The Last Testimony, No. 1

RV253-01

The Last Testimony, Revelation 22:18-21, the end of the book. The Lord Jesus Christ closes His Book of the Revelation by reminding all who read it that it is the work of the unique God-man.

The Hypostatic Union of Christ

So, we have read in Revelation 22:16, "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches." The Lord provided this information for us, and He is uniquely qualified to do that. He bases that upon His claim that He is the root or the source of King David, that is via creation, thus indicating the deity of Christ. He also claims to be the offspring of King David via the virgin birth, thus indicating His humanity. This is the doctrine, you know what the name is, what the theologians call this, this is the doctrine of the hypostatic union. Say that over in your mind. It's a good word to remember, the hypostatic union? That's a doctrine that says, "There are two totally independent natures in the person of Jesus Christ. There is undiminished deity and perfect humanity. The two never mix, the two never coalesce. They operate side by side. The humanity cannot do anything which the deity would not do, thus protecting us to have a perfect Savior and a perfect person to undo the damage that Adam did to us.

Now it is this person, two natures in one person, the hypostatic union. The word hypostatic means to come over, to cover. And the deity of Jesus Christ came over to cover humanity and thus produce this unique person. Such a unique author of the Godhead must not be ignored. Therefore, the Book of the Revelation is very important and the whole epilog here is centering on this one idea: take this book seriously, do not ignore it, do not fail to teach it, do not fail to learn it, do not fail to remember it. He keeps pounding away at that thesis right down to the end.

Christ the Herald

Jesus also calls Himself, here at the end, the bright morning Star. He compares Himself to the planet Venus, which shines brightly just before the dawn, heralding the arrival of a new day. Christ is the morning star of God who will herald the day of Christ, that is the Rapture of the Church and the Judgment Seat of Christ. Jesus is also the morning star of God heralding the dawn of the Millennial Kingdom following the dark night of the Tribulation. The millennial golden age of mankind will end in the day of God, which is the technical term for eternity.

Christ's Invitation

The closing invitation here is to accept eternal life from God the Father, in view of what Revelation reveals is ahead for the world. And the emphasis at the end is on "Get saved!" This is coming. And if the Rapture takes place and the Christians are removed, all the right wingers are taken out, all those irritating fundamentalists are gone. Only the unbeliever will be left and hell on earth is going to break loose. You don't want to do that. You don't want to be in that. Turn to Christ now. Get saved; protect yourself. So, this closing invitation is to accept eternal life from God the Father in view of what is coming. God the Holy Spirit and the Church, the bride of Christ, we're told, command unbelievers to come to the water of life for salvation. You notice we said command. The Greek language doesn't just say come as an invitation whether you want it or not. It says, "Come" as a command. Those who resist this command of God, yes, this is a command of God, God is commanding us to be saved, and to resist it is to bear the consequences.

The Holy Spirit and the Church, the bride, say "Come." The Holy Spirit and the Church Age believer work together as a team. The Christian presents the gospel message for salvation and the Holy Spirit brings conviction leading to faith in Christ. It is very difficult to find people who can present the gospel. There's all kinds of things that are used by Satan with sincere people to confuse the gospel, not the least of which is to avoid the word believe. Some famous evangelists of our day have spoken contemptuously of what they call "believism." There's no other way to get to Heaven except up here with your head. It is listening to the gospel of Christ has died for your sins. He rose again and thus the death penalty has been removed and up in your brain there clicks the hand of God the Holy Spirit and you say 'That's true! Believe it!' When you believe it with your brain, because you can't believe with your will or your emotion, that's the only part of your soul you can believe with, then you're saved. The only way you can be saved is to believe. If somebody says, 'Please come down this aisle. I want you to be saved.' Immediately, they have stepped out of the will of God by saying this. Unless you're in a big evangelistic campaign maybe that are run sometimes in great stadiums, that might be a different situation. But ordinarily, asking people to make public moves to be saved is to be out of the will of God because you're interjecting a human work.

