Get Ready!

Sermon Transcript

- Lord, Jesus, thank you so much for who you are. Lord, even if you didn't do anything, you are worthy of our worship just in your character and your nature alone. Lord, we love you and we just wanna bless you today. We thank you for the privilege of being able to worship your name. We thank you for being present with us through your spirit. And we ask right now as your Word is faithfully proclaimed, Lord, that you would be helpful to me and helpful to us as we receive from you. And now for all of God's people who are gathered, who desire to hear His Word proclaimed, who will believe what He says and who will by faith put into practice what He shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen, amen.

Have you ever been on the giving or the receiving side of the words, get ready? Get ready. Those words come with an awful lot of urgency. Many times if you're a parent and you have kids and you're getting ready to leave the house, you'll tell your kids, "Get ready, get ready, hurry up. Let's do this." If you've been in the military, you may have a highly commissioned officer that tells your troop, get ready, you're about ready to deploy. You may have played on a team or your coach the night before a game tells your team, "You better get ready. Here's what you're going to experience. Here's what you're going to need to be ready for." Or maybe you've been skiing before and you go down a run that's a little bit more difficult with a friend and they say, "Hey, get ready, here it comes." Or a rollercoaster or something like that. Or perhaps some of you, young girls are getting close to the day where you may bring a young man home, potential fiance, where you're telling your dad, get ready, to which I would say to either of my daughters, if they ever told me that, brandishing my favorite weapon of choice, I was born ready, right?

But getting ready has a urgency to it. A necessity of something that's going to happen that we need to be prepared for. And this is certainly true when it comes to the Lord, Jesus Christ and all that we're going to experience with Him. I'm telling you this morning, get ready, get ready. It's sooner than you think. It's sooner than you think. And there's some things that we need to do to get ready. Now, as we've been going through this entire series called the alpha and omega series, we began in Genesis 1:1, we've made our way all the way through the first 11 chapters of Genesis then we embarked in the book of Revelation. We've gone through the first 21 chapters and today Lord willing, we will finish chapter 22. It's been bittersweet to come to this place because I can tell you in this last year, I've enjoyed preaching as much as any time in my life that I've enjoyed preaching the Word of God. I've enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed preaching. But God is building something special here at BRAVE Church, because the more hungry you are for the Word, the better I am at proclaiming it. And the better I am at proclaiming it, the more hungry you are for the Word, and God's doing something back and forth here.

And I can tell you with great authority that there's very few places in our culture where the Word is preached. In any part of the Bible I know as a pastor, I can go to and preach the Word with authority. And there are a group of people gathered here that will just say, "Yes, Lord, bring it. We wanna hear what it is you have to say." It's very unique. And so I'm not applauding you, I'm not applauding me, but I am doing this. I am saying God's building something really special here at our church and I think He's worthy of our praise today. And I wonder if we can just applaud our God for what He's doing.

It's an honor, as a pastor, knowing that I don't have to open my Bible and say, I wonder what they're gonna think if I preach this, I wonder if I'm gonna get fired if I preach that, I wonder if these people are gonna leave our church, if they do this, because I know that I'm preaching to a group of saints that love God and love His Word and are saying Pastor Jeff if it's in the Word, we wanna know what God has to say. And it's an honor to pastor this church, I'm telling you. But today I wanna give you five reasons to get ready as we've been going through the book of Revelation.

We started with the revelation of Jesus Christ. We got a true picture of who He is. And then we looked at how Jesus is central to the church and what He's doing in the church this day, and what He's been doing in the church throughout the generations. We looked at what worship was like. And then we began to look at what was going to come to pass in this world, beginning with the seal judgments. And then we got to the trumpets and then we got to the bowls. And to sit through painstakingly every part of this and learn all about the antichrist and the false prophet and the beast and Satan, what he's going to be doing during these times. It's been awesome to walk through this only to get to the place where Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning on planet earth for the millennium. He's gonna rule and reign for a thousand years on the planet and then the eternal state is going to begin. And unfortunately for us, chapter 22 is an unfortunate chapter break because the first five chapters of this section really highlight New Jerusalem. And what we talked about is the capital city of the coming millennium.

But what you're gonna see is in chapter 22 in the book of Revelation, five reasons that you need to get ready. Five reasons that you need to get ready. And I'm telling you with all authority as your pastor, get ready, you need to be prepared for what is coming. And the reason I'm telling you this is that too many Christians are lethargic or complacent and have great apathy when it comes to Jesus Christ and what's going to take place next. For many Christians, the only thing they continue to think about is, I know I'm saved and that's about all I need to know. And while that's important that you're securing your identity in who you are for all eternity, you need to be aware of what's coming. We've spelled it out over the course of hours as we've gone through this book, verse by verse, word by word, taking a look at everything that God would have to say. Today is really a summary of five reasons that you need get ready.

Now I'll give you the first. The first is that God's presence is satisfying. God's presence is satisfying, long for Him, long for Him. If you have your Bible, I encourage you to open up to Revelation 22. We're gonna go through this entire chapter this morning. But God's presence is satisfying, you should long for Him.

Notice what John says. He says, "Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and of the lamb in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life bearing 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse and the throne of God and in the throne of God and of the lamb will be in it. And His bond-servants will serve Him. They will see his face and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night. And they will not have any need for light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them and they will reign forever and ever."

Friends, God's presence is satisfying, long for Him, long for Him. Now you may think that there's a lot of other things that are more satisfying than the presence of God. I'm here to tell you there's nothing more satisfying than the presence of God. When God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1 and as He unfolded the entire universe in six literal days, He was walking among His creation. And as Adam and Eve were created, we get the picture that God spent time directly with them. That was forfeited through sin where God is still near us now through His spirit where for the non believer He convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment and for the believer He indwells us. But there's coming a day where we will be face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ. God, the Father, God, the son and God, the Holy Spirit, all as one in our midst. And while we won't see the Father 'cause no one can see the Father and still lives. And while we won't see the spirit because the Holy Spirit is spirit, we will see the resurrected Christ face to face. And I'm here to tell you there's nothing more satisfying than His presence.

Whatever you think is more satisfying than His presence is an idol in your life, that you're trying to fulfill yourself with something that will never fully satisfy you. So you have to satisfy yourself with it over and over and over time, it gets boring, over time it's just not what it used to be. For some it's video games, it's the greatest video game in the world, but Pac-Man is not all that exciting anymore, right? For others, it's this fashion. But what people wear in 1980s is not as fashionable anymore. For some people it's this new house, but this new house that you have, doesn't look as good three decades down the road. I mean, there's nothing that's fully satisfying, like the presence of God.

