Yesterday I came out here to
help sign some papers so we could exchange our gas tanks. And while
he was doing his work, I came into my study and had some opportunity. And then the rest of the day,
I got to live what I learned and didn't like it. The passage of scripture that
we're going to deal with is John was told to take a little book
from the hand of the Lord, and it would be sweet to his mouth
and bitter in his stomach. And I've heard all kinds of explanations
for that, and none of them are truthful. I don't believe that
anybody that I've ever heard, because if you start from a wrong
premise, you're going to come up with wrong conclusions. If
you start with Christ, you can't go too far afield. And we may,
at times, simply say, I don't know what that means, but I know
what it doesn't mean. It's not going to compromise
the gospel. It's not going to compromise
grace. It's not going to compromise
the church. It's not going to compromise
the glory of God. And if it does, let's back up
because we've assumed a wrong position. The word of God will
always glorify God, and it will always exalt Christ, and it will
always lift up the church. So here in the 10th chapter of
the book of Revelation, last week we saw a picture of the
Lord Jesus coming down, standing on the sea and standing on the
land, and he had a rainbow around him. He is a God of covenant
mercy. His covenant is what drives him,
if you please. It is his word that drives him. As we sang in that song, it's
written down and it is going to be accomplished. His purpose
that he had before the world began is his driving force. And
he's not gonna alter his course. He's not gonna change his mind. And he has his feet as a pillar
of fire. It is substantial, it stands,
it's firm, and yet there is justice that reigns. And if we ever want
to see the highest picture of justice in the scriptures, spend
some time studying the cross, studying the crucifixion of the
Lord Jesus Christ. When he became sin for us, justice
was poured out on him, and justice will reign. His legs are as a
pillar of fire. Then there was an event that
took place that there were seven thunders uttered their voices,
and John was hindered from writing down what those thunders were
about. Charles Spurgeon once said, where
the word speak, speak, where it's silent, be silent. So John was silenced. He was
not permitted to utter a word. Now, he's not the only one that
has been stopped. Daniel, too, was stopped. The apostle Paul was stopped.
He was permitted to go into the third heaven and see things that
were undeliverable. And the Holy Spirit prevented
him from sharing what he saw. And in fact, it says, and this
is the reason that he had a thorn in the flesh, lest he be puffed
up. Now whatever it was, I just have this feeling that the Apostle
Paul at times, as he's sitting around a fire with his friends,
he says, I want to talk to you about something I saw. And he
had this thorn in the flesh that kept his mouth shut, because
God didn't want him talking about it. Now we get to a point here,
it says there in verse 8, and the voice which I heard from
heaven, John, here's this, spake unto me again and says, go and
take the little book which is opened in the hand of the angel
which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. Now we've seen
this book just a short period of time before, and this book
was closed at that time, and the only way this book has ever
been opened Whatever issue it is, it is opened by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. He is the one that opened the
book. Every secret of God is revealed in Christ Jesus. He
reveals his purpose of grace and his secrets by no other. It is only through the Lord Jesus
Christ, through the preaching of the gospel, through the Lord
Jesus Christ, that he reveals the secret truths of his word. And it is in those that God's
people rejoice. It says here that I heard a voice
from heaven speaking to me Again it said, go and take the little
book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon
the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel and
said unto him, give me the little book. And he said unto me, take
it and eat it up, and it shall make the belly bitter, but it
shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little
book out of the angel's hand and ate it up, and it was in
my mouth sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, thou must
prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Now, everything that is of the
spirit and spiritual will direct the hearer the comer to Christ. There is nowhere else that is
directed. The Apostle John was directed
to the one whose feet was on the sea, and his foot was on
the sea, and his foot was on dry land. This one that reigns
over heaven and earth. This one who has the government
upon his shoulders. This one that Isaiah the prophet
