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Sermon

The Bitter-Sweet Little Book

Series
Revelation
Scripture
Revelation 10:1-11

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

Revelation 10 reveals the mighty angel and the little book, teaching us about the nature and mission of God’s Word in the last days. The chapter shows that God’s Word is authoritative over the whole earth, absolute in its promises and judgments, and must be announced to all peoples until the very end. We are reminded that the same God who created the heavens and the earth is the one who will bring all things to their final consummation.

Key Lessons:

  1. God’s Word carries divine authority over the entire world — no one is outside its reach or its message.
  2. God’s plan of redemption is absolute and sure — time will run out, and every prophetic promise will be fulfilled.
  3. The Word of God is bittersweet: sweet to those who receive the gospel of grace, but bitter because it also reveals divine judgment on the unrepentant.
  4. Every believer is commissioned to announce the gospel faithfully, just as John and the prophets were commanded to do.

Application: We are called to devour God’s Word personally — letting it become sweet to our souls — and then to boldly proclaim the gospel to others, knowing that it is the only message that saves people from eternal destruction.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does knowing that God will finish what He started affect the way you live and share your faith today?
  2. Have you experienced the bittersweet reality of evangelism — the sweetness of seeing someone come to Christ and the bitterness of seeing others reject the message?
  3. In what practical ways can you more deeply appropriate (“eat”) the Word of God so that it becomes sweeter than anything else the world offers?

Scripture Focus: Revelation 10:1-11 — the mighty angel with the little book; Acts 1:6-7 — the disciples’ question about restoring the kingdom; Deuteronomy 29:29 — the secret things belong to the Lord; Psalm 19:9-10 — God’s Word sweeter than honey; Galatians 3:8 — the gospel preached beforehand to Abraham.

Outline

Introduction

The Distance from God’s Throne to Calvary

All right, chapter 10 of Revelations. Hopefully you’re there. When we think about the distance from God’s Throne of Splendor down to the abyss of Calvary’s cross, we have to think that Christ is the Eternal Creator, the Lord of all existence, exalted infinitely above Earth’s foulness and decay.

He is the source of life with myriads of angels to sing his praises and also to do his bidding. Yet motivated by love for his human race, he humbled himself. He became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross.

He came to our puny planet, was born in a cave-like barn with smells and filth, and was placed as a helpless babe in a feeding trough. When we look at his manhood, he endured homelessness. When he was thirsty, he asked for water.

When he was weary, he fell asleep in the boat on a storm-tossed sea. He did miracles there. He was sinless and was adored by the multitudes one day, and then the next day condemned as a criminal and died on a Roman cross in excruciating pain for sinners like us.

Now, that’s the distance from God’s Throne down to Calvary. That’s the measure of his mercy and grace to mankind. As one man named Newell put it in a poem, he said, “Oh the love that drew salvation’s plan, oh the grace that brought it down to man, oh the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary.”

“Oh the love that drew salvation’s plan, oh the grace that brought it down to man, oh the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary.”

That will be the message right down, or right up, to the last day of human history. The Apostle John, who is the writer of Revelation, is told in the narrative of the bittersweet little book that the message of the good news of the grace of God revealed in the gospel of his son Jesus Christ must be announced to that last day.

Context: Judgments and the Interlude Before the Seventh Trumpet

The Book of Revelation, as I’ve been saying, is about God’s final unveiling of the last days. We have already read of many judgments that will come upon the earth upon the sinful, ungodly, idolatrous mankind. We saw the Seven Seals, and then the six trumpets.

The fifth and sixth trumpets blew, and all hell literally breaks loose on the earth. The released demons from the abyss come upon the earth to torment. One section of the demonic army is permitted to not kill but torment for five months.

Then on the sixth trumpet it sounds, and the fourth angel unlocks the large army from the pit. The Bible says this large army from the East is permitted to kill one-third of mankind by three plagues.

“The fifth and sixth trumpets blew, and all hell literally breaks loose on the earth.”

Now we come to another interlude from chapter 10 to chapter 11:14, that is before the seventh angel blows the seventh trumpet. That’s a very significant trumpet in the Book of Revelation.

