Well, I'm going to read from Revelation chapter 10 this evening, and the title of the sermon is The Bittersweet Gospel Message. The Bittersweet Gospel Message. It's only a short chapter from verse 1 through to verse 11. And let me just explain before I begin to read it. We're in the middle. We're between the 6th and the 7th trumpets. these judgments that are taking place between the first and the second coming. And this is before the last trumpet is blown and it's telling us about the gospel. So let's hear the word of God. This is intended to strengthen the church in the New Testament and every church in every generation. 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 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. And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, and that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet called to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, take and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And I was told you must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings. Well, we'll stop there and you can immediately see now the connection with the book of Ezekiel. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. And there's this glorious covenantal continuity. God doesn't change his character. He's a God who is without body, without parts, without passions. He's the unchanging, God. And we saw the opening of the seven seals, the decrees of God that are opened that will be fulfilled between the first and the second coming of Christ. And here we see the seven trumpets, and between the sixth and the seventh trumpet, here we see Revelation chapter 10. And there's a great encouragement that no matter what the judgments are, the famines, the wars, the rumors of wars, the plagues, the disasters on the sea, whatever happens, one thing must never change. God says, the gospel must be preached in every generation until Jesus Christ comes back. I hope we can say amen in our hearts to that. This is meant to strengthen the church. Let's just ask ourselves, and just remind ourselves, we've got three headings for you which have taken from the text. The sweetness of the gospel, that's the first heading, the sweetness of the gospel. Some churches, that's all they want. They just want the sweetness. But we need the whole counsel of God. The second heading is the bitterness of the gospel. The bitterness of the gospel. Are you prepared tonight to hear about the bitterness of the gospel? And the third one is the preaching of the gospel. The preaching of the gospel. Let me just remind us, first of all, what is the theme of the book of Revelation? You know, some people get, we face many spiritual diseases in the church at the moment. One of the spiritual diseases in the church is what is known as dispensationalism. It's this complicated scheme that completely wrongly interprets the book of Revelation. and believes all these events in Revelation are simply for some future time where Revelation was there explaining what will happen between the first coming and the second coming of Christ. And they end up in that scheme, end up as if the devil is the big man running the show. No, it's not. What is Revelation about? Revelation 1 and verse 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ. That's the whole purpose of the book of Revelation. How would you feel if John excitedly came back from the island of Patmos and said, Oh, church at Ephesus, where he was pastoring as well at times. I've got a letter for you and it was just talking about how great the devil is and so forth. It wouldn't be very encouraging. Well, it's not. It was to strengthen the church then and every generation of the victory of Jesus Christ and his church over every adversary that will attack the church. What a glorious truth we have. And so who is it sent to? It was sent to the church. The church is central to the purpose of redemption. People who are not committed to the church need to ask themselves, do they know Jesus Christ? Because you cannot have Jesus Christ without his church. A bit like someone saying to me, well, Kevin, are you married? Well, I'm not really sure. It depends what you mean by married. Well, are you married? Now, I know obviously things are confused now. I'm thinking more about 20 years ago. But if you can imagine, let's go back 20 years, it would be able to be a much more simple answer. Is that a yes or no? Well, let me ask you, are you committed to Christ tonight? Well, if the answer's yes, then you're married to the body of Christ as well as, well, we're married to Christ, but you're brought into communion with the church as well. There's no such thing as just stopping at home year after year and saying, well, there's no church for me. No, it was for the church. And there were lots of problems in the churches in these seven churches in Revelation. There always will be problems and difficulties and obstacles. And so it was sent to the church. But where was John when he received this? This is very important for us. We'll see and understand more of the details of the book of Revelation when we remind ourselves of this. He was banished to the island of Patmos, this rocky volcanic island about 55 kilometers southwest of the coast of what we call today Turkey, which was Asia Minor. It would no doubt have been a depressing experience with very little creaturely comforts. There was no iPhones, no email, no contact with his earthly family. Here he is, maybe at times, out in the baking sun. And it was there on the Lord's Day. Today we call it Sunday. Don't let other people tell you that the Lord's Day in Revelation 1.10 is not the Christian Sabbath. I've had many people tell me many things. The church had believed for 2,000 years that it