said, unto us a child is given, unto us a son is born. And his
name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. This one, the Lord Jesus,
is the only one that anyone is ever directed to. John helps
us to understand that. When he had some disciples, and
John saw Jesus, and he said, behold, the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. And he encouraged, and in fact,
discouraged anything else but his disciples go join themselves
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter helps us with
this. Turn with me, if you would, back to the book of John chapter
six. In John chapter six, there was a great split among, well,
I guess it wasn't, well, it was a great split among the followers
of the Lord Jesus. 5,000 left and 12 stayed. I guess
you'd consider that a pretty big split. There was a group
of people that looked to the Lord Jesus only from a fleshly
standpoint. And when the Lord Jesus got to
preaching the message of grace, God's sovereignty, purpose before
the world began, they said, and he said this, he said, unless
you eat my flesh and drink my blood, and that is you must have
a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You must have
a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You must have
him as your all. You can have no other. You cannot
have this God and your petty gods. You must have him and him
alone. Unless you drink his blood and
eat his flesh, you have no part with him. And he is saying you
must have a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
if you don't, you're not part of him. And it was at that time
that this whole group of people chose to leave the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, the word believer is used
in that, I believe, and sometimes it's shared with us by those
who don't know any better, that all those that left were just
backslidden. That's not what the Lord said. They departed
from him. Now, the Lord Jesus directs an
inquiry to his disciples as there's a vacuum created. When all these
people leave and the 11th stay, you just wonder if they're going
to be caught up in the vacuum when the Lord brings up that
question. And he says, John chapter 6, verse 66, The scriptures share
this. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. The word disciple is
used there. They'd been following him. But
when he said you must have a vital union, you must have a vital
relationship, you must have a personal relationship, this is him and
him alone. There is no other. You can't
have two. You can't walk together unless
you be agreed. You cannot go along just for
the ride. When he brought that vital message
up, they determined in themselves to walk with him no more. And
it goes on to tell us there, then said Jesus under the 12,
will you also go away? Now, John goes to the father
and the father directs John to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy
Spirit's gonna do the same thing. We are never, ever asked to separate
our affection from the Lord Jesus, for when we worship the Lord
Jesus as the Lord Jesus intends for us to worship him, we are
worshiping the Father and we are worshiping the Holy Spirit.
We're doing that through Christ Jesus, and that's the way it
has to be. The Lord must be the object of
our worship. We must have this vital union
with him. It is so vital that Jesus himself
said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood. Now, he's
not telling us that we're going to do that in the Lord's Supper,
and he's not telling us that we're going to do that literally.
He's saying there must be this spiritual relationship. that
I in you and you in me. It must be this or there's nothing. It is a vital living relationship. When these people heard it, they
wanted no part of it. But he turns to his disciples,
and now we have the crux of the matter. Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him.
Oh, thank you, Peter. You raised your voice and we
like it. We want people like this standing and speaking for
us. Those guys left because they
did not have a vital union with Christ. Now, maybe some in the
future, we don't know. It doesn't ever say, but you
must have this vital union. You must be in Christ. You must
have this relationship where he is all your food and all your
drink. He is your spiritual sustenance.
Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus
answers them, have not I chosen you twelve? My chosen ones, except
those that I choose for another purpose, my chosen ones will
have this kind of relationship with me. They will have a vital
union. They will be able to say, I eat
his flesh and I drink his blood. It is so vital that what is important
to him is important to me. It is so vital that what is spiritual
food that he gives is what we eat. It is so vital to us that
what he has spiritual drink to drink, that's what we drink.
