The title of this message is
taken from verse 10, for the time is at hand. And that means
the time is near, the time of the second coming of Christ.
Time is short. And it's an amazing thing when
we think about this that John wrote this by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit almost 2,000 years ago. And he said the time
is near. But there's a couple things to
keep in mind as you think about that. First of all, look at verse
six. The angel, the messenger of God,
said unto John, these sayings, the words of this book, Revelation,
and we know this also applies to the whole Bible, from Genesis
to Revelation, but he's speaking specifically here of the words
of this book, are faithful and true. This is truth, and the
fact that God is faithful, that he will keep his promise. Jeremiah spoke this, it was written
in the book of Lamentations, and he says in Lamentations chapter
3, I've got this recorded in the lesson, he says, this I recall
to my mind, therefore have I hope. In other words, thinking on this
gives me hope. And remember that hope is not
wishful thinking. It's a certain assurance of expectation
of fulfilled promise based upon a proper ground. He says, it
is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. That's true
of every one of us who are saved by the grace of God. That we're not consumed. He's
talking about Israel there because Israel was going into captivity.
But God wasn't finished with Israel. Judah, actually, the
southern kingdom. Because Messiah had not yet come. But when we consider our salvation,
it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Any of us.
The best, the worst, and everybody in between. And so he goes on
to say, because his compassions fail not. They are new every
morning, and he says, great is thy faithfulness. So the first
thing to consider when you consider, here we are in 2017. And John wrote this almost 2,000
years ago. He says, the time is at hand
and Christ has not yet come. The first thing we need to keep
in mind is God is faithful to his promise. Christ is coming.
You say, well, it's been a long time. Well, it doesn't matter. Christ is coming. And we who
are believers, who've been brought to faith by God, by His power
and His goodness and His grace, we're to live every day in expectation
of that coming, that return. We're to live our lives in expectation
that Christ could come at any time. We don't know the hour
and the day. We were studying that on Wednesday
nights and preaching Christ in the end times. We don't know
the hour of the day, but we know he's coming. God is faithful. These sayings are faithful and
true. And then he says in verse 6, and the Lord God of the holy
prophets sent his angels to show unto his servants the things
which must shortly be done. Now, understand again, John wrote
this almost 2,000 years ago, and he says these things will
shortly be done. Well, there were things that
actually took place in John's time. that reflected the end
times. Look over at 1 John chapter 2.
1 John chapter 2. One of the main signs of the
last days, and remember the last days refers to the days between
Christ's first coming and his second coming. That's that time
period, the last age, the last days, the last times. One of
the main signs of that time, and it gets worse and worse and
worse as we approach the second coming, is the worldwide spread
of false Christianity, false gospels that come in the name
of Christ. Not just false religion, that's
there. There's a lot of false religion. But what marks the
last days is false Christianity. In other words, they come in
the name of Christ, but they deny the truth of Christ. They
deny the gospel. They go after other gospels.
Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 11, talking about those who preach
another Jesus. The word another there is the
Greek word for another of a different kind. There's another Greek word
that says another of the same kind. Same nature, but this is
another Jesus, another gospel by another spirit. And these
other gospels are when men and women interject man's works or
man's will into the salvation of a sinner as to attaining it
or maintaining it. You understand that? You see,
Christ met all the conditions of the salvation of his people.
and secured their eternal salvation and eternal life. But when men
and women interject conditions upon sinners to attain it or
maintain it, that's another gospel. No matter what it is. It could
be baptism. It could be a decision. You've
heard of decisional regeneration. You make the decision and then
God gives you life. That's not what the Bible teaches.
That's another gospel. All right. Look at 1 John 2.18. John writes in 1 John 2.18, little
children, it is the last time. Now this is John's day. As you
have heard that Antichrist shall come. You know this is the only
place in the Bible that the term Antichrist is used. Or John mentions it. And he says,
Antichrist shall come. Even now are there many Antichrists. Even now, he says, there are
many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.
