Well, come back with me to Revelation,
and this week to Revelation chapter 10. Revelation chapter 10. I've
entitled the message, The Angel with the Little Book, and you
don't need to look too far to see why I've given it that message,
because it's right there in the first two verses of the chapter.
It's only a short chapter, only 11 verses long, but nevertheless,
full of very, very profound concepts. God gave revelation, as I keep
reminding you, it says it in the first verse of the book.
He gave revelation to show his servants things which must shortly
come to pass. That's why he gave it. Not to
leave us alone, floundering, wondering what's happening, when
are things going to happen. What was the message that Christ
himself preached when he came? John the Baptist preached. The
kingdom of God was the message that they preached. The kingdom
of God. This world is not, as it is,
this is not God's kingdom. This is the kingdom of Satan.
It was that which God created, but it was usurped by Satan when
he got Adam and Eve to fall into sin and to take the whole of
the human race into sin with him. But God is in the process
of recovering that kingdom from the clutches of Satan, from the
thrall of Satan. And his kingdom will triumph.
The kingdom of Satan will not be the triumphant kingdom. The
kingdom of God will triumph over the kingdom of Satan. And that
kingdom, a kingdom as you know, a nation, a kingdom, is populated
by its citizens. And the citizens of God are his
people, the redeemed, the elect multitude. He will recover that
kingdom and he will populate his kingdom with the saints of
God redeemed from the curse of the law. Now how does he get
his blood-bought people, because it's by the blood of the cross
of Christ, it's by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
he redeems, that he pays the sin debt of his people. How does
he get his blood-bought people to eternal glory? Answer? We've seen it already. He calls
them with the gospel, the white horse. He keeps them in the world
because he prayed, keep them from the evil. He frustrates
Satan's kingdom plans with God's seven-sealed plan, that scroll,
seven-sealed scroll. With that, he frustrates Satan's
kingdom plans. He sends the gospel into the
world. He sends war and conflict between
the nations. He sends great divisions of prosperity
and poverty. He sends death, which constantly
slays the people of this world. And then, between the sixth and
the seventh of the seven seals of the book, the seven-sealed
book, there is an interlude. In Revelation chapter 7, there's
an interlude of comfort and assurance for God's people. And the reason
for that is because the sixth seal, it's all becoming pretty
grim. God's plan for the recovery of
his kingdom, for the destruction of Satan's kingdom, for the triumph
of his kingdom. And so the people of God might
begin to despair. And so Revelation 7 is given
as an interlude of comfort and assurance. concerning their sealing,
their protection, their possession by God. God owns his people and
he will not allow them to come to eternal harm. They are immune
from all of the ravages of the evil of Satan's kingdom. And
then he shows them brought to eternal glory, that innumerable
multitude in heaven. So we've already had one interlude
in Revelation chapter 7. But then the seventh of the seven
seals opens, and that reveals itself as seven trumpets. Seven
seals, then seven trumpets. The seventh seal opening as seven
trumpets. And they're trumpets of more
intensive judgment. judgment which yes they've been
throughout time but they they grow more and more intense as
the final end draws near and the first four of those trumpets
we've already seen make this earth less able to support comfortable
life now you know what the kingdom of satan says this earth is becoming
less able to support comfortable life therefore the power is in
our hands to control it with our policies of net zero and
all the other environmental gobbledygook that you hear these days. No,
this is God that's making this earth less able to support comfortable
life because he's frustrating the kingdom of God. And we got
to chapter nine and over the last two weeks we found that
that is highly relevant to today because those two trumpets demonic
locusts stirring up the basest of evil in mankind are let loose. Is that not what we're seeing?
