Intro / Review:
How Should I Feel? (Revelation 10)
How Should I Feel About God's Word? CONFIDENT. (Rev 10:1-7)
How Should I Feel About God's Judgment? BITTERSWEET (Rev 10:8-11)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:03-01:06
And open up your Bibles with me please to Revelation 10.
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Revelation 10. Our series is called "Coming Soon." Because Jesus said it's coming soon. What's coming soon?
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The end of the world.
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And Revelation largely is about the judgment of God that is coming.
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And judgment begins in Revelation 6 with the seal judgment.
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It says, "The Lord opens the scroll and breaks the seals.
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Each one manifests a judgment of God.
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And then we went through chapter 8 with the trumpet judgments, where a third of the vegetation was burned, and all the grass, and a third of the sea creatures, and the ships were destroyed, a third of the fresh water became poisoned, resulting in human death.
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And we saw a third of the sun and the moon and the stars were darkened.
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We saw an angel fly overhead to proclaim the worst is yet to come.
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If you were with us last week, we saw it got a lot worse.
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Revelation 9 is one of the most horrifying chapters in the entire Bible, really.
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Because it talks about the fifth and sixth trumpets.
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And the fifth and sixth trumpets saw demons attacking the earth.
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The fifth trumpet saw demons afflict mankind for five months.
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But the sixth trumpet saw demons killing mankind, resulting in a third of the earth's population slaughtered at the hands of these monsters.
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We listened as John described these demons.
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They were horrific images.
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But really, the absolute worst part of Revelation 9 came at the end.
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When people, instead of turning to God, the Bible says they refused to repent.
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They would have rather held on to their sin than turn and receive the forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus Christ offers.
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That's not horrifying enough. The Bible says they were worshiping demons.
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probably the same demons that were attacking mankind.
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So today, as we get into Revelation 10, today we're going to talk about feelings.
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Everybody say, "Aww!" Can we get a picture of a kitten on the screen?
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Let's talk about feelings. Don't get used to it, by the way.
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We're going to talk about feelings, but the truth is, on one hand, when it comes to God's Word, it doesn't matter how you feel.
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Because when it comes to truth, truth is truth no matter how you feel about it, right?
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That's just the way it is. Truth is truth, right?
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And it doesn't matter how you feel about it.
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Like if I said, "Hey, 2 plus 2 equals 4." Darren, how does that make you feel?
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It doesn't matter that you can't stand it.
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Because 2 plus 2 equals 4, no matter how you feel about it, truth is truth, right?
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Or if I said, "You know, a water molecule has one oxygen atom in it." "Darren Keller, how does that make you feel?" "Wonderful, great, awesome, and you know what?
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"It doesn't matter that you feel wonderful about it "because that doesn't change it.
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"It's always going to be that way." If I said, "Hey, by the way, it's February 17th today.
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"How do you feel about that?" I'd say, "You know what?
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"It doesn't really matter how you feel about that.
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"You could be on cloud nine because it's February 17th, "or it could make you angry that it's February 17th and the fact remains it doesn't matter. It's February 17th.
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No matter how you feel about it, truth is truth.
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Your feelings don't really matter. You're alone.
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But, but, as we go through these mind-blowing events of Revelation, as we look at all of these future truths with John, describing the end of the world, it obviously stirs up feelings.
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And I know it's stirring up feelings because I'm getting texts from people regarding these messages.
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I'm getting emails from people regarding these messages.
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And the emails aren't just like, "Oh yeah, truth is truth. That's interesting, the stuff that you're telling me." There's a lot of feeling behind these things.
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And that's what Revelation chapter 10 is all about.
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How should I feel about all this?
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I mean, we are looking over John's shoulder as he's describing these images to us.
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And he's describing demons being unleashed from the abyss and they're attacking mankind.
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And we're like, "Oh my gosh, how should I feel about that?" And we've seen at this point in Revelation, literally over half of the earth's population has been killed.
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How should I feel about that? How should I feel about God's wrath ravaging the earth?
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How should I feel about God bringing condemnation to those who have rejected Him?
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The question is, "Church, what's an appropriate way to feel about this stuff?" I think that's a fair question.
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And honestly, I think that's exactly where John was here as he's watching all this.
