Participants:
Series Code: ICJ
Program Code: ICJ190025A
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00:01 "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!'"
00:04 It's the invitation of a lifetime. 00:07 But if you're too busy, you may miss it. 00:32 We've all got an incredible invitation from this 00:35 incomparable Jesus, this marvelous Savior, 00:39 this incomparable Jesus. 00:41 He sends an invitation through the Spirit 00:44 and through His bride; His church. 00:46 We can hear it in the book of Revelation 00:49 right down near the end in Revelation 22:17. 00:55 "And the Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' 00:59 And let him who hears say, 'Come!' 01:02 And let him who thirsts come. 01:06 And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." 01:11 Now that's a wonderful invitation. 01:13 And Jesus wants you and me to be part of that invitation. 01:16 We're going to talk about that invitation today. 01:19 We've seen Jesus, this incomparable Jesus, 01:22 incomparable Jesus, moving through the heavenly Sanctuary. 01:26 You know, He did marvelous things for us here. 01:29 But by faith we watch Him; and He's moving through 01:31 the heavenly Sanctuary. 01:33 And as He does, He goes to the candlesticks, 01:36 He goes to the table of showbread, in chapter 4, 01:39 which is the throne of God, He goes to the wonderful 01:43 alter of incense where the prayers of the saints ascend, 01:47 and He takes those prayers and He presents them to the Father 01:51 for you and for me. 01:52 He's doing all kinds of wonderful things for us. 01:55 He's answering prayers, He's sending angels to help us. 01:58 Heaven is a busy place. 02:00 He said He's getting ready for us to come. 02:03 And this invitation is all about being ready. 02:07 Being ready for Jesus to come, 02:10 and to accepting that invitation. 02:13 When will Jesus come? 02:15 We don't know. 02:17 We don't know, but Jesus Himself made it clear 02:19 that we can know when it's close 02:21 because of the signs that are coming. 02:25 Now in Revelation 14:6 we have the three angels' messages. 02:30 And those three angels' messages are the last messages 02:33 given to the world. 02:35 And it starts out by saying, "And I saw another angel 02:38 flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel, 02:42 saying to those on the earth, 'Fear God and give glory to Him, 02:47 for the hour of His judgment has come.'" 02:50 Now the next two talk about Babylon being fallen 02:53 and it talks about the mark of the beast. 02:55 But everything in those three angels' messages 02:58 are contained in that invitation, and contained 03:01 in the gospel of the Lord Jesus. 03:03 The good news that Jesus has done for us and has won for us. 03:09 Jesus Himself talked about one of those great signs, 03:12 and I think it's the last sign, and that's the gospel 03:15 going to the world. 03:16 And He said, "This gospel shall be preached into all the world 03:19 for a witness to all nations, then the Son of Man will come." 03:24 My words, paraphrasing. 03:26 So the last sign is the true gospel of the Lord Jesus 03:31 as found in the New Testament. 03:32 That goes to the whole world. 03:35 Now there are great issues still before us to be done. 03:38 And that, of course, we're going to see the mark of the beast, 03:41 and the development of Babylon, and the overthrow of Babylon. 03:45 We're seeing many signs, though, around us 03:47 that we are moving very close to the end of time. 03:50 I think the great time prophecies are all finished. 03:54 So we know we're living in this time period that Daniel 03:57 would call the time of the end. 04:00 Daniel mentions something about this time of the end 04:03 in Daniel 12:4. 04:07 The angel that was giving Daniel this information 04:09 made this prediction. 04:11 It's a very fascinating prediction. 04:12 It says that in the end of time... 04:15 I should read it here. 04:16 "But you, Daniel, shut up the words," 04:19 shut up the words, "and seal the book 04:22 until the time of the end." 04:24 So the message of Daniel is going to be opened. 04:28 And of course, the book of Revelation is the 04:30 opening of that message. 04:31 It's the Revelation of Jesus. 04:34 But it's sealed until the time of the end. 04:36 We're living in that time of the end. 04:38 As I mentioned, all the time prophecies are finished, 04:40 so we know we're living in the time of the end. 04:43 "Many shall run to and fro..." 04:45 It's a very fascinating thing. 04:46 "...and knowledge shall be increased." 04:48 Now some people say that's about the book of Daniel. 04:50 I don't doubt that. 04:51 But I think the implications are much wider. 