Surely it's a hint of it, isn't it? The evil that we're seeing
seems to ring so true with those demonic locusts, those evil,
those alluring, just as sin is alluring, but in its tail is
the deadly sting of the scorpion, the most painful sting of the
scorpion. demonic locusts stir up the basest
of evil. And then there's the fomentation
of final war. There's the loosing of the four
angels bound up in the river Euphrates, all speaking of the
physical boundary of the Old Testament kingdom of God, which
was Israel. And the nations where the gospel, the white horse,
had never ridden, all being set loose. And it's the fomentation
of final war. And you say, oh, this is stuff
and nonsense. Just look at the news today.
I am not saying that anything particular is going to happen.
I'm not walking around with sandwich boards over my shoulders saying
that Putin's Russia is going to do this, that and the other,
or China's going to do this, that and the other. But wouldn't
you agree that what Revelation 9 said about impending war. How do we know it's war? Fire,
smoke, pestilence, the brimstone. It's all the marks of war. Fomentation
of a final war. But, you see, that's the 5th
and the 6th trumpets, but there's still one trumpet to sound. There's still the 7th trumpet
to sound. There's a message of great tribulation
through which Christ's people must pass on their road to what
Bunyan called the celestial city in his Pilgrim's Progress. There's
a danger of despair for the people of God, for true believers in
this world where we see things becoming more and more evil as
every day passes. That's not an exaggeration, is
it? You know, every day you look at the news and you see something
more evil that is happening. And there's a danger that we
might lose sight of the glorious end. For we are headed, if you're
Christ's, we're headed as citizens of his kingdom, we're headed
for that kingdom in which dwells righteousness and peace and the
intimate presence of the living God and no sin and nothing that
defiles shall enter therein. And it's a glorious prospect
if you believe the gospel of grace. But in this world where
all of these things are happening right in front of our senses,
you know there's such a danger of losing sight of the glorious
end. What will cause believers not
to lose sight of their heavenly goal? Answer, let's have another
interlude. So God graciously gives John
another interlude. Before the seventh trumpet sounds,
after the sixth trumpet has sounded, you see most of them, six out
of seven are gone, but Things were pretty dreadful, weren't
they? Last week's message was a message of, in this world,
in this world, no hope whatsoever. So, there's a need for an interlude
of encouragement. And we see that in verse 1 of
chapter 10. I saw another mighty angel come
down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon
his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet
as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little
book open, and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left
foot upon the earth. John's perspective on the Isle
of Patmos as he's given this vision in chapter 4 he'd been
summoned up to heaven come up hither into heaven and see the
heavenly perspective but now he's on earth again he's this
is from an earthly perspective he's now looking from earth and
a mighty angel comes down from heaven he comes down from heaven
and what is he telling us in this dreadful world as demonic
locusts go forth with all of the evil of the kingdom of Satan,
as the world builds up to what looks like a dreadful war, and
we might think we're alone, here is assurance that we are not
alone. In the first three chapters,
in the first vision of the book of Revelation, we saw Christ
in the midst of the golden candlesticks, the seven golden candlesticks
representing His churches, His church on earth. And where is
Christ? Oh, distant, he's left them alone,
he's gone, he's far distant. No, no, he's walking in the midst
of his churches. The sovereign God manifested
in Christ is in the midst of his churches, and here he is
again. He comes down from heaven. This
mighty angel is Christ. How can I say that when it doesn't
actually use those words in the text? How can I confidently assert
that this mighty angel come down from heaven in the vision given
to John of the situation of his people in this world? This mighty
angel is Christ. Because angel means messenger. Angel means the one who brings
a message. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1,
the last book of the Old Testament, says this, the Lord whom ye seek
shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant
whom ye delight in. Even the messenger of the covenant
whom you delight in. Christ God manifested is the
messenger of the covenant. He is the Lord whom ye seek. He is God, the unknowable God,
the unseeable God, made manifest to his people. He is the messenger
of the covenant. He is the angel that has come
down from heaven. He said himself, I have come
down from heaven to tell you heavenly things. I have come
down to give you heavenly truth. He comes clothed with a cloud. Clouds symbolize the glory of
God. They symbolize the glory of God.
