1. "When we trust Christ and His promises, the fear of the future is replaced by confidence in God. I pray for each one here that you will come to know true peace by having confidence rightly placed in God himself and his promises."

2. "The church is not a self-contained bless me club. The gift of salvation we have been freely given by God in Christ has left us indebted, obligated to others who themselves will soon face God, but who have not yet heard about what God has revealed in this book."

3. "Reading what is revealed to us here in this book is to create an urgency in us to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone, man, woman, and child, who will soon face either Christ and His return or Christ at the moment of their own death."

4. "We want all of God's word. We want only his word. We want all of it, and we want only it."

5. "This world is not controlled by pagan kings or Roman gods. It's not finally controlled by bosses or influencers or celebrities or billionaires, not by corrupt parents or corrupt pastors. He is sovereign and his word is to be heard and believed."

6. "All of your religions, from Mormonism to Hinduism, from Buddhism to Islam to Sikh, all of them are religions of do. Christianity is the religion of done. That is, someone has done it for us."

7. "The Lord Jesus Christ has done for us the perfect obedience that we have not and could not do. And our standing before God is not based upon our pitiful and incomplete obediences, but rather our standing before Christ is based upon our being united to Christ in His mercy and grace."

8. "Revelation gets a bad rap of being a book for loonies and conspiracy theorists when it is one of the brightest beacons of hope in all the Bible. It's kind of like the Bible's headlamps meant to shine out the truth about the future ahead of us, showing us the way to go."

9. "Christianity is not first theology, but news. It's like prisoners of war hearing by hidden radio that the allies have landed and rescue is only a matter of time. The guards wonder why all the rejoicing. That's our situation."

10. "This world is not meant to satisfy creatures made in God's image. That's not why it was made. Christians are marked out as those who long for his appearing."

Observation Questions

1. In Revelation 22:16, what three titles does Jesus use to identify Himself, and what does He say He has sent His angel to do?

2. According to Revelation 22:17, who issues the invitation to "Come," and what is offered to those who are thirsty and desire it?

3. What specific warnings does Jesus give in Revelation 22:18-19 to anyone who adds to or takes away from the words of this prophecy?

4. In Revelation 22:20, what does Jesus testify that He will do, and how does John respond to this promise?

5. Looking back at Revelation 1:9-11, where was John when he received this revelation, why was he there, and what was he commanded to do with what he saw?

6. In Revelation 22:21, what is the final blessing pronounced, and how does this closing compare to the endings of other New Testament letters?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that Jesus identifies Himself as both "the root and the descendant of David" in verse 16? What does this paradoxical claim reveal about His identity and why should it give us confidence in His words?

2. The sermon emphasized that Christianity is a religion of "done" rather than "do." How does the phrase "without price" in verse 17 support this distinction, and what does it teach us about the nature of salvation?

3. Why do you think Jesus issues such severe warnings about adding to or taking away from Scripture in verses 18-19? What does this reveal about how God views His Word and our responsibility toward it?

4. How does the structure of verse 20—moving from Jesus's promise ("Surely I am coming soon") to John's prayer ("Come, Lord Jesus")—model the relationship between God's revelation and Christian prayer?

5. The sermon noted that Revelation is meant to bring hope rather than fear or confusion. Based on how this book concludes in verses 16-21, what is the intended effect of this revelation on believers facing uncertain times?

Application Questions

1. The sermon challenged us to transfer our sense of security from money, skills, positions, or relationships to God's promises. What specific area of your life are you most tempted to place your security in rather than in Christ's words? What would it look like this week to consciously trust God's promises instead?

2. Verse 17 calls those who hear the invitation to join in saying "Come" to others. Who is one person in your life who has not yet responded to the gospel, and what is one practical step you could take this week to invite them toward Christ?

3. The warning against adding to or taking away from Scripture applies to how we handle God's Word. Are there portions of the Bible you tend to emphasize excessively or parts you tend to avoid or minimize? How might you pursue a more balanced engagement with all of Scripture?

4. The sermon encouraged us to say "Amen" audibly when we agree with prayers, demonstrating corporate ownership of what is prayed. How might you more actively participate in corporate prayer at church or in your small group, and why does this matter for building up the body?