And as we gather and worship Him and sing praises to His name and pray to Him and hear His Word proclaimed, His presence is with us. And at times we get different measures of His presence, right? I mean, there are certain weekends that we come to church and it's as if God's speaking just directly to us and it was just what we needed to hear, and it was deep in our soul. There's other times where we're worshiping Him and the message is okay, it's good. I'm praying and I sense God, but not at the same measure. God pours out in different measure. One day, God in full measure, in our presence, will pour out His presence forever and ever and nothing but nothing will be more satisfying. There's nothing more satisfying.

You have a God shaped hole in your heart as it's often said, that is yearning to be in the presence of God. I think of David, as he wrote Psalm 27:4-8. He said, "One thing I have asked from the Lord that I shall seek." What would be the one thing you'd ask and seek of the Lord? Here's what David says it is. "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple." Verse eight, "When you said, seek my face, my heart said to you, 'Your face, oh Lord, I shall seek.'" What did David want more than anything else? To be in God's presence. He wanted God's presence.

Another Psalmist writes it this way in Psalm 84:1, "How lovely are your dwelling places, the Lord of hosts!" In verse 10, he says this, "For a day in your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Here's what the Psalmist is saying. I'd rather be just at the door, looking in on New Jerusalem and the presence of God, just to see Him, just to feel Him a little bit than to do anything else there is to offer in the whole world. Friends, that's what it's gonna be like. And even if you can't get your imagination to get yourself there, you are created to worship God. And nothing is more satisfying than when you'll be in His presence. God's presence is satisfying, yearn for that.

I mean, even the Apostle Paul says some of the same things in the New Testament when he talks about being a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. In Philippians 3:20, he says it like this. He says for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait, that's long. Eagerly wait, I'm yearning for. Eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm wanting to be in His presence. He says something very similar in 2 Corinthians 5:2 and talking about this earthly body and how he's yearning for his heavenly one. He says, "For indeed in this house, we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven." I mean, even if you have one of those days where everything goes right, and you're totally satisfied and you think to yourself, if I could just hit rewind on this day, every single day, life would be great. That wouldn't be satisfying. In heaven, everything is satisfying all the time, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.

And here in the millennial reign with Christ in the New Jerusalem, in this capital city, there is life and life in His name. You said, how do you know? Because there's the water of life that's coming from the thrown down the middle of the street. This water that's gonna nourish you and give you life forever more. It says it on either side of the river was the tree of life. Remember that tree? Remember the tree of life? We saw it all the way back in the book of Genesis. There were two trees in the middle of the garden. One was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, one was the tree of life. They were told not to eat off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they ate off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin entered into the heart of man and woman and then they produce offspring that were sinful. But God protected them from the tree of life.

Isn't God such a good God? Imagine if in their sinful state like we are now aging and getting old and dying and being separated from God, that He would have allowed them to eat off the tree of life and they would have had to endure that forever and ever, and ever. But God in His mercy protected it with an angel and a flaming sword so that they couldn't get there. Everyone has words of the tree of life. Post-flood, we've never seen it. Where's it gonna show up again? It's gonna show up in the New Jerusalem, this tree of life.

And what's this tree going to do? "This tree is gonna yield its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." This is another reason I think it's talking about the millennium because why would nations need to be healed in the eternal state? There's gonna be healing for all the nations as they eat of this tree. Now this tree is perpetually producing fruit. Orange trees produce at a certain time and apple trees produce at a certain time. But then at other times of the year, it doesn't produce fruit. This tree, every single month, there is a new type of fruit being produced. And when it's eaten provides healing, health, life, vitality, restoration. No more pills, no more potions, no more promises, right? Just the healing of the tree of life, every single month to provide everything that you need to enjoy the fullness of God's presence. Isn't that gonna be awesome?

I mean, it's incredible what God is going to provide, this tree and it's healing for the nations. There will no longer be any curse. When mankind sinned, God cursed the ground. It's gonna be hard to toil on the ground and weeds were gonna come up from it. Women were gonna find hard times in childbearing, relationships were gonna be difficult. Everything in life is gonna be hard. There's coming a day where life's not hard anymore. The curse is going to be removed. Talking to those of us who are bond-servants of the Lord, Jesus Christ, who are gonna be in that capital city, life's gonna be easy street. Every day it's just gonna get better and better and better. Every day, we're gonna be healthier and healthier and healthier, right? I mean, can you even imagine a world that's like that? The curse is removed because we won't have sin in our life. We as the servants of the Lord, Jesus Christ, who will no longer be able to age and die or anything like that. And the throne of God and of the lamb will be in it, that's the New Jerusalem and His bond-servants will serve Him. We'll serve the Lord, face-to-face.

Notice this in verse four, "They will see His and His name will be on their foreheads." Talk about a deeper level of intimacy. I love BRAVE Church and I love coming here to worship. And I love that we have people that love to worship the Lord, not only on our platform, but in our church. People sing here. People applaud the Lord here. People raise their hands here. People kneel here. People give homage to our Lord and honor to His name. I love that about this place. The Word of God is heralded in this place. People pray in this place. I love that the presence of God is in this place but it won't be anything like what is gonna be, because I'll tell you something that's never happened, Jesus Christ has never shown up fully bodily and physically to stand right here and say, keep singing. Go ahead. That's gonna happen, that's gonna be there. We're gonna be face-to-face with Him.

We talked about how last week in New Jerusalem, He's gonna wipe every tear from our eye. It means nothing's going to be wasted on Him. He's gonna know every single thing about us 'cause He already does. And all those things that hurt us, He's gonna wipe away all of our pain and we're gonna be able to worship Him right in His presence. And then it says this, He's gonna put His name on our foreheads.

Now, if you go back to chapter seven and you remember when God sealed the 144,000, when you talk about putting the name on our forehead, you're talking about ownership. You're talking about significance, you're talking about belonging, it's deeper intimacy. And I know sometimes when we talk about intimacy in church, some of the guys start tuning out like I don't want deeper intimacy with God. I don't need to sing more kumbaya. That's not my thing.