In the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites in their exodus
from Egypt, By night, there was a pillar of fire that accompanied
them, and by day, there was a pillar of cloud. The cloud was the symbol
of the presence of God in the wilderness wanderings. In Revelation
1 verse 7, it says, of Christ, behold, he cometh with clouds. Behold, he cometh with clouds.
Clear, isn't it? Clothed with a cloud. It's Christ.
It's Christ, our God manifested. And then a rainbow was upon his
head. The rainbow is the symbol of
covenant grace in the scriptures. But of course, Satan's evil kingdom
has stolen that symbol. We used to put that symbol on
our bulletins some years ago until the penny dropped with
me that Satan's kingdom with its evil perversions had stolen
that symbol, and now you have councils spending taxpayers'
money in this country to paint their crossings, their pedestrian
crossings over the road, with the rainbow of their LGBTQ, whatever
else it's called, perversity. That's what it is. That's what
it is. Anybody listening to this would probably report me and,
you know, I'd be subject to hate speech accusations. But that's
the truth. I'm speaking what the Word of
God says. This is what the Word of God says. The Word of God
condemns that sort of thing as perversion. But this is the rainbow
of sovereign covenant grace which is around God's throne. In Revelation
4 and verse 3, just turn back to that. This is God on the throne
of eternal glory. And he that sat was to look upon
like a jasper and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round
about the throne, the rainbow of covenant grace, in sight like
unto an emerald. and his face was shining as it
were the sun. Verse one, still, his face, this
angel, his face was as it were the sun. His face was shining
as the sun. Matthew 17, verse two, when Jesus
took Peter, James, and John up the mountain of transfiguration,
and there he was transfigured before. He said to them, in a
couple of verses earlier, he said, I tell you the truth, that
This generation shall not pass away until they've seen the kingdom
of God come. And it was fulfilled in the transfiguration
when he took them up the mountain of transfiguration. And there
we read in Matthew 17 verse 2, he was transfigured. He, though
a man with no comeliness that we should desire him, was transfigured
and his face did shine as the sun. Do you see it? It's difficult
to avoid, isn't it? This is Christ, this mighty angel.
This is our God. And His feet as pillars of fire. Revelation 1.15, He had brazen
feet. Feet refined in the fire. Brazen feet of judgment against
sin. Now compare this with Daniel
chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12. And verse
7, Daniel is receiving visions of the end of things. And this,
remember, is what, five, six hundred years before Christ came. when he held up his right hand
and his left hand unto heaven, and swear by him that liveth
for ever and ever, that it shall be for a time, times and half,
and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy
people, all these things shall be finished. You see, the message
that this mighty angel brings is in verse 6, he swear, he lifted
up his hands to heaven. Look, verse 5, he lifted up his
hands to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever and ever,
who created heaven and the things that are therein. That in Daniel
12 was clearly a manifestation of God. It was the second person
of the Trinity. It was the Lord Jesus Christ.
for ever and ever who created heaven and the things that are
therein and the earth and the things that are therein and the
sea and the things that are therein that there should be time no
longer. He swore by God because he could
swear by none higher. This is clearly God in Christ
revealed to his servants concerning the end of all things. And basically
what is he saying? Little flock, Little flock, because
that's all we are, compared with this vast world, this vast kingdom
of Satan. Little flock. Sometimes feels
like there's just a tiny handful. You could number it in the ones
or the twos, the tens in some places. It's rarely more than
a hundred in any one place. Very rarely more than a hundred.