5. John's response to Jesus's promise of return was the prayer "Come, Lord Jesus." How often do you find yourself genuinely longing for Christ's return? What attitudes, attachments, or fears might be hindering you from praying this prayer wholeheartedly, and how can you address them?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 55:1-7 — This passage is directly echoed in Revelation 22:17's invitation to the thirsty to come and receive freely, emphasizing God's gracious offer of salvation without cost to the receiver.

2. Deuteronomy 4:1-8 — This passage contains the command not to add to or subtract from God's Word, which Jesus echoes in Revelation 22:18-19, showing the consistent biblical principle of preserving Scripture's integrity.

3. Psalm 1:1-6 — The sermon used this psalm to illustrate how confidence in God's Word produces stability and fruitfulness, contrasting the way of the righteous with that of the wicked.

4. 2 Timothy 4:1-8 — Paul speaks of loving Christ's appearing and receiving the crown of righteousness, reinforcing the sermon's theme of Christians being marked by longing for the Lord's return.

5. Romans 1:8-17 — This passage shows Paul's sense of obligation to preach the gospel to all people, supporting the sermon's emphasis on responding to God's Word by invitingly sharing it with others.

Sermon Main Topics

I. What Do We Do With the News We Hear?

II. Respond Confidently: Jesus's Predictions Can Be Trusted (Revelation 22:16)

III. Respond Invitingly: Urging Others to Come to Christ (Revelation 22:17)

IV. Respond Carefully: Neither Adding to Nor Taking Away from God's Word (Revelation 22:18-19)

V. Respond Prayerfully: Letting God's Promises Shape Our Prayers (Revelation 22:20-21)

VI. The Blessed Hope: Longing for Christ's Appearing

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Detailed Sermon Outline

What do you do with the news that you hear?

Well, it probably depends. Partly on the source, how reliable is it? Partly on the nature of it, is it secret?

Partly on how important it seems. Does it matter very much?

For some of you here, your job has to do with reporting the For others of you, your job is to shape the news.

For others of you, you're in the news.

For all of us, we read the news.

What do we do with the news that we hear?

That's the question we all face, especially when we put down our Bibles As we finish our study, it's the question we face each morning after we finish reading or reflecting. It's the question we face this morning when we complete our study in the last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation.

Did you ever think about that? I'll tell you what got me thinking about this. I was working on the sermon on Friday night. And I was thinking about John's experience, and I started wondering, what did John do when this revelation ended?

I mean, I've been to Patmos, I visited the cave he supposedly was in when he had this vision. I know others of you have been there. You see this, you can see this old man in his 80s, Pastor of the church in Ephesus had been exiled to this island, and there God gives him this amazing vision. But when it was over, then what did he do? Well, I think maybe we can imagine that a little bit more if we go to the book of Revelation.

So turn there, take your pew Bible or the Bible you brought with you. Turn to the last book in the Bible.

And turn to the beginning of it, Revelation chapter 1. Let's remind ourselves of the situation that John was in.

The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it.

For the time is near. And then as we go on through the chapter, we see John saying that this is to seven churches, particularly in Asia, which has simply meant that part of Turkey near the Aegean Sea. And he says specifically, he writes in verse 9, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. I was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches.

Verse 12, Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around His chest. The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars.

From His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades.

Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches. And then in chapters 2 and 3, Jesus dictates brief letters to these seven specific churches. And then in chapter 4 we read, After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.

And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.

Anyway, we could keep going, with the book of Revelation as we've been seeing it this year as we've studied through it. And when this revelation finally came to an end, what did John do? When this old man was standing in the cave and the end came, when it stopped, what happened then?

Well, if you think John's role was that of an eyewitness, but also of a hand scribe, again and again he was told specifically to write down what he saw, to write down what he heard, so that it could be shared with the churches nearby in Asia and through them with all Christian churches around the world and down the ages. We know this was the intent even in the verses we were looking at last week. In chapter 22 when he was specifically told not to seal up the words of this book, but to let these things be known. So this morning, as we come to the end of our study of this revelation, we want to ask the simple question, how are we to respond to God's word?