Deeper intimacy means this, for us as guys in the heart of us, we wonder, am I really worthy? Can I really make a difference? Do I really matter? Do I really count? Deeper intimacy with the Lord in the coming kingdom is I created you, you belong to me, you're mine, I love you. I have significance for your life and I'm here to personally tell you that. I've always felt that way about you, I've always loved you. And you've always been created by me and for my service and you matter to me a ton. Isn't that awesome? That's what's coming.

And regardless of your gender, whether you're male or female, that's what you're gonna sense from the Lord is your significance. For women that ask the question, am I valuable? Will anybody care about me? Am I worth loving? Maybe I lay down their life for me. Jesus is saying, I lay down my life for you. I think you're significant, I think you're valuable. I think you always have been and you are created by me and for me and I love you with an unconditional love. Whether you're a daughter or a son of the king, that's what you're gonna experience with His name written on your forehead and Him standing in your presence.

And then He talks a little more about this city. We talked about it last week in chapter 21 in verse 23, but we hear it again here. "And there will no longer be any night and you will not have need of the light of a lamp nor of the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them and they will reign forever and ever." We get to reign with Jesus forever and ever. What's that capital city gonna be like? There's no nighttime. The city that never sleeps.

I was thinking about this more this week when I was preparing, thinking about the majesty and beauty that we talked about last week with a New Jerusalem descending and being like a crystal diamond and gold streets and so much light coming from it. And you can see all the way through it. And all the nations of the world will look onto this huge edifice and say, that's amazing. And then I started thinking, ain't that weird that even if you have walls, there's no place like that you can't be seen? Like introverts are probably like, I don't know if I'm gonna like that. But you will because think about this, when there's a world where there's no sin, there's nothing that you would ever do on private that you'd be ashamed about in public, ever because everything you do at all the time can be seen by anybody and be appreciated because all you'll know how to do is love God and love other people.

Can you imagine a city like that with millions or potentially billions of people that are living in it that are all being able to see each other at all times and everybody's cool with that? There's no need for privacy because we're living in the kingdom. And we already talked about in the millennium, God's gonna recreate the heavens and the earth. There will be a sun, there will be moon, there will be stars, there'll be all those things, but no need for that in the city. No need for that there, why? Because Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Jesus Christ is the lamb. He's gonna light the whole thing up 24/7, 365.

There's always something going on in New Jerusalem. It's gonna be amazing. And I'm here to tell you that God's presence is satisfying. Long for Him, long for Him. There's healing and life in His name. I mean, just think about the ways that you hurt in this life. Sometimes it's from time to time, sometimes it's seasonal, sometimes it's longer. Some of you are dealing right now with severe emotional pain. Some of you have severe physical pain. Some of you have mental anguish over things that have happened to you.

Can I just tell you there's coming a day where there'll be none of that. I mean, it's all gone. I mean, you'll never have to worry, man, if I go do this and I go ride my bike, am I gonna be sore the next day? It's never gonna happen. Never gonna happen, right? You don't have to bed and wonder if you're gonna wake up sore 'cause there's no bed. Nobody sleeps. You're fully complete in Christ. It's totally satisfying. It's the reason why God gives us instructions on this side of heaven, for how to enjoy His presence through the proclamation of His Word, through the reading of His Word, through prayer, through worship, through giving, through sharing the gospel, all those different things. And from time to time, we experience Him and we see glimpses.

Friends, there's coming a day where all the time, all the time, all the time, you experience the presence of God. And if you've ever had one of those moments with the Lord, like I know I have where His presence is so on me that I don't want it to end, there's coming a day where it won't. Where He'll just be with you forever and forever, amen. And there is nothing on your calendar more satisfying than that. There's no one more satisfying, there's no thing more satisfying.

The reasons we on this side of heaven try to look for things that are more satisfying is we're trying to fill a void for the presence of Christ, rather than seeking His face. And there's blessings God's gives to us like marriage and children and jobs and family and all sorts of different things, but they're never to replace the satisfaction that comes from seeking the Lord and knowing Him, amen. Get ready because God's presence is satisfying, long for Him.

Is it wrong for me to wanna go to heaven? No, long for it. Yearn for Him. Look forward to the day. When you pray the Lord's prayer to let your kingdom come, when? Today. Come Lord Jesus. We want that. God's presence is satisfying, long for Him. Let me give you a second reason. God's Word is true. God's Word is true. Get ready, God's Word is true. Linger with Him. Linger with Him. Spend time with Him. Spend time in His Word.

Notice what he said, verse six. "And he said to me, these words are faithful and true." Well, what words? Well, the ones that we're reading, what He's talking about about the New Jerusalem, but what words? Not just the New Jerusalem, but the entire book of Revelation. Not just the entire book of Revelation, but all 66 books. They are all faithful and true.

Friends, God's Word is true. You can bank on it. Isaiah 40:8 says, "The grass withers and the flowers fade but the word of our Lord stands forever." Luke 21:33 says, "The heavens and the earth will pass away but my words will never pass away." Linger with Jesus, linger in His Word.

Why is His Word so important? Because His Word reveals who He is. One of Jesus' biggest problems with the religious leaders in His day, the Pharisees were that, they were diligent in studying Scripture. They knew their Bibles, but they miss the very one that the Bible testified about. Jesus said to them in John 5:39, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life. It is these that testify about me and yet you were unwilling to come to me so that you may have life."

Do you know it's possible to study the Bible and to know the Bible and to be acquainted with the Bible and still not have a relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ? Jesus was saying, what a waste of time it is. You study this stuff. Everything in here from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21 is testifying about who I am. And here I am standing right in front of you and yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I'm the giver of life.

So we eat off the tree of life. What's the tree of life gonna give us? Life, healing, vitality, wholeness. Everything we want, where do we get that? It's in Jesus in and in nothing else. And friends, His Word is true. You wanna experience Him in the next life or in this life, linger in His Word, spend time in His Word.

Even before Israel took the promised land after their 40 year camping trip and Joshua was taking them in, here's what He says to them. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it. That means to linger, that means to memorize. That means to say it over and over again. "Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success."

How are you gonna have success in this life? By being obedient to every single part of God's Word. You don't get to pick and choose the parts that you wanna pick and choose. Every part of this book is God's Word. Every part of this book is enduring. Every part of this book is faithful and true, and God wants you to repent and be obedient to every single part of this book.

Psalm 19, the Psalmist writes about the law of the Lord. Really talking about the Word or the testimony of the Lord, or the precepts of the Lord. Listen to what he says. "The law of the Lord is perfect." What's the Word of God? It's perfect. There's nothing wrong with it. "Restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned in keeping them there is great reward."