When I was about 12 years old, I was a Boy Scout. They took us up to a place called Pentwater, Michigan, a city up in Michigan for a campout. While we were there, there was an evangelistic campaign going out, a revival meeting. And they thought it would be good to take all the boys to this meeting. There was this jumping evangelistic meeting going on. I didn't pay any attention. I was sitting there with my little friend next to me and we were amusing each other and we were carrying on. Then they came to the end and they said, anybody who wishes to be saved, please come down this aisle now. People started getting up and coming down. My friend said, you want to go down? I said, you want to go down? Yeah, OK! So we hooked it up down the aisle. We thought they were giving something away down at the end there. Well, we went back to our camp that night and got back to church. And next Sunday the pastor stands up and says, "And during the revival meeting, two of our boys were saved." Bingo, I knew who one of them was. That's the first I realized what had happened.

But it didn't happen there. But I did what they wanted me to do. I thought it was very exciting to do that. It's very hard not to use these cutesie pop Christianity phrases, inviting Jesus into your life and all those other things. But the Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved," plain words, pure and simple. So, the Christian has to be accurate on the gospel. It has to be the gospel of free grace.

Don't ever tell anybody to make Christ Lord and Savior in your life. What a terrible thing to say. You can't be more unscriptural. At least if you're going to say that, get it in the right order. Tell them, savior and Lord, first, He's got to be your Savior before He can be your Lord. And the only way he becomes your Lord is by 1 John 1:9.

You don't psych yourself into it. You don't feel good. You don't do something good. Keep in temporal fellowship; then He's your Lord. Then He's running things. Then He's guiding you through the Spirit of God. When you're out of that inner circle of temporal fellowship, you're out of it, He is not your Lord. You're on your own. Your Sin Nature has become your Lord. That is very confusing to an unbeliever. Put yourself back there to the total darkness and ignorance of somebody that's just coming to salvation. They don't know anything. And you play their emotions and you'll get them to do things.

And years later, somebody, by the grace of God, realizes that they did something, but they were never saved. Then they realized Christ did something and now they can be saved because they're now depending upon what He did and not what they did.

It is best to give the invitation to be saved when you are dealing with unbelievers and let them make that decision quietly in their hearts. They don't have to stand up in the service. They don't have to raise their hands. They don't have to give any public move. Because the Old Sin Nature of man always attaches that with part of being saved.

It looks good for the preachers because the preachers gather together on Monday, you know. They get together in their little associations and they want to know their statistics: how many did this and how many do that, how many raised their hands to love their mother better, whatever it is to get some public moves. It's all nonsense. It's all degrading to Christ.

The Gospel - Plain and Simple

So, here you have at the very end of the Revelation, God inviting people to be saved because of what's coming. And who are the agents for that? The Christian who tells the gospel and the Holy Spirit who takes that information and brings conviction. This is why once you've told the gospel, you've got to stand back and keep your cotton picking hands off the situation. Once you have told the gospel, you don't interject some public move, some walking down the aisle or raising your hands, some other issue with the gospel. You say now right there where you're sitting, tell God you realize you're a sinner. You've changed your mind about Him, and you accept Christ as your Savior. Believe Him. He's not lying. Believe the message of God. If you don't believe it, 1 John says, 'you call God a liar' and you don't want to do that! Because He's not!

So Christians, start passing out those evangelism brochures. I've asked the office to get us a whole stack back there at the counter. Every time you go to that grocery store and you check out that Minyard's, Carnival, and Sack & Save, you get that cash register receipt for the Academy's new video projector and you hand them an evangelism brochure. You say, I know the guy who wrote this. He is a magnificent person. You will find this very interesting. Read it. Just why not? Every time the plumber comes to fix the little delicate things in your house that need fixing, after he's through and you're signing the bill, say, 'Here's something I found very interesting. Maybe you'd like to read it.'

What an easy way to witness. I guarantee you that when they open that little booklet and read, they're going to have the authority: the reason why what you're saying is true, because it's based upon a book whose truthfulness is confirmed by its prophetic accuracy. And you will have a presentation of the gospel that when that person is through, they will know exactly what to do if they want to go to Heaven. Grab them by the fistfuls. That's what they're for. Let's start using them in. Then the Holy Spirit will come in, He'll take over. When that person has read that, the gospel will have been presented and there's another star in your crown in Heaven.

