The only book in the Bible where there's a special promise attached to it. I'm not sure if you all know that. I'm sure some of you do. Revelation 1 verse 3, Revelation chapter 1 verse 3 says, blessed is he So you get a special blessing from reading the book of Revelation. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear, so you all tonight are listening, you're hearing, you get a blessing from hearing the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Notice blessed is he, that's what we call a beatitude. I'll say more about that in a few minutes. But right now I'd like to go from the first chapter of the book of Revelation to the last chapter, chapter 22. chapter 22 And we'll begin reading in verse 14 Revelation chapter 22 Verse number 14 blessed are they there's another beatitude Blessed are they that do his commandments? that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city for without the on the outside, are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth say, come. and let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Try testifying unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly, amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen. Heavenly Father, help me do my best to expound the Word of God this evening. I pray the Spirit of God will direct me and help me and fill me, use me. Pray the Spirit of God will speak to hearts tonight. Pray we'll all get a great blessing from the Word of God tonight. And if anybody was to come into this room tonight that's not saved, I pray tonight they'll get saved, I mean really genuinely saved. And we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Tonight, I want to speak from the last chapter in the Bible. The last chapter, of course, is Revelation 22. And we see some last things here in the last chapter. we see the last Beatitudes. We read the first Beatitude in the book of Revelation a couple of minutes ago, Revelation 1 verse 3. Here are the last ones. By the way, there are seven Beatitudes in the book of Revelation. Now, most people, when they think of Beatitudes, they think of the seven on the mount. And I'm not gonna read all those beatitudes tonight, but I think you're familiar with them. In Matthew 5, Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, and so on. Those are the beatitudes. But there are seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation. and we read chapter 1 verse 3 another one is chapter 14 verse 13 revelation 14 13 and i heard a voice from heaven saying unto me write blessed blessed are the dead which die in the lord from henceforth yay sayeth the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them. I've preached that text many times at funerals. It's a wonderful scripture. Okay, the next beatitude in the book of Revelation is chapter 16, verse 15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. The next one is in chapter 19 and verse number nine. And he saith unto me, right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God. And then the last beatitude, until we get to chapter 22, would be in chapter 20 verse 6, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath now power. Now we know from the book of Revelation that the second death means eternity in the lake of fire. So blessed is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such as second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. So the last Beatitudes are found in Revelation chapter 22. If you look at verse 7, Behold, they come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And then we have another one here in Revelation 22, 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter into the gates into the city. The city, of course, talking about the New Jerusalem. So these last Beatitudes are found here in Revelation 22. Also in our text tonight, we have the last reference to the judgment seat of Christ. Revelation 22 verse 12, and behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me. What does that mean, my reward is with me? Well, the rewards will be given out at the judgment seat of Christ. And I think we discussed this in previous messages, that the judgment seat will follow the rapture. So if we say the rapture is imminent, meaning it could take place any time now, well then you really could say the judgment seat is imminent, because the judgment seat will immediately follow the rapture. And the last reference to the judgment seat is found right here. Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. So this is the last reference to the judgment seat. I'll say more about that in a few minutes. I don't think you can really preach a prophecy conference without spending some time dealing with the judgment seat of Christ. And then the last invitation. You know, we Baptists like to give invitations. I always give invitations, and Pastor Lubin gives invitations, and different preachers we have come in here, evangelists and so on give invitations. I believe in invitations, and I think they're biblical. And the last invitation is found here in chapter 22, verse 17. And the spirit and the bride say, come, that's an invitation, come. And let him that hear it say, come. And let him that is a thirst, come. and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. I like those words, whosoever will, whosoever will. That includes you. That includes me. Whosoever, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Whosoever will. So that's the last invitation. Then we have the last warning. Of course, there's many warnings in the book of Revelation. Here's the last one. Revelation 22, verse 18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city, of course that's talking about the New Jerusalem, and from the things which are written in this book. So it's a big, There's a grave danger here in adding to the Bible or taking away from the Bible. And that goes on all the time. That's a mark of the cults, they add to the Bible. You know, I was watching TV one time and a commercial came on, it was a woman and she says, do you want the answers to life? Do you want to know about the word of God? And we'll tell you all about the word of God, we'll send it to you free. And