Revelation 10:1-11 (Eat This Scroll, Jeff Kliewer)

Everybody to Cornerstone to our virtual worship service. We're excited to have you with us again this morning. We're specifically excited that we can gather together in worship and an adoration of our Lord and Savior.

Christ Our High Priest and the Call to Worship

We know that we have a high priest sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us and so we come before him in the Holy Spirit proclaiming Abba, Father. We are so glad to be here with you.

If you're joining us for the first time, welcome to our virtual format. If you've been with us, welcome back. We're excited to have you. This morning I want to look in Psalm 22 verses 1 through 8. It's a Psalm of David and it's actually a psalm that starts out with despair and then is followed up with surrender and joy.

This past week Kristen Troester shared a message. It's a YouTube message and it talks about fear and when fear overcomes you but then how that fear can be turned into joy through a cure. The message identifies that fear is going to be triggered in one of several ways.

It could turn into a control situation where your fear makes you have to control the circumstances or it could be anger where in rage you claim out and you cry out against what you believe is causing the problem or there can be withdrawal where you just surrender away from it.

But there's another approach to it. You see, if you turn to Scripture, this fear that you're experiencing and these circumstances that seem to be overwhelming you and if you turn to Scripture, 1st John 4 .8, it tells us that perfect love casts out fear and I would say that if that perfect love is, if you place that perfect love in our Lord and Savior and in His sovereignty, then the circumstances that are around you can be can be cast away.

If you have a relationship and you have pure love, then that relationship is pure and it casts out fear. Turn to the Scriptures, 2nd Timothy 1 .7, it says that God has given us a spirit of power and of love and of discipline and so those circumstances that just seem to be overwhelming you, God has already given you what you need, the power that you need, the love that you need and through His Holy Spirit the discipline that you need to overcome those.

Now turning back to Psalm 22, in verse 1 it starts out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Sounds very familiar to Matthew, doesn't it? Where Christ cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Or perhaps Habakkuk in the beginning, where the prophet says, I've been crying out for so long and you don't seem to hear. But here's what's in common between those and what's happening in Psalm 22 is David is crying out in desperation, he is not crying out in accusation.

There's nothing wrong with having circumstances that overwhelm you and turning to God in desperation. That's what the psalmist does because then you see in verse 4, we start to see where he recognizes and acknowledges and confesses the great works that God has done in his fathers.

So from desperation to to acknowledgement and recognition and it moves down into verse 8 where there's commitment and trust that's put in the Lord. He trusts in the Lord, he lets him rescue him, he pleads for him to deliver him and because of that he delights in him.

You see when circumstances hit us and they do hit us and there is the tendency for fear, turn to scriptures then turn to God and express your anxiety to him and then remember the good works that he has done.

Finally that is going to lead you to a point of acknowledging him and then committing yourself to him. So here's my challenge to you this week, when circumstances happen first acknowledge before God your anxieties, second surrender everything that's going on to him acknowledging what he has already done, finally trust him.

Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, amen, amen.

A few announcements for this week, first we did this about a month ago and next week we are going to be returning to the Lord's table. It's a special time of celebration together and you're going to join us right in your own home.

So I'm giving you an advance warning so next week as you get ready for our virtual worship service next Sunday come prepared with the cup, come prepared with the bread and we will be celebrating that together next week.

There's good news with Eleanor Webster, there has been a great level of recovery, she still has a way to go so please remain in prayer. Apparently Bill has remained protected through this so we do continue to live Bill and Eleanor up.

Tomorrow will be our annual meeting, by now Pastor Jeff has sent out two things, you would have received in mail a ballot, it was sent to all members, we will be voting on accepting or not the treasurer's report and that will be done by mail as we did a month ago in the election meeting.

There is an email that will have come out with all of the reports from all the ministry leads, you can download those, you can read those and you can understand those and finally on Monday we will be having a zoom meeting, a notice will come out for that.

