It’s so good to be here together. If I’ve not mentioned, my name is Aaron, and I’m the preaching pastor here, and we really are grateful to have you with us today. So if you have a Bible with you, if you’d open up to the book of Revelation, which is the last book in the Bible, and today we’re going to be looking at the last passage in Revelation, the last passage of the scripture.
It’s Revelation 22, starting in verse 6 and all the way through 21, which ends it. And as you’re turning there, so one of my favorite pictures of the church in the Bible is that of a family. So we’re not just like people who just so happen to be together in the same room on a Sunday morning, but a church is a family where we know each other, where we read each other’s lives, where we serve each other, where we care about each other, where we eat together and do things like that together. And of all the weekends where I think I see that picture in our little church family here, I think this is the one I see it most clearly and I’m just most grateful for this weekend.
And so Good Friday, if you’re able to come, that was just really a sweet time for our church family to be together. Also Living Stone Korean Baptist Church and Shalom Christian Assembly joined us for that. The Easter Egg Hunt, that was wild, and so this is actually some of the remnants of the decorations they had at the Easter Egg Hunt. And so I’ve talked to a few people, I’d love to know how many man powers it takes to stuff all the eggs and put all the thousands of eggs out here for the kids to collect, in comparison to how many minutes it takes for the kids to pick up all the eggs. But it is so fun, so I love the Easter Egg Hunt, and so I’m thankful for everyone who helped out with that, and then the breakfast this morning, how fun was that? And I’m just really grateful for everyone who served, and I know some of you have served a lot, Dr. Betts and his musicians, they’re here Friday night, back again on Sunday, Uncle West and his crew, and was here helping set everything up, really all day yesterday, and some of them are back again this morning.
And so if you know people who have put in even extra time serving this weekend for us as a church family to have this event, please make sure you thank them for their service to us. So with all that being said, let me read the sacred text, and then I’m going to pray, ask for God’s blessing on our time, and then we’re going to work through the passage. Revelation 22, starting verse 6, this is what the Bible says.
6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Rev. 22:6-12, ESV
So that’s God’s word for us this morning, let’s pray.
Lord, we thank you for this word of prophecy found in your holy scripture. Lord, it is so good to be here together as family. Lord, I pray that you would bless the preaching of your word, that your spirit would do a work among us. Please help me to be a good communicator, please keep me from error. Please help the congregation to be good listeners, so indeed that they would hear and they would come to the call of Christ. We pray this all in his name, amen.
So on the first resurrection Sunday, the first Easter, when Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, after dying on the cross in the place of sinners, which he did just three days prior, you may remember there was a group of women who came to the tomb in which Jesus was buried, where they planned to go into the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus and to fill the tomb with spices. However, as you know, as they arrived at the tomb, much to their surprise, the large stone that sealed the tomb was rolled back, and sitting there was an angel. And this obviously was a great surprise to the women.
And as the women stood before the angel in fear and amazement, you may remember the angel spoke to them, spoke by giving to them an invitation, an invitation to come, to come inside the tomb to see that the body of Jesus was not there, the body of Jesus was not there because it was stolen by grave robbers, rather the body of Jesus was not there because our Lord has risen from the dead. So the invitation given by the angel to the women was to come, to come and see that the tomb is empty, and to come and to believe in Jesus Christ, to believe that indeed he is the promised Messiah, the one who would lead God’s people back into a relationship with God and into eternal life. And that invitation that the angel gave to the women, to come, to come and believe in Jesus, to believe that he was crucified and risen from the dead, is an invitation that actually continues to be present, that continues to be available for any and all who are seeking to come and to see that the tomb of Jesus is empty, to come and see that indeed he has risen from the dead, to come and see in ways that you’re believing that Jesus is the Christ, to come and see and believe that he is the one who gives eternal life to all who respond to his call to come.
And this invitation to come, to come and believe is actually at the heart of our passage today, this passage concerning eternal life, which as I mentioned is where the crucified and risen Christ is taking all of his people who respond to him by faith, who come to him. Before we work through the text of study, let me set a bit of the context. So if you’ve been with us the last several weeks of the church, you know we’ve had a short little sermon series here through the last few chapters of the book of Revelation, which is the last book of the Bible, which is a book that gives us details on that which is to come.
