"Then he said to me, "These words are faithful and true." And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, "See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God." And he said of this book, to me, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still." "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star." And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. So He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

We've arrived at the end of the end. God's final book. The last chapters. There's no other book after this. This is it. Except the book of concordance, of course. The book of maps. But this it. God's final message. His last will and testament. What a thrill it's been to cover the book of Revelation like this. How has it affected you? How has it changed your life? G. Campbell Morgan, one of the great preachers of yesteryear, said I never begin my work in the morning without thinking He may interrupt it with His own. I am not looking for the grave. I am looking for Him. When you think of the future, are you excited? Are you joyful? The future has a lot of bad as well as a lot of good in it, that we have seen in the book of Revelation. Jesus is coming. Judgment is coming. A new heaven, a new earth, is coming. Does that excite you? Does it cause dread or fear in your heart? How prepared are you? I remember the familiar words of my mother about 4:00 every afternoon. She'd say your father will be home soon. That's all she needed to say. And those words were either very exciting to me or they struck fear in my heart. If I was living well that day, I was excited to see dad. But if I was pushing the limits with mom, and she said your father will be home soon, it's like, uh-oh. I have somebody else now to face when it's all said and done.

Have you ever read a novel and as you opened the first chapter, the story is cast, the characters are introduced, the hero is forefront, and then, maybe chapter one, chapter two, the plot is injected. A twist. Some intrigue that carries you along through the book and you're never quite sure how it's all gonna turn out. You're sort of on edge till the last chapter. The last chapter is a satisfying end. It all works out when it's all said and done. The Bible's sort of like that. It opens up great: creation, Adam and Eve. And then there's the Fall of man. Satan is introduced and the plot thickens and we see chapter after chapter of Israel's disobedience and longing for something better and then we see the Messiah come and we breathe a sigh of relief. Then He dies. But He rises from the dead. And then He says I'm leaving. And as He's leaving, He says basically, I'll be back. And so the rest of the Bible unfolds and you wonder when is He coming back and what's gonna happen to the world? And then you read the last couple chapters and we breathe that sigh of relief as we realize, oh, this is where it's all going! And we see when it's all said and done that wonderful story. It sort of begins like it ends or it ends like it begins—only better. That which is lost is now restored. The Bible begins in a Garden; it ends in a city with a Garden-like environment. Listen to these comparisons. Genesis 1 introduces God creating a heaven and an earth. Revelation closes with God creating a new heaven and a new earth. In Genesis 1, the sun is created. In Revelation 21 and 22, there's no need of the sun for the Lamb is the light of the new environment. In Genesis 1, the night is distinguished from the day as God makes the cycles. In the end, there is no night. There is only light. In Genesis chapter 1, the seas are created. In Revelation 21, there is no sea. In Genesis 3, the curse is announced. In Revelation 22, the announcement there shall be no more curse. In Genesis after the Fall of man death enters history. In Revelation 22, no more death. In Genesis, man is driven from the tree of life and the paradise of God. Revelation 21 and 22, paradise is restored. The tree of life is restored in the New Jerusalem. In Genesis, sorrow and pain begin. In the new heaven and the new earth, the last chapters of the book, there's no sorrow, pain, death, tears. It's over.

We now come to the epilogue, the last concluding remarks. The application. There's nothing more to be said. The story's over. This is now eternity. This is how it will end for those who love Jesus Christ and are called according to His purpose. At this point, tribulation is over, the Second Coming is long gone, the millennium is over, a new heaven and a new earth are created, the King of kings is on the throne reigning with His Father forever and ever, and it is eternity. All that is left then is personal application and that's what verses 6 through 21 include. To sum it up, the rest of the book, these remaining verses, give us two things: the certainty of His return and the necessity of our response. He is coming. Now what? He is coming. What do I do? How do I respond? Let's look at that first one, the certainty of His return.

