{"id":19022,"date":"2020-03-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-22T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-075-the-bookends-of-history\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:15:04","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:15:04","slug":"revelation-075-the-bookends-of-history","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-075-the-bookends-of-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 075 – The Bookends of History"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19022","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 075 - The Bookends of History","sermon_date":"20200322","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2020","sermon_notes":19940,"sermon_slides":19941,"sermon_mp3":19942,"sermon_id":"32220121342094","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"22:18-21","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Bookends of History, Revelation 22:18-21\n\nLesson 75\n\nLet me welcome everybody to Sunday morning here at Sugar Land Bible Church, moving now into our main service where we\u2019re continuing our verse by verse study of the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 So let me invite your attention to the Book Revelation, chapter 22 and verse 18, and Lord willing, believe it or not, we\u2019re going to try to finish the Book of Revelation today.\u00a0 The title of this particular message is The Bookends of History.\u00a0 And if you\u2019ve been following along with us in the Book of Revelation, I think this is our 75th<\/sup> (believe it or not) message on the book.\u00a0 And so we can hopefully land the plane today and then I\u2019ll try to announce what we\u2019re going to study next because I know a lot of you have been asking me about that.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t answered that question because I ask the Lord for the rapture to occur before we finish the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 So He almost answered the prayer request.\u00a0 Maybe He\u2019ll answer it in the next hour, that He shut down the economies of the earth prior to us finishing the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s like a second place to the rapture. [Laughter]\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\n\nBut we\u2019re completely finished with the major section of the Book which deals with the futuristic vision that John saw two thousand years ago on the Island of Patmos.\u00a0 And we moved into the final two chapters of the Book which is a description of the new heavens and new earth, the New Jerusalem and here\u2019s where we are in part three, wrapping up our thoughts with what is called the epilogue.\u00a0 The epilogue is sort of a way of concluding.\u00a0 There was a prologue, you might remember, in chapter one, verses 1-8 and so it says a prologue of the we would expect an epilogue and so that\u2019s what we get here in verses 4-21.\n\nThe epilogue can be divided into three parts.\u00a0 Number one, words of comfort. Having covered those in verses 6-17, words of comfort.\u00a0 Number two, is words of warning which we\u2019re going to look at this morning, followed by number three, words of benediction, just as there\u2019s a benediction at the end of the church service typically there\u2019s a little benediction at the end and once we finish that we will be finished with the Book of Revelation in terms of our teaching itinerary here at the church.\n\nBut notice first of all these words of warning.\u00a0 Notice how John, as he\u2019s given this vision from an angel, ultimately coming from Jesus, notice how it ends.\u00a0 John says, [John 22:18] \u201cI testified to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book.\u00a0 If anyone adds to them God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;\u00a0 [19]\u00a0 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy God will take away His part from the tree of life and from the Holy City, which are written in this book.\u201d\n\nYou\u2019ll notice here that there\u2019s a very strong warning against adding to the words of this book and there\u2019s a very strong warning against subtracting from the words of this book.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled this message The Bookends of History because when you go back to the original command in the Garden of Eden what you see is it was a very simple command.\u00a0 It was probably the easiest job description a human being has ever received in all of human history.\u00a0\u00a0 God told our forbearers, Adam and Eve, all the way back in Genesis 2:16-17, \u201cThe LORD God commanded the man, saying, \u201cFrom any tree of the garden you may eat freely; [17] but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.\u201d\u00a0 So in essence what God says is do whatever you want to do just don\u2019t eat from the tree of knowledge.\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it interesting how Eve probably receiving a misrepresented understanding of that very easy command from her husband, because remember when that initial command was given Eve did not yet exist.\u00a0 And the only way she could have learned that command, presumably, was from her husband. But notice how the two of them, Adam and Eve garbled the original command.\u00a0 They took something so easy and something so simple and they made it complicated by adding to it and subtracting from it.\n\nNotice how Eve is sort of paraphrasing, if you will, the original command.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe woman said to the serpent from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.\u201d\u00a0 Now you\u2019ll notice that she just left out two words; she left out the word \u201cany\u201d and she left out the word \u201cfreely.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019ve got them underlined here in the original command.\u00a0 And if that weren\u2019t enough then she began to add to the original command.\u00a0 Genesis 3:3 says, \u201cFrom the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat from it\u201d now look at this, \u201cor touch it, or you will surely die.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice, going back to the original command God never said anything about touching it.