I Am Coming Soon

Good morning, guys. Can you guys hear me? Yeah. It's a joy to worship with you guys.

And I got to say, we've done it. We've made it through 38 weeks and sermons through the

book of Revelation. From the introduction to the letters to the churches in Asia Minor,

through seals and bulls and trumpets, through beasts and prostitutes and dragons,

to the final battle of Armageddon, to the new heavens and the new earth, we are finally at

the last passage of the book of Revelation. What a glorious, Christ-exalting book it has been. Amen?

So let's turn our Bibles to Revelation 22, 6 to 21. Of course, as always, if you are in need of a Bible,

please just raise your hand and one of our members would happily gift you a Bible for you to keep.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word. Heavenly Father, may you bless the reading,

the preaching and teaching of your Word today. Father, I pray that you would multiply the measly

five loaves and two fish that I've prepared to feed the masses. Do what only you can do by your

Spirit's power? We await for you to come, Lord Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.

To honor God's Word, let's all rise, if you are able, for the reading of God's Word in Revelation 22,

6 to 21. It says this,

And he said to me, these words are trustworthy and true.

And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants

what must soon take place. And behold, I am coming soon.

Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.

And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.

But he said to me, you must not do that.

I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, their prophets,

and with those who keep the words of this book.

Worship God.

And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book,

for the time is near.

Let the evildoer still do evil,

and let the filthy still be filthy,

and the righteous still do right,

and the holy still be holy.

Behold, I am coming soon,

bringing my recompense with me

to repay each one for what he has done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega,

the first and the last,

the beginning and the end.

Blessed are those who wash their robes

so that they may have the right to the tree of life

and that they may enter the city by the gates.

Outside are the dogs and sorcerers

and the sexually immoral

and murderers and idolaters

and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel

to testify to you about these things for the churches.

I am the root and descendant

and the descendant of David,

the bright morning star.

The spirit and the bride say, come,

and let the one who hears say, come,

and let the one who is thirsty come.

Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

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.

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.

He who testifies to these things says,

surely I am coming soon.

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.

Amen.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

Long ago,

there once was a boy

who lived in the distant freezing prairies.

Came from a poor family.

Every member of his family had to struggle,

labor day and night just to afford the bare essentials.

His entire existence, his life was gray, dark, depressing.

But one day, the boy's father sent him to the nearest town square to fetch some supplies.

In a rush to get home before dark,

the boy inadvertently bumps into this tall, burly businessman.

He's wearing foreign, exotic clothing,

things that he's never seen before.

And upon seeing the boy's poor estate,

the businessman, he sticks his hand in his pocket.

And he reaches out to give something to the boy.

And it's a vibrant, bright orange.

Something that the boy had never seen in his entire life.

And upon instruction,

the boy starts to peel the glowing skin off

with his gray hands.

And he takes his first bite.

His eyes widen.

His smile uncontainable.

He had never tasted something in his entire life.

So sweet.

So delicious.

So lively.

So colorful.

So he asks the man,

where did this come from?

Where can I get more of this?

And again, out of pity for the boy,

the man invites him,

if you want to come to this land,

I will return for you soon one day.

But the time is short.

You must be prepared and packed,

ready to go immediately upon my arrival.

The boy hurriedly, quickly said,

yes, I will go.

And before he could run off to go home to pack,

the man slips a handwritten note in the boy's pocket

and sees him run off.

Immediately, the first thing when the boy gets home

is that he starts telling everyone that he knows,

all his friends, all his family,

about the experience that he had,

about the fruit that he ate,

the man that he met.

But no one would believe him.

Undeterred, he packed his bag

and he sat right on his front door

and he waited.

And he waited and he waited

and there was no sign of the man.

Eventually, days turned into weeks.

Weeks turned into months.

Months turned into years.

Throughout that time,

those in his life ridiculed him,

mocked him,

saying,

why are you waiting?

What are you doing?

He had to continue to work,

brutal work,

and eventually,

this harsh hand-to-mouth living,

the constant ridicule,

and the long waiting

began to weigh heavy upon the boy.