So in our text last week, we saw how that which is to come in eternal life will actually mirror that which once was, particularly mirror the story of creation and the garden of Eden. We’re in the garden of Eden, our first parents walked with God, where they lived in a perfect relationship with God, where everything in the garden was perfect. There was no sickness, there was no death, as our first parents were able to eat of the tree of life. However, if you’ve read the storyline of the Bible, you know that things did not stay perfect. Actually, you don’t even have to read the storyline of the Bible, you just look around, you know things are not perfect. And things are not perfect because our first parents actually rejected God’s good command, which is the command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And as our first parents rejected God’s good command, they sinned against God. They broke rank on what they were created to do, which is to obey and enjoy God forever. And as our first parents sinned, death entered into the world, along with the curse. And this is why we now live in a world that’s anything but perfect. As mankind sinned, not only did they bring death, not only did they bring in a curse, they also separated themselves from a holy God, and they were placed under His judgment. This is all very much tied to why Jesus Christ came.
Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the second member of the Blessed Trinity, came to man by becoming man. So according to God’s good eternal plan, Jesus Christ, the God-man, could live the life that we could never live, one without sin, only to die on the cross, where on the cross Jesus Christ was cursed as He died in the place of His people to take on the punishment of their sin, only to rise again from the dead on the third day. Through this death, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, by faith mankind can now find forgiveness of sin and be brought into a right relationship with God. And through this death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God is making all things new. Where in the eternal life that is to come, all the work of God will be fulfilled. As we looked at last week, back to the context, in the eternal life that is to come, it will mirror the garden.
It will be like a new Eden, where God and man will live in peace and in harmony with one another. Where mankind will once again be the heat of the tree of life. Where in the new Eden that is to come, there will be no more curse. Forever and ever there will be no sickness, there will be no death. Rather, there will only be love and joy and peace. That’s where we were a couple of weeks back in the first half of chapter 22.
This new Eden that is to come. Now today, on Easter Sunday, we’ll finish off this sermon series, as mentioned, by looking at the final verses of the Bible, which are verses grounded in the invitation to come. To come to faith in Jesus Christ. To come and find eternal life in Him. So as an intro, look back with me one last time in this short series, starting at verse six. As we look back, what I’m going to do, I’m just going to walk us right back through the passage I read.
So if you have a Bible, open, keep it open. I’m just going to walk through verse by verse. If you don’t have a Bible, they are scattered throughout the pews. So as we look back, verse six, read these words, and He said to me, with He being an angel, with the me in the text, with the angels talking to this, this was John, or the author of Revelation. Who was one of Jesus’ disciples, who was actually an eyewitness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in the context of the passage, you may remember the angel was talking to John, and as he was talking to John, he was actually taking John on a tour of eternity, which started in chapter 21.
In our text, verse six, what the angel said to John was something he actually said previously in chapter 21, verse five. In our text, John, these words are trustworthy and true. I mean, these words I’m giving to you, you can bank on these words. You can count on these words. These are trustworthy words, they are true words. These are words that will not fail.
And here, these words, these words we refer to the words that are about to come, which certainly is possible, but because this is the end of Revelation, and because this passage actually feels like a summary of the book of Revelation, where we see kind of throughout our passage today, John’s going to kind of circle back to the things we previously talked about. So it kind of feels like these words in this verse here, these words in this text that the angel’s talking about, this actually refers to all of the book of Revelation. It’s all trustworthy. It’s all true.
This is indeed what will take place. And these words are trustworthy, they’re true, because they come from God who cannot lie, which is what we see at the end of verse six. The end of verse six tells us that the Lord, the God of the spirit of the prophets, he sent his angel to show his servants all these words, all these things that must soon take place. Meaning, these words are not the angel’s words. These are God’s words that he gave to the angel to communicate to John, and to communicate to all those who serve God, which, by the way, includes all here today who serve God. Verse seven, at the heart of these true, trustworthy words, the heart of what soon must take place is this, behold, I am coming soon.
With the I here, this is the Lord, and friends, the Lord coming soon. This actually is the great summary of Revelation. This is the trustworthy and true word we must understand and believe, that the Lord is coming soon. This will soon take place.