\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice here as He is paraphrasing the original command back to the serpent that He subtracts from the original command, removes the word \u201cany\u201d and \u201cfreely\u201d and she adds to the original command by adding a layer of restrictions that God never added about touching the tree of knowledge.\u00a0 God never said anything about touching the tree of knowledge.\u00a0 What He told her not to do is eat from the tree of knowledge.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not just Eve who does this; the serpent or Satan who enticed them did the exact same thing.\u00a0 Genesis 3:1 says, \u201cNow the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.\u00a0 And he said to the woman, \u201cIndeed, has God said \u2018You shall not eat from any tree of the garden\u2019?\u00a0 God never said any such thing, that they couldn\u2019t eat from any tree of the Garden.\u00a0 IN fact, they were told they could eat from any tree of the garden; they were simply told not to eat from the tree of knowledge.\n\nVerse 4 of Genesis 3 \u201cThe serpent said to the woman, \u201cYou surely will not die!\u201d\u00a0 But God said wait a minute,\u00a0 you will die. So you\u2019ll notice that the serpent, like Eve, is adding, verse 1 of Genesis 3, and subtracting, verse 4 of Genesis 3.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled this message The Bookends of History.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost as if God is saying adding to and subtracting from My design revelation is what got humanity into the mess it got itself into.\u00a0 In fact, that mess was so severe that God had to send His only Son to die in our place.\u00a0 So adding and subtracting is what you got you into all the troubles that you got into costing my only so to redeem me back to myself.\u00a0 And since that got you into the mess that\u00a0 you got yourself into and I got\u00a0 you out of don\u2019t ever do it again.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ever add or subtract from the divine revelation I\u2019ve given.\n\nSo what has happened at the beginning of the Bible is man and woman and the devil added and subtracted.\u00a0 And then what you have as a consequence to that, going all the way through biblical history and so what finally happens at the end of biblical history as God is giving His final word to mankind in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 In the last chapter, in the very last verses is one final warning, don\u2019t you ever do this again.\u00a0 And so those two warnings form sort of a bracket, if you will, Bookends if you will, of human history.\n\nNow what we learn from the Bible when you look at those two book ends is God is not happy at all when His creation, His creatures assume the role of God Himself and get into the business of editing God.\u00a0 In fact, when people do that, and many, many people do that today, is it causes tremendous consequences, consequences that are so severe that God has to intervene to rescue us from that dilemma.\u00a0 We completely underestimate the price that is paid when we tamper with God\u2019s Word in any sense.\u00a0 And yet that\u2019s the story of the Bible; those are the two great book ends, or brackets if you will, of history.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that when you go through the Bible this warning about adding and subtracting doesn\u2019t just appear there in Genesis and Revelation; it appears throughout the Bible.\n\nLet me give you a few examples of that if I could.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 4:2, the time of Moses, God says through Moses to the nation of Israel, \u201cYou shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I have commanded you.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Deuteronomy 12:32 says virtually the same thing, \u201cWhatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.\u201d\u00a0 And then you see this in the time of Solomon, the third King of the United Kingdom who wrote the Book of Proverbs, Solomon, says the same thing. Proverbs 30:6, it says, \u201cDo not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s nothing more arrogant in the heats of wicked people than to get into the business of editing God. Can you imagine editing God, taking away something He said or adding something that He didn\u2019t say?\u00a0 Can you imagine the arrogance of that?\u00a0 It\u2019s like a five year old adding to or subtracting from core and key instructions from their own parents when a five year old is in no position to do that.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we have done with God and His truth and His Word.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why the Bible begins and ends with a very stern warning against that, and everything in between those two book ends is the description of the consequences that humans experience when we do that very thing.\n\nAnd so what you see in Revelation 22:18-19 is something that\u2019s very, very severe.\u00a0 Backing up just for a minute, it says, \u00a0\u201cIf anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book,\u00a0 [19] and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.\u201d\u00a0 Now this prohibition and this command is so severe that many people will use this to deny the security of the Christian, eternal security, which we believe that the Bible teaches \u201conce saved always saved.\u201d\u00a0 Yet what if I as a Christian mishandle God\u2019s Word, or don\u2019t honor God\u2019s Word properly, knowingly or unknowingly is my salvation somehow jeopardized?\n\nAnd so many people teach a doctrine of insecurity that once a person gets saved you\u2019re on probation and you really don\u2019t know if you\u2019re going to heaven or not because God can rip the carpet out from under you at will.\u00a0 And they haven\u2019t any proof text that they try to use; many of those texts we\u2019ve tried to deal with in the soteriology or doctrine of salvation studies that we have done here about a year or two or three years ago which you can find on our Sermon Archives.\u00a0 And when you go through those blessing you\u2019ll learn that this becomes one of the passages that people use to say oh, my goodness, you can lose your salvation, because God says if you add or subtract you have no part in the eternal city or the tree of life and the very plagues of the book which are very severe will be added to you.\n\nBut what I want you to see is the context of Revelation 22:18-19.