Psalm 19:7-11, what's it saying? That there's nothing wrong with the Word of God and that you should hunger for the Word of God. You should linger in the Word of God, meditate on the Word of God, pray the Word of God, study the Word of God, hear the Word of God proclaimed.

You see, once you realize that everything in the Bible is true, you'll approach it differently. You'll approach it differently. You'll assure yourself that when God says what He says in Genesis 1:1 and when He says what He says in the book of Revelation, that everything's entirely true. It's true. When God said in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, what does that mean? It means that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. When it says that He worked and then there was evening and morning and there was one day and He does that six repetitive times, how many days did it take God to create the universe? Six. I don't need to go to a scientist or a school to have them tell me what God's saying, because when God says it, it's true. Whether you believe it or not.

And one day when you get to heaven, you're gonna see that it is. And if that's true, then the book of Revelation is true. Can I just tell you, when people start allegorizing the text and saying, well, He didn't really create it in six literal days, a day didn't mean a day, He could have mean this. He could've mean, then He would've said that. Why do you get to allegorize that part? 'Cause every time you allegorize, all you're saying is I get to choose what it means. Why do you allegorize the book of Revelation? 'Cause when you allegorize it, you get to say what it means. If you just take it and it's plain normal sense, God gets to say what it means.

And I'm telling you as long as I'm your pastor, until they put me in the ground and I get the privilege of preaching here, I'm gonna preach what God says, because God wants you to know what He says and He doesn't need a PR agent from the front allegorizing the text and telling you what I think it means. I mean, we wouldn't have the problems that we're having if people actually believed it.

When you can't get out of Genesis 1 without believing six days and two genders and one race and marriage defined, we're a big problem with that in our culture because many pastors have stood in the pulpit and say, well, that's just all of Oracle, it's just a story. No, it's the Word of God and it hasn't changed.

And that's why I praise God for a church like this, where I don't apologize for preaching the Word. You may not like it. There's things that I wouldn't have made, I wouldn't have made this up, I wouldn't have said this. This isn't my thought. This is the eternal God of the universe and I love Him. And He can say whatever He wants to say, however He wants to say. And I'll tell you this as a preacher of the Word, I'm way more scared about what He's gonna say about me than what you think about me.

One of the ministries of BRAVE Church is to preach the authority of God's Word without apology, for people that actually wanna hear what God has to say. And by His grace, I hope I will continue to grow in being accurate and faithful to the extent of what the Word of God says. And as I've told you many times from this pulpit, if I am off and the Bible says something different, you always believe the Bible, always believe the Bible. I don't have authority, Jesus Christ has all authority. It's His word, it's His book. I'm placing myself under His authority.

But know this God's word is true, linger in it. If this book really is how you can get to know Jesus Christ better and better, and how you can understand the truth of what's going on in our culture and see it for what it is the more time you spend in this book, the more time you spend seeking the face of God, the more you'll understand what's going on. Friends, that's true.

Notice what he continues to say, "It's faithful and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets sent His angel to show his bond-servants the things which must soon take place." Take note of that. We're gonna talk about that in a minute. Jesus is gonna tell us what's gonna take place soon. "And behold," these are Jesus's words. "I am coming quickly. Blessed is the one who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book."

If this is allegorical, how can you heed the words of the prophecy when you don't even know what it means? We've been through this book, we know exactly what's coming. God's been crystal clear to us. Certainly, there's other things that we'd like to know that God doesn't give us answers, but He gives us enough that we can be prepared for what's coming. John says, "I, John, and the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he said to me, 'Do not do that. I'm a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren, the prophets, and those who heed the words of this book.'"

What is he saying? Worship, God, worship Him, worship Him. I mean, this isn't John's first mistake of trying to worship an angel. I mean, if John was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and was a couple of times in the book of Revelation prone to wanna worship an angel, how glorious is the fullness of Jesus' majesty going to be? It's gonna be unbelievable. It's gonna be something like we've never seen before.

And notice what he finally says. "And he said to me," verse 10, 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is near.'" Soon, quickly, near, soon, quickly, near. Don't seal it up. Know, this, know the prophecy is true. Know it's gonna come to pass because everything that Jesus Christ has already said was going to happen happened in the exact way He said. The things that are still future are going to happen in the exact way that He's telling you, they're going to happen. You can bank on this book. God is true to His Word. God does not lie.

I love this book. I wish I knew it better, I wish I studied it more. There's a great return on investment for immersing yourself in the Word of God and lingering in the Word of God and getting to know the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm here to tell you that God's presence is satisfying, you should long for it. And God's Word is true, you should linger with Him. You should linger with Him.

Let me give you a third reason that you need to get ready. You need to get ready because God's sifting is permanent. God's sifting is permanent, live for Him. God sifting is permanent, live for Him. Now this next verse in Revelation 22:11, you would probably think it doesn't belong in your Bible, but it's there and God has a reason for it. It says this, "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong." Somebody just said that's my life verse. It shouldn't be. I'm gonna tell you why. "And the one who is filthy, still be filthy. And let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness. And the one who is holy still keeps himself holy." Why? "Behold I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to render to every man, according to what he has done. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

Who's the one giving the authority? The sovereign God of the universe who's always been here and will always be here. Who in His creation, as He created everything and He's bringing everything to culmination says, I'm authoritatively telling you what is going to happen. I'm the one that when I say this is going to happen, it's gonna happen and what's He gonna do? I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me. And how am I gonna reward people? To render to everyone, according to what he has done?

Well, that's kind of scary 'cause I know my life. How about you? You wanna be rewarded for everything you've done? I love these verses. Verse 14. "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city." How do I wash my robe? How do I get it white? There's only one way and one way only and it's the Lord Jesus Christ.

See the Bible makes clear that there is no one good, no, not one. The Bible makes clear, there's only one righteous and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible makes clear that when Christ returns, He's going to separate, there's gonna be a sifting from the wicked dead and the righteous dead. If you're born wicked, which all of us are, you need to be made righteous. The only way to be made righteous is through the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man who died on the cross for all your sin. When you turn from your sin and turn to Christ, you can have life and have it in His name forever and ever. If you know Him, you will be spared of any judgment that is to come because God does not pour out His wrath on His children. That will not happen.