you think she's talking about the Bible, right? Then all of a sudden, the Book of Mormon comes on the screen. Call this number, we'll have this Book of Mormon sent to you. That's not the word of God. That is the rantings of a cultist, Joseph Smith, and it's not the word of God. So it's a sin, a grievous sin, to add to the Bible and to take away from the Bible. That's another problem. You get some of these modern Bible versions, you take away things, things are missing. the blood of Christ, and a lot of other things just missing. We'll say more about that later, I think, as we go along. So we have the last Beatitudes. We have the last reference to the judgment seat of Christ. We have the last invitation, the last warning. Hey, the last promise. We have the last promise. Look at 22 and verse 20. Chapter 22, verse 20. He which testifieth these things say, surely I come quickly, as a promise. Our Lord says he's gonna come quickly. And we say, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Now, the last promise, and then we have the last prayer. A lot of prayers in the Bible. Some wonderful prayers in the Bible. if you haven't studied the prayers of the Apostle Paul, for example. Wow, they're wonderful. And of course, there's prayers all throughout the Bible. And the last prayer is found here in Revelation 22, verse 20, where he says, even so come Lord Jesus. the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. All right, so we got the last Beatitudes, the last reference to the judgment seat, the last invitation, the last warning, the last promise, and the last prayer. Let's look at the last Beatitudes. We'll start there, and then we'll go down to the other things you mentioned. Most of us, of course, think of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. but there are seven of them here in Revelation chapter 22. By the way, I want to show you a contrast. A lot of contrasts in the Bible, of course, and they're very instructive. For example, the book of Proverbs are all, not all of them, many are written in contrast, but here's an interesting contrast. Look at Revelation 22, verse 14. Blessed are they that do His commandments. Well, I hope that would include everybody here tonight, amen? You want to do the commandments of God, you want to obey God's commandments, you want to be an obedient Christian. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may enter, I'm sorry, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. Now look at the contrast. For without, in other words, without outside the city gates, outside the New Jerusalem, without our dogs. Now that's talking, that's not talking about, you know, little cute four-legged dogs, you know. That's talking about two-legged dogs. Those kind of dogs can be pretty nasty, and they're not allowed in the New Jerusalem. They're going to be kept outside with the sorcerers, and that's people in the occult and so on, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and liars. They're not allowed in to the New Jerusalem. They're going to be outside. And by the way, regarding dogs, keep your place here. Look at Philippians 3.2. There's another reference to these two-legged dogs. Philippians chapter 3, verse 2. Paul writes, beware of dogs. He's not talking about, you know, like a mailman getting bit by a dog. No, that's not what he's talking about. By the way, all the many years I went knocking on doors in Elmont, all the doors I knocked on never once got bit by a dog. I moved to Florida, I got bit twice by dogs. Didn't didn't deter me. I kept at it, you know, but thank God wasn't serious. I want one time to do a rip my pant rip rip my pants, but but Occupational hazards amen anyway, Philippians 3 to beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the concision and Now that's referring to circumcision, talking about Jewish people that were causing Paul a lot of trouble. All right, so there's a contrast here, and he says in verse 14, there's a special blessing for those who obey, that do his commandments, but on the other hand, those who don't obey, Those who are impenitent sinners, if you will, they are kept outside. All right, so it's a big contrast. Now, in addition to the last Beatitudes, I wanna move on, there's the last reference to the judgment seat of Christ. The last reference to the judgment seat. And I think that that is an important doctrine, the judgment seat of Christ. Oftentimes, preachers don't preach it. Sometimes they don't preach it right. My son and I were talking one time, and he says, oh, dad, I remember going to camp when I was a kid, and the evangelist said, the judgment seat is a big TV screen, and all the bad things you did are gonna be up on the TV screen. I said, well, no, that's unscriptural. I think some of these evangelists get carried away. They're trying to scare the daylights out of your kids, but that's not biblical. There's not gonna be any big TV screens up in heaven in the judgment seat, but it is a solemn occasion. And we're gonna look at some of these verses that deal with this important subject. Romans 14, 10. I think it was last night I quoted Scroggie, who says, he'd rather have to go through the whole seven-year tribulation than be a carnal Christian standing in the judgment seat. That's a really interesting statement. I think he meant it. He wasn't trying to use hyperbole or anything. I think he meant that. Now, Romans 14, 10. Wait a minute, I'm in the wrong verse here. Bear with me. The wrong chapter. Romans 14, 10. Here we go. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Why dost thou set it not thy brother? Now watch this. For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. If you look at verse 12, Romans 14, 12. So then every one of us, all of us, without any exceptions, we're all going to have to give an account to God. Verse 14, I mean verse 12 says in chapter 14, so that every one of us shall give account of himself to God. So we're all going to stand before God and give an account at the judgment seat of Christ. And I try to bring out, I think it was last night or it might have been Sunday, after a while a lot of these messages kind of blend together. I preach often on the judgment seat, but our sins are not going to be judged at the judgment seat. Our sins were judged at the cross. We're not going to lose our salvation at the judgment seat, but we might lose our rewards at the judgment seat. So I think we need to keep that in right perspective. Now here in Romans 14, 12, we're all going to give an account. Then go to 2 Corinthians 5, 10. 