Revelation in Three Acts – September 13, 2026

Revelation 5:1, and we’ll read the entire chapter.

“Then I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne of scroll, written within, and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.’

“And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne. And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’

“Then I looked and heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads, thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

Our focus is really going to come from Revelation 5:4 today, predominantly, as we take our time through this journey.

Quickly, our three acts: Christ revealed, the Old Testament explored, and the truth applied. Today, I hope to be able to bring forth a little more about the truth applied aspect of it.

This morning, quickly, we want to remind ourselves that our focus has been, our premise has been, that the book of Revelations is written. Revelation is written to encourage Christians in their suffering. Joel Beeky says that John tells us in Revelation 1 the purpose of this book is to give comfort to the church. Revelation prepares God’s people in all ages for the tribulations and sufferings they must endure.

William Hendrickson says, “The description of the throne precedes the symbolic prediction of the trials and tribulations that the church must experience here on earth. The assurance of this truth should impart comfort to believers in the midst of fiery trials.”

Bruce Metzger, as we noted last week, ties the image of the Passover lamb with God’s protection of His people. In Revelation 5, he says, “There is a hint that just as the Passover lamb’s blood protected the firstborn of the Israelites from the plague of death, so too the lamb of God will protect the faithful from the wrath to come.”

And last week, in our message, we concluded that the premise that God keeps us in our tribulation. He doesn’t merely deliver us from our tribulation. And what we are seeing in Revelation 5 is the conquest by which Christ secures us from all that is to come to pass in the future.

Now, last week, I presented this passage of Scripture from the book of Revelation. Now, in response to that passage, I was asked, “How does this passage, which portrays God’s judgment expressed upon rebellious humankind, how does that passage reconcile, or how does it fit in with this passage? 2 Peter 3:9: ‘The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promises; some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.’”

Now, please notice the seeming conflict between this picture in Revelation of God judging and His wrath being so terrible people are hiding from God, with this premise of Him not willing that any should perish.

What I need you to see this morning is we have to be careful to not let this verse become the controlling narrative. That is, that we stop seeing any other passages except this one. It doesn’t take away from this passage. Many times people will read that first part, “God’s not willing that any should perish,” and never get to the second part about repentance. Without repentance, people will perish. And this is the concept that is just woven throughout Scripture again and again and again. And we have to be careful that we don’t say this verse as if, well, since God is not willing that any should perish, people really won’t perish. And all this stuff that’s found in the book of Revelation, it really doesn’t mean that because God isn’t willing that any should perish. This cannot become the controlling narrative. And I’ll show you why here this morning.

First off, because in Luke 13:3, 5, Jesus says, “Unless you repent, you will all perish.” You may argue all day that it’s not His will, but that’s what’s going to happen if people do not repent of their sins.

I would call your attention secondly to the fact that in this passage of Revelation that I used a moment ago, the people do not act. The persons in this Revelation passage try to escape His wrath through hiding rather than avert His wrath by repentance. They don’t say, “God’s sorry for what we did.” We say, “Let’s find a way to escape God’s wrath. Let’s hide from Him.” And this is the problem.

The failure to repent is recurrent in Revelation. What you see again and again and again is people suffering great affliction and hardening their hearts against God. Notice this from Revelation 9:

“The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

They’re suffering great tribulation and yet they hardened their hearts.

Listen to Revelation 16:

“The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and people were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give Him glory. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.”

It is so prevalent in the book of Revelation again and again and again. We see these passages where God is judging the world for its rebellion and instead of turning to God who could solve it, they hardened their hearts and doubled down on their sin. And this is what we must be careful of.

I want to remind you that when we started our journey, we said that the book of Revelation is not a tool for evangelism. And what happens many times, people try to use these fearful passages to scare people into serving God. And we have to pause a moment and notice the very people suffering these things. If we take them literally, the people suffering these things are not brought to God by them. How do we then expect that just saying to people, “This is what’s going to happen,” will somehow turn their hearts to God? It takes a work of God’s Spirit in the heart to bring true repentance, real sorrow for sin. And this is what has to happen in our day and age. There’s people in Revelation, and I know I’ve used some scriptures down the road, but the point remains that they have to come to repentance, and they won’t.

