Revelation 20 verse 11, And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books according to their works. And then in Daniel 7, look at verse 9, He's talking about the same judgment. Daniel 7, 9, And I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was the hair of his head like the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousand thousands ministered unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set and the books were opened. I want to preach to you this morning on Heaven's Library. Father, I come before you and I ask you now to please bless your words and bless the teaching and the preaching, Father, and we'll be hopping here and there, and there's a lot of information and material. I pray you'll help me not to go too fast, and I pray, Father, you'll just help me, Father, to have clarity of mind and clarity of speech. More than anything, Father, I pray that you'll be pleased with it and get glory from it, God, and that you'll be pleased with the response of your people. And God, some of this is probably going to cut. Some of it should, Father. It should mean something, Lord. And God, as we try to look at some books that you have up in heaven, Lord, we love you and we pray all this in your Son's name. Amen. Now the context of both of these passages is the Great White Throne Judgment, and I'm not going to preach on those judgments today, I'm just using this as a place to show you that there are books in heaven. I want to draw your attention to those books. And you'll notice that the Lord has books there. It says in Revelation 20, it says the books, plural, were opened, and another book was opened, so there's at least a couple of them. And you'll notice that He's opening up these books and it's at the Final Judgment. 2 Timothy 4.8 calls God the righteous judge. And here it says the dead are judged out of the things which were written in the books. And throughout the Bible there's a handful of books mentioned that are up there, written by God himself. And God's an author. He's the author of creation. There's no laws without a law giver. Science wants to dig in and find all these laws, but they don't consider that there had to be an author. There had to be someone who wrote those laws down. And he's the one who wrote the laws of thermodynamics. And he wrote the laws of nature. He wrote all the laws of physics and the laws of gravity. They're all written by God. And every once in a while the scientific world uncovers something new and they just forget that God wrote all those things a long, long time ago in the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth. And you can go beyond the physical laws. You can go to the moral laws all over the world. They're all based on the Creator. The Creator wrote the Ten Commandments. He's the author. And it says this, it says he wrote those Ten Commandments with his own fingers. Exodus 31.18 says, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. He's a writer. You know, let me show you something. Look at Romans Chapter 2. Romans Chapter 2, there's a real common argument. I heard it a lot, especially being a missionary in an atheistic country like Scotland. I heard this argument all the time. Look at Romans Chapter 2. The common argument amongst atheists is, well, they'll say, what about the heathen that never hears the gospel? You know, they're down in the jungle somewhere and how do they hear? Well, according to the Bible, the heathen world, they're way off in the jungle. They don't even have to have a translation of the Bible. The Lord's given them a way to understand and find God. Look at Romans 2 and you'll see it's connected to something that God wrote. Romans 2, look at verse 14, for when the Gentiles, so he's not talking about the Jews that have the Bible, the oracles of God and the law, he's talking about the Gentiles all over the planet that didn't have it, watch, for when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves, watch it, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." Well, who's writing those things down in their heart? The author. The Lord is. He puts it down in that heart. Look at Hebrews chapter 5. Here's a great passage just to show you that He is an author. Hebrews chapter 5. I don't have to turn to it, but over in 1st Corinthians 14 it says God is not the author of confusion and then it says but of peace. He's an author. He's a writer. Hebrews 5, look at verse 9. Hebrews 5, 9, the context is Jesus Christ. And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. He's a pretty good author, isn't he? How many stories have you heard of some guy down in the gutter putting his faith in Christ and getting saved and going to heaven when he dies? That's a pretty good story, isn't it? I can tell you all kinds of them, man. I can tell you being in a jail, sitting there with a sinner, bow his head, and just the biggest, toughest guy you've ever seen bow and tears are dripping onto that cement floor. That's a good story. He's the author. In fact, in Hebrews 12, it calls him the author and finisher of our faith. He ends the story. He writes the whole thing. He's a great author. Now, he's not only that, but he's a bookkeeper. Now, there's two different things. I remember it was either Dr. Ruckman or Brother Donovan or both said you can tell a lot about a man by the books he has, by his own personal library. Well, the Lord's a bookkeeper. You can tell a lot by the Lord, about the Lord, about what he keeps account of and what he numbers. And God's constantly numbering things. He's always keeping track and keeping an account. I've said it before, he's the great accountant. In Job chapter 14, it says that he numbers our steps. That's crazy. Isn't that a big deal that time that your child takes their first step? Oh my goodness, honey, look, they're taking their very first step. That's how that goes. And the Lord goes up there and he goes, And he