04:54 He's saying that in the end of time, 04:55 during this time of the end, there's going to be huge changes 04:59 in travel and in knowledge. 05:02 Some people say that knowledge is just increasing, 05:05 doubling for mankind every few years. 05:07 You can't keep up with all the knowledge that's going on. 05:10 All the technological improvements, 05:12 everything that's affecting our lives today; 05:15 from getting ready, I guess, they're talking about 05:18 self-driving automobiles. 05:20 And of course we have all the smart phones. 05:22 Who knows? Everything that's going on nowadays 05:25 is a huge increase in knowledge. 05:30 And of course, travel is unprecedented. 05:34 You get on a jet plane and fly 500 miles an hour. 05:37 It's amazing, really, when you think about it. 05:39 And it's only happened in a few short years. 05:42 It wasn't that long ago that man was 05:45 driving around in horse and buggy. 05:48 And then, of course, you have the automobile 05:49 and some of the other kinds of things that came on. 05:52 Look where telephones have gone. 05:54 From that thing where you wind it up like that 05:58 to smart phones today. 06:00 So we see this kind of a thing. 06:02 And then, of course, we're finding that 06:04 the mark of the beast is going to mean that 06:05 governments are going to have the ability 06:08 to control populations. 06:10 And with that, you have to have information. 06:12 Today we know the government is, 06:15 and it's not just the United States government, 06:17 but they're collecting information on everybody. 06:20 On your phone calls, on your text messages, 06:22 on your emails, and everything. 06:24 They may not be looking at it right now, 06:25 but if you come up on the radar screen, 06:27 they're going to have information on you. 06:29 And that kind of information is the ability to control. 06:34 Government control; that's going to be a big thing. 06:35 In fact, the book of Revelation is picturing 06:37 that this thing becomes, the mark of the beast, 06:40 these powers become control freaks. 06:44 Maybe I shouldn't say it that way. 06:45 But they've just become obsessed with being in control. 06:49 Control of everything. 06:51 Revelation 22:10-11, it's one of the most solemn 06:54 statements in Scripture. 06:56 And this is what it says about this time of the end. 06:59 "For I am your fellow servant," 07:00 says the angel to the apostle John, 07:03 "one of your brethren the prophets, 07:05 and those who keep the words of this book." 07:07 And then the angel says, "Worship God." 07:10 And then he said, "Do not seal the words of this prophecy 07:14 of this book, for the time is at hand." 07:18 In other words, these prophecies are being fulfilled, 07:21 starting to be fulfilled in the time of John 07:24 all the way down to the time of the coming of Jesus. 07:28 And then speaking of the time just before Jesus comes, 07:31 he says this, "He who is unjust..." 07:33 It's very solemn words. 07:35 "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; 07:40 he who is filthy, let him be filthy still..." 07:43 We're talking about moral filth here. 07:46 "...and he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; 07:50 and he who is holy, let him be holy still." 07:55 This is talking about a time that closes before Jesus comes. 08:00 We often call it, and we talked a little bit about this 08:02 in the past, the close of human probation. 08:06 As the seven last plagues begin to fall, 08:08 human probation closes. 08:10 Not because God has run out of mercy, as I've said before. 08:13 Not because He's not willing to forgive. 08:15 But because every human being, as they have faced the issues 08:19 in the end of time of whether they're going to trust 08:22 the God of the Bible, whether they're going to trust 08:24 the Scripture, or trust the mechanisms of man, 08:28 these become the issues that every person will make up 08:32 their mind one way or another. 08:35 Daniel says the same thing in another way in Daniel 12 again, 08:40 the last chapter in the book of Daniel, verses 9 and 10. 08:43 The angel says to Daniel, "Go your way, Daniel, 08:47 for the words are closed and sealed up till the end of time." 08:49 Now we've noticed that the angel said to John 08:52 that they're unsealed, of course. 08:54 To the end of time, or the time of the end, I should say. 08:57 "Many will be purified..." 08:58 Notice these two groups. 09:00 "Many will be purified, made white..." 09:03 Now I want to be among that group. 09:05 I want my heart... 09:06 I'm a poor pitiful sinner like everybody else. 09:08 We've all fallen short of the grace of God. 09:11 I'm so grateful for the forgiveness of Jesus. 