And look what he said, how he describes them. They went out
from us. These were people who claimed
to be Christian, but left the gospel. Now, what do we say about
them? Well, some denominations say,
well, they were saved and now they're lost. What does the Bible
teach? Now there's your key. What does
God say? Well, read on in verse 19. They
went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. You see that? But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. In other words,
they're going out, they're leaving the gospel only exposed them
for what they already were. Lost. False professors. And so understand that now. We
could go to a lot of scripture on that issue, but turn back
to Revelation 22. Well, God is faithful. All right? These things must shortly be
done. Another issue that we need to understand is that God does
not measure time the way we measure it. A thousand years. That seems
like a long time, doesn't it? Not to God. One day. Time seems to fly for us, doesn't
it? Especially as we get older. Time
flies. Tempus fugit. But not with God. Everything's on schedule. Everything's
on time. And 1,000 years is a very short
time to God. And then what is time compared,
what is a day, what is 1,000 years compared to eternity? Nothing. A drop in the bucket. So when
he talks about the time is at hand, shortly must be done, it's
all a matter of perspective. This is God's view of things.
This is God's word here. This is not reasoning, as I say,
from the ground up. This is revelation. Not just
the book of revelation, but this is the revealed word of God.
And so when God reveals this to John through his messenger
here, he's shown it's a very short time. But here's what happens. Now turn to 2 Peter chapter 3. You say, well, why would God
do it that way? You know, when it comes to understanding
truth, and especially understanding the Bible, that's where most
people get in trouble and go wrong when they ask that question. Why would God do it that way?
Well, there are places in the Bible where God explains himself,
but he doesn't have to. God doesn't have to explain anything
to me or you. He's God, he's the creator, he's
the sovereign, we're the creature. So he's not obligated to, but
he does give us some reasons for why he does it. But here's
what we do know. That God's way is the right way
and God's way is the wise way. Always. Whether we see it that
way or not. You see, truth is not determined
by how we see things, but especially in our fallen state. We're all
born dead in trespasses and sins, so we don't see any truth as
far as a right relationship with God and eternal life and salvation
the right way until God intervenes and reveals it to us. You know, I told people before
I heard Brother Mayhem preach the gospel, I was in seminary
and I thought I knew all the answers. I didn't even know the
right questions. How God can be just and justify. That had never entered my mind
till I heard him preach on a just God and a savior. And the Lord
used that to hit me in the head to say, well, I need to know
more about that. But anyway, it says here, he's talking about
here in 2 Peter 3. He says in verse 3, look at verse
3 of 2 Peter 3. He says, knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after
their own lust. Now who's he talking about? He's
talking about unbelievers. Unregenerate. And they're saying,
where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."
Now, you see what they're saying? God hasn't come yet. It's been
over thousands of years and everything's continuing just like it was.
Well, you know that's a lie. Everything's not continuing just
like it was. There was a flood. Remember,
look at verse 5, for this they willingly are ignorant of, that
by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing
out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was
being overflowed with water and perished. So what's Peter doing
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit? He's saying, no, listen, there
was a flood. God destroyed this world with
a flood. That's what we're studying today in the main message. We've been talking about Noah,
Noah and the new creation today. Verse seven, but the heavens
and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in
store, reserved under fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men. This is the forbearance of God.
Why didn't God immediately destroy Adam when he fell? God has a
purpose, verse eight. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. You see
this, what we see as a delay and God and what men, unbelieving
people see as a delay and as God not fulfilling, no, that's
how men count. That's how they make an accounting
of it. But that's not God's business. He said, but God is long suffering
to usward. Who's the usward? Hold your finger
there and turn back to 2 Peter chapter one. Let me show you
who the usward are there. Real quick, if I can get this
open here. Here's the us word, verse one.
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them
that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. That's it. There's the us word.
That's what he's talking about. Believers, the elect of God.
And look back at 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but He is longsuffering
to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance. So when we talk about The time
is at hand. The time is short. We know that
in God's understanding, God's view of things, it's a very short
time. But here's what it is for us. God's saving his elect. He's saving his people. He's
bringing them to repentance through the preaching of the gospel.