But what was his source of encouragement

throughout that time?

It was the handwritten note

that the band gave to him.

And what did it say?

He said,

I am coming soon.

Brothers and sisters,

this is our story.

Don't you see?

We can relate to this,

can't we?

We have tasted of heaven's fruits.

We know that it's foreign to anything

that this land can produce.

This land only produces fruit

of bitterness and hatred and anger.

But we have tasted of love,

of joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness,

faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control.

We have tasted of the fruit

that only the land of heaven can bear.

We know that heaven is a real place.

But the harsh reality of living,

the constant ridicule,

the long waiting,

it starts to weigh heavy upon us,

doesn't it?

But knowing our condition

and our need for encouragement,

Jesus has slipped us this handwritten note,

this same note,

to take heart

because he is coming soon.

That's the main point of my passage,

or this passage,

and my sermon.

Keep the trustworthy words of this book

because Jesus is coming soon.

And in turn,

we'll look at three simple exhortations.

That we have to trust in this prophecy,

trust that he will come soon.

We have to obey because of this prophecy,

and we have to desire this prophecy.

So first,

trusting in this prophecy.

Let's talk about this.

Jesus begins his last words

in the epilogue of this letter

in the same way that he starts the letter

in chapter one.

In fact,

much of this epilogue

is very, very close to the prologue,

forming a really kind of nice inclusio,

if you know that word, right?

Bookend.

And it's a clear link

that packages all the letter altogether.

And he wants to remind us

that everything that we have read

and studied

throughout these past 38 weeks

is trustworthy and true.

He wants us to know

that this prophecy is not,

it's not a mere hypothesis.

It's not an educated guess

of what might happen in the future.

It teaches us cold,

hard, objective truth

that Jesus will return for us one day.

And that when he does,

that he will come in total power

to conquer all of our enemies.

And that when he comes,

we will reign with him

in the new heavens and the new earth.

How sweet that day will be.

In fact,

this is repeated throughout our text

over and over again.

Jesus says this three times,

I am coming soon.

In verse seven,

verse 12,

verse 20,

you think he's trying to get us

to pay attention to that?

Biblical authors,

just like we do,

they repeat themselves

to make sure

that a certain point

is made clear.

But you might be wondering,

Jesus,

this letter is

almost 2,000 years old.

You still haven't returned.

Is this really soon?

When Jesus says that he is coming soon,

I think we'd do well

to read the word

also suddenly

or quickly.

Because I don't think

that Jesus is speaking

necessarily definitively

on when he is going to come,

but how he is going to return.

He is going to come

like a thief,

quickly and suddenly,

with no warning before.

And that means that

every generation

that has come and gone

has done right

to think that they

might be the last generation.

We might be

the last generation.

Every birthday you celebrate,

every new year

that you celebrate,

we would do well

to remember that

this could literally be

the last year

of your life

because Jesus

is coming soon.

Moreover,

elsewhere in Scripture,

Apostle Peter writes,

with the Lord,

one day is as 1,000 years

and 1,000 years

as one day.

The Lord is not slow

to fulfill his promise

as some count slowness,

but is patient

towards you,

not wishing

that any should perish,

but that all

should reach repentance.

Peter shows us

that the fact

that Jesus

hasn't returned

for almost 2,000 years

is not evidence

for us to doubt

his return,

but it's evidence

of his long suffering,

his forbearance

for us sinners.

And to further attest

to the truthfulness

of these claims,

in the second half

of this verse,

Jesus reminds us

ultimately

who is the one

who sent

this messenger angel.

It is God

the Father himself.

Everything

that the angel

has shown John,

however hard

it is to believe,

it's true

and it has God's

name behind it.

It has his own

reputation behind it.

And we know

from other parts

in Scripture

that it is impossible

for God to lie.

Moreover,

Jesus calls the Father

the God

of the spirits

of the prophets.

What does that mean?