09:15 But I want my heart to be pure. 09:18 Don't you want your heart to be pure? 09:20 Don't you want your heart to be like Jesus? 09:22 Don't you want your heart to be full of unselfish love? 09:25 I want that in my heart. 09:26 Now that can only be accomplished 09:28 by the power of the Lord Jesus. 09:30 And He has power. Listen, we sell Jesus too short. 09:33 He's strong. He's powerful. 09:36 He can make a different person out of you. 09:37 He can change your heart from the inside. 09:40 If you put your faith in Him, put your trust in Him, 09:42 He'll strengthen your will power. 09:44 He can help you overcome anything. 09:47 And listen to this as it goes on, "Many will be purified.." 09:51 Many. 09:52 I like that. 09:54 I like that in the end of time there is going to be a lot of 09:55 people who are going to turn to Jesus. 09:57 Now not everybody. 09:59 Not the great majority. 10:00 But many. I want to be among the many. 10:02 "Many will be purified, made white..." 10:04 Talking about their hearts. 10:06 "...and refined..." 10:07 I want to be refined. 10:09 You know, when the Sadducees and the Pharisees 10:11 ran into the disciples of Jesus, 10:12 you know what they said about them 10:14 as they listened to them, their boldness and their clarity? 10:17 They said, "They've been with Jesus." 10:20 Don't you want that? 10:21 To be with Jesus so much that you're refined by His power? 10:27 But, but, here's the other group. 10:29 "...but the wicked shall do wickedly; 10:32 and none of the wicked shall understand..." 10:35 You know, sin has a blindness about it. 10:38 It makes us blind to our need. 10:42 You think about it, I've talked about this before, 10:43 the old Pharaoh of Egypt, how could he be so blind? 10:47 But sin does that to us. 10:50 And I don't want it in my life. 10:51 So there's this great divide in humanity that's coming; 10:55 a divide between those who will be refined and purified 10:59 by the grace of Jesus... 11:01 They can't do it themselves, but they cooperate with Jesus. 11:04 ...and those who refuse to be willing. 11:06 Now they may use Jesus on their lips, 11:08 but they're unwilling to be refined. 11:11 They're unwilling to be purified. 11:13 They're unwilling to have their hearts 11:15 changed, and their behavior. 11:16 Listen, you're behavior is just a reflection of your heart. 11:20 Your behavior is a reflection of who you trust. 11:23 Sometimes people get hung up on that, 11:25 but we've got to go to the root of the tree, as it were. 11:29 And it's where the heart is. 11:31 So there's this great divide in the end of time, 11:35 and a special time of waiting before Jesus comes. 11:40 Of course, the next words of the angel were, 11:42 or of Jesus, "Behold, look, I'm coming quickly. 11:45 You go through this, but look, I'm coming quickly." 11:49 So as we go to the throne room of heaven, in Revelation 15:5, 11:53 just before the seven last plagues are poured out, 11:56 we hear these words, it says, "After these things I looked, 11:59 and behold, the temple of the tabernacle," in heaven, 12:05 "the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony 12:07 in heaven was opened." 12:10 Now we've already talked about these last messages 12:14 to a dying world of the three angels, but you know, 12:16 Jesus keeps repeating those messages. 12:19 He keeps repeating those messages. 12:21 He'll repeat it again in Revelation chapter 18 12:24 where He says, "Come out of her, My people." 12:27 We'll talk about that next time. 12:29 And then He also repeats it in the last chapter of Revelation 12:32 where He says, "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!'" 12:36 So there's this special time of waiting, 12:39 and this special time of getting ready 12:42 for the close of human probation. 12:44 Now we talk about that in the book of Revelation 12:48 in a unique way. 12:50 If you look at the Sanctuary there's a thing called, 12:53 the Jewish Day of Atonement. 12:56 Now we call it today, Yom Kippur. 12:59 It was a symbolic time of the end of time. 13:03 It was a most solemn day of searching and confessing sins. 13:08 Why? Because the Judge was at the door 13:12 and getting ready to fix the destinies of all Israel 13:15 for the next year. 13:16 But it's symbolic of the end of time and the fixing of destinies 13:20 for all eternity. 13:23 So awful was the Day of Atonement 13:25 that we're told in the Jewish book of ritual 13:28 that the very angels run to and fro trembling, 13:32 saying, "Lo, the day of judgment has come." 13:38 The question is, are we taking time to prepare for that final 13:42 day of judgment? 13:45 So as we continue, and the Spirit and the bride 13:48 say, "Come," they want us to be ready. |
Revised 2019-11-18