Remember Christ said in Matthew 24 how the gospel's got to go
out to all nations, talking about God's elect. God has a people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. What happens
to the unbeliever who reasons like those that we read about
there in 2 Peter 3? Well, it may be part of that
strong delusion, 2 Thessalonians 2, that they believe a lie. That's
why he's gonna come as a thief in the night. Now look back at
Revelation 22. He says in verse seven, behold,
I come quickly. You say, well, it doesn't seem
quickly to me. Well, it doesn't matter how it seems to you. Doesn't
matter how, it's quick in God's sight. And he says, here's the
key now. Now here's where we need to focus,
right here. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. Now, he's referring to
the book of Revelation. But that truth still applies
to the whole word of God, doesn't it? Somebody says, well now,
I can believe what's in Revelation, but I can deny what's in Romans.
Well, you know that's not true. And he's talking about the gospel
message and the fact of Christ's second coming here in Revelation.
And the gospel message, keepeth the sayings, that word keep means
to cherish these sayings. This keeping the sayings of the
prophecy of this book. What has he taught us in the
book of Revelation? He's taught us that Christ has
come and done his great work of salvation, of redemption,
established the only righteousness upon which a sinner can be justified
before God, and that all who stand in him, washed in his blood
and clothed in his righteousness when he comes, and when we stand
before God at judgment, shall be blessed. Blessed is he that
keepeth the same. Now we know that it's all by
the grace of God, because God has shown us ourselves. We're
not going to keep anything except by the power of God. He preserves
us. We persevere because He preserves us. And so look on, verse 8,
he says, and I, John, saw these things and heard them. John was
an eyewitness and an earwitness of these things. You know, that's
important in the scripture. John says, we've seen these things
with our own eyes. People are getting ready to celebrate
the resurrection of Christ. And we celebrate that resurrection
every day, not just on one day. Somebody said, well, it's all
right for the world to celebrate it at least one day. Well, somehow,
The way I feel about it, you know, and I'm not talking about
the kiddie stuff now, the Easter eggs and all that stuff. I'm
not talking about that, all right? Because that's just play stuff,
you know. I look at that like I do Mickey Mouse, you know.
It's just fantasy. It's just fun for the kids. But
what I'm talking about is this. People who choose that one day
to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, and who do not know
the true meaning of that resurrection. Do you know that is an affront
to God? What does the resurrection mean?
What's the truth of the resurrection? It's not just life from the dead.
I mean, my goodness, God created this world out of nothing. He
breathed the breath of life into Adam and Eve. What is the miracle
of the resurrection? I'll tell you what the miracle
of the resurrection is. It's righteousness established for
the people of God. That's what it is. I started
to tell you, Robert, a while ago when I was talking about
what I'm gonna deal with on Wednesday night. Salvation is all about
attaining righteousness. I'm gonna show you that from
the scripture. How do you attain that? By your works, by your
decision, By this, that, or that? No, you attain it in Christ who
did attain it by His works. That's the only way. How do you
know He attained it? He was raised from the dead for
our justification. And that's the whole issue. So
John said, well, I was an eyewitness to these things. I was an ear
witness. Paul said that Christ was seen of all kinds of people
after His resurrection. So being an eyewitness was important. These are not fantasies. These
are not Greek myths. These are realities that happened. Christ was real. You know, they'll
have historical programs over whether or not they're debating
on whether or not Jesus was a real person. Well, John says, I witnessed
all this. Paul said, I saw him as one who
was born out of due time. They walked with him. They talked
with him. And he healed them, he saved his people, all of those
things. So this is rooted in historical
fact. He's no myth, he's no phantom,
he's a real person. He's God in human flesh. That's
who he is. and he did a great work. And
so John says in verse 8, he says, And when I had heard and seen,
I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed
me these things. Verse 9 says, Then saith he,
the angel 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. This is another, there was one
other back in Revelation 19, when John was so overwhelmed
with the revelation that he saw that he fell down and worshiped
the messenger. And the messenger in both accounts
said, don't do that. Don't worship the messenger. Worship God. And to me, that's
just a testimony to our tendency. You know one of the greatest
dangers that believers in the New Testament have to avoid?