2 Corinthians 5, 10. For we must all, again Paul says all of us, including himself, including you and me, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. And verse 11 I think is quite significant, quite interesting, very important. Verse 11, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. Think about that, the terror of the Lord. We persuade men. but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. So those are two important verses regarding the judgment seat of Christ. Now, different rewards will be given out at the judgment seat. We're not all gonna receive the same reward. And that's a fact, and I think we should understand that. Different rewards given out, for example, Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians chapter nine. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter nine. 1 Corinthians chapter nine. And by the way, keep your bookmark or something, put a gospel track or something in 1 Corinthians nine. I wanna show you something else too. I meant to go there first, but I forgot. But now I thought of it. 1 Corinthians three. And I think I read this last night, but it's good to go over it again. 1 Corinthians 3, verse number 13. Every man's work shall be made manifest. When will that happen? At the judgment seat. At the judgment seat, every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day, what day? the day of the judgment seat, when Christ comes back after the rapture. For the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereon, watch this, he shall receive a reward. So rewards are gonna be given out at the judgment seat. Verse 15, if any man's work shall be burned, now look at that, some men's work, It might have seemed impressive in this world, but the judgment seat, it's going to go up in smoke. It's going to burn up, like wood hanging stubble. It's just going to get burned up. And it says here, if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. He's going to lose that. He's going to lose his reward at the judgment seat. But he himself shall be saved. So it's not a question of losing the salvation. He himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire. So, this is something that we need to think about when we think about the judgment seat, consider the judgment seat. Now, as I said to you before, go to 1 Corinthians 9, and with that in mind, I'll repeat, different rewards, different crowns, if you will, will be given out at the judgment seat. 1 Corinthians 9, and verse 24, Paul says, know ye not that they which run in a race run all? but one receiving the prize. So run that you may obtain. Oftentimes, Paul uses this imagery, the Christian life's like a race. You gotta stay in the race. Stay, go the right way. Don't go off this way, go that way. Don't do anything that will disqualify you. Stay on track so that you may obtain. Verse 25, and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. What a lesson there is. You know, even unsaved athletes stay temperate. They take care of themselves, they eat carefully, they exercise, they stay in shape. If they do that for a worldly prize, what should we do when we consider the judgment seat of Christ? But too many Christians are goofing off and slacking off. He says here, every man, now he's talking this now using the example of sports, athletes. Those that strive for the mastery are temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. Hey, Paul's saying, they're doing all of this Getting up early, exercising every day, staying in shape, staying temperate, careful what they eat. They're doing it to get a corruptible crown. It's not going to last for all eternity, but ours will last for all eternity. Ours is an incorruptible crown. They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible. Verse number 26. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. Now watch this, verse 27, this is so important. But I keep unto my body and bring it into subjection. Let me say this, I think one of the things lacking today in this, for a lot of Christians, is discipline, discipline. Paul says, I keep unto my body and bring it into subjection. lest that by any means, when I preach to others, I myself should be a castaway. Now that verse has perplexed people. Paul's not saying, I keep under my body and bring in this objection, lest by any means, when I preach to others, I'm gonna lose my salvation. No, that's not what he's saying. What Paul is saying is, I don't wanna wind up being disqualified. I don't wanna wind up where the Lord says, Paul, I can't use you anymore. I'm going to put you on the shelf. You're no longer in the race. You're disqualified. That's the idea here. That's what Paul is saying. In fact, in my Schofield Study Bible, under Castaway, it says disapproved. Paul says, I don't want to be disapproved. I don't want to be disqualified. I want to stay in the race right up to the very end. And he did. And we read that last night from 2 Timothy. what they call his swan song. I fought the good fight, I've kept the faith, henceforth there's later for me a crown of righteousness, you see? So Paul stayed in it. He didn't mess up. Unfortunately, some Christians mess up. That's just a sad thing to acknowledge, but it's true. I've seen it happen, unfortunately, many times. I hope it doesn't happen to anybody here tonight. So there's the incorruptible crown, and then there's the crown of rejoicing. Crown of rejoicing, 1 Thessalonians chapter two, and verse 19. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse number 19. 1 Thessalonians 2 verse number 19. