Sermon given on December 11, 2010 at Patna SDA Church in Diego Martin, Trinidad.

<p>Sermon given on December 11, 2010 at Patna SDA Church in Diego Martin, Trinidad.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

AudioVerse

Norman McNulty

Vindication of the Lion and the Lamb

It's a wonderful thing to be able to give Thanksgiving to God, amen?

It's a wonderful thing to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ and to reflect on what God has done for us as individuals and also for what he has done for the Patna Company.

I'm so thankful that God inspired those who started this company 11 years ago.

And here we are 11 years later with a group here in Patna worshipping God.

And So we can give God thanks and praise, honor and glory today.

I just want to say personally that I can definitely give God thanksgiving and praise today.

It's been about 9 and a half months since I moved to this island nation of Trinidad.

And my wife and I have been very blessed by our time here.

And we've been working at Community Hospital.

And I've definitely been blessed by that experience.

And in fact, a number of people that I work with that are here today, some who are visiting.

So I'm thankful to the Lord for what he's done.

And I think all of us can be thankful for what Jesus has done for us.

We can look at God's providence in our lives.

Where would we be without God's blessing?

Where would we be without his providence?

And you know, he has given us a privilege of having a special message and a special understanding of what Jesus is doing at this time in earth's history.

God has given us a message to give to the world to prepare not only ourselves but the world around us for Jesus to come a second time.

And if there's anything that we can be thankful for today, especially, it is that God has given us a message and an understanding so that we can be ready for Jesus to come.

And not only that, we can have the blessing of sharing this message with others so that others can be ready to meet Jesus as well.

Today I want to look at what God's plan is for us as his people living in this time.

Now the last time I was here to speak a couple of months ago, I shared a message about the synagogue of Satan.

Today we're going to talk about God's church.

And we're going to talk about how God plans to work through His church in this time.

Because the Bible has much to say about how God plans on working in these last days.

And what I want to look at today is the book of Revelation.

How many of you like studying the book of Revelation?

And I want to look at Revelation chapter 5.

And we're going to look at Revelation 5, 6, and 7 in a brief overview today.

Now in Testimonies for the Church, volume 9, page 267, This is what Ellen White says about Revelation 5.

She says, The fifth chapter of Revelation needs to be closely studied.

It is of great importance to those who shall act a part in the work of God for these last days.

Do you want to act a part in the work of God for these last days.

Do you wanna act a part in the work of God for these last days?

So we should study the book of Revelation, especially chapter 5, amen?

What is it about Revelation chapter 5 that is of such great importance for those of us living at the end of time.

If you look at Revelation 5, 6, and 7, this is the opening of the 7 seals.

And in the book of Revelation you have the 7 churches, the 7 seals, and the 7 trumpets.

But we're going to look at the 7 seals today.

And when you look at the 7 seals, when you come down to the end of the 7 seals, at the end of Revelation chapter 6, you see a group of people that when Jesus comes, they call for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them.

Now do you want to be part of that group of people that call for the rocks and mountains to fall on them when Jesus comes?

We want to be ready when Jesus comes so that we can go to heaven with Him, amen?

But there will be a group of people, when Jesus comes, who will be scared of his appearance and they will call for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them.

But then when you come to Revelation chapter 7 you see a great multitude which No man can number giving praise to God.

And that is the group of people we want to be part of.

So when we study the 7 seals, the purpose for studying the 7 seals is to see the difference between 2 classes of people at the end of time.

1 group at the end of Revelation chapter 6 calls for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them.

But the other group, they are the great multitude which no man can number and they say in Revelation 7 verse 10, salvation to our God which sit upon the throne and unto the Lamb.

These people have been saved and that is the group of people we want to be part of.

And what we will see as we look through Revelation 5 and Revelation 6, we see what it will take for us to be among that group which will stand with Christ in heaven.

And we can give thanksgiving to God today that He has given us a message in Scripture to be prepared to be part of that people.

And so I want to take a look at Revelation chapter 5 starting in verse 1.

He says, and I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside sealed with 7 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?" So here you have a book.

And an angel asks, who's worthy to open it?

And notice what verses 3 and 4 say, And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

And notice what John's reaction is, and I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon." Here is John in vision, the disciple whom Jesus loved.

And as he's in vision, he sees this book of utmost importance and as he sees it an angel in heaven says who is worthy to open the book and nobody is found worthy.

And John, who loved Jesus, and who was the disciple that Jesus loved and who cared so much about spiritual things, weeps much.

And the question is, do we have a regard for truth and a love for Scripture the way John did here in Revelation chapter 5?

John wants to know what is the truth contained in these seals.

I want to know there is something of utmost importance that God is going to reveal through this sealed book and yet nobody can open the book and John weeps much.

Do we care about the truths of Scripture for our time?

Does it matter to us what the Bible says about the kind of people who will be ready when Jesus comes, or do we indifferently flip through the pages of scripture when we read our Bibles?

John gives us an example of how we should approach the Word of God, that it contains Crucial messages of utmost importance to prepare us to be ready for Jesus to come in the last days.

And God's people who will be ready will be thankful and will study with earnestness the way John did as he saw this book that was sealed with 7 seals.

Now Ellen White gives us a further clue as to what was contained in this book.

This is found in Manuscript Releases, volume 20, page 197.

Of this book, she says, there in God's open hand lay the book, the role of the history of God's providences, the prophetic history of nations and the church.

Herein was contained the divine utterances, his authority, his commandments, his laws, the whole symbolic council of the eternal, and the history of all ruling powers in the nations.

In symbolic language was contained in that rule the influence of every nation, tongue, and people from the beginning of Earth's history to its close." So this book had everything from the beginning of history to the end in this book.

And John is weeping because no 1 was found worthy to open the book.

I should say no man was found worthy to open and read the book.

But notice what verse 5 says, 5 And 1 of the elders said unto me, Weep not.

Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the 7 seals thereof." Who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah?

He is the Root of David and He has prevailed to open the book.

Why has Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, prevailed?

Because Scripture says no man was found worthy to open the book, but then we see the lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy.

Now just for those of you who may not understand the lion of the tribe of Judah, in Genesis chapter 49, Judah was 1 of the 12 sons of Jacob who was renamed Israel, and Judah was 1 of the 12 tribes of Israel.

And in Genesis 49, Judah's father calls Judah a lion's whelp.

And when you come to the New Testament in Matthew chapter 1 verses 2 through 16, the lineage of Judah is spelled out and we see that Jesus was born of the tribe of Judah.

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Vindication of the Lion and the Lamb

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