is following a man rather than following Christ. I've had people
say, well, I'm going to listen to that preacher, but I'm not
going to listen to both gospel preachers now. So I'll listen
to this one, but I'm not going to listen to that one. That's
wrong. That's wrong. That's why that's
one of those areas where I tell people Christianity is advanced
citizenship. And that's what I'm saying. If
a man preaches the gospel, Then we're to rejoice. We're to listen. And that's the way it is. Remember
how Paul started off 1 Corinthians? He said, I've heard that you
all have some problems. He said, and I don't doubt it,
he said, one follows Paul, one follows Apollos, one follows
Peter, and then there's those super spiritual guys who say,
well, we don't follow any man, we just follow Christ. Now you're
to follow the man as he points you to Christ. And that's what's
happening here. That's why we have to be careful
in those areas. Look at verse 10. He says, And
he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book, for the time is at hand. Don't close this up. Don't keep
it to yourself. It's not secret. The true Christian
church is not a secret society. It's not a cult. You know why
most people will call true churches a cult? First of all, they don't
know what a cult is. What's the first ingredient of
a cult? Well, there has to be a human leader who thinks for
everybody else. Now, I don't want to think for
you. I do not want to think for you. I don't want you to let me think
for you. I want you to think for yourself. And if you're one
of Christ's sheep, he'll bring you into the fold. He'll reveal
the truth to you. You'll be born again by the Spirit.
Another thing is that cult leader cannot be challenged. I don't
mind you challenging me. I say, if you got a reasonable
argument, do it at the right time. I used to have a guy up
13th Street, he'd want to argue at the end of the service when
people were lined up going out the door. That's not a good time
to do that. Give me a phone call or come
by the office, something like that, and then we'll debate,
whatever. So I don't mind being challenged. My goal is, when
I'm challenged, is to go to the word of God and let that be the
answer. and not just give you my opinion
and all that. Also, a cult leader doesn't want
anybody outside the cult talking to the people. I had a fella
come here one time years and years and years ago, and he accused
us of being a cult. And my answer to him is, you
see these people out here? I said, you go and try to talk
any one of them out of believing what we believe. Yeah, so you
don't even need my permission to do that. If you can talk them
out of it, That's the way it is. We're not a secret society. We're here. We tell people what
we believe. God's the one who gives the new
heart. We have one charismatic leader.
His name is Jesus Christ. He's the head of the church.
So John says, don't seal the sayings of this book, show them
to people, preach them, because the time is at hand. We're living
in the last days. Somebody says, well, I just don't
feel right about going into the book of Revelation. No, don't
seal the prophecy of this book. You may not understand every
nuance of symbolism here, but the main message has already
been. Look here, here's the main message. Now, this verse 11,
gives us a very, very profound truth. And here it is, look. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be
filthy still. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. What's that saying? It's saying
this, whatever state you're found in when Christ comes back, whatever
standing you and I have before God when Christ comes back, that's
what it's going to be for eternity. It's too late then. He that is
unjust, what is it to be unjust? It's unjustified. It's unrighteous. That's what just means. You know
the word just, justice, and righteousness is the same Greek word. What's going to be the issue
at judgment? Do I have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice? Acts 1731. God has appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead." You
see, there's that raised from the dead again. There's the issue
of the resurrection. If I don't have Christ, if I'm
not found in Christ, when Christ comes again, that's the way it's
going to be for eternity. There's no change, there's no
second chance. And if I am found in him righteous,
now that filthy has to do, I believe, when unjustified means to be
guilty and condemned. Filthy means to be rejected of
God, not pleasing to God, an abomination to God. That's the
state and standing of an unbeliever in his person and his works.
Righteous means to be in Christ, having his righteousness imputed.
Holy means to be set apart by God. That's what it means. That's the elect of God. And
so he says in verse 12, and behold, I come quickly. My reward is
with me to give every man according as his work shall be. Now you
know what people do with that verse, don't you? See there,
God's gonna judge you by your works. No, he's not. He's gonna
judge your works, but he's not gonna judge you by your works.
And what is the work of an unbeliever? Sin. That little three-letter
word. Iniquity. Depart from me, you
that work iniquity, I never knew you. What are the works of a
believer? Christ. Give an account. What is my account
before God? Righteousness in Christ. Forgiven. Grace. Mercy. Now that's already
been settled over there in the judgment. You remember how he
said the unjust unbelievers are going to be judged out of the
books, plural? That means all their works are
testimonies to their standing before God as being unjust and
filthy. But all believers are gonna be
judged out of what? The book, the Lamb's book of
life, washed in the blood, clothed in His righteousness alone. All
right.