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Some people call this the soul winner's crown. And Paul says, are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming, for ye are our glory and crown." So there's another crown that'll be given out when the Lord comes back. Now, there's the incorruptible crown, there's the crown of rejoicing. Another one is the crown of life, the crown of life. James chapter one, verse 12. James chapter one and verse 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, and the idea of temptation or trials and so on, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life. which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. And we see a similar verse in Revelation 2, verse 10. Revelation 2, 10, for none of these things, I'm sorry, none of those things, for which thou shalt suffer, I'm sorry, back to verse 10, fear none of those things, for which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison. "'that's made me tried, and ye shall have tribulation 10 days. "'Be thou faithful unto death, "'and I will give thee a crown of life.'" Now, obviously, in the context here, in the book of Revelation, chapter two, verse 10, it's talking about those who suffered for their faith. It's talking about those who had to endure trials because of their faith in Christ. Some were put in prison, some were persecuted, yea, some were martyred. But the Bible says they'll receive a crown of life. And let me say this too. You know, a lot of people had this idea, things are gonna be really nice. Now, they had this idea up until about a year ago now, or two years ago. Now people are starting to reevaluate that. But they say everything's gonna be really nice because here in America we enjoy such religious freedom and there's churches everywhere. He turned the radio on, it's a gospel broadcast on a radio. Go into a bookstore, there's Bibles on the shelves. Build everything's gonna be fine, and then boom, the rapture's gonna take place. Tribulation's gonna begin, then it's gonna get real bad. Well, you know what? I think it's gonna start getting bad before the rapture. And I think we see that happening right now. And so I'm not saying we're gonna be persecuted, I hope not. like they are in some other countries, like communist countries and Muslim countries and so on. And I hope and pray it doesn't happen here. But don't think it's going to be all hunky-dory up until the rapture. Be prepared that the devil's crowd may turn the heat up. And they're doing that already. Look at what happened. Did you see that video of that preacher from Canada? He's the one they try to shut his church down, and he yelled at them, get out of here, you Nazis, get out of here, that one. Well, he was in America for a few months, and he came back. As soon as his plane landed, he ran over, they threw him on the ground and put him in handcuffs. and put him in jail. And other preachers have been locked up in Canada. Now, Canada is much more authoritarian and ungodly than America. I'm not saying we're as bad as Canada, but listen, if we keep going this way, we're gonna be not far behind Canada or Australia. or some of these other countries where they're really cracking down on churches, cracking down on Christians. All right, so there's the crown of life for those who endure trials for Christ. Then there's the crown of righteousness, which I have Referred to several times to me. It's it's such a beautiful passage 1st Timothy chapter 4 These are the last record 2nd Timothy chapter 4. These are the last recorded words of the Apostle Paul He says in verse 6 I'm now ready to be offered and the time my departure is at hand so Paul knew he was going to be executed and He knew he was going to be offered, in other words, killed. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. I hope and pray every one of us can say the same thing before we leave this world. I hope so. I hope we stay steadfast right to the end. And then in verse 8, henceforth it was laid up for me to crown Paul saying to the judgment seat, I will receive my crown of righteousness. What's really good about this is Paul says, he says, but not me only though, not just for me. Let's read this. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. What day, Paul? The judgment seat. And not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing. Do you love his appearing? then you'll get that crown, that crown is for you too then. All them, it says here, all them, unto all them that, all them also that love his appearing. So there's different crowns will be given. Then there's the crown of glory. Now I have to say something, some of you aren't gonna receive that. Okay, not everybody here is gonna get that. Paisa Lubin will get one, amen? And I'll get one, but most of you aren't gonna get it. Don't feel bad, there's other crowns you can get. But don't worry, you'll still have plenty on your hands. But 1 Peter chapter five, 1 Peter chapter five and verse four, and when the chief shepherd, who's the chief shepherd? the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen? He's the chief. Pastor Luba and I are under shepherds. He's the chief shepherd. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Those are for the pastors. You say, where does it say that? Well, look at verse one. The elders which are among you, I exhort whom also an elder. Now when Peter addresses them as elders, he's talking about pastors. And he says they're gonna receive a crown, a crown of glory. Now, I think I mentioned this last night. Maybe I mentioned it Sunday too. I think I should, it bears repeating because a lot of Christians don't take this warning seriously enough. Some people are gonna be ashamed when the Lord comes back. Some people are gonna lose out at the judgment seat. Look please at 1 John 2.28. I think you oughta mark this in your Bible. You oughta pray about this. Maybe show it to others. 