Please turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 14. We'll be coming back to Revelation shortly. But I want to start here this morning with you in the Gospel of Mark. It wasn't too long ago that we were studying chapter by chapter through the Gospel of Mark. And as we go through the life of Jesus Christ and hear his words and see his deeds, every gospel account ends with the arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here in Mark chapter 14, I want to direct your attention to the trial of Jesus Christ. And I'd like to focus on Jesus' testimony. As we read through, starting there in verse 53, Take note that God in the flesh entered into our courts. He testified before the Jewish court, he testified before the Gentile court, and his testimony is of utmost importance. When God put Jesus Christ on the stand, what did he say? Let's read it. Mark chapter 14, verse 53. And they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands. And in three days I will build another not made with hands. Yet even about this, their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But he remained silent and made no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, what further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy, what is your decision? and they all condemned him as deserving of death. God came into the world and he took the stand and made a testimony. His testimony was concerning who he was and where he was going. He is the Christ, the son of the blessed, and he is at the right hand of power and he is coming with the clouds of heaven. That testimony that the Lord Jesus Christ gave at the climax of His earthly ministry, right before He was to pay the price for sin on the cross, that testimony is continued in the book of Revelation. What we have in the book of Revelation is the testimony of Jesus Christ that he is at the right hand of the Father and that he is coming on the clouds with power and glory and every eye will see him. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 22. That's gonna be our focus today, Jesus' testimony, particularly in verses 16 to 20. Who is Jesus? And what is he going to do? Well, Jesus has given us the final book of the Bible in order to tell us who he is and that he is coming. I'd like to start reading there in verse 12, and we're gonna read down through verse 20. We'll be focusing on Jesus's testimony in verses 16 and 20 in particular, but I want you to see the context as we've been spending the last month here in the epilogue of the book of Revelation. Follow along in your Bibles, Revelation 22 verse 12. Behold, Jesus says, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 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 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 are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. Amen, come Lord Jesus. Verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify. He who testifies to these things. That's what we're focusing on, the testimony of Jesus. And here's our outline for today. His identity clearly spelled out once again for us in verse 16. And the warning that flows from this book being Jesus' testimony. Jesus is testifying about who he is and he's testifying that he is coming and therefore the warning is sandwiched in between the two things that he's testifying about that we need to not add to or take away from Jesus' testimony. how dire it is to take away from the testimony of Jesus. How dire it is to add to the testimony of Jesus. If one will be found guilty in God's court of adding to or taking away from the testimony of Jesus, well, I do not want to be in those shoes. And so, we'll focus first on his identity, then take a look at the warning, and then see Jesus' testimony, his own testimony, about his coming. Verse 16, Jesus' identity. Jesus testifies as to who he is. Who he is. Not who he was, which is true of every other historical person. Jesus is unique as a historical person in that he is, not that he was, a unique man because of the resurrection. Now he gives us two titles there in Revelation 22 verse 16. You see it there in the text. He says, I am the root and the descendant of David. That's one title. And then he gives the second, he is the bright and morning star. The book of Revelation is filled with titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. These two are particularly awesome, and I wanna spend a little bit of time unpacking them and showing you what these titles mean. They are his messianic titles. You see that he is connecting himself with David, and he's also connecting himself with the morning star, and both of these come from the Old Testament. And so when Jesus Christ here testifies concerning who he is, this is not unlike his testimony before the high priest that we read in Mark chapter 14. When he was asked, are you the blessed one, the son of the Most High, he answered, I am. Who is the blessed one? Who is the son of the most high? Well, he's the Messiah. The Messiah is the one who is the root and the descendant of David. He is also the bright morning star. These titles connect the Old Testament and the New Testament. These titles connect all of the hope of the prophecies that God had given up until the time of Jesus with the one who is the fulfillment of these prophecies. Remember how the gospel starts in Matthew