Sailing the Seven C’s

I had a memorable dream a couple of years back. In the dream, I was talking with a young woman about Christ. She, like many of today’s younger people, had never been raised in the church. She had never heard any of the stories that most of the older people in the church were raised on.

So, when I tried to talk to her about Christ, I was having a great amount of difficulty getting her to understand what I was trying to express to her.

Once I realized the problem, which exposed the reality that she really had no clue about what I was trying to get her to understand, I took her back to the very beginning.

See, I wanted her to understand her need for Christ and what He has done for her. If a person doesn’t understand the beginning, they won’t understand God’s revealed plan or their need for salvation through a Savior.

I really believe that the church of the 21st century has missed this major detail. We still assume that everyone knows the Genesis stories of the Bible. We still assume that children are being taught and raised on the stories of Scripture. The truth is, the vast majority of people under the age of 50 are clueless when it comes to what the Bible really teaches. If they are under 40 it is highly unlikely that they have ever been taught anything at all about the first book of the Bible.

Today’s world teaches that humans are basically good, that we are all God’s children and if we just live a good life while attempting to improve our behavior, we will receive a good afterlife. This leads most people to have a Unitarian belief that everyone with the exception of the extremely horrible go to heaven when they pass from this life.

This ideology has no basis in Scripture but it keeps the masses from seeking the Lord their God and desiring to be right with Him.

See, if I’m basically good and can learn to be better, I don’t need salvation, all I needs is the right teaching and training. I need to find someone who will meet me where I’m at, formulate a training method that will interest me, then assist me as I learn to be good enough to achieve this heavenly reward at the end of life that is promised to everyone that puts forth at least some effort toward being good. And we all believe that the person who has just passed away was a good person, they had some flaws but don’t we all. So, the dead person must be in a better place now based upon my personal judgment of their life.

With this type of thought process being the foundation for most people’s belief system, we can clearly see why it is so difficult to introduce people to or bring people to belief in Christ Jesus for their salvation.

So, what the world offers is not salvation. It is not how we get right with the Creator God of Scripture. This is the mindset that is keeping a multitude of people lost in their sin and unbelief. This is even keeping those who attend churches today from receiving the salvation that they need to be right with God.

I have watched the children’s Sunday School material that passes through our church. Most of it never lays out the foundations of the Christian faith. Even if it did, the children have already been taught so much of the world’s philosophy that what we would teach them from Genesis would sound totally absurd. I believe that’s why it has been pushed aside. How hard is it to get Sunday School teachers to teach things to questioning kids that they don’t believe themselves?

I would like to share a teaching and training lesson with you this morning so you can be better equipped to share with those in your life that may not be products of Christian Sunday School or regular attenders of Vacation Bible School when they were young. You may want to incorporate this teaching into the lives of your kids and grandkids. You also may find it to be the very teaching you need to receive the salvation you’ve been searching for.

Acts 17:22-34

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Paul was speaking to a group of Gentiles or Greeks. These people were not Jewish people brought up from birth in the ways of their religion passed down to them by the prophets of God. They were very religious, highly superstitious, well learned, filled with great knowledge and philosophies but everything they held to was empty and false because it was not based upon the true God of the Scriptures.

This group of Greek individuals was much like speaking to the normal American today. They have a form of religion. They have a multitude of teachers and a huge amount of teaching material available to them. They hold to a plethora of beliefs that are not based in God’s Word and yet, they, for the most part, believe they greatly exceed the requirements of God for a great and wonderful afterlife if this heaven thing really is true.

So, you can probably tell, when speaking to a person of the world, they are not all that interested in your beliefs because they have a way that seems right to them and since truth is relative to the person who believes it, they are alright because what they believe is their truth and who are we to doubt their sincerity.

It’s a joke. It’s a blinding of the minds of those who refuse to believe. They hold to their empty philosophies never comprehending that they have no hope because the God or whatever they follow, is not true.

So, how do we reach them?

First we must, as Paul did, start at the beginning.