Now, I’ve mentioned many times throughout our little study here of Revelation, the book of Revelation at times can be pretty difficult to understand, to interpret. It is hard to know at times what is to be read literally, what is to be read more symbolically or figuratively. It is hard and tricky at times to know the timeline of the events in Revelation. If the things that are written about these events have already taken place, or they’re still to come, and so my good scholars, good, strong Christians have come to different conclusions throughout church history on how to best understand and interpret Revelation, without trying to minimize the importance of trying to figure out all those details, in the end, this is really where Revelation is driving us. To behold, the Lord is coming soon. And because the Lord is coming soon, our text tells us, blessed is the one who keeps the words of prophecy of this book.
Now, I want you to hear something we actually talked about earlier in our study, particularly in chapter 19, when we worked through the marriage supper of the Lamb. So this phrase, blessed, it’s in our text today, blessed, came up in chapter 19. It says, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is supper, this is an incredible feast, this is a party that Jesus, the Lamb of God, will throw for his people for all eternity.
As I mentioned, the word blessed comes up multiple times in the book of Revelation, and it’s actually an important phrase that kind of helps form and shape the book of Revelation. So seven times, we see the word blessed in this book, including verse 7 and verse 14 of our text today. And this seven-fold blessing of Revelation is meant to show us perfection, a completeness of blessing that is on God’s people, people who keep the words of prophecy of this book, who seek to obey God’s word by holding fast to their confession of faith in Jesus Christ.
They are blessed by God, fully, eternally blessed by him. And here, let me remind you one last time, in this short sermon series, that when Revelation is written, this is a time of increased persecution for God’s people, and it seemed like some of them were at least entertaining the idea of maybe walking away from their faith, walking away from Jesus. I’m sure as they suffered for their faith, they didn’t feel blessed by God. So here in Revelation, this is written to help these suffering Christians to hold fast, to persevere in their faith. Throughout the book, God is reminding his people that if they are in Christ, they are fully blessed. And in the life that is to come, they will fully experience the true and trustworthy word of blessing that is on them.
I want to take your eyes there. As John heard these words from the angel, as John saw all that he saw on the tour of eternal life, the text tells us that John fell down, like he fell down at the feet of the tour guide angel, as an act of worship. You kind of get the sense that it’s almost like it’s too much for John to process, to understand. Like he’s overwhelmed by the gravity of it all. So all he felt that he could do was like fall on his face and worship. And in verse 9, you see the angel, he ain’t having it.
He was not accepting the worship of John. So he commanded John, he rebuked John by telling him, John, what are you doing? You must not do that. John, why would you worship me? I am simply a fellow servant, along with you, your brothers, the prophets, with all those who keep the words of this book. John, in the end, I am no different.
I am like you, a simple, humble servant. Get up. Don’t worship me. Worship God. He is the only one who is worthy of our worship, which by the way is also at the heart of the whole book of Revelation, which is very much tied to the reality that the Lord is coming quickly. It’s also at the heart of the call to persevere in the face of persecution.
We are to worship our God, who is always worthy of our worship. In fact, throughout Revelation, this is actually the dividing line of mankind. It’s actually right here. Where do we give our worship? We are all worshipers, but where do we give our worship? For those who worship the one true and living God, they will be welcomed into eternal life, where forever and ever they will live in joyful worship of our God.
For those who reject God, who give their worship to something less than God, Revelation is very clear. They will be banished from God’s loving presence and under His eternal judgment, which is part of the ongoing warning of Revelation, which we’ll get to more in just a bit. For us, in our text, throughout Revelation, this is the call to worship God. This is front and center.
This is the takeaway. This is the application that we are to have to worship God, which we have been designed to do, to worship our God and enjoy our God forever. So, again, as good, as important as it is to try to humbly understand all the details of Revelation and how the last things play out, you know, are they literal, are things going to be symbolic, what things fit into a timeline, how do they fit into a timeline? But friends, in the end, this is the application of this book to worship our God, who is worthy of our worship. This is the trustworthy and true words of this book. This is where they’re driving us to.
For us, if our hearts are not stoked by reading Revelation to worship God, somewhere along the lines, there’s a major disconnect. And somewhere along the lines, we’ve missed the forest for the trees. And if our hearts are not being stoked to worship our God, perhaps it’s because we’re actually lukewarm to the things of God, where we’ve abandoned our first love, which could be a real warning to us that maybe, maybe, if we have no longings to worship our God, maybe we’re not truly servants of God. Verse 10, And the angel said to John, John, do not seal up the words of prophecy of this book. Do not keep what you just received yourself. Write these things down so others may read them, including us here today.
