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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffers and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. How do you renew your mind and therefore transform your life? Remember the thesis of the message today, you are what you eat. What we're going to discover a very practical way.
to change your spiritual diet and therefore change your life. In a very strange passage of scripture, we're going to look at today. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffers. The book of Revelation is known for its elaborate imagery and mysterious metaphors.
Unraveling the end times, it's not for the faint of heart. But even the strangest events can have practical application for us today. Today, on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress draws helpful lessons from an unusual passage about a mighty angel. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates.
Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. I've been studying the book of Revelation and preaching sermons from this last book in the Bible for my entire adult life. And our current teaching series on Revelation represents the culmination of what I've learned. To go along with this series, I've written a booklet called The Major Characters of the End Times. I'd like to send you a complimentary copy today.
Just for getting in touch with me. In my booklet, I help you understand the difference between characters such as the Antichrist, Satan, and the false prophet. You can request the major characters of the end times by going to ptv.org. I've also written a full-length book on Revelation. Like this teaching series, it's called Final Conquest.
Revelation is all about the return of our King, Jesus Christ, in all His glory. Revelation is the most hope-filled, triumphant book in all of Scripture. Final Conquest is yours when you give a generous gift to support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory. I'll say more about these two resources later in today's program. And David will also explain how you can receive my entire teaching series for Revelation called Final Conquest on CD and DVD.
But right now let's give our complete attention to Revelation chapter 10. I titled today's message, You Are What You Eat. You are What you eat. Have you ever heard that before? Maybe you've even used it with your own kids to try to encourage them toward better nutritional choices.
You are what you eat. We understand what that means. What you consume. affects you physiologically. That's also true in the spiritual realm.
You become spiritually what you consume. What you watch, what you listen to, what flows into your life. really does determine the kind of person you are. God is so concerned about what comes into our life and affects our life. that he gave Paul this direction.
He told him to write in Romans 12, 2, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How do you renew your mind and therefore transform your life? Well, we're going to discover a very practical way To change your spiritual diet and therefore change your life. In a very strange passage of scripture, we're going to look at today. If you have your Bibles, turn to Revelation chapter 10.
Revelation chapter 10. Look at verse 1. And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven. And he was clothed with a cloud. That's a reference to his celestial origin.
And the rainbow was upon his head. Remember, the rainbow is a sign of both God's judgment and his mercy. And his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. But the most interesting thing about this angel is the action that he takes. And he had in his hand a little book which was open.
He placed his right foot on the sea. and his left foot on the land. But that's one big angel. One foot on the land, one foot on the sea. This isn't just a reference to his size, but to his authority.
In the Bible, whenever you read about the land and the sea, the land and the sea, that's a description of the totality of God's creation. And for this angel to put one foot on the land and one foot on the sea is a sign that he is claiming this world for God. It's a sign of ownership. On behalf of God, he is saying this world is under the foot, under the domain of God himself. That's what this angel is representing.
This whole world belongs to God. After he takes his claim upon the earth, notice what John is forbidden to do. Verse 3: And he, that is the angel, cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. Can you imagine the sound of this majestic angel, the roar that he let out? When a lion roars, it's a sign of conquest, it's a sign of victory.
That's what this roar of the lion is. He cried out with a loud voice, and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, John says, I was about to write. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them. Apparently, when the thunder sounded, John could hear a human voice in that.
Thunder. There was a revelation, more information about the tribulation that was given to John, and he was about to write it down. And that made sense. After all, in Revelation 1, Jesus told John to write down the things that he saw and send it to the churches. But this same voice, perhaps that of Christ, said, what you just heard...
Don't write down. Don't share this revelation with anyone. There are some things, there are some truths of God which are a mystery still. But God has revealed to us everything we need to know. But there are some things we can't know, especially about the end times.
John was forbidden to write the things that he heard in the peals of thunder. And then you see this announcement of the strong angel in verse 5. Then the angel, whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land, lifted up his right hand to heaven, and he swore by him who is forever and ever, who created heavens and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things that are in it. And what did he swear? that there should be delay no longer.
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, When he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished as he preached to his servants the prophets. This angel raised his hand toward heaven. And by God's authority, he swore two things. First of all, he swore that there would be delay no longer. What does that mean?
Christ's coming will no longer be delayed. And then the angel says, Not only will there be no longer a delay, but the mystery will be finished. Verse 7. What does he mean the mystery is finished? In the Bible, a mystery.
Is a truth of God that's been hidden in previous generations, but is now being made known to man. Ephesians 1:9 and 10, God, Paul talks about the mystery of God, that in the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and on the earth, there's going to come a time when everything comes to an end and people are going to understand the mystery. What is the mystery? It's one you've probably wondered about before, or you've had people ask you about before. If there really is a God.