Some theologians think these events fall during the middle of the tribulation, of which I agree. This is right smack in the middle.

The seventh trumpet contains the longest message, which covers the last three and a half years of the tribulation period. That’s called the Great Tribulation. It will be the most awful, terrible suffering and violence and catastrophe that the world will ever experience.

It is the time that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:21, when he says, “For then there will be Great Tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.”

The Word Is Authoritative

In chapter 10, I want you to notice in verses 1 and 2 the Apostle John sees someone with a little book. It says there, “And I saw another strong angel coming down out of Heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book which was open.”

Do you find a symbol like this of a little book anywhere else? Well, we read it this morning in Ezekiel, and you’ll also find it in Jeremiah the prophet. But I want you to notice down in verse 7 of chapter 10.

It says, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished as he preached to his servants the prophets.”

Now, what he’s saying here—what he declared to his servants the prophets—with only two or three exceptions, every prophet of the Old Testament, including Daniel, said there is coming a day when there will be a finishing point. He is saying here that when the seven trumpets sound, everything that has ever been revealed by the prophets will be fulfilled.

Also, all the good tidings of the prophets will come to be. It will usher in the second coming of Christ to the earth to sit on the throne of David. But isn’t that what the prophets looked forward to?

The return of the theocratic kingdom in which Jesus will be the king. And isn’t that what Jesus’ disciples asked after he died and rose from the grave? Wasn’t that on their mind?

First, we find it. If you could turn there in the book of Acts 1, this is what the apostles asked. This was foremost on their mind. Look at verse 6.

It says, “So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’” And Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times and epochs which the Father has fixed in his own authority.”

See, that was on their mind right after the resurrection. They didn’t get the rest of the message of the prophets, that they were to take the gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of the Kingdom, to the whole rest of the world. And that would take a long time.

We’re still in that process right now. We’re still taking the gospel to the rest of the world. When you come to Revelation 10, you get the answer to that question.

Our focus this Lord’s day is on the mighty angel and the little book. Now, I’m going to say right in the beginning that the little book is the word of God. And this word, which we have been given by God to proclaim and to preach and to announce, is a book that is authoritative.

It is a book that is absolute, and it is a book that must be announced right until the last day. There is no choice in that. We must proclaim the word of God.

“The word of God is authoritative, absolute, and must be announced right until the last day.”

I want to see the first thing in chapter 10 in verses 1 and 2: that the word is authoritative. Notice what it says in verse 1.

It says, “And I saw another strong angel coming down out of Heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.”

The Identity of the Mighty Angel

Now, this angel right here is very different than any other angel that we have been introduced to in the Book of Revelation. This angel is presented as one having great majesty and power. This is not the sixth angel mentioned in Revelation 9:13, nor is this angel the one who sounds the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11:15.

The angel here is very different and very majestic. And yet some people have concluded that this is Christ. Even though Christ appeared several times in the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord, this cannot be Christ because there is no evidence that Christ comes to earth midway in the tribulation.

Nor will we see later on that one proclaims makes a vow in the name of Christ. Therefore, it cannot be Christ. But this mighty angel—some said that it could be Michael the Archangel.

Michael’s name means “one who is like God.” What you see here is a mighty angel that represents Jesus and ministers on his behalf. The mighty angel represents God’s authority, God’s presence, and God’s power.

“This mighty angel represents God’s authority, God’s presence, and God’s power.”

Characteristics of the Mighty Angel

The angel is representing Jesus Christ in his actions and his character as his minister, as his messenger. If you look back in verse 1, look at the characteristics of this mighty angel.

He’s clothed with a cloud, meaning it’s a symbol of divine presence. He has a rainbow about his head, meaning that the rainbow always represents God’s covenant faithfulness and mercy in the midst of judgment. His face was like the sun.

The angel’s radiant face means that he had been in the presence of God, which was reflecting the glory of God, somewhat like Moses in the Old Testament, where the Bible says when Moses came down from the mountain, his face shone like the sun. For this reason, because he was speaking with him, he was in God’s presence.

His feet like a pillar of fire represent a picture of support, a picture of stability, a picture of strength. The angel from heaven comes with the word of God. He comes with a book in his hand to bring the word of encouragement for believers during this time in human history.