Now,

I think it's

pointing to

hundreds

of biblical prophecies

that have been fulfilled,

that have come true,

that they're accurately

predicted the future.

For example,

a whopping 200 years

before this

could ever happen,

there's no way

that Isaiah

could know this,

but 200 years before,

Isaiah predicted

the specific name

of the Persian king,

King Cyrus,

who would come

to take power.

conquer Babylon

and send

Israel back home

after their exile.

Not only does

John teach us

that God the Father

is behind this,

but in verse 16,

if you look down,

you get God the Son

who is saying

the exact same thing.

He is the one

who sent his angel.

And guess what?

He is the fulfillment

of hundreds

of messianic prophecies.

For example,

in our text,

Jesus proclaims

that he is the root

and the descendant

of David,

the bright morning star.

These are all just

Old Testament

messianic prophecies

that predicted

that Christ will come

and Christ fulfilled.

You see that

they're just piling on

piece of evidence

after evidence.

the huge pile

of all these

fulfilled,

accurately predicted

prophecies.

So that we would

see this pile,

see all this evidence,

and see that

this prophecy

that Jesus will return,

we can trust.

We can believe.

We can understand

that this will come true.

This is absolutely

a timely word

for us today

because our society

balks at us

for accepting this

as objective truth.

You see,

since the scientific revolution,

our society

is increasingly

becoming only

naturalistic

or proponents

of the belief of

I'm only going to believe

what I can feel

with my own two hands

or see with my own two eyes.

I believe in science

and the rigors

of the scientific method.

they ask us,

so,

you believe

that this

ancient

primitive dude,

John,

from 2,000 years ago

who had no idea

what DNA

or cells

or gravity

or the internet

or any of these things,

he had no idea

about these things.

You're saying that

he is the one

to accurately predict

the future,

the end of the world,

and that it would happen

at the hands

of a Jewish carpenter?

To them,

it sounds preposterous.

Well,

only because

their worldview,

their preconceived notions,

they limit themselves

and they make no room

for the possibility

of a supernatural God.

Only the things

that are natural

can be understood

or felt.

But they look down

upon the religious

without realizing

that they too

have religious beliefs.

Just ask them

where and how

the universe began.

How did life begin?

How did consciousness begin?

You're going to notice

that they're going to start

searching for words

like belief

and faith.

I believe that

life started randomly.

I believe that

the universe

came from nothing.

I have faith

in science.

That's why

ultimately

the ex-atheist,

now pastor,

author Lee Strobel

has said this

about his conversion

to Christianity.

To continue

in atheism,

I need to believe

nothing produces

everything.

Non-life produces

life.

Randomness produces

fine-tuning.

Chaos produces

information.

Unconsciousness

produces consciousness.

And non-reason

produces reason.

I just didn't have

that much faith.

Ah, but if you

do make room

for the possibility

of God,

a supernatural,

spiritual God

who can do anything

by the power

of his word,

then what seems

so far-fetched

now lands squarely

in the realm

of possibility.

And by the

empowering work

of the Spirit,

we see that it's

more than that.

It's more than

just being in the

realm of possibility

or even probability,

but in the realm

of absolute

certainty.

In the same way

that statements

like two plus two

equals four,

or that murder

is evil,

we all know that

those are objectively

true statements,

right?

Christ will return

is just as true

as those things.

We're not to hedge

our bets

like French philosopher

Blaise Pascal

has once posited

with what's known

as the Pascal's

Wager,

and I think I have

this slide to kind

of help you guys

understand what it is.

It's a simple

premise, really.

It's that we should

believe just in case.

Christianity is true,

that God exists,

and you don't believe,

then you're in this

right, bottom left

quadrant,

eternal damnation.

But if you do

believe in God,

and God doesn't

exist, then what

happens?

You're in that top

right quadrant,

right?

You're, nothing

really happens,

finite losses.

I guess you, you

know, missed out on

Sundays to sleep in.

You should believe,

so it goes,

because it's worse

to be in this

bottom left

to be in the

top right,

just in case.