\u00a0 Verses 18 and 19 come after verse 17. Verse 17 is what we covered in our prior sermon together where God switches the subject and He\u2019s speaking to unbelievers.\u00a0 How do I know He\u2019s speaking to unbelievers?\u00a0 Because of the context of verses 18 and 19 which is laid out before us in verse 17.\u00a0 You remember what verse 17 said?\u00a0 \u201cThe Spirit and the bride say, \u201cCome.\u201d And let the one who hears say, \u201cCome.\u201d And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.\u201d\u00a0 Now that is an appeal there, very clearly, to unbelievers and yet the Book of Revelation was written to seven believing churches, we\u2019ve covered that.\u00a0 But here at the end of the book he switches subjects and makes a great appeal to the\u00a0 unsaved for them to come and receive the water of life.\u00a0 Obviously He\u2019s talking directly to people who have not yet experienced the water of life which in the Bible is always depicted as salvation.\n\nAnd so when He talks about verse 18-19 people adding and subtracting from the Word you have to put that into its proper context because He\u2019s dealing with unbelievers.\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about what unbelievers themselves actually do with God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 So I wouldn\u2019t take these verses as oh my goodness, I\u2019m going to sweat it out, maybe I somehow mistaught God\u2019s Word, mishandled God\u2019s Word, God is going to take away my part from the tree of life in the eternal city.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what He\u2019s talking about because He\u2019s dealing with unbelievers here. It\u2019s an evangelistic appeal and He\u2019s making that appeal He\u2019s giving the characteristics of what unbelievers are like.\n\nBeyond that as you continue to think about this it says very clearly there in verse 18, if somebody adds or subtracts from the Bible the plagues which are written in this book will be added to Him.\u00a0 [Verse18, \u201ctestify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book.\u201d]\u00a0 Now what plagues are we talking about?\u00a0 The very severe plagues that we\u2019ve been studying as we\u2019ve been moving through the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 And this obviously becomes a reference to unbelievers because unbelievers or those who experience the plagues are those who are left behind at the rapture.\n\nSo the reference to the plagues, experiencing the plagues in the book, who is going to experience those plagues that are written in this book?\u00a0 It would be those who are unbelieving at the point of the rapture and then our thrust into the tribulation period and being to experience these plagues, and that becomes yet another proof as to why I believe verses 18 and 19 is speaking to\u00a0 unbelievers here.\u00a0 But we teach what is called pretribulationalism, which is the belief that at the point of the rapture everyone that\u2019s in faith alone in Christ alone will be supernaturally removed from the earth.\u00a0 You see it there at the very top of the screen depicted graphically or pictorially.\n\nSo who ae those left behind?\u00a0 Those left behind are unbelievers who will experience the plagues of this book.\u00a0 So all of this becomes evident as to why I don\u2019t think you should live in a state of fear of the Christians thinking they\u2019re on probation and God is going to rip salvation\u00a0 out from under you.\u00a0 He\u2019s not talking to believers here.\u00a0 He\u2019s talking to unbelievers, He\u2019s evangelized them in a prior verse and He talks about those left behind, unbelievers, at the point of the rapture through the use of His expression \u201cthe plagues of this book will be added unto you.\u201d\n\nA very helpful book, I highly recommend it to you, on the subject of eternal security is the book by Dennis M. Rokser entitled Shall Never Perish Forever<\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m going to quote just a little bit from this book this morning.\u00a0 But he writes concerning these verses, \u201cTo unbelievers to add to God\u2019s Word in this fashion, the Lord promises to \u2018add to him the plagues that are written in this book.\u2019 The plagues spoken of in the book of Revelation occur during that future period of God\u2019s judgment on the earth known as the Tribulation. If anyone reading Revelation accepts the invitation of verse 17 and becomes a believer in Christ prior to the Tribulation period, that person will experience the pretribulational Rapture of the saints (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) rather than the plagues of the Tribulation (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3). Therefore, the warning of Revelation 22:18 applies only to unbelievers.\u201d\u00a0 Let me say that again. \u00a0\u201cThe warning of Revelation 22:18 applies only to unbelievers.\u00a0 This is not a warning to believers to stay saved or to be rewarded for their perseverance.\u201d\u00a0 [Dennis Rokser, Shall Never Perish Forever, <\/em>p. 274]\n\nAnd we have to go into this because there\u2019s a lot of confusion out there related to how this particular verse is taught and if you don\u2019t understand it correctly it\u2019ll put you into a mindset of not eternal\u00a0 securities but insecurity.\u00a0 And if you live your life thinking God can rip the carpet out from under you at will then you\u2019re not going to have the joy of the Christian life and you\u2019re certainly not going to enjoy the assurance of salvation.\n\nDennis Rokser also says, \u201cVerses 18-19 follow with a grave warning to unbelievers who would add to or subtract from the words of this book. Either adding to or taking away from the Word of God is characteristic of unbelievers who cannot simply accept by faith what God says in His Word. When God speaks, the response of the believing heart is simply \u2018Amen.\u2019 But the unbeliever does not accept what God says at face value, and so he must change the Word to suit himself.\u201d\u00a0 [Dennis Rokser, Shall Never Perish Forever, <\/em>p. 273]\n\nIn other words, what\u2019s being described here is what unbelievers already do.