“The angel from heaven comes with the word of God — a word of encouragement for believers and a word of warning to the world.”

He also brings a word of warning to the rest of the world that the redemptive clock is about to run out. An interlude from chapter 10 to chapter 11:14 is given before the seventh angel sounds. The seven trumpet proclaims and brings in the rapid-fire bold judgments, or vile judgments, that will be poured out.

That will be the end of everything. You’re going to see then the other ones that we’ve mentioned already.

The Little Book: An Open Book

So he had a mighty personage about him. Secondly, this mighty angel—what did he possess? Verse number two: he had in his hand a little book which was opened.

A little book which was open. Let me just say that this little book seems to be a symbol of the word of God as it is delivered to people, that this is divine revelation that has already been given, the gospel of salvation.

So the angel has in his possession a little book, and an open book. Now, it could be open because all the seals have already been broken. But it seems an entirely different book than the scroll that had the seals.

Or it could be a book that has never been closed, like the Bible itself, from Genesis to Revelation. It is little because most of the message has already been revealed, and then there’s only a small portion that remains. Or maybe the final portion that remains.

“The word of God has been an open book — divine revelation already given, the gospel of salvation.”

Little may also mean a small portion of the whole scroll containing the plan of God for the ending of the present evil world and the introducing of the kingdom of God in the new heaven and the new earth.

Authority Over the Whole World

Notice also the angel’s position in verse 2. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. Having his foot on the sea and on the land means that he had authority over the whole world.

The whole world was involved in whatever this angel is going to say. It is a message to everyone who is on the planet. The mighty angel brings the word of God with authority for the whole world.

“The mighty angel brings the word of God with authority for the whole world.”

The Seven Peals of Thunder

And his authority is also bolstered by a loud cry in verse 3. It says, “He cried out with a loud voice as when a lion roars. And when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voice.”

A lion is known to roar when it’s about to make its last leap on the victim. The seven peals of thunder point to the perfection or the completeness of God’s intervention in judgment. God’s final judgments will comprehensively impact the whole world.

Nobody on the planet will know that something is happening. Everybody on the planet will know something’s happening. Every single one.

And they’ll know it’s coming from God himself. It’s like the psalmist who says about the voice of God: “The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic.”

God is using the mighty angel to speak on his behalf because he is ready to make the last move. He’s ready to bring complete judgment.

Psalm 29:4: “The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic.”

The Lord has this parenthesis in the beginning, in the middle of this. The Apostle John is ready to encourage and engage in writing what he hears. The seven peals of thunder say John’s ready to write.

Remember, he’s writing in the Book of Revelation. As he’s given these visions, he’s writing everything down. These seven peals of thunder speak forth.

John hears what they say and begins to write down what they say. Notice what happens: he’s not permitted to write or reveal what he heard.

It says in verse 4: “When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from Heaven saying, ‘Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them.’”

This becomes a part of scripture where we have to honestly say, “I don’t know what they said,” because it’s not recorded anywhere. God has revealed much, but here God has not seen fit to reveal to me, man, at this time, but to keep it secret.

That’s reminiscent of Deuteronomy 29:29. It says, “The secret things belong to the Lord, but the things that are revealed belong to us.”

It could be that because God is in control, the saints don’t need to know all the details. Even saving the godly ones from despair over the morbid evil that is coming on the earth in the outpouring of the seven vials of the bowls of bold judgments.

It could be that the seven peals of thunder could be another horrible series of judgments unleashed on the planet earth. God says, “No, they will not go forth.” Maybe it’s just to show his longsuffering and his patience in order to extend more mercy and more grace before the final end.

I think the last one is more to the context. God’s word goes out with authority over the whole earth before the end. That’s the first thing about the word of God.

The Word Is Absolute

The second thing about the word of God is the word of God is absolute. In verses 5 through 7, the angel—now, again, being one of the main people in this narrative—has a solemn oath. Here’s another reason why this cannot be Jesus.

It says here, then the angel, verse 5: “The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven and swore by him.”

So the angel gives a solemn oath. He has a small book in his left hand, and in his right hand he lifts it up to heaven. And what does he swear by?