Because John, for the time is near, this is going to continue adding to the urgency of this text, to the book of Revelation. That Jesus is coming soon, for the time, it’s near, in the text. John, as the time is near, let the evil do over. Still do evil. Let the filthy still be filthy. Let the righteous still do right.
Let the holy still do holy. This coincides with what I just mentioned in Revelation, how mankind is divided into two camps. Those who worship God, who are considered righteous and holy before God, because of their union with Jesus Christ. We stand in contrast to those who do not worship God, who in their hearts are still evil, filthy before God, because their hearts are still stained with sin. Verse 12 of our text, to keep adding to the urgency of this passage, the Lord declared again to make a point, a point that we can’t miss, overlook, undervalue. Verse 12, Behold, I am coming soon, and the Lord comes soon, we see that He declares that when He comes, He will come and He will bring recompense with Him, or bring wages or reward or that which is due with Him.
And He will bring that which is due to those, but He will repay each one for what they have done. This is here in this text, this is actually basically what Isaiah 40 tells us, how God made a similar promise to His people who were in exile, that one day He would bring them back into the land with reward. What God did in the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, the return of the exiles and the promised land, that’s a picture actually pointed us to this text here today, where one day God will bring His people who are strangers and exiles in this present life, this present land, into the eternal promised land that is to come, where they will be rewarded for their faith, for their perseverance in their faith. We also mention this verse here, this is another reference to Revelation, that just speaks to our future day of judgment that is to come, where we all will be judged, where we all will have to stand before the Lord to give an account of our lives. For those who have been with us in the study, remember in Revelation 20, all of us will be brought into the courtroom of God, where names in books will declare either our guilt or forgiveness before the judgment seat of God. For those who are trusting in themselves, trusting in their own deeds, their names are written in books based on what they have done, and they will be met with eternal judgment.
And that’s how the Lord will repay those who refuse to worship Him, who refuse to bow the knee before Him, He will actively turn them over into judgment. But for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, which are names of all those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the end they will be met with reward, the reward of eternal life, where all of their acts of worship that they gave to the Lamb in this present life will be honored forever in the life that is to come. Our text tells us the Lord promises to come with recompense. Our text, the reason why the Lord is able to do this, to judge, to come and give recompense, because what we see in verse 13 of our passage, it’s because He’s the Alpha and the Omega. He can do this because He is the one who is the first and the last, because He alone is the beginning and the end. This phrase here, I actually see this come up a few other places in Revelation, and these phrases throughout Revelation, this declares God to be the Sovereign One over all things, as all things were created by Him, all things created for Him, where all things happen according to His eternal plan, His eternal purpose, His eternal decree, as all things happen for His eternal glory.
Verse 14, the last of the sevenfold blessings, Revelation that I just mentioned to you, says this, blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they might have the right to the tree of life, that they may enter the city by the gates, now the washing of the robes, this is a picture of purity, forgiveness, righteousness, holiness, as mentioned in the sermon, this only comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who we celebrate on a good Friday, and really every time we gather, we celebrate this, that Jesus Christ died on the cross, where He shed His blood for His people, so on the cross He could take on the punishment of His people upon Himself, in their place, as their substitute, so that through His blood that was shed, we could be washed clean, we could be forgiven of our sin, so that by faith, His righteousness would actually be counted as our righteousness, so that we could have eternal life with Him. There’s an eternal life that we looked at the last two sermons, there’s an eternal life where the tree of life will be present for God’s people to enjoy its fruits, there’s an eternal life that we also looked at in previous passages that has gates, gates that will never need to be shut, because in this eternal life that is to come, all forms of danger and evil will be removed forever, so that for God’s people, who have had their robes washed by the blood of the Lamb, as they pass through the pearly gates into eternal life, they will never live in fear of anything, including death, as through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which we’re celebrating today, and really every day we gather promises that death, one day, will be put to death forever, and all God’s people will know is the power of the resurrection. However, I keep going to text, for those who do not trust in Jesus, who do not have their robes washed clean by His blood, that promise is not a promise they could count on their own. See, in verse 15, the text says it’s outside, outside of the gates, outside of eternal life with Christ, of the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, everyone who loves and practices falsehood, which is clearly another warning in this book for those who are not trusting in Jesus, that they will be kept outside of the eternal kingdom, where forever, in this text, they’ll be defined by their sin, rather being defined by the Savior of their sin, and the forgiveness that He offers. Verse 16, I, Jesus, I have sent my angel to testify to you about these things to the churches. If you remember, Revelation starts out with seven letters to seven churches that were scattered around modern-day Turkey, and as Jesus addresses His churches, which by extension includes even us here today, He reminds His churches of this most important truth, that He is the Root and Descendant of David, that He is the Bright and Morning Star, and both the Root of David and Descendant of David, as well as the Bright and Morning Star.