\u00a0 They hear truth and yet they won\u2019t allow that truth to change their lives, which is the point of truth, and so they interpret truth through their own grid\u00a0 of unbelief and in the process what they end up doing is adding things God never said and subtracting things that God said.\u00a0 A parallel passage you can find in 2 Peter 3:16-17.\u00a0 Peter writes this: \u201cAnd also\u201d concerning Paul, \u201cin all his<\/em> letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do<\/em> also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.\u201d\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 They\u2019re twisting the Scriptures and they\u2019re doing so to their own destruction because the people that naturally will twist the Scriptures are people that were never saved to begin with.\n\nNow hear me on this, I\u2019m not saying a Christian can\u2019t make a mistake in teaching, certainly he (or she) can.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying that there are times in our lives as Christians where we sometimes try to deny what God says and quench the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 That can happen to a Christian but that\u2019s not what\u2019s being dealt with here.\u00a0 It\u2019s dealing with a state of mind of the unbeliever who does this habitually, who does this routinely.\u00a0 In fact, they are so caviler with the Word of God that they demonstrate themselves to be unbelievers simply by their unwillingness to submit to divine truth.\u00a0 That\u2019s really what the issue is here, submission!\n\nRomans 8:7-8, speaks of how the carnal mind does not submit to God nor can it do so.\u00a0 It speaks there of those who are controlled by the flesh or the sinful mind cannot please God.\u00a0 \u00a0[Romans 8:7-8, \u201cbecause the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so<\/em>, [8] \u00a0<\/sup>and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.\u201d]\u00a0 So an unbeliever their problem is they don\u2019t want to submit to God so when they hear something from God they twist the teachings that has come to them from God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s who\u2019s being dealt with here and they\u2019re being warned about this. And what\u2019s the solution?\u00a0 The solution is verse 17, just to get saved.\u00a0 [Verse 17, \u201c \u00a0<\/sup>You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness.\u201d]\n\nYou\u2019ll notice also here this word part.\u00a0 Revelation 22:19, \u201cIf anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part\u201d now that\u2019s the Greek noun meros<\/em>, \u201cwill take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 What does it mean \u201cwill take away his part\u201d?\u00a0 Well, in the Book of Revelation a part of something is a future experience that people are yet to partake in.\u00a0 It\u2019s used to describe believers and it\u2019s used to describe unbelievers.\u00a0 Revelation 20:6 of the first resurrection says, \u201cBlessed and holy is the one who has a part\u201d the same Greek noun meros<\/em>, \u201cin the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.\u201d [New King James Version.]\u00a0 There it\u2019s speaking of a future experience, in this case the resurrected body that the believer one day is destined to take part in.\n\nNotice that meros<\/em> is also used of unbelievers.\u00a0 Revelation 21:8 you\u2019ll recall says, \u201cBut for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part\u201d same Greek noun meros,<\/em> \u201cwill be<\/em> in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.\u201d So a part is a future experience that a person is yet to participate in.\u00a0 And when\u00a0 you look there at verse 19 where it says, \u201cwill take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city\u201d it\u2019s talking about the future experience of the believer, the future experience of the Christian.\u00a0 And the one who is twisting the Scripture because he\u2019s evidencing the fact that he is unsaved, will have no future experience in the eternal state, enjoying future experience tree of life and enjoying the Holy Spirit.\n\nAnd in this series we\u2019ve made reference to the eternal state; we have made reference to the tree of life that seems to be dispersed throughout the eternal city.\u00a0 We read about it in Revelation 22:2 where it says, \u201cin the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of<\/em> fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.\u201d\u00a0 The unbeliever has no future enjoyment of that tree of life; the believer does!\u00a0 But not so the unbeliever, they have no part or future experience with this tree of life.\u00a0 And the verse also says, and we used this slide, you might enjoy that animation where the New Jerusalem is descending to the earth.\u00a0 That was so neat, we\u2019ve got to watch that a second time, don\u2019t we?\n\nSo we learn from the Book of Revelation that there is an eternal city.\u00a0 I\u2019ve said in this series that that eternal city exists right now.\u00a0 Galatians 4:26 describes it through the present tense is.\u00a0 [Galatians 4:26, \u201cBut the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.\u201d\u00a0 And yet it\u2019s not fit to descend to the present earth because this earth has been corrupted by sin.\u00a0 It\u2019s waiting for a new heavens and a new earth, and then that holy city will be an appropriate fit on that new heavens and new earth.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s a wonderful promise that we are entitled to as Christians.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the Bible says \u201cFor our citizenship is\u201d where?\u00a0 It\u2019s in heaven.\u00a0 Philippians 3:20.\u00a0\u00a0 [\u201cFor our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;\u201d]\n\nAnd yet the unbeliever who is evidencing their unbelieving state because they\u2019ve never received the water of life and consequently they\u2019re taking Scripture and they\u2019re constantly twisting it because the natural mind does not submit God\u2019s Law nor can it do so.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have no future enjoyment with either the tree of life in the eternal state nor that eternal city which is destined to come down from heaven.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s the point that is being made here.\n\nThis issue of adding and subtracting from the Word of God is obviously a very serious issue; in fact, that is what characterizes the kingdom of the cults.