Hear the word of the Lord. Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun and his legs like pillars of fire. He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land and called out with a loud voice like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, seal up what the seven thunders have said. I do not write it down. And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God will be fulfilled. Just as he announced to his servants, the prophets. Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, go take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, take and eat. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And I was told, you must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings. It's pretty. Father, we ask for your help as we read your word, as we hear it preached again this morning. Lord, that we would be able to. retain the information that has been revealed unto us, but that we would also understand it. We would agree with the content of your revelation, that we would be not afraid or unashamed of the gospel of Christ, and that we would certainly let the wisdom of your word infiltrate our minds, our hearts, that we might be able to have the same mind as you. and to walk in alignment with your holy will. We pray that you would give us words to speak, as you've given words to the prophets of old and to the apostles. Lord, help us to be your ambassadors here on Earth. Lord, speak forth your word clearly, boldly, and with great zeal, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Now, perhaps some of you who are parents or grandparents today might be familiar with a book, a children's story. I've never read it, but I was reading about it the other day online. It's called The Incredible Book Eating Boy. Maybe you've heard of this one. It's about a young man named Henry who doesn't like to read books, he just eats them. It doesn't matter whether they're big books or little books, whether they're picture books or reference books. If it has pages in it, Henry quickly gobbles it up and swallows. But apparently, red books are his favorites. The more he eats, the smarter he thinks he gets. So he continues to eat in order to become the smartest boy in the world. But one day, soon, his stomach feels sick and the information is so jumbled up inside that he can't digest it. So Henry has to find a way to enjoy books and not just to eat them. Obviously, it's a play on words. We think about someone having a voracious appetite for reading. And this children's book illustrator has shown this in a very interesting and creative way. But of course, it's not meant to be interpreted literally. I don't know of anyone who eats books regularly. Maybe you do. I doubt it. My wife used to tell me as a dietician, I'd heard about people in North Carolina eating red clay. Literally, there are pregnant women in North Carolina and other places around the world, in fact, that crave this certain type of mineral. They'll start to eat it. So, unlike Michigan where you have dirt, in North Carolina we have red clay. And women will eat it. They desire it. It is sweet to them. But as far as I know, no one eats books. So this is meant to be a figurative interpretation again, just in case you're wondering, I'm not going to interpret this literally. We're going to interpret it figuratively because it's meant to signify a greater truth other than the fact that John is told to eat this scroll that's handed to him from the mighty angel. Now, just a quick recap. Again where we're at in the book revelation before we try to dive into some of the details of this chapter John had already seen a previous vision of God the father sitting on his throne and Jesus coming before the throne is the Lamb of God receive a scroll from his hand and And on that scroll were seven seals that had to be broken in order for Jesus to bring forth the judgments of God. And we see these seven seals have already been revealed. John has already seen this. Now there's a second series of sevens that he sees in another vision. And in this series, he sees and hears seven trumpets being blown. And each one of the trumpets reveals some aspect of the judgment of God that culminates in the final day of judgment. And what we see there is in between the 6th and the 7th trumpets, we covered the first 6 last week, we won't cover the 7th for another two weeks from now, but there's an interlude between the 6th and the 7th trumpets in the same way that there's an interlude between the 6th and the 7th seals. Again, you should see a pattern here. Each time it's meant to reflect the same ongoing story but told in different ways. If you remember from previous in the seals, that just before the seventh seal was broken or opened, that John had seen a vision of 144,000 on earth that were sealed by God. And then he saw a great multitude of believers in heaven praising God for what God had accomplished through his judgments. And now in this section, again, we're having an interlude for the next two chapters where John sees first a mighty angel giving him a scroll that he's told to eat. And then the second vision that he's given is about these two witnesses who are preaching God's word and who are killed for their work. Both of these extra visions, if you will, serve as commentaries on the seven visions as a whole, the seven trumpets or the seven seals as we had before. Now, I told you previously the vision, the seven seals, were given to John to comfort believers concerning their own salvation and security in Christ. even in the midst of these judgments that are coming, whereas the vision of the seven trumpets are seen mainly from the perspective of the unbeliever, the wicked who refuses to repent, and how these trumpets are continually blowing warning of the judgment to come, but yet there still has some correlation