We also need to read the rest of 2 Peter. We just read verse number 9. We just select from it, “God’s not willing that any should perish,” and we don’t read the rest of the passage. Because the rest of the passage, in language very similar to Revelation, says this. After He says, “God’s not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance,” the very next thing He says, “Then the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what kind of people should a Christian be? What kind of life should we be living in light of what’s coming?” And this is the context. And He says, “What kind of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?”

Notice how He says, “All this will vanish with a roar. It will be burned up.” And go over to Revelation. And read again Revelation 4, where it says, “Heaven and earth fled away from the face of Him that sat on the Lamb.” It’s the same kind of language. And the message is, “Repent! Repent! Or be judged.”

And we must not dull the blade of God’s judgment by saying, “Well, you know, really, He isn’t willing that He should perish, so you don’t have anything to worry about.” Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.

Whatever else it might be, Revelation is an exposition on God’s wrath, poured out on sinful, rebellious humankind. I emphasize rebellious. Because unfortunately, we use language and it’s okay. It’s good language. We say things like, “We’re so broken.” And I agree with that. I am a broken person. But if we’re not careful, we minimize sin. We keep reducing it. It becomes less and less serious. Less and less vital to turn from it. “To err is human.” “We’re all imperfect.” And that’s true. But we must take our sins seriously. It is not just, “I did the wrong thing.” It’s that I intentionally rebelled against what God calls me to be and do. It is rebellion. And not merely a failure because I’m less than perfect.

Now this is the whole concept of this scroll imagery that we will have to bring out in the future, in future weeks. And I don’t want to belabor. I don’t want to turn every message into a judgment message. But you can’t read the book of Revelation without seeing that. Because God does these things and the people harden their heart. And then God does worse things and the people harden their heart. And then He does worse things and they harden their hearts. Until finally, He comes and puts things right once and for all. This is the message. This is the concept.

Greg Beal points out that the imagery of the scroll is drawn from the Old Testament. Daniel 12:4: “Daniel shut up the words and sealed the book until the time of the end.”

Isaiah 29, a judgment passage echoing what we read in Revelation: “The vision of this has become like the words of a book that is sealed. And when men give it to one who can read, saying, ‘Read this,’ he says, ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’ And when they give a book to one who cannot read, he says, ‘I cannot read.’”

The focus is there’s this book. And nobody can open this book. Nobody can tell us what’s in this book except for one person. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now obviously, in our past few weeks and today, we’re dealing with the concept of judgment. That only Christ can unveil the judgment. But we cannot overlook the fact that only Christ can bring salvation. Only Christ can escape from the judgment. The judgment is coming. The judgment is real. And the response, the echo, the escape, the aversion is run to Christ. Come to Christ Jesus.

Now the various images in Revelation might be symbolic in some sense. And we’ll look at that as we go. But the underlying message is not. Sin must be judged. And this has been the thought throughout the Old Testament. We’ve said how many of these passages in Revelation come from the Old Testament. Go back and look at those in context. And almost all of them have this promise that God is going to judge sin and make things right in the end. It comes up again and again.

And notice in this text John is weeping. There’s nobody to open the scroll. And John weeps. Now there’s a Greek word for silent weeping. Quiet, private sorrow. But that’s not the word here. Here it means he’s crying out loud. He’s wailing, if you will, at the horror of this scroll not being opened.

And yet as we look forward and see what’s in the scroll, we must pause and say, why is he sorrowful that judgment won’t come? Because justice has to be done in the universe. And one of the things we’ve lost in our culture, children, and I hope to be able to bring it out more fully for those who have lost it or never understood it, there cannot be any justice in this life if there’s no justice in the next life. God does not say, “You know, I’m going to do all this and at the end I’m just going to wipe it away and forget about it.” No, what He says is what? “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay.” And if there is no justice in the next life, there cannot be any justice in this life. Why work to make things right here if in the end everybody who’s done wrong ends up in heaven anyway? This is a terrifying thought, but we have to come to terms with it.

John is weeping because the scroll, again, with respect, he’s also weeping that the salvation of God will not be accomplished, but he’s also weeping because sin won’t be corrected and adjusted and dealt with and punished. His plan, God’s plan, including His judgment on the wicked cannot be fulfilled without the opening of these seals. The scroll’s got to be unrolled despite what it contains. And this is what all their commentaries agree on.