The ministry leads will give you their reports and you can interact with them as you desire. Please pray for us as a board as we come out of our retreat and now as we are making plans, how do we bring Cornerstone Church out of the quarantine and how do we do so in a way that promotes the kingdom of God, protects safety and how do we actually accomplish that?

Be in prayer that there will be wisdom as we go out, information is going to be promulgated on what you can expect. And finally on the cornerstonesj .org website, if you have children you can log on to the cornerstonesj .org website and find the children's curriculum for their for your children's ministry.

I encourage you to do that. Let's turn to prayer. Lord as we come together it's with excitement knowing that we are in your presence, that you speak to us, that your Holy Spirit opens the eyes of our hearts and so now Lord we pray for this time.

We lift up Eleanor as she continues to recover. You are the great physician, continue to hold her up. We pray Lord for a full recover, continue to protect Bill. We thank you for the annual meeting that's coming up tomorrow.

We pray that it would be a blessed time as we get to experience and see how God has worked through the people of this church for his kingdom and how we can see the greatness of your ministry. We pray for that meeting.

Pray for wisdom as we as a church come out of quarantine. We lift up the sick. We continue to lift up those who are sick either with the coronavirus or other situations. Be with them, protect them. We pray for the frontline workers especially.

Pray for wisdom Lord for our country's leaders. Decisions to be made. Give them the wisdom on how to bring us out in a way Lord that would be honoring to you. Now Lord as Pastor Jeff opens up Revelation chapter 10 to us and we learn about the little scroll, we pray for your Holy Spirit anointing through him into our hearts.

We pray in Jesus.

Name, amen. We're gonna be singing a few songs together this morning which reminded me of a psalm about the same theme and it's Psalm 95. The heights of the mountains are also his. The sea is his for he made it and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor hold. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

His covenant is blood. Support me in the whelming flood. My soul gives way. He then is all my hope and. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. His covenant is blood. May I then in him be found.

In his righteousness alone. Fought lest to stand before the throne. Christ the solid rock I stand All around is sinking sand.

Lord you give us so much to be thankful for. We come to you singing praises of Thanksgiving. We lay ourselves at your feet We surrender all All the parts of our heart. We offer them to you as a sacrifice of praise.

Lord it's our desire that you Take control of our lives Make it known Your glory, your presence Deep within our heart.

You are my strength when I am weak. You are the treasure that I seek. You are my all in all. Seeking you as a precious jewel. Lord I give up, I'd be a fool. You are my all in all Jesus of God. Worthy is your name.

Jesus.

My sin, my cross, my shame. Rising again I bless your name You are my all. When I fall down you pick me up. When I am dry you fill my cup. You are my all Jesus Of a sunset's glory.

Amazing artistry.

Across the evening sky When I feel the mystery Of a distant galaxy It awes and humbles me To be loved by a God so high. What can I do but thank you. What can I do but give my life to you. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

What can I do but praise you Every day make everything I do. Who shared humanity And suffered by our side Of the cross they nailed you to That could not hold you. Now you're making all things new By the power of your risen life.

What can I do but thank you. What can I do but give my life to you. Hallelujah. What can I do but praise you Every day make everything I do. Hallelujah. What can I do but thank you. What can I do but give my life to you.

Every day make everything I do. What can I do but give my life to you. But praise you Every day make everything I do.

Eating the Word of God as Bread and Honey

Heavenly Father as we open this word. This morning we asked that it would be like bread to us.

That we would eat it.

That we would ingest it and digest it. Lord you tell us that man does not live by bread alone But by every word that comes from the mouth of the Father. And Lord we pray that you would nourish us Like manna from heaven Through your word today.

We pray also that it would be sweet to us Like dripping from the honeycomb. Sweet to the taste that we would love your word. And we pray Lord that you would change our appetites This morning as well. We have appetite for so many things.

But so often we do not hunger and thirst after righteousness. We do not hunger and thirst for your word. In fact you warned in Amos 8 .11 That a time would come when you would send a famine. Not a famine of hunger for bread or thirst for water.

