{"id":19024,"date":"2020-03-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-01T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-73-how-to-be-blessed\/"},"modified":"2022-02-16T10:01:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T16:01:15","slug":"revelation-73-how-to-be-blessed","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-73-how-to-be-blessed\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 73 – How to be Blessed"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19024","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 73 - How to be Blessed","sermon_date":"20200301","sermon_month":"03","sermon_year":"2020","sermon_notes":7566,"sermon_slides":7567,"sermon_mp3":20561,"sermon_id":"32202320126471","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"22:6-10","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Andy Woods\r\n\r\nHow to be Blessed, Revelation 22:6-10\r\n\r\nLesson 73\r\n\r\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Happy March to everybody!\u00a0 I\u2019m still not signing my checks right; I\u2019m still signing them 2019, and it\u2019s already March! \u00a0But I\u2019ll catch up eventually.\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles this morning, if we could, and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 22 looking at verses 6-17 (maybe, probably not).\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is \u201cHow to be Blessed.\u201d\u00a0 Is there anybody in here that does not want to be blessed?\u00a0 Can you put your hand up?\u00a0 We all want to be blessed, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 \u00a0And unfortunately, a lot of times you turn on so-called Christian television, and they\u2019ll tell you how to be blessed. It usually relates to sending money to their ministry.\u00a0 But you know, to be blessed in God is pretty simple.\u00a0 We have actually a direct word on it from the Lord here in our passage.\r\n\r\nWe continue on in our study through the Book of Revelation, having actually finished the vision that John saw, the things he saw before the tribulation, during the tribulation, after the tribulation. And so all of that is now past.\u00a0 When we get to Revelation 21 and 22 we see three things: the new heavens and new earth--check, we studied that.\u00a0 The new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven--check, we studied that.\u00a0 And what we\u2019re left with here is what\u2019s called the epilogue; there\u2019s got to be an epilogue because chapter 1, verses 1-8, if you can remember that far back, was a prologue.\u00a0 A prologue kind of introduces the book; the epilogue just sort of summarizes and takes us to the end of the book.\r\n\r\nAnd so, we can take this epilogue, verses 6-21, and we can divide it into three parts: words of comfort (verses 6-17), words of warning (verses 18-19), and then there\u2019s (just like we have at the end of our services) a benediction. You\u2019ve got a little benediction there in verses 20-21.\r\n\r\nNotice these words of comfort.\u00a0 There are several things, actually, to talk about here, so we may not make it through verse 17 today.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll notice first of all the fact that John is reminded that these are faithful words.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, Revelation 22 and verse 6, \u201cAnd he said to me, \u2018These words are faithful and true\u2019; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.\u201d\u00a0 The first part there of verse 7, \u201cAnd behold, I am coming quickly.\u201d\r\n\r\nJohn, at this point, has received this vision on the island of Patmos of this global apocalypse that\u2019s on the horizon, resulting in the deposing of Satan\u2019s kingdom and the establishment of God\u2019s kingdom on the earth.\u00a0 Probably the whole thing, seeing all of this in a vision, has overwhelmed him.\u00a0 He probably thought to himself, like many of us do as we read this book, I mean, are these things really going to happen?\u00a0 Or is it just sort of like a Star Trek, science fiction kind of thing?\r\n\r\nAnd to counteract those thoughts, there is this exhortation or this reminder that these words are \u201cfaithful and true.\u201d Everything that God says in this book is going to happen exactly like it says.\u00a0 Of course, Revelation 19:9 says the same thing,\u201d These are the true words of God.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 19:9, \u201cThen he said to me, \u201cWrite, \u2018Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.\u2019\u201d And he said to me, \u201cThese are true words of God.\u201d\r\n\r\nRevelation 21:5 said the same thing. \u201cThese words are faithful and true.\u201d\u00a0 How could they not be \u201cfaithful and true\u201d when they come from Jesus Christ, who is the quintessential description of what is \u201cfaithful and true.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 21:5, \u201cAnd He who sits on the throne said, \u201cBehold, I am making all things new.\u201d And He said, \u201cWrite, for these words are faithful and true.\u201d]\r\n\r\nWe know from Revelation 19:11 that Jesus is described as faithful and true.\u00a0 [Revelation 19:11, \u201cAnd I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is<\/em> called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.\u201d]\u00a0 So, everything He says--God cannot lie--must be \u201cfaithful and true\u201d as well.\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019ve been tracking with us on Wednesday nights (I would encourage you to come out for that Bible study or at least try to track with us via live streaming, internet, etc.), we came to 2 Peter 1:19, (studying 2 Peter on Wednesday nights). \u00a0Peter writes this: \u201cSo<\/em> we have the prophetic word made<\/em> more sure, [to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.\u201d]\u00a0 \u201cMade more sure to what?\u00a0 Well, in context he\u2019s talking about eyewitness testimony. Testimony as an eye witness is the most powerful testimony you can introduce in a court of law.\r\n\r\nAnd Peter says \u201cthe prophetic word\u201d is \u201cmore sure\u201d that even eyewitness testimony, and we would do well to pay attention to it because it functions as a lamp shining in a dark place.\u00a0 It gives us hope in a hopeless age, reminding us that these things are going to happen. Everything God spoke, everything God says, will materialize just as He said it would.\u00a0 And right now, our faith is being tested because we live in a dark place, in a dark world. And yet we\u2019re reminded in the Scripture that things that are happening today, as dark as they are, are just temporary.