William Hendrickson says, “When the scroll was opened and the seals are broken, then the universe is governed in the interest of the church. Then God’s glorious, redemptive purpose is being realized. His plan is being carried out. And the contents of the scroll come to pass in the history of the universe. But if the scroll is not open, it means that there will be no protection for God’s children in the hours of bitter trial. No judgments upon a persecuting world. No ultimate triumph for believers. No new heaven and earth.”

The reason John is crying, this scroll has to be opened despite the horrors that it contains.

Grant Osborne says that John weeps and weeps that the scroll cannot be opened. He weeps because its contents, the events that will end human history and end the reign of evil cannot take place until the scroll is opened. The language conveys a deep-seated grief for what is lost, for events that will go unrealized. The kingdom of God cannot come.

The New International Bible Commentary says, “Christ’s exaltation also marks the beginning of divine judgment. Any threat that the evil powers might mount on earth or in heaven against God’s rule, even to soften the awful consequences of God’s wrath, is noticeably absent from Revelation’s vision of divine judgment. The triumph of the slain Lamb spells the certain and unequivocal defeat of evil and death. They can offer no resistance to God’s judgment against the anti-Christian kingdom.”

Now, we must ask the question, what’s the connection? What is the connection to this awful picture of judgment with our own need to endure suffering? And the answer, which is not pleasant and which we will not like, is that a world in judgment by God tends to strike out against God’s people. There is a theme running through Revelation that shows the hatred and animosity of a world under judgment against the representatives of God.

Listen to the story of the two witnesses from Revelation 7–11:

“When they, the two witnesses, have finished their testimony, the beast from the bottomless pit will make war on them, conquer and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is called Sodom in Egypt where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days, some from the peoples, tribes, languages, nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb. Those who dwell on earth will rejoice and make merry and exchange presents because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.”

Now whether they’re really two prophets we’ll talk about when we get down the road, and whether they represent Moses and Elijah as a dispensational viewpoint suggests, we’ll get down to that. But the point we need to see this morning is they do all these miracles, they do all these signs, and it’s not everybody saying, “Woo, go God!” It’s, “Get rid of these people, because we’re tired of them telling us we’re wrong and we need God.” And it’s not the first time you see it. You should be familiar with these passages of Scripture.

Revelation 12:12: “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short.”

Or how about Revelation 12:13? “When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.” This is ultimately, initially, Israel and then the church. And the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring. Who are the rest of the offspring? It’s the people of God. He went off to make war on the rest of their offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

I notice the language John uses in this vision. Not just went out to tempt them, went out to oppose them, went out to make war against God’s people.

Or how about this passage from Revelation 6?

“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness that they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, and, oh, we must hear this. ‘Oh, Sovereign Lord! It’s an odd thing to say to God after you’ve been killed, isn’t it? You must believe that God is in control even if it brings you to the place of death. Oh, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”

Isn’t it interesting that God doesn’t say, “Okay”? He says you’re going to have to wait a bit more because more of your number must die in their faithful witness.

Earth right now, with the mention I had last week of 15 or 30 pastors killed. Does anybody here remember just a decade or so ago when ISIS was going crazy and they lined the Christians up on the beach and chopped off their heads? “Whoa, I don’t think that would really happen, pastor.” It is happening. It has happened. And it will happen again because we represent the God of the universe and the world in darkness hates God.

Revelation 13: “If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes. If anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword he must be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and the faith of the saints.”

It wouldn’t be a call for our endurance if it was going to happen to somebody else. It is a call for us to endure because the possibility exists that in our faithful testimony, in varying degrees, people will resist.

I was at a book signing yesterday down in Salem. All these people coming by. One lady came by and she wanted to see the books. “What are they about?” And over here on my rack I have my Christian life books, Generational Lies, The Way of the Wolves, Friendly Fire. And she said, “What’s this book?” And I said, “That’s a Christian life book.” And she said, “Oh, I don’t read any Christian literature. I want nothing to do with God.” She wasn’t ugly about it, but it disturbed me all the same.

If you and I stand for Christ, if judgment comes, and by the way, it’s always come, we have to be careful. Again, I want to be careful and gracious with Revelation. We have to be careful not to push it off too far in the future. This is the way the church has always been. The church has always suffered martyrdom. As Jacob pointed out, all the apostles died as martyrs from the best of our knowledge. Peter and Paul had their heads chopped off. Tradition says Thomas went to India and was stabbed to death with a spear. God’s people always suffer because they are God’s people.

