The Final Invitation

Revelations chapter 22.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

And today the title of the message is The Final I Love Itation.

Because it is.

Isn't it awesome that everywhere you see Jesus in the Word of God, He's always given an invitation for people to come to Him.

And it's no different at the end of the story.

At the beginning of the story in Revelation chapter 1, he invites people to come to him.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

And now in the last chapter at the end of the book, he invites people to come to him.

The last thing he did on Calvary before he died physically.

Hey, he invited the thief to go to be with him in paradise.

Let me tell you, if you want to know what's nearest the heart of God or anybody, anybody that's dying, and I've been on the bedside of a lot of people that have died, and I've talked with them.

And one thing I know, when someone's dying and they know they're dying, their time's here, they're going to tell you what they, hey, what's closest to their heart, they're going to reveal to you when they know it's their time.

Paul did that.

Paul said, it is now my time to be offered up.

And you know what he said?

Here's what he said.

I fought a good fight.

I finished the course.

I kept the faith.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown, the righteousness which the righteous judge himself shall give to me, but not only to me, but to all of those who love his appearing.

2 Timothy 4, 6 through 8.

So, right here we know that the beloved Lord Jesus Christ is giving his heart to us again.

Just as he did on Calvary, just as he did in the beginning of the study of Revelation.

By the way, I thought I did pretty good.

We started in September, October, and we did it.

I did it less than a year.

Amen.

But what a blessing it's been.

It literally has changed my whole perspective about prophecy.

And I'll tell you what else it's done for me.

It's given me that urgency to know that Jesus is coming soon.

Everything that we see going on in this world today is spelled out in the book of Revelation, and we're there.

I really believe we're living there.

I really do.

And Paul said we would wax worse and worse, 2 Timothy 3.13, and that's where it is.

It's getting worse and worse.

It's not getting better.

But I got good news.

We win.

Amen.

We win.

And the next event is Jesus to come for his bride.

The groom's coming.

He's coming.

The last invitation.

If you're here this morning and you do not have a worship guide, raise your hand.

I want to make sure you get the outline.

And I love teaching the word of God.

And we are coming as John's prophetic vision comes to an end.

He is brought back to the presence.

He's been taken up into heaven.

He's been shown all that's going on and all that's going to happen in heaven.

And that's what we preached about.

We looked at heaven in detail from Revelations 19 to chapter 21 through 21, actually up to verse 5 in Revelation 22, two weeks ago.

That was our final message about heaven.

We had talked about the millennial reign, the new Jerusalem coming down, the the hey, the new heaven coming down, and what that was going to be like.

And now we come to the final invitation.

And he brings John back and he says, now go back and tell the people.

Tell the churches.

Tell the seven churches of Asia Minor so that they can tell the world what this is and what's happened and what's going to happen.

So we pick up, and I love this verse.

We pick up Revelation chapter 22, where we left off verse 6.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

And look at what it says.

Unbelievable.

And I love this.

In fact, the time is near, and here's what John says.

Then he said to me, these words that are faithful and true.

And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must quickly take place.

As John comes back, he's given the final warning and the last invitation.

And this portion is the epilogue to the book of Revelation.

In fact, notice what he said.

The first thing I want us to look at.

You know what he says now?

Let me show you how important the Word of God is.

In fact, I want you to hold the Bible up.

If you got your word today, even if you got it electronically, hold it up.

Now leave it up.

We've got a little saying that ever so often we say around here.

Are you ready?

We love it.

Come on.

We love it, we learn it, we live it.

Let's say it again.

We love it, we learn it, we live it.

This is a Bible-believing preaching, teaching church.

Churches are noted for a lot of things.

There's some singing churches, there's some uh uh program churches, but this church is a Bible preaching church.

It's one of our key, hey, core values, teaching the living truth.

And that's what it's based on.

And let me tell you, people in the last days will be hungry for the truth.

And thank God for our church.

Clear biblical truth is one of our key cornerstones.

Clear biblical truth.

And notice what Jesus says about this.

One, we see, hey, the first thing he does, he says, is that we are going to protect the Word of God.

Protect the book.

That's number one.

Protect the book.

In fact, we see under protecting the book, he makes this profound statement.

These words are faithful and true.

In other words, every word of, hey, in this Bible is faithful and true.

Can I get an amen?

It'll never deceive you, it'll never discourage you, it'll never defeat you, but what it will do, it will build you up.

And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of grace which is able to build you up.

Acts 20, 32.

And thank God for several things about this book.

I want you, oh, first of all, look at the accuracy of God's word, verse 6.

It's faithful and true.

Now, in the context, he is speaking specifically of the book of Revelation.