Which means this, if you're a believer in the Lord, Jesus Christ now, and you die or you know somebody who's a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ now and they die, their soul immediately goes to be with Christ 'cause to be absent from the body is to be with Christ. If you know someone who has not repented and trusted in Christ, when they breathe their last breath, they immediately go to hell and they wait and wait and wait in hell until the final judgment which you read about at the end of Revelation 20:15, I believe where they will experience the great white throne judgment, which at time there'll be transmitted from hell with an eternal body and go into the lake of fire forever and ever, amen.

Let me just tell you this, God sifting is real, it's true. Now some of you will say, well, yeah, Pastor Jeff, when I'm old like you, then I'll start thinking about things like that. Let me tell you why that's such a horrible idea. Number one, you may not live to be as old as me. Number two, you don't know how long you're gonna live. And number three, every time you hear the Lord's voice and you harden your heart, it makes it that much more difficult to hear His voice again.

And there is no guarantee in the future that you're gonna hear His voice and respond to Him. That's why the Bible says today, if you hear the Lord's voice, do not harden your heart. God's sifting is real. Live for Him. Live for Him.

Now we've made clear in this series that God did not create hell with any human being in mind. God did not create a life and say, oh yeah, the unelect, they're going to hell. That never happened. I don't see that in my Bible. As a matter of fact, when I read Matthew 25 in verse 41, He's gonna say to those on His left, depart from me, a cursed ones into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for who? The devil and his angels. That's who hell's for. But if you wanna go with them, you can go because God's holy and He's righteous and He's good and He won't take sinners into His presence.

And verse 46 says these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life. Eternal hell is just as long as eternal life. If somebody told you an opposite, they're not being biblical. And if someone's holding a Bible while they tell you that, they're a liar, they're are flat-out liar.

I love you enough that I will persuade you, I will proclaim the gospel to you. I can't change you, I can't do anything for you, but I believe that God can. I mean, that's why we see that verse back in verse 11. Hey, let the one who's doing bad things, let them continue to do bad things. Let the one who's filthy, continue to be filthy. Their judgment's coming. How many of you know by show of hands, you can't change people? If you didn't raise your hand, that's free today. I mean, I'm gonna save you a lot of time. You can't change anybody.

It's hard enough to allow God to change you. You can't even change yourself. You can make some behavioral modifications for a little while, but you really can't change your core. Only God can do that. So He's saying, for those that are living evil, just let them do it. It's not our job to save somebody. It's Jesus Christ job to save somebody. But let those of us who are holy, who have been declared righteous by Almighty God continue to live for Him because there is coming a day where Jesus Christ is going to reward all of us for whether we've responded to Him by faith or whether we've rejected Him. It's that simple and I love you enough to tell you.

And I can't believe that there aren't  pulpits enough in America that will tell you there's a literal place called heaven and a literal place called hell where every single person that dies on a daily base goes to one or the other. And once you're there, there's no coming back. There's no, 'oops', I should've known, oops, I should've listened to my pastor, oops, I wish I would've gone to church more.  Oops, there's no, oops. You're either with Christ or you're without Christ and that's it.

Are you with Christ? Are you with Christ? You say, well, how do I know? How do I know? I love God's Word. There's plenty of Scriptures that will tell us that if you've trusted in Jesus Christ, that you belong to Him and no one can snatch you out of His hand. That no one can snatch you out of the Father's hand. Romans 8 tells us that if you've been justified, that you've also been sanctified and glorified. If you know the Lord, it's as good as done that you're gonna be in the kingdom.

But we're getting all these debates, you know? Calvinism, Arminianism. Pastor Jeff, are you a Calvinist? Are you Arminian? I'm really neither. I worship the Lord Jesus Christ and so did Calvin and Jacob Arminius. So Jesus wasn't Calvinist or Arminian. How many don't even know what I'm talking about? That's good. That's really good, actually. Listen, I can defend all the finer points of Calvinism. I know them, I'm aware of them. Listen, I don't care about that stuff.

What I care about is are you living for Christ? Like you can know all the finer points of Calvinism and teach in a seminary or be a pastor and still bust hell wide open 'cause you never had a relationship with Jesus. I mean, are you living for Him? Because my Bible makes clear that if I've truly been saved by grace, through faith, that God comes in and makes it a positive. His Holy Spirit in my life who is with me forever. And if the spirit's in my life, Romans 8:16 says that His spirit testifies and bears witness with my spirit, that I'm a child of God.  If the spirit of God is inside of me, He will show me to put certain things off and to start walking in God's way. If I'm living for God, that's the evidence that God in His grace by no merit of my own saved my life and now He's continually saving me.

So here comes the question too many people in Christendom, say, I know once saved, always saved. I know I'm going to heaven and to my response it will be, who cares? It's not about getting to heaven. We live in a culture, here's the questions we ask. We ask stupid questions like this, what's the least I can do? What's the least amount of church I can attend? What's the littlest prayer I can pray? The littlest amount of Scripture I can do and still go to heaven? And the Bible never answers that question. So here's the question. Do you want all of Jesus or not? If you do, He's willing to invest all of Himself in you. And if He's invested all of Himself in you, then don't sit around proud saying, I know I'm going to heaven. Walk with Christ in humility and say, God, what are you wanting to change in me so that I can reflect more of your holiness? Because you save me by your grace and your growing me by your grace and I wanna reflect you.

One of the reasons Christianity gets boring for Christians is that Christians have heard right doctrine without right practice for so long that they think once saved, always saved, means I don't have to go to church again, I don't have to participate with Christ again, I don't have to pray again. I know I'm just going to heaven and you're wrong. Christ saved you so that you could have intimacy and fellowship with Him. Christ saved you so you could linger in His word. Christ saved you because the separation is real and you should start living in such a way that if Jesus Christ showed up today, you wouldn't have to apologize for it.

I mean, what if you knew for sure, like Jesus Christ was coming back, I don't know. Few months, few years. Would you change any behavior that you have? 'Cause there's the nurse up, yeah, I probably would. Then change it now. I mean the Bible tells you do not be deceived. I'm gonna read you a text just in its whole entirety without making observation and telling you now this is what it means and all this stuff. You just listen to this yourself.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 6, where Paul was telling the Corinthian church that even though they're immoral in their behavior, they can still be saved and saved the full, but don't be deceived. Here's what he says. "Or do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" How many of you know that there's no unrighteous person that goes to heaven? There's no unrighteous person that enters the millennial reign. Now here's the problem, here's a problem. The Bible says there's no one righteous, no, not one. You're not born righteous. So you don't start off going to heaven unless you make a mistake. You start off hell bent for hell unless God does something in your life.