\u00a0 The morning star, we\u2019ll talk about that a little bit later as time permits, is destined to arise.\r\n\r\nHe goes on and he talks after reminding us about His faithful words he talks about the fact that Jesus Christ is coming back soon.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice what it says there in verse 6, \u201cand the LORD, the God of the Spirits of the prophets.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 22:6, \u201cAnd he said to me, \u201cThese words are faithful and true\u201d; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.\u201d]\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s interesting to get into details about prophecy--and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that--but it\u2019s easy to get your eyes off of who the prophecy is about.\u00a0 It\u2019s about Jesus Christ.\u00a0 In fact, we\u2019re reminded here in verse 6 that the Lord God \u201cis the God of the spirits of the prophets.\u201d\u00a0 If you\u2019re studying prophecy and you miss Jesus, you\u2019ve missed the point of prophecy.\u00a0 Revelation 19:10 says, \u201cFor the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.\u201d\u00a0 He is the point, He is the one who is going to bring a great conclusion, a great climax, a great summation, if you will, to our world.\u00a0 And He obviously wants us to know about this because it says there in verse 6 that He \u201csent His angel to show His bondservants the things which must soon take place.\u201d\u00a0 As we have studied going through the book of Revelation, there\u2019s an actual chain of communication here.\r\n\r\nNow we\u2019ve all played the telephone game, haven\u2019t we?\u00a0 [It\u2019s] where one person whispers one thing in someone\u2019s ear, and then that person whispers what they think they heard into the next person\u2019s ear, and you go all the way down the line and the guy at the end says here\u2019s what the message is. And we all get a big laugh because that message is totally different than what was originally said.\u00a0 I mean, how do we know this is not the telephone game?\u00a0 How do we know this is an actual transmission of what God says?\u00a0 Because the chain of communication, Revelation 1, has been established for us.\u00a0 The message was from the Father to the Son, then to an angel, then to John, then into a book to a reader or a preacher of various churches in Asia Minor, then to the listener or those in the congregation of those seven churches.\r\n\r\nAnd so, we know that this is true because John got this from an angel.\u00a0 An angel got this from Jesus and Jesus got it from the Father.\u00a0 Now this is going to get John into some trouble. It has gotten him into some trouble and will get him into some trouble (as we will see a little bit later) where John is so enthralled by this vision that he just worships the entity that gave him the vision\u2026 the angel!\u00a0\u00a0 When in reality the angel is just a messenger; that\u2019s what the word angel means, an angelos<\/em>, a messenger.\u00a0 We ought to be worshipping Jesus, the source of the vision, not a mere messenger of the angel.\u00a0 There is a human weakness in people wanting to worship the instrument God uses rather than God Himself.\u00a0 More on that in just a little bit.\r\n\r\nBut why was this information given to John?\u00a0 Why is it given to us?\u00a0 Why do I have the privilege? Why do you have the privilege of reading this book and knowing the future?\u00a0 Well, if you look at verse 6 it says \u201cto show his bondservant the things which must soon take place.\u201d\u00a0 One of the things to understand is we are bondservants of the Lord.\u00a0 The Greek word for bondservant is doulos,<\/em> a common servant.\u00a0 The apostles, when they introduced themselves say things like this in their various writings.\u00a0 2 Peter 1:1, \u201cSimon Peter<\/strong>, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Chris\u2026.\u201d \u00a0Even before being an apostle, I\u2019m a bondservant, or I\u2019m a slave.\u00a0 A bondservant doesn\u2019t exist to execute his own will; he exists or she exists to execute the will of their master. In this case the Lord Jesus Christ is our master.\r\n\r\nYou know, it\u2019s interesting in modern day Christianity when people promote their ministries or promote their resumes, they talk about themselves a lot.\u00a0 These are the degrees I have; this is the experience that I have; these are the successes I\u2019ve had.\u00a0 They sometimes tout the sizes of their churches, and sometimes the number is a little exaggerated.\u00a0 We call that evangelistically speaking. And it\u2019s interesting how Peter doesn\u2019t do anything like that.\u00a0 Even before he touts the credential of an apostle he just says I\u2019m a bondservant, I\u2019m a slave.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how we need to look at ourselves.\u00a0 We\u2019re not here to execute our own will; we\u2019re here to execute the will of God.\r\n\r\nVerse 3, last week we saw that the bondservant (that\u2019s us, doulos) will be in the eternal state in the New Jerusalem, worshipping (verse 3), serving (verse 3), reigning (verse 5).\u00a0 That is sort of like an oxymoron when you think about it.\u00a0 How can you serve as a bondservant and reign?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t those two ideas that contradict each other?\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of like saying black white top, jumbo shrimp, Microsoft works, government intelligence, helpful service\u2014these kinds of things.\u00a0 And so, we take this service as a bondservant has nothing to do with reigning; reigning has nothing to do with service. But we\u2019re reminded of the words of Christ. He says if you want to be the greatest, you have to become the greatest what?\u00a0 The greatest servant.\r\n\r\nBeing a bondservant of the Lord has its privileges.\u00a0 And one of those privileges is knowledge.\u00a0 When you become a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ\u2026Now I\u2019m not talking about salvation; salvation is by faith alone through Christ alone, by grace alone.\u00a0 Down at the end of verse 17 it is drinking from the water of life without cost.\u00a0 [Revelation 22:17, \u201c\u2026 let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.\u201d]\u00a0 What I\u2019m talking about here is the Christian who\u2019s regenerated by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit starts to tap you on the shoulder and say, well, this needs to change in your life, and this needs to change in your life, and this needs to change.\u00a0 And we say to the Lord, well Lord, I don\u2019t know how this sin pattern or this bad habit is going to be broken, but You\u2019re going to have to help me to do it.