In other words, he's saying, everything you have seen, everything, hey, you I have revealed to you, John, is faithful and true.

It's going to happen.

If you don't hear anything else, church, I promise you the word of God will be fulfilled.

Because it's faithful and true.

In fact, God Himself, right here, guarantees that we can trust His Word.

I love that.

Understand that God's word is dependent upon God's character, and God never goes back on his word.

Aren't you glad in a world that lies every two minutes or every minute or every second?

There's, I'm telling you, we don't we don't think twice about lying in our culture anymore.

But aren't you glad that I know I don't have to turn on and watch fake news and lying?

I don't have to listen to gossip.

I don't, hey, I can go to the word of God and know everything that I read, and hey, everything that I see according to God's word is true.

Thy word is true.

Sanctify them through thy word.

Thy word is truth.

John 17, 17, Jesus said.

It's true.

And we see it here.

I want you to see this.

Look at Psalms chapter 12, verse 6 and 7.

Psalms 12:6

Two of the most powerful verses.

In fact, what I'm going to do this summer, next we're going to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

We're going to put on the armor of God.

Amen.

We're going to do a mini-series on the six pieces of armor, and it's going to be great.

You're going to learn how to put your armor on every day.

Every day.

But then when we go into the summer, because we're in and out in summer, I think I may just preach out of some of my favorite Psalms.

The encourages.

I love the book of Psalms.

Read it every morning, that in pro in a chapter of Proverbs, every day.

You read two or three Psalms.

Sometimes I'll read four or five Psalms.

Then I'll read a Proverbs.

That's just my getting started before I go into my study.

I just want to be encouraged.

I want to be given direction.

By the way, Proverb a day keeps the devil away.

And it'll tell you what to do that day and what not to do.

I guarantee it.

I've lived my whole ministry by that.

And it works.

But listen to what the psalm says.

The words of the Lord are what?

Pure.

Oh, don't you love that?

The words of the Lord are pure words.

Now watch this.

As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.

Thou shalt, oh, I love this, preserve them from this generation forever.

In other words, from generation to generation, from hey, ever since the beginning of creation, hey, the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, the word of God has been preserved.

And when you and I are dead and gone and we're already with the Lord, it's still, as long as this, hey, hey, this generations are living and going on, his word will be preserved, and we saw how it will be preserved even during the tribulational period.

So we see how important it is.

In these verses, we see that God dogmatically states that he gave his word, that it is pure, and he assures us that it's going to be preserved forever.

Now notice, hey, he gave it, it's pure, and he's preserving it for an eternity.

God himself magnifies his word above his own name.

Did you know that?

Have you ever thought about that?

God magnifies man.

Think about that.

God magnifies, what does he think about the word?

He magnifies it above himself.

Look at Psalms 138, verse 2.

Psalms 138:2

And it says, I will worship toward your holy temple and praise your name for your loving kindness and your truth, for you have magnified your word above all your name.

Wow.

You you want to, hey, know what God and Jesus thinks about this book?

It's magnified above Jesus' name.

In fact, in the beginning was the word, the word was God, and the word was God.

It was not just with him, it was John 1:1.

John 1:1

So we see how important.

Forever, he says in Psalms 119, verse 89.

Psalms 119:89

Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

And look at what he says in Psalms 119, 160.

I love it.

The entirety of your word is true, and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever.

Not only is his word true, his judgments are right and they endure forever.

Wow.

Powerful, powerful, unbelievable.

The Bible contains the mind of God, and it contains the condition of man.

And when those two come together, we realize that man is a sinner.

Amen.

And hey, the Bible contains the mind of God and the condition of man and the clear, simple plan of salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ is the wonderful and glorious theme of the Bible.

From Genesis to Revelation, you know what the main theme is?

Jesus.

I love after the on the road to Damascus.

And, you know, they thought, hey, the disciples were, they were having a pity party, and all of a sudden Jesus just comes walking up by them.

And they don't even know who he is.

They don't even know who he is.

And he says, What's going on here?

In fact, here's what he says.

Why are you so down and out?

Why are you so gloomy?

Why are you so defeated?

And then they turned and all of a sudden they realized, they said, Did not his word burn in our hearts?

Woohoo! His words burned in our hearts.

Now that's what I want.

I want God's word to burn in my heart.

And then you know what he said?

I love it.

He said, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded in hey, unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

The word of God is all about Jesus.

I used to teach homiletics for years, and I used to teach the preacher boys.

Let me show you how to preach.

I'd take them to Luke 24, 27.

Preach like Jesus preached.

How did Jesus preach?

From Genesis to Revelation.

He preached about himself.

