Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20010819.htm

REVELATION: CALL TO HOLINESS IN VIEW OF PROPHECY
Part III: The Things Hereafter'
"R. Our CURRENT And CRITICAL Decision"
(Revelation 22:6-21)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

If you think about it, everyone around you, including yourself, seems to be in a state of spiritual FLUX. No one stands still, but we all are either slipping into greater ungodliness or moving toward GOD in our thinking and actions. Here are some illustrations:

(1) On the one hand, and this illustration is about no one in particular but so many in general, a John and Mary Doe start attending a certain Fellowship Bible Church. They have chosen to leave a mainline denomination church because they could not stand its tolerance for the homosexual orientation.

However, a dear relative, Penelope, then finds herself with child due to an illicit affair. So, to protect her Doe family name, Penelope gets an abortion. Suddenly Pastor Hawthorn's stand at Fellowship Bible Church against abortion on demand is a problem for John and Mary Doe, so they leave Fellowship Bible and go into a new church that tolerates abortion and homosexuality. John and Mary Doe's new testimony is, "We were once free in the old denomination, but then we fell into legalism at Fellowship Bible Church under Pastor Hawthorn's ministry. Thus, now we are returning to God's grace that allows abortion to protect the family's reputation."

Thus, the ever-fluctuating state of spiritual health representative of so many at first rises, and then crumples in a heap of carnality!

(2) On the other hand, other godly parties seem only to grow deeper into godliness! Jerry Falwell writes in his May 10, 2001 "The Liberty Alliance" Internet briefing about the testimony of Michael Johnston. Stricken with AIDS resulting from his former homosexual behavior, Michael now believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior. He started Kerusso Ministries to testify of Christ's hope for homosexuals, and he is greatly opposed from the homosexual-rights movement!

Yet, instead of withdrawing from this unjust opposition, Michael Johnston stands with a vibrant, unwavering faith to the inspiration of many other believers who want to live for Christ!