1 John 2.28, and now little children, John often refers to them as little children, abide in him, abide in Christ, that when he, who, Christ, shall appear, we may have confidence. I wanna have confidence when Christ comes back. We have confidence in and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Some Christians are gonna be ashamed when the Lord comes back. Think of a Christian walking out of a saloon when the Lord comes back. How embarrassing. They're going to be ashamed. Or maybe watching something on TV that's pretty dirty and nasty. Sitting there on the couch watching some dirty TV show when the Lord comes back. They're going to be ashamed. They're going to be ashamed when the Lord comes back. Oh, it can get worse. Nowadays, people pick up a telephone, and on a smartphone, there's pornography and film. Listen, don't be ashamed when the Lord comes back. If there's some things you need to get right, get right now. Don't wait. Get right. Maybe tonight, before we go home, get on your knees and pray. 2 John 8. 2 John 8. John verse eight, look to yourselves. Do a little inventory. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought. John is saying some people are gonna lose out of the judgment seat. They're gonna lose their reward. But that we receive what? A full reward. I wanna get a full reward. I don't want the Lord to tell me, well, I had a good reward for you, but you messed up. No, you're not gonna get the full reward. No, I don't want that to happen. So these are serious warnings. Let's move on. We look at the last Beatitudes. We look at the last reference to the judgment seat. How about the last invitation? The last invitation. Now sometimes Baptists and others are criticized for giving invitations. All I can say is invitations are biblical. They're biblical. and I'm gonna keep doing them, Lord willing, until the Lord calls me home. Revelation 22, 17, in fact, when I preach here, I look around the room, I see some people that were saved in our church when they came forward with the invitation. And I thank God for that, amen? I'm glad you're still coming, you got baptized, you're growing in the Lord, you're faithful, because it was Sunday you were here, an invitation was given, and you came forward and got saved, praise God. All right, Revelation 22, verse 17, and the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, of course, and the bride, that's the church, the bride of Christ, say, come. And let him that hear it say, come. And let him that is a thirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life. Here you have the last invitation. Notice the word come is found three times in verse 17. Now the word come, of course, is a great invitation word. Remember what God said to Noah way back in Genesis 7, verse 1? He said to Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark. Now God didn't say go into the ark. He said come into the ark. Why? God was in the ark. He said come into the ark. So we see the invitation way back there in the days of Noah. Come, come, keep your place in Revelation. Go to Isaiah chapter one, verse 18. Isaiah chapter one, verse 18. One of my favorite verses. One of the first verses I memorized when I first got saved. Isaiah chapter one and verse number 18. Come now, there we go, come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Now if you, I'm not gonna read them all, all these verses tonight, but if you took the time to check this out, you'll find the word come all throughout the Bible. Let's look at a couple of other ones that are very well known. Matthew 11. Matthew 11. Matthew 11, verse number 28. Matthew 11 verse 28, Jesus said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. A lot of people are tired. They're working hard. They're heavy laden. They need rest. Come to Jesus, he says. He'll give you rest. Not like the rest the world gives. He'll give real rest, real satisfaction. And then he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your soul. So my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Just the opposite of what the world says. The world says, oh, you become a Christian, oh, it's so burdensome, it's so difficult. No, it's not. It's much more difficult living like a lost sinner, I tell you right now. When you come to Jesus, you'll find His yoke is easy and His burden is light. All right, John 7, 37. John 7, 37. John 7, 37. John 7, 37, Jesus said, Well, it says, in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. If any man, any man, if anyone is thirsty, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Of course, he's referring here to the Holy Spirit. So there are many, many invitations like that in the Bible. And the last one, the last one is found here in Book of Revelation, chapter 22, verse number 17. It's the last one. Soon the day will arrive. Well, it'll be too late. There'll be no more invitations. Too late. I heard a story a long time ago. I don't know how this started, but somehow D.L. Moody had this idea. He wasn't gonna give an invitation one night. And some of you might have heard this story, so bear with me if you heard it. But anyway, he said at the end of the service, come on back tomorrow night, and I'm gonna give an invitation. Those of you who aren't saved can come forward and get saved. Tomorrow night, be here tomorrow night. You know what happened? That night, Chicago burned down. You know the story, the cow kicked over the lantern, and the whole half the city was up in flames. And Moody was heartbroken and said, that'll never happen again. I'll always give an invitation now. I'm not going to put it off like that. And that's why D.L. Moody was known for giving invitations. Of course, a lot of the other great evangelists were known for giving invitations. Listen, I believe it's biblical to give invitations, but the day is going to come, and it may be soon, will there be no more invitations? No more invitation, no more opportunities for people to come forward and get saved. And today, now is the day of grace. But I believe the day of grace is almost over. This dispensation of grace is coming to an end. And as we've seen the last couple of days, God's judgment is coming. It's like a train coming down the track real fast. And I hope everybody understands that. Now again, notice the Holy Spirit who says come. Why is that? Well, let's read. and the Spirit and the bride say, come. Now, the Holy Spirit convicts people, the Holy Spirit draws people, but the Holy Spirit doesn't have a mouth, the Holy Spirit doesn't have arms and legs, so he uses us. So it's the Spirit and the bride say, come. The Holy Spirit is working through the church to reach people, to invite people to Jesus, to