\u00a0 And you start to appropriate moment by moment by faith to divine resources that God has given us for growth.\u00a0 And you start to take steps of obedience towards the Lord Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\nNow you\u2019re no longer just a believer who\u2019s got their fire insurance paid up, but now you\u2019re moving in the direction of discipleship.\u00a0 You\u2019re moving in the direction of being a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 You\u2019re coming to a point in your life where you\u2019re saying my will and my ambitions and my desires are really not the most important thing.\u00a0 The most important thing is the ambitions and the desires of my commanding officer.\u00a0 You exist to execute the will of somebody else, in this case the Lord.\u00a0 Now you\u2019re becoming a bondservant and as you become a bondservant what you learn is that has privileges.\u00a0 One of the privileges that starts to happen to a person moving in that direction is they start to see things and they start to understand things that they didn\u2019t understand last week, last month, last year, last decade.\r\n\r\nBecause if you look very carefully at verse 6 the Lord sent His angel to show His bondservant \u201cthe things which will take place.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 1:19, \u201cTherefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0You start to walk with the Lord and you start to understand things that you didn\u2019t understand before.\u00a0 Amos 3:7 says this, \u201cSurely the Lord GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets.\u201d\u00a0 John 15:15, Jesus said to eleven saved men in the Upper Room, \u201cNo longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting how as we begin to obey the Lord, we graduate from being just a believer to being a friend of the Lord, where the Lord actually begins to make known things to us that we didn\u2019t know before.\r\n\r\nCan I ask you a question, and I have to ask myself the same question any time, has my Christianity just sort of plateaued out?\u00a0 I mean, is there no new revelation, no new insights, no new excitement about the things of the Lord? I just come and go, and it\u2019s just the same week after week after week after week.\u00a0 May I just say to you that that could easily be happening in our lives and it doesn\u2019t relate to intelligence, it doesn\u2019t relate to a lack of study time (although study time is very important).\u00a0 It relates to obedience; there are things that we do in disobedience as Christians that short-circuit the illumination process.\r\n\r\nWe learn in the Bible that God is in the business of disclosing things, illuminating things to us as we move out into being a bondservant or a doulos,<\/em> or a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that\u2019s why we\u2019re told here in verse 6 that this entire vision was given, not just to the casual person, or the casual Christian, or sort of the cafeteria Christian, but to the bondservant as their mind of bondservant is now enlightened in a way that it would not be enlightened other times.\r\n\r\nBeing a servant has its benefits, not the least of which is ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ one day, but it\u2019s also walking in a greater understanding of things.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s not brand new under\u00adstanding, maybe you\u2019ve known that verse for a very long time but now there\u2019s a deepening of it.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good sign if that\u2019s happening in your life because the Word is showing you more and more things and you\u2019re walking out the walk of a bondservant.\r\n\r\nHe says there at the end of verse 6 and the beginning of verse 7, he\u2019s showing his bondservant \u201cthe things which must,\u201d not might, \u201cmust soon take place.\u201d And then he says, Jesus speaking in verse 7, \u201cand behold, I am coming quickly.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Now, we\u2019ve been spending just a little bit of time on this for the simple reason that the Book of Revelation has within it certain passages that make it sound as if this book had to have been fulfilled two thousand years ago.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019ll use words like \u201cquickly,\u201d which is the word tach\u00e9os<\/em>, where we get the word tachometer from, which measures speed.\u00a0 It will use words like near or at hand, which is the Greek word \u1f10\u03b3\u03b3\u03cd\u03c2 (eggus), and it will use words like about to, on the point of, which is the Greek word \u03c3\u03b7\u03bc\u03b5\u03af\u03bf (onmeio).\u00a0 And you\u2019ll see those words\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0mostly in Revelation 1 and Revelation 22.\r\n\r\nAnd on account of these words, many people think, well, the Book of Revelation is not dealing with something in the future; it\u2019s dealing with something in the past.\u00a0 Revelation 1:1 talks about \u201cthe things which must soon take place.\u201d Revelation 1:3 says \u201cthe time is near.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 1:1, \u201cThe Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it<\/em> by His angel to His bond-servant John.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 1:3, \u201cBlessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.\u201d]\r\n\r\nAnd it\u2019s because of verses like this that there is a movement today called preterism. Preterism was taught by the late R. C. Sproul, and essentially preterist is the Latin word for past, meaning the Book of Revelation already transpired.\u00a0 And R. C. Sproul was very careful in his articulation of this. He would say, well, I\u2019m a partial preterist, meaning I still believe Jesus is coming back but everything else in the book is in the past.\r\n\r\nThe problem is when you look at the passages that R. C. Sproul uses, [the words] shortly, quickly, near, at hand, about to, or on the point of, those don\u2019t just appear in Revelation 1, [but] they also appear in Revelation 22.\u00a0 And so, if you believe that Revelation 1, those verses indicate the Book of Revelation already was fulfilled, you can\u2019t be a partial preterist; you have to be a full preterist because the same words appear at the end of the book.\u00a0 And so, there\u2019s this little game that\u2019s played where they want to still hope for a return of Christ, and they have to do that or you\u2019re not even an orthodox Christian if you don\u2019t believe that.