This is also an invitation to those who hear the message of Revelation who are positive to it. They are commanded to invite the lost to the water of life. Those who believe this book invite people to be saved.

Free Grace Salvation

Then it says, "For anybody who doesn't have a thirst for eternal life, you come at least to the sense that God has told you there's a vacuum in your soul and you're in trouble with Him. You've got a sense of moral guilt; He says, "Come to the water of life and I'll take that sense of guilt away from you and I'll give you peace. And so the one who longs for peace with God is commanded to take the water of life and to take it at no charge. This whole verse is a picture you see, of free grace salvation based on faith in Jesus Christ.

God Commands Us to Come!

Please notice in Revelation 22:17, "Let the one who is thirsty come." And here again, "the one who is thirsty." For what? The one who longs to go to Heaven, the one who has a thirst for eternal life. But he must drink the water of life that he's commanded to come. This come as a command. God says, "You are to come to drink this water of life and you drink it via believing the gospel. That's how you drink the water of life.

People try to satisfy their spiritual thirst with human viewpoint religions which bypass the gospel of grace salvation. They drink of religious streams which are polluted by Satan, and so they find no satisfaction and no peace. Their thirst for eternal life is not quenched.

[continuing in Revelation 22:17] "Let the one who wishes," indicates a positive volition to the gospel invitation. There's a longing in the soul for God, but they don't know how to come to Him. There's a conviction of sin which desperately seeks relief of divine forgiveness. The one who comes, "let him take." The word take here means to help yourself. And, it also is a command in the Greek. This is a command to take. You see, God is not fooling around with it. He's not saying, 'well, listen, if you'd like, come on in.' You better come in! It is a divine command. When you speak to people, you don't present the gospel as one way to Heaven; it's the only way. There's no other way. All the other religions of the world are man's ways. Only Christ is the way. Jesus says "no man cometh unto the Father but by me." That is the truth.

If you wish to come, then you must take. The command to receive the provision of salvation that God has provided in John 4:13-14 has indicated no other way. John 4:13-14, "Jesus answered and said to her, [the woman at the well,] 'Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; [the water out of the well.] but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.'" It's not only that you may drink of the water of life and thus be refreshed and have your thirst for God quenched, but you yourself will become a fountain head of that water of life. You see, as long as you're handing out the gospel, you yourself will become a fountain head of the water of life. The imminent return of Christ to fulfill what is recorded in Revelation creates an urgency in the invitation to take of the water of life.

Without Cost!

So, those who wish are commanded to take of the water of life. And they're to take this, and here's the word "without charge." d o r d a n, dordan, "without any reason at all." Jesus on one occasion said "they hated me without a cause." He said there was no reason in the world for anybody to hate me. Yet they hated me without any reason. The same concept is "without any charge." Just come, take of the water of life, you don't have to pay for it. Those are free grace salvation words: take of the water of life without cost. This comes from the Greek word that means a gift and thus the idea is freely. Unbelievers are invited to take the water of life without any payment or any hesitancy. Free access to the river of the water of life in the New Jerusalem is based on possessing free grace salvation.

You cannot pay God for salvation with human works of merit, and that still be a gift. Then you cannot be saved. Any attempt to pay God means you cannot be saved. That is so important, I keep drumming away at that. I don't ever want you to forget that the world is full of religious groups who think they're going to Heaven. But they fouled up the water of life with their human viewpoint techniques and additions and works. Those people are sincere as you are, but they're not going to Heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9, you put it together, these two verses: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [the word that refers to salvation that comes from that free grace and that] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; [If it's a gift, there's no charge,] not as a result of works, that no one should boast."

Move over to Titus 3:5-7, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds, which we have done in righteousness, [human good,] but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." And remember, in the Bible, the word hope does not mean something that's uncertain. In the Bible, the word hope means a certainty. Yes, you're looking forward to it, but it's a sure thing. It's not like buying a lottery ticket and you hope you win, but you're probably not going to. This is hope that it's going to take place. So, here God Himself, does the whole thing.