How are we to respond to God's Word? And I want us to notice four important aspects of our response to God's Word here. We are to respond confidently. We'll see that in verse 16.

We are to respond invitingly.

You'll see that in verse 17. We are to respond carefully. You see that in verses 18 and 19.

And we are to respond prayerfully. You see that in verses 20 and 21. Let me just repeat that. We are to respond confidently, verse 16, invitingly, verse 17, Carefully, verses 18 and 19, and prayerfully, verses 20 and 21.

So with that in mind, let me read our passage now and then we'll look through it. Revelation 22, beginning of verse 16.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things. For the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let the one who hears say, Come, and let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who desires take the water of life without price. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be be with all, amen. So how should we respond to the Bible, the words of this book? Well, here in verse 16, I think we see that we should respond confidently, because Jesus's predictions can be trusted, because Jesus's predictions can be trusted.

Looking at verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. How do we know what words to trust?

I remember being in high school in 1977 when the president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, confidently predicted that we could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade. Time and Newsweek came out with covers of an oil can tilted like this with just one drop coming out. And maybe we could have. But by 1989, in fact, we had not. Run out of oil.

How do we know what words to trust? Well, one way we know is by who said them. And Jesus here is presenting the words of this book as his very own. That's what's going on here. Verse 16 is kind of like Jesus grabbing the mic at the very end of the book, kind of like the end of the whole Bible, and saying, this is me.

You can trust me. These words are my words. Do you notice that God has revealed these things in a vision to John, and yet God and his sovereignty did not give this vision in the video age of today, where we could have maybe had a video of it and it gone viral. He didn't do that. How interesting that God, in order to communicate, gave this vision in an age where John would have had to have written it down, and words would have been used to pass on the truth.

Friends, God was sovereign over how He would reveal these things to His churches. He has made the human mind able to relate words like those we read here to realities And consequently we find that the Bible gives us truth in a number of forms of language including propositional statements, words which propose something for us to consider or accept or adopt. Sometimes these propositions come to us in a symbolic literary form where we assume that their truth is a self-evident symbol for something else. Like when chapter 21 we read all these measurements of the city and we figure out, oh it's a great cube. Why is that significant?

Because in the Old Testament, the great cube that we read is the Holy of Holies, where God's presence specially dwells. That's communicated. Or sometimes it's more straightforward, like when Jesus says, I am the door. We know Jesus is not saying he's hanging on hinges. We understand, we have no trouble getting what he's talking about when he uses that kind of image.

These words, these images in this vision are given to us with all the authority of Jesus himself.

This is God's Word.

Friends, this is great news. I don't know how you are today. Maybe you've come to church today fearing the future. Maybe actions our government is taking. Or uncertainties of the future shaped by artificial intelligence.

Or wars or rumors of wars. Or a hundred other uncertainties in this world of ours have made you come this morning even with the bright sunshine in the shadow of fear.

Friend, if you will listen to the words of Jesus, the message that we've already sung about, that we've read about, that we're studying now in the Bible, you will find that your faith in the living God will transfer your sense of security from the power of your money or your skill, or your strength, or your job, or your position, your family, your church, even your elders. It will transfer your sense of security to protect you from all of those things as if they could make sure you're okay to the promises of God that we have here in this book. This is where our security rests. When we trust Christ and His promises, the fear of the future is replaced by confidence in God. I pray for each one here that you will come to know true peace by having confidence rightly placed.

In God himself and his promises. The reason Jesus gives this second sentence here in verse 16 is to help these churches mentioned in the first sentence of verse 16, 'cause he says, I've sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. So it's to build up the churches, to strengthen the churches. So to trust the vision of the future, Jesus had laid out throughout the book of Revelation to the churches, and Jesus is calling on the scriptures to remind people that he is both David's predecessor and his descendant. Very much like the way Jesus used Psalm 110:1.

You see he says, I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright and morning star. When Jesus is saying this, it's very compact, but when he says he's the root and descendant of David, if you'll stop it with your sort of, it's the Bible, I'll just believe these poetic words, and think for a minute, what do they mean? You realize it doesn't make any sense. The root, that is, that from which David comes and the descendant of. He says that almost like it's a mental puzzle to snap you out of your just sort of stare and make you think about who he's claiming to be.