chapter one, verse one, the first gospel in our New Testament, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, two of the most important figures in scripture, the Jewish scriptures, David and Abraham. And here, Matthew wants to connect from the very beginning, Jesus Christ with these Old Testament saints. these important figures in prophecy. Not only do these titles connect the Old Testament and the New Testament, but it also shows forth the kingly authority of Jesus Christ. He is the one who has the right to rule God's earth. He is the one that God has destined to rule God's creation. For example, when we take a look at the first of the titles here, when Jesus says, I am the root and the descendant of David, this comes from the book of Isaiah. Let's turn back there. Turn in your Bibles once again. Go back to Isaiah chapter 11 this time. And I want to read the first 10 verses. It starts with the shoot that comes from the stump of Jesse, and it ends, in verse 10, with the root of Jesse. And here Jesus, in identifying himself, his testimony about himself, he says, I am the root, and the offspring, the shoot, from the stump of Jesse. And so I wanna read the whole context so that you understand the full meaning of how Jesus is identifying himself. What is Jesus' testimony concerning himself based upon this passage? Isaiah chapter 11, verse one. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion, and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day," I love that phrase, in that day, the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal for the peoples, of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. He is the one who is destined to bring paradise back to earth. And think about this title of Jesus, that he is both the shoot that comes from the stump of Jesse, meaning that he is the descendant of Jesse, who was the father of David, and that he's also the root of Jesse. He comes before and he comes after because he is God come to live on earth. An awesome title that the Lord Jesus Christ gives for himself here, the root and the offspring of David, emphasizing both his pre-existence and his incarnation as the son of David, the Messiah of Israel. The second title that we have in Revelation chapter 22 verse 16, Jesus Christ is the star. He's the bright star. He's the first star. The word star in the biblical mindset is not dissimilar to the way that we use the word star today. We use the word star metaphorically to highlight somebody who is famous, somebody who is important, someone who is outstanding, someone who is noticeable, someone who shines. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is not a star. He is the star. He is the bright star. He is the morning star. He is the first star. And also in the Hebrew mindset, this idea of being a star also has to do with authority and power and kingdom. For in the ancient world, they didn't have a lot of movie stars because there was no movies. They didn't have a lot of stars in other areas, but the stars that they did have were kings. The stars that they did have were rulers, authorities, people who would sit on shining thrones in glorious palaces. They were the stars of their time. God says, I've got a star. I've got the one who is going to be my king. As God spoke through the prophet in Numbers chapter 24, verse 17, I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. So Jesus Christ identifies himself in Revelation chapter 22 Titles drawing upon the imagery and the prophecies of the Old Testament both in Isaiah and in Numbers show us that he is the coming king of kings. He is the one who is going to rule the nations. Back in Revelation chapter two, verse 28, Jesus also spoke of the morning star, the bright star, the first star. There, Jesus promised the overcomer, the one who continues in his faith until the end, the one who perseveres no matter what kind of opposition Satan and the world throws our way, that person who overcomes by confessing that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus says, I will give him the morning star. What does it mean that Jesus is going to give me the morning star if I overcome? That he's going to give you the morning star. Well, Jesus is the Morning Star, so he's going to give us himself, but there's a particular aspect of the gift of Christ that we will enjoy in this imagery of the Morning Star, and we've already talked about it. It is the rule, it is the authority, it is the hope, it is the new day. The Morning Star is the star that heralds the coming of the new day, and that's why Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1, verse 19, wanting us to be sure of the testimony that God has borne concerning Jesus Christ. Now, in light of Christ's coming, we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. All of those Old Testament prophecies that we had put our hope in, well now Jesus has come. Now Jesus has died. Now Jesus has raised himself. Now Jesus is exalted at the right hand of God. And so all of those prophetic words are more fully confirmed now that we live in the age of fulfillment of those promises. And we need to continue to pay attention, pay close attention to the prophetic word found both in Isaiah and all the Old Testament prophets, but also the prophets of the New Testament. Jesus' words concerning his second coming, the