It is he feeding us. Joshua yet cannot hold his bottle. And spiritually speaking, we're
unable to take spiritual food unless we're fed. But when we're
fed, We grow thereby. It is a spiritual food, and we
must have what he provides. It must be everything about him,
his word, his purpose, his grace, his glory. And as a result of
that, the church can say, we have feasted on Christ. It is
His body that sustains me and it is His blood that I depend
on. It is His blood, the merits of
His blood and righteousness that the church depends on every day. And so as John was directed by
the Father to the Son, we find the Lord Jesus illustrates that
as He speaks through Peter and said, Thou art the Christ Where
should we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. And if you turn with me to the
book of, here in the same book, John chapter 15 and verse 26,
we find that the Holy Spirit would do the same thing that
the Father did over there in the book of Revelation. The Father
spoke, go to the Son. The Father still speaks, hear
ye Him. Still speaks the same thing,
hasn't changed. Now notice here in John chapter
15 and verse 26, it shares this, but when the comforter has come,
whom I will send unto you from the father, even the spirit of
truth, John 15, 26, last phrase, which proceeded from my father,
this is his ministry, he will testify of me. It's not going
to be Thomas. It's not going to be healing.
It's not going to be prophecy. It's going to be He will testify
of me. Now, He will testify of me in
His word. He will testify of me through the prophets. He will
testify of me through the gospel. But it is He will direct our
thoughts to Him. We're not going to be worshiping
the Spirit. We're worshiping Christ. And in worshiping Christ,
we're worshiping the Spirit. In worshiping the Father, we
worship Christ. We honor Him. And when we honor
Him, we're honoring the Father. That is how the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit have determined that our worship will honor the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It must be through Christ. When we bow before Him, we're
bowing before the Godhead. We're worshiping the Godhead,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And then if you look with me
over in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 19, we read
this Sunday night in reference to Isaiah there. Notice here
in the book of Revelation chapter 19, the Lord Jesus, wherever
we're looking at a prophecy, whenever we're reading a prophet
in the Old Testament or the New Testament. In fact, there in
the book of First Corinthians, it tells us that there's apostles
and then there's prophets and all of these that are directed
by the Holy Spirit to put the word before us, to share the
Lord Jesus Christ. They are testifying, their prophecy
is testifying of Christ. Revelation chapter 19 verse 10
these words and I fell at his feet to worship him and he said
unto me see thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy
brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God for the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy and we brought out
Sunday night when Isaiah wrote what was he writing writing the
testimony of Jesus. Now it's apparent in the 9th
chapter, 6th chapter, 53rd chapter, 60th chapter, 40th chapter, it's
very apparent, but he's in every chapter. We may see him quite apparent.
I've got a picture of my grandfather in a group of school kids. You
know, if it wasn't for someone having put the names on the back
of that picture, I wouldn't be able to identify him, but they
did. He's in that picture. I've got a picture in my wall
in there. It's a whole company of World
War I veterans. And Ray McLean told me, in there
somewhere is my uncle. Now, in the book of Isaiah, there's
Christ. Sometimes we just can't pick
him out. But there are those passages
where he is so apparent. So apparent. Well, he just slaps
us in the face, it's so apparent. Isaiah 53, Isaiah 6, Isaiah 9,
all those prophecies. A virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son. Boy, you go over there to the
book of Luke, the book of Matthew, and you read those verses, you
say, oh, I see what he says. No confusion here, I don't have
to, I don't have to go to no commentary. It's so apparent,
so apparent. All right, so the spirit of prophecy
is the testimony of Jesus Christ. All the prophets wrote about
the Lord Jesus. And then if you turn with me,
and I read this on Sunday evening too, but it was so apparent that
I want to read it again here, Acts chapter 10, verse 38. As
we see the apostle John, the one who was the secretary for
the book of Revelation, When he was sent by the Father to
the Son, that is our ministry. Our ministry is to point people
to Christ. Will you also go, oh no, thou
hast the words of eternal life. We gotta stay. Latch us to you. Latch us to you. Bind us to you. Don't let us drift. Bind us to
you. Bind our heart to your heart.