But if you read

our passage,

this may make

logical sense.

This is not the

tone of which

John is writing.

It doesn't say

believe just in case.

No, Christ will

return because

these words are

trustworthy and

true.

In your heart of

hearts, do you

know and believe

this?

Do you know and

believe that Jesus

will soon return

for his own?

They say the

idea of death is

the ultimate test

of what you

believe.

Imagine closing

your eyes on

your deathbed.

Do you have

full faith that

you will open

them to see

paradise and the

presence of the

God you love?

Do you really

believe that?

do you struggle

with doubt?

Do you have

tinges of

wondering, is

this really

true?

Am I a victim

of groupthink

from the people

around me?

Will there be a

new life, a

supernatural life

awaiting me after

death?

And if you

struggle with

doubt as I

do, cling to

this book.

That's why the

book of

Revelation is

not to be

feared, it's

not to be

dreaded, it's

not to groan

every time it

comes up on

your yearly

Bible reading

plan.

It's a book

that reminds

us that despite

all the evil

and pain in

our lives,

Christ will

return to

make all that

is wrong

right.

And in

the end,

praise God

that it is

not the

strength of

our faith,

the strength

of our

convictions that

saves us, but

it's the

object of

it.

It's the

strength,

it's the

object, not

the strength

of our

faith that

saves us.

So if you

do believe

that Christ

will return,

what sort

of people

ought you

be?

Peter

continues to

write,

the day of

the Lord

will come

like a

thief and

the works

that are

done on

it will

be exposed.

What sort

of people

ought you

be in

lives of

holiness and

godliness

waiting for

and hastening

the coming

of the day

of the Lord?

So this

brings me to

the second

exhortation of

this passage,

obey because

Jesus is

coming soon.

So what

does preparing

well for

Jesus look

like?

In verse

seven, I

think we get

a glimpse.

We see it

looks like

keeping,

obeying,

guarding the

words of

this very

book.

More

specifically, I

think our

passage gives

us three

directions on

how we are

supposed to

get ready.

First,

obedience to

the coming

Jesus looks

like whole

hearted,

single-minded

worship.

worship.

Verses

eight to

nine, the

second time

at the

end of

Revelation,

really in

quick succession,

John wrongly

falls at the

feet of the

messenger, not

the one who

sent the

message.

The angel

gives then

the same

reason, the

same rebuttal.

Why are you

doing this?

We are

equals.

Worship

God.

Theologians

have called

this the

creator-creature

distinction,

creation, meaning

that God

alone is

uncreated.

God alone is

truly independent,

meaning that he

is dependent on

nothing and no

one for his

existence.

Literally

everything else

in all the

creation falls

into this other

bucket of

created, even

powerful, powerful

angels.

So we're all in

the same bucket.

Why worship

anything else?

Makes no

logical sense.

But lest you

think that this

is an easy

command to

obey?

To see how

the great

capital A

Apostle John

falls victim to

this sin really

twice, quickly.

And while it

may not be

angels or

literal idols

that we fall

down to

worship,

what created

thing do you

worship?

Are we

prone to

worship money,

marriage,

ministry,

our parents,

our friends,

ourselves?

Anything that

you say, I

need to have

X, I need to

have Y to be

happy, that's

an idol.

If you are

discontent today,

you are

worshiping idols.

The real test of

our faith, of our

worship, is that

we come, it's

good that we come

Sunday worship and

worship our holy

God together.

The real test is

on Monday

morning.

Who is it that

you worship?

For honest with

ourselves, and we

do see idol worship,

not this single

minded, wholehearted

worship, we must

get ready for his

return by doing

the hard, hard

work, picking up

our hammers, and

smashing these

idols.

idols.

Honestly, I could

smash an idol in my

heart every single

day.

Heck, it could be my

full-time job.

But it's hard work,

but it's necessary

work, because God

alone is worthy of

this wholehearted

worship.

And so that Christ

may receive the

worship he is due, we

get our second

direction.