Creation

As we begin we are going to find that we are up against a very difficult situation. We live in a world that doesn’t believe in a Creator God. They don’t believe in the Biblical creation. If they do believe in creation they don’t believe in a literal six day creation set before us in the Scripture. So, at the very starting point of our discussion we must understand who we are speaking with.

The Scriptures teach us…

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1-4

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.

Exodus 20:11

For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

Exodus 31:17

It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.

Psalm 33:6

The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.

Hebrews 11:3

By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

Acts 17:24

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.

Colossians 1:15-17

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Genesis 1:31

Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

This is the starting foundation of the Word of God. If you cannot bring people to belief in a Creator God, they do not and will not need a Savior. If they do not believe that everything was good before man’s fall, it’s going to be very difficult for them to see the need for a deliverer to save them from the curse.

The reason we need a Savior is because we are created beings that have not lived up to the standard of the One who created us.

If we are not a created creature of an Almighty God, everything else I will teach you today is a waste of my time and yours.

If we are not a created being of an Almighty God, there is no judgment to fear, and there are no rules, laws and commands to follow.

If we are not a created creature of an Almighty God, there is no heavenly afterlife, there is no hell to suffer, we could not reason because there would be no truth to logically reason from and everything would be total and complete chaos and nobody would have the ability to understand that humanity is out of order.

If we are not a created creature of an Almighty God, the world is right, we are wrong and none of us would know the difference anyway.

Since we have been given the ability to know God, it proves that there is a God, and everything I’m going to teach you here this morning is the truth, and it is very important that you understand it to be the truth.

Corruption

Genesis 2:15-17

The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

Genesis 3:1-7

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ”

4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

Shame! This was something new. If the first man and women had not disobeyed they would not have felt shame. Adam and Eve’s inner eyes were opened to disobedience. This allowed their inner being to feel emotions that they were not aware of until their moment of disobedience.

This one act of disobedience would now sew into the fabric of every human being that was born of Adam and Eve, sin, guilt, shame and death.

Now, if Adam was not the very first man who was the procreator of every other man that has ever lived, what you are going to learn from this point forward is, once again, a waste of time.

Some people hold to the thought that the story of Adam is, let’s say, allegorical at best or on the other side not true at all. Some believe that there were a bunch of Adams scattered throughout the world and that’s how the races came into existence. If you believe in evolution and that man came from a long line of changing species, the story of Adam is not even a good fable.

If you hold to any of these ideas you will find that everything from this point forward is useless because you have no need for a Savior. If all of mankind did not inherit their sin nature from our true father Adam we are not going to need the second Adam, Christ, to be our Savior.

Genesis 3:20-21

Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live. And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

Three major points are made with this passage. One, Adam was only going to have one wife that would bear him children. Two, all of mankind, every human in existence, would be the product of the first two people Adam and Eve. Three, God set into motion the sacrificial system for the covering of sin. Something had to die in place of the sinful humans so they could live.

What you are seeing here is the establishment of the Creator God’s way of allowing Adam and all of his many generations of offspring to have the ability to relate with their Creator God.

Due to Adam’s sin, all mankind would be born in sin. The only way for mankind to comeback into a right relationship with God was for there to be a blood sacrifice made on their behalf. Something must die in the place of the one who deserved to die due to his/her sin.

Now we were all born in sin because Adam passed his sin onto every human ever born from the beginning. So, we are sinners by our very nature and must have a blood covering to come into right relationship with our Creator God.

Corruption brought forth sin and death. Man sinned and something must die in our place.

Catastrophe

Now, sin had been unleashed in Adam. Sin is nothing more than disobeying God. Although the Law of God or Ten Commandments has not yet been given, Adam had passed his knowledge of God to his family and they should have all been doing likewise.

But the sons of Adam, Cain and Able, their relationship turned to murder due to sin and jealousy.

This sinful and now murderous family continued to grow and before long the whole human race was corrupt and God decided to start all over.

Genesis 6:5-8

5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the LORD said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” 8 But Noah found favor with the LORD.