here to the believer as well, and that's what these two special visions that we have today and the following week, what they're seeking to explain. Showing in God's people in their role in the midst of all of this now I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time going through every detail of this But basically in a nutshell John sees a mighty vision coming down from heaven Perhaps you might think of something like the size of the Statue of Liberty or perhaps much bigger than that But it's a it's a vision of an angel that literally has one foot somehow on the land and one foot on on the sea. So we're talking about a big, mighty angel, massive angel. So something huge, gargantuan in size, if you will. And the symbolism of this is meant to represent that God indeed has dominion over all the land, all the sea. He owns it all. And he's coming to bring and to claim that for himself. Now, although the angel bears many similarities to Christ, I don't believe that he is Christ. Many of you may have heard before from other preachers or commentators that this is probably a reference to Christ. Because it does, this creature bears many similarities to Christ. But the very fact that John calls him another mighty angel immediately puts that out of my mind as being a possibility of it being Christ. Simply because Christ is in a category all of his own. No one can be compared to Christ. You can't say, well, there's another one that's like Christ. No. Christ is entirely a different person. No creature on earth can compare to him. He's God. But what John is seeing here is somehow a representative of Christ, a representative of God's authority. And this one is coming to bring judgment upon the earth, just as we saw in the previous visions. But some of the aspects of his description, again, he's robed in a cloud, his legs are like firing pillars. This should remind us somehow, if you remember the Old Testament, of the pillar of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, remember? And it's supposed to represent somehow the aspect of God's protection, God's provision over his people, Israel, as they're leaving Egypt and going through the wilderness. The same way we see a description of him having a rainbow over his head, which should remind us somehow of the covenant of God's promise to Noah. Again, that God is going to protect his people in the midst of this judgment. And at the same time, it says his face is shining like the sun, which ought to signify some aspect of God's blessing, God's favor upon his people. So even though this mighty angel, this gargantuan angel, if you will, that would scare any of us to death if we saw it, is also coming in a sense to comfort God's people as well, that God has heard their prayers and God is acting in accordance to their prayers. So this mighty angel is here to deliver God's judgment upon the world, but also to bring comfort to God's people in the midst of that judgment. In a very similar way, if you remember, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joshua right before they went into the land of Canaan and right before the battle of Jericho. And if you remember, that angel was bearing a sword in his hand, and immediately Joshua was afraid. He said, whose side are you on, by the way? Are you on our side or are you on the side of our enemies? And in this case, basically, this mighty angel is serving in a very similar position. He's coming to bring judgment and yet also to bring some sense of comfort and assurance to the one who is on the Lord's side. So verse three, John hears this angel. He's giving a loud shout like a roaring lion. Again, he represents God's judgment to come. John hears these seven thunders, seven voices of seven thunders, if you will, that again represent some aspect of judgment on earth. And John is about to write down the content of what he hears in these voices, these thunderous voices, but he's specifically told not to. Which is strange because almost in every other situation he is writing down what he hears or what he sees, but in this case he's told not to. So what are these seven thunders? I have no idea. None. And if you were to ask the follow-up question, why is he told not to share them? I have no idea. None. Why? Because we're not told why. We're not told what they are. We're not told why they're sealed up. But if we have seven seals and we have seven trumpets and we have seven bowls of wrath, we also have seven thunders. We just don't know anything about them because they've been sealed up for us. We're not given that information. It's still a mystery to us until the final day of Christ's coming. But this command to seal up this revelation is strange, because like I said, in every other situation in the book of Revelation, John is specifically told to write down what he sees, write down what he hears. And in fact, more than any other book in the Bible, the command is given to write down God's revelation, to inscripturate it, if you will. And that's exactly what John does. But in this case, it remains a mystery to us that this is not being revealed to us instead. of more revelation given in reference to the mystery of God's will and how it's unfolded. Instead, we see this vision in which John is to receive the scroll from the hand of the angel and then is commanded to eat it. In the meantime, all we're told from the angel is he swears to God that there will be no more delay. Now, why is he saying this? I'm almost done with my summary here before we get into the point. Why no more delay? Well prior, if you remember in our text in Romans, not Romans, Revelation chapter six, the saints that are under the altar in heaven, the martyred saints are told to wait a little longer. The same word in the Greek is used there as it is in here. In other words, they're to delay, to wait and