Little flock. Without strength against Satan's
kingdom, because be in no doubt, you in yourself, I in myself,
have no strength against the kingdom of Satan. And yet what
does our God say to us in these days? Encouraging us between
the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet. What does He say? He
says, fear not. He says, do not be afraid. God
who bought his church, what does it say in Acts chapter 20? What
currency did God use to buy, to purchase, to own his own church? It says his own blood. How did
God, how did God who dwells in heaven in light inapproachable,
how does he purchase the church of God with his own blood? Because
in Christ he became man, and as a man, as a real man, he went
to that cross. And was killed. He died and shed
his blood. He shed his lifeblood, for the
life is in the blood. The soul that sins, it shall
die, and he died to pay the penalty for his people. He who walks
in the midst of his churches, he who controls all things for
the good of his church, for we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God, who are called according to his
purpose. And He does it by controlling all things. He's sovereign. And
He has come down to earth. And children of God, believers
in these days, Whilst there seems to be so much cause for fear,
what on earth is going to happen? Oh dear, what's going to happen?
He hasn't left his people alone. Look at what his feet are doing
in this vision. His feet are pressing down. He had in his little hand a book
open and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot
on the earth. Obviously this is a vision, this
is not literal, but his feet are pressing down. In chapter
13, when we get there, we will see satanic beasts from the sea
and from the earth, which make this evil world, this kingdom
of Satan, what it is. But don't forget who has his
feet upon them. Just as feet on the necks of
your enemies were a symbol of military supremacy, in Joshua
chapter 10 verse 24 we read about the feet of the rulers of Israel
being upon the necks of these kings, their enemy. Feet upon
the necks, it's a symbol of military supremacy and power. Our God
in Christ Although things are terrible in this world of Satan,
our God in Christ reigns supreme and controls supremely. Psalm
110 verse 1 talks about his enemies being made his footstool, the
place of his feet. He puts his feet upon them, because
he controls them. In Ephesians 1, 22, we read about
God having put all things under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He controls all things. we will encounter some fearful
things. But look, the mighty angel come
down from heaven, who is clearly Christ, that mighty angel controls
it all, and he is your friend. Well, we'll come back to the
little book in a moment, but I want to think for a moment
about the cry, the thunders, and the oath. We read this in
verse 3. And he cried with a loud voice, this mighty angel cried
with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried,
seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders
had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a
voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which
the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel
which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up
his hand to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever and
ever who created heaven and earth and the things that are therein
and the earth and the things that are therein and the sea
and the things that are in that there should be time no longer
but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he
shall begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished as
he has declared to his servants the prophets He who is the Word
of God spoke the Word of God. Let me say that again. He who
is the Word of God, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He who is the Word of God spoke
the Word of God. We'll see in one of the later
chapters of Revelation. Here is his name written upon
him, the Word of God. That's his name. You know, it's
a long time since I've been to a zoo, but I do remember, I think
it was probably Whipsnade Zoo, going round a corner between
some of the exhibits and not realising that the lion's cage
was just right next to me, just over the fence next to me. And
one of those great big male lions roared. Don't worry, I'm not
going to try and do an impression, but you know what it's like.
Even though you know that there's a big fence there and you're
protected from it, when you hear that noise, oh boy, doesn't it
send a shiver down your spine. Imagine that you're in the bush
in Africa somewhere, just wandering around and you hear that roar
a few meters away from you. Wow, would you fear for your
life. You know that you are in mortal danger. A lion, it's an
unmistakable roar. He roared with the voice of a
lion, the sound of a lion, a loud voice as a lion when it roars. And seven thunders uttered their
voices. Seven thunders spoke. This is
symbolizing God speaking. And it's clear voices. How do
we know it's clear voices, clear language? Because John is about
to write it down, but he's told not to write it down. These voices
of these seven thunders were clearly intelligible words that
he was about to write down. The seven thunders, the voices
of the seven thunders, were God's declaration of the end of His
plan for His kingdom to triumph. In Psalm 18 verse 13, we read
of the Lord thundered in the heavens. It's the same idea.
