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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.
Heaven's Library Pt-1
Series Sermons
| Sermon ID | 2925215434633 |
| Duration | 51:44 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Revelation 20:11-12 |
| Language | English |
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