God's Last Invitation, Part 2 B

And so the invitation is come because of the glory of the person who invites you, come because of the exclusivity of heaven, and come because of the truthfulness of Scripture. Come because of the truthfulness of Scripture.

Two months ago, Taliban forces overrunning Kabul, Afghanistan, and crowds rushing to the airport hoping to make it onto a flight in order to escape to safety. It was a final boarding call that no one wanted to miss. Well, there's a final call of a much greater magnitude that you need to be aware of. The question is, are you ready for it? John MacArthur helps you answer that question today as we wrap up a compelling study titled, Final Call, God's Last Invitation.

And now to introduce today's lesson with a bit of review, here's John MacArthur. Well, let's open our Bibles to the final chapter of the Bible, the 22nd chapter of Revelation. Revelation chapter 22, God's Last Invitation. We have been looking at this tremendous closing invitation. And so the invitation is, let the one who is thirsty come and let him take the water of life without cost.

There's no charge. Just come and drink, receive eternal life, receive forgiveness. And you should be compelled to do that because of the person who asked you and because of the exclusivity of heaven.

You will be left out if you are not forgiven, and you will not be forgiven unless you come to Christ who alone grants forgiveness. Thirdly, and this too is a vital incentive, come because of the glory of the person who invites you, come because of the exclusivity of heaven, and come because of the truthfulness of Scripture. Come because of the truthfulness of Scripture. It is so important that the Bible ends with an affirmation of its truthfulness, and that is found in verses 18 and 19. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book. Now these words are to be heeded. This is not the first affirmation of Scripture in this chapter. Go back to verse 6. The angel who's speaking to John says, These words are faithful and true.

And then in verse 10, And he said to me, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. The words are true. They must be proclaimed and they must not be altered.

Don't add to them and don't take away from them. They are true. Proclaim them. Sinners need to respond because of the truthfulness of these words. This is the word of the living, eternal God.

And you better respond. If in endeavoring to avoid the clear revelation of God, you add something, shall be added to you the plagues that are written in it. If endeavoring to avoid what it says, you take away from it, you will have no part in the tree of life. Now all through Revelation, we have faced the doom of those who reject Christ. The world has been destroyed, as we have seen through this panorama of the future. People have been plagued and tortured and starved and shaken and demonized and scared and maimed and killed and damned and consigned to a lake of fire. And all of those pictures, all of those visions, all of those prophecies are true.

That is exactly what will happen. That is exactly what is happening now as people are going to hell without Christ. And then Jesus Himself adds a further statement about the permanence of this truth. Verse 18, and I believe this too should be in red letters. I testify. I don't think that's John. I think that's Jesus speaking.

Why? Because verse 20 says, He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming. Here our Lord Himself offers an extended word of testimony regarding the authority and finality of the prophecy. He had commissioned John to write it, but He was the author of it. I'm telling you, this is true. Don't tamper with it.

Don't add to it and don't take away from it. Now notice what He calls it. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. First of all, obviously, He has the book of Revelation in mind. The book of Revelation is prophecy. It says it there, the words of the book of this prophecy. These words make up a book that is prophetic. This is a prophecy.

He realized there are people who don't even want to admit that. This is a prophecy. It was given through John the apostle who was the prophet. It was a prophecy that came through a prophet, and John was that prophet.

He was that spokesman. Back in chapter 1, verse 3, it says, Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy. And here it is a prophecy in the predictive sense.

This is a prophecy put in a book authored by God through a prophet, not to be tampered with. This is a warning. It's really a way to guard the book.

This is very important. It's not a new way to guard a book. It's an old way. In fact, way back in Deuteronomy in the Pentateuch, the first collection of books that God ever inspired. Listen to what you read in Deuteronomy 4, 2.

In Deuteronomy, remember, was the last book in the Pentateuch, which was the first book, really the first volume given by God through Moses. But listen to what it says in Deuteronomy. You shall not, verse 2, you shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it.

That's the same thing precisely. Don't add to it. Don't take away from it.

Don't touch it. Take what it says exactly as God gave it. In Deuteronomy 12, again comes the warning. Verse 32, Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do.