Notice what he swears by, verse 6: “And swore by him who lives forever and ever, secondly who created the heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it.”

This is no mistake of who he’s talking about: the events that are coming are brought to pass by the same almighty God who created the heavens and the earth. What God started in creation, he’s the one who could write the last chapter and end it, because he is the sovereign ruler.

“What God started in creation, he’s the one who could write the last chapter and end it, because he is the sovereign ruler.”

A Sure Outcome: Delay No Longer

But I’m saying that the word of God is absolute. And notice what it says in verse 6: there’s a sure outcome. The angel swears that there shall be time no longer.

At the end of verse 6, notice this little phrase there. It says that there will be delay no longer. In other words, time runs out.

There will be no further delay. There will no longer be an interval of time as we know it. The end is now to be consummated.

The blast of the seven trumpets is soon to sound forth and unleash all the rapid-fire bold judgments, judgments that will bring Christ his near return and will manifest his glory to the entire earth. God’s purposes on earth will be fulfilled.

Time shall end, and eternity will begin. The kingdom will come, as it says in Matthew 6:9-10, as we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” God will take back the kingdom and the earth so long usurped by Satan and the ungodly.

“Time shall end, and eternity will begin. God will take back the kingdom so long usurped by Satan and the ungodly.”

He will take it all back. He’s letting things happen so everything could take place that he has designed and allowed. And finally, put away evil forever.

The Mystery of God Finished

But there is something else here: this mystery that was designed in the past will continue in the present. For this is what it says in verse 7. And this is the answer to the apostles’ question in Acts 1:1.

Where it says in verse 7: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angels—remember, the seventh angel has not blown his trumpet yet—when he has sounded, it says, ‘Then the mystery of God is finished as he preached to his servants the prophets.’”

This brings about the completion of the mystery of God as declared to his servants the prophets. What is the mystery of God? The mystery of God is the gospel of glad tidings to all people.

That’s it. Not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, to all peoples. See, that’s the mystery.

And the prophet spoke it. When the apostles came on this earth to preach, they didn’t preach the New Testament—didn’t have it yet. They preached the prophets.

They preached the Old Testament. That was their gospel, because the gospel was there already. It was already there.

“The mystery of God is the gospel of glad tidings to all people — not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, to all peoples.”

And they came and got more revelation from God to write the New Testament to make things more complete and more clear. The hidden plan of God will be complete. God’s scheme of redemption will be finished.

The Gospel Preached to All Nations

The world doesn’t see what God’s doing. They don’t. But the children of God know what God’s doing.

They know that the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They know that the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth with his son Jesus Christ as Lord, ruling and reigning over all the earth with his saints with him, us coming back with the Lord to rule and reign for a thousand years on the earth.

We know that says it in the word of God. And we know how all these things are going to take place because it’s already in the word of God.

“The kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

There’s definitely a sure outcome in these passages of scripture that are incomparable. The final consummation is the great theme of the gospel announced to and by the prophets.

Notice there it says that the Lord is the one who preached to the prophets. Remember, the prophets didn’t have to study to give their message. God gave it directly to them, and they gave it directly to the people.

The Apostle Paul kind of summed this up in Galatians 3:8, where it says, “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in him.’”

The Word Is Announced: Take and Eat the Book

All the nations will be blessed in Jesus Christ. And then it leads me to this last point: the word of God is announced. It’s announced, and it’s to be appropriated.

This is a strange part of this passage of scripture because there’s a commanding voice. I believe this voice is the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, speaking to this angel or to John. Notice what it says in verse 8.

It says, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel.” In other words, the command is, “Take the little book.”

Verse 8 says, “Then the voice which I heard from Heaven, I heard again speaking with me, saying, ‘Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.’ So I went to the angel in verse 9, telling him, ‘Give me the little book.’”

The little book symbolizes the word of God as it’s delivered to people—divine revelation already given and continuing to be preached throughout time. And that is the gospel of salvation.

“The little book symbolizes the word of God as delivered to people — divine revelation already given and continuing to be preached.”

The word of God has been openly delivered to humanity for a very long time. Remember, John is still writing the New Testament.