try to win people to the Lord. That is the way it works, the Holy Spirit working through you and me to reach out to people and invite them to Christ. So the Spirit and the bride say, come, come. The bride, of course, is the church. We see that, just go back a couple of pages, Revelation chapter 19. Revelation 19, verse 7, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife, that's the bride, hath made herself ready. The bride of Christ is the church. The Bible is very clear on that. And it's our job to invite people to Christ. It's a great privilege to invite people to Christ. It's a great privilege to win people to Christ. Nothing thrills me more than to hear from people I haven't seen in years. They moved away, and they say, never forget that you led me to the Lord. And that means so much to me. I love to hear that. It encourages me. It encourages my wife, too. She's led a lot of folks to the Lord, too, over the years. And it's a great blessing and privilege to do that. It's the spirit and the bride who say, come. Holy Spirit has no tongue. He's going to use our tongue, our lips, to invite people to Christ. Now notice also, and I think I mentioned this a couple of minutes ago, but I'll say it again. Notice in chapter 22, verse 17, the word whosoever. Whosoever. I like that old gospel song we sing it here. Whosoever heareth, shout, shout the sound. Spread the blessed tidings all the world around. Spread the joyful news wherever man is found. Whosoever will may come. Whosoever will may come. I suppose my favorite scripture is the first one I committed to memory when I was saved is for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever will Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." I love that word, whosoever. That includes you, includes me. You know, I've told this story many times, so bear with me. I don't know if some of you heard it. When John Bunyan said, if the Bible said, for God's love the world, that he gave his only begotten son. John Bunyan believes in him. He should not perish, but have a blessed life. I don't know, there's other John Bunyans. Maybe he's talking about some John Bunyan who lived 100 years ago, or some John Bunyan on the other side of the sea. But when he says, whosoever, I know that's me. And it's you too, whosoever. Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Let him take the water of life freely. Whosoever hear it, shout the sound. Spread the blessed tidings all the world around. Spread the joyful news wherever man is found. Whosoever will, may come. By the way, the word whosoever is found 183 times in the Bible. The word whosoever is found 10 times in the Gospel of John, most notably John 3, 16, but nine other times as well. Here's another one of my favorite verses. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen, amen. So here we have the last invitation, whosoever. By the way, that word whosoever, You know, it could be used different ways. And just turn back to Revelation 20, the last verse in chapter 20, Revelation 20, verse 15, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Think about that now. So whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. But whosoever was not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life, they are going to be cast into the lake of fire. How terrible, how sad, because they did not asset God's free gift of salvation. All right, let's move on. We looked at these other things here, the last invitation and last reference to the judgment seat and so on. How about the last warning? The last warning. Revelation 22, verse 18. Revelation 22, verse 18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, add anything. We're not allowed to add one word to the Bible. The Bible, you can't add anything to it. If any man shall add anything, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And not only is it wrong to add, it's wrong to subtract. Take anything away from the Bible. Verse number 19, if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. Now there are many, many warnings, many warnings in the Bible about this. This is the last warning, but there are many warnings. It's a serious sin to add or subtract from the Bible. Deuteronomy 4. Verse two says, ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it. Deuteronomy four, two says, don't add, don't take anything away. Same thing we see here in our text tonight. Proverbs 30, verses five and six says, every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. So there's many similar warnings. Probably the most startling, in my opinion, is in Galatians chapter one. Galatians chapter one, Galatians chapter one, and verse number eight, Paul says, though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Do you know what the word accursed means? Let him go to hell if he preaches some other gospel. than anything other than what we've preached to you. And then he says, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. By the way, you notice Paul says in verse eight, even if an angel from heaven comes down and preaches another gospel, guess what the Mormons say? An angel came down and preached a new gospel of the Mormonism. Isn't that something? It doesn't take a whole lot of research to find out Mormonism is a false cult, but yet it's growing rapidly. Why? Because we have a lot of biblical alliterates in America today. Not just in America, all over the world. You know, I did a lot of preaching in the Philippines, many, many times. And you go into the average town in the Philippines, right in the middle of the church, I'm sorry, in the middle of the town is a Catholic church. But now, in addition to the Catholic church, there's a Mormon church. And every Mormon church has basketball courts, because they know the Filipinos love basketball. So the kids are in there playing basketball, and then the Mormons come out and say, you want a bag of rice? Have your mom and dad come this Sunday and they can pick it up. And they offer them goodies like that, and even a green card sometimes I hear, you know? And all sorts of tricks to try to pull them in. And so Mormonism's spreading around the world, Philippines, South America, you name