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I think at this point, and you're going to see it in the text, I think at this point John was sort of like, "I don't know how I feel about all this stuff." That's your outline today.
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How should I feel?
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How should I feel as we're going through Revelation?
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Revelation 10 is a little break in the action.
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I believe, again, you're going to see it in the text.
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This is going to answer a very important question as we're going through this feeling evoking book of the Bible, maybe more than any other.
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How should I feel about all this?
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First question is, how should I feel about God's Word?
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How should I feel about God's Word?
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Is the first question that John looks at.
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And I'm going to give you the answer ahead of time because I want you to see it in the text.
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The answer is confident, confident.
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Let's look at verse one.
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Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire." Now, some people look at this description and say, "Well, obviously, he's talking about Jesus." But he absolutely is not talking about Jesus.
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You say, "How do you know that?" I know that because of the phrase, "I saw another mighty angel." That word "another" is very important.
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You see, in English, we have one word for another, it's another.
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But in the Greek, there were two words for another.
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And one was alos.
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That means another of the same kind.
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And there was heteros, which means another of a different kind.
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That's where we get heterosexual, meaning a man, and another person of a different kind, a woman.
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They're both people, but they're different.
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That's heteros, another of a different kind.
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You see, in this passage, the word alos is used.
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John is saying, he's already seen all these angels, and then he says, "I saw another angel like the other ones that I had seen." And I don't think that he would lump the Lord in with a group of angels.
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He's very specific here.
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Another thing is Jesus is never called an angel in the New Testament.
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He shows up that way in the Old Testament from time to time, called the angel of the Lord, but you never see that in the New Testament.
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So when John says, "I saw another angel like the angels that I've seen," that's exactly what he's saying.
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Look at verse 2, he says, "He had a little scroll open in his hand." This little scroll is a smaller version of the book that was introduced in chapter 5.
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It's the title deed of the earth.
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That's what we saw in chapter 5, remember, it was in the hand of God seated on the throne.
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Who's worthy to take the earth back from the enemy?
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The Lamb, Jesus Christ, steps forward, He takes the scroll, and chapter 6, He opens the scroll again each time He breaks one of the seals, He manifests an aspect of God's judgment.
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And that's exactly what it says here in verse 2.
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Did you see that? The little scroll was open because Jesus opened it in chapter 6.
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And in Revelation, I think it's pretty clear to us that this scroll, yes, it symbolizes the title deed of the earth, but it also symbolizes judgment.
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That scroll has come to be synonymous with the judgment of God being unleashed on the earth.
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And here it's smaller because, well, you're going to see in verse 8 why it's smaller.
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Because something graphic is going to happen as John participates in the vision here.
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Look at verse 2 again.
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"Doesn't he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land?" Now, I don't think that means he was standing like on the beach right where the waves were crashing and he had like a foot in the wave here and a foot in the sand here.
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I don't think that's what John's saying.
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I think what he's saying is, from his perspective, the angel was huge.
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He had a foot on the sea and a foot on the land.
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Verse 3, it says, "And called out with a loud voice like a lion roaring.
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When he called out, the seven thunders sounded." And the huge angel representing God with a mighty voice.
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Verse 4, "And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write.
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But I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.'" Obviously, these thunders were not just sound effects, but they were communicating something that John was able to understand.
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Throughout Revelation, John was told to write, to write, to write, to write over and over.
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Chapter 1, verses 10 and 11, verse 19, the letters of chapters 2 and 3, chapter 14, verse 13, chapter 19, verse 9, chapter 21, verse 5.
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You look up all those verses.
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"John, write this down, write this down, write this down." But here, John was commanded not to write down whatever was communicated here.
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And these are the only words in Revelation like this.
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And you're like, "All right, Pastor Jeff, what are they?" You ready? I have no idea.
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Your Bible says the same thing that my Bible says, right?
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I have no idea.
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If God wanted us to know, what would He have done?
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Yeah, He would have told us. He would have said, "John, write this down." But he says, "I don't want them to know what it is." And there's all kinds of speculation what that is, and it just doesn't matter.
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Because anything is just speculation, and it matters as much as your feelings regarding what he wrote down, I suppose.
