It's hard not to look around at the state of the world and see how it is slowly dying. You might think things should be getting better but when you look at the economy, the politics in the world and even in our own cities and communities, you can see that they aren't. We see churches quite literally dying on the vine as they become more concerned with growing their churches in numbers than ensuring that they are standing firm in teaching directly from the Bible. Is it any wonder than, that we see ourselves as a culture growing apathetic in what is happening as if there is nothing we can do as believers in Christ? Yet we have the blessed hope, that God is moving around the world, getting things ready for the final fulfillment of Bible prophecy as we continue our amazing study into the Book of Revelation, the only book in the Bible that offers a blessing to those that read it and hear the words!
Revelation 10:8-11 ~ "Then the voice that I had heard form heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
Jeremiah 15:16 ~ "Your words were found and I ate them, and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of Hosts."
This should excite you! You are property of the living God. He calls you by name. You belong to Him. He knows you and you know Him. What is your joy? The fact that your name is written down in the books of heaven? That you have forgiveness for your sins?
Psalm 34:8 ~ "Oh taste and see that the LORD is good;"
Yet for some people it isn't. Everytime they open the Word of God, it tastes bitter to them. They don't like it and they don't understand those of us that love to read it. Maybe they just need to read that verse. Maybe you have been brought up in a bitter gospel, which is no gospel. Keeping certain laws or ways of living, jumping through hoops just to become a part of it or be on the staff. No wonder some people run from the Word of God. This is not how God designed it to be. Taste and see for yourself, that God is good!
John 6:35 ~ "And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."
These verses help us to understand the sweetness that can be found in the Word of God, but remember the messenger also told John about the bitterness as well.
Acts 17:30-31 ~ "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
Jesus is coming back to judge.
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 ~ "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such as task?"
The preaching of the gospel brings bitterness to some but life to others. It's a stinky stench to some but a wonderful aroma to others. People either love the Bible or are scared to death of the Bible.
Ezekiel 2:8-3:3 ~ "But you, son of man, listen to what I sat to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you." Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth."
God's grace is sweet, but His judgment is bitter. The Bible is either sweet to you or it is bitter. God gives His mandate to mankind, the Lord has ordained truth and justice.
Revelation 10:10-11 ~ "I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
In manners and customs of the Bible, I didn't know this prior to this study, but it is so romantic in regards to how the Jewish people are to God. When a Hebrew baby is born, the first thing the moms do, the believing mothers, they take that baby and put that baby on their breast to nurse. They are dedicated to this. As soon as the baby is born, it is put on the breast to nurse, notice this the position of the head, the ear and the mouth to the mother. The ear is the closest thing to the mouth of the mother. As soon as the baby begins to draw milk, her mouth speaks into the ear of the baby and says, "The LORD, He is God." So that baby grows up instantly getting warmth of the mother, that baby can hear the heartbeat of mother, the nourishment of mom, and the emotional comfort that brings the baby, and the baby grows up hearing, "The LORD, He is God." Strength comes from Him, nourishment comes from Him, warmth comes from Him, the beating of the heart, life, comes from Him.
This same thing applies with the words being sweet to the mouth, in the Old Testament times, the parents would teach their children the Hebrew alphabet so that they might form words. They would put the alphabet on a slate, and they would write them out on a slate with their mother or father's finger dipped in a flour and honey like substance. They would use that as chalk. When the child began to learn the letters and put words together, and when they learned the word, they were able to take and scrape off the word and eat it. They loved it!
The word is sweet in my mouth but when you ingest the word of God not only is it salvation to those who believe, it's terrible judgment to those who resist. There is pain with that. The same rule that was given to John to take the scroll, to know it, preach it, teach it and share it with others, it applies to us as well. We are either senders or goers right? We all have to get involved. The believer is commanded to get involved, not to sit back and do nothing. The best part is when you step out to do that, fun things happen. The sweetness of God's Word, we have all experienced it. We are nothing alone, but together, we are fulfilling what God told John so long ago. God is doing something even in His own Word to those that receive what the Bible has to say. Let's pray before we close out this message today.
Father,
We come before You and Lord more than ever in this 21st century at this time, our very existence is not an accident, and reading this message today is not an accident. You are the God of all wisdom and knowledge and You're the God of the moment, and we would ask God that You would serious take inventory to determine whether we be in the faith or not. That the fact that Jesus Christ is our assurance and is 100% true but do we have Him for real. God, search our hearts and cause us to dig deep to discover or uncover anything in our lives that would keep us separated from You, maybe even if it is religion itself or morality or good works that keeps us from knowing You. God, we pray that You would strip away and leave nothing left except that which You delight in, and Lord we even pray that after confirming that assurance, that we would get up from this prayer and become Your faithful ministers on deployments as it were, at our jobs, neighborhoods or homes, our families and to this nation, to the state we might be living in, and God that we would be faithful and more serious than ever before and yet at the same time the joy of the Lord will be our strength. So God thank You for Jesus and in Your name we pray ~ AMEN!!!
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