Because if I be lifted up, I will draw all men into myself.

John 12, 32.

So that's how they preached.

And what a beautiful, beautiful picture.

His salvation shines from its pages as a guiding light to all that desire to be saved.

I mean, he, hey, on the other hand, all who reject its messages, hey, will be or reject his word, will be what?

Judged.

Guess what?

Remember what we said by his word.

I don't have this down, but you remember it from last a couple of weeks ago.

Remember what he said in John 12, 48?

He that rejects my word, and he that rejects me and does not hear my words, listen to what he says, will be judged by the truth I have spoken unto you.

John 12, 48.

So not only should his word burn within our hearts, but secondly, we will be judged according to what we've done with the word of God.

That's pretty powerful, folks.

That's why, and it's so sad to me in a culture that's growing up that has no ideology, no indication, no philosophy at all of what God's word says.

It breaks my heart.

You look on television, you don't see any of foundational truth from God's word.

All we hear is, well, you know, if it feels good, do it.

We we look at humanism.

In other words, whatever right for Darren's right may not be right for me, but it's okay.

He can do whatever he wants.

We don't believe in absolute truth anymore.

But I've got news for you.

The word of God is absolute truth.

And it's not, well, that's just your opinion, preacher.

No, that's not my opinion.

It's black and white.

That's what it says.

Hey, hey, the Bible means what it says, and it says what it means.

It's pretty simple.

But we reject it.

But look at the second thing.

Not only do we see under the protected book the accuracy of God's word, but look at the second thing.

We see the authority.

Look at verses 7 through 9.

We see the authority of God's word.

A powerful statement right here, too.

Look, he says, I am coming quickly.

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

In other words, hey, the things that I told you are going to happen, are going to happen, and blessed are those that keep it.

And then he said, I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.

When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me.

But he said to me, Don't do that.

I am a fellow slave just like you.

Your brothers, the prophets, and those who keep the words of this book worship God.

Wow.

Now notice what he said.

John said, Blessed.

Oh, I love that.

Is he that keeps the sayings of this prophecy of this book?

Now listen to me.

If I was to ask the question which I'm going to ask, I believe I already know the answer.

If I asked the question, do you really want to be blessed?

What would you say?

No.

Anybody that doesn't want to be blessed, if you don't want to be blessed, why are you here?

Well, I'm supposed to be.

Would you like to be blessed?

I mean, that's about four of you.

Would you like to be blessed?

Amen.

I want to be blessed.

God says in Psalms 112, I've been mindful of you to bless you.

Do you know he wants to bless you?

And he will bless you, but there's a condition.

You've got to love his book.

Hey, you gotta love it, you gotta learn it, and you gotta live it.

The book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but ye shall meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that's written therein.

Did you hear me?

All that's written therein.

Then shall I make thy way prosperous, and then shall ye have good success.

Only place in the Word of God that He promises success.

In relation, direct relationship to being obedient to the Word of God.

Wow.

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

So, when you say, I don't understand why God's not being blessed, I can help you.

The reason you're not being blessed, you're not being obedient to the Word of God.

Hello.

I know that's tough, but that's true.

If you're willing and obedient, listen.

If you're willing and obedient, you should eat the good of the land.

If you refuse and rebel, you should be devoured by the sword.

Isaiah 1, 19 and 20.

That's pretty clear.

You want to be blessed?

Well, have a hunger for the word of God.

You want to be blessed, study the word of God.

You want to be blessed, memorize the word of God.

You want to be blessed, live the word of God.

You want to be blessed, be set on fire by the word of God.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

His word, I'm about to have my running spell.

His word was in my heart as a burning fire.

Even when I didn't want to preach, Jeremiah said, I couldn't help but preach.

You ever?

I've been there.

I've been there.

Man, I had so much on us, and I was so worried about my little grandson and everything going on.

And I just didn't want to preach.

And all of a sudden, this lady came in and she came in, she said, This is the day the Lord.

About that time I just started.

I said, Yes, yes, it's the day the Lord hath made.

And Jesus is awesome.

And let me tell you why he's awesome.

He's all sufficient.

He's the world.

We just had a little revival right there.

Amen.

But see, Satan was trying to discourage me, defeat me.

No.

Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

How is he in me through the person of the Holy Spirit?

Hey, and the what?

And the person of the Word of God.

In the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So we see the authority of God's Word.

Listen to Isaiah 48.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God shall stand forever.

Listen to what David said.

Through, you got to see this.

Psalms 119, verse 104.

Psalms 119:104

The powerful.

These Psalms, verses, whoo, when I was studying this past week, and I just thought, oh, what truth David was expounding to us.

Listen to what he said.