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Alright, verse 5, "And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay.
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But that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled just as he announced to his servants, the prophets.
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So this angel was taking an oath before God. You get this scene in your head?
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He sees this awesomely huge angel with voice like a lion and seven thunders.
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and this angel stands and he puts up his right hand, and he says, "I am swearing by the God of the universe!" What he's about to say, obviously, is pretty important.
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What is it that he said?
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We see it in the last phrase at the end of verse 6. This is it.
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"There will be no more delay." The question from chapter 6, verse 10, "How long, O Lord? How long?" The prayers from chapter 8, verses 3 through 5.
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The disciples' question from Acts 1, verse 6, Lord, at this time, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?
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The prayers of every single believer, people who are sitting in this room and listening to this podcast, the prayers of every single believer who's mourned over the wickedness of sin, whose lives have been wrecked by the wickedness of sin, every one of these prayers are about to be answered.
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That in the days of the next trumpet, we're going to be talking about that.
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Do you see in verse 7, "The mystery of God would be fulfilled." What's the mystery of God?
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That just means the consummation of God's plan.
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Like, what do you mean?
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What I mean is, God had this plan of salvation and redemption and history of man.
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The plan began in the Garden of Eden, and it went to the cross, and it concludes with the new heaven and the new earth.
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It's like we just sung that, didn't we?
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From creation to the cross, from the cross into eternity, your grace finds me.
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We just sang that song.
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That's the mystery.
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That's the plan.
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God hasn't been fumbling through history trying to figure things out along the way.
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"Oh no, what am I going to do?" God's like, "Okay, I've got a plan. Here it is." And then this is going to happen, and then this is going to happen, and then this is going to happen, and then finally, this is going to happen.
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That's what this angel is declaring.
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That God previously spoke of this story through the prophets, right?
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That's what we have throughout the Old Testament.
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And John says, hearing this angel declare, Now we're getting to the final act.
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That God's story of the earth had a definite beginning, and it's going to have a definite end.
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And God has been incredibly long-suffering, giving mankind opportunity to receive His salvation, but time is up.
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God has a plan, He's sticking to the plan, and He's about to bring all of this to a close.
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Do you think that you have forever to get right with God?
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Is that your plan?
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Yeah, down the road.
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I know I'm not really serious about God right now, I realize I should be more...
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I should be like reading the Bible and praying and really seeking the Lord.
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Someday I'm going to get there. You think you have forever?
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Because you don't. You don't.
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And that's what this angel is declaring.
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He's shutting this down.
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He promised he would, and he's about to close the chapter of the book of history of the earth.
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God has been so patient, but for everyone who hasn't received Jesus Christ, the day is coming that it's going to be too late.
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So despite as out of control as things look at this point in Revelation, this angel swears a bold oath that God's Word is going to go down exactly as advertised.
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And for John and for us, this is reinforcing confidence in the Word of God.
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And I think that's why we find it here in the book of Revelation.
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Because last week, let's be honest, the images that we talked about last week were pretty out there, weren't they?
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the description of these demons coming from the abyss and the way they attacked man and what they looked like.
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We have to admit that those were pretty out there images.
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And John saw these things and we were describing these things and somebody might say, "Well, Pastor Jeff, that stuff seems pretty horrific.
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Do you really believe that it's going to go down like that?
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I mean, do you really think that that's exactly how it's going to go down?" And the answer is, yeah, with absolute certainty.
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I believe it's going to go down according to every letter the Lord wrote here.
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See, that's the purpose of this vision.
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John at this point would have seen these demons and been like, "Really? Then people aren't going to repent? Really? Really? Is this going to happen?
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Is this really going to happen?" And then this angel says, "Hey, you can have complete confidence in the Word of God because it's going down exactly as he said it would." God gave us the whole story.
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God described literally exactly how it all started in Genesis.
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And in Revelation, God describes literally exactly how it's going to end.
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By the way, it's interesting, the two books of the Bible that come under most attack and criticism and scrutiny than any other book, do you know which two books they are?
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Genesis and Revelation.
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Interesting, isn't it?
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Why do you think that is?