This is Jesus declaring to His churches, to us, that indeed He is the Messiah. He is the Christ, the One who is promised. He is the One who has come, the Messiah who will lead God’s people back to God, where they will be with God for all eternity, living and dwelling with Him. And Revelation and Scriptures, this leading back to God, is for all those who respond to the call of Christ, which I mentioned at the start of the sermon, is a call to come, to come to Jesus. Verse 16, so we see this, the Spirit of Christ, the Bride of Christ, they are there and they testify to this truth, where in one accord they call out, to come, to come and follow the Messiah. This call to come, to come to Jesus, this is a call for all who would hear the call.
Who as they hear the call, they respond by giving the call themselves, where we see that they actually join the unified voices, where they also now start to call out to others, to come, come to Jesus, come to Jesus, come to Jesus. God’s people, as they come to faith in Christ, that’s what we do, we call others to come as well. This, by the way, is also another warning for those who not call others to Christ, perhaps the reason why you’re not calling others to come, is perhaps maybe you have yet to come.
Keep going in our text. This call to come to Jesus, we see is a call to all who are thirsty. There’s also a phrase we come across a few times in our study. Christ calls out to the thirsty in his life, those who are thirsty, who are not finding hope and meaning, purpose, satisfaction in his life, who are thirsty but their longings are yet to be met. Christ calls out, and that is you this morning, please hear and respond to this call of Christ. And come, come to Jesus, come to him, in our text, come and take and drink of his waters of life, and come and do so without price.
Meaning this call to come, to come and follow Jesus, this isn’t a call like you come by first like completing maybe like a series of religious works or deeds, maybe you try to like, you know, kind of clean yourself up a little bit, kind of make yourself a little more right so you can come to him. This call to come, it’s just that, is to come, is come, to come to Jesus so he can make you right, so he can wash you clean. In fact, this is the only way we can come to Jesus, without price.
We come to him with all of our brokenness, all of our shame, all of our pain, all of our sin, even the ugliest of our sin, we come without price, because this Eastern weekend we’re reminded in his death and resurrection, Jesus has already paid the price. He paid the debt of sin, and when he paid it, he paid it in full. So for us, all we are to do is turn from our sin and come to him. That’s the good news. The good news of the message of Christ, the call of Christ, it is the call to come. A call that is available to any and all who are thirsty and who would hear.
Keep going, verse 18, the final warning of Revelation, which the book filled with so many warnings, for those who do not come, who do not hear, who do not worship the one true and living God, who do not trust in Jesus as Messiah, who seek to satisfy the thirstiness of life by things less than Christ, who seek to come by paying their own price. In the text, Jesus gives you one last warning, a warning to wake you up, a warning to cause you to listen, a warning to compel you to heed the trustworthy and true word of God as he writes. And I warn everyone who hears the words of prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them as if what God has given to us is not enough, or is lacking, or incomplete, for that person God will add to them the plagues described in this book, which are terrifying plagues.