\u00a0 Again, Dennis Rokser in his very good book puts it this way on this passage.\u00a0 \u201cA common characteristic of cults and religions that profess to be \u2018Christian\u2019 is that they invariably add other books, creeds, council decisions, or \u2018inspired\u2019 writings of their founder or leaders to the Bible, and they put these on a par with God\u2019s Word.\u201d\u00a0 [Dennis Rokser, Shall Never Perish Forever, <\/em>p. 274]\n\nAnd\u00a0 beloved, that\u2019s exactly the point!\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly what\u2019s being warned against here because the cults, not if they come to your door but when they come to your door, like the Mormons for example, will tell you that there\u2019s a revelation of Jesus in North America.\u00a0 They try to argue that\u2019s the stick of Joseph that\u2019s described in Genesis 37 merging with the other stick.\u00a0 It\u2019s a completely butchered out of context understanding of Ezekiel 37. But they will come to your door and they will try to convince you that what you have in your Bible is not quite enough,\u00a0 you need the other revelation of God, the manifestation of Jesus in North America.\u00a0 And so they want to add to the Bible The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great price,<\/em> The Doctrine of Covenants<\/em> and other such books.\n\nThe Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses --same thing.\u00a0 Roman Catholicism, why is it that you can\u2019t seem to see eye to eye with your Roman Catholic friends.\u00a0 Well, Roman Catholics are dealing with an auxiliary source of authority outside the Bible so to them authority comes from the Scripture, that\u2019s fine, but they also have all of the counsels of church history on equal par with the Word of God, they have the Pope that allegedly speaks ex cathedra <\/em>which means from the chair on equal with the Word of God.\u00a0 And so if you take your base of authority and expand it from these sixty-six books then obviously you\u2019re going to come to different conclusions theologically.\n\nAnd I\u2019m trying to explain why this addition and subtraction against the Word of God is something that\u00a0 always should get your antenna up as a Christian.\u00a0 It should always concern you when people are telling you that what you have in the Bible is not quite enough.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is truth has been once and for all delivered to the saints, Jude 3.\u00a0 [Jude 3, \u201cBeloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.\u201d]\n\nAnd what we have in the Bible, 2 Peter 1:3-4, 2 Timothy 3:17 is a completed sufficient revelation for all matters of faith and practice.\u00a0 [2 Peter 1:3-4, \u201cseeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. [4] For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the<\/em> divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.\u201d\u00a0 2 Timothy 3:17, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d]\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing to add to this book and certainly we don\u2019t want to be guilty of subtracting from it either.\n\nAnd by the way, my role as a pastor-teacher here at Sugar Land Bible Church is not to add to this book; I\u2019m trying to explain what\u2019s in the book but if I ever get to a point where we are adding to the book that\u2019s the time to tune us out and to find another ministry that will honor the Word of God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is very important because this is a common characteristic of false teacher.\u00a0 And consequently this is how we can test all things.\u00a0 There on the screen you see all of the verses I could think of which tell us as Christians not to turn our brains off but to screen everything we hear by God\u2019s Word because what we have in the Bible is sufficient, it is enough.\u00a0 We\u2019re not to add to it or subtract from it so if someone comes along and contradicts it you now have a base of authority by which\u00a0 you discern correct thinking from non-correct thinking, good from evil.\n\nYou might want to study sometime Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and Isaiah 8:19-20 all deal with that issue as does Galatians 1:8-9.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 13:1-5, \u201cThen we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. [2] But the LORD said to me, \u2018Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.\u2019 [3] \u201cSo the LORD our God delivered Og also, king of Bashan, with all his people into our hand, and we smote them until no survivor was left.\u00a0 [4] \u201cWe captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. [5] \u201cAll these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.\u201d\n\nIsaiah 8:19-20, \u201cWhen they say to you \u2018Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,\u2019 should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?\u00a0 [20] To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.\u201d\n\nGalatians 1:8-9, \u201cBut even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! [9] As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!\u201d]\n\nBut one of the ones on the list here is Acts 17:11 which speaks of the Bereans who \u201cwere more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word of God with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.\u201d\n\n1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, \u201cBut examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;\u201d\n\n1 John 4:1 says, \u201cBeloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits\u201d now how do you test them?\u00a0 You test them through a complete sufficient Revelation, \u201cto see whether they are from God, because\u201d notice, not a few but \u201cmany false teachers have gone out into the world.\u201d\n\nRevelation 2:2 Jesus commends the church at Ephesus for following this very practice.\u00a0 He says, \u201cI know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;\u201d\n\nThink of the deception people would be saved from if they were continually putting all things to the test.\u00a0 And the problem with your average Christian today is they really don\u2019t know that much about the Bible; they haven\u2019t read it, haven\u2019t investigated it.