So we need to summarize here. The book of Revelation is written to encourage the suffering of God’s people, some of which results from God’s judgment on sin.

Now let’s see if we can draw out some practical applications about how we prepare ourselves for such things that may or may not come in America. A lot of Christian influence in America, but we have to be connected for our brothers and sisters across the seas. We are one body. We are one people. And we should have burdens and concerns about them. So how can we help? How can we deal with it? Some practical application.

Number one, we need to deepen our understanding of God’s sovereignty. When you come to this place, you must believe that God has brought you to this place. I’m not saying that’s going to make it easier, but you have to believe. If you add to the heartache of that moment the belief that you’ve screwed up and got yourself here, then you’re just adding to your self-condemnation. You might have made a mistake, but God is sovereign even over the mistakes that you and I make in life. He is sovereign.

Now how do we deepen our understanding of God’s sovereignty? I’ll give you three quick points.

Number one, meditate on the Bible stories of God’s control. Now note that phrase, meditate. I didn’t say read it. If you read the Bible, it says meditate on these things day and night. “Blessed is the man.” Psalm 1, the very first Psalm, and I’m sorry, my old age here now, so I can’t remember as much as I once thought I did could.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scorner, but hence the light is in the law of the Lord, and on its law he meditates day and night.”

Think about it. What are the implications? What are the applications? Not just read it, meditate on it. Let it soak into your spirit and get it in your heart and think about it. Meditate on God’s, the Bible stories of God’s control. Find those examples in the Bible and ponder them.

Now let’s think of one together. How shall we? What about Peter’s deliverance in Acts 12?

“About that time, Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. And these are always edited for space, as you know. When Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, ‘Dress yourself and put on your sandals.’ And he did so. And he said to him, ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.’ And he went out and he followed him.”

God delivered Peter. But He didn’t deliver James.

Now the question we must ask, what if God called you to be James and not Peter? We all like living in the miraculous, don’t we? We like to pray today and the answer comes tomorrow. Our loved ones are saved. Our finances are met. My body is healed. But that’s not the way it happens for everybody. And God was just as much in control of James’ fate as He was Peter’s deliverance. Can you meditate upon that? Can you think about that?

The charismatics, the word of faith people would say, well, you know, James used the wrong words. He didn’t have enough faith. No, God’s plan for James was different from His plan for Peter. And by the way, as I’ve already mentioned, Peter died. He just died later on. He still was martyred for his faith. Under Nero, our best understanding is Nero’s madness. What if I’m called to be James rather than Peter? I don’t know that I have enough strength or faith to believe and stand like that and be faithful to Christ like that. Do you know James had that? Maybe if you knew James he would have said, you know, I’m not sure I’ve got faith enough to stand for Christ. But when the moment came, God gave the power that was necessary. And He will give it to you and me, whatever the situation. You may not have to die for Christ. You may have to make large financial decisions that impact your comfort level to be faithful to Him.

Another thing you could do is read reputable Christian biographies. Reputable. There are a lot of Christian biographies out there and they’re soup. They’re sudsy. They’re emotional and they don’t really tell you the depth of the situation that went on with those people. I’ve got some in my office called The Swans Are Not Silent, a series of books by John Piper, and he details all these historical people and what they went through. And one guy went to an island in the South Pacific where they were headhunters, they were cannibals. His wife died while he was on that island and he wouldn’t leave because he felt God had called him to be there. You’re going to have to have that sense of God’s sovereignty if you’re going to undertake some major thing for God.

Thirdly, and this is the last one because this is the one that’s most fraught with the possibility of error. Look at your own life. Look at how God has kept you and brought you through and ordained things in your life and you can look back and say, “That was the hand of God.” And I want to be careful with this, you know, because we’ve heard it, you’ve heard it. “Well, it was a God thing,” and the God thing turned out to be a fizzle and it was over with. But there are experiences in our lives where we can look at and say, “That was God,” and there’s no question that that was God. And then you think back to the circumstances around that moment and you say, “Thank God He did it then. He hasn’t changed. He will do it again.” And He will do it because He’s faithful and not because we’re perfect. We’re not perfect, but He is, and He will never fail His people. Amen?

Thirdly, or the second major point under the three points—did I show you that? How did I get there? Oh, I read that. That’s how I got there.