The voices of the seven thunders were God's declaration of the
end of His plan for His kingdom to triumph. In verse 7, look,
in verse 7, in the middle of the verse, the mystery of God
should be finished, as he has declared to his servants. When
the seventh trumpet shall begin to sound, the mystery of God,
the mystery of God should be finished. This creation, this
world, is coming to an end. In verse 6, he swears by God
supreme over all creation, heavens, earth and sea, that the end is
coming and that there should be time no longer. Yes, that
certainly means that the end is coming and we're passing into
eternity, there shall be time no longer. But I think it also
means that there will be no further delay. This is an announcement
of the imminence of the end, the imminence of the seventh
trumpet sounding, because when the seventh trumpet sounds, the
mystery of God will be finished. When the seventh trumpet sounds,
and it doesn't do that until chapter 11 and verse 15, where
we read, And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great
voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of this world is become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign
forever and ever. That's the seventh trumpet sounding.
And when that sounds, the end is implemented by seven vials. That seventh trumpet opens the
seven vials of the final wrath of God. Why seven? We keep reading
about seven, don't we? We know it's a prime number.
We know that you can't take two other numbers and make seven.
Seven's a prime number. Seven is the number of the completed
kingdom of God. It's God's number of perfection.
There are seven churches, symbolically. There are seven seals on the
scroll of the plan of God for his kingdom to triumph. The seventh
seal opens as seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet opens
as seven vials of wrath. And when all are finally realized,
you know Jesus taught his disciples to pray, thy kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thy kingdom come.
When all of those sevens, the seals and the trumpets and the
vials are finally realized, the kingdom of God has come. But
why was he told not to write? Why was John told not to write
it down? Because this is the mystery of
the kingdom of God. This is the mystery of God, the
mystery of the kingdom of God. Look at Mark chapter 4, if you
will please. Mark chapter 4 and verse 9. There are parallel passages in
the other Gospels. The disciples wondered, why did
Jesus use parables to speak to the people? Why did he use parables? Why didn't he just tell them
plainly? Why did he use parables? And in verse 9, he said to them,
Jesus said to them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. You know you have ears to hear
if God has given you ears to hear. They're not natural assets,
ears to hear spiritual things. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. And when he was alone, they that
were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And
he said unto them, Jesus said to them, Unto you it is given
to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. See that? The mystery
of the kingdom of God. Unto you it is given. But unto
them that are without, all these things are done in parables.
seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and
not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and
their sins should be forgiven them. And he said unto them,
Know ye not this parable? How will you know any of the
parables? God gave a spirit of delusion and darkness. Because
of unbelief, it says in 2 Thessalonians, because of the rebellion and
unbelief of people in general, he gave them a strong delusion
that they should believe a lie, that they should not understand
these things. Well, I believe that these seven
thunders are like parables, which are not to be revealed widely.
It is not announced to the world in general. It is not announced
to the unbelieving world. Why not? That world is the world
that we saw in chapter 9. That world is the world that
tramples the blood of redemption underfoot. The blood of Christ,
which is the only thing which saves from sin. They trample
it underfoot. They treat it with contempt.
They despise it. They want nothing to do it. but
it is revealed to Christ's friends. Christ does reveal it, the Lord
Jesus Christ, our God. Our God manifests, reveals it
to his friends. In John 15 and verse 15, easy
to remember. 15, 15. John 15, 15. Henceforth,
he says to his disciples, henceforth I call you not servants. Are
we not gladly the servants of the Lord? Yes, of course we are.
Paul called himself a bondservant. But Jesus said this, henceforth
I call you not servants. For the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth. but I have called you friends.