To get ready in

verse 10, it says

this, do not seal

up the words of the

prophecy of this

book, for the time

is near.

John is told, don't

seal up this book,

because how else will

the churches know its

contents and its

commands?

This is a different

command that he gave

to prophets in the

Old Testament.

To the prophet

Daniel, he said, seal

it up.

The time is not

ready.

But for John, he

says, don't seal it

up.

The time is near.

In the same way, we

are not to seal up

this book to others

in our evangelism.

We must keep telling

people that Jesus is

coming back soon,

urgently and

sensitively.

when was the last

time that you told

somebody Jesus is

coming soon?

Most people find

evangelism offensive,

but not all.

For example, Penn

Gillette, you guys

know him as the

famous magician from

the duo Penn and

Teller.

He's also a staunch

agnostic, very

outspoken, but he has

this keen insight.

He says this, if you

believe that there is a

heaven and a hell, and

people are going to

hell or not getting

eternal life, and you

think that it's not

really worth telling

them this because it

would make it socially

awkward, how much do you

have to hate somebody to

not proselytize?

How much do you have to

hate somebody to believe

everlasting life is

possible and not tell

them that?

If I believe beyond the

shadow of a doubt that a

truck was coming at you,

and you didn't believe that

that truck was bearing

down on you, there is a

certain point that I

tackle you, where I

tackle you.

And this is more

important than that.

I remind you that this is

an atheist saying this.

And now, this is no

recommendation to start

tackling people with the

gospel, to lose all

senses of our sensitivity

and offend unnecessarily in

our evangelism.

No, it's not to do that.

Nor is it a recommendation

to start evangelizing because

we feel guilty about it.

See, guilt is a terrible

motivator.

It never lasts.

And it's never done to the

worship of our God.

God.

But we ought to start, we

ought to continue to

evangelize this lost world

because we want to worship

God and because we want to

see every heart worship Him.

It is the heart of a

Christian to see God's name

lifted on high in every

heart, in every household,

on every street, in every

city, in every nation.

Only He is worthy of this

worship.

And that desire, that

worship is what's going to

fuel happy, guilt-free,

lasting evangelism in our

lives.

But then what about verse 11?

Maybe some of you guys had

that question reading this

earlier.

It's probably the hardest

verse in our passage today.

It sounds like there is no

opportunity to change when it

says that, let the evil and

filthy still do evil, still be

filthy.

These are hard words for us,

but this truth is nothing new

in Scripture.

Because you see that the

message of the gospel is a

message of life to those who

believe, to those whose names

are written in the book of

life.

But the message of the gospel

is simultaneously a message of

condemnation to those who

reject Christ, who do not

believe.

believe.

Elsewhere in Romans 1, Paul

tells us and explains that

those who do not want to

acknowledge God, who pursue

their own way, God gives them

up to do exactly just that.

That's his punishment out of

them, giving them exactly what

they want.

And so they go on to choose

things that lead to death and

destruction.

But for God's elect, his church

praise God that he did not give

us what we wanted.

If we got what we wanted, we

would be on the same path.

Instead, he gives us new hearts

with new desires to desire the

truly good, the truly satisfying.

So these commands in verse 11 to

do evil are ultimately a

pronouncement of judgment against

all those who have rejected

Christ.

He's saying, keep going.

Keep going on the path that you

started down.

But for the righteous and his

chosen, he's saying, keep doing

good onto me.

Understanding then God's

sovereignty in our salvation,

does that mean that there is no

point in our salvation or in our

evangelism?

The fact of the matter is that we

do not know.

We don't know who will come to

faith.

Very few in the early church ever

believed, could ever believe that

Paul, the fierce Jewish persecutor

of the church, could turn into the

great apostle, the faithful apostle.

It is the mystery of the spirit that

some seeds that we scatter bear fruit

thirtyfold, hundredfold.

Others are completely choked out.

Ultimately, it is freeing for us

to know that conversion is not, it's

not up to us.

It's not ultimately of how well we

evangelize, how well we answer all

these apologetics questions.