With this DRIFT that seems to go on in ever shifting tides in the spiritual realm, WHAT causes it, WHY, and what should we DO about it for our welfare?!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "I see no one ever stays stable spiritually -- we either advance or decline in relation to God! Why, and what should I do about it?!"
  1. After detailing events to come, the angel speaking with John announced a blessing for all who heed Revelation's truths, 22:6-7.
  2. He then revealed the OPPOSITE and SOLIDIFYING RESULTS arising from the CHOICES we make on these truths: (Rev. 22:8-19)
    1. John saw a glimpse of the vast eternal blessings of heeding God's Revelation truths in interacting with God's messenger, Rev. 22:6-10.
      1. The Rev. 22:8-9 event is bordered by God's call through the angel to heed Revelation's truths as found in Rev. 22:6-7 and 22:10.
      2. That event reveals the great GLORY God's servants will be given as God's reward for heeding His Word in life and service:
        1. John, being an Orthodox Hebrew and so not daring to worship any but God, fell down to worship at the feet of the being before him, Rev. 22:8. This meant John felt the being was God!
        2. Yet, this being revealed he was only a fellow glorified believer, so John should not worship him, but God, Revelation 22:9.
    2. The glorified believer thus told John to keep Revelation unsealed so all could read and apply its truths to receive the glory he had, 22:10!
    3. Yet, the being noted the INITIAL CHOICE men make on heeding these truths bear OPPOSING, SOLIDIFYING results, Rev. 22:11:
      1. If one reads Revelation but rejects Christ, every succeeding day he drifts toward being solidified in that choice unto damnation!
        1. The Rev. 22:11 call to let people stay in their various initial spiritual states recalls God's similar message in Ezekiel 3:27.
        2. There, the callousness or openness to the truth in Israel's individuals affected how they would respond to God's Word.
        3. Hence, Rev. 22:11 speaks of the same solidifying bent with the choices people make re: Revelation, B.K.C., N. T., p. 988-989.
      2. If one reads the Revelation but fails to separate from "Babylon the Great," the pagan-based evil entity leavening world groups [Rev. 17-18] (or from antichrist for Trib. saints), each passing day he is more hardened in its pollution to his loss of reward, 22:10, 11b:
        1. The KJV "filthy" (NIV = "vile") comes from hrupanthayto = "to make dirty, pollute" Arndt & Ging., Grk.-Engl. Lex., p. 745.
        2. Thus, the party in the context has not pulled back from the worldwide, pagan-originated "Babylon the Great" (or antichrist for Trib. saints) so as to become polluted with anti-God evil!
        3. Hence, readers of the Revelation who do NOT heed God's call to separate from such evil are each day hardening that much more unto a spiritual pollution and loss of God's final reward!
      3. Yet, if one reads Revelation and believes in Christ, every passing day leaves him only closer to heaven's home, Rev. 22:10, 11c!
      4. If one reads Revelation as a believer and heeds God's call to pull back from "Babylon the Great" (or from antichrist for Trib. saints) in his life, every passing day he grows further in that separation, and heading for God's great reward for it, Revelation 22:10, 11d!
    4. In view of the stakes thus involved in this matter, Christ's message to John was that men be motivated to choose rightly now in these things so they might be blessed and not suffer loss, 22:12-16, 18-19:
      1. [For clarification, we correct the following translation errors:
        1. Though the KJV at Rev. 22:14 reads "do his commandments" to be justified, the better mss. read "wash their robes," B. Metzger, Text. Com. on the Grk. N.T., p. 767-768. Since the mss. at Eph. 2:8-9 assuredly note one is saved by faith without works (Ibid., p. 602, the reading should be "wash their robes" by faith alone.
        2. No Greek ms. reads as does the KJV does in 22:19: they all read "tree of life" for the KJV's "book of life" and "share" for the KJV's "part," cf. J. White, The King James Only Controversy, p. 66. The verse does not teach one can lose his salvation, but that rejecting Christ hinders one from becoming saved!]
      2. Hence, Revelation 22:12-16 and 18-19 tell of the huge, contrasting, eternal results of the choices people make re: Revelation's truths!
        1. Revelation 22:12-16 calls men to believe in Christ so they might escape eternal damnation in hell and have eternal life.
        2. Revelation 22:18-19 promises those who resist the Gospel and harden their hearts to distort it will miss out on eternal life.
  3. God thus gave a final call for men to believe in Christ for salvation (Rev. 22:17) and for believers to heed the Word in living (22:20-21).
Lesson Application: Since HOW we RESPOND to Revelation yields HUGE and CONTRASTING results, and since EACH DAY we become MORE SETTLED in the ROUTES we FIRST CHOOSE re: its message, if we have not done so, (1) BELIEVE on Christ NOW for eternal life (2) or HEED God's call NOW to SEPARATE from the world's "Babylon the Great" as believers.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Many years ago, a notable minister and evangelist, Dr. Henry Ward Beecher, ministered at the Congregational Meeting House on the Litchfield, Connecticut green. After years of ministry in Litchfield, he took another ministry in another state. In his final sermon at Litchfield's Church, he preached on the Jeremiah 8:20 passage that says, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."

He claimed he believed many of his parishioners were in spiritual darkness, and had been in darkness throughout his Litchfield ministry. So, in closing his ministry, he urged them to believe in Christ before it was too late.

Today, there is no more such Gospel witness of Christ's salvation from sin in that beautiful, historical Church. It is now a Church in deep spiritual winter!

So, as I close this study on Revelation, I can only urge each one here to face the facts before us as did that minister of Litchfield's past, and as did our Lord in Revelation 22. I can only say there is no other way to eternal life and escaping damnation but that of faith in Jesus Christ, and there is no other truth than His regarding spiritual things for the believer. So, if you have not yet done so, (1) BELIEVE ON JESUS CHRIST NOW WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE! (2) IF WE KNOW THE LORD BUT ARE NOT LIVING SEPARATED FROM SIN OR SINFUL APOSTATE UNIONS, WE SHOULD MAKE THAT CHOICE NOW SO WE CAN BE SURE OF GOD'S REWARDS IN ETERNITY AS BELIEVERS!