But a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. Oh God let us be delivered from such a famine. In this land today there is such an absence of your word. Yet here in the pulpit, in the pew In the church of the living God We have your word.

We pray it would be honey to our lips. Change our appetites this morning in Jesus name.

Amen.

We have one hero of the Christian faith. We have one champion. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the one who came to earth And lived the life that none of us were able to live Keeping the law with perfect obedience And earned for us a perfect righteousness by that obedience.

He is the one who laid down his life on the cross Enduring that torture Enduring the shame for the joy set before him. He was crucified in weakness for us Taking the penalty that we deserve. And then he rose from the dead triumphant Ascended to the right hand of the father.

Where he is seated and from whence he is coming again. This is our king of kings and lord of lords. He is our hero and our champion. And so we have but one hero. We do however have other examples. Because Paul teaches us to imitate him As he imitates Christ.

So we're to follow the example. In fact in Philippians chapter 3 We're told to take note of those who live According to the pattern that we gave you. So there are others besides Paul Who live by that same pattern.

This morning we'll begin by looking at the pattern. Or the example of one of my favorites. I've talked about him from the pulpit many times. His name is George Whitfield. I have four quotes from George Whitfield.

To begin the sermon. But remember who he is. He is a first great awakening preacher Before 1776 Before the nation was founded in the Americas About a million people at that time. He came on many different mission trips From England and preached the gospel 18 ,000 sermons over the course of 30 years Such that a majority of American colonists Heard him preach.

This was a man who was prolific in his preaching 18 ,000 sermons in the Americas alone. He also preached in England And with great success. Many thousands and tens of thousands of people Came to the New Birth Through the preaching of George Whitfield.

It really prepared the soil For the birth of the nation. George Whitfield was a great If we won't say hero A great example for us. Well here are the quotes that I have from him. Because his passion to preach His love to proclaim Did not come from within himself.

It came from the food he ingested Not physical food But the spiritual manna from heaven. The bread. Christ as revealed in the word He says. I began to read the Holy Scriptures upon my knees. This proved meat indeed And drink indeed to my soul.

I daily received fresh light and power from above. George Whitfield would begin his day At five o 'clock in the morning. He would spread out before him The Bible, King James Version Which had only been finished I think in 1611.

And the Matthew Henry Commentary On the entire Bible. He would open to the same passage. Then he'd have a Greek New Testament. And he would pour over a verse or two of Scripture.

In the morning.

Reading it, studying it from a commentary But ultimately in the Greek text itself And then reading it and pondering it Memorizing as much as he could. And that word would be what would come out of him In the course of his preaching for the day.

It only took him about two years to go from born again To a powerful preacher in England. But it all began at five o 'clock every morning As he poured over the Scriptures On his knees Ingesting the Word of God that he loved.

He says,. Second quote. I got more true knowledge from reading the Book of God.

In one month.

Than I could ever have acquired From all the writings of men. He was not big into reading books. The abundance of books could fill the whole earth. And yet Whitfield was concerned with one God's Word, the Bible.

He poured over the Scripture daily. He didn't read a lot of philosophy. Now he was an educated man And he did read other things. But he says that he got more from one month in this book Than he ever could have gotten from all the writings of all time.

Third quote. If we once get above our Bibles And cease making the written Word of God our sole rule Both as to faith and practice We shall soon lie open to all manner of delusion And be in great danger of making shipwreck.

Of faith and a good conscience. Whitfield recognized that If we ever cease to go to the Word of God As our sole rule of faith and practice The one authority The one rule of our life Our faith and our practice We're going to be open to being deluded Led astray.

And that delusion comes from human pride The imagination of man. And it results in shipwreck of faith. And finally, a fourth quote He says, study to know Him more and more. For the more you know Him The more you will love Him.

Whitfield went to the Scripture Not just to have a head knowledge alone But to learn to love Jesus Christ. And the more he knew Him The more he loved Him. Because everything about Jesus is lovable. The more we see the true Christ in the Scriptures The more we love Him.