He is claiming to be the one who is the Lord of David and yet the descendant of David. He is the Creator, and yet he is the incarnate Messiah. That's who Jesus is. So he makes his reference to the past and then to the future. I'm the bright and morning star.

That is the herald of that which is to come. Basically in the second sentence in verse 16, he's claiming once again, I'm the Alpha and the Omega. I am God. You can trust My words. Young Christians, can I point you the way many Christians before you, like our recently departed friend and older brother, John MacArthur, and how so many others around you have prospered?

How have these Christians prospered?

By being confident in the Word of God. By being confident in the Word of God. I read these verses last week, but you can't read them too often. Psalm chapter one, the very first psalm, the beginning of the Psalms. And young people, if you wanna get to know a book really well, grab the book of Psalms and start with the very first one.

Those first three verses of the Psalms are so important.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, But, so you've got two ways to live presented. But his way, his delight, is in the law of the Lord, which just means the Bible, in God's word. And on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by the streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. Friends, read the Bible confidently and you will not be moved.

Read the Bible as the Word of God as it is, and you will have a foundation for the rest of your life.

This is God's Word. That's how we should respond to it.

Also though, we see here in verse 17, we're supposed to read the Bible invitingly, invitingly. Notice the opportunity that's urged on all who will hear the invitation to come to Christ. Look at verse 17. The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come.

And let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who desires take the water of life without price. It's a great time for me to drink a cup of water, isn't it?

Almost like that was planned. When I point out that phrase there in verse 16 that this is for the churches, we should misunderstand this. The church is not a self-contained bless me club. The gift of salvation we have been freely given by God in Christ has left us indebted. Obligated to others who themselves will soon face God, but who have not yet heard about what God has revealed in this book.

It's like Paul says to the Romans in Romans 1:14, I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. The obligation he's referring to is his obligation to preach this gospel to them. Reading What is revealed to us here in this book is to create an urgency in us to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone, man, woman, and child, who will soon face either Christ and His return or Christ at the moment of their own death. So the Holy Spirit invites and urges the people to come. And we, the church, the bride, join in, urging people to come.

People who know their own thirst, their own needs, their own desires for forgiveness from God and fellowship with Him are invited to come. Those who desire to take the water of life are urged to do so freely because its price has been paid by Christ. Friends, that's the good news, that Jesus Christ lived a life of complete trust in His Heavenly Father. He lived a truly good life unlike anyone else ever. And yet he died on the cross as a malefactor, a sinner, a criminal, not because he himself had done wrong or evil, but because we have.

He died in the place of all of us who would ever turn and trust in him. God accepted his satisfaction. He raised him from the dead. And he calls us now to turn from our sins and trust in Christ. Friends, if you wanna know more about what that means, grab the insert in your bulletin.

Did you notice this? It's kind of an extra note sheet on the back in case the sermon feels long to you. But on the front side, there's a QR code where you can find out more about a four week study in Mark's Gospel that's gonna be right here on 6th Street for you. If you've just recently begun to attend, if you're curious, you wanna know more about Christianity, this could be a great way for you to come into a home near here and begin to study through what we think is the earliest record of Jesus in the Gospels, Mark's Gospel. So come and do that.

If you want to know more, ask any of us at the doors on the way out. It's very interesting here in our verse, verse 17, John shifts from the plural you up in verse 16, the you of the churches, to the individual you who is thirsty. Who desires. He's picking up Isaiah 55:1, Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Most sermons in this church quote C. H. Spurgeon. It's just almost impossible not to. If you've read him, he was an amazingly gifted sinner who came to Christ, and he had, I think, a photographic memory. He had the complete command of everything he'd ever read at all times at his disposal. And his heart beat for evangelism, so he preached sermon after sermon on this verse.

It must have been one of his favorite verses in the Bible, Revelation 22, verse 17. One of the times he did it, a Sunday fell on the last day of the year, December 31st. And in the last paragraph of that sermon, Spurgeon says, as he urges sinners, the thirsty, to come to Christ, he says, you, are called to come now, at once. You may not be bidden to come tomorrow. You may not be alive.