was on the Lord's Day. It was on the first day of the week that God himself came and granted this revelation. And Christ is in the candlesticks. God doesn't dwell in a physical building, but he especially has an appointment to meet with his people on the Lord's day. So if you need help, you're in the right place this evening. Not from me, from Christ. From Christ Jesus. What a privilege we have. No wonder we can sing as Christians. What a friend we have in Jesus. Because there's nothing better than being a Christian. And I'm not saying that lightly. I'm saying it from experience at the coalface of many bitter trials over many years. Many people trying to stop me following Jesus. Many people saying there's more to life than just reading the Bible all the time. Is that all you can do? Well, I know I have to do other things, but there's nothing better I do than just spending hour after hour just soaked in the scriptures of the living word of God. So, let's look at our first heading tonight. It's the sweetness of the gospel. Most of us really love this aspect of the gospel. The sweetness of the gospel. In Tenem verse 1, what does it say? And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. This is an angel. It's not the Lord Jesus Christ. Though there are similarities because angels are serving the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus Christ is never called an angel. It's a messenger of God to do God's bidding. And this one is actually not, dare we say, an average angel, if there's such a thing. It is another mighty angel coming down from heaven. Coming down from heaven. And what is wrapped around, we see coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow. A rainbow. We know how many colors there are in a rainbow. There are seven different colors. And seven is one of the main numbers in the book of Revelation. But what does the rainbow symbolize? It symbolizes the covenant faithfulness of God. Maybe some of you this week, you just need to, maybe hopefully you can just see a rainbow and remind yourself, every time you see a rainbow, God is faithful. God is faithful. That's what it's symbolizing, the covenant faithfulness of the Lord. And notice then, what's next? His face was like the sun, his legs like pillars of fire, and what did he have in his hand? What did he have? Was it a pen? Was it a piece of paper? Was it a notebook? No, it was a little scroll. A little scroll. Now, we were just discussing over earlier on today that the printing press had not been invented in the time of the New Testament. It's hard to imagine for some people. And so the Word of God was written on scrolls. We've seen earlier on the scroll in the right hand of God the Father, symbolizing the decrees of God. But this is not the same scroll. This one is a little scroll. And that's what John sees. And what this represents is the gospel. It's the message of salvation to be preached in every generation until Christ comes back. It's that little scroll. We're hearing tonight the message of that little scroll. That Jesus died. That he was buried. That he was raised from the dead. That he ascended into heaven. That's the message of the little scroll. And whoever calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. What a wonderful thing. And so that's what we see that's given to us here from the word of God. He had a little scroll in his hand and he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, in other words, dominion over everything, earth and sea, and called out with a loud voice like a lion. Have you ever seen what noise lions make? It's a majestic voice. And then it says, when he called out the seven thunders, the seven thunders, Here's another aspect, we've got seven seals, seven churches, seven angels, seven trumpets, and now seven thunders. What do these thunders represent? You want to know the answer? We do not know. We do not know. Why would God do this? Put up tantalizers and say, look, there's seven thunders, he says. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded, and when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write. There he was, he had his, I don't know what they wrote with some kind of, maybe like a Greek fountain pen onto papyrus. 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. So God does not want us to know what those seven thunders are. And there's an important aspect for us there. that God does not want us to understand all the mysteries of this world. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us, doesn't stop there, and to our children, and to our children. That's why family worship's so important. We are modeling to our children, and if you don't have children, we still have family worship. We're modeling that we worship God, as it were, throughout the week and on the Sabbath. belong to us and to our children. So we're not, we've got the word of God, we've got enough revealed to us, but here we see we're not privy to know what these seven thunders are. We have to accept that we don't have answers for many things in this world. And so, as we move further on, it says in 10 verse 8, then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, and then gives him two imperatives. What are they? Go, take. These are imperatives. Go, take. Take what? The scroll that is open in the hand of the angel. So it's to go and get it. In verse 9, he went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And then the angel responds back with two imperatives and says, take and eat it. Take and eat it. Eat? How can you eat a scroll? And then he tells him, it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. Sweet as honey. The Greek word here for sweet is the word from which we get the word glucose. Glucose. And the Greek word for honey is