it. This false cult is growing rapidly. By the way, you know how they do that? A lot of money in Salt Lake City. These missionaries you see riding around on the bicycles with the name tags, by the way, we got them in Florida too. I see them down there. They are fully supported for two years. They give them a salary and everything. And then when the Mormons put up a building, it's not like this church. We had to really struggle to buy this old fish store and remodel it and sell bonds. And thank God the bond debt is over, the mortgage is paid off, this building's debt free, praise God. But it was not easy doing this. And some of you old timers know what we had to go through to get this thing going. But Mormons don't have to worry about that. The Mormon church pays for the whole thing, put the whole building up, everything. But I don't wanna spend too much time talking about Mormonism. All I'm saying is it's a mark of a cult. I don't care who it is, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, it's a mark of a cult to add to the word of God. Let me give you some scriptures. Look with me at Psalm 138, verse two. Psalm 138, verse two. Psalm 138, verse two. "'I will worship toward thy holy temple "'and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness "'and for thy truth.'" Now watch this. "'For thou hast magnified thy word "'above all thy name.'" God has magnified the word of God even above his name. Think about that. God's word is magnified above his name. We shouldn't tamper with God's word. We shouldn't add to it or take away from it. Here's another one, Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 89. Psalm 119, verse 89. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. God's word is settled in heaven. Nobody can change it, alter it, corrupt it, and it's a serious offense to add to it, take away from it. Now, we all know how the cults add to the Word of God. What about taking away from the Word of God? There are many reasons why they're not approved in the modern Bible translations. One of them is it takes stuff out of the Bible. For example, I was preaching in Naples a couple of years ago in a snowbird. You know what a snowbird is? Yeah. Down in Florida, we have the snowflakes. They just come for a little bit, and then they're gone. And then we have the snowbirds. They're usually there for like, you know, January, February, March. Then they come back every month. And then you have the frogs. They just go down there and croak. But this guy's a snowbird, and he came over to me and said, you know, preacher, you preach on the King James, I use it on NIV, what's the difference? I said, I'll give you a good difference. I said, go to the Book of Acts, go to the Book of Acts, and go to chapter eight, and read the familiar story of Philip and the eunuch, and look at verse 36, and as they went on their way, they came into a certain water, and the eunuch said, see, here's water, what doth it mean to be baptized? That's a good question, right? That tells me the eunuch was very sincere, he was searching, and notice in the King James Bible, Verse 37, and Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In other words, he made a profession of faith in Christ. And upon that profession, he was baptized. Verse 38, and he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water. So Philip was a Baptist, because they both went down into the water. That means he immersed him. They went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them. How do you know who's immersed? Verse 39, when they would come up out of the water. When you go down to the water and you come up, you were immersed. By the way, the word baptized is from the Greek word baptizo, baptize of transliteration. It literally means to plunge, to immerse. But anyway, here's what I'm getting at. In the new versions, and my friend's NIV version, verse number 37 was not there. It goes directly from verse 36 to verse 38. And I showed mine, and he said, well, I never noticed that before. I said, a lot of people haven't noticed that, but there's a gap there, something's missing. There's a hole in the narrative here. In your Bible, Philip baptized, first of all, Philip didn't answer his question, which, in my opinion, that's kind of rude. Somebody asked you a question, you should answer him. And secondly, he baptized him without any profession of faith in Christ. That's just one example. I can give so many examples why I don't trust the New Versions. Look at 1 Timothy 3.16. 1 Timothy 3.16. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. That tells you Jesus Christ is God, manifest in the flesh. But the new versions don't. They leave the word God out. They take God out. And the new versions say he was manifest in the flesh. Well, isn't that true? Yes, but you're manifest in the flesh. I'm manifest in the flesh. When you say God was manifest in the flesh, you're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ being God. When they say he, some of them even say he had the body. Well, we know he had a body. They dealt him to a cross. We know he had a body. But when you say God manifests in the flesh, you're affirming the deity. You're affirming the incarnation and the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can give you many other examples. The blood of Christ is taken out in many verses. The word calvary is not in these New Virgins like the NIV. It's not there. It's missing. The word propitiation. and many other doctrinal words have been removed. The word Godhead is not in the new versions. The word hell is found 54 times in the King James Version, 54 times, but only 14 times in the NIV. Trying to take hell out of the Bible, that's not good. The word sodomite, And sodomites, in other words, homosexuals, found five times in the King James, but not even one time in the modern versions. Why is that? Well, you gotta keep the homosexual crowd happy, you know? They don't like that. And by the way, one of the, somebody who's on the translation committee on the NIV was a woman named Virginia Mallincott. She's a lesbian. No wonder, she probably said, no, no, no, sorry, get him out of there. Can't have that. I give many