Or there may be no earnest person near you to invite you. You've always said tomorrow. Yet where are you now? Not a bit forwarder, some of you, than you were 10 years ago. Oh, that you would believe in Jesus Christ.

May His Spirit lead you to do so now. And friend, if I could just give Spurgeon some assist from his older brother, Richard Sibbes, Sib said, reflecting on this, oh, let us be so wise as to know that our time is but short. God himself tells us that it is so. Our time is a little spot of time cut out between two eternities, before and after. Then let us do our work quickly.

We may be suddenly surprised before we be aware. And as the tree falleth, so it lies. As a man lives, so he dies. As death leaves us, so judgment and the second coming of Christ shall find us.

So we respond to the reading of the truths in this book, these things. Christ's return, the new Jerusalem, the judgment, the never-ending lake of fire. We respond by calling and urging and inviting others to come to Christ, to find what by God's grace we've found.

So we read God's Word confidently, it's the words of Jesus. We read God's Word invitingly. We also, we read God's Word, we see here in verses 18 and 19, carefully. Notice this. We are careful because we're warned about wrong hearing, where we distort God's Word by either adding to it or taking away from it, either one of which has the effect of hiding it, of kind of unrevealing it.

Look again at these very serious words in verses 18 and 19.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which is described in this book.

I think this warning is made specifically by Jesus, and I think so because of that Strong beginning, I warn, or it's Marturo, it's testify, I testify. And if you look down in verse 20, I think we learned this from verse 20. Look at verse 20. He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' well, who says, 'Surely I'm coming soon?' well, that's Jesus. So when he says, 'He who testifies to these things says, 'Who's the he?' Well, that's Jesus.

Well then logically, what are these things he's testifying to? Well, it could be the whole book of Revelation. It could be what he says in verse 16. Most immediately, though, it's verses 17 and 18. So I think that makes the most sense.

He who testifies to these things I've just said in 17 and 18, or sorry, 18 and 19, says, Surely I'm coming soon. So it's Jesus is the one who says this to underscore how important this is.

And people have noticed the differing punishments for adding and for taking away. But I think the difference is not the point. The point is not adding as bad and subtracting as even worse. Either one is a potentially soul damning rejection of Jesus Christ and His authority. And while this applies immediately to the book of Revelation, It also shows us the care we should have anytime God reveals himself to us.

You look at Deuteronomy chapter four verse two, the Lord says to Moses, you shall not add to the word that I command you nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 4:2. Young people, bring your own Bibles, bring your own Bibles to church and start writing notes. I just gave you a cool note, Deuteronomy 4:2. So right next to Revelation 22, 18 and 19, you could write Deuteronomy 4:2, and then for the rest of your life, you can look it up and see, oh, Jesus is repeating something the Lord said through Moses.

We see these sentiments again in the Scriptures several times. Tonight we hope to be commissioning Ryan and Emily Correa as missionaries. And Ryan will preach to us, Lord willing, from Proverbs 30:5-6. And do you know what that says?

Verse 5, Every word of God proves true. We want all of God's word. And verse 6, Do not add to his words. We want only his word. We want all of it, and we want only it.

So when the devil tempted Jesus at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, do you remember what Jesus did? He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. God gave this elaborate vision to John for the sake of the churches. He wanted Christians then and now to know that this world is not controlled by pagan kings or Roman gods. It's not finally controlled by bosses or influencers or celebrities or billionaires, not by corrupt parents or corrupt pastors.

He is sovereign and his word is to be heard and believed without adding to it either the traditions of the East or the claimed authority of Rome in the West. Not books by Muhammad or by Joseph Smith. Not by adding to it, nor by taking away from it. As when pastors reject the Old Testament or rabbis the new or theologically liberal Protestants follow the example of Thomas Jefferson in just rejecting whatever they personally dislike in the Bible. None of those are the ways we are to follow God's Word.

We're to take all of it and only it as God's Word. So friends in our congregation we encourage you to pay attention to all the Bible. We want you to learn to read through it all. We do that even as we encourage you to disciple each other with Bibles open, learning to read it. The Bible study on Wednesday night as we practice right now in 1 Peter or other small groups through the week.