You shall not add to nor take away from it. You say, Well, why didn't He put it at the end of Romans? Why didn't He put it at the end of Ephesians? Why didn't He put it at the end of the book of Acts? Why didn't He put it at the end of Hebrews? He put it at the end of Revelation because Revelation is at the end of Revelation. It's at the end of the New Testament. It's the end of all scriptural revelation, and so it goes to sweep across all that has been given. And He also put it at the end of Revelation because Revelation, God surely knew, would be the book most assaulted, and that is the case. The warning forbids any alteration of this book and any alteration of anything that God has ever written, which goes for all 66 books. These words of Jesus then head off any attempt to add or subtract from the book's content through some deliberate falsification, some distortion of the teaching in it, and that would go for a purposeful falsification and misinterpretation.

Now remember this. This is the book of Revelation when it was written. Immediately when it was disseminated to the seven churches, it would have been very unpopular, for example, with Jezebel and her followers who were at Thyatira. It would have been very unpopular with the propagators of the false religion of Nicolaitanism. It would have been very, very unpopular with those at Thyatira who had embraced the deep things of Satan. It would have been very unpopular with the Jewish slanderers mentioned in chapter 3, verse 9, and it would have been very unpopular with many others.

And so they would have immediately began to assault it, and they did, and they're still assaulting it. And so is the warning, don't tamper with it. It refers to Revelation.

Now listen to this. But since Revelation, follow my thought, takes the biblical story, takes biblical history, takes redemptive history, follow this, all the way to the very end, doesn't it? This book takes us all the way to the eternal state, all the way to the end, the eternal lake of fire, the eternal new heaven and new earth.

This book takes us all the way to the very end. That's why it's the last book written, written several decades after the earlier New Testament books. It takes the account of God's plan all the way to the end, so there's nothing to be added to it. Then we could also say anything added anywhere in the Scripture to any book in the Scripture would have to be added to Revelation because Revelation is the end. If you wanted to add to Scripture, it would have to be post the book of Revelation, wouldn't it? So anything added anywhere is added to Revelation, which is the end. And there's no need to add anything because the story goes clear into the eternal state.

Nothing more needs to be said. Dr. Thomas says the predictive portions project from John's lifetime all the way into the eternal state. Any type of prophetic utterance would intrude into the domain of this coverage and constitute either an addition or a subtraction from Revelation's content. So the final book of the Bible is also the concluding product of New Testament prophecy. It also marks the close of the New Testament canon since the prophetic gift was the divinely chosen means for communicating the inspired books of the canon."

That really sums it up. No more Revelation. No more gift of prophecy in its revelatory sense. Nothing needs to be said because everything is said clear out to the end. There's nothing more to add, no more Scripture to be given, and now we can take the delivered Scripture and give it to the saints intact.

If anyone, verse 18, adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book. There's nothing more to add. The canon is closed. The gift of prophecy in its revelatory sense has ended. No more prophets to speak. No more apostles to write. No more words from heaven.

No more spiritual visions. And the pledge here, the warning here, is to those who do add to Scripture, whether they are liberals or higher critics or false prophets or frauds or fakes, those who tamper with truth, to falsify it, to mitigate its message, to alter it, are going to feel the vengeance of God. There's nothing that you need to add to this, and to add to it is to incur its judgments. Then verse 19, if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life from the holy city which are written in this book. It's equally dangerous, of course, to diminish Scripture.

There are some people who wouldn't want to add to it. They just want to take away from it. I remember when I was in seminary studying liberal theology, we came across a theologian who had finally concluded there were only 23 verses in the whole Bible that were actually inspired by God. And there was a great effort made to inform all of us as seminary students about German higher criticism which set its goal...set as its goal to demythologize the Bible. Liberalism, old liberalism, new liberalism, neo-orthodoxy, whatever you want to call it, higher criticism, the Graf-Wellhausen, J-E-P-D theory, all of that kind of stuff that you learn about in philosophy and in seminary sets out as its objective to strip from the Scripture everything that offends the sinner. But God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book. Those kind of people won't be in heaven.

Take away is a play on words. You take away from the words of this book and God will take away your part in heaven, the part you might have had if you hadn't tampered with Scripture. Now, you have to understand, a true believer wouldn't tamper with Scripture. You see, anyone who knows God, anyone who knows Christ, anyone who is on the way to heaven is going to treat Scripture with great respect. It's going to say with the psalmist, oh, how I love thy law.