It's up to God.

So we need to keep evangelizing with

freedom, with urgency, with

sensitivity and to tell people,

anyone, everyone, that Jesus is

coming soon.

This is how we get ourselves ready.

This is how we get our others in our

lives ready.

For when Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega,

the one whom the entire universe

revolves around, once he returns,

verse 12 teaches us that he will bring

his recompense with him to repay each

one for what he has done.

Scripture, both the New and the, both

the Old and the New Testament teaches

that we will be judged according to our

works.

Therefore, we should take holiness,

obedience, discipleship to Christ very

seriously.

We should never take sin lightly.

Even socially acceptable sins like gossip

or greed or grumbling.

We would all do well to sober-mindedly

evaluate ourselves once in a while to

see if we are in obedience to God's

rules.

Some of us don't like that word,

rules, especially we want to focus on the

relationship.

I'm all about the relationship.

I'm not about rules.

But I need to remind you that every

relationship has rules.

My marriage has lots of good rules for me

to follow.

Like be faithful.

No other women.

That's rule number one for sure.

Number two, be nice.

Don't use harsh words.

Be gentle.

Number three, buy ice cream often.

If we love God, we need to keep his rules

and be sensitive and careful to pursue

holiness.

After all, if you're not pursuing holiness

in this life, is heaven a holy place with a

holy God among holy saints?

Is that really a place that you want to go?

Puritan J.C.

Ryle has asked, suppose for a moment that you

were allowed to enter heaven without holiness.

What would you do?

What possible enjoyment could you feel there?

To which all the saints, would you join yourself?

By whose side would you sit?

Their pleasures are not your pleasures.

Their tastes are not your tastes.

Their character, not your character.

If you dislike a holy God now, why would you want

to be with him forever?

If ungodliness is your delight here on earth,

what will please you in heaven where all is clean

and pure?

You will not be happy there if you are not holy here.

But that's all a moot proposition because holiness

is required to enter into the city.

In verse 15 of our passage, we're warned very clearly

that those who practice and love sin,

they are the ones who are outside of the city of God.

See, the invitation to the wedding feast is open to everybody.

Everybody and anybody can come.

But there is a dress code.

That idea that Jesus will come to judge the work of my life,

the idea that there's a dress code,

that has honestly terrified me for many parts,

many seasons of my life.

I've wondered often at times,

am I doing enough for Christ?

Do I need to do more?

Have I lived a good enough life?

If you're wondering with me,

you're wondering what that answer is going to be

as you stand on that judgment seat

before a holy God at the end of your life,

let me spoil it for you.

Answers are a resounding no.

We have not done enough.

We have not lived good enough lives.

We cannot save ourselves by our good works

because the standard is perfection.

We must be perfect as our holy father in heaven is perfect.

We have instead followed in the footsteps of our forefather Adam

in his rebellion against God.

And we wanted to be our own gods.

We wanted to do what we wanted.

And our unrighteousness rightfully kicked us out of the garden

without access to the tree of life,

to be wanderers, sojourners, without a true home.

But praise be to God almighty that when he came to the earth,

Jesus Christ lived a life in which he never doubted.

Am I doing enough?

Have I lived a good enough life?

Because for Jesus, those answers were a resounding yes.

He died yet outside of the city of God on that rugged cross,

as if he was the worst of sinners,

so that we can be invited inside the city of God.

See, that substitutionary death,

that fountain of blood that flowed,

is, was, and will be our only hope for salvation.

Therefore, our entry ticket back into the city,

back into the garden, is not our insufficient obedience,

but it is the free, cleansing blood and righteousness

of Christ the Lamb.

And so the third and final command

to get ready for Jesus' return

is to repent of our sins,

to get our attires ready,

and to wash our stained robes in his blood.

I have to ask, are you ready?

Are you ready for Christ to return soon?

He is beckoning for you to come,

so tarry not if you are not ready.

Verse 17 says,

the spirit and the bride say, come.

And let the one who hears say, come.

And let the one who is thirsty come.

