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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at Calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

We have an interesting subject to talk about tonight. And because we’re finishing up the book of Revelation tonight. And I want you to note that if it had not been for the book of Revelation, if there had been no book of Revelation, we would have a lot of streams in the desert that never formed into a river. All the Old Testament prophets, it would have just ended suddenly and left everything hanging. And that would have been a shame. You see, if it hadn’t been for the book of Revelation, see, we would not have understood the church age right here because chapter two and chapter three talks about the church age.

We would not have understood about the tribulation period and where it belonged because it’s not clearly marked. We just know that there’s supposed to be one somewhere, somehow, but all those things that happen. And it brings all the things together. that’s what the book of Revelation does. We would not have had a clear understanding about the thousand year reign upon the year. All this from here, all the way through is because of the one book, the book of Revelation.

So God says this is an important book and blessed are they that read this book and understand this book because they get to understand things that you would have never known no other way. So the book of Revelation is truly a jewel. It is an awesome book. It’s the combination of all these things all put together and it gives us a grand finale. So the scripture we look at tonight is just that. We used to put on programs in our Christian school out in Colorado and we would have individual little plays and so forth to come together And then we would have the grand finale, the grand finale, where everything comes together, and then we would have all the kids come up on the stage and the teenagers and the little kids on all the adults and everybody would sing and boy was hit something.

And then we’d have a thousand people that would be watching and understanding and enjoying all of this and it was their kids. And because we had so many kids and people, We had to do it two nights in a row, and so like A to L was there the first night, and then those after that would be there the next night. And we would have the grand finale. Well, it’s almost like this is the grand finale of the culmination of all these wonderful things.

So take your Bible and look there in the book of Revelation and chapter 22, chapter 22. It almost seems like the great white-thrown judgment has just taken place, and you would think that this is the grand finale. Well I don’t believe that all the lost people ought to be part of the grand finale. You know like yay, they’re not going to be whipping and yailing. They’re going to be wailing, but they’re going to be casting to the lake of fire.

And then the Holy City, New Jerusalem, comes down from God out of heaven. And when all of this takes place, you wonder, now, is this the grand finale? Watch it, all of this take place. And is the angel’s going to be there and all the saints? And it’s just going to be one big, happy family. We’re all in the same family. It was surprising the other day I was talking to this guy. And I said, did you know that you’re my brother?

It looked at me kind of funny. I said, you’re my brother. He said, oh, I get it because we’re in God’s family. I said, you got it because we’re all in God’s family because when you trust Christ to save you, you become God’s child. And we are going to heaven because of what Christ has done on the cross for us. Now, there’s quite a few things that I want you to see here in the book of Revelation. Well, look in verse seven, verse seven of chapter 22.

Chapters 22 and verse seven. You’ll see the word behold. I come. quickly. I believe this is talking about because you know that he didn’t really come quick as far as what we’re concerned because it’s been 2,000 years and he hasn’t got here yet. But I believe that I will come on time. He will come right on schedule. The Bible says when he came the first time he came in the fullness of time. He was born of a woman but he was in the fullness of time right on schedule.

The Bible also makes the statement that the time is at hand. And you’ll see that phrase mentioned a few times throughout the Scriptures here. And especially look down in verse 10. See that in verse 10? And he says unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. There is the time for everything with the Lord. And this is sometimes hard for you and I to the grass because we think God’s late for a lot of stuff.

God is never late. God is always on time. As it says, call upon him and so forth, because he will give you help in the nick of time, right at the right time. And we said, Lord, I needed your help two days ago. Lord said, I’m never late. I’m right on schedule. But here he talks about, behold, I come quickly. And then you’ll notice he mentions it again in verse 12 where says, Behold, I come quickly. Now these two statements is talking at the end of the book, but it’s not as though it’s something that we need to read after the holy city comes down and now we read these verses.

He’s told us all these things that’s coming upon the earth. Now he’s writing to the people, John was, to the people in the church age. So that’s why he says to the people in the church. So those in the church, see there in verse 16, I Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. So this book of revelation is for us here, it’s for the tribulation saints here, and then the book will also be for the people during the kingdom.