\u00a0 But they\u2019re inconsistent in their interpretation; everything else they say already happened, primarily arguing from these words\u2014shortly, quickly, near at hand, about to, or on the point of\u2014tachus enges<\/em> and [can\u2019t understand word, sounds like and no-oh].\r\n\r\nBut may I just say to you that there\u2019s a completely different way to understand those words.\u00a0 For example, taking that word tachus<\/em> just for a minute, it could be used as an adverb.\u00a0 You say oh no, he\u2019s going into seventh grade English.\u00a0 An adverb, what is that?\u00a0 An adverb modifies a verb; it typically ends in l-y; I ran quickly.\u00a0 Quickly is describing the verb how I ran, and in my case, I should say I ran slowly, but at least I\u2019m still running.\u00a0 But that\u2019s how tachus <\/em>is used.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice it\u2019s used sometimes to refer to something that has to happen chronologically fast, as in 1 Timothy 3:14, I have come to you soon.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also used as an adverb.\u00a0 Acts 22:18, leave Jerusalem \u201cquickly.\u201d\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 In other words, as you leave make sure you\u2019re moving fast.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s like when you\u2019re putting gas in your car, it wants your credit card, and it says \u201cremove card quickly.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s describing the speed in which the card comes out.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how tachus<\/em> is used, meaning that when these events start to take place\u2014and they will take place because these words are faithful and true\u2014it\u2019s going to be rapid fire.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to come upon the earth so fast and so quickly that the unbelievers are going to be as children of darkness; they\u2019re going to be caught completely off guard by these things.\r\n\r\nNow taking a look at some of those other words. \u00a0Engys<\/em> or Mell\u014d<\/em>, those words, and you can see it how it\u2019s used in Philippians 4:5, \u201cThe LORD is near,\u201d Mell\u014d<\/em>: \u201cand one who will share in the glory to be revealed.\u201d [1 Peter 5:1] Those are communicating imminency.\u00a0 You say, well, what does that mean?\u00a0 Imminency is the idea that there is no prophetic sign that must take place before these events will occur.\u00a0 They can occur at any moment; they can occur at any second.\u00a0 It\u2019s like taking a baseball, they used to have those plastic balls with Velcro sort of wrapped around them and you would take them and you would throw them up on the ceiling.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t know exactly when that baseball or that plastic ball is going to come down but it can come down at any second.\u00a0 It can some down at any moment.\u00a0 And that is what is communicated through Engys<\/em>; that is what is communicated through Mell\u014d<\/em>.\u00a0 [Mell\u014d: \u201cand one who will share in the glory to be revealed\u201d (1 Pet 5:1)\r\n\r\nAnd by the way, when these events happen, they\u2019re going to happen rapid fire.\u00a0 They\u2019re going to happen instantaneously.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s a very different definition than you\u2019re going to get from R. C. Sproul in his book, The Last Days According to Jesus<\/em>, where he tries to argue that these things mostly already happened back in the first century.\u00a0 That is not what the Book of Revelation is teaching.\u00a0 This is a futuristic prophecy and those so-called priming words don\u2019t chance that inter\u00adpretation if you understand what those words can mean.\r\n\r\nSo, we are told here that \u201cthese things\u201d are going to happen and they\u2019re going to happen soon; faithful words, Christ is coming soon.\u00a0 And then we see our third part here of our outline that there\u2019s a blessing for obedience.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we entitled this sermon How to be Blessed<\/em>. How do we get blessed exactly as God\u2019s people?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s no real secret to it; it\u2019s right there in verse 7.\r\n\r\nNotice what it says there in verse 7. \u201cAnd He said, \u2018Behold, I am coming quickly, Blessed is he who he who heeds,\u201d say \u201cheeds.\u201d Can you say that with me real loud?\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBlessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.\u201d You\u2019ll notice that the blessing comes from studying, not your favorite best-selling author, not your favorite lecturer, not your favorite You tube channel, not your favorite cable channel, but it comes from studying this Book.\u00a0 If you are not a student of this Book then you can\u2019t receive the blessing.\u00a0 This was spoken, not just at the end of the book but it\u2019s spoken at the beginning of the book, the same exact thing.\u00a0 Revelation 1:3, \u201cBlessed,\u201d the Greek word makario<\/em>s, \u201cis he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy\u201d and watch this, \u201cand\u201d what? \u201cheeds the things which are written in it for the time is near.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 22:7, \u201cAnd behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.\u201d \u00a0You put Revelation 22:7 together with Revelation 1:3 and you learn that the blessing comes to a person who is reading the Bible, in particular reading the Book of Revelation, and perhaps it\u2019s a setting where you\u2019re being taught this Book of Revelation\u2014so you\u2019re reading or you\u2019re hearing, or hopefully both, \u201cthe words of this prophecy.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnd then it goes on and it says there in verse 3 of Revelation 1 and in verse 7, it\u2019s not just a matter of reading and hearing, it\u2019s heeding or keeping, which is another way of saying obeying.\u00a0 [Revelation 3:1, \u201cTo the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: \u2018I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 3:7, \u201cAnd to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:\u201d]\u00a0 In fact, in Revelation 22 if you go down to verse 9, towards the end of verse 9 it talks about \u201cthose who heed\u201d same word, \u201cthe words of the prophecy of this book.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 22:9, \u201cBut<\/sup> he said to me, \u201cDo not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.\u201d\r\n\r\nHow is it that a person, as a Christian, becomes blessed?\u00a0 They begin to read this book, Revelation, hear this book, and you know what?\u00a0 They\u2019re not just a learner; they\u2019re not just someone with knowledge.