Move on back to Romans 3:23-24, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," How did all sin? Because you're born in Adam. So the minute you're born, until you come to an age of accountability you're covered, but after that, you've already sinned. Even when you haven't sinned yourself personally, you've already sinned in Adam.

[back to Romans 3:23] "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified." Remember what the technical meaning of justified is. You possess God's absolute righteousness. Get the meaning of these words. Justified is to be absolutely righteous in God's sight. It means you're as good as Christ is when God the Father looks at you.

"Being justified as a gift by His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus," It is Jesus who has redeemed us out of the slave market of sin, He has paid the price. Let's go to Romans 4:2-8, "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.' Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: 'BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.'"

Now, it is a marvelous thing to know that your sins are forgiven, but that won't take you to Heaven. That's the negative side. You must also have the positive side, that, to you has been imputed the absolute righteousness of Christ.

You have to have the moral guilt removed, but you must also have the absolute righteousness of Christ. That's why in Romans 4:5 He justifies the ungodly and to them He reckons them absolute righteousness of God.

Now, all of that being true about what God is doing and how the whole system works, here's the kicker. Romans 11:6, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace." You cannot say 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and walk this aisle.' Bingo, you're out! You cannot say 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ if you hit that offering box.' Bingo, you're out! You cannot say 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and live a good life, a sinless life.' You're out! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and do anything, and you're out! God said I'll give it to you as a grace, but if you won't let me do that, I can't give it to you. There's no other way I can save you except give it as a gift. Otherwise, grace, if you pay something for it in any way whatsoever, is no longer grace. How was Abraham saved? Abraham was saved, the Scriptures say, before he did the religious act of circumcision. Today, that's equated in many religions, in many Christian groups as infant baptism. But Abraham was saved before the religious right of circumcision, which showed that he was not saved by that religious work, but by faith that he had in God's promise to bring a Savior.

Here's the Old Testament summary of this principal, helping yourself to salvation, but having to do it on God's basis. And that is without a charge: no cost, no payment. Isaiah 55:1-3 "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David." That's pretty clear. The Old Testament said, be careful what you do with your abundance. Don't fritter it away. Put it in the Bank of Heaven and you'll enjoy it for all eternity.

The other side is Romans 6:23. The New Testament summary of this principle of Free Grace Salvation. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." So, that's what we are being called to do, to turn to this Free Grace salvation that God is offering to us.

And you as a witness of God, you've got to get it straight that you do not confuse people. You do not send them up the wrong track chasing rabbits, but that you put them face to face with the fact that they're helpless sinners. Their water baptism, their going to the mass, nothing is going to help. Only accepting humbly what Christ has already done. That will help.

The Authority of Scripture

Now in Revelation 22:18, we have warning about tampering with this book. Revelation 22 "I" in the Greek Bible, this again, as we've had several times here in this passage, is written in separately. It's not just part of the verb. That's in order to emphasize that this is an official important declaration of God. I testify. The person is stressing the authority of the one who speaks and he testifies under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to deliver a warning about the Revelation. The one who is speaking here is John. John said 'Now I, the apostle who has received this vision, I'm talking to you and I'm telling you something that you should pay careful attention to.' "Everyone who hears the words of the prophecy." The word "words" refers to the content of the Book of the Revelation. This book is a book of prophecy. It is about future events. God the Holy Spirit reveals this information to certain select human reporters. There is no gift of prophecy in operation today because the Bible is completed. Until the New Testament was completed, it was important to have the gift of prophecy because that's how we got the information to form the books of the Bible. It was a prophetic gift of the Old Testament prophets and of the New Testament prophets that enabled us to have the books of the Old and New Testament written. They were written under the supervision of the Holy Spirit so there was no error interjected and the proper words were used. So this is a book of prophecy. Therefore, it is a book about future events, which John could not possibly know. This has to come as direct revelation from God. But it is indeed a prophetic utterance. He refers specifically to the prophecy of this book, which obviously refers to the Book of the Revelation.