Through your precepts, through God's word.

Now notice what he says.

What?

I get what?

Okay?

In order to be successful and to be blessed, you've got to have understanding.

Understanding for what?

To do what's right.

Understanding to do what God wants you to do, to fulfill God's will for your life.

You get understanding.

Therefore, now watch what he says.

This is unreal.

I hate every false way.

And what does he say?

Anything that, hey, contradicts what God's word says is, hey, false ways.

Did you get that?

Anything that contradicts or goes against God's word is an evil way, which means you won't have understanding of what God wants you to do.

And when you don't have understanding of what God wants you to do, you can't do what God wants you to do.

And when you don't do what God wants you to do, you're not blessed.

You have a bunch of problems.

Do you say, well, I have problems when I am obedient?

Yeah, but the difference is you got God helping you.

And he's got a purpose for those problems.

To make you more mature, to make you more like Jesus, to teach you in some areas so he can use you even in a greater way.

So we see the authority of God's word.

Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 22, 29.

He says, you do err.

Uh-oh.

You do err not knowing the scriptures.

Now what's this?

Nor the power of God.

Notice what he just linked together.

He says, you are mistaken not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

Not only do you misunderstanding, you don't have understanding, but guess what else?

You don't have the power of God.

Oh my goodness.

Now that ought to make a Presbyterian shout.

Do you see that?

Say, yes, sir.

Do you see it, church?

Yes, sir, Lord, we see it.

The power of God, Luke 4.32, says his word is with power.

So we get power from God by being obedient to the scriptures of God.

Acts 1.8.

You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you.

And you should be witnesses.

The Holy Spirit is in you.

When you get saved, he comes into you, upon you, and then he's your teacher to teach you the word of God.

And the more words you know, the more intimate relationship you have, and the more intimate relationship you have, the more understanding you have, the more wisdom you have, and the more power of God you have to do it.

Well, that's good.

That's why you can't go a day without the book.

You lose your power.

You lose your understanding.

You lose your way.

Now you're out there floundering.

Now I'm out there doing it Danny's way.

That's a bad place to be.

Very bad.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Listen to what Job said.

I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Remember, Job, he lost everything he had.

How'd he get through that?

The word.

The word encouraged him.

The word built him up.

The word comfort him.

Oh, his friends were telling him he had sin in his life, so he ought to repent.

Let me tell you, when I'm down, don't come tell me I got sin in my life.

Because if I do, I already know it.

Hello.

Amen.

What I need is your love and comfort.

Now I didn't say compromise.

I need you to come alongside and help me.

Amen.

And in a loving way, when you come alongside and start helping me and you're living the Word of God and the Holy Spirit's leading you, guess what?

It's convicted me so much that I already know.

Next thing you know, you know, I've been around people and they they thought, especially family members, that I was just gonna land blast them.

I didn't have to say a word.

I didn't have to say, you're wrong.

By the way, you don't have to tell somebody, I didn't have to tell uh Big John or or uh Braden when they had that wreck, you know, I you ought not to have been doing.

And I I hey, he didn't have a helmet, but I didn't tell him you should have had a helmet at that time.

Now, three days later, I said, you know, maybe we ought to start wearing a helmet.

Amen.

Not on a four-wheeler.

If he had had a seatbelt, he'd have killed him because it rolled on top of them.

Yeah, but cars, absolutely.

But do you see what I'm saying?

Guys, this is what he's saying.

You do err, not knowing the scriptures know the power of God.

What you don't realize, you walk out of your house without the word of God giving you direction.

You are prime meat for Satan.

He's fixing to come at you and take you out so quick it's gonna make your head swim.

Why?

You have no defense.

The only offensive weapon you have is the word of God.

The helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.

We're gonna, hey, next series coming up, we're gonna show you how to sharpen that sword.

Amen.

And then notice the third thing: the accessibility of God's word.

Look at verse 10.

He also said to me, Don't seal the prophetic words of the book, because the time is near.

Now remember, he told Daniel to shut up the words and seal the book in Daniel 12, 4, for you that went through Daniel after Revelation, because the dispensation had not come yet.

It wasn't time to open the book.

But in the New Testament, the new dispensation's here, it's time.

Now the church has been born.

Now it's time to tell the world.

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Don't hide it, share it.

The book of Revelation was the completion of God's revelation to man.

God's word for man is now complete and available.

Amen.

Hey, do you you don't you know what's listen?

This is not to be placed on a coffee table.

This is to be placed in your heart.

Amen.

Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light into my path.

Thy word never returns void, but shall accomplish where God sends it.

Isaiah 55, 11.

Wow.

And here we see the accessibility of this book.

Why do you think we?