starts, you say, what in the world? Why does the Lord keep an account of every person's steps? How many steps did they take towards me? How many steps did they take towards doing right? How many times did they come up to a why in the road and said, I can do wrong or I can do right? And they said, I'm gonna do wrong. And the Lord goes, one, two, three, he's an accountant. He's numbering those things. In Psalms 147 it says that He telleth the number of the stars. Well they're still trying to count them. They're still trying, they can't figure it out. They don't even know. The Lord knows. I don't know if this is true but they say every once in a while some star out there, a supernova explodes and the Lord just takes one off the tally. If that's true, He's keeping count of that thing. In Matthew 10 it says He numbers the hair on our head. I wonder why. Have you parents ever pulled some hair out dealing with a child? The Lord just, negative 10, they pulled a couple out. Or maybe you're losing some naturally because of all that stress and stuff. The Lord numbers them. The Lord's a bookkeeper. He likes to count things. Within the Bible, there's a book actually called Numbers. It's as exciting as it sounds. And he's basically just numbering things. And number seven, the fella comes up there and he offers something to God and the Lord writes it down that the man brought one silver charger and one silver bowl and one spoon and one young bullock. And then the next fella comes up and he brings one silver charger and one silver bowl and one spoon and one young bullock. And then another fella comes up and brings one silver charger and one silver bowl and one spoon. It's real exciting stuff, isn't it? That shows you man didn't write that Bible. Man would have said, 12 guys brought these 12 same things. No. No, the Lord says, I want that guy to get credit for doing something for me. So he writes it down. And the Lord writes it down for you as well. He's tallying things. He's keeping a count. You know why he does that thing? It shows you something about God's nature. Hebrews 6.10 says, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. So he writes it down. And that's what he's doing. He's an author. He's a bookkeeper. So today I want to look at some books that the Bible says are up in heaven. I want to preach to you on heaven's library. Now, first off, a library is a collection of books belonging to a person or a public place. And we have a library down here. Or a library can be a series of books by the same publisher, somebody's library. Both definitions apply to the Lord and His heavenly library. Now, first off, before I show you any of the books that God has in heaven, let me start negative and tell you that there are some books that are absolutely not in heaven's library. They are not there. You know how I know? Revelation 21, 27 says, and it's talking about what's in heaven and what goes in and what can't go in, and it says, "...there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth." So there's nothing unclean there. There's nothing defiled or dirty there. So there's no Quran in heaven's library. It couldn't even get close. That wicked book is straight out of hell. That unclean, wicked piece of mess is, that thing calls for the murder and torture of Jews and Christians. It allows for sex slaves and all kinds of other wicked devil practices. It was put together by a sex pervert. It is not in heaven's library. The Book of Mormon is not in heaven's library. It completely contradicts God's words. It goes against this book. It was written by a sex-crazed pedophile. It's not there, amen? None of the writings of Mary Baker Eddy made it in. I'll tell you what, Rick Warren's book on the purpose-driven life and all that Laodicean feminine garbage is not there either. None of the Joel Osteen stuff's make it. The Lord wouldn't let it in. It goes against his book. None of the hatchet-faced Joyce Meyer's books made it up, amen? They didn't make it. The HIV, the NIV, the New International Version is not in Heaven's Library. I don't care if it says Holy Bible on the front or not, it's a lie. That thing's missing all them words, 16 entire verses. It's defiled! It's ripped up, they're tearing out God. Look, I'd save for any of the Bibles. You take a Bible, I've got a whole shelf full of them back there. They're backwards on my shelf so no one ever confuses one of them for God's words. And if I pull that thing out and show you where the doctrine goes against this book, where the verses are ripped out that should be in this book, it doesn't make it in. The Lord said I don't want it there. The Apocrypha is not in heaven's library. The Apocrypha is not a collection of missing books. That's what you hear all the time. What about the missing books from the Bible? No, they don't belong there. They don't belong in the Bible. They're not part of the canon of Scripture. They contain lies. They contain contradictions. They contain all kinds of errors. And some of them teach reincarnation. Some of them teach pantheism. And they teach you to give money to take away sin. Does that sound familiar? It's not Bible and it's not in Heaven's library. The Book of Enoch is not in Heaven's library. It's a forgery. It was written in Greek way after the time of Christ. No one ever found the Book of Enoch. The Book of Eden was written around 600 AD and it had a bunch of authors, none of which were Enoch. It's not in Heaven's library. Alright, that's out of the way. So let's talk about some of the books that are in Heaven's library. Well, here in Revelation 20, Turn back there just quickly, Revelation 20. Here's the first one here, and it's given by name. Revelation 20, verse 12. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. Look at verse 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This book is called the book of the living in another place look at Psalm 69 and this one shows up interestingly enough it shows up quite a few times in the Old Testament only one time in Paul's books and then about seven times in the book of Revelation. This is what I told you, some of it will be a little bit more of a study. Psalm 69, it's going to show you the difference. I taught it last week, last Sunday afternoon I was teaching on the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Remember that? I was showing you that there was a dispensational difference between an Old Testament saint and a New Testament Christian. It is not the same. You don't have to sacrifice an animal when you sin. They did. Every time, they messed up. Matt read the verse this morning from Hebrews that's talked about the blood of bulls and goats being the reason why they could get forgiveness. And they're taking that thing up to a priest and putting that thing on an altar five cubits by five cubits and killing that thing. You don't have to do any of that stuff. My lambs already died for me. I don't even have to ask them to. I don't even have to lead them up there. I just take the sacrifice, thank God. Psalm 69 verse 28, watch. It says, let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. Well, that's an Old Testament setting. You had to be righteous to have your name in there. See that? Now you and I have the righteousness of Jesus Christ as soon as we're saved. That blood, that priceless, innocent, righteous blood is just put right over your soul and the Lord sees it now. He doesn't need you to be righteous for you to get into heaven. You're all cleaned up because of Him, but this is an Old Testament setting and the name can get blotted out. And this book in particular is a book of names. And in the Old Testament they were worried about their names being blotted out. Look at Exodus 32. Exodus chapter 32. A little bit of a lesson here and then I'll preach to you for a little while. Exodus chapter 32. And here's the story of This is the story of Aaron and all the Israelites getting backslidden. And they make the calves of gold and all that stuff. Or a calf of gold, excuse me. And Moses comes down off the mountain and is pretty sure God's going to deal with him real harshly. And He does. But watch how Moses has the heart of Paul here. And he's wishing that he would actually be accursed so that his people wouldn't have to take the curse. Look at Exodus 32, 31. And if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book, which thou hast written. He's a writer. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. To blot is to mark something out. He's looking there and he's saying, these guys have committed a great sin, and if they don't get right, I'm going to blot out their name. Now, blotted and blotting, and those words show up a handful of times, but the word blot, just blot, shows up 13 times. That's a curse. It's connected to a mark, marking something out. It's connected to a curse. And then that Book of Life, it shows up seven times in Revelation. Now let me show you something. Look at, let me pray about how to, I have this, I didn't have it in the order I wanted it in. Turn to, let's just turn to Revelation 3 and I'll show you something. I'm gonna show you that before Jesus Christ came, they were worried about getting blotted out. I'm gonna show you in the book of Revelation, they were worried about getting blotted out. And I'm gonna show you in Paul, never mentions it, never worries about you getting blotted out at all. because you're eternally secure. Now you remember last time I had the board and I had that board up and I drew a timeline on that thing and I had Adam and Moses and Noah on this side and I had the cross right at the center. Remember I wrote this last week and then I had way out on this side over here I had the tribulation. On that side I had we get raptured out, we go out of the thing and on the other end of that thing I had it written I had the millennial reign, I had the tribulation and what I'm trying to show you is that they're not saved the same way we are and neither are they. and so there's a difference. Let me show you how there's a difference. Look at Revelation 2. You're gonna see that God's addressing some people here and I want you to notice that he says something over and over and over again to them. Revelation 2, look at verse 2. This is Jesus speaking to a group. He says, I know thy works. Alright, skip down. Look at verse 8. He's talking to the church in Smyrna. Verse 9, I know thy works. 13, different group, Pergamos. I know thy works. Alright, now hold on. Devon, I taught you guys what the Bible says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. Yeah, this is a different crew. This is a bunch of tribulation saints that can't take the mark of the beast. And the Bible says they're going to have to endure to the end to be saved. You and I don't have to do any enduring. We just put our faith in Him. He does the whole thing, right? Watch verse 19. He's talking to Thyatira. I know thy works. Chapter 3 verse 2. Yeah, that'll work. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain. Actually, it's back in verse 1. He's talking to Sardis about halfway through. He says, I know thy works. And you can see it down in verse 8, talking to Philadelphia. I know thy works. And then to Laodicea in verse 15, I know thy works. Works, works, works, works, works. The whole context of their salvation is they've got to do works. You say, well how do you know that? Verse 26, And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. He's talking about a bunch of tribulation saints that are going under the rule of an antichrist here. So you know what happens every time you deal with someone who thinks you can lose your salvation? They kick you into the book of Revelation and try to take something that the context isn't even to you and try to apply it on you. Now watch, now I say all this to get to talking about Sardis in chapter 3. Look at verse 5. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. Alright, well reverse it. What happens if they don't overcome? They get their names blotted out. You know how I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that all of you will never, ever, ever, ever have to deal with your name getting blotted out? You've already overcome. Look at 1 John. He says, he that overcometh, his name won't be blotted out. Well, what if I can show you've already overcome? 1 John 4.4. First John 4.4, Year of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. How many of you have prayed and asked Jesus Christ to come in your heart and be your Savior? Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. He's already in you. You've already overcome. I'll show it to you stronger. Chapter 5, verse 5. First John 5.5. Who is, no, verse four, sorry. For whatsoever is born of God over cometh the world, and this is the victory that over cometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that over cometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. How many believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God? How many of you have Jesus Christ in your heart? You've already overcome. That passage you're dealing with over in Revelation, doctrinally speaking, isn't talking to anybody in the church age. It's talking about somebody way past the church age, going through something, it's a different dispensation, okay? That's a little bit of teaching, that's it. Now look, I showed you that. Here's what Paul says about it, Philippians 4. I showed you in the Old Testament, they're worried about getting their names blotted out, and yet they're having to worry about it in the Tribulation. Let's look at how Paul deals with it. Now Paul, Paul's our apostle, and I'm getting ahead of it. I know some of you are a little newer, but I can show you another time where it talks about Paul the apostle, and he says he's the apostle to the Gentiles. He's your apostle. So if you want to get 100% doctrine for you, you go Romans to Philemon. And if you stay right in there, you'll never have to worry if the doctrine applies to somebody else. The spiritual application you can find throughout scripture. I can go to David and Goliath and make application to you and I. But the actual 100% doctrine on salvation is in Paul. So let's see what Paul says about this Book of Life, Philippians 4.3. He says, And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the Book of Life. And Paul didn't bring it up one more time. Paul's your apostle. He was to you. And he not one time going, hey, by the way, make sure it doesn't get blotted out. Now, let me show you something. You know what people will try to do? They're going to try to run you to the end of Revelation and say that you can get your name blotted out if you mess with the book. So look at Revelation 22. And this is where it's important to pay attention to words. Take the Bible to say what it means and mean what it says and not read your own doctrinal Bias into it your own thoughts and ideas into it revelation 20 now. Here's a warning from the Lord About somebody messing with the book revelation 2219 He's talking about someone messing with the book of Revelation specifically, Revelation 22, 19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part, not name, part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. So let's say you've got somebody right now in this church age right now, and they start messing with the book of Revelation. One of these translators, one of these Bible correctors, but he's saved. You know what that's saying? It doesn't say his name's taken out. He doesn't lose his salvation. He loses an inheritance. I've shown you this. I've shown you over in Colossians where it talks about the reward of the inheritance. And I've shown you where you can lose some things. You can't lose your salvation. Your name can never get blotted out. You can lose your part. That's a totally different thing that's going on there. Alright, well that's a little bit of the study done. Let me preach to you now. Look at Psalms 119. We'll look at the next book in Heaven's Library. Psalms chapter 119. Psalms 119. and verse 89. Now you guys probably know this but Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and the entire chapter is about God's Word. I'm pretty sure God's Word or a form of it is mentioned in every single verse. 176 verses. It's all about God's Word. Okay now watch. It's talking about the Bible by the way. So Psalms 119 verse 89. Forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven The next book that is in heaven's library is the one that's actually in your lap. The book of books. Now listen, I'm gonna go through and you'll see a couple more books in the afternoon service but that's the only one that's checked out of the library. You got access to it. You have it right there. Look at Psalm 68 verse 11. Now it's up there and it's settled up there but look at Psalm 68 11 And you say, well, the atheist argument is man wrote that book. Isn't that what they say? Well, I don't trust the Bible because man wrote it. No. They penned it. The author, the one who spoke it, is Jesus Christ and God. Psalm 68, 11. The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of those that published it. The Lord gave the word. Someone asked me recently, they were just asking like, well, how do you answer that question when people say that God wrote the Bible? I always give the illustration. I say, listen, if I wanted to write a letter, but I dictated it to you and you wrote down word for word, my letter, who's the author of the letter? Me or the penman? Me. Well God gave the word. Great was the company of those that published it. And what you're holding in your hand is one of heaven's books and it contains the beginning of all life. It is the only completely accurate history book ever written. It contains more science than the newest edition of any college textbook, bar none. They constantly have to update. Oh, we had this wrong. Oh, this wasn't quite right. We're not actually sure what black matter is and black energy and all this stuff. They can't figure it out. And you're never going to have to, the Lord never goes, ah, he never cleared his throat and adjusted something in the text. That book is correct. It contains hundreds of prophecies of Jesus Christ, Gentile nations, world history. It contains four accounts of Jesus Christ and his ministry. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You know why that's important? The Bible says at the mouth of two or three witnesses, that's what you need to establish something. And the Lord gave you four. He holds himself to a higher standard. He gave you four accounts. You know what you have in your lap? The book of books. And it's checked out. It's checked out of heaven's library. You got full access to it, so of course the devil hates it. And the world hates these words. So it's banned in 50 plus countries. They don't have it. It's not checked out for them. It is for you. It'll gather dust between Sunday and Sunday for you. But it's banned in these other places. It's banned in North Korea in 2025. North Korean Christians, if they're discovered, they're deported to labor camps as political criminals, or they're just killed on the spot. I'm not talking about in the 70s. I'm not talking about in the communist Russia before the Red Wall fell. I'm talking right now. They're dying for that book. Christians have to keep their faith completely secret. If a Christian has a Bible or part of one, it has to be hidden at all times, only read when the believers are sure they're alone. Most Christians do not even tell their own children about their faith until they're older teenagers for fear that something might slip. Some of you parents, can you imagine that? My boys are both saved. Saved at five or six years old. Can you imagine at five or six you couldn't even tell them about your Savior? 10 years old, 15 years old, that's the first time you can tell them and you gotta say, don't say nothing. They'll kill us for that book. When Christians are discovered there, they're arrested in prison in one of the most horrible prison camps in North Korea, and they're worked like slaves, they're tortured. Most of them never get a chance to escape or anything. 2025. In 2025, that book's banned in Afghanistan, or at least basically banned. If you showed up as a visitor and kept your mouth shut, you wouldn't have a problem, but if you opened your mouth, Those Christians that are discovered, they stick them in mental hospitals. Their families tell them there's no sane person would ever leave Islam. They're brainwashed. And a lot of times they're beaten or even just killed by their families before they're ever even taken to a judge or anything. Their families just get it over with, kill them, torture them. I remember the story, and I can't remember all of it. I remember a story of a little girl becoming a Christian, a young girl, probably around the age of a teenager, getting saved, and her dad would put her out in the shed, lock her in a shed and wouldn't feed her. And her mom would sneak her food, this is a little Muslim girl, put her faith in Christ, and her mom would sneak her food under the shed door in the dirt, trying to feed her daughter. And the dad pulled her out and put acid on her, on her hands and gave her these wicked scars on her hands trying to get her to renounce Christ and she wouldn't do it. And later on she's sitting there with another Christian and they see her hands and they say, what are those hands? She goes, these are the jewels the Lord gave me for suffering for them. That book's banned. You know why? Listen to me. You know why the book's banned? Because it works. because that little girl put her faith in Christ. And somebody goes, oh, we got to get rid of that. That thing will change somebody's life. They'll put their faith in Christ. The devil's got to ban it. Over there, over still in Afghanistan, they kill them. The Islamic groups, they still, they murder them. One Christian over there, privately, he said, we survive daily. Only God knows how. He knows because he has been kind to dwell with us, but we are tired of all the death around us. Some years ago in a communist country, they would have secret services and houses. And they discovered this illegal Bible study. And the pastor's up there reading from a Bible. And a bunch of devil-possessed soldiers kick in the door with guns and start smashing people onto the ground and threaten them. And the officer came up and pointed his gun at the pastor's head and said, give me that Bible. And he hands him the Bible reluctantly. And he's looking around, and he throws that Bible on the ground, and he says, I'll let you people go as long as you spit on the book. If you spit on that Bible, you can walk out of here alive. And he called a man forward, and the guy came up, and he said, God forgive me, God forgive me, and spits on the Bible. and goes out, and he grabs a woman and says, spit on that Bible, gun to her head, and she's sitting there and she's just spitting just as little as she can, just trying not to do it. All right, you can go. And while they're doing all that, a 16-year-old girl comes forward. That ought to bother you men, by the way. A 16-year-old girl comes forward and kneels down and picks up that Bible and wipes the spit off and says, Lord, I'm sorry. Look what they did to your word. And they kill her. Stick a gun to her head and blow out her brains. For a book you'll let gather dust. To a book I'll let gather dust. Dying for a book of books. The world hates that book because it produces real, genuine conversion to Christ. They hate it. The devil hates that book because it knows it saves. You want to