The book, the word of God, has been an open book. It’s been a book that has been declared. Actually, it’s a book that I don’t know of anywhere where it’s ever been a closed book.

Even through the 400 years of silence between Malachi and Matthew, the word of God was still there. God wasn’t speaking through a prophet, but the word of God was still there. The Old Testament was still there until John the Baptist stepped on the scene and God began to speak through him as a prophet.

Helen Allan was born in 1931 in Brooklyn. She became famous for her paintings and had a keen eye for photography. She took a picture of an open book that no matter what you did to it, it could not close.

In 1999, a year before she died, she made a print of the book and called it “The Book That Will Not Close.” Right next to it, she put the book of Moses. I don’t know if she did that consciously or if she knew she was right on the money.

But this angel had a book that was open. Now the Apostle John is said to do something with it in verse 9.

It says, “Take and eat the book.” He says, “Take and eat it, and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”

Then verse 10: “I looked and I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it. In my mouth it was sweet as honey. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.”

The Sweetness of the Word

Now, that says a lot there. Because eating the little scroll or the little book has a two-fold effect. The first effect is it is sweet to the Apostle John and those who repent and believe in Jesus as their savior.

It is sweet. The word of God that is devoured and absorbed is indeed sweet. Eating it, taking it, is taking the gospel to your heart.

And John, even in the midst of bitter persecution himself, being confined on an island of Patmos because of preaching the gospel, even in the midst of that persecution, he experienced the assurance of eternal salvation in Jesus Christ and the sweetness of delight in his heart by not only believing that message but now proclaiming that message.

See, the prophets had the same exact experience. When the Lord said to Jeremiah and to Ezekiel that we read this morning, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me the joy and the delight of my heart, for I have been called by your name, oh Lord God of hosts.”

Now, if you know anything about the ministry of Ezekiel or Jeremiah, it wasn’t pleasant. They went and preached. If you notice this morning in the reading, every verse said, “You rebellious people, you rebellious people, you rebellious people, go preach to them.”

The word of God burned in his soul. It was the word of God that burned in his mind.

It’s the word of God that he knew was the truth. It was the word of God that is sweet in that it is the word of promise. It is the word of grace and mercy.

It is the revelation of God’s love toward humanity. And that is seen in Jesus Christ dying on the cross. Where it says in Romans, “He demonstrated his love in that while we were sinners and ungodly, he died for us.”

See, that’s how the word is sweet. When you understand the message of the word and where it heads, and that your relationship with God is now made right—not by anything you could have ever done, but by what Jesus Christ did in your behalf.

And the psalmist, when he writes about the word of God, what does he say in Psalm 19? That famous Psalm: “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true.

They are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of a honeycomb.”

Psalm 19:10: “More desirable than gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of a honeycomb.”

See, that’s how the word should be to all of us who know Christ. Most people delight in sweet things, don’t they? Some people believe that we’re born with a sweet tooth.

I think I have it. But not many desire this sweetness. When you come and believe in the Lord Jesus and take him as your savior, you come to know that the word of God produces a craving in your soul that you could have never conjured up yourself.

And it’s for the sweetness of the word of God. You want to know that the Lord is compassionate. You find out in the word he is.

You want to know that the Lord is full of mercy and that you can run to him with your sin and know you’re forgiven. That’s in the word of God. And you want to know that the Lord is compassionate and full of loving kindness.

That’s in the word of God. And when those things—that’s sweet to your soul. There’s nothing like it.

When you eat the book, or when we eat the book, we partake of its contents. We appropriate its statements, its promises, its affirmations, everything contained in the book. As we eat it, it becomes sweet to us.

We find partaking in God’s book and understanding the message is indeed something that is sweeter than even honey. But there’s a second effect of this book.

The Bitterness of the Word

It says here that it became bitter in his stomach after eating it. The second effect is that the word of God is bitter. The word of God is bitter because it reveals divine judgment.

God is compassionate, but he’ll not allow the guilty to go unpunished. God’s love and his mercy and his judgment must go together. We can’t separate them and take one without the other.

“God is compassionate, but he’ll not allow the guilty to go unpunished. His love, mercy, and judgment must go together.”