Verse 19, and if anyone takes away from the words of prophecy of this book, if they feel compelled to take away what God said, deny what God said, maybe even kind of correct God in what he said, as if he said something wrong, in the end God will take away his share in the tree of life in the holy city, which are described in this book. Meaning to deny the trustworthy and true message revelation, to reject the call to come to Christ the Messiah without price, friends, this is the last warning revelation, eternal life will not be yours, rather you will be rejected by God forever, which is such a strong warning that we must hear this warning, and not only hear, we must respond accordingly. Finally for us today, the text ends, the book of Revelation ends, the short little sermon series ends with these words, starting in verse 20 of our text, if I look back there, this is like one last log on the fire of urgency of the book of Revelation, he, meaning Jesus, testifies to these things, says, surely I am coming soon, he’s coming, he will not delay, he will come at the right appointed time, and he will come quickly, like a thief in the night, and he will come to complete and fulfill all that he said that he would do. In this text, the Lord Jesus gives this one last urgent call that he is coming, we see how John responds to this urgent call, by giving his amen of agreement, yes, so be it. As John gave his amen, we see he also gave two short prayers, the first is a prayer that just simply says, come Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus come without delay, Lord Jesus come quickly I pray, Lord Jesus come and do all that you promised you would do, Lord Jesus come quickly and bring eternal life to me, to us, his people. By the way, let me mention here, this is when a person comes to Jesus, what happens, like in their heart, they don’t long for, anticipate, desire for him to come again, so that where he is, they might be also, if you don’t long, anticipate, desire for Jesus to come, and that’s another warning you need to hear, that you have yet to come to him.
Finally, in verse 21, the second short little prayer, which is really a sweet prayer when you think about it, this is for all of his people, including us, to keep the trustworthy and true words of God, just simply says this, the grace of Lord Jesus be with you all, amen. Which is a prayer of encouragement, right, for us who are trusting in Jesus, particularly if you’re suffering, or if you’re in persecution, that John prayed for the grace of God to fill your heart. Now, it’s a closer time here, I do want to keep focusing on this call to come, which is the call the angel gave to the women on the first Easter Sunday, as he called them to come to see that the tomb is empty.
This call to come, as we just read, is a call all throughout our passage today. This call to come is a call that the Lord gives us, as he calls out to all who are here, including all here today. It just says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, come to me and I will give you rest for your souls. With rest, this is being an eternal rest, where eternally you can live in relationship with God in heaven. So I have several things for us concerning this call, and then we’ll be done. So first, this call to come to Jesus, this is a true and genuine call.
This is not like Jesus overselling and under-delivering in this call here, where Jesus really would like to kind of make good on the call, but he just really isn’t actually able to fulfill it. No. This is a true, genuine call. It’s a call to all who would hear and respond to it. If you come to Jesus, you will enter into his presence. The reason why this call is true and genuine is our text tells us.
This is the trustworthy. This is the true word of God. And this call, and God’s trustworthy and true word, is coming from the one who is the Alpha, the Omega, the First, and the Last, the Beginning, and the End. It’s coming from the Sovereign One. Friends, when God gives the call to come, he will not fail as we respond. It says, Second, this call to come to Jesus, friends, this is an urgent call.
Multiple times in the text, verse 6, God has sent his angel to show his servant what soon would take place. Verse 7, Behold, I am coming soon. Verse 10, For the time is near. Verse 12, Behold, I am coming soon. Verse 20, Surely I am coming soon. Friends, the message of our text, the message of Revelation, this is an urgent message, an urgent call where we are to respond to it today, now, in this moment.
Friends, the call of Christ, as he calls us to come, this is not a call that we can put on hold. We go to our calendar, our planner, and try to figure out, okay, when can I respond to this call, maybe at a future, undetermined date, where we’ll kind of get to it. Friends, this is an urgent call, one that we are to respond to now. Like, who knows if you’ll ever get an opportunity again. Third, this call of Jesus, to come to Jesus, is a call that has a warning for those who do not come. This is why we are to respond now.
That there are heavy, grave warnings for those who do not respond to Jesus, who do not come to faith in him. Verse 15, For those who do not respond to the risen Christ, who are defined by their sin, not the forgiveness of sin, the text tells us they’re outside. They will not be let into the eternal kingdom of Christ. Verse 18, there’s a warning for those who add or take away to this book, and the call of the book, the call to come, a warning of plagues, a warning of not being able to share of the tree of life and the holy city. Friends, if you’ve been able to read through Revelation in the past, or you’ve been with us in this short study the last few weeks, you know that this text here, this isn’t the only place where Revelation warns those who do not come to Jesus. Throughout the book, one warning after another warning, after another warning, after another warning, loud warnings that we must hear, that we must respond appropriately to.