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The enemy wants you to doubt where you came from, and he wants you to doubt that it's going to come to a close is the way God said it's going to. Just as sure as the creation of all things is the consummation of all things. And church, I'd like to remind you, Revelation isn't some metaphor, but it's a detailed account of future history. How should I feel about God's Word?
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Well, according to this angel, how you should feel about God's Word is confident. Yeah, that's what he said. Yeah, it's pretty horrific. It's pretty out there. It's pretty like, "Whoa, but, but, what God said, I'm going to believe Him." How should I feel about God's Word?
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and secondly, how should I feel about God's judgment?
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And the answer is, bittersweet. Bittersweet.
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Look at verses 8-10.
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"Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, 'Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.' So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll.
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And he said to me, 'Take and eat it.
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It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.' And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it.
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It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter." John again hears his voice from heaven, and he's called not just to watch what's happening, but John's called to participate in what's happening.
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And this becomes a graphic illustration of the proper response a believer should have concerning the coming judgment of God.
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First of all, it's sort of a weird command, isn't it?
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"Eat the scroll." Like, "I had a big breakfast." "Eat the scroll?" What kind of a crazy command is that?
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But understand, it symbolizes a deeper truth.
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And eating the scroll is the same way we should be consuming the Word of God.
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You know, some people sort of treat the Word of God like it's, you know, these little candy dishes.
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"I'll just take a couple of Skittles here and a couple of M&Ms here." And that's how they sort of treat the Word of God.
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We just sort of go through, we kind of pick little things out here and there, and that's not how God's called us to consume the Word of God.
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God's called us to sit down, put the bib on, get the knife and the fork, and we're going to consume the Word of God.
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It's fully taking it in.
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And that's the point, when you consume this, when you get this, when you really get this, you're going to react like John.
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And John found the Word of God, the judgment of God, specifically here.
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He found it to be sweet in his mouth, but he found it to be bitter in his stomach.
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Let's talk about that for a second. Let's talk about sweet.
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John wanted the Lord to act in judgment to take back the earth and to be exalted as he rightfully should.
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Don't you? Don't you want to see that?
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Don't you long for God to make everything right?
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Don't you just get fired up at the thought of God putting an end to sin and all of the suffering that comes with it.
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Can you really imagine what that's going to look like?
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What existence is going to be like when God finally gets rid of sin?
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Can you imagine what that's going to be like?
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My gosh, I wrote down a list here, but this is just like partial.
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No more injustice, ever. No more injustice!
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No more racism! No more wars!
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No more abortions! No more oppression!
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No more abuse. No more of this arrogant rejection of God.
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All that stuff is gone. Can you imagine what life is going to be like?
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It's going to be sweet.
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And it's not just that, because this also means no more of the things that are a part of a cursed world due to sin, right?
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We live in a cursed world because of sin, and all of those things are going to be gone.
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Like starvation. Not one kid will ever be hungry again.
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Addiction, gone.
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No more cancer. No more autism.
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No more diabetes. No more multiple sclerosis.
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No more muscular dystrophy. No more depression. No more death.
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All things made whole and right and just and perfect.
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And God, God will be rightly and passionately and perfectly worshipped.
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That is sweet, right? Who's with me?
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That is sweet!
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Can you even imagine what that's going to be like?
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It's going to be so sweet!
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Let's talk about bitter for a second.
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Because judgment is sweet, and it's glorious to think of what awaits the people of God, but this also means that we realize the terrible fate that comes upon unbelievers.
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You see, these events that we're looking at in Revelation, they're going to usher God's people into a new heaven into a new earth.
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But those who haven't received Christ are instead going to be ushered into hell - a place of eternal and conscious, horrific suffering.
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You see, it's impossible to just have one or the other because judgment necessarily by its very nature has to include both.
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In other words, God making things right must include the condemnation of those who have rejected Him.
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And if you're a Christian - I mean, if you're a true Christian, like you're a true born-again, consume the Word, get what's going on, then you have to be feeling the bitterness of these events in Revelation.
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You have to be.
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I don't have to sell you on it.
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You're already experiencing it.
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See the guy that says, "You know what?
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I can't wait for that day.
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I can't wait for that day when all of those God-rejecting people are sent straight to hell.
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I can't wait.
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I can't wait till those Muslims fry.