So here's the main idea this morning Ingesting the Word of the Lord. In other words, eating it. Ingesting the Word of the Lord Brings forth proclamation. But with that proclamation comes pain. There is a cross to carry.

There is difficulty in the road. There will be rejection There will be ridicule There will be slander. And Whitfield endured all of that. One of the harshest things that he had to endure Was a bitter stomach.

Each day he would vomit Throughout the course of the day. And the only relief he had from his stomach ailment Was the preaching of the Word. He would preach in the morning, noon, evening. And each time he stood in the pulpit to preach I guess it was adrenaline But more likely the power of God And the Holy Spirit filling him.

He had relief from his stomach ailment. And he preached Probably adding to his joy as he preached. But he endured that cross. Continuing on I'm sure there were many days He would have liked to just lay in bed all morning.

But instead he endured the pain For the sake of the name And traveled up and down the coast of the Americas And crossed ships. You know, from England to America I think he made 13 journeys In the course of his life.

Imagine the seasickness And the pain that he endured For the sake of the name. But that kind of passion That drive to proclaim him Came from knowing him in the Word. So we turn now to Revelation chapter 10.

And here we find ourselves In the midst of the tribulation. This is, in our real time This is yet future. This is a part of the world's history That has not yet taken place. But John is seeing an apocalypse An unveiling A revelation of things that have not yet taken place.

He's seeing the future. So as we come into the text We locate in the tribulation A seven year period of woe on the earth Horrible judgments being poured out Because of the wickedness of men. Now, recognize The church has already been raptured at this point.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4 says That before this time of wrath comes on the earth The church will be caught up To meet the Lord in the air And so we will be with him forever. So we, believers in Christ We've been spared this.

And as we've read about how How troubling these times really are The time of trouble The great tribulation The breaking of the seals And the judgment that comes. And then the trumpets At this point in the text Six of them have already blown.

We come now to the tenth chapter of Revelation. And the issue is Ingesting the word of God. It's an interlude again. This is not an angel who comes And blows the seventh and final trumpet. Rather, an angel comes And interacts with John In such a way To show him his path forward.

And so he brings a little scroll. And that scroll Represents the word of God. It could be the very book of Revelation That John himself will write. And at the end of Revelation 10 He's told that you must again prophesy About many peoples and nations And languages and kings.

In other words John will leave Patmos. As he's receiving this vision He will one day leave Patmos And again prophesy To the Roman Empire. He's the last living apostle. And he will prophesy again. Let's read the first three verses.

Notice the authority Comes with the word of God. 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.

He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea And his left foot on the land And called out with a loud voice Like a lion roaring When he called out. The seven thunders sounded.

Now this is a picture of authority An angel sent from God. Each image represents authority. Wrapped in a cloud The glory of the Lord Filled the temple. Clouds represent this Shekinah glory of God. So he's wrapped in glory With a rainbow over his head.

The rainbow represents the promise of God The sure, steadfast promise of God Not to destroy the earth again With a flood The sureness of that promise. And his face was like the sun. This image of light.

This brilliance That comes from the face of the angel Represents his godliness His holiness as it reflects The holiness of God And his legs like pillars of fire. Powerful imagery. And then he has a little scroll in his hand.

And the world would look at the word of God and say What is this little book? As they condescend toward us. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 I believe it's verse 26. It says that not many of us were wise Not many powerful Not many of noble birth.

That eugeness Where you get the word eugenics. Not many of us come from the elite. The noble birth. And the world looks at Christians As small And holding to a small thing Deluded Confused. I think they picture Christians as Kind of like those who are in flyover country.

The elite Kind of fly over the middle of the country And think of everyone that they pass over From their high heights As being less than. And in the eyes of the intelligentsia Christianity Especially genuine Christianity.

Which involves devotion to the word of God And accepting the word of God As absolute authority. This is regarded as.

Just foolishness.