Our course seminars as the New Testament books and Old Testament books are carefully taught, especially by these Sunday morning sermons. Whether we are in Revelation or Micah or Hosea or 1 Corinthians, we are trying to make sure that you every year are taught from different parts of God's word so that you learn to read all of God's word. So that you are competent to admonish and entreat one another as occasion may require. So we listen to God's word confidently and invitingly and carefully. We should also notice though how the whole story finishes.

Look again at verses 20 and 21 where we see that we are to respond to God's promise to his word prayerfully. Interesting, isn't it, that the prayer of the second half of verse 20 is based really on the promise of the first half. Look at verse 20. You'll see what I mean. He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Amen is simply a word meaning so be it or so it is. That is, this is true.

I agree with this. This is why it's such a good idea when someone else prays a prayer out loud, if you hear it and you agree with it, you should say amen. You can say amen or amen, how you pronounce it, it's up to you. But you should verbally say amen.

I'm exhorting you, say amen. Well, not now, I mean, when a, let me give a prayer, I will give a prayer, and then if you agree, say amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Friends, I wish the end of every prayer in this church sounded like that. If it doesn't, it's your fault.

Because I am saying amen at the end of every prayer, somebody else prays, and I wish you'd join me. It shows everyone there. It shows each other. To the visitors, it's not just the dude up front. All of us are agreeing.

On Sunday night, it's not just the person who's interceding, we're all agreeing with this prayer. Lord God, we are all owning this. We all agree with this. This is given in the name of all of us.

Lean into that. Come, Lord Jesus.

30 years I've exhorted you to do this.

Verse 21 shows us that this book is really a kind of epistle. It's a letter. Because it has a closing like many of the other New Testament letters do with a kind of wish prayer, very much like Hebrews, Grace be with you all, or like all of Paul's letters. So for example, Paul writes to the individual Philemon, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Or to Titus and the other Christians in the church there at Crete, grace be with you all.

And it's so appropriate here in verse 21 that the last word of the Bible is a word of grace. Friends, if you understand anything about Christianity, you must understand grace. And let me say this clearly, if you are here as a Sikh or as a Buddhist, as a Muslim, or as a Hindu, or a Mormon, we're very glad you're here. You're welcome to be here every Sunday. We love having friends here with us from other religions.

The message we have, we understand, is a message for you as much as it is for us. We want you to hear, to understand. We want to answer any questions we can, like with the small groups that you see mentioned in that handout, that flyer. But we think that there are differences between these religions, and we think there's one odd similarity, or rather it is odd that there is such a similarity between all of the religions that I just mentioned that's different than Christianity. All of your religions, those that I mentioned, from Mormonism to Hinduism, from Buddhism to Islam to Sikh.

All of them are religions of do. They're religions of ethics. They're religions of how you and I should act to have the good life as a Confucian friend might want.

Christianity, as I've heard it put, is the religion of done. That is, someone has done it.

For us. The Lord Jesus Christ has done for us the perfect obedience that we have not and could not do. And our standing before God is not based upon our pitiful and incomplete obediences, but rather our standing before Christ, before God, is based upon our being united to Christ in His mercy and grace. He accepts us. Merely by faith in Christ.

And then the Holy Spirit works a sanctifying work in us, causing fruit in our lives, certainly. If we think we have true faith when there is no fruit, we deceive ourselves, James says, and the truth is not in us. But we cannot miss the fact that Christianity is uniquely a religion of done, and that Jesus Christ has both obeyed and paid in our place. United with us in our nature as our substitute. And salvation is now offered as a gift by faith alone, only in Jesus Christ.

That's why in verse 17 he stresses that this water of life, this symbol of the water of life, it's offered without price, without price. Not because it's purchased without price or without cost, but it's without cost to us because Christ has paid it for us if we will only turn and trust in him.

In verse 20, we see a neat example of how God's revelation of himself becomes the basis for our prayers to him. Why pray for something that God has revealed either that he is going to do or that's the kind of thing he normally does anyway.

Friends, that's the way we've been taught to pray as Christians. We look for God's promises and then we pray based on those. You just look at Matthew chapter 6 at what we call the Lord's Prayer, when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Well, what does Jesus teach them to pray? All the stuff that we know from the Bible God wants.