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I can't wait until all of those, you know, anti-God, liberal...
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I just can't wait until God gives them what's coming to them.
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If that's you, and I say this with all love, you don't get it, because you certainly don't have the heart of God.
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Three times in Ezekiel, 18.23, 18.32, 33.11, at least three times, God says, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." God's not smiling as He's sending anyone into judgment, okay?
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Are you? Are you?
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God doesn't delight in watching God rejecters suffer.
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He doesn't delight in that, even though it's the right thing.
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He says, "I have no pleasure in that, but do you?" Can you truly grasp the ramifications of all of these events?
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We can talk about the terrorists.
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We can talk about the corrupt politicians.
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And we can talk about the people who rape, and the people who kill, and the people that have just made it their life's mission to make other people miserable.
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You might say, "Pastor Jeff, I don't give a damn about those people." I would still contend that you don't have the heart of God.
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But I would also like to insert that while judgment is going to fall on these people, it also includes your loved ones.
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Any family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors who don't know Jesus Christ are heading to the same hell.
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And I would ask, is it bitter in your stomach now?
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I don't have to sell you on enjoying the sweetness if you're a child of God.
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But it's my prayer today that we feel the bitterness in a renewed way.
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And the feeling this bitterness moves us to go after those that we know who don't know Jesus Christ.
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That it would start with mourning for them.
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And from mourning to them, it would move to praying for them.
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And then it goes to inviting them here.
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Maybe you're not comfortable sharing the Gospel with them.
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I am. Bring them here. I'll tell them.
23:58-24:10
the judgment of God, if you're going through these events in Revelation and you're not experiencing the bitter sweetness of it, "sweet in my mouth, gave me a tummy ache," then you're not getting it.
24:10-24:23
And I would encourage you to spend some time with the Lord and say, "God, obviously I'm missing something because I'm not feeling what John was feeling here." And what Jeff says, "I should be feeling here." There should be a real bitter sweetness going through these events.
24:24-24:41
Verse 11, "And I was told you must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings." John is commissioned again to write what God was going to reveal, because despite everything that's happened at this point with the seals and the trumpets, there's still a multitude on the earth.
24:42-24:48
And the truth is, it's going to get far more sweet, but it's also going to get a lot more bitter at the same time.
24:49-24:50
Will you bow your heads with me, please?
24:50-24:51
Just like it's to look at our hearts.
24:52-24:57
Father, I believe that that's why You gave us Revelation 10, that we would take a heart check.
24:57-25:03
Because at this point in Revelation, it might be easy to start to doubt what Your Word actually says.
25:03-25:08
At this point in Revelation, some of us might be tempted to enjoy the thought of people going to hell.
25:09-25:12
But as we stand alongside John here, You bring us back into a right perspective.
25:13-25:17
God, I pray for our church, for those who follow these things online.
25:17-25:25
I pray, Father, for a renewed confidence in the Word of God, that these verses are just as true as in the beginning God created.
25:25-25:29
These verses are just as true as for God so loved the world.
25:29-25:31
These verses are just as true.
25:32-25:35
And we have full confidence that you finish what you begin.
25:35-25:43
God, I pray for the hearts of those of us who maybe are hearing these things and deep down maybe we're kind of excited about the thought of somebody going to hell.
25:43-25:47
Pray God that you would restore in us a heart of God that has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
25:48-25:51
And like John, in consuming your Word, we're feeling again the bitterness.
25:52-26:01
Pray that your Word would give us a sour stomach today, and it would only revitalize our hearts for reaching out to those who don't know you.
26:01-26:09
Father, we thank you for this break in the action that you gave John and you gave us, so we can truly understand at this point how we should be feeling about things.
26:10-26:11
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 10
GROUP
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Why did John even mention that there was a message in the thunders (Rev 10:4) if he wasn’t allowed to record it?
Explain what was illustrated by John eating the scroll (Rev 10:10).
How is judgment both sweet and bitter?
When it comes to judgment, which do you “feel” more - the sweet or the bitter side? Why?
BREAKOUT
Pray for your heart to really capture the sense of bitterness that comes with judgment, and that you would mourn over, pray for, and witness to the lost in your life.