Tomfoolery. But he has this little scroll open in his hand. Now the issue is not the size of the scroll But rather the power that holds it. And this angel comes to us with a picture of power. He has one foot planted on the sea And another planted on the land.

He is huge. And not only that. The land often represents Israel And the sea represents the nations. And so the idea here is that This angel has authority over all the world. What he holds in his hand He comes with weight and authority That none can deny.

And yet this mighty angel As powerful and big as he is Is but a flea Compared to the God who sent him. He's only a flea compared to the God who sent him. And so this scroll that he carries As small as it is As it is in the eyes of the world.

This book Thousands of years old Mocked and scorned Is backed by the power.

Of a God.

Who's bigger than the universe Who spoke the universe into existence. And that's the idea here The idea of authority With a loud voice Like a lion roaring When he called out The seven thunders sounded.

They say Whitfield's voice could be heard By 30 ,000 people at a time. Ben Franklin made note of this At some point in Philadelphia As Whitfield preached from the steps of the courthouse That 30 ,000 people in a crowd Were hearing the sound of his voice Like a lion proclaiming Jesus the Christ as king.

Well this angel comes with this kind of authority And it represents the authority of God. Next, verse 4. And when the seven thunders had sounded I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying Seal up what the seven thunders have said And do not write it down.

Very interesting. The thunders kind of echo the voice of the angel And say something. They communicate some revelation. And John is eager to write down What he heard. He's receiving the apocalypse. He's receiving this revelation.

But he's told do not write it down. And herein I think is one of the most Important lessons Of the Christian faith. And that is in succinct form Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things Belong to the Lord our God.

But those things which are revealed Belong to us and to our children forever. We live by what's written. The graphe, the writing. When 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 16 says All scripture is God breathed And is profitable for reproof And training and correcting and righteousness.

When it says all scripture That word is graphe. It means what is written. It's not the apostle who's inspired. Although John is a great man of God Who's ordained and commissioned for that role. The inspiration of scripture Refers to the graphe, the writing.

What John actually wrote. These words are not only written by him By John or the other apostles Who wrote the rest of the New Testament But written for our learning And our instruction. And they are binding over us.

So the absence of these words here Gives us a lesson as well. We live by revelation. We have what God has said to us. But there are secret things To which we are not made privy. There are secret things That are beyond us And that we are not meant to know.

There are limits to human understanding. Some things that we are to receive From the word of God Are beyond us. We are only to receive them as written. For example, the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity Is clearly revealed in scripture.

Matthew 28, 19. It's the formula for our baptism. We are to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We see the revelation throughout scripture That there is only one God. Deuteronomy 6, 4, Mark 12, 29.

We also see that there are three Persons who are God. Distinctions with personal pronouns. Such that Jesus will say In John 17, 5 He had glory with the Father Before the world began. There's a distinction That's introduced by scripture Between Father and Son.

There's a love between them. There's relationship. There's communication Between Father and Son. So there is distinction. And so we try to fit all those concepts together That God is one And yet he is three.

In being or essence he's one And in a different way In a different sense. There are three Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Persons in the Trinity. Biblical teaching. Now, the human mind Will desire To reconcile all of these ideas And fully understand who God is.

But guess what?

God is not like anything in creation. And by the analogies of created things Our minds will never be able To fully understand who God is. We are to accept what is written On faith and not go beyond what is written.

You can have the most intelligent mind In the history of the world Could be Solomon. Or in more recent times There was Isaac Newton. And for all of his genius Miss the simplicity of what is written. A recent article came out by I believe I have his name here.

I'll find it in a minute. This article was written by A professor for answers in Genesis. Faulkner, Dr. Faulkner. He has a PhD. He taught for 26 years in astronomy and physics At the University of South Carolina.

And he wrote an article about Isaac Newton. The interesting thing about Newton Is that he was absolutely a genius. By the time he was I think 25 years old He had discovered calculus Unlocked the laws of motion With his theories And discovered gravity And discovered the laws of optics.