Notice three times Jesus says He is coming. Verse 7: "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." Verse 12: "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work." Then finally in verse 20: "Surely I am coming quickly." So three times, just so we won't mistake the application, Jesus says to the church I'm coming quickly. We have read already in the New Testament, in fact five different occasions, we're told that when Jesus comes back for the church, it will be like a thief coming in the night. In other words, unexpectedly. And that's what a thief banks on, right? He seldom calls in advance and makes an appointment. He doesn't say I'll be there at 2 in the morning: be ready. He's counting on you not being aware. He tells the church to be ready and that the Coming won't surprise us, but it will come quickly, suddenly. Because of these kinds of utterances in the New Testament, it seems that almost every church at New Testament times was living in the expectation that Jesus could come at any moment. They lived in the imminence of His return. He could come now. He could come tomorrow. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says I write to you so that you will come behind in no spiritual gift as you wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm gonna tell you about spiritual gifts that you'll use them because, right now, you're living in the waiting of His return. At the end of that book, 1 Corinthians 16, he says if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed (anathema). And then he concludes with this word: maranatha. It's not translated. It's just put in from the original Aramaic. It's not translated—just maranatha. So he says if anyone doesn't listen, he's gonna be accursed—maranatha. And we read that and say what does maranatha mean? It means the Lord is coming. And it seems that was a term, a phrase, of greeting that the early Christians would say to one another. They would goodbye and they would say maranatha. In other words, remember the Lord is coming. Be ready for it. In Philippians 3 he said to that church our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior our Lord Jesus Christ. He told the Thessalonians you have turned from idols to serve God and to wait for His Son from heaven. All in the same package. You're converted, you follow Jesus, and right now you're waiting for Him to come back.

Remember that famous passage about the Rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4? He says and we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. In other words, Paul said there may be some of us who are living, remain, when Jesus comes back. And then in Titus 2 he said that we should live soberly, righteously, godly, in this present age looking for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Any natural reading of the New Testament tells us that early Christians believed He could come at any moment. They didn't have a long drawn-out sophisticated eschatology saying well He can't come until this, this, this, and that have happened. They just thought He was coming. And Paul told them to live in that kind of expectancy. And now Jesus says three times, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming. Quickly. Not only did the early church believe that way but there have been signs that have been fulfilled that should cause us to be a little more awake as a church. For instance, the return of the dispersed Jews to Israel back in 1948. The recapture of the old city of Jerusalem by the Jews in 1967 predicted by the Scripture. The rise of Russia as a powerful nation, its subsequent fragmentation, and the polarizing of fundamental Islamic groups in that area. The revival of the old Roman Empire over in the European states. The increase of earthquakes, famine, wars, rumors of wars, as told to us by Jesus in Matthew 24. The departure of many churches from orthodox, traditional, biblical beliefs. And then finally a move toward a one world government and a one world religion. All of these are signs that indicate, yeah, the Lord's coming.

Now it's what the prophets waited for. It's what the early church anticipated. And we ought to join them. Dwight L. Moody said Paul's epistles speak about the return of the Lord 50 times and yet the church has very little to say about it. Now I can see a reason for this. The devil does not want us to see this truth for nothing would wake up the church so much. The moment a man takes hold of the truth that Jesus is coming again to receive His followers to Himself this world loses its hold on him. The church is cold and formal. May God wake it up and I know of no better way to do that than to get the church to look for the return of Jesus Christ. Behold I am coming quickly, said Jesus. When you hear that you still might say, well, that was written in 96 AD. How quickly is quickly? It's been 2,000 years. I'm coming quickly! Ok, we'll wait a year. We'll wait ten years. We'll wait twenty years. Ok. 1,000 years go by. Now 2,000 years. Oh, really, He's coming quickly? Well that's from a human vantage point but remember Peter said that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day? You say it's been so long. From God's calendar it's been two days. And with all that has happened and where we are now from God's vantage point, it's very, very soon. When? I'm not gonna predict. I'm not gonna give you 88 reasons why Jesus will come. Remember that book in 1988? Now it's one thing to be wrong once but to be wrong 88 times is another thing. So I'm not gonna tell you why He's gonna come back on a certain day, just that He is coming and He is coming, from God's vantage point, very, very soon.

Notice how the angel puts it: "These words are faithful and true," verse 6. In other words, John? What you saw and what you heard is true. It's reliable. You didn't make this up. This is not the fruit of your imagination. The vision that you saw was not because you had a pizza last night with onions on it. This is a true and faithful revelation from God. Now why did the angel have to say that? Well think about what John has seen and heard. So amazing, so startling, so otherworldly, so unearthly, that you could read the book of Revelation and say it's all fantasy. Or it's just an allegory. So the angel, as a heavenly endorsement, says everything you have seen, everything you have heard, it is faithful and it is true. The same God who moved on the heart of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament writers is the same God who delivered to you, John, this report. You can bank on it—it's true. Remember in the Old Testament God predicted that Israel would be taken captive? They were. God predicted it would be 70 years—it was. God said they would return to the land of Israel—they did. He said the Messiah would come—He did. He said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem—He was. He predicted that Jesus would return again one day—He will. He predicted there will be a tribulation—there will be. He predicted there will be an Antichrist—there will be. He predicted there would be a new heaven and a new earth and there will be.