Unrighteous people don't enter the kingdom, only righteous people. And the only way you could be made righteous is through the person of Jesus. Now let me just read this. "Do not be deceived." Don't be deceived. Neither fornicators, fornicators is having sex before you are married. Nor idolaters, which are people that put something else in their worship ahead of the Lord. It doesn't mean you have a shrine. It means you love your car more than Jesus or your house more than Jesus or your relationships more than Jesus or your sports teams more than Jesus. People like that don't enter the kingdom. They're not gonna be there, they don't inherit it. Or adulterers. Those are people who are married and are engaging in sexual behavior outside of their marriage. Nobody like that gets into heaven, don't deceive yourself. Nor a feminine nor homosexuals. So why is there two words for that? Because the Bible is making clear that whether you're on the giving or receiving end of that homosexual act, there aren't homosexuals that are entering the kingdom.

Can I just be clear again 'cause I don't know if I was being clear enough? Homosexuals don't enter the kingdom according to the Word of God. Nor thieves, people that steal, people that take, people that cheat. Nor the covetous, people that are jealous of what other people have or spend their life going after money or other things. Nor drunkards. Drunkards doesn't mean I had 12 beers. Drunkard means you're buzz'd, you're drunk, right? People like that don't inherit it. Nor revilers, people that cause problems. Nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And none of those people inherit the kingdom of God. None of them.

Now every funeral I've ever done, when people are fully engaged in all those behaviors, the mom, the dad, the brother, the cousin, oh, he's in heaven now. No, he's not. Not according to the Word of God. If you're not living for Jesus here, you won't be with Jesus there, that's what the Word teaches. Now, if you're feeling this on your heart, you're feeling conviction a little, then how the heck am I ever gonna get saved? 'Cause Jeff, I'm not every one of those, but some of those. Here's what Paul says, such were some of you. That's what you were. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ and in the spirit of God.

You know what it means? You're not getting to heaven by going to church, you're not getting to heaven by being a good person. Hey, you're not getting to heaven 'cause you kept all the 10 commandments, which by the way, none of you have kept any one of the 10 ever. And in case you don't believe me, worship the Lord, your God and serve Him Only. That means there's never been a time since the time that you were born, that you've ever thought about anything other than the worship of the Lord, Jesus Christ and putting Him and others first, ever. I mean, you came out of your mom's womb and you broke that one right away. If you've ever thought an evil thought about somebody else, even if you never acted on it, you're a murderer. If you've ever had a lustful thought in your mind about someone other than your spouse, you're an adulterer. I mean, do we wanna continue the list? You're not getting in. Oh, by the way, just so we can have it on the record. You're not going to heaven just because you're an American. 'Cause there's some people that think that.

There's only one way to get to heaven. Jesus said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. All of you are sinners, you're broken, you're dead in your trespasses and sins, I'm the only one that can get you there. I don't care whether you're a Calvinist or Arminian, depending on where I am in the text, that bleeds one way or the other, I'm fine with that. The question is not, am I elect, the question is, am I living for Christ? Do I really want Jesus in my life or not? Like, that's the question that you have to answer. Don't be deceived. You can come to BRAVE Church for the entirety that BRAVE Church is long after I'm dead and gone and still go to hell even hearing the Word of God proclaimed. I'm just telling you the sifting is real. I can't make you a Christian. If I can make some of you Christians, I would touch you and make you Christians. That'd be an awesome gift to have. Jesus Christ is the only one that can do that.

But God sifting's permanent, so live for Him. Let the spirit of God this morning testify with your spirit, that you're a child of God. Let Him testify you belong to me. It's not asking you to remember the exact date, remember the exact time. He's saying, are you living for Christ now? DO you remember what it was like when you didn't, now you are? Is He first placing your life? That's the question that you wanna ask. That's why you got to get ready 'cause there's a lot of people in our country, they're not ready. They think they're ready because the devil would love to take nonbelievers and falsely convince you that you're ready, only to realize you're not ready and nobody can make you ready except you. If you're offended at what I'm saying, I'm specifically talking to you. His sifting's permanent.

God doesn't release pastors from the millennial reign to go down to hell and say, well, this guy was really good and he was a nice guy and he gave a lot of money. Can I just go get him? No. Now when you're sifted, when you're separated, you're separated forever. And here's the good news, God never wanted you to be sifted. God's always wanted to be in relationship with you, no matter how sinful you've been, no matter what acts that you would act on. No matter how far you've gone away, God would say, but I still love you. That's why I came and I died on the cross for your sins. And I was buried and I was raised to life because my desire was that none would perish, but that all would come to know me. I came to earth for everybody. That's who I am. Friends, get ready because God sifting is permanent. So live for Him.

How about this? Let me give you a fourth reason. God's return is soon. Fourth reason you need to be ready is God's return is soon, look for Him. Look for Him. Verse 15 as we see the end of that sifting, he said, "Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying." It's one thing to sin, knowing that, man, I did wrong. God, if you wanna show me something in my life, Lord, you're growing me. I mean, there's nobody here that's not a sinner. There's nobody here that's conquered sin in his or her life. None of us. But there's a difference between recognizing I didn't realize that was sin, or Lord, that is sin, Lord help me versus I don't really care. I'm gonna live my sinful life any way that I want. People that live like that, that aren't living for Jesus won't be there.

And why do you need to know this? Because God's return is soon, look for Him. Notice what He says in verse 16, "I Jesus." So who's talking now? Jesus is talking, good job. "I have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches, I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright and morning star." What is Jesus saying? Hey, this is the Word of God. I'm the one that told you all these things. I'm the one that told you to get ready. I mean, even as this book begins, the revelation of Jesus Christ, I think to myself, I wanna have more of Christ revealed in my life, which God gave Him to show His bond-servants the things that must soon take place. So why did God give us the book of Revelation? So that we as His servants would know what was coming. We'd be ready for it.

Verse three says of chapter one, "blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and who heed the things, which are written in it for the time is near." All throughout this book, it's near, it's soon. It's quickly, it's coming. I mean, here it is. And God gave us this book so we'd be ready for everything that is going to take place. That's why He gave it to us. But when you talk to many people, they would say, well, you can't really understand that book. Now if that's true, then why would Jesus say, I gave you this book so you would understand it, but people are saying, you can never understand it. You can't understand it, just read it and heed it. And practice what it's saying, 'cause the time is coming and it's coming soon. And that's what Jesus is saying back here, too. It's coming soon.