learn about Jesus Christ? Kind of get in that book. You want to get to know your Savior? It's checked out of the library. You got his autobiography right there. You can read it. You want to know how God thinks? Read it. You want to know how God wants to lead your life? You got to start reading the Bible. And there's different ways. Here's some practical advice. Don't do anything else in the morning until you've read it. Maybe if you're addicted to that coffee, say, Lord, I won't touch that cup of coffee till I've read a chapter or two. Do something, man. That's the problem with some of these. You like the idea of it, but you won't put anything in place to get it done. You know what I have to do? I just got my brains just active. I can't read in one place and read it beginning to end. Some people read a bit of the Old Testament, a bit of the New. Some people split it in three. Man, I split the thing in four places, man. I'm all over the book at all times. That helps me. It helps me to stay in it. You need to stay in it. The Lord gave you a book that Christians today are still dying for. And you'll put it down for a phone. And I put it down for a phone. Here's William Booth, he was the founder of the Salvation Army, not the thrift store, okay? He was an open air street preacher over in England back in the day and they called him the Salvation Army because they would march up and down the streets with boots and drums and preach the gospel and get bricks thrown at them, a bunch of street preachers. At age 15 he said, God shall have all there is of William Booth. Here's what he said, this is just his advice on reading your Bible. And this is, I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to help you read the book the Lord gave you. At age 20, he says, I will rise every morning sufficiently early and have a few minutes, not less than five in private prayer. Now that is not extreme. See, I'm talking about this old hero of the faith and he didn't, I didn't get, he's, I didn't, I wake up every morning and pray for three hours. It doesn't say that. I just make sure the Lord gets five of my minutes before I start my day. Can you do that? He says, I avoid all babbling and idle talk in which I have lately so sinfully indulged. I endeavor to conduct myself as a humble meek and zealous follower of the bleeding lamb and by serious conversation and warning endeavor to lead others to think of their immortal souls. I read no less than four chapters in God's word every day. You could do that in 15 minutes, maybe less. I strive to live closer to God and to seek after a holiness of heart and leave providential events with God. Read this over every day or at least twice a week. God, help me, enable me to cultivate a spirit of self-denial and to yield myself a prisoner of love, the redeemer of the world. He's a 20-year-old. You know what the 20-year-olds are saying now? I don't even understand them. I'm not even going to try to make fun of it. It's so ridiculous. You want to get them to know the Lord? You've got to get in this book. You say, but some of it doesn't make sense to me. Who cares? Get over yourself and read the book God gave you. And you know what happened if you'll do that? He'll talk to you. You don't need to hear it from me. You need to get in that book and get it for yourself, and read a little or something, and start to spiritually apply that stuff to your heart and soul. You know what you need? You need to get to know the author of that book. You know what's interesting? You open up that book, and it reveals Jesus Christ to you, but as you read that book, He reveals that book to you. It goes both ways. Back in June 25th, 2019, Pope Francis said, there are those who believe they can maintain a personal and direct and immediate relationship with Jesus Christ outside the communion and the meditation of the church. These temptations are harmful and dangerous. Pope Francis telling you that it's harmful and dangerous to have an immediate relationship with Jesus Christ. That's all I need. I need him right now. I need it to be personal. I need him to walk with me and talk with me. That's what I need. Look at Proverbs chapter 22. Proverbs chapter 22. Every young Christian ought to take this verse and underline it and write it down and memorize it because you'll find that it feels like God's talking right to you through it. About every time I come to this passage in my Bible reading, it's like the Lord is just freshly talking to me again. And He'll talk to you. Look at what it says, Proverbs 22, 17. Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee. They shall withal be fitted in thy lips, that thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day even to thee. Now watch, verse 20, Have not I written to thee excellent things and counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that sent unto thee." God's asking you right now, have not I written to thee excellent things? And you won't read it. He's a writer. It's amazing thing is he's written all kinds of things, but he wrote something for you. You know what Jesus Christ says over and over and over again during his ministry? He's dealing with his disciples. He's dealing with the Pharisees. He'll say, haven't you read? They'll say something to him and then he'll say, he'll point back to some Old Testament passage. He goes, didn't you read it? Haven't you read? What a thought if the Lord ever had to say that to you. Didn't you read? I wrote it for you. I gave you something to help you through what you're going through. Didn't you, didn't you read it? Listen folks, if you want to hear from the Lord in your Bible reading, here's what I recommend. Before you start reading, you ought to pray something just simple like this. Say, Lord, what do you want me to change about myself today? Show me in your words and I'll change it. Now, that's a hard prayer if you mean it. go to the Lord and say, Lord, what would thou has me to do? Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it. I just need to hear from you. I want a personal walk with you. I'd like you to talk to me through these words. Show me. And with your help, I'll do my best. Something simple like that. And he'll talk to you. You can live a spiritual life. Listen, that Bible has doctrine in it, and that's important. The historical side of it's important, but if you don't have a personal walk with Him, it's all in vain. If you don't have a spiritual relationship with your Bible where you listen to it and it talks to you, you're going to wither up and die spiritually. Turn to Revelation chapter 5. I'm getting close to being done. I'm going to give you something here that I've preached and taught before, but a lot of you have never heard it, so I'm just going to preach it like it's fresh. And for those of you that have heard it, it'll just be like I stuck it in the microwave and pulled it out, amen? Revelation 5-1. Here's one of the books that are up in heaven, and I think it's the Bible. It doesn't say which book it is. I'll tell you why I think it is, but this is a powerful passage. Revelation 5-1 says, And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within, and on the back side sealed with seven seals. Now, this book is sealed that's sitting here, so it's not opened. Like some of your Bibles, it stays shut. Someone has to take those seals off the book so that it can be opened and things can come to pass. Now, this is a prophetic thing. This has to do with the tribulation. And what happens is a fellow shows up, some of you already know who it is, he shows up and he unseals the book and it opens up the first plague and the second plague as you go into the book of Revelation with the tribulation and all that stuff. And it's dealing with the second coming of Christ and all that stuff. And what you'll find is that it's going to be Jesus Christ who opens it up. So listen to me. Jesus Christ is the one who opens and unseals that thing that leads into the tribulation. So it's not the United Nations that starts it. It's not the Antichrist, Jesus Christ has to unseal the book for the tribulation to take place. It's all on God's timing. A little side note there. So what you have, just picture that thing, you've got God the Father sitting on his throne, and in his right hand he has a book and it's sealed. And he's gonna dare someone to come take it out of his hand and do something with it. And no one in this room or in this whole world is open, is worthy, excuse me, to open and take that book. You don't have the power. Watch what he says, verse 1. I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within, and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. I'll venture a little further. I don't think anyone was even worthy to approach it. Look at 1 Timothy 6. God's sitting up on that throne holding that book out like, I dare someone to come and find themselves worthy to open this book. And I don't think anyone's even worthy to walk up to the podium. Look at 1 Timothy 6, look at verse 13. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath a mortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. You know what that is? No one can approach God without Jesus Christ. That's Paul talking right there. Unless something happens in your life and you get changed and saved, you cannot even get into the third heaven. You can't even approach Him. You'd get burned up with all that glory. And you're lost to state. There's no way you could even get close to His glory. But over in Revelation chapter 5, God's sitting on the throne, he's holding a book in his right hand, and there's all kinds of ideas of what that book is, but here's three possibilities and what I think it is. It could possibly be the book of Daniel. It could also just be the book of Revelation, or it could be the whole Bible. I don't think it's Daniel. I think that limits it. Daniel's a sealed book, I know that, and it's gonna be unsealed, but a lot of what's taken place is not written in Daniel. And that's a good guess that Daniel could be part of it, but that limits it. And then it could be the book of Revelation that he's holding. It says that the backside is sealed with seven seals though. Almost all King James Bible have seven marks around the back cover. It's sealed. That's at least what it looks like. But then I want you to notice there in Revelation, you don't have to turn back to it. If you just stay where you are, it's fine. In Revelation 5, 2, and 3, it says that they start searching. and they look all through heaven and look all through earth and they look under the earth and no one's worthy to open up the book and to loose the seals thereof. And it's kind of a wild way it's worded because it says that John's weeping over it. And I guess he has a different picture of the book being sealed than we do. Something bothers him about the book being shut. A lot more than it bothers us. Well the last one, it says heaven and earth and then under the earth, well that's hell, that's pretty obvious. No man in hell is worthy to open the book, right? So no devil, no demon-possessed dictators that died and went to hell, no wicked rich men, no fallen angels reserved in chains of darkness, Mohammed wasn't worthy, no dead popes worthy, amen? None of those guys are worthy. So let's bring it a little closer, then it says no one in earth, they say they searched the earth. Well think of all the men and women that are lifted up by the world. They lift up singers. They lift up actors and actresses and politicians and kings and monarchs. And the Bible says they're not worthy. So Patrick Mahomes isn't worthy, amen? But neither is the other guy. And neither is Tom Brady or LeBron James. And the King of England, with all his wickedness, Biden was not worthy, and neither is Trump. They're not worthy. All these millions