Revelation Chapter 1 "Living in the Times of Bible Prophecy."

The title of this morning's message is that we are living in

Bible prophecy times. Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

We're in you and I. We find ourselves living in one

of the most exciting times in Bible prophecy, for we are the

church and we're expecting Christ to call us up soon.

The rapture. It will happen at the speed Paul

says, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

And not the not the glint, not the blink, but the twinkling of

an eye, and it says the church will meet him.

That is Christ in the air. Paul tells us this in detail one

Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 16.

It says for the Lord himself, Jesus Christ himself will

descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an

Archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

The dead in Christ will rise first, then you and I, those who

are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them.

Where? In the clouds.

This is not the second coming, it's later in the clouds to meet

the Lord in the air at the second coming.

Christ's feet touch on the Mount of Olives.

So this is the rapture of the church.

Paul then says. And thus we shall always be with

the Lord from that moment on. And Paul adds these words to

those who are looking forward to the rapture.

Comfort one another with these words.

It's a comfort that we have in the times in which we live,

isn't it? We see our world.

I read this morning that it is believed that China is on the

verge of attacking Taiwan. If this happens, like what's

happening in Ukraine, other nations will be drawn into some

sort of way. Those who are backing Taiwan,

those who want to be friends with China, which way will they

go? This is on the verge of a cat of

happening, the Bible tells us. Jesus Christ himself tells us

that he's coming back for the church He promised he would to

his disciples. He said in John chapter 14 verse

John 14 · chapter mention

one, let not your heart be troubled.

Why would they be troubled? Because he was going to go away.

But also we're living in a times where many of people's hearts

are troubled. You believe in God, believe also

in me. Jesus said he says I go away to

prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place

for you, here's what he promises.

I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am

there you may be also. I want to ask you, Are you

ready? Are you ready for the coming of

the Lord? Well, I hope you don't come now

because I'm pregnant. I don't want to be pregnant for

eternity. There's always people have said,

well, I don't know if you will just have the house painted.

You know, we always have. You know, I just bought a new

boat. I want to give it one whiz

anyway. We say things like that, but I

want to ask you, are you? Are you ready?

If God was to come now, call you, Are you ready?

Are you waiting and living in excited expectation?

Peter warned us to be so in two. Peter 310.

Peter says of the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the

night. Thief comes when no one's

expecting, when everyone's asleep, in which the heavens

will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will

melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works

that are in it will be burned up.

Peter says, therefore, since all these things will be dissolved,

what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and

godliness? He says, how should you be

living now in these last days? And he tells us, verse 12, we

should be looking for and hastening the coming of the day

of God. You and I should want the

rapture to come as soon as possible.

Talking to Auckland If you don't believe in the power of prayer,

Auckland is with us this morning on Good Friday.

He was playing the bass guitar at our Good Friday service and

his appendix had burst. He didn't know it had burst and

he ends up in hospital. I think was on Sunday.

Was it Auckland? And the doctor said you got here

just in time. He had a glimpse but God kept

him. I said to Auckland when we

visited him in Bunbury, it's not time Auckland, it's not time,

otherwise God would have called you home.

He has something for you to do and you know what?

That something is for all of us. We have a message for people

that don't know Christ to tell them.

If you want to believe and don't believe, if you don't believe in

the power of prayer, just walk over and touch Auckland.

Ask him first. It works.

It's true. Well, Keith, how do we know all

this stuff that you're saying that the Bible says is actually

going to happen? How do we know that?

How do we know it's going to happen in these days now?

Because the church, early church, we're looking for Christ

right back when the church was first formed.

What is it about today that you're saying it?

Well, the Bible tells us that God is the only one who knows

and declares the future. Isaiah 46 verse 9 says remember

Isaiah 46:9

the former things of old. And here's what God says.

For I am God, and there is no other.

There's no Allah. Just so you know, there's no

other God. There's no other religion.

There's other religions, but there's no other God, Jesus

said. I am the way.

There's no other way. There's no other God.