Notice verse 17, "The spirit and the bride say, come and let the one who hears come and let the one who is thirsty, come. Let the one who wishes, take the water of life without costs. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to the plagues which are written in this book."

Remember the plagues we talked about? I mean, my goodness, we have weeks upon end, where we were talking about the plagues and God's judgment. I wouldn't wanna be part of that. I wouldn't want more of that. He says don't add to this book, don't take away from this book. You know what it means? When it comes to the prophecy, in the book of Revelation, don't twist it and turn it for what you think it means. Just let God speak. It means when you see the texts in the Bible, don't twist and turn it for what you think it means or what you want it to mean. Let God speak. Don't change God's Word. It's eternal. It's what He's saying, don't add to it, don't take it away. It means you don't need another secondary thing. Commentaries are good. You can study it, but they're not authoritative. Only the word of God's authoritative.

So you don't need the book of Mormon, by the way. It's an extra book by a cult that's why you don't need to have it. I'm not trying to be harsh, I'm just trying to be truthful. 'Cause they take thousands of people to hell every single day that's why I can say that.

"And if anyone takes away from the words in this book of prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in the book. And here he says again, He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming quickly. Amen. Yes, come Lord Jesus, come. I'm coming when? Soon. I'm coming how? Quickly? Where are you? I'm near.

Now I know what you're gonna say. Pastor Jeff people have been saying that for two millennium. It's exactly what Peter wrote about in 2 Peter 3:3. "Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as it was from the beginning of creation.'" What does God call people that say, it's not gonna happen in your lifetime? Mockers. What does God say about people that say, it's not gonna happen soon? Mockers.

Now why is the authority of God's Word so important? Here's why. Here's why we started in Genesis. If Genesis is true, which I personally believe, I think I've told you that, okay? I believe it's true. And God created the world in six literal days and rested on the seventh. If you take all the genealogies through like we did, when we walked them all through, it means the world's about 6,000 years old. If the world is 6,000 years old and 2,000 years ago, Jesus told us He's coming soon. How soon is Jesus coming soon? Oh, He's coming soon. I mean, I've taught you about this book. The reason I'm pre-millennial is because it talks about a thousand year reign of Christ and there's all these promises to Israel in the Old Testament, that must be fulfilled that are different than what God's gonna do with the church. So I'm pre-millennial that Jesus coming back before the coming millennium. But then we talked about different tribulation ideas, pre-tribulational or post-tribulation. I'm not pre-tribulational because there's not one Scripture in the Bible that would highlight being pre-tribulational. There's nowhere in the Bible that God says before things are gonna get bad, every Christian in the world's gonna get snatched out of here. And there's no Scripture for it. And the only way you could ever believe that is if you're American, because all the rest of the Christian world is suffering all over the place. Okay? I don't believe that.

I also don't believe in post-tribulation realism because I don't believe God will pour out His wrath on the church. We can't be here. That's what I'm teaching from a pre-wrath position that we will be here for some of what is going on. But before God pours out His judgment on planet earth and the day of the Lord's judgment, like we read about in chapters eight, nine, and following, that God is going to come back. His second coming is gonna begin with the rapture. And then there's this complex sequence of events that continue to take place as we've been describing. During Jesus Christ' first advent, everybody thought they knew exactly how He was gonna come. Nobody did until afterwards. But it was a complex series of a whole. Afterwards, I mean, Jesus Christ' return, His rapture, His resurrection, He's meeting out judgment on all people, He's bringing His church back to the planet, He's establishing His rule and reign, His millennial kingdom. There's this whole complex series of things that's all part of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ like we've been talking about.

Do I know every single answer? No, God does, but that's why we're teaching this. Why? So you can be ready 'cause it's gonna happen soon. It's gonna happen quickly. Today's August 1st 2021 in case you didn't know. Remember where you worked two years ago? Was our world looking exactly the same two years ago? Or is it spiraled out of control fast? Is it different now? Are there different fears people have? You say, well, how did all that happen? Why aren't we thinking about what's going on in Australia and Germany and Israel and everywhere else and how does that affect us? Why is it a global economy now? Why is everybody talking about a one world order? 'Cause it's near, it's soon.

I mean friends, we're living in a world right now if you don't get vaccinated, people are saying, you're the problem, you need to take a vaccine. You need to have a vaccine passport. You need to show that you're really healthy, which I don't have time right now. The government doesn't care about your health. You wanna be vaccinated? Get vaccinated. If you don't, don't. The government doesn't care about your health, especially with a pandemic that only kills less than 0.5% of people. I mean, this is not a big deal. We're making it a big deal because this is government control. And what's going on is this has been planned for a long time, okay? I mean, I was just reading an article this week about Klaus Schwab. Some of you will know who he is. He's the head of the World Economic Forum. He said in 2016, this is a quote, "That an implantable, global health pass microchip would be unveiled within the next 10 years to track and control all of humanity." That was in 2016. He was saying by 2026, we will have a microchip to control all humanity and we'll make it about a health crisis.

Do you see anything happen in here? I mean, are your eyes opened? Now, listen, I've been clear the whole time I've taught the book of Revelation, I don't know when the end is gonna start, God does, right? Could it happen 500 years from now that the 70th week of Daniel begins?  It could. Now this is where I'm stepping outside of the authority of God's Word and I'm stepping into my opinion, so you can disregard any of this. But if you were to ask me, when's this gonna happen? I could see this happen in the next five to 10 years, easy peasy. I can say is beginning of this year.

I mean, imagine what it's gonna be like when it's not about taking a mark for your health, it's this, see all your bank accounts, see everything you have in there, you have two weeks to decide whether you wanna take a chip in the back of your right hand or in your head or all your money goes away. And the only thing that's now gonna work is cryptocurrencies, 'cause your cash means nothing. You either give all your money away or you lose it all. You ready? It's coming soon. It's happening soon. And by the way, to get the mark, you've got to worship and give allegiance to the world dictator. You want that?

Now there's no need to live in fear because God's always provided for His kids. But how does God provide? One day at a time. He didn't give manna for a year, He gave manna every day. And if it took more than they needed, it's spoiled. Can we trust God that He's gonna provide for us when these things happen? Can this happen in our lifetime? Yes. Can we be prepared? Yes.