mele. Now, maybe you don't like honey today, because it's so common for us. You imagine living before Tate and Lyle had been invented, or all these sugar companies. And if somebody gave you a jar of honey, it would be, wow, thank you for this jar of honey. And if you're a parent, you may say to your children, well, you may say, at the end of the Lord's Day, children, we're going to have a treat. What is it, daddy? We're gonna have a spoonful of honey. The child would go, wow, and probably couldn't wait for the end of the Lord's day to have honey and kind of, and so honey would be a very rich metaphor. It would be one of the sweetest things that you would desire in the New Testament. And that's the sweetness of the gospel that God promises here. Oh, the sweetness of the gospel. We must preach the sweetness of the gospel. Samuel Rutherford was known for making clear the loveliness of Christ in all of his beauty and majesty. Song of songs, it says of Christ, five verse 10, my beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among 10,000. He's altogether desirable, he's altogether lovely. Are you looking forward to seeing the face of Christ and seeing that lady who Richard Brooks told us about, I can't remember the name, I think it was Yoni Erickson-Tarder, She's never been able to kneel down and when she says, when she sees Christ, she wants to quietly kneel for the first time and worship him. Are you looking forward to kneeling before Christ in heaven? And realizing that, and I'm just one pastor of probably many that you've had and will have, but none of us will have told you even the half of the sweetness of heaven and of Christ. But who on earth would want to miss heaven? And on this side of Christ, who want to woo people? Woo them to Christ. Woo them with the offer of salvation. Plead to them and say, come unto Jesus, who's meek and lowly of heart. Do not live in rebellion. You live in an eternity of regret. The door is open. Come unto him. And even tonight, for the children, for the adults, and for all of you, I don't know your hearts. I won't stand with you on the judgment day. But make sure you're clinging to Christ. Not your experience, but to Christ. Make sure you're clinging to Christ. Not your husband, not your wife, not your father, not your mother. Not even your pastor, your elders. Cling to Christ. Are you doing that? Because he's the only savior of the world. One of the Puritans said this, heaven must be in us before we are in heaven. Are you preparing yourself? And we hear too little of this, don't we? But are you preparing yourself for heaven? And Ezekiel, though there was a sweetness of the gospel, he was told, you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. And you would think, if you offer people the sweetness of the gospel, they would come running in their droves. But we keep preaching the love of God, and we want to preach the love of God with the love of God. And let me just say to you, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else tonight than Hiltop Chapel. preaching to you. It's a blessing to be your shepherd, or one of the shepherds. It's a delight to be with you. But we need another side of the gospel, not just the sweetness of the gospel, we need the bitterness of the gospel. It says here, take it and eat, in 10 and verse 9, and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. So, what does it mean? Well, Hendrickson rightly says this, in our second heading, the bitterness of the gospel. The meaning is very clear for us. The apostle must not merely understand and digest the message of the gospel. He's to eat it. It's to become very much part of him. You can't preach the gospel unless you are absolutely prepared to live and die for the gospel, really. It needs to be absolutely in you and part of you and not one person at home and a different man in the pulpit. No, the man in the pulpit needs to be the same person, as it were, at home, except you're preaching. All this church is, if I'm honest with you in many respects, is really an extension of our family worship at home. That's in many ways what it is. We're just, in a sense, carrying on doing what we do at home for us as a family. except the room is bigger. We couldn't fit you all into our front room. It would be difficult. You'd be complaining and saying, there's not enough room, not enough chairs. But we need the bitterness of the gospel. Henriksen says, the preacher and John must experience both the gospel's sweetness and suffering, the cross bearing, which is always the portion of those who faithfully proclaim it. And so there is the sweetness of the gospel, both in its proclamation and in its outworking, but there's the bitterness of the gospel. And we're thinking primarily at the moment of the preacher. It's true for every Christian, but it's especially for the preacher, for John, and for those who preach in the churches. There's a sweetness and there's a bitterness in its message and in what will happen. Jesus Christ said this, and it's not easy, it's not easy. We want to be liked, don't we, as Christians? And sometimes we just carry on as a Christian, and suddenly a relative just sends a letter from left field, just totally attacking us. Have you ever had that? A relative just venomously, like a dog, biting you. You think, well, I'm a nice person. Well, you might be, but they can't stand Jesus. They can't stand the gospel, and they can't get at him, so they try to get at God's people. Jesus says, woe to you when all men speak well of you. We're not here to develop popularity ratings. We're here to be faithful to the sweetness and the bitterness of the gospel. Jesus said this, blessed are you when people hate you. when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. In