And you know that many, many Muslims are coming to to know

Christ. Many Muslims are finding out

that when they pray, nobody answers because nobody's

listening. How do we know that the things

that are happening? God says, for I am God, there is

no other. I am God, there is none like me,

He says, declaring the end from the beginning.

I tell you what's happened in the beginning.

I can tell you what's going to happen in the end and from

ancient times, things that are not yet done.

He says. I can tell you what's going to

come along that haven't happened yet.

My counsel shall stand. My word shall stand and I'll do

all my pleasure. God's will will be done on earth

as it is in heaven. The answers are always found in

the back of the book. And for you and I, God has given

us a most magnificent script that details exactly what's

coming and more importantly, who's coming.

Revelation chapter one verse one says the Revelation.

Notice it's singular. It's not Revelations, it's not

the book of Revelations, it's the Book of Revelation singular,

and it's the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him.

Why? To show his servants what things

which must shortly take place. And he sent and signified it by

his Angel to his servant John. That's the apostle John.

He's on the Isle of Patmos and God brings him the vision and to

write down the things of the Book of Revelation.

We'll go into a bit more detail about Patmos and John on

Wednesday who bore witness to the word of God.

John was the one who saw the word of God in first John.

He says we saw him, we failed him, we touched him until the

testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw.

Notice verse 3. Blessed is he who reads, so I'm

reading this as I'm reading this, I'm getting a blessing

from God. The Bible says, and those who

hear, so as I'm reading it and you're listening, guess what?

God's giving you a blessing. Hear the words of this prophecy.

There's a third one and those that keep those things which are

written in it. And notice he says something

again for the time is near now. This is written 2000 years ago.

There is a special blessing promised in the Book of

Revelation for the person who reads, who hears, and who keeps

the words of the book. No other book in the Bible. 66

books in the Bible. No other book in the Bible

promises such a blessing. But to receive the blessing

there are terms and conditions. You must read it.

And actually the Greek language here says you read it out loud.

I want to encourage you when you're home.

You know, often we read the Bible.

We read it silently. I want you to encourage and

change something, Try something else.

When you're reading the Bible at home, read it out aloud.

You, I think you'll hear something marvellous as the Holy

Spirit as you read it. We used to have this at school,

primary school, you know, where they teach you how to read and

you as you read, you're hearing the, the court, the the whys,

the wherefores and the what's and the results out loud.

When you read it silently, you don't pick that up so well.

But here Revelation says you read it out loud.

Secondly, you must hear the words of prophecy.

Why? You say, well, I'm listening.

No, no, no, that's not what I was.

It's not with these lugs. Jesus would often say he who has

ears, you go, well I've got ears.

No, he who has ears, that is a heart for the things of God.

Let him or her hear. Two people can come to church,

sit together. Word of God can be read.

It can be preached, taught on. One person goes answered that

was a waste of time. Elvis says what didn't you hear

what the scripture says You notice that passage where it

says this unless you do this or God command and I and I know

that was the preacher was talking to me.

There's the difference. So how does that work.

Here's the deal. God never changes.

His word is already always anointed.

What you and I have to do is to prepare our hearts to hear the

word of God. If you're worrying about the

roast today, you're worrying about the sports results.

If you're worrying about anything else, then you got

lugs. But you're not listening.

It's like the kids, you know, your parents tell their kids,

are you listening to me? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they're not.

So you must hear the words of the prophecy.

That means we are to hear what God is saying to us through this

book. God has a message for you.

I don't care how old you are, where you are, what's happened

to you. God wants to speak to you out of

this book, and He has a message to you that's different to

others as well. It's collective for all of us,

but it's different to you as well.

And thirdly, the blessing is you must keep it.

In other words, we are to apply the truth to your own life.

So many people go to church, they hear it and they don't

bother applying what God has said.

You've got to apply it to your own life.

My own situation, you know, am I, am I enamoured with the ways

of this world? If Jesus was to come back, would

that disrupt my plans? At the moment, my only daily

experience. If I do that, then this book

will motivate you to live a godly life.