book of Revelation concerning Christ's second coming. Pay attention to this lamp that is shining in a dark place. We're living in a dark place. Here's the lamp that is shining. We must pay attention to it until until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. The morning star, a beautiful picture of the new day that God is creating, that God is bringing when Jesus Christ comes back. That's where our hope is fixed. Renew your hope day by day. Whenever you start to get discouraged, whenever you look around at the darkness in this dark place that we're living in, and it starts to wear you down, remember the promise of God, that the day is dawning, the night is far spent, and the morning star is about to arise in our hearts, and Jesus Christ is that bright and morning star who is bringing this hope. That's what these titles signify. Now I said earlier, that the book of Revelation is filled with titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a pretty exhaustive list, probably not a completely exhaustive list of the titles in Christ. It depends on how you count them. But these are the ones that I wanted to highlight for you as we look at the titles here and then look back at how these fit in with the rest of the titles of Christ in the book of Revelation. We read Revelation chapter one, verse one in our scripture reading. There, we are given the title of the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is the only book that comes with its own title. Go back to Revelation 1.1. Now, if you're using the ESV Bible like I am, I want you to take note that the title of the book in the ESV is poorly done. This book is not the Revelation to John. accurate enough in itself, it is a revelation to John, that's not the title that the book itself carries. But notice in Revelation 1.1, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That should be the title of the book. The revelation of Jesus Christ, not highlighting who was the stenographer who wrote it down, but highlighting the one who is the source of the book. This is Jesus Christ's revelation. It's not John's revelation. John was just an instrument, a tool. But everything that is in this book is what our Lord Jesus Christ wants us to know. It's what he has revealed. It is what he has shown. It is what he has spoken. It is what he has testified to. And not only that, but so much of the content of this book is about the person of Jesus Christ, who he is. It is a revelation of Jesus Christ in the sense that it comes from him, and that's probably the primary meaning here in 1.1. But in another way, it's also the revelation of Jesus Christ because it's all about him. The book centers on his person, and thus we have all of these magnificent titles of the Lord Jesus Christ in the book. Look at the first two, they go together. Christ and Lord. He is Lord because he is God's Christ. He is the one that God has anointed, the one that God has chosen to be the king of the nations, king of kings and Lord of lords. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the ruler of the kings on the earth. All of this has to do with him being God's Christ, with him being the Lord who is exalted at God's right hand. Then take a look at the second two titles, the shepherd and the lamb. What an interesting contrast, what an interesting conglomeration of titles. He is both our shepherd and he is also our sacrificial lamb. How marvelous. But then, I want to highlight the fifth one, where it says he is the faithful and true witness. The faithful and true witness. If you have your Bible open to Revelation 1, look at verse 5. Revelation 1, 5. Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. We're gonna be talking more about that word witness as the morning goes along. That is a very important word because that's what our sermon is all about today. The witness of Jesus Christ, the testimony of Jesus Christ, the solemn testimony of the crucified and resurrected man from Nazareth. That's what this book is and what it's all about. And he is the faithful and true witness. Now, the other titles that we have here, you see, we just read in verse five, he's the firstborn from the dead. There it is. He is the ruler of the kings on earth. Highlighting that along with all the others that go along with Christ and Lord. The fact that he is the firstborn of the dead ties in also with this title, the living one. If you're still in chapter one, take a look at verse 18. As Jesus speaks to John, he says, I am the first and the last in verse 17, there's one of his titles, and the living one. I died and behold, I am alive forevermore. As I said, this is what makes Jesus Christ unique. This is what makes his testimony so sure and so powerful. Here, we have a testimony from a man who had been crucified. We have a testimony from a man who had been buried. We have a testimony from a man who defeated death, who is alive forevermore. That makes his testimony the most important testimony out of anyone who's ever lived. And why we must pay close attention to the words, not of John, but the words of Jesus Christ. Let's remember whose words these are. He's the living one. He became dead. Alive forevermore. So many of these titles are magnificent and wonderful, and I love having them all in one place like this. Take a picture, meditate on these things, make your own