Now I need to say something about this, just so that I can be totally candid, which I've been all morning, I think. Here's what you need to know. How many were old enough to live through Y2K? Remember Y2K? World's gonna shut down. I mean, there were churches having conferences. The church, I was a part, had a conference. I thought it was stupid then, I think it's stupid now. And you gotta understand my comments and where I'm coming from. I am pro First Amendment, I am pro Second Amendment in every way, but hear me now, hear me now. There is nowhere in the Bible that says, "Hey, things are coming, stockpile all your food and get all your guns so you can kill everybody that comes after you." I mean, it's tough to read the Sermon on the Mount and have that as your theology. I'm just being candid here. You need to run everything through the framework of the Lord, because the more challenging things get and the more loving you are, the more Jesus Christ gets put on display. The more challenging things get and the more we continue to gather as the light of the world, the more we're gonna be a witness to the world.

I'm not concerned that the world's getting darker. It's always gonna get darker until Jesus gets here. I'm concerned that those of us who are called by the name of Jesus will stand on the truth for Him for now and forevermore so that the world may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, amen. 'Cause some people hear this message or they hear messages in Revelation and they get all scared. I mean, if you knew we were gonna end in the 70th week today, you knew this was gonna happen in two weeks from now you're gonna have to decide what you're gonna do with all your money. Are you ready? 'Cause if you're not ready now, you won't be ready then.

It doesn't mean don't prepare, it doesn't mean don't save money. It doesn't mean don't set things aside, do all that. Just don't make it your idol. Don't make it the thing that you're banking on 'cause it just may not be there when you get there. Bank on the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord, no matter what, and you'll be okay, right?

That's the word. It says to look for Him in Colossians 3:1-4. It gives us a great picture of what this is. Hey, can I look for Jesus? Should I be yearning for Him? Yeah. Yeah, let's look for Him. "Therefore, if you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on things on the earth."

Christians as we go through them harder and harder times, set your mind on things above and not on the things of the earth. Do you see what they're doing in our world? Don't set your mind on that. Be educated, know what's going on. Set your mind on Christ for you have died. You're dead. "And your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life is revealed then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Friend, I'm just telling you, whatever God has coming our way, whatever God has coming your way, He's gonna give you all the grace you need.

And that's why I like this last reason to be ready. Be ready for this reason, God's grace is sufficient, love Him. God's grace is sufficient, love Him. It's how this book ends by the way. It's how the book of Revelation ends, it's how our Bible ends. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen. It's all grace.

God does all the work. We don't do all the work. We don't find God, God finds us. We don't get saved, God saves us. We don't sanctify ourselves, God sanctifies us. We don't glorify ourselves, God glorifies us. It's by grace, we've been saved through faith. It's not our own doing. It's a gift of God so that no one can boast.

Even in Titus 2, the same grace that saved us is the same grace that grows us. Listen to what he says. "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men." You're saved by His grace. It also sanctifies us. What's grace to do? It instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. Teaches us, hey, right now, God, what do you want me to put off? God, what do you want me to put on God? What behaviors do I need to let go of? What do I need to embrace? Doing what? Verse 13? Looking. Look, look for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Christ Jesus. Look for Him.

Look for Him. It's His grace. It's His grace that gives us everything we need in this life and in the life to come. May the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen and amen and amen. It's His grace. He'll give you everything you need for life and godliness in this life. He'll give you everything you need in the coming kingdom. He's got everything you're looking for. You need not fear. You don't have to worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or what you will wear. Your Father knows these things before you even ask Him. Just ask and you will receive, seek, and you will find, knock and the door will be open.

Do not leave this church and live in fear. The one thing Christians need to be different with every single person on the planet is no fear. No fear. I mean, if you know the truth of this book and you don't know Jesus, you should live in fear, every day you should be terrified. Every day you should be terrified because the moment you breathe your last, you're going to hell and await judgment. But if you know Jesus, what's the worst thing that can happen? Like what's the worst thing... I could die.

You've already died. And your life is now hidden with Christ in God. I mean, the goal of your faith is meeting Jesus face to face. And even for those that would have to endure the gift of martyrdom, by the time it's over, it's over. I have three children. Two of them are more dare devils than the one. And the one when we went to the amusement park this year, I was being talked into going on all the roller coasters. But this is my one child that likes to think through everything and know every turn. And how's this gonna work and is it gonna go backwards, is it gonna go forward? Like how are we gonna do all that? And the other children were explaining, here's what you're gonna do. And then my aunt started explaining it and my wife was explaining, I was explaining. Finally, I'm like, I'm tired of explaining, just ride the thing, just get on. I know if you'll do this, I promise you, you'll have a great time. If you don't, I'll give you all your money back for the amusement park. He said dad, I didn't pay. I'm like now you're getting it. Okay, so. And so they went on the ride and loved it and went on again and again and again and again.

Here's what the truth is, if you knew the glory that was to come, you would endure every bit of what God has to get you there because what's coming is so awesome. I'm using the word correctly. It's so awesome that you will yearn to get there. You would look to get there. That you would linger with His word, that you would love Him because the gospel is summed up in this word. Love God, love people. It's that simple. It's that clear. Love Jesus, love everybody else and demonstrate that you love Jesus by the way that you love other people.

So what are all these L words summing up? What does it mean to look for Him and to love Him and to linger with Him? These are words of worship. Because one day you're gonna stand with Him face to face. So as we close our service today, as we pray and as we sing, I want you to picture the Lord Jesus Christ in all of His glory, standing right in front of you as you sing this last song where one day you're gonna be able to give Him honor and praise and glory and majesty for all that He is because you know what? He and He alone are worthy. Amen. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Lord Jesus, we come to you at the end of this series and Lord, we don't wanna move. We don't wanna shuffle out of here without doing business with you. If you're here today and you would say, I'm deceived, I don't know that I really have a relationship with the Lord. I'm not living for Him, I don't want Him, but I do now. Here's how you can pray. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I know I'm separated from you, but I believe that you're the God of the universe. You're the way, the truth and the life and that you died for all my sins and were buried, and that you rose from the dead in victory. Lord, I wanna turn from my sin. I wanna leave it at the cross and I want you to come into my life and be my Lord and my God. I want all that you have for me.

And for those of you that already know the Lord, He dwells richly in you. Lord, do a work in us, help us to be more worshipful, help us to give you our heart and our life and our mind and our soul for all that you're gonna do. Lord, you and you alone are worthy and we're here to worship your name, the mighty and the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. Can we give God praise for His Word this morning?