't that possible?
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Somebody sitting in those cults just one day decides, "I'm just going to read the Bible," and they come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
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Is that possible? Absolutely.
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But, when you take away the content of the Bible itself, you're robbing people of the opportunity to hear from God at all.
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I think that's why the warning sounds more serious for the one who takes away from the Word than the one who adds to.
32:31-32:35
But, both of them are bad.
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Like man, God really seems serious about this adding and taking away from His Word.
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Like, why is God so serious about that?
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Do you know why God's so serious about that?
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It's because He wants people to be saved.
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And He said, "Here is how to be saved.
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I wrote it down for you in My Word.
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Here's how to be saved.
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And I want you to be saved.
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I want you to know this place of heaven that I describe in this book.
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I want you there." And the way people get there - Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.
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So yeah, God's pretty serious about His Word, because He's serious about you having a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
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And I've got to tell you, church, publicly, I have to say, may God have mercy on me, If I have misrepresented God's Word in any way, if I've added to it, if I've taken things from it in my effort to try to explain it, may God have mercy on me.
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The others who are going to be getting up here preaching in July, Justin and Mike and Rich and Ryan, Don't mess with the message.
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Don't add to it.
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Don;t So as God's book closes, incredible reminders that He gives us.
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That hey, worship is only for God. Don't get away from that.
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Your choices on earth now, they reveal your heart, but know that they have consequences.
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The invitation is still out, still for today.
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Are you thirsty? Come to Jesus Christ.
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and present the message the way that God presented it.
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So what else is there to say?
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Well, look at verse 20.
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"He who testifies to these things..." This is Jesus.
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"He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely, I am coming soon.' And we reply with John, 'Amen!
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Come, Lord Jesus.
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The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.
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Amen.
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You bow your heads with me, please.
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Father in Heaven, we want to close our time here the way Your Word closes.
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Say, "Come, Lord Jesus." Come, Lord Jesus, You promised that You were coming soon.
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Find us patience as we wait.
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Find us faithful as we wait.
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Please, please Jesus, come back.
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Please come back, sir, to make all things right.
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And as you promised, as we studied last week, to make all things new.
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Father, we as a church cry out for that.
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And Father, as a church, we thank You for Your grace that is with us.
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Father, might we be a church that lives and breathes and walks in the abounding grace that You provided in Jesus Christ.
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Thank You, Father, for Your Word.
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And I pray for this church that this is a place where the Word is never sealed.
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Where it is never added to, and where we never take out the parts that we don't like or don't agree with.
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Father, let this be a place where we don't mess with Your message.
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Thank You, Father.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 22:6-21
GROUP
What stood out to you / surprised you from this passage?
What are some ways people add to or take away from God's Word (Rev 22:18-19)?
Why is God so serious about adding to or taking away from His Word?Looking back on the Revelation series as a whole, what was the 1 thing that stood out to you the most?
BREAKOUT
Pray for one another!