delay a little longer until all of the saints that were appointed or elected to die in the same manner as they would be brought to fruition. But now, just before the seventh trumpet is blown, which would represent the final day of judgment, he said, now there's no more delay. This is it. There's nothing else, no reason to delay it any longer. So again, we're getting to the end of the cycle here. So what this mighty angel is conveying in the present vision is that the time of the resting has come to an end. Now that the seventh trumpet is blown, and now the angel's coming in judgment. Verse 8, John hears a voice from heaven. He says, go take the scroll that lies open in the angel's hand. John obeys. He approaches this mighty angel and is given a little scroll. Now, why is it little? Is it little because the mighty angel is so massive and it's the normal size of a scroll in this mighty, massive angel's hand? Or is it actually a small, miniature little scroll that would actually fit sort of in the middle of the palm of his hand? I don't know for sure. But I remember on vacation a number of years ago that I purchased one of those miniature little Bibles. They're on a keychain. Any of you ever had one of these? It comes with a magnified glass in the back cover of it so that you can read it. It's actually the entire Old and New Testament in a book about this size. And I lost it. Unsurprisingly, it was very small. I don't know what happened to it, but one day I lost it. I don't think the dog ate it. I don't know if a dog ever ate anybody's homework or anything of that nature, but I don't think my dog ate it. But there's one thing I know for sure, I didn't eat it. Because I'm not in the habit of eating books, right? And neither is John, and neither was Ezekiel. So again, this is a symbolic vision that he's given, that he's experiencing this, don't get me wrong, he's opening his mouth and his vision and he's eating this scroll, but not in reality, right? So, what does this mean? What's the point of this? In the passage that David read to us earlier from Ezekiel chapter 2 and chapter 3, there's a similar account of the prophet of God, Ezekiel, also being told to eat from the scroll of God's Word. Whatever is written on that scroll is on both sides, something of his will that's being unfolded and being revealed. And just like in our account this morning, The word that was written on that scroll in the Old Testament was a word of judgment from God, and particularly a judgment against Israel, who was considered a rebellious house against God because they had not heard God's word, did not want to receive it. So Ezekiel's being called to preach against his own fellow citizens, right? And to tell them that God's judgment is coming upon them because of their sin. And he specifically tells Ezekiel that he's to tell them whatever God has told him, regardless of whether or not they listen. Regardless of whether or not they give him ugly looks. Literally says that. They're giving him ugly looks, if you will. They are tempted to hate him in their hearts because he's telling them the message that they don't want to hear. Well, in the same way, John is identified in the book of Revelation, not only as an apostle, but you'll notice in this passage, he's equated with the prophet. He's received a prophecy from God. And this chapter serves as part of his calling, as a prophet, to go and then share the prophecies of God with others. And just like in Ezekiel's situation, when John eats from the scroll, at first, it's as sweet as honey in his mouth. But then it causes some bitterness as well in his stomach. Now, again, what does all this mean? And we're not told explicitly in the Book of Revelation. We're just given the vision, but we're not given the interpretation of the vision. But John is assuming when he writes this down for us that we've already read Ezekiel, because Ezekiel does explain in further detail what the meaning of this eating of the scroll is in Ezekiel 3, verse 19. God explains what he means by Ezekiel eating the scroll. And he says this, he says, son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you, receive them into your heart and hear them with your ears. So if he eats the word, he's receiving it, accepting it, listening to everything that God has to say, both to him as a person, as well as to the people to whom he's speaking. There's an aspect of God's Word that doesn't leave us any opportunity to sit in judgment upon it at all. We're not to critique God's Word, we're not to take exception to God's Word, but to receive it whole, given what He's given to us, and to accept it. Now, it would be very difficult, as you can imagine, for men like Ezekiel, John, to go out and preach the judgment of God against a people that hate everything that they're saying. especially if they don't believe in themselves, especially if they don't accept it themselves. I mean, I can think of only a couple of occasions in Scripture where we see that that actually happened. If you remember, God does at times use weak and undiscerning men to preach His gospel. We mentioned one of them just last week, I think it was, when we talked about Jonah. Jonah believed in the judgment of God, and he was excited to preach the Ninevites, that God was coming in judgment upon them. But he was bitter in his heart when God actually gave them mercy. He wasn't accepting of God's Full message. He only wanted part of the message. He didn't want all of it. And in the same way we see in the New Testament in Paul's epistle to the Philippians in chapter 1, he mentions a number of people preaching the gospel for the wrong motives. He says that some are doing it out of rivalry or out of conceit or out of pride or ill will. He says some of them are doing it mainly to cause a disturbance for me while I'm in prison to cause