It's going to say it is my delight every day. You see, God's Word is absolute, true, faithful, permanent, and complete, not to be altered, not to be changed, not to be added to, not to be taken away from, and true believers understand that. Now, the fact that this warning is here indicates several things to me. First of all, it indicates that men would be prone to tamper with Scripture and probably prone to tamper with Revelation more than any other, and that has been true. Secondly, it indicates that men would deny its validity because it is so specific prophetically, and that has been true. But it also indicates to me that the Holy Spirit wants to make a final sweeping statement about what you do with Scripture altogether, and the bottom line is God has written it.

Don't erase it, and don't expand it. You see, this concerns me a little bit because maybe I've been guilty of that. Maybe you are saying that, and maybe you have.

Let me help you to sort some things out. First of all, our Lord is not threatening those believers who make an error in judgment. He's not threatening those who make an error in discernment. He's not threatening those who have rendered an inadequate interpretation. What He is doing is threatening unbelievers who engage in deliberate falsification and emasculation and deliberate and deceptive misinterpretation. Those whom Paul calls corrupters of the Scripture, no real believer, no real lover of the Lord of the truth, no one born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, no one washed by the cleansing blood, no one regenerated by the washing word would willfully mutilate the Scripture. He wouldn't willfully poison His own food.

He wouldn't do that. A true believer would say with David, Oh, how I love thy law. A believer may say, I don't understand it all. I am not able to explain it all. I may not interpret it exactly with precision every time. I may not always touch the depths of it.

I may not be able to understand its mysteries, but I love it and I would never tamper with it. That is the sign of a true believer. Jesus even said that. In John chapter 8 and verse 31, Jesus said this, If you abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine. If you abide in My Word, if you rest in My Word, if you hear and obey My Word, that's what He's talking about. Over in John 14, verse 23, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word. And then, at the very least, it's true of a believer that the Word of God is everything to us.

As babes, we desire the milk of the Word that we may grow. No, believers don't adulterate the Word of God. Believers don't tamper with the Word of God. True Christians keep it, honor it, love it. We may wrongly understand some parts of it. Our theology could be off here and there, but this is not a willful assault on the truth. A great commentator of years past named Sice, S-E-I-S-S, wrote what I think is a very helpful paragraph.

Listen to this. With an honest and prayerful heart and with these solemn and awful warnings before my eyes, he writes, I have endeavored to ascertain and indicate what our gracious Lord has been so particular to make known and defend. If I have read anything into this book which has not been put there, or read out of it anything which He has put there, with the profoundest sorrow would I recant and willingly burn up the books. He was a writer. He wrote this commentary. He wrote a commentary on Revelation.

Further, he says this. If I have in anything gone beyond the limits of due subjection to what is written, if feebleness or rashness or overconfidence in my own understanding has distorted anything, I can only deplore the fault and pray God to send a more competent man to unfold to us the truths which here stand written. According to the grace and light given me, I have spoken. If I err, God forgive me. If I am right, God bless my feeble testimony. In either case, God speed His everlasting truth."

End quote. Isn't that a great statement? The Word is true. Revelation in all of Scripture is true.

True Christians believe it and keep it and love it and obey it. The fact that it is true is incentive enough that the sinner better come because what it says is going to happen is in fact going to happen. And you will have no part in the tree of life which is the picture of eternal life.

You will have no entrance into the gates of the eternal city. So the invitation and the incentives, respect for the person who gives you the invitation, the exclusivity of heaven and the truth of the Word of God. And finally, one last point. Sinners should come because of the certainty of Christ's return, the certainty of Christ's return. One final time, verse 20, He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming quickly. Amen, says John.

Come, Lord Jesus. One last reminder, the last words Jesus spoke, these are they. One last reminder, John hears from the Lord Himself, the last words Jesus spoke heard on earth. The next will be the shout when He comes for His church. The last words, Yes, I am coming quickly.

Soon. It's going to happen, folks, exactly the way the book of Revelation describes it. It's certain and John affirms, Amen. That means, so let it be, let it be.

Come, Lord Jesus. What does that mean? It means I'm ready, doesn't it?

I'm ready. Like Paul, it means I love His appearing. I long for His appearing. Peter recognized that there were false prophets who scoffed at the coming of Christ. Their love of sensuality, their greed caused them to mock the return of Jesus Christ.

In 2 Peter chapter 3, these mocking scoffers come and say, Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. Everything's just going along. It'll keep going along.

It's the theory of uniformity. It'll always be the same. It won't. And Peter reminds them, Have you forgotten the flood that destroyed the whole world?