All of these words are faithful and true, as faithful and true as the prophets of old and the other books of the New Testament. He's coming soon and from God's vantage point, very, very soon. Now He is coming and that's great but what should we do about it? There ought to be a response. And the rest of this chapter is filled with smatterings of responses. I've given to you five. They're listed in your outline: walk, worship, witness, work, and willingness. Let's go through those. Look at verse 7, there ought to be a walk that corresponds with that truth: "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps [or obeys or pays attention to and does] the words of the prophecy of this book." In verse 9 at the end, He says, "And of those who keep the words of this book." In verse 14, "Blessed [or oh how happy, to be envied] are those who do His commandments". Jesus is coming. My response ought to be one of obedience. God didn't give us this book to feed our curiosity so that we could build clever eschatological charts but so that we might walk in obedience to Him. in other words, the instruction given to the church in chapters 2 and 3, we ought to receive. We ought to heed the warnings of chapters 6 through 19. We ought to then live in the light of His Coming, chapter 19, His coming millennium, chapter 20, and the new heaven and the new earth, chapters 21 and 22. All of those things ought to be carried over into our present life and it ought to be translated into an obedient walk. We ought to keep the words of this prophecy.

When we take prophecy and we use it the way God intended us to use it, it will purify us. It will purify us. In other words, we might enter into something, we're making a decision, we don't know if it's really pleasing to God or not, or maybe we know it's pleasing to God, and a thought strikes us, what if Jesus comes while I'm doing that? I better not do that. That's what John meant then in 1 John when he said everyone who has this hope of His return purifies himself even as He is pure. That's what Peter had in mind when he said when you look around at the earth and you realize all of these things are going to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy living? Not what manner of chart ought you to draw. What manner of person, how should we live, in the light of His return? What we have read in Revelation then should change the way we walk. As we read about what is coming down on planet earth and what God has in store really ought to make us less temporal and more eternal in our choices and in our perspective. If the tribulation is gonna be as bad as the Bible says it is, if heaven is gonna be as great as the Bible says it is, that ought to make some difference. Keith Miller, great author, said it has never ceased to amaze me that we as Christians have developed a kind of selective vision which allows us to be deeply and sincerely involved in worship and church activities and yet almost totally pagan in the day in day out guts of our business lives and never realize it. So my question is this: how has Revelation changed your marriage, your family, your business, your friends? Has it translated into your walk? We need to take this book out of the Bible leather and put it into shoe leather now. Do it—keep it.

I found that people are really not impressed with how much you know about the Bible. And if they are it'll only last a very short period of time. You can only ooh and ahh so much when you talk about eschatology and prophecy. It really matters the character that is developed. Two men were talking on the street about Harry and one said did you hear about Harry? He embezzled half a million dollars from his company. The other said, you know, I always knew something was fishy about Harry. The first guy said not only that but he ran off with Tom's wife. That scoundrel. I never could trust him said the second man. The first man said not only that but he left town in a stolen car. Man that guy. What a creep said the second guy. The first man continued not only that but they said when he left town he was drunk. The second guy said you know I knew Harry was a scoundrel but what really bothers me is who's gonna take his Sunday school class next week? You know that happens. Living duplicitously—a double life, a double standard. John, you've read these things. You've heard these things. Blessed are those who do them, who keep them, who walk in them. Like the little poem that says you are writing a gospel, a chapter each day, by the things that you do and the words that you say. People hear what you say and they see what you do and so what is the gospel according to you? Your life preaches something. What does it preach?

First of all then, a walk. Second—worship. Look at verse 8: "Now I, John, saw and heard these things." By the way, that's revelation: seeing and hearing. I heard these words. I saw this vision. "And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, "See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God." Now John had the right response. He was so blown away and overwhelmed by what he saw and heard, he just sort of loses it; he collapses. I don't think he intentionally was worshiping the angel. I don't think he said you know, I'm gonna start worshiping you. I know that you're not God but I just want to do this. He was more knowledgeable than that. I just think that he fell down, it says before the feet, not to worship the angel, he's worshiping but he just collapses before the feet of this angel. Now let me ask you this: can you read this book without that response? Can you hear of the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ vanquishing over all the enemies of the earth, setting up an eternal kingdom, and not walk away from that worshiping? That doesn't make sense. The other night when I told my son I was taking him to Jurassic Park to see a movie, you should've seen his animated response. Wow! Wow! Oh wow! At a movie. When I tell groups that I'm taking to Israel what Israel's gonna be like and what they're gonna see, they get so excited. And so when we read about what God has in store for us, how can we remain nonchalant and not worship? That doesn't make sense unless you don't understand this book.