me more suffering. They're doing it all for their own reasons. And yet, he says, he praises God, he rejoices that the gospel's still being preached. Strangely enough, God still is able to work through those men who preach with wrong motives and didn't fully accept the word of God themselves. But that shouldn't be the norm, right? That's the exception, not the norm. Neither of those cases is ideal. In these cases with John Ezekiel, God wants to use men who fully have imbibed the message, accepted it for themselves, trust God, and then give that message to others. Especially those who are about to suffer for the sake of what they're conveying to others. Think about it, in Jonah's case, It's a very unusual situation. Jonah was preaching to people that ought to have hated him and wanted to kill him. But the whole town repented, even the cows repented. If that's possible, I'm not sure what that means, but the cows were very exact with him. The whole town is repenting and have received his word and are grateful for it and respond in kind. But that's not the case for Ezekiel. And it's not the case for John. Think about it. John, even now, is on the island of Patmos as a prisoner for having preached the Word. Ezekiel's constantly undergoing some aspect of isolation, mockery, and others, like his fellow prophets, for preaching God's Word. The people are against what he's saying. So in order to preach effectively, at least they must believe what they're saying. And if fully bought into the message itself, especially if they're going to endure such antagonism and opposition, they had to be fully committed to God's word. It's part of the reason why Moses asked God to send someone else to speak to the Pharaoh in Egypt, right? He didn't want to have to endure that type of hostility, that type of antagonism. And he wasn't quite sure whether or not he believed God, I think, either, at the time, whether God could save him from the Pharaoh. These men needed to believe that God's message was true and that God would protect them in the midst of that. There'd be no sense in which these men could separate themselves from the message that they're delivering. They're very calling. As prophets, their very calling as messengers of God is wrapped up in the message that they're delivering. If they don't believe it, they'll never be able to stand up in opposition to those who hate what they're saying. And I think that's the problem today, generally in our culture today, is that you'll find a lot of churches have changed recently in what they're preaching. based upon the fact that the culture no longer likes what we're preaching. So the message itself begins to change to be more accommodating to the culture around us. If we don't believe it ourselves, the culture's not going to believe it. And if we're not committed to it, we're not going to be able to endure opposition to it. We have to be able to stand and deliver what God actually says. So we have to eat it ourselves, imbibe it ourselves. I think that's what it means, at least in part, why John and Ezekiel are both called to eat the Word of God. But notice in both of their cases, it's also an aspect, it's sweet to them when they eat it. They see that the Word of God is sweet. They taste it for themselves. It's not just a word that they give to others, but it's a word that they fully have tasted and enjoyed themselves. And I don't just mean part of it, but all of it. They even find sweetness somehow in God's judgments. They find sweetness somehow in God's wrath. I know that sounded really weird to you, but all of God's works are good. There's nothing unsweet about it. David says in Psalm 119, 103 verses 104. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. whether he's expressing love for God's laws, his statues, whether he's expressing his love for God's judgments, his standards, his aspect of righteousness. Every aspect of it is sweet to him because he fully is in agreement with God's word. And it's sweet. Of course, there's bitterness mixed in with that. We'll see that in a minute. But we've already mentioned Revelation 1, verse 7 a few times, and it bears repeating, I think, based upon this. John says, Behold, Christ is coming with the clouds. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on the count of him. But even so, what? Amen. Even when those difficult, hard words of Scripture are given to us, the believer still says, Amen, because he knows that what God is saying is right, what God is saying is good, what God is saying is true. Even if we don't fully understand it, even if we don't fully wrap ourselves around the consequences of it, We still know it's true. The same manner we see, we mentioned before that the four living creatures who were around the throne of God, every single time one of these seals is opened, they're the ones saying, come, break God's judgment. In full agreement with everything that God is saying, They're not questioning God. They're not saying, well, how could you do this, God? There's never a point. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've talked to some unbeliever who has said something like, you know, how could God allow this type of suffering? How could God allow this type of judgment? Every aspect of God's Word, as we see in Scripture, God's people are in full agreement with it. They're not ashamed of it. They're not ashamed of the flood. They're not ashamed of Sodom and Gomorrah, what happened to it. They're not ashamed of these things because this is God's judgment. God's judgment is perfect. It's good. There's clearly a sweetness to God's Word when it's rightfully understood, when it's faithfully proclaimed, even his judgments. Nevertheless, there's also a sourness and a bitterness that accompanies God's Word when it's received by sinners in a fallen world. And everyone in here qualifies as a sinner in a fallen world. So every time we read God's word, it's also going to be accompanied in some way by some aspect of bitterness. And the reason for that is primarily because we're always reminded that we're not the hero in the story. We're in league with the villains. We have been. We have been rebels against God's throne. We're the ones who, even though we're completely dependent upon God for our next breath, have constantly tried to declare our own independence from our Maker. Every single time we read God's Word, we're reminded that there's still this sinful tendency with our own hearts. There's a bitterness even when we read it because we see that it's good. We see that it's wise. We see that it's true, that it's right. But then we see within us something else at work that's not in agreement with that. So immediately, we ourselves experience that bitterness. Each time we're confronted with God's Word, we're reminded that we're not who we think we are. And that this world is not the place that we think it is. And in order to receive the good news of the gospel, We have to at least see who we are and see what this world is that we live in. It's not a good picture. It's not a pretty picture. When we read God's word, it shows our souls for what they really are. Warts and all. And there's bitterness when we find out the truth of who we are. The bitterness of what we find is really going on in this world. It's not the utopia that people have proclaimed it to be. Of course, for the unbeliever, there's none of the sweetness of God's words, just the bitterness. All they hear is there's an attack on their identity. There's an attack on their worldview. There's an attack on their very being, because their very being is in opposition to the God that has made them. So you can see why they would respond in bitterness if they don't humble themselves and hear what God's Word actually has to say. As you know, the vast majority of the prophets were killed precisely for that reason, because they kept pointing out to those who did not want to hear it that there was something wrong with them and something wrong with the world in which they're living. So Ezekiel and John both would have to believe and be fully committed to God's message in order to preach to a world that's bitter and doesn't want to hear that message. But John and Ezekiel are also told to eat the scroll, not just accept it for themselves, but because they would become a part of the message that they would be imparting to others and showing the hope of the gospel. They're embodying it somehow. They are living it out in some way so that even the Apostle Paul could say, follow me as I follow Christ. There's a pattern of the gospel at work in the lives of the men who are preaching in the lives of those who are sharing it, men and women alike. And in order to do that, in order to present the full picture of the gospel through ourselves, that means we have to eat God's word. We have to devour God's Word. We have to chew on it. As a cow chews its cub, meditate on it daily so that we can continue to find the power and the zeal and the love of God that enables us to walk according to His commandments. There's a sense in which when we read God's Word, we are eating and drinking it. This is what the scripture teaches on a number of occasions when you think about Peter in his first epistle talks about new Christians are like newborn babes drinking the milk of God's Word. Right? And then in another passage it mentions that when Christians grow up in maturity now they're eating the solid food of God's Word. It's a constant sense of eating or drinking in order to fully receive what's being said. It's a part of our life. It's a way of life for us. There's a sense in which even when we take the Lord's Supper, we're eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ. It sounds so weird to us. But Jesus says he's the bread of life. He's that manna from heaven, just as the Israelites would go out and get their daily bread. So we need to go out and get our daily bread in Christ. We're going to find that in his word. We have to eat it. We have to drink it. In order to be able to give it to someone else, we first have to eat it and drink it for ourselves. especially when we try to give it to others, because it takes great humility to be a mouthpiece, to be a messenger for someone else's will. Keep in mind, we're not presenting ourselves to unbelievers. We're not presenting our own will, our own mind, but we're presenting the will and mind of someone else. And it takes humility to continue to be in someone else's mind and someone else's will in order to convey that will and mind to someone else. We have to eat it, drink it. Digest it, devour it, so that we might make sure that we understand it and can convey it to others. Listen to the counsel the apostle Paul gives to his protege in 2 Timothy 3.16, layer 4.2. He says, all scriptures breathed out by God are profitable. for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. So he says, preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching. Nevertheless, preach the Word. Now notice what he says here. He says, all Scripture is God-given. All Scripture is profitable. But what the average Christian, I think, as we're growing in our faith, we want to take some of scripture and we don't want to take some of the rest of it. We're picking and choosing the things that we say that we believe. We're picking and choosing the things that we're willing to talk about. And then we shy away from those other things. He says, no, all scripture is to be preached. All scripture is to be taught and used to correct and rebuke and teach and train in righteousness. And he says, preach it in season, which means what? Preach it when people are ready to hear it. Preach it in