\u00a0 Knowledge is good because you can\u2019t apply what you don\u2019t know.\u00a0 But God never gave knowledge as the last step; God gave knowledge as a first step.\u00a0 Knowledge has to be applied to life or it\u2019s of no value.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t take the knowledge that you\u2019ve gained and apply it to your daily life as the Holy Spirit convicts you of certain things and convicts me of certain things, what we learned earlier is that we\u2019re so stuck in the same understanding we had last month, and last year, even though it is a regular Bible study.\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s been a short-circuiting in the illumination process because based on the passages we saw earlier the insight comes to the bondservant.\u00a0 And if you want to be blessed in this life as a Christian, which we all do, then read the Book of Revelation, hear the Book of Revelation and beyond that heed the Book of Revelation.\r\n\r\nOne of the weaknesses of a Bible church, and I\u2019m very proud of the fact that we are a Bible church, but every kind of ministry has its pet weaknesses.\u00a0\u00a0 One of the weaknesses of a Bible church or a church that places a strong emphasis on Bible exposition and Bible teaching is people can receive a misunderstanding that their spiritual maturity is measured by how much they know.\u00a0 Can they pass the exam?\u00a0 Do they pass the Bible literacy test?\u00a0\u00a0 Do they understand the content?\u00a0 Now you know me well enough to know that those things are absolutely critical, but they are not the last step; they\u2019re a first step.\u00a0 Maturity comes from not just learning things about God, learning things about the Bible, but by listening to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit.\r\n\r\nWhen something is being taught in the Bible and the Holy Spirit says you know, this isn\u2019t right in your life over here, or you need to this over here.\u00a0 And then you say, well, Lord, I\u2019m not strong enough to do that or to turn away from that.\u00a0 And the Lord said well, I\u2019m strong enough and the resources are inside of you; now you take a faith step in obedience.\u00a0 Just like Peter, just step out on the water.\u00a0 And when that starts to happen in your life consistently, regularly, suddenly you watch your spiritual I.Q. go right off the chart because the Bible is very clear that He who is faithful with the little things can be trusted with what?\u00a0 A bigger thing. [Luke 16:10, \u201cHe who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.\u201d]\r\n\r\nSo how is the Lord supposed to trust you with more understanding when you haven\u2019t even been faithful to the limited understanding that you have?\u00a0 Well, pastor, I don\u2019t know everything there is to know about the Bible. \u00a0None of us do.\u00a0 But you know something.\u00a0 Have you been faithful to that single little thing that God has told you or given you to do?\u00a0\u00a0 And now you\u2019re moving into the walk of the disciples, now you\u2019re moving into the walk of a bondservant, and consequently, suddenly you\u2019re learning more and you know what\u2019s happening is makarios<\/em>\u2014you\u2019re being blessed.\r\n\r\nJohn 13:17, Jesus summed it up as well as it could be summed up.\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cIf you know these things, you are blessed if you\u2026\u201d what? \u201c\u2026do them.\u00b4\u201d The blessing doesn\u2019t come from knowing. Interesting that John is the one that recorded those words, John 13:17, and in his other books at the very end he says the exact same thing.\u00a0 James 1:22 says, \u201cBut prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers\u201d watch this, \u201cwho delude themselves.\u201d\u00a0 Why would they be deluding themselves?\u00a0 Because they\u2019re learning all of these facts and they\u2019re learning all of these figures and they\u2019re learning all of these different views and they think they\u2019re becoming more spiritual as a result.\u00a0 That\u2019s a delusion if knowledge is not applied as wisdom.\r\n\r\nAll the way through the Book of Revelation there have been seven beatitudes; we\u2019ve studied five so far, two to go, coming from the word \u201cblessed\u201d Makarios<\/em>. There\u2019s a blessing upon the reader and heeder of the Book of Revelation, Revelation 1:3. [Revelation 1:3, \u201cBlessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heeds the things which are written in it; for the time is near.\u201d]\r\n\r\nThere\u2019s a blessing upon the tribulation martyr, Revelation 14:13. [Revelation 14:13, \u201cAnd I heard a voice from heaven, saying, \u201cWrite, \u2018Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!\u2019\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d says the Spirit, \u201cso that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.\u201d]\r\n\r\nThere\u2019s a blessing upon the spiritually prepared, Revelation 16:15. [Revelation 16:15, \u201cBehold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.\u201d]\r\n\r\nThere\u2019s a blessing upon the marriage supper invitee, Revelation 19:9.\u00a0 [Revelation 19:9, \u201cThen he said to me, \u201cWrite, \u2018Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.\u2019\u201d And he said to me, \u201cThese are true words of God.\u201d]\r\n\r\nThere\u2019s a blessing on the one who participates in the first resurrection, Revelation 20:6. [Revelation 20:6, \u201cBlessed and holy is the one who has a part in 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]\r\n\r\nAnd now the list continues, there\u2019s a blessing upon the hearer, not just the reader, in fact, reading isn\u2019t even mentioned, it\u2019s on \u201cheeding\u201d the book.\u00a0 Thus, we\u2019ve entitled this sermon how to be blessed.\u00a0 If we think the road to spirituality is so complicated, because the church by and large has made it complicated, and yet it\u2019s not complicated at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s like you\u2019re a manager in an office or you\u2019re the owner of a business, and who do you entrust the company secrets to?\u00a0 Someone that\u2019s been on the job a week and has a very bad track record in that one week?\u00a0 Or someone that is has been with you for a long time, that has a demonstrated character of faithfulness? That\u2019s the person you entrust the secrets to.\u00a0 That\u2019s the person you promote.\u00a0 And it works the same way with the Lord.\u00a0 That\u2019s how to be blessed.\r\n\r\nWe move into verses 8 and 9 where we learn here that God is the only one that deserves to be worshipped because John is so overwhelmed at what he\u2019s seeing that he does a no-no.