This book will make you ready to meet the Lord.

As we proceed for the study of this book, you'll be able to

look into the future, the reality of truly what's about to

happen in our world. You know, newspapers talk about

this and we see governments going.

You know what? We believers know what the world

in the world is going to happen. We know what's going to happen

to Israel. We know what's going to happen

with Iran. We know what's going to happen

with Russia. We know what's going to happen

with Libya. It says so in the book of

Ezekiel. We know what's going to happen

with the church. We know how there's going to be

a one world government, A1 world religion.

We know that Australia and every other nation in the world will

eventually turn its back upon Israel.

We're pretty close to that at the moment.

God knows the truth. We can look into the future.

These things are going to happen.

God knows the future already. To Him it's fact.

For God does not just predict the future He's been.

There you go. How's that Keith explain.

God lives outside time. He lives in the eternal reality.

He is not bound by time, hours, days, months or calendar.

It's all just and here's the word, a continuum to him, to

Peter 38. But beloved, do not forget this

one thing that with the Lord one day as 1000 years and 1000 years

as one day. Most of you know the movie Back

to the Future. Remember the movie Back to the

Future, 12351112, Back to the future, Barney McFly and all

that sort of stuff from the professor there.

It's a time continuum. It's a time continuum.

Well, actually that's physics. The time continuum or space time

continuum is a concept in physics that combines space and

tie into a singular 4 dimensional fabric.

It's science. It's a continuous unbroken

structure where events are described by their location in

space and time. This means there are no gaps or

breaks in time and all moments are connected.

For example, it's kind of like this.

Picture this. There's a great big long parade

coming along here. They're a little, it's a little

parade. They're just little people.

So it's a huge parade, huge parade.

It's starting, starting here and it goes along.

It goes all the way down. It's going fast and then ending

right. And it's got to finish back back

there. And you and I are back here.

We're watching on the sidelines, on the footpath.

And as the parade goes past, the only part we see is this bit.

That's the only part. We see the parade as the the

marching girls and the band and everything comes back.

We see that bit, but there's a bit that's gone on ahead, and

there's a bit that's still yet to pass us.

Well, God, he's back here. He sees the beginning where we

are, and he sees the end. He sees it all at one time.

And so that's the space time continuum.

Marty, my hair's just about the right thing, too.

OK, OK, easy, easy. The Bible predicts the future

with 100% accuracy. Did you know that 2/3 of the

Bible, 2/3 of the Bible is prophecy?

50% of the Bible prophecy things?

Those predicted events have already taken place, and so if

all these events have happened just as God said they would,

then we would have no reason to doubt that the remaining

prophecies will happen as well. Sadly, many church attendees

view the Book of Revelation while it's a sealed book.

I remember talking to a principal of a Christian School

once about the Book of Revelation.

Who can? Who can understand it?

No one knows it and I thought you got a problem.

It's not a sealed book. People are bewildered by its

well, who can understand its symbols and its images?

And so we avoid any serious study of it.

Oh, Gee, I think for me, the hardest book I ever teach is the

book of John, the Gospel of John.

You know why? Because it's it's so deep in, in

some places, there's no bottom to understanding all the Gospel

of John talks about. Yet the same person who wrote

the Gospel of John wrote the Book of Revelation, and it's led

and fed by the same Holy Spirit. So if you're going to say that

about the Book of Revelation, then you better go, well, Gee,

who knows what the Gospel of John's about?

You know what I mean? It makes no sense.

In verse 3. We've read it.

It tells us otherwise about studying the Book of Revelation.

It says verse three. Look, bless, it is he who reads

and those who hear the words of this prophecy and those who keep

the things which are written in it.

Why? For the time is near literally,

as I said before, as I read it and you listen to it, God brings

a blessing to both of us and a further blessing to all of you

who as you hear, you will buy what it teaches and you place it

in your life and you live your life according key and keep

those things which are written in it.

Jesus said in Revelation chapter 22, verse seven, He said this as

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

well. You're going to see it

throughout the book of relation, Revelation.