list, however you wanna do it, but keep your eyes focused on Christ in Revelation, on who he is. Remember him. He has testified concerning himself. That's the first important aspect of Jesus' testimony. As we look at the testimony of Christ in all of these wonderful ways, the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, those come from chapter 22. And also from chapter 22, you see the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star, which we've just talked about. Remember that this is He. The king of the nations, the first and the last, the firstborn of the dead, this is he who invites the world, invites all of us, invites our children and grandchildren, invites our neighbors and our coworkers to come and receive the water of life. This is the one who has sent out the invitation. As he said in Matthew 11, verse 28, come to me. all who are laboring and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I highlight that call because that's what we were looking at last week. Back in Revelation 22, last week we looked at verse 17, and in verse 17 you had the call to salvation, with the spirit and the bride also giving the invitation, saying, 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 cost. Jesus is the one who calls. He calls through the spirit, he calls through the bride, he calls through his people who hear, and he calls to all the world, come to me. Come to Christ, come to the Lord, come to the shepherd, come to the lamb, come to the faithful and true witness. He's the one who is going to give eternal life. That's the testimony. Now, because of who Jesus Christ is, because of all this, therefore, as we said, It is necessary that we guard carefully. We have this warning here in verses 18 and 19. In between his testimony concerning his identity, in between that and the testimony concerning his coming is the warning. Because of who he is, because of how important his testimony is, it must be carefully guarded. That's our job. You and I must carefully guard the testimony of Jesus Christ. Notice in chapter 22, verses 18 and 19, the warning. He's warning everyone, not just the preachers, but everyone who hears, that's you all. You are hearing the words of the prophecy of this book and blessed are you that you hear them. But make sure that as you hear, you do not fall under the curse of adding to the book or taking away from it. If anyone adds to this testimony of Jesus Christ, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. If anyone takes away from the words of Jesus' testimony in this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. Now, the chain of communication has been highlighted, not only here in chapter 22, but also at the beginning of the book. If you look at chapter 22, verse six, The angel is part of this chain of communication. As Jesus said, I've sent my angel to testify in verse 16. Well, the angel here in verse six says, these words are trustworthy and true. They're trustworthy and true because they come from Jesus, who is trustworthy and true. And the Lord has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. So God gives it to Jesus, Jesus gives it to the angel, the angel gives it to John, John gives it to the messengers to the churches, the messengers to the churches gives it to the churches, the churches give it to the rest of the churches, and so on it has come to us. That's the chain of communication. Now it is our job to keep, to preserve, to hold on to this message without addition and without subtraction. This is very much like what God spoke through Moses. When Moses had finished giving the law to the people of Israel, after they'd come out and entered into the covenant with God at Mount Sinai, and God had given them all of his commandments, and he'd dwelt with them as their people in the tabernacle, then God spoke through Moses at the end of Moses' life in the book of Deuteronomy, giving this warning, using these words. Deuteronomy four, verse two. 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 that I command you. Well, God had given the commandments in the Old Testament. Now in the New Testament, God has given the testimony, the testimony of Jesus. And we hold on to that testimony. We preserve that testimony. We keep it. We don't add to it. We don't take away from anything that Jesus has testified and declared to us as his people. Very important, the old covenant was the word of God and sacred. The new covenant is the word of God and is sacred and we must treat it as such, reverence it in our hearts and tremble before it, being very careful to not add or take away. Moses repeated this instruction in Deuteronomy 12, verse 32. Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You don't add to it, you don't take away from it, it is perfect the way it is. That's the new covenant, that's the book of Revelation. It is perfect the way it is. Take it all, leave none of it out, add nothing to it. It's like if a cook had received a recipe and thought that he or she could improve upon that recipe and changed out some of the ingredients. My wife did this yesterday, baking with Viola muffins, and she wanted less sugar in the recipe, and so she replaced that with some other sweetener and added this and took out that and tried to make the muffins more healthy. Well, that's great when you're dealing with muffins, and that's great when you're dealing with a recipe that a human being has written down and created, but you don't do that with the Word of God. You don't try to make it more healthy. You don't try to make it less healthy. You don't replace anything with anything else. You just take it as it is and recognize it is perfect the way it is. That's God's word, that's God's recipe. The book of Revelation is a recipe for justice, a recipe for paradise, a recipe for glory. And we add nothing and we take nothing away because this is not John's book, this is Jesus' book. Very important to keep that in mind. You know, there's a lot of challenges to the authority of scripture in the time that we live in. I don't know if you've noticed, but secular humanism has been a strong influence on our mindset and our culture, and it's very easy for us to start to think like the world around us. As I read through commentaries that are written by Christian men, believing men, on the books of the Bible, I find secular humanist thinking just seeping in, unnoticed by the author, unnoticed by the readers. What do I mean by that? Well, you read about how John says this, how John includes that, how John wants us to be guarded against error, how John wants us to persevere in our faith, as if John was just some Christian mystic sitting on an island thinking, how can I encourage the churches? Oh, I know, I'll write a letter as if it was from Jesus Christ filled with my ideas about how the world's going to end when Christ comes back. Now, of course, nobody would say that that's a believer, And yet, that's what the secular humanist thinks, and subtly it starts to infect our thinking, and how we talk about the book, and how we feel about the book. John did not come up with any of this. Jesus Christ gave it all, exactly what he wanted to give, exactly what he wanted us to know. Jesus is not a myth. He's a man. Jesus is not merely a man. He is the eternal Son of God. He is real. He is alive. These are his words of testimony. That's why we guard them. That's why we protect them. That's why we proclaim them. That's why we do not alter them one jot. Very important. This word testify or to bear witness is particularly abundant in John's writings. The Holy Spirit, through John, speaks much to us about testifying and bearing witness in his gospel, in his letters, and in his book of Revelation. For example, 1 John 5, verse 9. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. How much more authority, how much more trustworthiness should we invest in the words of God over the words of man? Man who was born yesterday, man who doesn't know his own heart and his own mind. Listen to the words of God. I was talking with a pastor recently about how polls are not the way to figure out what the church should be doing. We don't go to people who've been raised in the church and ask them, why did you leave the church, in order to figure out what we're doing wrong and what we're supposed to change. They don't know. They might think they know. They'll give you an answer. They'll put things on the survey. but the human heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately wicked. Who can understand it? Only the Lord is able to search the heart and the mind. He knows why people are leaving. He knows why people aren't following Christ. Don't go and ask the lost blind sinner. Go to God's word. Listen to the testimony of Jesus as to why people don't believe. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. That's what we have, this, the testimony of God. Awesome. Now, John continues on this theme throughout his gospel, and I want you to go back to John chapter three. Turn back to the gospel of John with me. This idea of the testimony, bearing witness, the testimony of God, the testimony of Christ, the testimony of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter three, Jesus is speaking to a respected, prominent leader among the teachers of God's word in the people of Israel at this time. His name was Nicodemus. Nicodemus has good intentions. Nicodemus seems to have a genuine desire to know and teach the truth. He's one of the few who are courageous enough wise enough to come and speak to Jesus privately to find out who he is and what he's teaching because he recognizes that this is a prophet, to say the least, who has come from God. Jesus testifies to Nicodemus that you must be born again. Unless you're born again, you can't enter the kingdom of God. That's where the conversation starts. But Nicodemus doesn't understand what Jesus is talking about, and he says in verse nine, how can these things be? Notice how Jesus responds. Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know. Who is the we that is speaking? I think it's Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit. We speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven. except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man." Stop there. Focus on Jesus letting Nicodemus know that the truth that he is sharing with him, that Nicodemus is having a hard time understanding and comprehending and accepting, that this is the testimony of God. who has come down out of heaven to speak to his creation and to testify of the truth. That's why Jesus Christ came into the world. He came into the world to testify of the truth. His testimony is greater than that of any man. Go to the end of the chapter, verses 31 to 36. Emphasizing the same theme of Jesus's heavenly origin. He who comes from above is above all. He's not just the descendant of David, he's the root. He is the one who comes before because he comes from above and he is therefore above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth, speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness, he bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. What a tragic statement. The truth came into the world to bear witness and no one was receiving his testimony. But, be of good cheer, verse 33, whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure. The father loves the son, has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. The testimony of the one who has come from heaven, that's what we're talking about. Come over to chapter eight. John chapter eight, this theme of testifying and testimony and bearing witness continues. Here, Jesus speaking to a group of people instead of just the single Jewish person we had in chapter three. Pick it up in verse 12, John 8, 12. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. To follow Christ means that we're not walking in the darkness. It means we have the light of life. So the Pharisee said to him, you are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. Jesus answered, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I came from, see his heavenly origin, and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. But we know that Jesus came from the Father. We know that he has returned to the right hand of the Father. And we know that he has given us the book of Revelation so that we can know for certain the things that are going to take place quickly. That's what we know because of Jesus' testimony. Then finally, John chapter 18. tracing this theme throughout the Gospel of John of Jesus coming and bearing witness, even as he does in the book of Revelation, highlighted in chapter 22. Here in John 18, verse 37, Jesus gives the good confession before Pontius Pilate. Pilate is questioning him about who he is and what he's done to find out whether or not the accusations against Jesus are true. And similar to how Jesus Christ confessed the truth before the high priest, as we read in Mark, so here he confesses the truth in the courtroom of the Romans in verse 37. Start in verse 33. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, do you say this of your own accord? Or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this world. Then Pilate said to him, so you are a king? Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Jesus came into the world to do what? To bear witness, to bear witness to the truth, the truth of who he is and the truth of what he is going to do. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Listen to him. Listen to him. That's what the voice out of heaven said on the mountain of transfiguration. Listen to him. Pilate did not listen, but instead he asked the question of the postmodernist, what is truth? The more things change, the more they stay the same. So, we come back to Revelation. the one who is the faithful witness as he testified before the Jews, as he testified before Pontius Pilate, who he is. He's the firstborn of the dead. He's the ruler of the kings on earth. Therefore, his testimony in the Bible is something we don't add to, something we don't take away from. That's the identity and that's the warning that we're looking at here in these verses in Revelation 22. So let's talk about the coming, the coming of Jesus. This theme, that Jesus is coming, is introduced right at the very beginning of the book of Revelation. In Revelation 1-7, we are told, behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him. This is the testimony. This is the message. This is what Jesus said before the high priest. I am the Christ, I am the blessed one, and you will see the son of man coming with the clouds with great glory. So, here at the end, Revelation 22, the testimony is the same. He who testifies to these things, Revelation 22 verse 20, surely I am coming soon. Sadly, even among Christians, so-called, there are many who do not believe this promise of Jesus. There are many who call Jesus a liar in effect by denying that Jesus Christ is coming. Here's a survey of all U.S. adults. We don't survey to find out the truth. We find out what people believe about the truth in a survey. And here you see, thankfully, a majority of U.S. adults do believe that Jesus is going to return to earth someday. Well, that's encouraging. But what's discouraging about these numbers is the number of Christians, self-identifying, who do not believe that Jesus Christ is coming. Oh sure, it's good that it's higher than the general population, but when you've got 20% of Christians saying they don't believe that Jesus is going to return to earth someday, that's a problem. You break it down into the different kinds of Christians. Protestants, 82% say yes. 14% have no idea what it means to be a Christian and don't believe that Jesus is going to return to the earth. This is better among the evangelical Protestant church. There you get 92% who believe that Jesus will return to earth someday, but it should be 100%. And who are this 1% of evangelicals who don't believe in Jesus? I have no idea what that means. I think they didn't know what an evangelical was. Then you get to the mainline church, the mainline Protestant church, the Lutheran church, the Methodist church, the Episcopal church. 