We have to have both. Because it reveals divine judgment, which will be poured out on earth upon sinful, unrepentant humanity as God deals out his wrath with the wicked world.

In Revelation, in the end, you’ll see the great white throne judgment where God opens the books and he examines everyone’s life and he judges them righteously based on what they’ve done. If their name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, they’re cast into the Lake of Fire.

That’s God’s judgment. That’s bitter. Now look what he says to John in Revelation 11:11.

Commissioned to Prophesy

Not only eat it—not only appropriate it to yourself—but tell the book. Don’t just keep it to yourself. Verse 11 says, “And they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.’”

The Apostle John eats the little book, like the Old Testament prophets did, pointing to the reality that John is not only the last apostle, he’s not only writing the last book of the Bible, the revelation of God, but he is commissioned to be the last prophet.

The Apostle John is commanded to prophesy to many peoples. That is to faithfully deliver the word of God as it’s committed to him and give it to others. Divine revelation that has already been given must continue to be announced right up into the very end.

“Divine revelation that has already been given must continue to be announced right up into the very end.”

So that people will hear the invitation of God to participate in the blessing of the word of God, the sweetness of the word of God, and the good news of his grace revealed in the gospel of his son. So that they don’t have to experience the bitter part of it.

The Bittersweet Experience of Evangelism

Although the reality of announcing and proclaiming God’s word to many peoples and nations and tongues and kings is a bittersweet experience. If anybody ever does any evangelism, you’ll know that’s the case.

You have the message of the mystery of God on how someone gets right with the Lord and be forgiven and the promise of eternal life. And they look at you with a stare like it just went over their head. That’s bitter.

When you see your loved ones reject the gospel, when people you prayed for your whole life die without Christ, that’s bitter. But then you see people who do come to Christ, and that’s sweet.

That is sweet. Matter of fact, I think that when you evangelize and give the gospel and announce the gospel to people and they believe, there’s nothing greater than that. You’re on cloud nine.

If there’s such a number as cloud nine, you’re up there, man. Like God used you to give the gospel to somebody, and they get saved. There’s nothing like it.

“When you give the gospel and people believe, there’s nothing greater than that. You’re on cloud nine.”

Even when you walk away, you say, “Who am I to do that?” But God used you, and it’s good to be used by God. It’s good to announce this message.

That every saint should take and eat with the assurance that the word of God will be sweet. And at the same time, bitter to those who reject Christ because they remain unrepentant and under God’s condemnation and judgment.

So it’s clear in chapter 10 that the word of God is not only authoritative and absolute, but it is a word that must be announced. It is the only word that will save somebody from their sin.

It is the only word that comes from God to humanity to save them from eternal destruction and from a literal hell that they will be cast into someday.

Conclusion: Trust God and Announce His Word

Now, when you consider a chapter like this, you would have to say that you can trust God to finish things that he started. He’ll finish them on time from beginning to end.

God is in control. You can rest in the fact that God holds out mercy in and during the darkest times of life. It’s always there for you to come and take.

You can be confident to keep announcing the gospel because there are people yet to be saved. One of them may be you.

For all of us to appropriate the word of God so the word of God becomes sweet to our soul and more desired than any other thing anyone could offer you on this side of eternity, because it is the truth.

“Keep announcing the gospel because there are people yet to be saved. Appropriate the word of God so it becomes sweeter than anything else.”

Brethren, this morning, that is the message today for you and me to lean upon the things that are proclaimed in scripture and then to live them and make them part of our life.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you again for bringing us together today. Thank you, Lord, for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the mystery that has been revealed to the prophets and by the prophets, then to the apostles and to the church.

Lord, that message is still being proclaimed today. Let us not forfeit it. Let us not lay it aside.

But Lord, let us be bold in proclaiming it, knowing this is the answer to men’s questions. This is the answer to have someone’s sins forgiven. This is the answer on how to be made right with the God who created them.

I pray, Lord, this is something that we would never be silent about, not only individually but as a church. In these days, I pray we would experience more of the sweetness than the bitterness of the message of the gospel.

I pray this in Jesus’ precious name today. Amen.

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