We need to commit to deepening our devotional life. We got to, the American Christian must prioritize corporate worship again. There’s just too many of us who just don’t care whether we ever get to church. I don’t dispute jobs and families and all the other challenges we have in the 21st century. But this attitude, “I haven’t been at church for a year and a half, but it’s okay.” That has to go. We put it on the sign months ago now. If you want to get America back to God, you’ve got to get Christians back in church. And we can stop asking God to bless America while the church lives in rebellion against God. Amen?

People say, well, I can worship God anywhere. That’s true, but if it is okay for you to worship God anywhere, why does He command His people to gather together in a central place on a regular basis? Well, the main thing is I believe. No, no, the main thing is not believing. The main thing is living the faith you claim.

Develop a focused prayer life. What do you mean? We’ve got to get away from that. “I talk to God all the time.” Do you have any time set aside where you actually get alone with God and speak to Him? Come on, be honest. We’re all here now. We’re all adults and we all know this. How many of us get up first thing in the morning, we pick up our phones, we turn on the TV, we cut on the radio. Our first thought is not begin the day with God. “Let me find out what the Democrats are doing to fire up my blood pressure. Let me see what gas prices are today so I can really figure out my budget.” No. Focus prayer life.

“Pastor, I’m so tired when I get up in the morning.” I understand that. I do. I know all about trouble sleeping. I got up yesterday morning at one o’clock in the morning, and I got out of bed at three. I know what it is. But here’s what you do. You cut the TV off an hour earlier than you normally do. Now see, this is going to sound like meddling and I’m sorry. Cut your phone off. Don’t just put it some, cut it off, so you can get to bed early enough to get up early enough. Maybe you need to do it in the morning. Maybe you need to do it at night.

I never could pray at night because I’m one of those people. I get sleepy, I go to sleep. I was driving up the road yesterday. I hadn’t gotten up at one o’clock in the morning. I got out of bed at three. I’d been going. It was four, four-thirty-five coming up the interstate, and I’m starting to, you know, and I’m notorious for that. I used to drive a Coke truck when we first came to this church, a Coca-Cola truck up and down the valley, and on the summer days I had to take a thermos of ice water and pour it down my back every now and again to keep myself awake or I’d have killed myself driving a Coke truck.

I can’t pray at night. I prayed one time at night. It was a long time ago. I was trying to pray, and I was halfway asleep, and I said, “Oh Lord, I rebuke You.” That pretty much ended my nighttime praying. A little lightning coming in. So I pray in the morning. I get up, I get my coffee, and I go to the Lord and pray the first thing.

Somebody said, here’s two things people say, and I’m trying not to be too mean, but we need to be honest with ourselves. “I just don’t know what to pray for.” Where exactly do you live? Are you a captive in a Hallmark movie? Where there’s always a happy ending? My gosh, look around the room. We have people who have lost children. They’re not with God. They’re away from God. You can’t think of anything to pray about? The madness of our culture, the blindness of this culture today? You can’t think about praying, “Oh God, move on our land, raise up, purify, revive the church”? You can’t think of anything to pray about? It’s the, it’s the hugest cop-out I’ve ever heard.

“I can’t think of anything to pray about.” And I have heard people say that. I’m not just making it up. “I don’t know how to pray.” You know how to talk. I hear every one of you jabbering away when we come to church. Then what is prayer? Talking to God. You need help learning how to pray? Open your Bible to the book of Psalms and find the passages where David is praying to God and read those prayers out loud. That’s all you’d have to do. That’s all you’d have to do is where it says, “Oh Lord, I cry to You.” And I wish I would have found some examples this morning.

“And, Lord, in You, Oh Lord, do I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame. In Your righteousness deliver me. Incline Your ear to me. Rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me. A strong fortress to save me.”

Pray. Read that aloud. This is my prayer, Father, today. Here’s where I am. I need You to work in my life this way. And you can develop a prayer life.

Thirdly, we need to meditate on the meaning of repentance. What does repentance mean? It means to change your mind, head the other way, go a different direction.

Now, I know you’re going to think I’m being hypercritical, maybe some of you, and I’m sorry if you feel that way. Right now, you can drive through our community and the people doing it mean well. I’m not questioning their sincerity or their Christianity. But they have little signs in their yard, “God save America.” And underneath of that is the scripture reference, 2 Chronicles 7:14:

“If My people who are called by My name shall humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways and seek My face, then I’ll hear from heaven and I will heal their land.”