Let the one who desires to take the water of life

without price.

These are all the same invitation,

just repeated over and over,

to drive home this point,

to drive home this invitation,

to come.

To come, all you need is your need.

Whosoever may come.

Young sinners, old sinners, come.

Rich sinners, poor sinners, come.

Backsliding sinners, lustful sinners,

drunk sinners, addicted sinners, come.

Whosoever may come.

Whosoever may come.

Sinners that have done every sin in the book,

from A to Z, come.

Jesus is calling earnestly and tenderly,

O sinner, come home.

When you come to Christ for your forgiveness,

it's not that our obedience isn't important anymore,

that we're free to do whatever we want.

No, it's those whose sins are forgiven,

who take killing sin the most seriously.

But it's not done by our own strength, you see.

It's from the Spirit who dwells within you

to empower you to obedience

for the necessary good works for salvation.

See, your good works are necessary for salvation,

but they're never the basis of your salvation.

That basis is Christ's blood,

Christ's righteousness alone.

As great late pastor Tim Keller has written,

God's salvation does not come in response

to a changed life.

A changed life comes in response to the salvation

offered as a free gift.

We have to get that order right.

But maybe you're in a season of discouragement,

and you feel like you're taking one step forward,

and then just three steps back.

You feel like you're disobeying more than you are obeying.

But notice, in verse 15,

that last descriptor of the outsiders,

they love, they practice falsehood.

They love it.

Even members of the Church of Christ,

we can fall in sin.

We all know that all too well.

But what distinguishes us is that we hate our sin.

We repent of it.

We want to flee from it.

But those on the outside, they love it.

They cherish it.

They teach it.

They encourage it.

It's one thing to fall into sin,

but it's a totally other,

to teach and promote disobedience to God.

And that's why God will take away salvation

from false teachers in verse 18 to 19.

It's taken from Deuteronomy 4 and 12.

This warning is not just against general disobedience.

No, it's much more serious than that.

God warns all false teachers,

all followers of those teachers

who twist his infallible salvific word

by adding and taking away from Scripture

to promote their own agenda, not God's.

God has given us this precious gift of his word.

It is able to make us wise for salvation.

Will God not have vengeance on those

who add and take this away,

who twist this to say whatever they want?

Therefore, the only fitting punishment

for those who add and take away from God's word

is that God will add to them plagues,

that God will take away their apparent share

of their portion of the tree of life.

False teachers,

wolves disguised as sheep,

they initially seem and appear to be

part of us, one of God's people,

but we will know them by their works,

that they were never part of us

in the first place.

These serious warnings are just another reminder

that sin has perverted everything

that was once good.

And that's why we need to desire

for Christ to return,

which is the third and final point.

Do you know that to live is Christ

and to die is gain?

It is for your gain

that Christ comes back soon.

I know many of us are young,

still have lots of life to live.

I know that there's still a lot of milestones

that you guys want to experience,

like you want to get married

and raise a family

and progress in your career,

travel the world,

experience the best

that the world has to offer.

And so,

sometimes we say,

oh Jesus,

we want you to come,

but you know,

give me like 10 more years.

Give me a little bit more time.

Don't come just yet.

But can I ask,

as C.S. Lewis once asked,

has this world been so kind to you?

That you should leave it with regret?

Hasn't all your work,

all your life,

all of your experience

been tainted by sin and suffering?

Do you really think

that your future career,

your future marriage,

your family,

your wealth won't be tainted too?

There's something far better than this.

Again, quoting C.S. Lewis,

he reminds us

that often Satan

doesn't try to convince us

that heaven isn't real.

Oh no,

he's much craftier than that.

He tries to convince us

that heaven is boring.

Have you ever heard of that?

That, oh,

I don't want really,

I'm not interested in heaven

because I don't want to worship,

you know,

24-7,

all 365.

Heaven

is anything but boring.

Holiness is anything but boring.

I think the church needs

to resurrect

this lost spiritual discipline

of biblical imagination

and yearning for heaven.