The word book looks like this in the Greek, B i b l i o n Biblion. You see that that's where we get our word for Bible. That's why we call our book of books, the Bible, because it is the Biblion of God. This is the source of the words in Revelation, "this book," referring to this book. But it is representative of all Scripture in authority and truth. You notice the emphasis upon the words. This is why the words are important. You cannot understand what God is saying unless you've got somebody who's teaching you what the words mean and not just from the English Bible, but to confirm that the English translation is giving to you what the Greek and Hebrew actually says. What good is it for you to be going to church Sunday after Sunday to someplace where every service is a repetition of the gospel in some way? Do you need to hear the gospel again? Not if you're a Christian, that doctrine you understand and have committed yourself to. You have the right to know what Paul calls the full council of the Word of God that enables you to rise to Super grace maturity as a believer, to enjoy your full position in Christ. And there are going to be a lot of preachers standing before the Judgment Seat of Christ and some from the biggest churches on this earth that have made the biggest splash, and they're going to find what judgment they are under because they left their people in ignorance and never fed them the words of Scripture, because those are the means by which God communicates.

So, Revelation is written to inform believers of the events which closed the history of time and begin the history of eternity. Revelation is written to warn unbelievers of the Tribulation terror to come and of their eternal doom in the Lake of Fire in order to motivate them to flee to Christ for salvation from those things. That's why we have these repeated commands to come and to take.

The Warning Against Adding to Scripture

"If anyone adds to them." This "if" is third class condition. Do you know what that means? I hope you do. There are four conditions in the Bible. Now unless somebody explain them to you, you'll sit there in ignorance all your life. You can listen to all kinds of high powered preaching where they hit you with a lot of ifs. But they haven't told you something. This "if" is third class. That means maybe you will, maybe you won't. It's just like in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins." What class do you think that would be? Yep. Third class. Maybe you will, maybe you won't. So, here it is. "If anyone adds to them," to the words of the Book of the Revelation, maybe some people will, maybe some won't. It indicates that this will happen. If anyone adds to this book, they are adding their own ideas to the words of Revelation. 'Man placing upon them' is what the word means. It means to place upon what God has said.

"If anyone adds to this book." If at any point in time, somebody tampers with the sacred text of Scripture with additions of his own invention, it changes what the Bible says. The Jehovah's Witnesses, in order to establish the false doctrines they teach in certain areas, have printed their own version of the Bible, which deliberately changes words in order to establish their heresy. This is what we're talking about now. This is done by someone who claims that he has received a new revelation from God and the arrogant addition of the words of man's wisdom to the revealed wisdom of God. Who would do such a thing? Joseph Smith did! Joseph Smith of Mormonism invented the Book of Mormon. It's a fraud. It's had to be corrected over 4,000 times in order to correct errors that have now cropped up as time went by and was shown to be false. God did not write that book. Joseph Smith did. And he was clever enough and he had enough literary capacity to be able to do that.

Mohammad, the fellow that used to be in the camel business, he used to have a lot down the street. The old camels were brought in, he had this used camel lot, and people would come and buy and sell these things. And he began to have these visions, babblings, when he would go into a catatonic fit? His wife said to him, 'gee, that must be the Word of God. You should record those things.' So, he recorded those things that he said while he was having his fits and they became the Koran, the holy book of Islam.

The Roman Catholic Church will show you if you visit the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the pope's own church, up at the front is a great throne, and behind it, a golden circle like the sun, because it is the sun and supposedly represents the Holy Spirit. But it is the sun god. Just like all over, you see these gold balls on top of ornaments on top of the Vatican because they represent the sun. It's the religion of Nimrod, the sun worship of Baal. So, the pope sits behind this round thing that looks like the sun because he is speaking for the sun god and when he says, anything on that throne, that is the word of god. That is new revelation. I think the last time he sat down and he said 'henceforth, all Catholics must believe on penalty of excommunication and the eternal loss of their soul that Mary did not die. The mother of God ascended to Heaven alive.' The pope says it, now it's true. One day you don't have to believe it. The next day you better believe it. This is the arrogant adding of man's wisdom because the pope has no way of knowing that.