Genesis 7:1-5

When everything was ready, the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous. 2 Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. 3 Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood. 4 Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”
5 So Noah did everything as the LORD commanded him.

For those who believe in a kind and loving God that don’t acknowledge that He is also a holy, just and righteous God, this is very difficult for them to handle.

God was so discouraged by what humans had become that He decided to eliminate them all with the exception of Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives.

God had decided to recreate the earth and allow Noah and his family to restart the human race.

God saw what happened to humanity when He allowed sinful humans to fill the earth. Now, He would still be using sinful humans from the line of Adam, but this group of humans was at least the product of a righteous man that was willing to obey God.

So everything that was created was now recreated through a catastrophic event known today as God’s Flood in the days of Noah.

If you were to follow the genealogy from Adam to Noah to the date of the flood you would find that man had occupied the earth for approximately 1656 years. You can find this in Genesis chapter 5 and 6.

This catastrophic event in Noah’s day restructured the entire planet. The entire surface was changed. What we know as the continents would have been created by the movement of the tectonic plates. Mountain ranges would have sprung up due to the earth shifting. Fossils would have been created in masses all over the earth. What once was no longer existed and what now is was formed by the catastrophic flood that would have taken place somewhere around 4500 years ago.

I know, this is rather hard to comprehend in today’s world of millions and billions of years ago. But God has placed genealogies in the Scripture than can be followed and dated to tell us that man has only inhabited this planet for a little over 6000 years.

So, Noah and his family began to repopulate the earth.

Confusion

Genesis 11:1-9

At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.

3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”

5 But the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”

8 In that way, the LORD scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.

You must remember that everyone that existed at this time was a descendant of Noah. They all spoke the same language and as a family, they must have been getting along fairly well.

Now God saw that they were doing fine without seeking and searching for Him. Nothing was going to be impossible for them as long as they worked together and got along striving for a united purpose.

Why would God have wanted to disrupt such a fine world order? The people were not seeking for a relationship with Him. Man was able to get along fine without the God who created them. This was not God’s intention. God desired to relate with mankind. He wanted to be their God. He wanted to be their provider and protector. He wanted man to come to Him for their needs and he wanted man to acknowledge Him for all He had done for them.

Man forgot their God so God confused their ability to communicate with one another which left them seeking and searching for life’s answers.

God then revealed Himself to a man named Abram and faith and belief in God was going to be the requirement for man to have fellowship with God once again.

Now, at this point righteousness before God would be a product of believing that God is and following the revelation of God that He was giving to His servant Abraham.

See, Abraham believed God and it was credited to Him as righteousness. The sacrificial system of offering blood for the forgiveness of sin was still in place. But now the only ones who were going to sacrifice properly to their God were those who had received the revelation of God. This is why Abraham becomes the father of our faith.

The blood offering or substitutionary sacrificial system would be shown to Abraham in a mighty way when He was called to sacrifice his son Isaac and then God provided the substitute.

Moses would continue to lead the people in their sacrificial system but they would now come to understand the blood of the lamb for salvation through an event in history known as the Passover.

God was leading His people to the fulfillment of the law’s requirement that was coming in Christ.

Christ

Now, when Christ came into the world it was to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

We celebrate Christmas which signifies the birth of our Savior.

Jesus of Nazareth, born of a virgin named Mary. He was raised in the household of the carpenter Joseph of Nazareth. At the age of thirty He began His ministry.

The virgin birth is far more important than most people realize today. The skeptics try to throw in all kinds of ideas as to how Mary was impregnated so to eliminate the virgin birth.

See, Jesus had to be born of a virgin. If man’s seed was involved in the reproduction of Jesus, He would have been tainted with Adam’s sin. With Adam’s sin in Him he would not have been qualified to be the sinless, spotless or perfect Lamb of God.

So, the virgin birth was the only way for God to bring forth the second Adam.

Now, Jesus ministry was confirmed by God’s priest to the people who we know as John the Baptist. John was the son of the priest Zechariah and his mother was a product of the priestly line of Aaron. John was to be God’s priest and predecessor to the Messiah.