This book is an awesome book that covers so many thousands of years. There’s 2,000 right there and there’s seven years and there’s a thousand years. So the Bible is complete for that which God has intended. Now when we studied the Davidical Kingdom upon the earth when David himself will actually be here, this is like a continuation of the book of Matthew. See when Christ came the first time, this is how they thought he would come on a white horse in power to rule and reign, take care of the Roman Empire and set up his kingdom.

So all of this right here, they were expecting him to do that back here. But when he came the first time, he didn’t come like a lion. He came as a, what? A lamb. So he came as a lamb and he was crucified. So this was all moved out here, but all of this could be shoved up against here. And this is where it should have been, but no, they did not believe on the Lord. So the Bible says, behold, I come quickly and the message is to the church, to the tribulation saints and to the millennial saints.

So if we go back to here, he’s already told us all that’s going to take place in these 22 chapters and then he’s addressing that the church. Now what he says is in view of everything he saw he said not because you know all of this. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you the point of of the grand finale. What is it supposed to do? What should it mean to you? What should it mean to me? And so he gives us several things here that are final.

Things that will never be changed. And if you’ll notice it says twice. Behold, I come quickly. Then you look in verse 20, it says, he which testify of these things said, surely I come quickly. And then in verse 21, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all amen. But the last part of verse 20 says, even so come, Lord Jesus. So the book of Revelation is about the second coming of Christ to the earth. So as we live our life back to the earth.

we live our life back here, we should be saying, come Lord Jesus. We want the Lord to come. Now, there’s something else that I want you to see. In between all of these words and verses, you’ll notice that right in the middle of it in verse 17, it says, and the spirit and the bride say come. Now many times we’ll take these verses here, especially verses 17, and apply them to the lost man as we plead with the lost man to come to Christ.

And there’s nothing wrong in that. I’ve used it many times, but I believe it’s a secondary application, at least the first part of the verse. I believe it’s the Lord is coming quickly. The Lord is coming quickly. The Lord is coming soon. And so the Spirit and the bride say, come Lord Jesus. So it’s like we’re saying that Lord come and get us out of here because we know what is going to happen. We’re looking for the coming of the Lord.

And then he makes a statement here and let him that hear it say come and then look in verse three. I mean that’s part of the verse. Let him that is a thirst come. Now that is an invitation to those that are lost to come to Christ. So there’s two things I want you to look at. One, come Lord Jesus. We want Him to come back for His saints. Here He will come with His saints to the earth. But while we’re here, we should be saying to the lost men to come to Christ.

To trust Jesus Christ as Savior. If anybody is thirsty, let him come and drink. And everyone that hearmonton say come. Every person who trusts Christ’s Savior should be inviting somebody else to come to the Savior. But I believe there’s two of these things mentioned here. So it’s referring to it twice before verse 17, twice after verse 17. And in those it’s a reference to the Lord coming back again. So the revelation of Christ is in this whole book. Christ is revealed and that we’re supposed to have on, I believe our hearts, Lord come.

I was looking for the Lord to come back today. Now He still may come tonight, but if you don’t come back tonight guess what I’m going to be doing tomorrow. I’m going to be looking for Him tomorrow. And if you don’t come tomorrow, guess what I’m going to be doing the next day. I’m looking for them to come the next day. Because I know that one of these days I’m not going to be surprised. I am looking for the Lord to come.

Now because I’m looking for the Lord to come, I’m also realizing that my purpose here in life is to get others to come. So the Lord and the others, and you want them to meet. You see, winning souls to Christ, winning people to Christ, is introducing a lost man to the Lord. That’s all we’re doing. Let me introduce to you the greatest person that I know. Jesus Christ is the Lord. And when you explain the good news to them, you’re introducing them to somebody.

Now he knows them, but they don’t know him. And so this is what we’re doing. in these verses I want you to take your Bible and look very quickly all the way over to the book of Isaiah 55 Isaiah and 55 Isaiah 55 and you’ll see there a very interesting verse because even in the Old Testament God tells us something that we see mentioned all the way over there in the New Testament see in verse says, Ho, everyone that thirsteth.

See, the invitation has always been into Word of God. And even when Jesus was here, He says, on that great day of the feast, Jesus stood in Christ. And if any man thirstled in coming to me and drinking as the scripture hath set out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Ho, everyone that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come Come in by and eat. Yay, come by wind and milk without money and without price.