\u00a0 He worships the messenger rather than God.\u00a0 Notice if you will verses 8 and 9. \u201cI John\u2026\u201d Now John is important because he wrote five books.\u00a0 What are those books?\u00a0 The Gospel of John, First John, Second John, Third John and the Book of Revelation.\r\n\r\nIf you want to understand the Book of Revelation you have to understand a lot of the things John is saying, particularly in his other books, particularly the Gospel of John, \u201cI John am the one who heard and saw these things\u2026\u201d Now this is back in the first century on the island of Patmos, \u201c\u2026and when I heard and saw I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things.\u201d\u00a0 Whoops!\u00a0 Verse 9, \u201cBut he\u201d that\u2019s the angel, \u201csaid to me, \u2018do not do that, I am a fellow worker\u2019\u201d or \u201cservant of yours.\u201d Look at that. I\u2019m a bondservant, too, John. You\u2019re a bondservant; I\u2019m a bondservant. What are you worshipping me for? John is rebuked by this angel:\u00a0 \u201cBut he said to me, Do not do that for I am a fellow worker of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed\u201d look at that, \u201cthe words of this book. Worship God.\u201d Get up; I don\u2019t want to be worshiped. I want you to worship the Lord.\r\n\r\nAs we mentioned before, there is a chain of communication. John is the fourth one down there, so he worships the third one rather than where the worship should go, the second or the first in the chain.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s a problem.\u00a0 It\u2019s a problem no matter how you slice this because God is zealous for glory.\u00a0 And He deserves it, does He not? Because He\u2019s what?\u00a0 He\u2019s God!\r\n\r\nIsaiah 42:8, God says, \u201cI am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another,\u201d including angels, \u201cnor My praise to graven images.\u201d\u00a0 And a person puts himself in a very precarious position when they do, not like this angel, but receives that worship.\u00a0 You notice this angel just deflects the glory.\u00a0 A lot of people aren\u2019t like that; they receive the glory.\u00a0 I mean, gee, Lord, I was up late working on this sermon and I went to seminary to learn Greek and Hebrew. And you know Lord,\u00a0 You are so lucky to have me on your team, and where would you be without me?\u00a0 And God says I used a donkey in the Old Testament.\u00a0 [Laughter] And beyond that I can speak through a rock.\u00a0 Remember what Jesus said, if the disciples do not save me, I\u2019ll get the stone to do it.\u00a0 And we sort of delude ourselves into thinking that we\u2019re so indispensable to God when the reality of the situation is we\u2019re not indispensable to Him at all.\r\n\r\nWhy does God even use us?\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot like my daughter, very little, years back emptying the dish\u00adwasher, trying to train her young. And she was so little she would grab things in the dishwasher and she could barely reach up to the counter, and I thought to myself, you know, it would be so much easier if I just did the whole thing myself.\u00a0 But then as a parent you don\u2019t do the whole thing yourself because you realize you\u2019re depriving them of the opportunity of contributing to the household.\r\n\r\nWhy does God use any of us?\u00a0 Because He loves us so much He wants to give us the privilege\u2014not the right, the privilege\u2014of being used by Him to extend and expand His eternal purposes on the earth.\u00a0 And yet what happens many times is the vessel gets in the way and starts to receive some of the glory.\u00a0 Acts 12:21-23 says, \u201cOn an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began<\/em> delivering an address to them. [22]\u00a0<\/sup>The people kept\u2026\u201d in other words they kept doing this, \u201cThe people kept crying out, \u201cThe voice of a god and not of a man!\u201d\u00a0 Boy, there\u2019s some presidential candidates that this reminds me of.\u00a0 [Laughter] [23]\u00a0\u201c<\/sup>And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.\u00a0 You know, the Apostle Paul went out there on his first missionary journey into an area called Lystra in Southern Galatia.\u00a0 And what happened in Acts 14:8-18 is people started worshipping Paul.\r\n\r\nGod was using Paul, people were worshipping Paul.\u00a0 It says in verse 14, \u201cBut when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out [15]\u00a0<\/sup>and saying, \u201cMen, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to serve the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.\u201d\u00a0 In the generation gone by He permitted the nations to go their own way, yet He did not leave Himself without a witness.\u00a0 In fact, He gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.\u201d [18]\u00a0<\/sup>Even<\/em> saying these things, with difficulty they restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.\u201d\r\n\r\nBoy, we need people like that today.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need people that step into the limelight and assume that they did something that only God can do.\u00a0 You know what I used to do before services? \u00a0I used to look into the back and see how many people were coming in, and then finally the Holy Spirit said to my heart, why are you doing that?\u00a0 You don\u2019t have any control over it; just relax and enjoy yourself. It\u2019s a worship, not a show. I never called you to build the church. What I called you to do is to be faithful to what I\u2019ve given you today.\u00a0\u00a0 So now I sit up here like a stone face, and I don\u2019t talk to anybody. It\u2019s just straight forward. I don\u2019t have any control over who comes or who doesn\u2019t come, how big the parking lot is going to be, did the budget come in the way it used to come in, what are the offerings?\u00a0 I have ZERO control over any of it, and it took me probably at least ten years in ministry to figure that out.\u00a0 In fact, I would sit there, when I first came to this church, and I would look at all the financial reports. And I would say the offering went down that week, but then it went up this week, and maybe I didn\u2019t preach something good that week, but I preached something good the other week.\r\n\r\nAnd this is where being married to the right person helped me, because my wife sees me with all this financial stuff and she says \u201cwhat are you doing?\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cWell, I\u2019m looking at the financial report\u201d and dah, dah, dah, dah.\u00a0 And she said, \u201cWell, is that what Moses would do?\u201d\u00a0 I mean, would Moses sit there and say, well, you know?