Now John’ calling was to call people to repent of their sins and prepare for the coming of the Messiah.

One day while baptizing in the Jordan River John pointed to Jesus and proclaimed Him to be the Lamb of God that has come to take away the sin of the world.

Jesus was baptized by John then the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and God spoke from heaven that Jesus is His Son in which He was well pleased. Then John said that it was time for Him to decrease in importance and Jesus to increase. Then people began to follow the Messiah.

Now, prophecy had been written that said that Jesus would be rejected and even killed by His own people.

But the ministry would not be detoured.

John 3:16

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
As you can see, Jesus has a purpose and a plan and He is now on His way to fulfilling the mission for which He was sent into this world.

Romans 5:12-18

12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. 13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. 14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. 15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. 16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.

So as you can see we are all condemned due to Adam’s sin. We all have the ability to receive eternal life because of what Jesus has done or us.

This does not mean that everyone is right with God due to Jesus’ work.

God has not changed His requirement for a blood atonement to cover our sin and a life lived by faith and belief in Him.

Why would a person who does not believe and does not want to follow the ways of God and does not desire to live in the presence of God care about a relationship with God or even want Him to save them through His Son?

As I am trying to point out most people do not understand the revealed plan of God or what God has done for them through Christ, they just want a good afterlife just in case it turns out to be true.

Cross

So, how did God complete this sacrificial work for us?

He allowed His Son, the Lamb of God, to be crucified upon the altar of the Cross for us.

1 Corinthians 1:18

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

For the person of the world who does not know what God has done for us at the cross, they find the whole plan of God to be foolishness. But for those of us who have come to understand the revelation of God’s salvation, We can see the power of the Cross unto our salvation.

Philippians 2:5-8

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Do we have the same attitude that Jesus had? Are we willing to sacrifice our self for others that they might come to this great and wonderful salvation that has been graced upon us by the Lord?

Most of us are so ashamed of the Gospel. We’re so ashamed of what Jesus has done for us. At least I’m guessing that we are. I mean, we certainly aren’t taking the message to the people around us.

Maybe it’s because the world’s philosophies and teaching has so overwhelmed us that when we try to come out with our beliefs and teaching, we feel, well, inferior or insignificant.

Do we really believe that the message from God is greater and more powerful than anything the world has to offer?

The Scriptures teach us that we should be ready at all times to express to others the hope we have in Christ. We do though need to know how to lead others to this wonderful salvation. The problem we face is it’s not as easy as telling someone to accept Jesus and all will be well. A person needs to understand what they believe so that which they believe can be defended and shared.

So how do we know all of this is true?

Jesus rose from the dead! It was prophesied, and fulfilled.

We know that it’s true because had there been any sin or disobedience in Jesus at all, death, by law, would have been able to keep Him. Jesus overcame death and the grave because His life and work were pure and undefiled, He had no sin in Him and death could not hold Him. So, the resurrection stands at the exclamation point at the end of God work of salvation. Now, “It is finished!”

Hebrews 10:19-22

19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

I firmly believe this is one of the reasons the mission of the church is not being fulfilled. We don’t understand the message well enough to truly share it in its fullness.
The seven C’s is a great way to lead people to the full message that God has worked out for us.

So what is the seventh C?

Consummation

This is the finale. This is the final act. This is the result of God’s work from beginning to end. This is the signed and sealed contract between God and His people. This is the final curtain closing the work of salvation. We’ve reached the home stretch and the finish line is in sight. The exit strategy or the endgame has been reached.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. There is no other to reach the Father God because this is the way God has made for man to come to Him. Any other way or path will not consummate the marriage of the Lamb with His church.

Revelation 21:3-8

3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Revelation 22:1-20

Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. 4 And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.

6 Then the angel said to me, “Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true. The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon.”

7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book.”

8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. 9 But he said, “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!”

10 Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”

12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. 15 Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star.”

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. 18 And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. 19 And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.

20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!”

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!