John heard what you have heard and he fell down to worship. A.W. Tozer said worship is the missing jewel of the evangelical church. Is it missing in your life? You're gonna be doing it throughout the eons of eternity. Are you getting ready for that now? Do you remember the interesting dialogue that Jesus had with that woman in Samaria? He walked to the well and she's talking not knowing who it is and Jesus starts getting a little personal with her life, bringing up her failed marriages and that she's living with a man and suddenly she changes the conversation. Suddenly she gets religious and what does she talk about? Worship. She brings it up. So Jesus answers the question. She says now let me ask You a question. You Jews say that Jerusalem is the place that people ought to worship. however, we and our fathers believe this very mountain in Samaria is the place we ought to worship. which is it? Now stop for a moment. Her question and concern is usually the same questions and concerns a lot of us have when it comes to worship. what form of worship should we do? should there be hymns, should there be drums, should there be choirs, should there be robes, should there not be robes, should there be a PA, should there be guitars, should it be loud, should it be soft. Jesus said it doesn't matter the form. It's not the art—it's the heart. And so He says woman the time is coming and now is when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth and the Father, listen to this, is seeking such to worship Him. that says to me that God is on the lookout for worshipers and He knows when He finds one. He knows in a church service when people are gathered and He can say well, there's one worshiping in truth. There's another one. Oh, I see that one worshiping Me in spirit. It's not just lipping the words. They're not just watching the service. They're worshiping Me. They're involved. They're not spectators. They're here for Me.

The Father is seeking such to worship Me. The reason I want to emphasize this is that we shouldn't just stagger into a service and plop down and just sit there. When it's time to worship, there's reason to worship. This is God! This is God's plan that we've been reading about. God has prepared heaven for you. How can we have any other response than just worship? And it ought to translate into our lives. Notice how utterly cool this angel is. He says don't do that, John. I'm just a fellow servant. Isn't that great? Angels whom the Bible says are created a level above man, man is created a little lower than the angels, the angel isn't saying well you know, I am an angel. And I kinda like this worship idea. There was one who tried that. His name was Satan. This angel says no. I may be an angel but I'm just your bud. I'm your fellow servant just like all the prophets of the Old Testament and just like you, John. And he points to God. He points to the Lamb. And in this case, the Father and the Lamb are co-reigning in eternity. Jesus is God. He says I am the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning, the End. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and the Morning Star. The capstone of the book. He's the star on the stage and the angel knows it and points to God.

There's a third response that ought to be to the coming of Jesus Christ: witness. Not only walk, not only worship, but witness. Verse 10: "And he [the angel] said to me, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand." John? The message that I gave to you, as wild as it is, it's not to be hidden. It's to be heralded. It's a message to get out to other people. Don't seal it. Don't keep it to yourself. You know that I have found that prophecy is a tremendous motivation in witnessing. I know people say we don't get into prophecy. It's really not relevant. Baloney. Prophecy will motivate you not only toward godly living but toward godly witnessing. Sharing the truth. I mean, how can you read about the tribulation, how can you read about hell and judgment, and not be moved by it to warn people to avoid it? Don't seal the words of this book. Now I talk to some people who say well you know religion and politics should never be discussed openly. We should never talk about these things publicly. Especially religion. Politics is okay, but religion is special. I remember Jesus saying something about what you hear in secret shout from the housetops. Get the Word out. Don't keep it to yourself. Spread it around. John, you've heard it, you've seen it, now I want you to tell it. Well we have listened to the message of this book. What has it done for you? Is it going to be a sealed book or will it be an open book? As you leave this building if you leave out toward that direction and you go out toward the courtyard, you see something engraved in stone. The words of Jesus: Go into all the world… I decided to put that there because I got an idea once. A friend of mine who's a pastor of a church, as you leave the church, on the back wall is a banner that says "You are now entering your mission field." When you leave the doors of this building, you're out in enemy territory. You're always in your mission field. The salt has left the salt shaker. And we can't keep the words of this book or any Gospel truth sealed. We have to now spread it.