\u00a0 And so consequently anybody who comes along with the three G\u2019s, Good looks, the Gift of Gab, and a Guitar, not that I have anything against guitars.\u00a0 But there\u2019s so much God-talk today, spiritual-talk today from people a lot of the things coming out of the people\u2019s mouths don\u2019t have a shred of support in the Bible and people follow these people in mass and they find themselves in a place of deception.\u00a0 And since we have a sufficient canon of Scripture, a measuring read if you will, and since we\u2019re not to add or subtract from it and since it\u2019s enough and sufficient we ought to be screening everything we hear through the lens of God\u2019s Word, including the things that we\u2019re saying here.\n\nBut the cults don\u2019t do that, they\u2019re always adding to the Bible.\u00a0 In fact, this is what the rallying cry was of Martin Luther in the Protestant Reformation.\u00a0 He talked about this\u00a0 Latin word, sola<\/em>, which means by itself. And had Luther and the Protestant Reformers not insisted upon that word they could have gotten along hunky-dory with the Roman Catholic establishment.\u00a0 But they insisted on \u201calone\u201d and this has to do with your base of authority.\u00a0\u00a0 Sola Christus<\/em>, Christ alone, Sola Fide<\/em>, faith alone, Sola Gratia<\/em>, grace alone, Sola Scriptura<\/em>, which is what we\u2019re talking about here, Scripture alone.\u00a0 And Sola Deo Gloria<\/em>, the glory of God alone.\n\nA cult will add something to each of these Solas, faith is nice but it\u2019s faith plus works to get you justified before God.\u00a0 Oh, your Bible is nice but you also need these auxiliary sources of authority outside the text, and on and on we could go.\u00a0 And again, it\u2019s taking the simple and making it complicated.\u00a0 Paul said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11:3, \u201cBut I fear lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 We spoke of this earlier, the easiest command they had in human history was the pre-fall command not to eat from the tree of knowledge and how the serpent came in and took what was so simple and made it complicated.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the kingdom of the cults do; they take what is easy to\u00a0 understand with the solas and they complicate it and they move you outside the authority of the Bible and they will move you into a works oriented method of salvation which is not how people get saved.\n\nSo what you have there in verses 18 and 19 is a part of the epilogue giving us not just a word of comfort but a word of warning concerning not adding to or subtracting from this book.\n\nAnd now we come to the final two verses in the Book of Revelation, words of benediction.\u00a0 And notice what it says there in verses 20 and 21.\u00a0 \u201cHe who testifies to these things says \u201cYes, I am coming quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 [21] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all men. Amen.\u201d Notice this word \u201cquickly,\u201d \u201cYes, I am coming quickly,\u201d it\u2019s that Greek word tacos<\/em>, where we get the word tachometer, which measures speed.\n\nAnd as we have mentioned before there is a repetition of words like this typically congregated at the beginning of the Book of Revelation and at the end of the Book of Revelation teaching that Jesus Christ is coming back quickly, sometimes what\u2019s described as His coming is near or at hand.\u00a0 Some-times it\u2019s described as it\u2019s about to happen.\u00a0 So tacos is a word for quickly, engos<\/em> is the word for near or at hand, and mello<\/em> is the word of about to or on the point of.\u00a0 And of course people misunderstand this and they say well He had to come back in the first century.\u00a0 That\u2019s true.\n\nAnd consequently we have today growing in ascendency and influence the doctrine of preterism which is a Latin word that means past or gone by and these people think the Book of Revelation, most of which (some say all) has already been fulfilled in the first century.\u00a0 They don\u2019t understand this is a futuristic vision.\u00a0 The way R. C. Sproul taught this doctrine very aggressively until his dying day and it\u2019s not a matter of mishearing something he said on media, he\u2019s got a full length book on the topic, the title of is The Last Days According to Jesus<\/em>.\u00a0 The doctrine of preterism.\u00a0 Largely build through these so-called time texts that you find at the beginning of the book and the end of the book of Revelation, and yet what you have to do to make that system work is you have to take Revelation\u2019s content and you have to dramatically spiritualize it, allegorize it, in my opinion take away from it, something we were just warned against, to make it fit some kind of local event back in the first century.\n\nAnd there\u2019s no reason to do that.\u00a0 When it says \u201cI\u2019m coming quickly\u201d it\u2019s completely possible to understand \u201cquickly\u201d as an adverb; an adverb modifies a verb.\u00a0 In English it typically ends in ly, in other words when Jesus is coming back He\u2019s coming back fast.\u00a0 In fact, when Jesus comes back He\u2019s coming back so fast there might not be time to repent.\u00a0 That\u2019s why there\u2019s the warning in verse 17 about come now and receive the water of life.\u00a0 And don\u2019t be like a Scripture clipping unbeliever because once the second coming of Christ happens it\u2019s going to happen so quickly, describing as an adverb how He\u2019s coming that repentance no longer will be an option.\n\nThat word tacos<\/em> can be used that way in Acts 22:18,\u00a0 leave \u201cJerusalem quickly\u201d same word, tacos<\/em>.\u00a0 [Acts 22:18, \u201cand I saw Him saying to me, \u2018Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 When you leave make sure you\u2019re moving fast in other words.\u00a0 And engess<\/em> and mello<\/em> either in Philippians 4:5, \u201cthe Lord is near\u201d or 1 Peter 5:1, \u201cand who will share in the glory about to be revealed,\u201d those are statements of imminence meaning that there is no prophetic time which has to transpire before the coming of Christ can take place. [Philippians 4:5, \u201c\u00a0<\/sup>Let your gentle spirit<\/em> be known to all men. The Lord is near.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a01 Peter 5:1, \u201cTherefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your<\/em> fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.