In other words, it won’t cost you anything. I’ve got something that’ll satisfy you. This is way back here in the Old Testament. He says, wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfy it not? In other words, there’s something that satisfies a man more than anything else in the world. You remember whenever Christ went to see the woman at the well, his disciples had gone into the city to get him a big Mac or something.

And when they came back, They said have you had anything to eat? He says I have meat to eat that you know not of In other words, there’s something that satisfies me more than my necessary food The hunger that you have for the Lord the thirst that you have for the Lord ought to be greater than the hunger and the thirst that you have for food and you know how we are about food We hate to miss a meal but God has told us in his word come to the waters.

Look what he says in Revelation in chapter 22. Chapter 22 and look in the last part of this verse 17. He said let him that is a thirst come and whosoever on open invitation to anybody will let him take the water of life freely freely. No cost no charge. See this is what we’re supposed to be doing. This is to us back here. The whole book of Revelation has been given to us and now he tells us what we’re supposed to be doing with this knowledge.

See some people love knowledge and it puffs up and people like to brag about how much they know about the Bible or how many times they’ve been through the Bible. Well if you have never, well, let the Bible control your life then you really don’t know the Bible. You don’t know the book until the book controls your life. And that’s a different story altogether. Now, another thing I want you to look at there, look there in verse 9, then said, He unto me, see thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book, worship God.

Now in this book, now I know that we look at the book of Revelation as a separate book. And whether not the book of Revelation was the book in chapter 5 that nobody could answer. Nobody had the right to open it or to explain it. I don’t know if it is or not, but it seems like it’s the last book and nobody could give us this book and it’s the grand finale. In other words, all this year has gone on for all thousands of years and now we have the book that explains, it’s the last chapter in the book, that explains everything that man needs to know about what’s going to take place.

And you know that if you were here Sunday morning and I was talking a little bit about some of the things that are happening in the world today, to those who know the Lord, you don’t have to be worried about anything that’s going on in this world because we already knew this was going to happen. I have been preaching this stuff for 30-something years. And we knew somewhere along the line something has to happen with all these Arab nations to bring them together so that they will unite together.

Something’s going to unite these Arab nations together. You watch and see. They’re losing all their individual leaders. It seemed like they’re ripe for a leader. And I have a few ideas, but I’m not going to teach all that down. But I do get interested. I can’t hardly wait until the next day to see what’s going to happen next. It is so exciting. It really is. And here’s little old Israel over there and the midst of all of this. And I know what’s going to happen with Israel.

And yet it’s going to be the greatest nation in all the world someday. But we know how it’s going to end. But between now and then, things are going to get very dark, very bleak. But there’s going to be this seemingly peaceful transition right here. And we talked about the anti-Christ Sunday morning. So I don’t want to get into that again tonight. But now, when he talks about the book, this is the book that he says, do not seal this book.

Now the book of Daniel that was written back before the Lord, then that book he says, seal up the book until the time of the end. says don’t seal this book because the time is at hand. The book of Revelation is the book that unlocks the book of Daniel so that that’s why most Bible teachers when they teach the book of Revelation always teach the book of Daniel along with it. So that’s why I’m always going back to the book of Daniel because they both go together.

Now look what he says in verse 10, and he says unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand. Now what did he say about this book? What did he say about the book of Revelation? If you look there in chapter 1, look in verse 3. Chapter 1 and verse 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is the day of the day.

at hand. In other words, because you know what’s going to happen in the future, not just that you know that the Lord is going to come back, not just that you know that there’s going to be a seven year tribulation period. All the Lord’s coming to the earth and we’re going to rule on the earth. It’s because of what you’re going to get when you get to heaven. You see, the Christian is going to be judged at the judgments of the Christ.

This is going to be rewards that last for eternity. You and I are going to be here during the Davidic Millennial Kingdom and how we rule and reign with Christ for this thousand years depends on what we do for the Lord now. So this knowledge and this knowledge and this knowledge is supposed to affect our lives. It’s why we do what we do. It motivates us. A lot of Christians today are sound asleep. They’re doing nothing playing games. They’re not really serious about this stuff and I I get challenged and motivated just by thinking about it.

And then I get to teach it. Oh, I love it. But it says this book in verse one of chapter one of Revelation is the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ. So this is a revelation, a revealing of the coming of Christ. And he gets to something here that’s grand finale. You see, once it gets to the place place where we have cleared the great white throne judgment and it’s all over. It’s all over. Remember, he says, it is appointed unto every man who wants to die and after this the judgment.