other words, he's not only saying you're blessed, he's saying the faithful gospel ministers, they will experience that. They will experience it. And how does Jesus respond? It's difficult for us to, sometimes you can't respond like this in the flesh, but he tells them, rejoice in that day. That's a bitterness of the gospel. But what are some of the difficult parts of the gospel? Well, I've got a list of one or two of them. What are some of the difficult parts of the gospel? What we might call the not so sweet side, and they must be preached. Whether people listen or not, whether you listen or not, We have to pray that God would keep this pulpit pure in every respect, and to preach whether people listen or not. Let me give a few examples of things that must be preached. One of the illustrations, have you ever heard that phrase, we've got two cats, I think of it a lot, about stroking the cat's fur the wrong way. I mean, cats are delightful creatures, they love to lie upon you when you're sleeping and so forth. But you try stroking the fur the wrong way and they soon wake up and start bristling. And sometimes, certain truths, for some people, it's like stroking the fur the wrong way. It's because the Bible disagrees with their opinion. Let me give you an example that's very helpful and important. This may not be for you, but for many people this is bitter. And it's the fact that God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and that there is no place in the Bible for evolution whatsoever. There is no such thing found in Holy Scripture that God created the world and then an evolutionary process got us to where we are. And yet many, many Christians today want to believe that. It's totally and completely and utterly false, and we must preach against it. Because every sparrow that lands on the ground is under the governance of our Heavenly Father. How much more will He take care of you? You may be shocked by what I'm going to say next, but there are many people today, they call themselves evangelicals, and they are denying all across our country that Adam is a literal, historic person. It's like, I always feel, you know, it's ridiculous. I mean, if I was a bus driver, I'd want to be the best bus driver I could be, to the glory of God. I mean that. I would find no shame, myself, in being a dustbin man. I think, my personal view, I think it's a dignified job, and I'd want to do it to the glory of God. But if I was a bus driver, and I said to the company, I don't believe in bus driving, well, leave and become a train driver. Do not be a preacher in the pulpit and deny the historic Adam. There is no other room except Adam is a literal historical person. and that there were no hominids, I don't care what they found in Crestwell Crags or whatever else, there were no hominids or people before Adam. He was the first and made in the image of God. And we must preach this. Now for you, you may be sat there tonight, I'm enjoying this. Well, let me get through my list and see if you will, all of them, I hope you will. Election and predestination. The truth is that the only people who become Christians are the one whom God has chosen in eternity to become a Christian. Nobody else becomes that except the elect of God. You have to be predestined. Oh, I'm not coming to this church to hear this. Well, I didn't write the Bible. The Bible uses the word predestination, therefore it must be preached. And if I don't preach it, what will happen? You will take pride in your salvation if you're saved and say, I'm saved because X, Y, and Z. No. There's only one reason why anybody is saved. It's because God predestined them in eternity, in His love, to be brought to Christ. And any other gospel is a false gospel. People say, well, that's a very controversial one. We're not here to be controversial. We're here to be faithful to the Word of God. Here is another one that can be bitter. It's that the Lord is sovereign over everything. over everything. Do you believe that tonight? Not most things, not just good things, not the things that we like, but over everything. The book of Revelation. Anti-Christian governments arise. They kill Christians. But in all those things, the church are more than conquerors. Jesus says, they might kill the body, but they can't kill the soul. Fear God. Are you a God-fearer tonight? Now for some people, they find the sovereignty of God repulsive. Have you ever met such people? Have you ever met those people? They grind their teeth at you. I remember when we lived overseas and I preached on Jacob. And Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. All I did was enfold the text. I don't think I've ever preached a sermon where I've had so many people angry at me. One person said to me, I don't know how you're allowed to preach that sermon. I was speechless. It wasn't nice. I said, well, listen, I didn't write Romans. Paul wrote Romans. Why? Because it strikes at the heart of human pride. And thankfully, the woman who said it was from Russia. And a few years later, she came to see Maria and I. And she said, I was so mad at you. I said, I know you were. And she said, I realize the Bible is right and I was wrong. Not everyone happens to, but thank God for the ones when he does. And we must preach it. What else must we preach? We must preach the new birth, that you must be born again. And this again strips us of everything because if you're not born again, you won't go to heaven. He said, well, how do I get born again? You've got to cry out to the Lord for the new birth. Your heart is dead in sin. Jesus said, unless a man, a woman, a child is born again, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, you may be saying tonight, well that's not really bitter to me, but it's been bitter in previous generations. And we're better to be like Nicodemus than Judas Iscariot. We're better to be like Nicodemus than Judas Iscariot. Judas was right with Christ, betrayed him and hung himself. Nicodemus came at night. He was almost a little bit embarrassed, wasn't he? But who was at the burial of Jesus Christ? Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. We're better to be a Nicodemus and start off slowly and finish well. Are you a Nicodemus tonight? Blessed is the man, and blessed is the woman who's born again. But it can be a real, I've got more, I've got more, I've got less here, and I think I'm running out of time. But I want to give you one more, I think, I haven't got time to go through all of them. I'm gonna go through just two last ones. Two last ones. One is, is that it's scripture that regulates what we do in the church. Now that's the bitterness of the gospel for some people. They shake their fist. Why? Because it doesn't suit their whims. And you don't need to search far in the scriptures to find that there were no rock and roll bands in the book of Acts. And yet today the church is flooded with so many things that we just don't find in scripture. Were an elder to say, we're taking these things away because they're not prescribed in scripture, how do you think those people would respond? Would they bow down and kneel down before scripture and say, I see it, we've departed from the Lord. But no, often it's like taking a teddy bear off a spoiled child. Their question is not, what does the scripture say? But the question is, well, I like it. Have you ever met Christians like that? They say, I like it. It's what I prefer, it's my preference, but we're not building churches based on the preferences of Kevin Bidwell, Paul Brown, or any church member. We need precedent from scripture. And so scripture has authority to regulate what we do in the church, how we worship God, how we administer the sacraments. There's no such thing as having the Lord's Supper at home in private communions. It's to be in the midst of the church. Don't tell me what to do, someone may say. It's the bitterness of the gospel. And we're not asking people to bow the knee to men. We're asking Christians to bow the knee to the plain teaching of the word of God. It's the bitterness of the gospel. One more. And it's everlasting punishment. It's eternal punishment. And it must be preached. It must keep being preached. And not preach when there's a visitor here tonight. We're not preaching at the visitor. We're preaching to everybody. Because the Bible says there will be hypocrites in the church who say, Lord, Lord, And Jesus will say to them, depart from me, I never knew you. So we're not just preaching when there's a visitor brought in, we're preaching in season, out of season, the truth of everlasting punishment, to warn people. But then to preach the glories of heaven, whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But we can't presume people know about everlasting punishment. It needs to keep on being preached. And if you ever find me not preaching it, just come and nudge me. I say, you've not mentioned it recently. You need to keep mentioning it. Warning people of the day of judgment. Are you preparing for the day of judgment? And for those whose sins are forgiven, we look forward to it, do we not? We want everything to be brought into the light. We're not coming to tell the Lord what we've not done. We're coming to glorify what he has done and to hear from his ear, not guilty. Well, I could say more, but I want to say this of the bitterness of the gospel, that our faith has to be tested to find out whether it's genuine faith. And we all as Christians need to experience the bitterness of the gospel. Persecution, slander, imprisonment, rejection, disappointment, criticism, and for some people, even martyrdom. For some people even martyrdom. Our third heading, we've looked at the sweetness of the gospel briefly. We've looked at the bitterness of the gospel briefly. Don't forget the bitterness included John on the Isle of Pamos. Remember the time when he was leaning on the breast of Jesus? It was all so secure, wasn't it? Seemingly. And now the gospel has led him to be banished on the isle of Patmos. But as we close this evening in Revelation chapter 10 and verse 10, I took little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. And it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I'd eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And I was told, you must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings. You must prophesy. It says about, and the ESV there I don't think has got the best grasp of the Greek text. It's not so much about, but you must preach to languages, nations, is the great commission. No matter what's happening in this world, preaching is God's method and must continue Sabbath by Sabbath, preaching in season, out of season, around the world. That's God's method. And we're committed, and I hope you are, to God's message and to God's method, which is preaching. And when it says here, it says, and you must again, prophesy. You must prophesy. What does that mean? It means to state or disclose the divine will or purpose. Where do we find the divine will or purpose? It's not by somebody standing up and claiming they know something. It's from the inerrant Word of God. It's declaring the divine will from Holy Scripture and it must be preached. He says you must. Imagine that. John might be thinking, well, If I preach, keep on preaching, I might end up with something worse than Patmos. And he was the only one, according to Foxe's Book of Martyrs, that died of natural causes. All the other apostles, not counting Judas now, you can read in Foxe's Book of Martyrs