I am a wanna cubby.

You know why I'm a wanna cubby?

Study to show thyself, approved unto God that a workman not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Thank God for our children's ministry.

Thank God for Wednesday night I wanna put on the armor of God.

Let me tell you, my kids went from cubbies all the way through junior high Ianas or sixth, whatever it is, elementary school Ianas.

Then they went into a great youth program.

But listen, to this day, they'll tell you, they know the word of God so strongly, foundational verses because of Iana.

Now, don't get me wrong, you can give your kids athletics, you can give them a lot of things, but the greatest thing you can give them if you want them to be successful is the word of the living God.

Give them a hunger for the word of God.

Now they'll be successful.

I get really, I get concerned.

I don't get upset, I get concerned when I see parents want their kids to do everything but the main thing.

And that's to learn the word of God, to be in church and to being a disciple, and the word disciple means a learner.

A learner of the word of God.

Let me tell you what changed me.

I my parents were messed, kicked out of my home.

Let me tell you, the only thing that saved me, I got saved, and then after a couple of years after being saved, not understanding discipleship, we had a youth pastor, then pour his life, that's why Rick is so important, into me for about six months, and then I, hey, hey, then I started reading the word every day uh uh because I knew that's what I was supposed to do.

But then when God up and called me out of the minute uh out of the fire department and police department sent me to Liberty University, where there was nothing there but a big old tent and one building on that mountain where Father Well, you say, I want that mountain.

He was showing on television these beautiful brick buildings.

He was showing what's there now, but when I got there, it was nothing but dirt and a tent.

But you know what?

I walked by that tent.

And there was a man named Dr.

J.

O.

Grooms standing up there quoting scripture.

And God grabbed my heart and he said, That's the class you need to.

If you don't take any class this semester, you take this class.

I went in there and I told Dr.

Grooms, I said, Dr.

Grooms, God just told me I need to be in this class.

He said, I don't have more, I don't have any room.

It's packed.

I can't take.

I said, No, God told me to.

He looked at me, he said, I think you mean it.

I said, I do.

He said, Okay, but here's what you're gonna do.

If you take this class, you're gonna work with me every Tuesday and Thursday.

I'm taking your soul winning.

I said, I'm in.

I didn't even know what soul winning meant.

But I'm in.

And he said, You're gonna be a soul winner.

He who wins soul's wise.

Proverbs 11:30.

Proverbs 11:30

And we had to memorize a verse a day, five verses a week, had to quote them reference.

You want to know why?

I'm quoting the reference, and you I'm not trying to impress you.

That's how I learned it.

He if you didn't quote the reference before you quoted it and after you quoted it, he flunked you.

He said, It doesn't do you any good.

Hey, it doesn't do you any good if you're witnessing if you can't show him where it is.

And God's word got my heart and set me on fire.

And that was 35 years ago.

And it's still burning, folks.

It's still burning.

That pathos.

And when I started preaching it, I just get more excited.

Proverbs 23, 23.

Spiritually, he solemn said, buy the truth, sell it not.

Also, wisdom and instructions and understanding.

What?

The wisest man.

Look, he just told us right there.

The wisest, most the smartest man, the wealthiest man, everything, everything, he had anything you wanted, everything you wanted, and here's what he said.

Meant more than anything.

By the truth.

Do not sell it.

Do not let it go.

And wisdom and instruction and understanding.

All three of those come from the truth.

And then the fourth thing, the avenger of God's word.

Verses 18 through 19.

Listen to what he says.

Uh-oh.

Listen to this.

I testify to everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book.

If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.

And if anyone takes away from the words of the prophetic book, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy sitting, the holy city written in this book.

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

You should not add unto the word which I command you, Deuteronomy 4.2, Proverbs 36, Solomon wrote, Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

This verse right here, or these verses that I just quoted, are a divine warning to anyone who wants to tamper with God's word.

Satan and the ungodly crowd hate the word of God.

They hate it.

They make every attempt to destroy it.

I wrote this down because I've debated this now for almost 40 years.

Infels attack the Word of God every day.

Scoffers sneer at the Word every day.

Heretics deny it every day.

And most of them say, well, that's just another book.

But it's unimaginable.

I'll get it in a minute.

That they say it, but I always challenge them, I say, well, go prove it.

Prove to me it's it's not God's written word, and I won't believe it.

Go prove it.

In fact, you know, one of the greatest ways to get somebody saved is get them to challenge them to disprove the word of God.

They all end up getting saved.

Why?

Why?

Because it's truth.

You can't deny it.

You can't deny it.

And then, oh, what's powerful here, we see the scholars mutilate it.