\u00a0 How about Paul, would he do that?\u00a0 What you need to do is to be faithful with what God has called you to do and leave the building of the church to Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\nBy the way, Jesus has been pretty good at building the church the last 2,000 years.\u00a0 Where is it that we think we can somehow contribute to what He\u2019s doing?\u00a0 And so we need people that just leave the projects to God and give God the glory which He deserves.\u00a0 By the way, it doesn\u2019t say in the Bible \u201cWell done thy good and successful servant.\u201d\u00a0 Did you notice that?\u00a0 It says, \u201cWell done thy good and\u201d WHAT? \u201cfaithful servant.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s rewarded.\u00a0 Be consistent, be faithful. What God needs are fat Christians.\u00a0 F\u2014Faithful. \u00a0A\u2014Available.\u00a0 T\u2014Teachable!\u00a0\u00a0 Is that you?\u00a0\u00a0 Faithful, Available, Teachable. Just simple servants of the Lord.\u00a0 Not boasting in ourselves, not taking credit for things that God is doing.\u00a0 And John apparently lost sight of that.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that John, at the end of his book of 1 John, chapter 5 and verse 21 writes these words: \u201cLittle children, guard yourselves from idols.\u201d\u00a0 What is an idol?\u00a0 An idol is anything that we worship instead of God.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting how you can learn something and you can articulate something and you can write something down, even under divine inspiration, and yet in the pressure of the moment you forget the whole concept.\u00a0 The very man who said, \u201cLittle children, guard yourself from idols\u201d became an idolater, right here in Revelation 22:8-9.\u00a0 [Revelation 22:8-9, \u201cI, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. [9] But he said to me, \u201cDo not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.\u201d For the testimony\r\n\r\nAnd if that weren\u2019t bad enough, he did the same thing, you might recall, in Revelation 19:10.\u00a0 He does it twice within the span of a few chapters.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThen I fell at his feet to worship him. But he\u201d that\u2019s the angel, \u201csaid to me, \u201cDo not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo, what do you do when people come up to you and say that was just the greatest sermon I\u2019ve ever heard and my whole life has been changed?\u00a0 Do you sort of say, well, it was pretty good actually.\u00a0 Or do you have something in mind that you do to deflect glory off of yourself.\u00a0 I have something I use, I just say \u201cWell, praise the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 Boy, great study in angelology.\u00a0 Praise the Lord, because it\u2019s not my material anyway; it\u2019s God\u2019s. And any gifting I have comes from God, and the Holy Spirit that makes it understandable comes from God.\u00a0 If God can use me as one little tiny microcosm in His universe to expand His truth it\u2019s not because He needs me or needs you; it\u2019s because He loves you and wants to use you in the place of privilege\u2014not right, privilege\u2014to expand His purposes on the earth.\r\n\r\nWe come here to the next point and here we learn that the message is to remain unsealed.\u00a0 Look at verse 10.\u00a0 \u201cAnd he said to me, \u201cDo not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Now you recall that we studied the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 Do you recall that?\u00a0 Daniel is the basement; the Book of Revelation is the ceiling. We studied both books back-to-back.\u00a0 I know this has been about a ten-year process but that was the logic of it.\u00a0 And you get to the end of the Book of Daniel, and it says the exact opposite.\u00a0 Daniel 12:4, \u201cBut as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.\u201d\u00a0 Daniel 12:8-9, \u201cAs for me I heard but could not understand, so I said LORD, what will be the outcome of these things.\u201d Daniel had profound visions of the future just like John did.\u00a0 \u201cGo your way\u201d Daniel, \u201cfor these things\u201d or \u201cthese words are concealed and sealed to the time of the end.\u201d\r\n\r\nDaniel, you\u2019ve done your job; you\u2019re going to rise in the resurrection. Don\u2019t worry about it; every-thing is on schedule.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t know what all this means?\u00a0 Close it up; seal it. You did your part, and now enjoy the rest of your life in Babylon, Persia, etc.\u00a0 Yet you get to the end of the Book of Revelation and it says the exact opposite.\u00a0 Revelation 22:10 once again, \u201cAnd he said to me, \u201cDo not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.\u201d\u00a0 Why is Daniel told to shut the whole thing and John is told to open it up?\u00a0 Well, it has to do with when Daniel received his vision six centuries before Christ.\u00a0 When did John receive his vision?\u00a0 He received it after the death, burial, resurrection, ascension of Christ, after the church age had started, and after God had disclosed everything that needed to be disclosed in what is called the New Testament canon.\r\n\r\nSo, Daniel, you\u2019ve got a jigsaw puzzle that has pieces missing.\u00a0 But John, because you have access to Daniel\u2019s writings and a completed Old Testament, now have a completed New Testament, you don\u2019t have a jigsaw puzzle box with pieces gone.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got something that Daniel didn\u2019t have.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got all the pieces so assemble the data. Put it together, just like you would assemble a jigsaw puzzle.\u00a0 And unseal it in the sense that proclaim it, teach it, don\u2019t be embarrassed by it.\u00a0 Shout it to the roof top because Jesus is coming soon.\r\n\r\nAnd may I just say to you that the current state of the evangelical church is completely and totally failing in this message, because how many churches are there in Sugar Land, how many churches are there in Fort Bend County, in greater Houston, that are teaching the Book of Revelation and doing it with any degree of depth? You can probably count them on one hand.\u00a0 In fact, I run into pastors who tell me this: \u201cI will never teach the Book of Revelation from my pulpit.\u201d\u00a0 Well, why is that, pastor?\u00a0 Well, it scares people.\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s supposed to scare us first of all.\u00a0 And it confuses people. Well, un-confuse it! Preach it; teach it; proclaim it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t hide it.