Now, two things wrong with that. First, that was the mantra 30 years ago when we first came here. It was on everybody’s lips. And the problem isn’t that God doesn’t hear. The problem is the church is not repenting. “If My people will turn from their wicked ways.” We no longer think anything’s wrong in the world or in the church.

Let me read that last passage because it applies to the church. Where He says in Revelation 9, “They did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

Children, we’re going to have to come to terms with. I’m not saying it’s easy, but hatred is murder. And if you’re burned up with avarice and animosity towards your political adversaries, you’re bordering on hatred. There are great, vast difference between us and them. I understand that. I cannot imagine anything worse than this thing that we’re voting on in November. And if you haven’t read that paper that Sharon brought in, you need to read it. I cannot imagine anything worse than those things coming to pass. But we cannot hate our enemies, including our political ones.

They did not repent of their sorceries. Well, I’m not a witch. I don’t do magic. The Greek word there is pharmakeia. It’s what we get our English word pharmacy from. It means the use of drugs or potions to alter one’s state of mind. That means excessive use of alcohol and drugs, including recreational marijuana. You’re altering your state of mind.

And people in the church, boy, you don’t even want to get me started on the next one. There’s sexual immorality. There is absolutely no voice in the Christian church today where pastors tell people in their congregations, “You cannot keep sleeping and having sex with someone you’re not married to. That is a violation of the seventh commandment.”

Do not commit of alcohol. Oh, God, bless America. Help America, Lord. Make us prosperous again. But don’t ask us to curb and correct our sex lives. But that’s none of your business, pastor. It is my duty to tell you what the Bible says about sexual purity. And we can put up all the yard signs we want until the church gets serious about these kinds of issues. We will not see God move except in judgment.

Or their thefts. I don’t preach this way as a rule. I mean, I do preach this way, as I’ve been preaching that way. I don’t preach as a rule in the next point because I just don’t. But if you want to be biblical, Malachi 3 says that if you’re not faithful and you’re bringing financial gifts to the house of God, you’re a thief. You’re stealing what belongs to God.

The Christian church is languishing. Not this church. The church as a whole is languishing in many places. Why? Because we’re simply not faithful with our gifts to God’s kingdom. There’s just too many other things I need. But you don’t need them. You want them. And you keep cutting corners with God to pay for the things you want. God’s always provided. He always will.

This week, it’s been a challenging year. The year started out, Mark’s health issues, and he couldn’t do all the things that he wanted to do. And normally we turn to him for because of his back issues. And Jacob’s been gone all the time. And I had to pick up the slack some in the spring. And I’m getting old now and cantankerous and crotchety. And there’s just some things I can’t do anymore. Okay?

So the other week, last month, at the Roots Home School Co-op, they called the next day and they said, the parents saw that this one board was cracking, and Steve Ranson was here, and he’s our security guy, and he saw it, and they’re concerned about this thing breaking and their children being in danger. And I share it and I think, what are we going to do? One of the parents, unfortunately, they came to our church for a short while and decided they wanted to go to an Orthodox church instead. A big difference between the two. Nevertheless, he comes along and he says, “I’ll do it. I’ll fix it. You get the material here.” He came out yesterday, replaced the whole top thing. He wants to do some more. Thank God. He supplies. He always will provide the people and the finances and the resources to get His work done.

But I remind you that if we had a million dollars in a bank and $100,000 a month in income and our budget was only $300 a month, we have a responsibility to be faithful to God with our financial gifts. And I need to think about that in my personal life. And I need to think about these other issues in my life. And the Christian church is a rule. How are we going to stand up?

I thought about this passage. I’ll close with it. I won’t be able to read it because I didn’t put it on the outline. I’m not sure where it is, but it is in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 12:5, where God says to Jeremiah, “If the footmen have wearied you, how will you contend with the horsemen? And if in the plains you’ve stumbled, how will you do in the thickets of Jordan?”

If we can’t follow God faithfully in America right now, how could we ever follow Him if things turn south on us? Amen? God’s people need to find some backbone. And how do we do it? We recognize and reflect on the greatness of our God and what He has done to save us from our sins, and we commit our lives to Him completely. Amen.

Father, thank You for allowing us to be together and for giving us these thoughts and each one of us.