He says, behold, I am coming quickly.

We said Maranatha this morning, Aramaic 2 words.

The Lord's come and the Lord is coming soon.

Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this

book. Why is this book important for

us to study and know today? 2025 One the time is near, we're

told that 2. Jesus says I'm coming quickly.

The Book of Revelation speaks of the ability of one man to deny

people the ability to buy or sell unless they have his mark.

666 coming. Now, that sounded ridiculous a

few years ago because everyone and I too experienced that.

Some of you old enough. Well, we're paid in cash.

We got paid on a Friday or a fortnight.

We got paid in cash. And if someone said to you, you

know, you're never going to get paid in cash anymore, you want

to, Yeah, drop on your head. We're just not going to put up

with that. Correct.

The world was paid in cash. Then the first bank card came

into Australia October 1974. What did people say when this

bank card, it'll never catch on credit A card?

No, just give me the Muller. I want the money on my hands.

I've worked for it. I want it in my hands.

I'm not going to put up with that.

Now there's no one gets paid in cash unless you're Al Capone and

he's dead today with a current computer system and everyone's

been driven. Our bank, which was originally

Bank West with the church, they said we're not doing church

accounts anymore or business accounts.

We're finishing. So we had to change, move over

to the Commonwealth Bank. Took us three months to do that

because we had to go through all these new rules and regulations

and now you have no choice. It's online.

It's online and to a transition now.

How often are you told by the bank how you know I've been

scammed? You've been scammed.

Change your password. You got to put a new password.

That password is no good. You mean the password that I've

had for 12 years? Capital PASSWIORD password and

then I change it to password one and a password 2?

You mean it's no good anymore? You mean that someone will work

that out? So we just oh, passwords coming

out my ears and then you're locked out.

Finally, we didn't have to use passwords.

It's coming. But this one, this mark, this

man, because you won't be able to buy or sell without it will

be after the church's rapture. We also read in Revelation about

an army numbering 200 million. I'm so glad our army, which is

about 80,000. We're ready.

We're it's, it's, we've been found out just recently our

government, we don't have enough bullets.

If anyone wants to take us, we're done.

Just a couple of days. We're, we're, we're, we're

overwhelmed. We're done.

There's an army numbering 200 million written in the Book of

Revelation, marching toward a final battle, the Battle of

Armageddon. We'll see that later.

When John received the vision on the Isle of Patmos, there

weren't even 200 million people on the planet.

Now we have 8 billion. We all, we all know there is one

nation now that has and is flexing its military muscles

worldwide that can field a 200 million strong soldier trained

army, China. But also in the Book of

Revelation, Chapter 11, verse 9, there are two witnesses we'll

Revelation 11:9

get to later in the Book of Revelation.

And the world are put off by these two witnesses because they

proclaim the gospel and then they die.

And it says the world, whole world watches on and celebrates

worldwide, gives gifts to one another as the world watches on

the death of these two witnesses, satellites.

We can watch any event around the world instantaneous.

Now, you see, that's why we're living in this time now that

Christ is coming. 278 verses of the 404 verses in the Book of

Revelation, by the way, are directly alluded to the Old

Testament Scriptures. It's a cut and paste.

So what the Book of Revelation is, it's putting all these

things together and whacking them here.

This is the culmination of it. It's the revelation of Jesus

Christ. This book and our study of it

will teach us what the truth about the end times.

We will see Jesus Christ's ultimate victory over Satan as

he casts him in the lake of fire.

It reveals the final political structure of this fallen world

which Daniel got an eyesight of. And now we're beginning to see

is Europe will begin to flex it's muscles and a world leader

will come to Europe and run A1 world government.

It describes the rise and fall of the Antichrist.

It speaks the Book of Revelation chapters 4 and five of the

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

rapture of the Church. It explains that after the

rapture of the church there will be 7 years upon our world that

Jesus says of massive unbelievable tribulation that

this world has never experienced or will ever experience again.