Now, some people believe that you’re going to get a second chance. No, later on you’ll get another chance. Well the Bible doesn’t say you’ll get another chance. It says after this, the judgment. But what does the word of God say here? Look what he says. Verse 11 he says, he that is unjust. Let him be unjust. Still, I believe this is talking about if you die as a lost man, you will be lost forever. If you die unjust, you were not justified.

Never trust the Christ of Savior. All the opportunities are gone. There are no more opportunities. However the tree falls, there shall it lie. only two kinds of people in the world, believers and unbelievers, the saints, the aunts, those that are going to heaven and those that are going to hell. And what determines is whether or not did you or did you not trust Christ as Savior, but at the time of death there are no more choices, there are no more chances.

It is all over with. And this is the ending of the grand finality and it just cast all those people who stood at the great hwathram they were cast where into the lake of fire that’s the final jahina and they will be there for all eternity and once they’re dead and separated from God in this literal fire burning place God says there is no second chance it is final it’s over as far as all opportunities are gone that’s That’s why we’re supposed to invite people to come while they are alive to reach people why we can.

See, if it wasn’t true and I didn’t really believe that, why would we change anybody? Just wait and let them have another chance later. That’d make more sense to me if they can have another chance here. Didn’t let them have that second chance there. Why should we sacrifice and pay and give and go and do all of that? Just because it ain’t real. It’s not final. unless we believe that death is final. It’s final as far as all the choices, all the opportunities that a man can have.

But look also for the believer. It says they’re in the same verse, middle part of verse 11, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. Now, if we say that the unjust means that they die they die and then that’s all there is. Then the same principle would be holding true to the believer. So that means once you have been saved and you’re justified, well then if this guy doesn’t exist anymore, then neither does this guy. But it’s showing you that the lost man still exists and the saved man still exist.

And if you’re saved when you die, you’re saved forever. And if you’re lost when you die, you’re lost forever. That’s why Christ says, if you do not believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins. It means that you were born in sin, you have lived in sin, and you died in sin. Remember there were three that died on the cross. One died two sin, one died in sin, one died four sin. And the thief that rejected the Lord died in his sins.

I mean, he did not trust Christ as Savior. Christ died for my sins. So I don’t die in my sin. Christ died for my sins. So there’s these things to keep in mind. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. You are separated, you belong to the Lord. It will be that way for all eternity. It’ll never be changed. It is final. This is the final combination of everything that this whole book teaches. book teaches and it’s in the proper place.

This is where it should be, where it should belong. But now notice, if a man has trusted Christ as Savior and whenever you die, all opportunities are lost and no man knows when he’s going to die, doesn’t it make sense for the lost man to trust the Lord while he can? That makes sense because that’s what the book teaches. Now is the accepted time. The whole now is the day of salvation. You will not find anywhere in the Bible where God says, wait, you’ll get a second chance later.

Find the verse. There is no verse. There’s no even principles that are even hit toward anything like that. But we’re told in His word, He that believeth on Him hath everlasting life. He that believeth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abides upon Him. this is final. Now in verse 12 where he says, and behold I come quickly and get this my reward is with me. Now who gets the rewards? Rewards are something that God going to give to his saints here and he’s coming back again and he’s going to give them reward because rewards are going to be used here in the Davidic Kingdom and maybe after this there might be another time he gives them.

I don’t know how many times. I don’t care when he gives them. I don’t care how he gives them. I don’t care who he gives them. It’s just that whatever the rewards really are, and I preach a lot of sermons on the five crowns and so on. And whether or not we’re going to have stars in our crown, but who would want a starless crown? I don’t understand all of it and how it all going to work, but whatever it is, we’re going to wish we had done more.

But our only opportunity to do what God wants us to do is before we die. Because all the rewards are given to a man after he leaves this life. It’s only because of what we do in this life because death ends all opportunities. There are no more choices, no more chances. Now we’ll serve the Lord for all eternity, but it doesn’t say that we get rewarded for any of those. We get reward for what we do in this little obitit time that we have to live on planet Earth.

That’s why your faithfulness to the Lord right now is so important. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 336. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, Calvary of Tampa dot o-r-g. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen, the trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.