\r\n\r\nYou know, you go back all the way to the time of Augustine and how he took the prophecies of the Bible and just spiritualized them out of existence.\u00a0 And so many churches are like that. They just won\u2019t talk about it; they won\u2019t teach it. They\u2019ll preach a part of the Bible but not the whole Bible.\u00a0 And consequently, they are going directly against the command of God here in verse 10, that the time is near, so don\u2019t be like Daniel and seal it up. Unseal it, proclaim it, and teach it.\r\n\r\nRick Warren in his Purpose Driven Church<\/em>, pages 285-286, says this: \u201cWhen the disciples wanted to talk about prophecy, Jesus quickly changed the subject to evangelism.\u201d\u00a0 No, He did not!\u00a0 When they wanted to talk about prophecy, He taught them openly about prophetic things. It\u2019s called the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 and 15.\u00a0 Jesus said, according to Rick Warren, the details of My return are none of your business.\u00a0 I\u2019ll give anybody a million dollars if they can find that verse for me.\u00a0 And, of course, if you\u2019re into Bible prophecy, you must be one of those crazy date-setters.\u00a0 Rick Warren says, you\u2019re \u201cspeculating on the exact timing of Christ\u2019s return\u2026\u201d No, we\u2019re not!\u00a0 No date has been given. The only thing I\u2019ve said is the events could start in the next split second\u2014imminency.\u00a0 The events could start before this sermon is over.\u00a0 Some of you may be praying for that to happen.\u00a0 If you\u2019re into Bible prophecy you\u2019re distracted. \u00a0Satan\u2026\u201d wow! We\u2019re going to bring Satan into this?\u00a0 \u201cSatan is using you.\u201d You\u2019re not serious about your mission and you\u2019re not even \u2018fit for the kingdom of God. \u201c\r\n\r\nThis is what passes today for a Christian best seller, in terms of its open and brazen attack on the systematic teaching of the Word of God, in particular Bible prophecy.\u00a0 Mark Dever of the Gospel Coalition says this: \u201c<\/strong>So if you\u2019re a pastor and you\u2019re listening to me,\u00a0and you understand me correctly if you think I\u2019m saying you are in sin\u2026<\/em><\/u>\u201d <\/em>Now, Dever says sin; Rick Warren says Satan\u2014the harshest terms you can imagine are being employed against people that want to learn the future.\u00a0 \u2026\u201cyou are in sin if you lead your congregation to have a statement of faith,<\/u><\/em>\u201d a doctrinal statement, that requires a particular millennial view<\/u>.<\/em>\u201d If you post your eschatology on your website, you\u2019re in sin. This isn\u2019t coming from humanists, atheists, evolutionists.\r\n\r\nThis is coming from the rank and file leadership within evangelical Christianity.\u00a0 I\u2019m not trying to come out and attack people; I\u2019m trying to get people to understand concerning how FAR we are from verse 10, where it says \u201cunseal it and teach it.\u201d\u00a0 Do you think that it\u2019s a sin to post your views of the future on your website?\u00a0 Then we here at Sugar Land Bible Church are the chief of all sinners, because we proudly say, number one, that we are pre-tribulational and premillennial.\u00a0 We\u2019re \u201cpre- pre!\u201d\u00a0 In fact, we\u2019re so pre pre, we don\u2019t even need to approach [can't understand word].\r\n\r\nAnd yet, we\u2019re told that simply putting it out there, identifying what your church believes in terms of eschatology, is a sin.\u00a0 You\u2019re unfit for the kingdom of God if you do that.\u00a0 You\u2019re distracted from your mission.\u00a0 You\u2019ve metamorphized into some sort of crazy date-setter.\u00a0 May God help us to understand what\u2019s going on and how, if there ever was a time to be talking about the end from God\u2019s perspective, this would be it.\u00a0 And you know what?\u00a0 The world out there wants an answer.\u00a0 The world, I\u2019ve noticed this, will give you a millimeter appearing when you can explain the future in a cogent way and tie current events into that future as disclosed by God.\u00a0 They want to hear that.\u00a0 And during a time when all of these signs are materializing all around us, the church wants to go silent and not unseal the great truth of God.\r\n\r\nFaithful words; Christ is coming soon; blessings for obedience; God deserves the worship; and unseal that prophecy\u2014because the day is coming when destinies are going to be [can't understand word].\u00a0 You remember Billy Graham\u2019s magazine, The Hour of Decision<\/em>, I think it was a radio program, some\u00adthing along those lines. Do you know the day is coming when people won\u2019t be able to make decisions anymore?\u00a0 We think there\u2019s always going to be an opportunity.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what verse 11 says, which we\u2019re out of time and can\u2019t get into.\u00a0 That\u2019s why God wants us to proclaim, because He wants people to know that the day of decision is now!\u00a0 The hour of decision is now!\r\n\r\nToday is the day of salvation because Jesus is coming soon.\u00a0 Do you believe that?\u00a0 So now why aren\u2019t you saved?\u00a0 I mean, if these things are as imminent as we think they are, why would you gamble on your future.\u00a0 Why not just trust Christ now?\u00a0 If the Spirit in any way is convicting you or any of us of our need to trust in Christ for salvation, the exhortation is to do it now.\u00a0 Jesus stepped out of eternity into time, as we celebrated at communion this morning, to pay a debt that we could never pay.\u00a0 And He simply asks us to believe or trust in Him.\u00a0 It\u2019s that simple.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter of joining a church, walking an aisle; it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you hear the gospel and you trust in that message and person and consequently your future becomes determined, the glorious future.\u00a0 By simply postponing it, acting like these things are never going to happen\u2014postponing the day of salvation is just gambling; that\u2019s what it is!\u00a0 Why would you gamble with your eternity?\u00a0 If the gospel is something that you want to receive and you need more explanation on it, I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\r\n\r\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for even these few verses that we spoke of today, verses 6-10 and what they reveal to us concerning the epilogue as the book is being summarized.\u00a0 Help us to take these things to heart for the time is at hand.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen!","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