Remember Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica and he said I'm writing to you because first of all you received the words of the gospel. And second of all because now the gospel is ringing forth from you throughout all of Achaia, throughout all of that part of the world. They received it and now they are sharing it. I want you to look at verse 17. It sort of reinforces that point: "And the Spirit," and I infer that as the Holy Spirit, "and the bride," and who's the bride? We are the bride. And what does the bride say? "Come!" So not only is the Spirit out in the world drawing people to Christ, the bride who received the gospel, the bride who was changed by the gospel, is the bride who ought to preach the gospel. "And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears," and we have heard for 44 weeks now these messages, and we should say, "Come!"

Every Christian loves the gospel, right? It changed us. But not every Christian loves to preach the gospel. Did you know Gallup poll says that 95% of every Christian, 95% of all Christians have never led another person to Christ? And I suppose if you were to ask people why they don't, it would probably be well number one, I'm scared. I'm intimidated. I don't like to talk out loud to people. I'm nervous. I'm an introvert. I'm not an extrovert. That's understandable. Or they will say I'm not a professional evangelist. That's Billy's job. Not my job. I didn't go and take Evangelism 101. Rebecca Pippert said being an extrovert is not essential to evangelism, obedience and love are. The one who is the receiver of the gospel must be the transmitter of the gospel. The need is urgent, folks. The need is urgent. Even as we speak there's an exponential growth in population on planet earth. More and more people are being born who don't know about Christ and we're told to go into all the world. If you would take all unbelievers and line them up side by side, you could have a band around the world thirty times. The line is growing 20 miles longer every day. What you've heard, John, don't seal it. And let the bride say, "Come!"

Besides that, we need to share the gospel, you know why? We can get stale. We can sort of grow old and professional and just stagnate. It's been said that a church that does not evangelize will fossilize. I know some fossils. God love them, they're saints of God, but you've got to really dig down to find the fossil and see if there's any life there. Stagnation. There's a fourth response and that is work. Look at verse 12: "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work." Now heaven will be your reward but you know that's not all. You're also gonna be rewarded besides going to heaven based upon your work for Jesus Christ now. you're not saved by works but once you are saved, and in heaven, you'll stand before Him and based on your service now, you'll be tested as to your service and based on that test you'll either receive a reward or have a reward withdrawn depending on what you did and why you've done it. Sort of like going to a restaurant and tipping the waiter. He gets paid, he gets a paycheck for being a waiter, he usually gets an hourly wage. But you tip him based on his service to you or you withhold tip based on lack of service. More service, more tip. Less service, less tip. This is what Paul said: we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due in him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad. God's reward is with Him. He is coming. It's now time to work. There's not much time left.

You know, think of your life in terms of segments. If you live to be the average, and God willing you'll outlive the average, but if you live the average 70 years, 20 years of your life will be spent working. 20 years of your life will be spent sleeping. 6 years will be spent eating. 7 years playing. 5 years getting dressed. 1 year on the telephone. Some of you have answering machines so you might make that just a few months. Some of you make that a few years. Also 3 years of your life will be spent waiting for somebody else. Now how much of your life will be spent working for the Lord? Serving Him? Giving Him your time, your energy, your service? Because He is coming, we want to serve Him diligently, don't we? John said serve Him so that you get the full reward—the full reward. Robert Murray M'Cheyne who was a preacher from yesteryear as well did a lot for the Lord but he died when he was only 30 years old. On his watch that he always wore on his left wrist was an inscription at the bottom that said: the night cometh. And that was from John chapter 9 where Jesus said the night cometh when no man can work. So let's work now while it's light. The night cometh. So every time he looked at the time, the night is coming. The night is coming. The night is coming.