countries that are open to the gospel. Preach it when people are happy and delighted to hear what you have to say. But then he also says, preach it when it's not in season. What does that mean? That means preaching in countries that don't want to hear it. That means preaching when people are not happy to hear what you have to say. How can you do that if the Word of God is not your bread? If the Word of God is not what you drank on a regular basis, you're not going to be able to do that. It has to be your life in order to be able to give your life for that Word, you see. And that's what John and Ezekiel are being called to do here, to be willing to give their life for the sake of the life of Christ. In order to do that, they have to eat and drink God's Word regularly. It's no different from us. We're not prophets in the same sense that they are, but nevertheless we're called to the same thing. To eat and drink God's Word daily, that we might find the sweetness in the Word. But that even when we find bitterness as a result of reading God's Word, it points out our sins, that we can find the sweetness in our Savior. Right? And the truth of the matter is, as I preach judgment to you from week after week in this series, it's meant to point you to the sweetness of Christ. I'm not just throwing fire and brimstone at you just so that you can burn, but I'm trying to save you from the burning, but not just give you fire insurance, but that you might fall in love with Christ, know the sweetness of Christ, want to walk with Christ, to follow Christ, In the time of Ezekiel and John, there were many who were antagonistic to God's Word, at least to parts of it. So these men were told to preach all of it, which is why they were told to eat the whole scroll. He didn't say just bite off some of the pieces of it and give it to your friends. Rather, eat all of it. including the parts that are most objectionable, most intolerable to our culture, most unseasonable in our period, in our time, in this culture. Eat the whole thing, because that'll tell you that you really have found sweetness in God's Word. You remember what Jesus said to his disciples in John chapter 4 when they were urging him to have something to eat. They had gone out to get food. They knew he hadn't eaten anything. He's like, here, get something to eat. And he says, I have food to eat that you know not of. And all of a sudden, they start discussing amongst themselves. Does he have a secret stash in his pocket or something? What's going on? We didn't see him eat anything. I mean, they had those long robes. You never know what could be hidden in there, right? So he says that my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. In a sense, this is what Ezekiel and John have been called to as prophets of God, that the will of God would be their food. Their work, their calling as messengers of God, that would be their sustenance. So they must eat it in order to carry out the work and the will of the Lord. It's no different for us. Like I said, if we're going to grow in our own faith and grow in our own boldness and confidence in Christ in this day and age in which most people don't want to be called Christians anymore, we're not going to find that power without eating God's Word, without abiding it. This is part of our call as well. God's Word is to be our daily food. Paul says, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. that you might be able to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. You might be able to counsel one another. You might be able to encourage one another, correct one another, and also be able to give that same gospel to those who are outside of the church. It's only going to come through those who are eating God's word. So I encourage you, don't go eat a Bible. But literally, you might want to ask yourself, why am I not eating like I should? Why am I not hungry for God's Word? And I submit to you this, because you've found more bitterness in God's Word and more sweetness in the world. When you find that this world is bitter, you go looking for something sweet. You'll find that in Christ. For those of you who have never trusted in Christ, it's the same thing. You think that you're going to find something sweet in your sin. You think that you're going to find something sweet in this world. Sadly, it's going to disappoint you because it deceives you again and again and again. Christ alone can satisfy. He says, drink from me, you'll never want to go anywhere else looking for water. I'm the bread of life, come to me, you'll never need any other bread. The problem is, as I said, we're foolish, we're bitter. Christ has come to take that bitter water and turn it sweet. As all I'm saying here with this judgment of God, we continue on the same theme until we're done with this book. He's leading you to Christ who is the sweet one. Don't leave just thinking it's all judgment. Christ's judgments even are sweet, if you understand them rightly. Because in the end, you'll say, amen. Let's pray. Father, we do want to humble ourselves before you. Your thoughts are so high above ours. Your ways are so much better than ours. But Lord, we still question your judgments. We still question your will. We still shy away from those truths that the world doesn't want to hear. We ourselves wonder about them at times. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to chew upon your word, to meditate upon it. to find the sweetness in it. Lord, help us to linger in your Word until we find the sweetness of Christ. I pray, Father, that even in the midst of the judgment to come, even in the midst of the wrath of God, that we would find your goodwill, find your wisdom, find your justice, find your righteousness. and find the one and only name under heaven by which we must be saved. We would be found by Christ.