Events like a worldwide earthquake, an earthquake where

the whole earth will wobble and the effects of the tsunamis and

the earthquakes and displacements of land and sea

during that time, meteors falling out of the sky, just

some of the events besides others.

It proclaims in chapter 19 the second coming of Jesus Christ as

it returns to begin the rule and reign in Jerusalem.

It tells us of the horror of the great rebellion of mankind.

And we've looked over the field, the battlefield where this will

occur in Jezreel, the Battle of Armageddon, Megiddo.

There will be then, as Jesus returns the second time, 1000

year, literal thousand year reign by Jesus in Jerusalem.

It will take us then, after Jesus's return to what's called

the Great White Throne Judgement, where every

unbeliever and all those who have refused Christ over the

life of our world will stand before Jesus himself and they

will be cast into hell. Judgement of the sheep and the

goats. The lake of fire that burns

forever. And then we'll read how the

redeemed will live in the new heaven and the new earth.

But the theme and the real purpose of this majestic book,

Book of Revelation, is the revelation of Jesus Christ in

totality. It's about Him.

The Bible is his story, whilst all the Scripture is revelation

from God to Timothy 316. God breathed.

The Book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

While this book is certainly revelation from Christ. 2216

says I, Jesus have sent my Angel to testify to you these things

in the churches. I am the root and the offspring

of David, the bright and the morning star.

It is also the revelation about Him.

What does that mean? The book is not written to

reveal the Antichrist. It is written to reveal Jesus

Christ for us to know who he is and who's coming and what he's

going to do. And he's coming to judge the

world with righteousness. He came as a saviour and a

servant and a slave to be crucified the first time.

The second time he's running the show, he's going to judge the

world. It's the unveiling of Jesus

Christ. It says that every eye will see

him, it says, and every knee in the world will bow to him.

And it says and every tongue will confess these words, Jesus

Christ is Lord. In chapter 1 alone there are 8

direct references to Jesus who's the theme of this amazing

scripture. In verse 5 it says he's the

faithful witness. Again, verse 5 He's the first

born of the dead. Verse 5 he's the ruler of the

kings of the earth. Verse 8, he is the Alpha and the

Omega. It means he's the beginning and

end of everything. Verse 8 he is the one who was

and is and is to come. And verse 8 he is of the

Almighty. So why should we study this book

2025 really, Revelation 11 says the revelation of Jesus Christ

which God gave him to show his servants things which must

shortly take place. In Genesis chapter 18 verse 17,

Genesis 18:17

God visited Abraham and he's on his way.

He's going to go to Sodom and Gomorrah and he's going to pour

out judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah.

So the Lord, it's a theophany. Jesus appears with two angels

with him and he catches up to Abraham and he's talking to

Abraham and I and he says these words.

Should I hide my plan from Abraham?

Genesis 1817, the Lord asked for Abraham will certainly become a

great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth will be

blessed through him. Therefore God told Abraham, this

is what I'm going to do in Sodom and Gomorrah because he he was

letting him know he was a friend of God.

How amazing then is your salvation this morning?

You go, yeah, it is amazing. How privileged are we that we

have been rescued from our sins, Yes, that we're no longer going

to be judged by God, which we deserve.

But there is more because verse one says we have been privileged

to be given the information of this book to further glorify his

Son, the heavenly Father has graciously granted to a select a

special group of privileged people the understanding of the

Book of Revelation. You go, who's that?

John describes who these privileged people are.

They are described as Christ's bondservants, literally from a

Greek word meaning slave. The bond servant was a special

type of slave we find in the Bible.

They were a slave that served not because they had to, but out

of love and devotion to his or her Master.

It comes and the story tells us about this in the book of

Exodus, Exodus 21 verse 4. Speaking of a slave, if his

Exodus 21:4

master gave him a wife while he was a slave and they had sons or

daughters, then only the man will be free in the 7th year.

But his wife and children will still belong to his masters.

But the slave may declare, I love my master, my wife and my

children. I don't want to go free.

And if he does this, his master will present him before God.