Right now we live in the day, don't we, it's the age of grace, God is calling people? One day however night will descend. The tribulation will fall upon the earth. Yes, people will be saved but what a dark time that will be. The day is here. let's work now while we have time. As that old axiom says, only one life will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last. So think of all that you do and ask yourself how much do I do for God and His kingdom now? You know one day you'll be in heaven. You say, great. Yeah. But you know in heaven you'll never be able to witness. You'll never again have an opportunity to represent and work for Jesus Christ like you do now. You'll be receiving rewards or whatever else we're gonna do in heaven but this is the day of opportunity. Let's go on to the next and the final response and this is really now for the unbeliever and that is willingness. Verse 11: "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still." Verse 17: "And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires let him take the water of life freely. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

He's offering, essentially, a choice and saying who's willing? And those last verses that we read are really directed toward unbelievers, giving them a final invitation. You know when you share the truth with people, they're gonna respond to it. Some will say yay, some will say nay. However they respond to the truth of the gospel, if they continue in that truth, they have fixed their destiny. We make choices but then our choices eventually will make us, right? And so in verse 11: "He who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is unjust, let him be unjust still". You say what does that mean? Basically this: one who hears the truth and continues to reject it, continues to say no, continues to do wrong, he is fixing his eternal destiny. Our destiny is not determined by genetics. It's not the way you were born. You make a choice to follow Jesus Christ or to reject Him. That and that alone will mark your destiny. In fact, some commentators suggest that the word still in verse 11 should be translated more. And so this is how it would be translated: let him who is unjust be more unjust; let him who is filthy be more filthy; he who is righteous, let him be more righteous," and so on. So if you're wrong in this life, you'll be more wrong after death. You will perpetuate your response essentially. Now let me put that in modern vernacular: if you persist in rejecting Jesus Christ, if you say no man I'm not gonna accept God and all this religious bunk, I wanna have a good time, then let me suggest you go out and have the best possible heathen time that you can because once you die, the party's over. It's the last good time you'll ever have. In contrast to that is an invitation, a beckoning, the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" If anybody's thirst, come, drink! Here's the water—it's free! If you're tired of the cesspool of this world, drink free refreshing eternal springs of water. And so of the five responses to the coming of Jesus Christ, this last one is for the unbeliever: come. Why? Why should I come? Think about it. This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. These are the words Jesus gave to the angel that gave them to John about the future: the future of unbelievers, the future of believers. And John has just seen a new heaven and a new earth and rewards and it's so awesome he's just falling done and is like, wow! It's so amazing. It's so wild. How can you describe except as John has how good it's gonna be?

Down below the surface of a quiet pond lived a little colony of water bugs. They were a happy colony, living far away from the sun for many months they were very busy scurrying over the soft mud on the bottom of the pond. They did notice that every once in awhile one in their colony seemed to lose interest in going about with his friends. Clinging to the stem of a pond lily, he gradually moved out of sight and was seen no more. Look! Said one of the water bugs to another. One of our colony is climbing up the lily stalk. Where do you suppose he's going? Up, up, up he went slowly. Even as they watched him, the water bug disappeared from sight. His friends waited and waited but he didn't return. That's funny, said one water bug to another. Wasn't he happy here? asked a second water bug. Where do you suppose he went? Wondered a third. No one had the answer. They were all greatly puzzled. Finally, one of the water bugs, a leader in the colony, gathered his friends together. I have an idea. The next one of us that climbs up the lily stalk must promise to come back and tell us where he went and why. We promise, they said solemnly. One spring day not long after that, the very water bug who suggested the plan found himself climbing up the lily stalk. Up, up, up he went. Before he knew what was happening, he had broken through the surface of the water and fallen onto the broad, green lily pad above. When he awoke he looked about with surprise. He couldn't believe what he saw. A startling change had come over his old body. His movement revealed four silver wings and a long tail. Even as he struggled, he felt an impulse to move his wings. The warmth of the sun dried the moisture from the new body. He moved his wings again and suddenly found himself up above the water. He had become a dragonfly. Swooping and dipping in great curves, he flew through the air. He felt exhilarated in the new atmosphere. By and by, he lighted happily on a lily pad to rest. Then it was that he chanced to look below to the bottom of the pond. Why, he was right above his old friends, the water bugs. There they were, scurrying about, just as he had been doing some time before. Then he remembered the promise. The next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk will come back and tell us where he went and why. Without thinking, he darted down. Suddenly, he hit the surface of the water. I can't return, he said in dismay. At least I tried but I can't keep my promise. Even if I could go back not one of the water bugs would even know me in my new body. I guess I'll just have to wait till they become dragonflies, too. Then they'll understand what happened to me and where I went. And the dragonfly winged off happily into his wonderful new world of sun and air.

There's a new world that awaits us. Jesus said I am going to prepare a place. He's preparing that for you right now. Are you ready? Would that cause you to fall and worship Him or to just go about status quo? One is an appropriate response; the other is not.