He invented calculus. As I think I mentioned Newton was an absolute genius. But he wrote 10 times more about religion Than he did about physics. He always thought that he would be famous As a theologian.

No one today Follows the theology of Isaac Newton. It's a great amount of meandering Through the book of Revelation And other books Looking for symbols and types and shadows And codes that are hidden mathematically In the arrangement of the words.

It's a bunch of nonsense. He went beyond what is written. And here is the lesson Comes from John Bloom. Well Faulkner first of all Faulkner the PhD scientist says. That reason has its limits. We need to use reason In the sense of rightly dividing the word of God.

And yet reason can lead to our downfall If we elevate it beyond its rightful position. The word of God, Revelation Is higher than our human reasoning. It's higher than what we can fully understand The revelation of God.

So John Bloom says this. John Bloom writes for Desiring God. He says the only proven antidote To the doctrinal and moral diseases That have always afflicted the churches of God.

Is.

One, holding fast the word of life Philippians 2 .16. And two, not going beyond what is written 1 Corinthians 4 .6. Church history serves to confirm.

This is true.

That's the antidote To the folly of Isaac Newton's theology Trinity denying theology by the way Newton did not believe. The Trinity Tried to work all of those things out In his mind. The antidote is to hold fast To the word of life.

And.

To not go beyond what is written. So to hold on to what God has revealed Deuteronomy 29 .29. But leave what is secret The secret things to him. Very often in the course of church history Movements steer to the left or to the right Off of the center point The true plumb line of God's word.

Because men or women Go beyond what is written. I think of in the days of Andrew Fuller The movements of theology in England and Scotland Went beyond what is written. William Carey, Fuller's friend Had the desire to go to the nations To the heathen nations and bring the gospel.

But he was opposed by the theology of the day. Andrew Fuller stayed home As William Carey went to The ends of the earth to bring the gospel.

To India.

Andrew Fuller.

Fought the battles on the home front. But what was the battle that he fought? First of all it was against hyper-Calvinism. Hyper-Calvinism Is this unbiblical idea That we are not to use means For the salvation of sinners.

We are not to proclaim. We are not to plead with men To call them to repentance and faith Because God has elected whom he chooses to save. And so these hyper-Calvinists Opposed William Carey In his essay The use of means for the conversion of the heathen.

They opposed William Carey When he desired to take the gospel by ship And go intentionally Using means to preach the gospel To the ends of the earth For the sake of their theology. Hyper-Calvinism Denies what is written.

They do not hold fast to what is written. Which is the call As you see in Acts. The pleading with men for salvation Romans 10 14 -17. How shall they hear unless someone preaches. And how shall they preach.

How shall they go unless they are sent. All of this They deny the plain teaching of scripture In order to go off Into their secret theological world. Which then turns around and dictates to them.

How to live.

They err For the sake of their tradition. And so it is Throughout history. Another error that Andrew Fuller Stayed home to fight Was called Sandemanianism. Sounds like Sandman. But Sandeman. This teacher.

Taught that.

Faith is only an intellectual ascent. And so he removed any kind of Joy or passion that comes with believing Or any kind of repentance or act of the will In favor of a mere intellectual ascent It would be akin to A crusade event.

Today.

Where someone was told If you believe intellectually in Jesus And you're just willing to Sign your name on the decision card Without repenting of sin Without any change of affection To hate sin and to love Christ That intellectual ascent Would be affirmed as saving faith Prima facie.

That kind of error is Sandemanianism Fuller fought that Because it goes beyond what is written. It takes this definition of faith Which doesn't come from the Bible And in fact Rejects the biblical call As Mark says As the first thing that Jesus says Repent and believe the good news.

Repentance.

Part of the gospel call. And so the lesson here.

Before we move on.

The big idea Is we must Understand from Revelation 10. For there are secret things That are sealed up And not written down for us. There are mysteries There are things that are Beyond our understanding.

But we must hold fast To the word of life And not go beyond.