You know, Moses was the friend of God. Well, believer, if you
trust the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're in Him, you are the
friend of God. He said so. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
our blessed God, manifested, has said, I have called you friends. Why? For all the things that
I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you. He's made
it known to us. So how does God make known to
his servants what they are called to do? He does it by preaching
the little book. Verse 11, he said unto me, thou
must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues
and kings. This is the message of gospel
grace while it is still the day of salvation. Let's look at this
little book as we close. The little book, we see it in
verse 2, he had in his hand a little book open. In verse 8, and the
voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again and 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 in verse
9, I went to the angel and said unto him, give me the little
book. And he said, take it, eat it up, it will make thy belly
bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. This is
not the seven-sealed book of the mystery of God's eternal
purpose for his kingdom to triumph. You know, we saw that in chapter
5. the seven-sealed book on the hand of God. And he cried out,
who is worthy to open the seals of the book, to implement the
plan of God? And none was found worthy. And
John wept much. And one of the elders said, don't
weep. Look, look, look at the throne of God. Look at the lion
of the tribe of Judah. He's found worthy. And he looked,
and he didn't see a lion. He saw a lamb, because it's the
lion of the tribe of Judah. in the capacity of a lamb that
was slain. Because in the capacity of a
lamb that was slain and shed his blood, he accomplished, he
accomplished all that was necessary for the kingdom of God to triumph. For the kingdom to be populated
by citizens who are justly made righteous in him to be there,
who are fully qualified to be there. That's it. That book is
the seven-sealed book of the post. But this little book is
not that seven-sealed book of the mystery of God's eternal
purpose for his kingdom to triumph. That seven-sealed book is actually
beyond mortal, sinful comprehension. There are deep things in there
that are beyond our comprehension. And I believe that What those
things say in full is what the seven thunders uttered in verse
four. But we as sinful people on this
earth cannot fathom them. It's beyond our mortal sinful
comprehension. I wonder if The contents, you
know, you say, I wonder what heaven's going to be like. We've
got so much to do here and so much to keep us interested. What
is heaven going to be like? There's going to be nothing to
do. We're just going to be praising and going to church all the time,
as it were. Well, that's very much an earthbound view of what
it will be like. I believe it will be absolutely
full of endless enthrallment. You know the angels of God who've
never sinned, the angels of God desire to look into the redemption
that Christ has accomplished. That sinners, sinners should
be elevated to the glory of God. Absolutely amazing. Is that not
what it will be? Well, this is what is revealed to his
people in this world and to his prophets to declare. It's this
little book. It's the contents of this little
book. This is what John has already declared. It's what he's already
preached because he's told you must preach it again. You must
prophesy again in verse 11. He's already preached it. It's
the message of the written Word of God. It's unlike that mystery
which was to remain unwritten, verse 4. Don't write it, seal
it up. Write them not. Unlike the seven-sealed
book on the hand of God, this little book is open in his hand. It's open in his hand. That one
was sealed up. This one is open in his hand. So the end is clear. When time
will be no more, there will be no more delay until the seventh
trumpet announces the seven final vials of wrath in closing this
creation. But what must God's servants
do? while anticipating, while expecting
the seventh trumpet to sound. Verse 8, Go and take the little
book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon
the sea and upon the earth. It's open in the hand of Christ
who rules even in this fallen world, even though it seems not,
we know He rules. He gave the key of the demonic
pit, the bottomless pit, to Satan. He gave that key. He can only
go as far as he's allowed to go. This book is open in the
hand of Christ, who rules even in this fallen world. So John
goes and says, give me the little book, because that's what he
was told to do. And he's told in verses 9 and 10 to take it
and to eat it, to eat it up. This little book, take it and
eat it up. It will be sweet in your mouth
and bitter in your belly. Now we read those verses in Ezekiel
chapter 2 and verse 9. Let me remind you of them. Behold,
an hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was therein,
and he spread it before me, and it was written within and without,
and there was written therein lamentations and mourning and