It's a sad day when our kids come up in church and wanna, and if they don't find a good fellowship Christian athletes, or BSU, Baptist Student Union on campus, do you realize we pay major money?

You pay major money for them to teach heresy in reference to the Word of God.

Now, I'm all for, I'm not again, hey, we need witnesses there.

I understand that.

But a statistic that I just read in our Baptist magazine, 68% of our Baptist students that graduated from high school and went to secular universities after four years didn't believe there was a God or didn't believe the Bible.

That's sad, folks.

That's sad.

Now, hey, my wife went to secular university for undergrad and first masters.

But she was involved in a powerful Bible study.

And she was an ambassador on the campus for Christ.

And by the way, we need those too.

Can I get an amen?

I'm not against that.

But you better be, you better have a defense mechanism so you can be challenged every day and held accountable to grow in your faith so that you can be able to ward off every mental attack and philosophical attack they bring at you.

And one of the greatest witnesses is to know the word of God, the prophecy, the revelation.

So when they start, you can share the truth, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

So you can be a tremendous warrior on a campus for Christ.

So don't go out of here and say, I said that.

That you, that uh, but but I'm serious.

Look at, look at, even the liberal media now is telling you how bad the university systems are.

I don't even think they know what they're saying or they wouldn't be saying it.

So, praise God.

Look at the second thing.

Not only do we see the protected book, but we see the old account is settled.

Verse 11 through 15.

Oh man.

Look, look.

In this passage, God has assured us of our fixed state after death.

Our decision for eternity is made on this side of the grave, not after.

Can I get an amen?

Those who are saved can rejoice that their old account was settled, and those that are lost must come to Christ now, or hey, suffer the consequences and spend an eternity in hell.

That's it.

That's their choice.

Look at what it says.

Many, many false teachers believe and will tell you there's a second chance after you die for salvation after death.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The eternal state of the lost, right here.

Look at it.

It's fixed the moment they die.

Look at what he says in verse 11.

Powerful statement.

Here's what he said.

Let the unrighteous go on in his righteousness.

Let the filthy go on being made filthy.

Let the righteous go on in righteousness and let the, hey, holy go on being made holy.

In other words, once you die, if you die ungodly, you die lost, you stay lost, and you stay ungodly.

There's no second tense.

Let me prove that.

A, the final state.

Look at verse 11, the final state.

But one of the greatest passages, look at Luke 16.

Remember Luke 16?

And it came to pass the beggar died.

In fact, in verse 23, verse 22, and it says, and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, the rich man also died and was buried.

Verse 23, being in torments, plural, and we've discussed that.

You need to go online, list of my message on hell.

Being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

Verse 24.

And he cried and he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me.

Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame.

But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth the good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and they are tormented.

And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gut fix, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.

Both the beggar and the rich man here had entered their final state.

The beggar would be righteous and holy for eternity, and the rich man look would be unjust and filthy for eternity.

Let me remind you.

Hebrews 9, 27.

And as it is appointed unto man once to die.

And after this the judgment.

And we see that right here.

Notice the second thing.

Not only the final state, the familiar, hey, the familiar saying.

Look at verse 12.

Look, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to what he has done.

Ooh, I love that.

I love that.

Notice what he's saying right here.

Jesus is coming again.

God's people could be caught up.

Hey, any time, any moment, right now.

The scriptures continually admonish believers to watch and be ready.

For you know not what the hour that he may come.

The question is, are you ready?

What if he was to come right now?

Bam! It's over.

No praying you out of purgatory.

It's over.

Your destiny is final life.

Paul said, for our behavior, our conversation is in heaven, our life's in heaven.

From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3.20, Titus 2.13, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

He's coming.

He says, I'm coming quickly.

That brings me to the third thing: the faithful Savior.

Look at verse 13.

After proclaiming his imminent return and promising a reward for faithfulness, he reminds us that he is the eternal God.

Listen to what he says.

I'm the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end, the first, and the last.

Jesus is saying, I'm the self existent, eternal, sovereign, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God.

Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, Omega's the last.

He's the first, he's the last, and he's everything in between.

He's everything.

He's the author and finisher of our faith.

Hebrews 12, 1.

And then look at not only is he the faithful Savior, he's the forgiven saints.

We see the forgiven saints in verse 14.

Listen to what happens here.

Blessed are those who wash the robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.

Ha ha! Woo! There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

We saw that in Revelation 21, 27.

And ye shall come to me that ye may have life.

Those that do not come to Christ will spend an eternity separated from Christ.

Wow.

Wow.

And that brings me to my last point.

The final invitation.

This is the first time the word church.

The book of Revelation.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

Chapter 3.