Fourth, this call of Jesus, that he calls us to come, is a call where all of our desires actually will be met. And we know this. As mankind, we have longings. We have desires. We know this. We’re all looking for meaning, for purpose, for happiness and joy.
And as the Lord calls us to come, those are the things he’s calling us to. To come to him so that all of our longings, all of our desires would be filled by him. In the end, friends, he is the only one who can satisfy our thirst. This morning, if you’re here, and you find yourself thirsty for more, or you’ve searched and searched for things in this life to satisfy you, the more you search, the more disappointed, frustrated, thirsty you become. Friends, good news. When you come to Jesus Christ, the desires of your heart are met.
Because in Jesus Christ, there are living waters. Because in Jesus Christ, the fullness of blessings are found. Because when we come to Jesus, what we do, we come out of a heart of worship. That actually is our longing that we have to worship. We have been created to worship our God, which is verse 9 of our text. Friends, you will not be satisfied in anything in life until you worship God by coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
Fifth, this call of Jesus, as we respond to this call to come to Jesus, we respond by just coming as we are, verse 17. Come without price. Come all of your sin. Come to Jesus all of your brokenness, all of your pain, all of your baggage, all of your insecurities. Come, bring them to Jesus so he can wash you clean. The temptation that is there when we hear the call to come, it is that we try to fix things up on our own.
To try to pay for our own price. If we can’t pay for the whole price, we can at least pay for the down payment. But friends, that’s not the call. The call is to come without price. To come with nothing in your hands that you bring, but simply to the cross of Christ you cling. Last one.
As we respond to this call to come to Jesus, what happens is the longings for Jesus now are stoked. Let’s take a circle all the way back to the first sermon we had in the sermon series. I mentioned it then, I mentioned it throughout this study of Revelation. That’s been one of the hopes and prayers that we have as a church family, as we work through these final few chapters of the Bible. That God would use his word in such a way that our longings, our desires, our anticipation for Christ to come would increase. So at the end of our study of Revelation, we would join John in his great prayer at the end of Revelation.
That our hearts would be, Amen! Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. So as I close this, one last time, I do want to give this invitation to come. For some, come for the first time. Come to Jesus.
Call upon his name. Believe in your heart that indeed he actually died for you on the cross. Only to rise again from the dead. Come and believe that Jesus is the Christ who is worth leaving all things, leaving all things behind in order to have him. Come and taste of the living waters. For all of us here who have already come to Jesus, the fire of your heart is not burning like it once was, or that you would want it to be.
If you’re honest, you admit, you’re just so consumed by all the different things going on in this life. You’re never ending to-do list. What has happened is, more and more, you’re forsaking your first love. Where more and more, you’re knowing you’re not walking in righteousness and holiness with your actions or your attitudes. Where you’ve not testified to anyone to come to Jesus in a long, long, long time. Perhaps you’re struggling to believe God’s trustworthy and true word concerning a certain sin area of your life.
That you’re just not wanting to forsake and nail it to the cross. Because somehow you still think that that sin will satisfy your longings. Where you’ve really struggled to worship God. Because other things, maybe other people, have been your priority. Where you know you have not longed for Christ and his return. And if that’s you this morning, I want to invite you to come to Jesus as well.
To confess your sin. To turn to him. To receive his forgiveness. To once again drink deeply of his living waters. To once again find his healing and his forgiveness and his love and his mercy and his kindness that he might stoke your heart. Redville Church, may we come to Jesus.
Trusting and believing that not only did he come for us in his death, but because his tomb is empty, that we trust and believe that he’s actually going to come again. So to say it again, that where he is, we might be also. And how glorious will that day be. Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that according to your incredible eternal plan and your incredible grace and mercy and kindness that you sent Jesus to come to us by becoming one of us. To die for us. To rise again for us. Thank you also for his incredible promise that one day he will come again. To bring us to him.
Lord, I do pray through your word, through the power of your spirit, that this morning that you would draw people to yourself. That for those who have yet to come to Christ, that today they would. Now in this moment, that they would come and taste and see that you are good.
For those who have come, but maybe are struggling. For their hearts are not as full as they would like them to be. Lord, please also give them grace to trust in you. Lord, I do pray that our little church family here would burn white hot for Christ. And Lord, we do pray that you would come quickly. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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