other examples. There's a lot of problems with these newer versions. Stick with the King James. I realize some of the words are old-fashioned. Get yourself a good dictionary. And there aren't that many really difficult words, in my opinion. You know, when I was in high school, we had to read Shakespeare. I think Shakespeare's harder to read than the King James Bible, my opinion. And I love Shakespeare, too. I was talking to Brother Josh before, I said, I would never in a million years want to read Shakespeare in modern English. It just wouldn't, it wouldn't be the same. It would ruin it for me. And the same thing with the King James Bible. You're not gonna improve upon the King James Bible, I'll tell you right now. They keep trying to come out with new Bibles, nothing can compare, nothing can surpass the King James Bible. All right, let's move on here. How about the last promise? The last promise, Revelation 22 and verse 20. Revelation 22, verse 20. And he which testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. Now, this is the third promise in this chapter concerning the second coming of Christ. Go back to chapter 22, verse seven. Behold, I come quickly. You see that? And then verse 12, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me. So three times the Lord is telling us he's coming quickly. You know, Lee Roberson was a great preacher down in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I had the privilege of hearing him preach a couple times. He's in heaven now, but he said this. And I quote, you will never find worldly Christians pray this prayer, even so come Lord Jesus. Revelation 22, 20. Lee Robinson said, the lazy, indifferent, do-nothing Christian is not anxious to look into the face of the Lord. For he realized that his life and service will be judged. If we are compromising with the world, we will not be anxious to face him. Well, I'm eager to face him. I'm looking forward to the Lord coming back. I pray even so come Lord Jesus. The second coming of Christ is one of the greatest doctrines in the Bible. It should be preached regularly. But unfortunately, some preachers hardly touch upon it. It's unfortunate that you don't do that. And one out of every 25 verses in the New Testament, one out of every 25 is about the second coming of Christ. That's quite a bit. And of course, there are many references to the Lord's coming, second coming in the Old Testament as well. Now, we looked at the last promise, and right after that is the last prayer, the last prayer. Chapter 22, verse 20, even so come Lord Jesus. That ought to be our prayer. When you see what's going on in this wicked world, and I don't gotta tell you what's going on. You follow the news. It can be rather depressing. It can be disheartening. You see what's going on. They're telling teachers and nurses and doctors and police and military, you gotta get vaccinated or you're gonna get fired. Meanwhile, they're telling these people coming across our border illegally, you don't gotta get vaccinated, it's okay. You get a free pass, but people who work hard are gonna lose their jobs and not get unemployment insurance, be vilified, criticized, call names because they refuse to take a drug that they're not sure what's even in that drug. You just follow the news. It can be very, very discouraging. When I see these kind of reports, I say, even so come Lord Jesus. The Lord is coming back. Let me say this too. The book of Revelation is a book of judgment. And I think we all recognize that. You've been here since Sunday morning, Sunday night, last night. It's a book of judgment. I mean, the whole, most of Revelation deals with the tribulation period. But it's all about judgment. God's gonna literally pour his wrath on this world because this world has rejected Christ. But though it's a book of judgment, the good news, it ends with words of grace. Look at chapter 22, verse 21, the very last verse. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. It ends with the words of grace. Isn't it wonderful we have a gracious God? He's gracious and longsuffering. Thank God we're saved by grace. We're kept by grace. We live by grace. Thank God for His wonderful grace, His matchless grace. I'm going to pray, and then Pastor Lubman's going to come on up. Let's pray together. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful for the Word of God. So many wonderful things here in the Word of God. And as we saw, help us to be obedient, not just hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word. We do pray, Lord, for each and every person represented here tonight, families represented here, I should say, the people that are gathered here tonight, that you just give them a special blessing for being in God's house tonight. Tomorrow night's the last night. I pray you'll bring more folks out and we can end with a bang with this prophecy conference. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Pastor? in this moment of invitation. Maybe there's someone here this evening that's come in that the Holy Spirit's impressed upon your heart and the need for salvation. You need to make sure you're born again, that when the Lord does come and you'll be with him in the air. Maybe there's someone tonight that say, Pastor, I'm not sure that I'm saved. The Holy Spirit's convicting me. Would you please pray for me? You can lift your hand now. We'll love to pray for you. You're not sure if you're saved. I always want to ask that I know many of our folks come out to these meetings are believers. But how is your walk with Christ? Are you living in such a way that if you would return, you would be ashamed? Is there sin that needs to be confessed forsaken? Is there still a work to be done in ministry and serving and doing accomplishing something you know God wants you to do? I'm gonna ask our pianist to play softly. And let's spend some time as Christians tonight in prayer. Considering these last few verses, this last promise, what if tonight was the last night we had before Christ returned? Yes, let's live in light of the fact that he can come at any moment. Don't hold on to that sin, that wickedness, that bad attitude, whatever it is.