Some of the old hymn writers, they got onto that. They knew
unless they were bound, they would stray. Bound to wander,
Lord I feel it. Prone to wander, Lord I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Take my heart and seal it. They knew what they were talking
about. All right. Acts chapter 10, verse 38, the
scriptures say, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth. Now, we're
just in trouble. Sometimes we just can't back
up far enough. But we're just going to start right here. And
if you want to read more, you read it. But how God, verse 38,
chapter 10, verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth. with
the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with
him. And we are witnesses of all the things which he did,
both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew
and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day
and showed him openly. not to all the people, but unto
witnesses chosen before God. Isn't that interesting? He didn't
show them to all the people, he showed them to chosen ones
of God, chosen before God, even us who did eat and drink with
him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach unto
the people and to testify, it is he which ordained of God to
be the judge of the quick and the dead, To him gave all the
prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins." Jesus said, Moses wrote
of me. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. First five books of the Bible,
Jesus said, Moses wrote of me. Well, it could be said about
every other book in the Old Testament. Because Jesus summed that up
in the last chapter of the book of Luke. He opened up their understanding
to all the things in the Old Testament Scriptures concerning
himself. So, the finger is pointed to Christ. John is instructed
by the Father to go to the one whose one foot is on the sea,
one foot is on the land, and he said, give me that book you
have in your hands. And he went over, followed the
instructions that God the Father gave him, went over to the son,
and the son, out of obedience and also faithfulness to John,
gave him that book. Now, as we look at this, John
goes. He's instructed to go, and he
went. And the Lord Jesus gave him this little book and informed
John of the results. You're going to get it in your
mouth. It's going to be sweet as honey. And you're going to
get it in your tummy and it's going to be bitter, bitter. An
illustration of the different results of God's word and providence
on his sheep. The word of salvation in Christ
and his rule and ordering over all things is such a pleasant
thing, a pleasant blessing to the people of God. We love to
hear of God's sovereignty. We love to hear of him ruling
and reigning. We love to hear that government
is upon his shoulders. And then sometimes it's bitter
in the stomach because this same book, the same word is so bitter
to the flesh. We want to say what we do to
be seen of men is okay. Our flesh still rankles. It still needs to be held down
by God. We preach the sovereignty of
God and God rules over all things. And yesterday I had a little
discussion with our next door neighbor and I went away with
bitterness in my stomach. I don't know if that's ever happened
to you. Our neighbor almost saw the real norm. I got over to
the pickup before it let loose. I couldn't believe what was happening,
and yet I had just read in the Word that God is sovereign over
all things, and then when it happens, and it doesn't go like
we like it, it's so better in our stomach. Our flesh still
wants us to be able to hear, it's okay to be seen of men.
Our flesh still wants us to be able to say, I want to be heard
of men. Oh my goodness. And where you
go to be seen of men is okay. We still want to hear that. What
you say to be heard of men is okay. We still want to hear that.
And yet we find in the scriptures that that is absolutely contrary
to scripture. And what God has to say to our
flesh is like putting our thumb in a vice. The flesh profiteth
nothing. Turn with me if you would. Now
I've got a couple examples. 1 Kings chapter 19, 1 Kings chapter
19. I just almost got to complaining
to God the other day. My son was home, and he was talking
about his good friend Isaac going to Africa. And he took him down
to the MAX train and put him on it. And old Isaac says, Tim,
I'm going to miss you. And Isaac got off, and Tim left,
and tears started running down his cheeks. Gonna miss his friend. And I'll have to tell you, Pat,
I got just a little begrudging to God, because I'd like to have
your husband around just a little bit longer. Lord, I'd like to have visited
with him just a little bit longer. Oh, God's sovereignty and providence
to our flesh is sometimes just almost bitter. Now notice Isaiah,
or excuse me, 1 Kings chapter 19, verse one, Ahab told Jezebel,
we have just witnessed that great confrontation between Elijah
and the prophets of Baal. And after Elijah's sacrifice
was consumed by fire, he ordered those that were his assistants
to go down and take care of the prophets of Baal. Now Ahab the
king goes back to his wife Jezebel and tells Jezebel what Elijah