\u201d]\n\nSo that\u2019s a much better way to understand these words\u00a0 rather than to understand them as somehow time expressions opening the door to the doctrine of preterism.\u00a0 So He says I\u2019m coming back quickly and you\u2019ll notice this word, \u201cAmen,\u201d and then you see it repeated at the very end there, verse 21, \u201cAmen.\u201d\u00a0 What does that even mean, \u201cAmen.\u201d\u00a0 It means it is certain.\u00a0 That\u2019s why sometimes when the preacher is preaching and someone will say Amen, they\u2019re saying it\u2019s certain.\u00a0\u00a0 Of when we\u2019re praying someone will conclude the prayer by saying \u201cAmen,\u201d in other words, it is certain.\u00a0 \u201cTruly, truly this is going to happen\u201d in other words. \u201cSurely this is going to happen.\u201d\n\nJesus is recorded as having used that word many times, as His words are recorded for us there in John 5:24. \u201cTruly, truly I say to you, he who hears my words and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death unto life.\u201d\u00a0 Notice Truly, Truly, Amen, Amen, and what it\u2019s revealing to us is this will happen exactly like it says, it WILL transpire exactly like\u00a0 it says.\u00a0 And what does John say?\u00a0 He who testifies to these sittings says, \u201cI am coming quickly, Amen.\u201d\u00a0 Now look at John here, \u201cCome Lord Jesus.\u201d\n\nNow think about everything that John has been shown in this book.\u00a0 Think about the horrific judgments that are described in this book.\u00a0 Think about how the judgments in this book, when you parallel Revelation 6 with Revelation 9 describe a destruction of half of the world\u2019s population.\u00a0 I mean, if John knows all of these things are coming wouldn\u2019t he sort of be inclined to say Oh Lord, not quite\u00a0 yet!\u00a0 I think a lot of us as Christians are like that, Oh Lord, we know it\u2019s coming but you know, I\u2019ve got my plans and just not quite\u00a0 yet.\u00a0 But John, who actually saw these things in vivid detail said Lord, just come, because John was able to see what these events will accomplish.\n\nWhat will they accomplish?\u00a0 They will accomplish.\u00a0 What will they accomplish?\u00a0 They will accomplish eviction of Satan from planet earth, the establishment of God\u2019s kingdom, the ushering in of the eternal state, and that latter section of Revelation is so compelling to John that he\u2019s able to sort of satisfy his emotions and feelings and thoughts concerning the horrors of that precedes and he\u2019s saying that end result is so powerful, that end result is so good, that end result is so glorious he just doesn\u2019t know what to say other than \u201cCome, Lord Jesus.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that the Book of Revelation, chapter 10:10 he was told, as part of his instructions, to consume a scroll. And it says this: \u00a0\u201c\u00a0<\/sup>I took the little book out of the angel\u2019s hand and ate it, and in my mouth\u201d now what he\u2019s consuming here is the message of God as we have taught, \u201cit was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, but my stomach was made bitter.\u201d\u00a0 Why was his stomach bitter?\u00a0 Because he sees these judgments. Why was it sweet?\u00a0 Because of what these judgments will produce, the eviction of Satan, the establishment of God\u2019s kingdom and the ushering in of the eternal state.\n\nAnd he measures the two and he says the sweetness is greater than the bitterness.\u00a0 The Lord, if this is the way it\u2019s got to be done then bring it on.\u00a0 It kind or reminds me of what our Lord prayed there in Gethsemane.\u00a0 If it\u2019s true Lord let this cup pass from me;\u201d\u00a0 But then Jesus sees what I think is going to be accomplished through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension.\u00a0 He says, \u201cnevertheless Lord, painful as it is, not My will be done but Thy will be done.\n\nLet me ask you a question; what kind of Christian are you?\u00a0 Is that your heart today?\u00a0 Are you saying \u201cCome, Lord Jesus.\u201d Or are we so sort of implanted in this world that Jesus has to bother us to the point where we don\u2019t want to see the upheaval and we say Lord, I know you\u2019re going to do this but not for a few years, I\u2019ve got my plans.\u00a0 May we be like John who just says Lord, come!\u00a0 And in fact, in 2 Timothy 4:8 this is why there\u2019s a special crown at the Bema Seat Judgment given to the Christian who is longing for the appearance of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 [2 Timothy 4:8, \u201cin the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.\u201d]\n\nWhy would God at the Bema Seat Judgment, the crown of righteousness award Christians who are longing for the appearing of Jesus Christ?\u00a0 For the simple reason that not every Christian is longing for that.\u00a0 Some sort of have a standoffish attitude, not today Lord.\u00a0 So for the one that says Lord, just come they are given this crown at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ.\n\nHe continues on in verse 21 and it says, \u201cThe grace of the Lord Jesus be with all men.\u00a0 Amen.\u201d\u00a0 I can\u2019t emphasize that word \u201cgrace\u201d enough; it\u2019s the Greek word charis<\/em> which means unmerited favor.\u00a0 Favor coming to a human being which they do not deserve, because let me tell you something folks, if you don\u2019t get grace you know what you get?\u00a0 You get the Great White\u00a0 Throne Judgment, where we\u2019re judged\u00a0 by our works, to determine the degree of punishment in hell.\u00a0 That\u2019s justice.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want justice from God.\u00a0 What I need from God is grace.\u00a0 I don\u2019t plan on standing before God one day citing why it\u2019s just for Him to let me into heaven, because I know that my self-righteousness doesn\u2019t add up at the end of the day.\u00a0 I plan on standing before God asking in the unmerited favor or grace of God.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice what it says here.\u00a0 Look at this, \u201cThe grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 In other words if you don\u2019t have Jesus you don\u2019t have grace.