Of course, women are in the prominence in spiritual things as demonstrated by the parable of the woman who is mixing the dough. She slips in the leaven, which is a sign of evil in the Bible, into the dough, and it permeates the whole loaf and then the whole thing explodes.

Well, Mary Baker Eddy, her name was really Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy. She kept trying out husbands until she got one that she thought was suitable. But Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, produced the Keys to the Scriptures. When Christian Scientists study the Bible, they go to the Keys. When you go to one of these Christian Science reading rooms, this is what you read, the keys that Mary Baker Eddy had revealed to her by god.

And of course, there's Ellen White, the Seventh Day Adventist. The Bible is important to Seventh Day Adventists, but more important are the prophetic insights of Ellen White because they explained the Bible. And when Seventh Day Adventists want to know what the Word of God says, they go to read their founder, Ellen, and she lets them know.

Now, anyone who adds to the completed Bible, just plain and simple, are false prophets. Don't make any mistake about that. Genesis was the proper beginning for the Bible. The Book of Revelation is the proper capstone to finish it. This book is complete. The prophetic gift has been removed because there is no more to be added. When somebody comes along and says they've added to it, then they are a false prophet.

Examples of Adding to Scripture

One of the things going around charismatic circles currently, which is getting a big kick, is called holy laughter. On the Seven Hundred Club, Pat Robertson, of all things, is talking about the folks having the Holy Laughter. And what they're doing, folks are getting together in church, they start giggling. They start laughing. They start laughing until the whole place is laughing and giggling and carrying on as crazy as they can. One of our ladies said, I almost called you at 12:30 the other night. I was watching this channel 52 program, and there they were demonstrating holy laughter. She said that was a sight that made me laugh, this whole crazy thing. And where does it come from? Oh, they [say they] find it in the Bible. They'll tell you where it is.

Of course, Bobby Tilton is not gone. He is out in North or South Carolina someplace. He's joined the group that now participates in what they call yelling at the devil. They get up and the whole audience is shouting and yelling as loud as they could. Can you imagine what a cacophony of noise and madness if you had a room full of Ken Boozers yelling at one another! You know, Dante was always thinking about good things to punish people with in Hell; that would be one of them. These people are yelling at each other. When they go home at the end of the service, they're so hoarse they can hardly speak. And Tilton is saying, "Let's tell them folks, tell them what we think of them! Get them out of there!" They're shouting and these people are all up in an uproar. And he's got a place in the Bible on which he bases that. He's got a few television stations going again and he's telling people about yelling at the devil.

This is not unusual. I read a book on a man who sometimes is right and sometimes wrong, mostly wrong. But he wrote this little book about dealing with the devil. Every time you have a temptation to go to the mirror, look at the mirror and say, 'get out of here you devil,' and start yelling at him and screaming at him and he says, 'You'll scare them away.' No, the devil will sit there and say, 'Boy, this is a weird one. I think we can use this guy.'

Today the Bible is Complete

1 Corinthians 13 makes it very clear to us that there comes a time when the Bible is fine', no more to be added. 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, "Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away [And they have been.]; if there are tongues, they will cease [Languages, and they have.]; if there is knowledge, it will be done away."

With the special word of knowledge of the Charismatics, the Charismatics love to say, 'oh God gave you a word of knowledge. You just told me that you should buy that new car.'

The word of knowledge was information of doctrine before the Bible was written. We don't have that anymore because it's all recorded now.

[continuing in 1 Corinthians 13:9] "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes [and you must understand that that is a neuter word. It is perfect thing: not perfect person, not perfect event. But the perfect thing is come] the partial will be done away." Now what do you think that perfect thing is? And the word perfect means brought to completion, the Word of God, the Bible!

Once Revelation was finished and all the other books were written, it was all, it was over. The perfect thing had come! It was very clear from this passage in 1 Corinthians 13 that when the perfect, or completed thing, namely the Bible, arrives, then further prophecy, or revelation, will cease. So, today the Bible is complete in the Old and New Testaments. There's no more Scripture to come from God to guide men.