And he's really all-loving and all-powerful. Why is there evil in the world? That is a mystery, but it is a mystery that will be finished when the Lord Jesus returns. And that's what the angel is talking about here. The mystery of Christ will be finished.
And then when we get to verse 8. We see something very strange. We see John, who up to this point has been an observer of the revelation, he becomes a participant in it.
Now stay with me on this, beginning with verse 8. Then the voice which I heard from heaven, that is God. Then the voice I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me and saying, Go take the book. The little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.
Now underline that word take. God tells John to go take the book. out of the angel's hand. John's a little reluctant to do that. If you saw a gargantuan angel, you might be a little hesitant to take something from him.
And so John says, I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, no, you take it. And then eat it. And it will make your stomach bitter. But in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.
And so I took, underline that, I took the little book out of the angel's hand and I ate it. And in my mouth was sweet as honey. And when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And then they said to me, you must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. John had to take the book.
The angel didn't give it to him. God doesn't cram His message to us down our throats. We have to willingly take it. But it's not just enough to take it. We have to Eat it.
Now, don't get hung up on whether John literally ate this entire book. Remember, Jeremiah was commanded, Ezekiel was commanded to eat the scroll of God. Whether or not he ate it literally is unimportant. The point is It was a picture of assimilating God's word into his own life. Remember, you are what you eat.
Make God's word a part of your life. And so John did that. He assimilated, he digested the truth of that little book into his life before he could go out and prophesy to the nations. And when he ate the word of God. Either literally or figuratively, it first of all made his stomach bitter.
It was bitter in taste. But then it became as sweet as honey. We read that this morning in Psalm 119. Longest chapter in the Bible talks about the power of God's word. Remember, verse one: your word is as sweet as honey in my mouth.
In what sense is God's word both bitter? as well as sweet. I was turning that over and over in my mind this week, and it didn't come to me till yesterday afternoon.
So it's not in your notes, but I want you to write this down. There are three aspects of the bitterness and sweetness of God's Word. First of all, in terms of its audience. In terms of its audience, to unbelievers This message, especially the message of Revelation, is bitter news. Jesus Christ is coming back to judge the unrighteous.
That is not good news if you're not a Christian. It is bitter to unbelievers, but to believers, it's good news. Jesus is coming back to reward the righteous.
So, in that. aspect. According to its audience, it is bitter and sweet. But secondly, it's bitter and sweet in terms of its content. Regardless of whether you're a Christian or not a Christian, in the book of Revelation, there are some terrible events that are recorded.
Alike the Demon-like locust and the demonic army, and the third of the world being burned up, and so forth. Those are terrible events. But in the very same revelation, there are triumphant events, like the visible return of Jesus, his millennial kingdom in which perfect justice will reign, our home in heaven, the new heaven, and the new earth. Those are all triumphant events as well. And then finally, God's word is both bitter and sweet in terms of its effect.
on our own life. Its effect on our life. When we make God's word a part of our life, when we allow God's word to speak to us, It causes both hurt. And it also causes healing. That's the power of the Word of God.
It produces hurt, that's bitter, that's unpleasant, but it also produces healing.
Now What does this mean to me? We've talked about a big angel. We've talked about John digesting the little book. What does it mean to me? Remember the thesis of the message today?
You are what you eat. The Bible says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If you want the transformed life God has planned for you, you have to. change your spiritual diet. You have to eat, you have to assimilate God's word into your life.
And so today I thought I would close the message by giving you five very practical ways you and I can eat the book. Assimilate God's Word and make it a part of our life. First of all, To get a grip on God's Word, to eat the Word of God, we need to listen to God's Word. To listen to God's word. Romans 10:17 says, For faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ.
There is something powerful about listening to the word of God. Secondly, we need to read the word of God. Read the word of God. The psalmist said in Psalm 119, 18, Open mine eyes that I may behold wonderful things out of thy law. There's something even more powerful about reading than simply listening to the Word of God.
You listen, you read, but the third is to study the Word of God. Study the word of God. 2 Timothy 2.15 says, Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. How do you study God's Word? I wouldn't even know where to begin, you may say.
I'm glad you asked the question. There is a tremendous book, the best book I know of, on how to study the Bible, is a book that came out 20 years ago, but it's still in print. It's called Living by the Book. It's by my old professor Howard Hendricks and his son William Hendricks. The subtitle is The Art and the Science of Reading the Bible.
And it will tell you how you can actually study the Bible for yourself. I'd encourage you to get that book, living by the book. You can get it at Amazon. If we're going to get a grip on God's Word, take it and assimilate it into our life, we need to listen to the Word. We need to read the word.
We need to study the word. And then, fourthly, We need to memorize the word of God. Memorize especially key verses that deal with difficulties we're going to encounter. In our life. You know where to turn if you were consumed with anxiety and didn't know how to quit worrying.