Then his master must take him to the door or doorpost, publicly

Pierce his ear with an awl, and after that the slave will serve

his masterful life. That slave is a bond slave.

Guess what? You and I are believers and

slaves of God. You're not.

Because, oh, we have to go to church, Do we?

Do we have to do this? No, because you want to.

You don't have to. You're going to leave at any

moment. You don't have to be a follower

of Christ. You have a choice.

But this explains something to us.

Why unbelievers, people who aren't Christians, find the Book

of Revelation such a massive mystery.

Revelation is not intended for them.

Bible tells us that it was given by the Father to the Son to show

to those who willingly serve Him.

So if you willingly serve Him this morning, you'll understand

and hear the Book of Revelation. If you aren't, you won't have a

clue what's going on. Anyone who refuses to

acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord cannot expect to understand this

book. Paul teaches us.

He says in one Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14.

People who aren't spiritual, people who aren't born again

can't receive these truths from God's Spirit.

It all sounds foolish what you mean and it does to a non

believer and they can't understand it.

Paul says for only those who are spiritual can understand what

the Holy Spirit means. So the unbelieving sceptic finds

Revelation is nothing but confusion, but for a willing

bondservant of Jesus Christ, this book unveils prophetic

truth about the future of the world.

Revelation 11. I'll read it again.

The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his

servants bond slaves, things which must shortly take place.

Well, when are these things going to take place?

The book of Revelations emphasis on future events sets it apart

from every other book in the Bible.

The first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke

and John talk about the past, the life, death and resurrection

of Jesus Christ. The next 22 books are about the

present, the churches, the life of the church, which is why the

book of Acts doesn't have an end to it.

You and I are still living out the book of Acts.

Revelation, however, does contain some information about

the past, chapter 1 and then the present age, the Church age,

chapters 2 and three. But from 4:00 on, the Book of

Revelation folk focuses on the future of the things to come yet

to occur. We see two dramatic emphasis

happening collectively in and throughout the Book of

Revelation. We see the betrayal of Jesus

Christ in all his glory every time we read of him.

Now in the Book of Revelation man, he's in all his power and

glory and wonder. And we see the blessedness of

everyone who's received Christ as his Lord and Saviour.

But the other part of the Book of Revelation that will see all

the way through it, people called earth dwellers.

The second emphasis is the coming judgement on each and

later at the great white Throne, judgement of unbelievers to

eternal punishment. So we see sorrow for unbelievers

and joy for believers, but we're not to set times, dates.

God only knows, God the Father only knows.

But this morning, you and I and our children and our

grandchildren, we are to adhere and follow the Lord's warnings.

Matthew 2442. Jesus said these words.

Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your

Lord is coming. The knowledge we've been given

by God exclusively to His Church of the events depicted in the

Book of Revelation that are soon to take place should motivate us

to live wholly obedient lives and also to have a a a lighter

touch on the things of the earth.

It's a problem that I run into and I've dealt with many a

person in their last days hours before their death.

And you know what they don't cling to anything that they

previously cling to. They're not worried.

I don't worry about the car who's going to get my car worry

about my house. I don't mow the lawn that they

don't worry about any of that. You know what they're worried

about? Where am I going?

They're scared to death because they know they're going to die.

What happens when I die? Where do I go?

Peter says. Dear friends, while you're

waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be

found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in His

sight. And remember, our Lord's

patience gives people time to be saved.

This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the

wisdom God gave him. Blessed is he who reads and

those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things

which are written in it, for the time is near.

The Book of Revelation begins and ends with promises of

blessing to those who read and abide it.

There is 7 in total Revelation 1/3.

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this

prophecy and keep those things which are written in it.

That's 1-2. Blessed are the dead.

How is that It says Revelation 1413 and I heard a voice from

heaven saying write this down. Must be important.

Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on Yes, it's the

Spirit they are blessed indeed. Why?

For they will rest from their hard work for their good deeds

follow them three Jesus said behold, I'm coming like a thief.

Blessed are the is the one. Revelation 1615.