The Mormons are very bold in saying that Christ gave them another New Testament, and that without their New Testament to complete the previous New Testament, you do not have the Word of God.

Even the Elect Can be Misled!

But the Lord Jesus himself warned us very carefully: the false teachers would arise to undermine and to discredit the teachings of God's true prophets and the apostles, which are what they have said is now recorded in Scripture. Please note, Matthew 24, we have been told that this is going to happen. Matthew 24:24 "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." How are they going to make this confusion? They're going to have the powers of Satan to perform miracles, that's the wonders.

Take a look at 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds."

Then in Galatians 1:8, another warning. "But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed." That's strong language. When a Jew said, 'let him be accursed,' that's putting you under an anathema. And that means like when the Pope says you're excommunicated, that means you're going to the Lake of Fire. To be put under anathema is to go to the Lake of Fire. Paul says, 'If anybody, even an angel from heaven, should preach you a different gospel than Free Grace salvation, bingo, put the stamp of anathema on him. Because if any angel should do that, it's a demon angel and not an angel of God. It's interesting how often charismatic leaders like to talk about the time they woke up and there was an angel standing at the foot of the bed, giving them a great revelation from God.

Then one more: 2 Peter 2:1-3, "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep." What have the TV evangelists been doing but exploiting people with their false words? And their judgment is coming and their destruction is not asleep. So, be aware of the fact that you do not have to apologize when you have been well taught in the Word of God so that you know the truth. You will not be popular, you will not be in the majority because the majority is out there either in trivial, shallow Christians or people who are completely deceived and have their eyes on themselves and have their eyes so totally upon this life that they cannot focus upon God's call to them and their mission for their personal lives.

2 Peter 3:16 warns us about adding to the Scripture the very thing that we are warned about here in the Book of the Revelation. 2 Peter 3:16, "as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of Scriptures, to their own destruction." Verse 15 indicates that he's talking about the apostle Paul. He says, Paul and some of his books, some of his epistles, some of his letters that we've been reading, that have the stamp upon them of the Spirit of God, and the inspiration, these are going to be the Word of God. He's given us some things that are hard things, some things that are tough to understand. It takes some studying and some explanation for us to grasp what he is saying, because there are deep things. They are the deep things of the Spirit of God. But those who are not taught the Word of God and those who are unstable, they will distort as they do all the rest of Scripture, even the stuff that's easy to understand. This is why it is so destructive for people to gather in groups and they discuss the Bible by sharing what they think a verse means. You can talk about that once you have some instructions. But first you need to listen to a monologue before you can have a dialog that has any meaning to it. If you're not instructed in the Word of God, and you never cease needing your instruction, some of you people here are pretty sharp in the word, you're the ones who are in danger of thinking you don't need to be here to continue. But you will find on the other side in eternity, that you'll be so glad that you never assumed you were so smart that you knew it all or that it could not be refreshed. Yes, you might even hear me say something that I taught you before, but for good reason. All false teachers do this. They twist Scripture from what the text means to justify heresy.

Some implied that the Bible is not fully trustworthy in itself on spiritual matters. And it requires some smart people to explain this and to clarify it. Some offer additional scriptures to the Bible, such as special revelations they claim they have received. Others will focus on a teacher's books. Boy, people love to sell books, writers love to sell books. And sometimes even good writers who write books, but here and there may be laced with a subtle disorientation or even a heresy because it's their own view which is being inserted, or a conclusion that they have arrived by intellectual processes rather than by what the text said. Be careful when you read other people's books as to whether those books are based on Scripture.