had done and with all how he had slain all the prophets with
a sword. And Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah saying, so let the
gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life
of one of them by tomorrow about this time. Elijah, I want you
dead tomorrow. That's what Jezebel said. I want
you dead tomorrow." And when he saw that, he arose and went
for his life. and came to Beersheba, which
is belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. And he went
a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a
juniper tree." Now, do you think between the time he left his
servant and the time he sat down under that juniper tree that
his stomach wasn't churning? He found out what it was to have
the Word of God in his stomach and bitter. He had just seen
this and sometimes we make a little fun of him because he had just
seen this and Jezebel says, I'm threatening your life and tomorrow
if you're not dead, I'll be dead. And Elijah took off, found a
juniper tree and look what he said. says he requested for himself
that he might die, and said, it is enough now, O Lord, take
away my life, for I am not better than my father's. And he lay
and slept under a juniper tree. And behold, then an angel touched
him and said unto him, arise and eat. Now we follow him just
a little bit further, and he says, they've killed the prophets,
they've thrown down the altars, they've forgotten your covenant,
and I alone am left. And God reminded him. I have
7,000. I have not bowed the knee to
Baal. Turn with me to Psalm 137. Psalm 137. Psalm 137. The children of Israel
are asked while they're in Babylon to sing the songs of Zion. Please don't ask for that song
again. by the rivers of Babylon, Psalm
137, where we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the
willows in the midst thereof. And for there they that carried
us away captive required of us a song. And they that wasted
us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. Now, they're not serious about
it. They're just poking fun. You say you're people of God.
You believe in God's sovereignty. You love God. He's over you. He's ruling over you. All right. Let's hear you sing some songs. And notice what they said, how
shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? And you know what? We're just
passing through. In reality, we are in a strange
land. We are sojourners. And I was
reminded yesterday by my brother This world is not your friend. We get accustomed to it. We think
it is. And this world is not our friend. We have one friend. That's Christ. And we try to get along. And
we want to get along. As much life in you, live peaceably
with all men. And then when it doesn't happen,
oh, I get bitter. I get that bitter taste. Now,
one other passage, and with this we'll close. 1 Corinthians chapter
13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I just have to remember, oh God
help me, the world is just hewers of wood and drawers of water. They're just hewers of wood.
They're just providing our income. They're just putting milk on
the table. They may do it bitterly, but
they're just doing it. That's all they are. Now, 1 Corinthians
chapter 13. This was a blessing. Tonight I was in my study and
I've been trying to keep ahead of my daily Bible reading instead
of letting it get behind by two weeks. And here in 1 Corinthians
13, verse 12, For now we see through a glass
darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part. That really
struck me. Now I know in part. I just know
a part of it. I just know a minuscule amount.
I can't pretend to understand. So the blessings of grace, the
doctrines of grace, the word of God, the gospel, so sweet. Oh my God, give me more. Give
me more lest I perish. Let me hear of the sweet blessings
of Christ. Let me hear about Him coming.
Let me hear about Him coming for me. I want to hear about
Him on the cross as my sin bearer. I want to hear that. And then,
oh God, would you take away some of that flesh I have so that
when I have to deal with your providence against the road,
it's not quite as bitter. It's not quite as heavy. It's, John said, oh, it tasted
so sweet in my mouth. But, oh, it was bitter in my
stomach. Bitter in my stomach. And then the Lord told him, all
right, John, your ministry's not finished. You're going to
be speaking before, thou must prophesy again before
many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Why? I have
sheep there. I've got some sheep there. And
it may be sweet, and it may be bitter, but I have some sheep
there. You just keep prophesying. And the spirit of prophecy is
Christ. Our message is Christ. That's where John was directed,
go to Christ. Christ gave him this, and we
have the outcome. We live it. Our daily life is
it. The scriptures are so sweet to
our spirit. God has made it so sweet. Oh, delight in it. It's my fatness
and morrow. It's my feast and my water. It's all in my all. But my flesh
still gets pinched by it. My flesh rises up and says, it
should be this way. And God said, no, it's this way.
And oh, my, we're pinched. The flesh profiteth nothing.