woe. Moreover, he said unto me, Son
of man, eat that thou findest eat what you find eat this roll
and go and speak unto the house of Israel clearly not literally
we're not asked to chew up chunks of our bibles so i opened my
mouth and he caused me to eat that roll and he said unto me
son of man cause thy belly to eat cause it to go down inside
you and fill thy bowels with this roll that i give thee then
did i eat it and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. Is that not exactly parallel
to the words we've just read in Revelation 10? This is the
message of God's kingdom revealed to his saints. In Colossians
chapter 1 verse 26, Paul, writing to the Colossians, talks about
the mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest unto his saints." The mystery that
the world doesn't understand. You speak of the gospel of grace,
you speak of the eternal purposes of God, and their eyes glaze
over in complete misunderstanding. They have no idea what you're
talking about. They hate the very concept. They hate the very
concept, because it's contrary to the world's objectives of
building this satanic kingdom of peace and goodness and all
pals together and no conflict, and yet it cannot be because
it makes no allowance, it pays no respect to the justice and
righteousness of God. This message of God's kingdom
revealed to His saints, it cannot be treated at arm's length. It cannot be treated academically,
objectively. You cannot say, oh, I'll just
read it like you might read an account of history. No, you can't
do that. It has to become part of you. It can't just be picked up and
studied and put aside. It must become part of God's
people. This little book, this mystery,
hidden from ages and from generations, but now made manifest to His
saints. It must become part of God's
people. You know you see people who have
a particular hobby and a particular interest, and they become utterly
obsessed with it. It completely takes them over.
Well, that can be in a very bad way, but this is in a good way.
This Word of God, this message of God, this mystery which God
has made manifest to his saints, should become part of us, and
especially to his prophets, his preachers. Prophet, preacher,
it means the same thing. It must be imbibed. As we imbibe
Christ symbolically in communion, bread and wine, we take the bread
and wine, it becomes part of us. It's symbolical of us imbibing
Christ. We can't just stand objectively
viewing. We can't just tick off the boxes
and say, well yeah, I think that applies to us. It's got to be
part of us, absolutely part of us. And it has a taste which
we savour. It's sweetness in the mouth.
It's bitterness in the belly. God's Word is sweet to the taste
of the sinner who is saved. You know when you hear, when
you come under the burden of sin, and you know by Holy Spirit
revelation that you are a sinner, condemned before God, and you
hear of redemption. And you hear of blood that has
paid the price of your sins, so that when you stand before
that throne of God, you will not be banished from the presence
of God because of your sin, for God cannot look upon sin and
cannot abide it. He cannot allow anything that
defiles into his kingdom. But that blood has paid the price
and cleansed his people from their sins. And that's a sweet
taste when you hear it, when you know, blessed Jesus, I cannot
thank you enough for what you have done for me in saving my
soul from sin. And as the Word of God says,
Psalm 19 verse 10, the statutes of the Lord are sweeter also
than honey and the honeycomb. What statutes? Those that speak
of salvation accomplished. How sweet are thy words unto
my taste, says Psalm 119 verse 103. Yea, sweeter than honey
to my mouth. The concepts of forgiveness,
and acceptance, and citizenship, and peace, and perfection are
all sweet, but then... They're bitter in the belly because
we're flesh and we're spirit. And there's a struggle between
the flesh and the spirit. And what the flesh wants to do
clashes with what the spirit wants to do. And then, much more
widely, there's the conflict with the world. Is there not?
I feel it evermore. I feel it evermore. I have acquaintances
down the years, from school days right down to the present day. And you know something? The more
they know of the word that I preach, the more they don't want anything
to do with me. They really don't. And it's bitter. It's bitter
in the belly. There is a bitter, narrow road
to tread through what remains of this world until we reach
paradise. Focus not on the bitter road,
but on the paradise. But reach it, we surely shall. Because who can stop it? Who
can stop it? God has decreed it. Christ has
accomplished it. We will be there. And while we
journey, what are we told to do? While we journey, we don't
know how long he's left. He might come today. He might
not come until we're gone and buried. But while we're here,
while we journey, preach and witness and testify to the truth
of God's kingdom and the truth of accomplished redemption. I
think that's the meaning of that chapter 10. So we'll end it there.
Amen.