The Lord tells John that the book of Revelation was given to testify to the churches so that we would know God's plan for the end times.

Our Lord further identifies himself as the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.

What he is saying here with these titles, the Lord Jesus Christ is associating himself with the nation Israel.

He is the Savior of all.

He died for every man.

Jesus saith unto them, you remember in John 14, 6, you know it's quote it with me.

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father except by me.

So he's exemplifying all that he is.

For as there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2, 5.

So, who's the person of the invitation?

It's Jesus Christ Himself, the bright morning star.

Notice B, the power of the invitation in verse 17.

The power of the invitation is the Spirit.

No one gets saved without the Holy Spirit working in his life.

Can I get an amen?

Listen, when I lead people to Christ and used to it, they say, Well, Brother Danny, save me.

I got news for you.

I can't save anyone.

I'm the instrument.

The Holy Spirit is the one that saves you.

In fact, John chapter 16, and I have them up 7 through 11, but really we'll start right there.

John 16 · chapter mention

He says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth in John 7.

Hey, it is expedient for me to go away, for if I go away, then the comforter, there's the comforter I was talking about.

Hey, he can't come until I go away, but if I depart, I will send him unto you, and when he has come, he will reprove, here it is, the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment of sin because they believe not on me.

In other words, it's the Holy Spirit that convicts us of our sin.

Have you ever, when you do something wrong, do you not just feel?

You don't feel that only one?

We got a lot of perfect folks.

I mean, when you do wrong, do you not?

You know it?

You know it the moment you do it.

Now, how do you know that?

It's called the Holy Spirit that lives in you.

And you got a choice when, hey, when he goes, hmm, that's conviction.

And you got a choice.

Stop, repent, and go back the right way.

Or ignore and keep going the wrong way.

You got a choice.

How many of you have said stuff that you shouldn't say?

I'm not moving to every hand's raised.

Okay.

I'm gonna keep you honest today, bless God.

Especially with your wife.

Hello.

Hello.

Hello, thank you, thank you, Barry.

I got I got no.

Thank you, Deacon.

I got two men that's submitting it.

No three, okay.

But every one of you are guilty.

And ladies, sometimes you say what you don't need to be saying to.

Amen.

Carrie, you're not supposed to grab your wife's hand.

Boy, that's go, you want to go to the doghouse, you in, boy.

But now watch.

Watch.

When you say that, you know what the Holy Spirit does?

Ooh.

You shouldn't have said that and apologize.

I don't mind the I shouldn't have said it.

It's the apologizing.

And when I have to go, I'm wrong.

Remember Fonsey?

I'm the only one.

I'm that old.

Anyone else remember Fonzie?

He couldn't get that wrong out.

But that's the Holy Spirit.

That's not just a feeling, that's a person.

And thank God he convicts us of our wrongs.

And then notice the third thing: the people of the invitation.

Verse 17, the bride.

While no one will be saved without the Holy Spirit.

Now here it is.

I love this.

Look at this.

Look at it.

Both the Spirit and the bride say, Come.

You and I have a great commission given to us that we're to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

That's the church.

Let me enlighten you.

Hey, going out and sharing the gospel and inviting people to come to our church so they can hear the gospel and get saved is not just Rick and Danny Lovett's job.

It's not just the preacher's job, it's the church's job.

All of us.

Can I get an amen?

Now I know I do have the gift of evangelism, but hey, it doesn't say, hey, for those that have the gift of evangelism, go and the others not.

The command is to all.

It's a command.

Go.

Hey, the spirit and the bride.

Now think a minute.

I thought about that.

Oh, this is so good.

Why does the bride, you and me, have to go because the Holy Spirit won't go without us, because the Holy Spirit's in us.

We become the ambassadors.

And as we go, the Holy Spirit working through us brings conviction to our friends and our loved ones and the people we work with.

And they do that by watching our lives as well as our speech.

You gotta walk it and then speak it.

A lot of people say, well, I walk by testimony.

Oh, oh, good.

Hey, so what you want to do?

You're just gonna walk around.

I'm godly.

Didn't that convict you?

No.

Made me look stupid.

What convicts is what?

The Holy Spirit using what?

The word of God.

The word.

The word.

The authority.

The power.

That's the way you do it.

Go ye therefore and teach all nations.

Why do you think they went to Honduras?

Why do you think they're going to Costa Rica?

Why do you think we take an ice cream truck and go into the community?

Why do you think we we we have the bread ministry now starting?

Why do you think we go into the community where Jesus is also?

So that we can share the good news that Jesus Christ loves you.

He died for you and he wants to change you.

That's what we do.

That's who we are.

And then D, the prerequisite of the invitation.