of influencers, and they're getting all their views. They're all a bunch of just duds. They're not worthy. But then it also mentions heaven. Let me show you something. Look at Ezekiel 14. I know some of you have heard this before, but give me a minute to preach. Look at Ezekiel 14. Almost done. Ezekiel 14. Then it says that he searched through heaven. Couldn't you find a righteous Old Testament saint that was worthy to approach the king? and loosen the seals and open up the book. Look at Ezekiel 14 and this is talking about judgment that God's about to drop and He names it. He drops some names here. Look at Ezekiel 14, 14. These three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it. These are all very righteous men. It says, we're in it. They should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness. saith the Lord God, look at verse 20. For thus saith the Lord God, how much more when I send my four sword judgments upon Jerusalem, I'm sorry, verse 20, I'm sorry. Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter. They shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. Aren't those righteous men? Couldn't they take a whack at it? Couldn't they look at that thing and maybe, surely they're righteous enough. Now this is just preaching, this didn't happen, but I'm just gonna preach to you for a minute. John's sitting there struggling with this thing. He's the one that's writing it down. And I just imagine what it would look like for John to start running through the throngs of heaven. And he grabbed Noah. He remembers Ezekiel chapter 14 and the righteousness of these men. And he grabs Noah and he drags him through the crowd to that angel and says, hey strong angel, look here, I found a good man, isn't he worthy? Can't this guy open the book? He's a good man. Even the Bible says that Noah found grace in the eyes of God. And Noah looks down. The angel looks at him and says, well, there was a day this guy got drunk, caused his son to sin, and led his grandson to being cursed. He's got sin on him. He's not worthy. So John starts getting a little more frantic, and he pushes through the crowd, and he finds a whole bunch of prophets sitting there fellowshiping. And he finds Daniel. And he grabs Daniel there and drags him back to the angel and says, what about old Daniel though? And John knows his Bible pretty good. He says, in one of those chapters in Daniel, he's a type of the Holy Spirit. And there's another place there where he's a type of Jesus Christ himself. Surely this man is worthy. And the angel looks at Daniel and Daniel looks down. And he goes, he is a good type, I'll give you that. But he's not the real thing. He's not worthy. There was a time where old Nebuchadnezzar came down and bowed down his head to old Daniel. And Daniel is a good type but he is not worthy of worship. The real one can take that worship but not him, he's unworthy. And now John starts to freak out a little bit. Some tears start to fall down his cheeks and he runs through and he finds a place there where the ancient men are sitting and he grabs Job. He brings Job up to the strong angel and with one final breath he just says, this is my last effort, here's Job, look at him. The Bible says that Job was perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil. In fact, the Lord told the devil, the Lord's testimony was, hast thou considered my servant Job, one that feared God and eschewed evil, perfect and upright man, surely he'll do the trick. And old Job smiles up at the angel and shakes his head and says, no, there was a time where I let some self-righteousness turn to pride and I'm just, I'm so far from worthy, it's not even funny. As Job walks away, John really begins to break down and he weeps. It says he wet much. I guess John realized the importance of the book being opened. Look back there, look at Revelation 5. I'm preaching all this just to give you something to chew on. Revelation 5, verse 4 says, and I wet much. because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. Verse 5, And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. I don't give a flip what Netanyahu says. That's the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. And we don't have to get into all that craziness right now. You know what it makes me think of? Exodus 15.11 says, Who is like unto the Lord among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 1 Kings 8.23 says, And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart. Verse 6 says, As it has been slain, pierced hands, pierced feet, So the only imperfect body in heaven is the body of the one who died for you. And everybody here is going to have a perfect body, but you're not worthy. His will be pierced, and he's worthy. And I've said this before, but it bears repeating, that after you've been there for 10 billion years in perfect peace, we can always just turn and look at the one man who's got pierced hands and pierced feet and say, I'm here because of him. You say, why are you preaching on all this? Let's go and have the pianist come. It took all that time to just show you how a real Christian responds to the closed book. You ought to see how a disciple of Jesus Christ responded when the book was closed and sealed. You know the only one who can unseal that book is Jesus Christ. You know what you need? You need Jesus Christ to reveal that book to you. And it reveals Christ to us, but Christ reveals that book to us. What you have is a great picture of Jesus Christ unsealing the book for your life. The word read or read shows up in 66 verses in the Bible. One for each of the 66 books. Now what excuse do you have? You don't have it. It's not all sealed up. It's sitting there on your lap. You can open it. You can read it. What's it gonna be like if you stand before Jesus Christ one day and he just says, did you read what I gave you? And you hadn't read it through. Maybe you didn't even try.