Blessed is all who are watching for me, who keep their clothing

ready so that they will not have to walk around naked and

ashamed. Naked and ashamed.

How can that be? It means we're not clothed with

the righteousness of God. We're still covered in our own

sin. And when you stand before God,

without the righteousness of God, you are naked and ashamed.

There's 4 #4 Revelation 19/9. Blessed are those who are

invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Wow, I can't wait for that. I'm not eating till I go there.

It says these are true words that come from God.

Says that after that blessing 5, Blessed and holy Revelation 26.

And blessed and unholy are those who share in the first

resurrection. What's that first resurrection?

There's two resurrections. The first one occurred when when

Jesus rose from the dead, right? And the first resurrection goes

all the way up to the thousand year reign.

Then after the thousand year reign there's a second

resurrection. And the second resurrection is

every person who has died who has not received Christ as the

Lord and Saviour, and they are resurrected from the dead,

Revelation 22 And they, each and every one of them individually,

Romans tells us to, will stand before the judgement seat of

God, and before them will be Jesus Christ, and they will have

personally rejected Jesus Christ.

And they will then front their Saviour who now will be their

judge, and they will be cast into hell forever.

They will get to live their life that they've wanted, but they

don't want anything to do with God.

He says OK, I tried, I did everything I could.

You want, you don't want me, You can have yourself and you will

live alone forever. 6 Blessed are those who obey the words of

prophecy written in this book. Revelation 22, seven and lastly,

Revelation 2214. Blessed are those who wash their

robes. They'll be permitted to enter

through the gates of the city, and they eat the fruit of the

tree of life. Why the time is near.

Let me close this now. The Greek word for time, the

time is near in verse 3, does not reflect or talk about time

on a clock or a calendar, but two seasons and eras.

Seasons. We're entering the season of

winter, aren't we? You and I are living in the next

great era of God's redemptive history.

It's happening. The imminent return of Jesus

Christ has always been the church's hope.

Jesus even commanded his followers to watch expectantly

for his return. My question to you this morning

is, Are you ready? And the second thing I want to

ask you, if your parents are your kids ready?

The speed of the rapture, Paul tells us, will occur faster than

the twinkling of an eye being measured gone.

Today is not only the day of salvation for you and I, but the

problem with many church attendees is that far too many

people are living like those in Noah's time.

Prior to the flood, Noah preached 120 years of the grace

of God, he said It's coming, the flood's coming.

It's going to be this coming to the ark 120 years, 120 years

each Sunday Noah banged. I pick it up, put the sign up

coming here each each Sunday just him and seven others sat in

that church for 120 years. No one ever came and God said go

on the ark, Noah sit down and then it says God close the door,

not Noah. It began to rain, Jesus says,

but of that day and hour no one knows, not even even the angels

of heaven, but my Father only. But as in the days of Noah, and

he's Speaking of the time of his coming, so also will be the

coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the

flood, thou are eating, drinking, marrying and giving in

marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark.

And so people will just go. Many people come to church and

then they just go on about their business.

They're not hearing the word. They're not noticing what God is

saying to them. They're not expectant.

They're not living knowing that Jesus is coming at any moment.

He's gone about their business. You know the big thing that most

people go about their Business Today.

Let's have a coffee. People build houses, live in

areas just because there's a good coffee shop next door.

Nothing here is coffee. I like coffee.

But seriously, that's the that's the big deal.

I want to tell you, Jesus is coming.

You can't just carry on. Oh, well, when it happens, I'll

sort it out because when the door was closed, there was a lot

of people. What's that?

And the rain began to fall. It was too late.

There's no karma, there's no reincarnation, there's no second

chance. Today is the day of salvation.

If you don't know Christ as your Lord and Saviour, what I

probably said this morning has gone right over your head.

But if God is working on your heart this morning, you go, man,

I want to know about this. I know what you're saying is

true and God is stirring your heart and he's saying today is

the day you were to give your life to them, to me, He's

coming. We used to play a game called

Heidi and at the as you finish your count, you go coming ready

or not. And he's coming when no one's

expecting him.