That's what Jesus teaches the disciples to pray. God has told us He intends to do these things normally and ultimately. It's the prayer we can pray on normal days like today and on the most extreme moments of life. You go to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and what does He pray?

He prays just what he prayed in the Lord's Prayer, exactly. Your will be done. Did you ever notice that? If you want more examples of how to pray after the promises of God, T. A. Carson wrote a great book called Praying with Paul, in which he goes through Paul's letters, looks at the prayers in them, and shows us how we can use them as a model for our own. Who would like to read this book soon and maybe use it for their own prayer life?

Right here. All right. Thanks, Todd. Just keep your hand up. And I've got four more copies that I'll give away at the door if you will read it soon.

And, Betsy, do you have copies of the book, Saul? Praying with Paul? Yeah, I always do this to Betsy. I'm so sorry. Yeah.

You know, I'm working on Saturday night. She doesn't know. I don't tell her. Praying with Paul by D.A. Carson.

Great example of using the promises of God in the Bible as the basis of our own praying. It's a good practice. It's a practice. We heard our sister, Maxine's off. Example for us.

Decade after decade. And she just rolled out the Bible in her prayers.

Friends, based on the promises of this book, we want to pray, Come, Lord Jesus.

So, friends, this is where our passage concludes, and with it this amazing revelation that God gave us through the aged apostle John. As we've studied it this year, I hope that it's helped you to see the truth about who your real enemies are and who your real hope should be in. And I hope it's helped you to see the truth about yourself.

Revelation gets a bad rap of being a book for loonies and conspiracy theorists. When it is one of the brightest beacons of hope in all the Bible. It's kind of like the Bible's headlamps meant to shine out the truth about the future ahead of us, showing us the way to go.

Is the message of this book something that's given you hope? Is it the best news you've ever heard? I can only imagine how this affected John when he heard it, when the vision stops. John is not going to be feeling threatened by the Roman Empire that relocated him to the island. He's going to know the Roman Empire is what's threatened by God.

He's going to understand that the real weakness and temporariness is not on the side of Christ and His church. It's on the side of these piddling human governments that come along and build big buildings on Capitol Hill and exist for maybe a few centuries while God continues on millennia after millennia, the God who made us, the God who will judge each one of us. Ever since then, this book has relativized our hopes. It's warned us not to put our hopes in the flesh, in passing people, but in God alone and His promises. I love how our preacher for next week, John Piper, put it.

Christianity is not first theology, but news. It's like prisoners of war hearing by hidden radio that the allies have landed and rescue is only a matter of time. The guards wonder why all the rejoicing.

That's our situation. That's why we come together so eerily happy every Sunday. Because we've heard that rescue is on the way. And we've even begun to experience parts of it in our own lives individually and in our own fellowship. Friends, the news this book brings us is so important.

That's why it's good that we can be so confident of it, why we want to share it, why we're also going to be careful about it, and why we let it shape our prayers for the world by preaching the gospel of Christ to be prepared for his return.

Friends, this world is not meant to satisfy creatures made in God's image. That's not why it was made. Christians are marked out as those who long for his appearing. I love how Paul said it, writing to Timothy, Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

When I got here, the members of the church were born from the 1890s to about 1920. Those are the members. And that very different generation had different Christian vocabulary. And one piece of their vocabulary that I loved, that's long since gone, but I'd love to come back, is when they would refer to the blessed hope. They would refer to the blessed hope.

Maybe you know somebody in their 80s or 90s, and they still use that phrase, the blessed hope. They get it from the Bible. It's this blessed hope. Paul says it to Titus, Titus 2:13. We are those who are waiting for our blessed hope.

The appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh, friends, that appearing will be glorious to us beyond words. Our words will fail us. I'm sure these words are all true, but I still can't imagine what the experience would have been like for John. But I pray that each one hearing my voice through whatever temptation or discouragement you're now feeling, will be able to pray with John here.

Come, Lord Jesus, come, Lord Jesus. Let's pray.

Lord God, you know the cares and concerns of this world that would threaten to crowd out in our hearts the truths that are revealed to us in your Word.

In your mercy, Lord, make your promises clear and real to us. Give us faith to believe. Fill us with youh Spirit to so live with each day youy give us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.