I think most of us,

again,

me included,

we don't long for heaven enough.

We get too bogged down

by the cares of this life

to remember that another one

is coming soon.

And so to help us with that,

I invite you

to imagine with me

about heaven.

I want you to actually

close your eyes,

don't fall asleep,

but I want you to close your eyes

as I read some excerpts

of this article

that I modified

just to help us imagine

what heaven will be like.

So imagine this,

seeing the full blazing glory of God,

finally understanding

how the prophets

couldn't put that sight

into words.

Imagine this,

what does that look like to you?

Imagine a world

where beautiful,

soul-satisfying music

to your God

never ends,

that you can't help

but sing

at the top of your lungs.

Imagine you won't be wishing

it was louder

or quieter,

you'll not be distracted

by anything off-key,

in fact,

you won't be nervous

about when the music

will end.

Imagine never worrying

about any good thing ending

and that every sad thing

becoming untrue.

Imagine that spiritual high

from a retreat

or missions trip

that you've experienced

never fading,

never suffering

from entropy,

but somehow

inexplicably

keeps growing

and growing.

Imagine seeing

the face of Christ

face to face,

looking into the eyes

of the one

who formed the sun,

moon,

and stars

in the beginning

but who knew

and loved you

even before that.

Imagine a sinless,

flawless,

glorified body

with no earthly,

ungodly temptations.

These bodies

that have absolutely

no appetite

for the things

of this world.

That holiness,

purity,

and godliness

isn't such a terrible

struggle anymore,

but that loving Christ

and others

is easy,

natural,

restful.

Image that you decide

it's time to take a rest,

never because you're sick

with disease

or weary

or suffer from

chronic pain,

but just because.

And you lie down

beside still waters

without any fear

of harm,

without worry

that you're not being

as productive

as you should be,

without being distracted

by having

so much to do.

imagine meeting

with people

who treated you

wickedly,

who lied about you,

who gossiped about you,

who stole from you,

maybe even murdered you.

Imagine what that

would feel like.

And then you see

brothers and sisters

and children

and parents

that you treated wickedly,

that you lied

or gossiped about,

stole from,

or even murdered.

When you see them,

instead of shame

or fear,

you know that

all the justice

everyone deserved

for all the wrongs

was poured out

completely

on the head

of the husband.

So you don't owe each other

anything anymore

because you could have

everything

you could ever want.

So now you're free

to love.

So you take

their hand in yours

and you walk with them

in love forever.

You guys can

open up your eyes.

Thanks for indulging me.

Brothers and sisters,

this is just a snippet

of what our future

might be like

for all eternity.

Heaven will be

anything but boring.

How can you wait?

Come, Lord Jesus.

That's the heart.

That's our prayer.

Come, Lord Jesus.

So we come to the very

last verse

of Scripture.

Last verse of our passage

and the very last verse

of Scripture.

And I think it's really

quite beautiful

that Scripture ends

with a benediction.

Just like we close

our worship services.

It's beautiful

that the final word

of His holy book

is not what we need to do

or what we produce.

It's not our worship

unto God.

But it's God's words

of blessing to us.

This is exactly

what we need.

In a moment,

we'll respond

to this sermon

by singing all together

the song Grace Alone.

And I want to read

the last verse

of that song.

I'll stand in faith

by grace and grace alone.

I'll run the race

by grace and grace alone.

I'll slay my sin

by grace and grace alone.

I will reach the end

by grace and grace alone.

By grace and grace alone,

we will trust

in Christ's return.

Lord,

we will persevere

in the worship

of our holy God.

We will evangelize

this lost world

and we will make it

to the celestial city,

to that promised land,

that land we're all

waiting for.

So until Christ returns,

may the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ

be with us all.

Amen.

Heavenly Father,

we pray that you would

bestow upon us

the grace that we need

to look,

to hope for heaven,

and to endure

to the very end,

to be conquerors,

to be overcomers,

so that we would see you,

and see you in full glory.

We long for that day.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Amen.