Here it is.

And let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life.

If you ever wonder when you walk witness to somebody and they don't seem to respond, and you kind of get upset and you think, I'm not doing this right.

No.

You can't do it wrong if you share your testimony.

If you tell people what Jesus did for you, you can't do it wrong.

And by the way, only you can tell people what Jesus did for you, Jesse.

I can't tell.

I can try to tell.

I know what.

I remember us coming over, David and I coming over to help you move something.

We worked that up after Carolyn said now, Jesse, you gotta be easy with Jesse.

And he's got a lot of guns.

Actually, I saw the guns after I got there.

Yeah, I could tell how the Lord worked all that out.

But it's not near the power that you do and you have when you share.

Amen.

And listen, hey, if you can't do anybody can give them a life and death track, or you can give them a Jesus all.

Hey, or you can invite them to church.

Just bring them to church.

And do you realize when they get saved, if you have shared any way, form or fashion, anyway, whether you shared your testimony, you gave them a track, you whatever, when they get saved, you had something to do with that.

And you get a crown, a soul winner's crown at the beam of judgment seat.

Anybody can leave a track.

The other day when I pulled through, I love Chick-fil-A sandwiches.

And I and I always say, Well, you know, I'm gonna pray, and I always ask the lady, can I pray for her?

But I said, let me show you a little card I got.

For the way to sin is death.

But the gift of, hey, but the gift of God is life, eternal life.

Life.

I said, death, life.

What you want?

Here, you can have the card.

Now, if they're Christians, they grab it out of my hand.

And then the last thing, and I'm through.

Last point, the promise of the invitation.

Take of the water of life freely.

See?

People have got to be thirsty if they want to be saved.

Amen?

People have to be thirsty in order to want to have a drink of water.

The woman at the well was thirsty.

In John 4.

Amen?

So you just keep sharing.

I tell people, don't ever give up on anybody.

The people you think that will not come to Christ sometimes will floor you and come to Christ, and some of them come quicker than you believe.

In fact, just ask them.

Some people, I've watched people go through and share their testimony, and they're afraid to draw the, I call it drawing the net.

How do you draw the net?

You ask them, would you like to be saved?

Would you like to know Christ?

I've had trainees and they do a fantastic job sharing the gospel from Romans 3 to Romans 10, 13.

And then they kind of like, would you like to get saved?

And they say, Yes.

You would?

What in the world?

Yes.

People that are thirsty want to get a drink of water, the living water.

And you ought to be excited.

Wouldn't you like to take that water?

Wouldn't you like to know Christ?

Wouldn't you like to let Him change your life?

Wouldn't you like to have a companion to come alongside and help you?

No, I don't need help.

Oh, give me a break.

It's not hard.

Church, it's not hard.

Why don't we do Easter egg extravaganza?

Why don't we do trunk or treat?

Where we can present the gospel.

And we've got a lot of people that have been here the last two weeks because they were there.

And it brings them in and it touches them and we get to love on them.

And we get to do what I'm doing right now: share the good news.

The gospel.

When Wade had me go speak to his men, that's what he wanted.

He wanted me to share my testimony.

To share the good news to those men.

That's what we do.

You know why you do it?

Because he changed your life.

Now, no change?

You're not going to want to share anything.

You don't have anything to share.

But if you got it.

Now there is a carnal Christian.

I understand that.

I don't like carnal Christians.

I've been one.

I don't like them.

They look too much like they're no good.

They don't do anything.

In fact, what they can do is do more damage than they do good if they tell people they're Christians, but they're not living like they ought to be.

So if you're a carnal Christian, don't tell anybody you're a Christian.

Hello?

You okay out there?

Give the ones that are trying their best to love Jesus and love people.

Give them a chance.

Let them see the real thing.

Not the perfect thing, but the real thing.

So remember, when you mess up, you ask people.

And let me tell you the greatest testimony you can have.

When you blow it, you quickly say, I'm sorry, and please forgive me.

The church will forgive anybody.

It's the proud, arrogant that they have the problems with.

So when you blow it, you blow it.

But fess it up and say, I need help.

I'm sorry, I was weak.

I blew it.

I love you this morning.

With all my heart.

This book has changed my life.

I'm glad God allowed me to preach.

I've never preached through the book of Revelations.

I've preached parts of Carolyn Kemp.

Bugged me.

But the timing was not right, but it was right when all this happened.

We have seen the truth of what's happening in America by the end.

God has revealed it to us through the book of Revelation.

I mean, I'm more excited about witness than I've been a long time because I know what's about to happen, and I have an urgency in my spirit.

I have a new urgency.

Because Jesus is coming soon.