If a temptation suddenly came into your life, Do you know what scripture to turn to, to change your heart and attitude, to flee that temptation? You know, I remember so well reading. About that 737 jetliner in October of 2018, that Lion Air 737. Jetliner, the pilot started experiencing the nose of their airplane pitching upward. pitching upward.
And finally, it did it, and it stalled the aircraft. They started plummeting toward the earth. and the last moments of that plane The captains were furiously flipping through the flight manual, trying to find the answer, the solution to the problem they were in. They crashed. 138 people died on board as those captains and pilots were looking through that flight manual.
Let me tell you something. If you wait until you're in a crisis to try to figure out where to go in scripture to help you, you've waited too long. The time to put God's word in your heart is before that crisis comes into your life. Isn't that what Jesus did in the wilderness when Satan assaulted him? His only hope for survival was to be able not just to quote any scripture, but to quote those exact verses from Deuteronomy that dealt with the temptation he was facing.
If it was necessary for Jesus to hide the word of God in his heart, how much more important is it for us to do it? Psalm 119, 11, Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against God. We listen. We read, we study, we memorize. And then fifth.
is perhaps the most important one. We need to meditate on the Word of God. Meditate. And what do I mean by meditate? You mean get yourself in some transcendental trance and moo.
Yeah. No. That's not what meditation is. Here's the definition of meditation. Literally, it means to turn over in your mind, referred to a cow chewing its cud.
to turn over in your mind. The living Bible, Psalm 1, captures it best. Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil men's advice. who do not hang around with sinners scoffing at the things of God. But they delight in doing everything God wants them to.
And they are day and night meditating on God's word. Here it is. thinking of ways to follow him more closely. That's what meditation is. God didn't give us His word to make us smarter sinners.
He gave us his word to make us more obedient disciples of Christ. That's what it means to meditate. Thinking about God's word. thinking about how it applies to you and making what change. is necessary.
This week. earlier in the week. I was listening to God's word. I was listening to a sermon, and it happened to be on Malachi chapter 3. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse.
Malachi said. And I was listening to that sermon, and I thought to myself, boy. That preacher has made an excellent point. I need to go share that with my church next Sunday. And then the Spirit of God said to me, No.
Before you share it, you need to apply it. And God brought to my mind some extra income I had received, didn't expect to receive. And I hadn't written my tithe check on it yet.
Now I'm going to tell you, I'm going to be painfully honest with you. When I realized what I had to do, It was bitter for just a moment. It hurt just a little bit as I thought about writing that check. But that bitterness was replaced by sweetness right away. As I was able to thank God, I even had the income to be able to tithe on.
It was a great blessing. And yes, in the first service, I deposited that check into the offering plate if you're wondering. But that's exactly what God's word does. Yes, it hurts, it convicts, but it does so in order to bring blessing into our life. And if you want to experience God's blessing in your life, You have to assimilate God's word into your life.
Again, not just to increase your knowledge, but to increase your level of obedience. Isn't that what God said to Joshua in Joshua 1.8? This word of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but You shall meditate on it day and night. and be careful to do what is written in all that is in it. For then you will make your way prosperous.
And then. you will have success. Mm. That's the value. of eating.
the word of God. The Apostle John said, I hope you're prepared to consume the word of God with a voracious appetite. The psalmist said that God's words are sweeter than honey. As you're ready to take your next steps toward consuming God's Word, Let me remind you that I've written a best-selling book for you called Final Conquest. It contains my verse-by-verse commentary on the book of Revelation.
Revelation is filled with mysterious symbols and fantastic future events, but at the core is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without a doubt, this is the most important and comprehensive book I've written on Bible prophecy. And when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of Final Conquest. As you give, please know that your investment in Pathway to Victory is truly making a difference around the world. For example, I heard from Wesley who said, Pastor Jeffress, I pastor a small church in Northern Ireland.
My wife and I are truly blessed to watch your Revelation series on television. Sadly, in our country today, the powers that be are heading towards secularism and anti-Christian attitudes. Thank you for your forthright exposition of the Word of God.
Well, thank you, Wes. And thanks to anyone who gives generously the pathway to victory. You are making it possible for us to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word all around the globe. Here's David to tell you more. You're invited to request your very own copy of the book Final Conquest when you give a generous gift to support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory.
Call 866-9992965, visit ptv.org or text ptv to 78800. And when you give an especially generous gift of $125 or more, we'll also send you the complete Final Conquest Teaching Series on DVD video and MP3 format audio disc. You'll get that along with Dr. Jefferson's book, Mysteries of the End Times: a clear guide to your questions about the rapture, the tribulation, and the return of Christ. One more time, call 866-999-2965.
or make your request online at ptv.org.
Now you can also write to us if you'd like, P.O. Box 223-609-Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J.
Mullins. You know, we might be bound by limits of space and time, but to God, what we see as future, God sees as history. Hear a message called Breaking News, Tuesday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.
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