64% said yes, they believe that Jesus is going to return to earth. 29% said no, and that's only slightly better than the apostate Catholic church. Let me say this very clearly. If you think you're a Christian, But you don't believe that Jesus Christ is going to come back to earth, you are deceived. You are not a Christian. It is impossible to be a Christian and to not believe Jesus' testimony that he is coming soon. He is coming quickly. We want to be among those who are increasing the number of U.S. adults, the number of adults everywhere in the world who believe that Jesus Christ is going to return to the earth bodily, and that he's going to be coming exactly as he testifies in the book of Revelation. That is our message. Our testimony is that Jesus is the Christ, that he is Lord, identifying him according to all of his glorious titles. But that's not all of our message. Our message is also that Jesus is coming. That's the two things that Jesus testified before the Jews, before the high priest. This is what he testifies in the book of Revelation. The testimony of Jesus. John MacArthur, he recently passed into the Lord's presence. Believers don't die. Jesus said that when a believer dies, he has just fallen asleep. And that his body is asleep, his spirit is not asleep, but he is immediately in the presence of God. As Jesus told the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. Well, John MacArthur is in paradise, but when he was here fulfilling his ministry, he said this about the second coming of Jesus. It is a cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith. It is not minor. It is not unimportant. It is not secondary or tertiary. It is critical. It is substantial reality in our faith. In fact, in some ways, the second coming of Jesus Christ is the most important of events because it's the end of the story. Because the second coming consummates everything. Everything is about the second coming and all is moving towards that. Why did Jesus die for you? Why did he cleanse you from your sins so that you'd be prepared for the second coming? It all heads towards that. That's the end of history, that's the goal of history. God will have his bride, that's the one for whom Christ died, washed of sins, and that bride will welcome Jesus Christ as King and Lord at his second coming. Let's keep our focus squarely on that second coming and let's keep proclaiming it. When we go out and share the gospel, Acts chapter 10, when we go out and share the gospel, remember what the apostles were commanded. We're following in the line of the apostles. We're doing the work that they started where Christ commanded the apostles to preach to the people and to testify. Our testimony is Jesus' testimony, who He is, and that He's coming back, and we're gonna testify that He is the one. He's the Christ. He is the Savior. He is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. He's going to do that at His second coming. So we proclaim, not just the first coming of Christ, we proclaim the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is critical and essential that we be believing this with our whole heart and we be declaring it openly. I love this quote also from Alexander McLaren, another saint from another era who is in paradise. But Alexander McLaren said, the primitive church, the church of Paul, the church of John, they thought more about the second coming of Jesus Christ than about death or about heaven The early Christians were not looking for a cleft in the ground called a grave, but for a cleavage in the sky called glory. Oh, and we have more preaching like that come back into our churches. I love it. That's what we're looking for, the cleft in the sky, glory. These three points that we have, Jesus Christ has come into the world, not a mythical figure, not an invention of the apostles, but someone they ate and drank with, someone that they saw buried, someone that they touched and ate with after his resurrection, the one that they saw ascend back to the throne of the father, he has testified. That's what we are built upon. That's what our faith rests upon. That's what we proclaim is the testimony not of Paul, not of John, but of Jesus concerning who he is and that he is in fact coming. What a way to end the New Testament. What a way to end the study of the ultimate book of the Bible. And so what? What are we going to do with this? What are you going to do with this? You're gonna go on and keep focused on Jesus, knowing him, meditating on him, fellowshipping with him, talking with him. You're gonna know Jesus and you're gonna long for his return and proclaim it. That's what we're all about. Believe his testimony, share it with others, and that is going to grow us in holiness, that is going to prepare us for all the good works that God has for us as we wait for Jesus Christ to return. And we pray like the Apostle John prayed. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. That's your prayer. That's your heart. Because the Holy Spirit that was in John is in you. That's your hope. That's your joy. That's what you long for. Pray it often. Put it at the end of all of your prayers. Come, Lord Jesus. Maranatha.