Things aren't going to continue the way they are. Jesus is coming, and when He comes, everything in Revelation will happen. Can you say, Amen, come Lord Jesus? I can.

I trust you can. And then the benediction of the Bible. And wouldn't you know, wouldn't you know that if the Lord was going to pick a last word, it would be grace? The last word is the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

And the last thing the Bible says is that there is available to sinners what? Grace. Grace. After all this, grace.

Is it yours? Are you ready? Let's pray. Father, we rejoice that Jesus is coming and say with John, Even so, come Lord Jesus. I pray for sinners, unrepentant and unredeemed, unforgiven, that they might hear the invitation to come and they might know that it is you, the living Lord of heaven, inviting them. What a magnanimous and amazing thing that you, the eternal Holy One, would invite sinners to come. May they realize the exclusivity of heaven, that it's only for those who have been forgiven and none of the others will ever enter, but will spend eternity in the lake of fire. And may they know full well that the Bible is true, that the word you have written is true, and that you are coming very soon.

We just don't know how soon. May all of us be prepared and watchful for the one who comes like a thief in the night. May we be ready and may we be looking and loving the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.

Amen. And with that, John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, concludes today's lesson from the study titled Final Call. John, as the world stands on the precipice overlooking 2022, the fact is, most of humanity is on more of a cliff than they could ever imagine. And that question you asked at the end today, are you ready?

There is no more important question to ask ourselves. No, I was saying to somebody the other day, somebody was asking me about the death rate with COVID, and I said, well, you know what the death rate is? One per person.

That's right. That is the death rate. It's appointed at a man who wants to die, and after this, the judgment.

People are so concerned with making sure they do everything to enhance the life they live here, preoccupied with physical things, with health, with exercise, with relationships, whatever. And they're coming to a cliff, and after that death that is inevitable for every person, there is the reality of eternity. That's why Paul said bodily exercise profits little, but proclaiming the gospel has eternal consequences. So it's very, very important that people think beyond time. James said life is a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away. James also said you can't say, well, tomorrow we'll do this, and then we'll do that. You have to say if God wills, there will be a tomorrow. So it's time for Christians to proclaim judgment, the inevitability of judgment, and to declare the gospel in the light of that judgment.

So we've been trying to help you to do that by equipping you in our current study called Final Call. The subtitle has been God's Last Invitation to a Doomed World. Everyone assumes they have lots of time, and they can live their life any way they want, but truth is the clock is ticking.

They have no idea when they're going to take their last breath, either from death or the Lord's return. And the question, are you ready, is the very urgent question. So we have a booklet that we'll send you free of charge, just for the asking.

It's titled Examine Yourself. If you hear the question, are you ready, and you say, I'm not sure, this little booklet called Examine Yourself will be the very, very most important thing that you can read, and Phil will provide the details in just a moment. And if you are ready for Christ's return, you are also ready to use each moment in 2022 for His glory. And as the Lord allows, we'll be here every day of the new year, unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, helping you to know the Bible better, and thus to know the Lord better, strengthening your convictions about the truth, equipping you for greater service to the church and the family, and greater impact to the unsaved world. So stick with us, and again, request your free booklet, Examine Yourself, do it today. And friend, you don't have to struggle to know if you're a Christian. You can know whether your salvation is the real thing, and this booklet can be a big help in that.

It shows you what Christ Himself taught are the marks of saving faith, and it will help you have confidence that your salvation is genuine, or it will show you that you need to repent and follow Him on His terms. To get a free copy of John's booklet titled, Examine Yourself, contact us today. Our staff is currently enjoying the holidays with their families, but you can send your request by email to letters at gty.org. Once more, that's letters at gty.org. Or you can request your free copy of John's booklet, Examine Yourself, at our website, gty.org. That's our website one more time, gty.org.

And friend, the Examine Yourself booklet is just one of many resources that we make available free of charge. At our website, there are thousands of tools to help you better grasp God's Word. We also send out free books and CDs each month by mail, and we're currently translating John's sermons into multiple languages so that even more people around the world can benefit. All of that God-honoring ministry is made possible by listeners like you. If you'd like to help us continue to reach people with biblical truth that changes lives, consider expressing your year-end support at gty.org. That's gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for tuning in today and join us tomorrow when John shows you the characteristics of true repentance with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace To You.