\n\nAs the way Walter Martin put it, If you don\u2019t have Jesus you get Moses, you\u2019re evaluated by the standard of the Law.\u00a0 You can\u2019t find the unmerited favor of God, favor coming to a person that\u2019s completely learned deserving in some other source, other than Jesus Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of like the ark, it\u2019s typified by the ark prior to the flood.\u00a0 The ark was a symbol that the judgment of God was coming to the flood waters but it was also made out of wood as an offer of grace.\u00a0 You went into the ark, you were spared from the judgment. And what a picture that is of our Savior crucified on wood 2,000 years ago as a symbol that judgment is coming.\u00a0 God can\u2019t wink at sin and turn the other way when sin occurs but He has provided grace or unmerited favor in Jesus Christ. And just like getting into the ark was necessary, appropriating by faith this wood that was crucified on is necessary to receive grace.\u00a0 We appropriate not the Word of course but what Jesus did on the wood, where He bore the wrath of a Holy God in our place.\n\nAnd I love how it ends here, \u201cThe grace of the Lord Jesus be with\u201d who?\u00a0 Just a select few, right?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that, it says \u201cwith all.\u201d \u00a0I am a very strong believer, I wish we had time to look at all those passages; you can look those up on your own, but I\u2019m a very strong believer in the universal atonement of Jesus.\u00a0 In other words, the death of Christ is not just for a select few as Calvinism (sadly) teaches, Five Point Calvinism.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just available for the elite.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just available for the apostles, it\u2019s not just available for a particular strand of Christianity, some kind of denomination.\u00a0 It\u2019s for the whole world.\n\nIn fact, 1 John 2:2 clearly says that Christ died for the whole world not just for us.\u00a0\u00a0 John says but \u201cthe whole world.\u00a0 [1 John 2:2, \u201cAnd He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of<\/em> the whole world.\u201d] \u00a0You\u2019ll see the same thing in \u00a01 Timothy 4:10 [\u201cFor it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.\u201d]\u00a0 A couple of passages that I underlined there which accentuates the universal atonement of Jesus Christ, perhaps stronger than the others, but all of them when you look at them teach this very important fact that the world is savable.\n\nEvery single human being on planet earth right now is savable.\u00a0 But they\u2019re not saved of course until they appropriate by faith what Jesus did for them.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we conclude all of our sermons here at Sugar Land Bible Church with an invitation to be saved.\u00a0 And I really don\u2019t know how to improve on the indication that\u2019s given in verse 17 so I just use that as our invitation.\u00a0 \u201cThe Spirit and the bride say \u201cCome. And let the one who hears say, \u201cCome.\u201d And let the one who is thirsty come; and \u00a0let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.\u201d\u00a0 The invitation is \u201cCome.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s without cost meaning you have to receive it as a gift.\u00a0 And the only way you can receive a gift from God is by faith alone.\u00a0 Good works, good intentions, trying harder, won\u2019t get us anywhere with God.\u00a0 But receiving as a gift what He has done will get you the grace that you need to stand as a mere sinner before a holy God.\u00a0 And usually I say if there\u2019s anybody that needs help with this I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Obviously I can\u2019t do that today because I\u2019m in an empty building but we hope and trust that many people are watching online.\u00a0 And if\u00a0 you have any ambiguity about\u00a0 your salvation send us an e-mail, would you?\u00a0 Put a comment there on Facebook or\u00a0 You Tube or whatever it is you\u2019re watching and let us help you with salvation.\n\nAnd you really don\u2019t need our help when you think about it because it\u2019s a message not from us to you; it\u2019s a message from God to man that the world is savable and by simply trusting, which means believing or relying upon what Jesus did for us 2,000 years ago we are made right before a Holy God.\u00a0 And that takes us to the end of our study on the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 The epilogue, words of comfort, words of warning and words of benediction.\u00a0 It\u2019s really hard for me to leave the book that I\u2019ve been studying for so long trying to teach it.\u00a0\u00a0 You sort of feel like you\u2019re saying goodbye to a close friend. But I hope that you keep the Book of Revelation close by you as you study it on your own and grow in the grace and the riches of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nA lot of people have been asking what I plan on teaching next, as I mentioned before I hoped that the rapture would occur first, but I\u2019m still here and\u00a0 you\u2019re still here so that means the teaching ministry of Sugar Land Bible Church will continue.\u00a0 And so since we\u2019re all kind of living in a troubled time right now being cooped\u00a0 up in our homes with this corona virus it\u2019s so easy for the Christian to not walk in joy.\u00a0 And so consequently I thought what we\u2019ll do is take a shot at maybe a smaller book that will minister to people in the midst of this current crisis, how to walk in joy despite negative circumstances and so that\u2019s a hint to all of us that we\u2019re going to be moving into the Book of Philippians over the next few weeks as we (as Christians) study that verse by verse and in the midst of adversity follow the specific instructions that the Apostle Paul gives us for how to have joy in the midst of adversity.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll be starting the Book of Philippians next week.\n\nWell, we went through a benediction today and here\u2019s our benediction, number 6, verses 24 and 26.\u00a0 May the Lord bless you and keep you.\u00a0 May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.\u00a0 May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.\u00a0 God bless you.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t