how they were killed. One after another after another were martyred. Doesn't matter about that. Whether they listen, whether they don't listen. whether they like the message, whether they pat you on the back or not, you must preach. You must preach, he tells him. And therefore the preaching of the gospel must be heralded in every generation among many peoples and nations and languages and kings and then remember just a few sermons back revelation chapter seven we find out who is in heaven remember who we find he says seven revelations seven and verse nine after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. What's God's ordained method to get people from where they are to heaven? It's preaching. Every tribe and tongue and people and to all those people, it's preaching. And so therefore, what's the devil gonna try and do? He's gonna try and gag preachers. I was even hearing from the Christian Institute, The government are thinking through all different things, and even for certain people who don't agree with British values, I don't know where I stand on that one. I don't know if I can even write a paragraph on what British values are, but they're just contemplating gagging orders. Well, if I have to preach in the car park instead of here, may God give us grace. May God give us grace. But you must preach, God says. You must preach. And so therefore the devil will do everything he can to dilute preaching now. Have you found that since you've been a Christian? I've found that there's been a remarkable lack of preaching since I've been a Christian. Just straightforward, honest preaching. Out of the scriptures. You know, new words have come in, everything like sharing. Maybe testimonies, why don't we have a testimony instead of preaching? People can't take preaching today. Or if you do preach, could you keep it under nine minutes? No, we need preaching. You must, God says. And so the sweetness of the gospel, the bitterness of the gospel, and it must be preached. The church must be committed to the primary means of God, which is preaching. Preach. Proclaiming. You're not getting into groups afterwards and say, okay, get into groups of three and four and discuss whether you agree with the text. There are churches that are doing that today, you know that. They're saying it's the only way that people can learn. God knows how people learn best. It's by propositional truth. Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. ways are false and lead to hell. John Calvin said this as we close, God governs the church by the external preaching of the word. How can a sheep be governed if they refuse to come and sit under preaching? It's difficult. God governs the church by the external preaching of the word. and it's the word that's heard and listened to and loved, the truth from the scriptures. David prayed, after he'd sinned grievously, he prayed, I desire truth in my innermost being. Does that describe you tonight? John Calvin said, of the teachers of the church, the preachers, that all preachers ought to be prepared by long study for giving to the people, as out of a storehouse, a variety of instruction concerning the word of God. So preachers need to be teachable, and they need to be hardworking. We don't need any lazy preachers in the pulpit. They can't afford to be lazy in prayer, lazy at home, or lazy in bringing fresh material out of the study. When a man ceases to prepare for the flock of God, that man is as good as finished before God. The church may not even realize, but a man needs to be on his knees before he comes into the pulpit and addresses the people of God with the holy oracles of God. It's a fearful thing to preach, but it's a more fearful thing for a man who's called to not preach and to waffle on. The church needs preaching. Well, as we close this evening, three brief applications. There's one to be praying for the act of preaching on the Lord's day. Next week I'm in Cambridge and Neil Beeson's here. He's a mere man, he needs prayer. Do you pray on Saturday night or do you just come? Do you take any time out on Saturday evening to be praying and preparing yourself for worship? Or have you got into a bad habit where you just come along? May you pray for preaching on the Lord's Day. Not only for the preaching, but that you and others would listen, listen diligently. That the Word of God would change you and conform you and God's grace would help you and I to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord. Secondly, to come hungry and expectant. to hear preaching on the Christian Sabbath and therefore I call you this evening to examine yourself regarding your spiritual appetite. Do you have a spiritual appetite for preaching of sound doctrine out of the scriptures? Normally when people are ill, not always, But often, one of the things they lose is their appetite, isn't it? They have to eat just a few things. Spiritually, how is your appetite? Is there anybody here, you're not willing to really admit it, but you're becoming lukewarm. You're not saying it, but in your heart, you're thinking, I could be many more places tonight. I could be with friends. Well, you are. If you're a Christian, you're among friends in the house of the Lord. And thirdly, we need to keep praying for laborers to be sent forth into the harvest. This nation is desperate for laborers. And I don't know how we measure the judgments of God, but it's a very grievous thing when a nation lacks faithful pastors. And in my opinion, there are many parts of this country where there are no faithful pastors preaching at all. And Jesus calls us to pray. And may we be found faithful to the Lord by the grace of God. And may Revelation chapter 10, the bittersweet gospel, strengthen us through Jesus Christ. Amen.