Some interpret the Bible words as symbolic rather than literal, with hidden meanings that are revealed only to these false teachers. If you treat the Bible like that, you can prove anything with the Bible and you can get utter nonsense. I told you about the preacher who didn't like women piling the hair up on top in a knot, and he referred to that Scripture "let him who is on a housetop not come down," and he preached the sermon on 'top knot come down.' His whole text was you shouldn't wear your hair piled up on top of your head. Then there was a lady who wanted the Lord's guidance for life. She opened the Bible and pointed to it. She looked down and it said "and Judas hanged himself." She said, 'That can't be God's message to me today.' So, she shut the Bible, closed her eyes, opened it and pointed to the next place. She looked at it, and it said "go thou and do likewise." So, that's the kind of guidance you're going to get. You're going to play Russian roulette with the Word of God. This is what the false teachers are doing. They're actually interpreting these symbols so they can prove anything they want to. Some actually rewrite the Bible to fit their human viewpoint theology.

I want to tell you something. There's a new Bible coming out to the bookstores. You're going to hear about it, so I'll inform you about it. This is called the Politically Correct Bible. I know you want to immediately go out and get one. Out of the Prophetic Observer of February 1995, I want to read this to you. This is quoting an article from the London Daily Mail. Quote, "The Word of God, which has endured through the ages, has been rewritten by the politically correct movement. It has produced a version of the Bible in which God is referred to as Father and Mother. And Jesus is no longer the Son of God, but the Human One. The Good Book compiled by the Oxford University Press in America goes on sale there in February and could arrive in Britain later." Now, one of the amazing things about this is the Oxford University Press is the one which produced the Schofield Bible. How's them bananas? From the magnificence of the Schofield Bible with those terrific notes to a Bible that's going to correct the sexism of Scripture. Continuing, "It is said to be free of sexism, racism, classicism and even less candidism." That's good! "God's right hand becomes God's mighty hand. References to Christ being crucified by the Jews have gone. And any images equating darkness with evil have been removed because they are regarded as racist. Out goes language to suggest that women are servile to men and the PC Bible is sensitive to disabled people. Andrew Potter, head of the Oxford Press, said, 'Our American office is intending to publish this and we're considering whether to publish it in the United Kingdom.' A spokesman for the Church of England said, 'This is allowing political correctness to take precedence over accuracy of Scripture. A Bible that offends no one will not convert anyone. The attitude of Oxford Press based in England is that the church members in America are so gullible they will buy anything, but they dare not introduce it in Great Britain as yet.'" The article from the London Daily Mail continues to quote David Sutcliffe, bishop of Salisbury, to indicate that future additions will do away with such archaic expressions as sin, blood, and Scriptures that might cast aspersions upon gay marriages. The bishop is quoted as saying that's the next stage in political correctness.

This latest Bible version, due to appear in Christian bookstores in February, will evidently change references to Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and do away with references to such things as the right hand, because this might offend left handed people. Any reference equating darkness with evil or light with righteousness will be omitted because they will offend ethnic races. God will be referred to in both masculine and feminine gender to appease the militant feminists. Evidently hundreds of other changes in parables and illustrations will be made.

Sexual perverts will also find this version more to their liking. This Bible, according to the news story, will be published under the name of "The Good Book." A good book for whom? The World, The flesh, and the Devil!

We have not as yet seen a copy of this new Bible, and we wonder what politically correct changes will occur in Revelation 22:18-20, which is where we are right now. God says, 'You better think twice before you add anything to My words.'

One of the classic illustrations of adding to the Word of God is the New Age movement. And who is more prominent in promoting the New Age movement, the Godhood of man, than and old redhead Shirley MacLaine, who herself has discovered that she is God? And who can give us and guide us to greater knowledge than Oprah Winfrey and her show?

At our next occasion, we will talk to Shirley and we'll talk to Oprah. Will you ever learn something that you just never thought possible?

Benediction

Father, we want to thank You for this, Thy Word and for what Thou has taught us? We thank Thee that the Word of God is truth, and it is that which sanctifies us and sets us apart. When we deviate from what the Bible actually says, we are as unsanctified as can be. We do thank Thee for this Thy truth, and we pray for our continued loyalty to Christ by being loyal to His written Scriptures. We dare not add anything to it, but we dare not ignore it either. For by ignoring it, we have added false ideas about it. We pray that Thou will help us to sound the truth and let it stand on its own. We pray in Christ name, Amen.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1989

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