Signed, Sealed, & Delivered
The WHO placed Toronto on a travel advisory for the deadly new plague, and just on Wednesday, they lifted the ban. To date, the virus has killed more than 300 people around the world and infected more than 5,000—with the majority of cases and infections concentrated in Hong Kong and mainland China. China has reported 202 cases, bringing the death toll to 148 and the total number of cases to just more than 3300. In Hong Kong the death toll has hit 150, but the low number of new SARS cases gives credence to a WHO announcement that the infections had peaked there. President Bush has declared SARS to be a communicable disease and anybody diagnosed with it will be placed in isolation against his/her will. Our Master tried to tell us the signs of His coming and in Matthew 24:7, He said:
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Imagine if you will the entire planet being quarantined. Brothers and sisters God has had mother earth quarantined ever since He placed those two cherubim at the entrance of the Garden of Eden to keep man from becoming perpetual sinners. Sin has marred and infected the inhabitants of the earth for the last 6000 years. Unlike our newest pestilence, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, there is no escaping this plague. And the Lord has placed a travel advisory upon us and unless He heals us there will be no traveling to Heaven.
[GIVE TITLE & PRAY]
God has destined this world for destruction, but all of those who love Him and have obeyed him will be saved. Turn with me into your Bibles to Revelation 7:1-4, we read:
And after these things I saw four angels, standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. Saying, Hurt not the earth neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
The Lord has placed four angels on the four corners of the earth. And these angels are holding back the four winds of the earth until He has placed His seal in the foreheads of his servants. Christendom has too often focused its attention on the mark of the beast but brothers and sisters the seal of the living God is the single most important work that God is doing in our time. It is paramount for God that before he unleashes the full power of the winds that He protects His people from its catastrophic effects.
Notice where these angels are standing. They are standing on the four corners of the earth. Well does this mean that the Bible is scientifically ignorant and antiquated by saying that the earth has corners? Absolutely not for you see brothers and sisters long, long before Galileo pointed his telescope into the Heavens, and Columbus set sail for India traveling west, Isaiah 40:22 declared that God sits on the circle of the earth:
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Those four angels have been strategically positioned on the four corners of the earth ever since the disbursement of nations at the tower of Babel to control the affairs and events of man. Angels the Bible says that excel in strength, Angels who are ministering spirits that are sent forth to minister, Angels Jesus said that when we are born are assigned a guardian angel, Angels who we entertain unawares and Angels that make up the Heavenly host that when He who shall come will come and not tarry but will dispatch the entire angelic host over the four corners of the world to gather the elect of God. God has dispatched those angels there four our protection.
The four corners simply mean the four directions of the earth. There is an angel stationed in the North. That is why I don’t have to worry about this superpower in North America because there is an angel of the North. I don’t have to worry about countries in the South because there is an angel positioned in the South. I don’t have to worry about countries of the Far East like North Korea and their nuclear threat because there is an angel positioned in the East. I don’t have to worry about Western Europe because there is an angel of the West.
Those four angels are holding back the four winds of the earth. Now that we know where the four angels are standing what are the winds which these mighty bodyguards of mankind are holding back? There are over 30 references alone in the Bible on the directional winds. Nineteen of the thirty are about the East wind. I know its late so I want go threw all thirty of them for you but the most intriguing of these winds by far is the East Wind. It will by far be the most destructive. In my study I have learned that they are opposing forces. The West is contrary to the East and the North to the South. When these winds are unleashed they will form a whirlwind of destruction. In Jeremiah 25:32 and Proverbs 1:27 the Bible says:
Thus said the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
The winds represent warfare (Job 38:23,24, Isa. 27:8, & Jer. 18:17), famine (Gen. 41:6, 23, Job 15:2, Eze. 17:10), violence and destruction (Hab. 1:9, Ps. 48:7) and the destruction of commerce and economic collapse (Eze. 27:24-27). These angels are holding back the winds until God’s servants are sealed in their foreheads.
Revelation 7:2 says that the barometric angels are being encourage to hold the winds by another angel seen ascending from the east having the seal of the living God. His ascension out of the east has spiritual significance as well but not so much so as to keep me from giving you the opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever have to make in your life. To reject the seal of the living God means to accept the mark of the beast. All of those who do not receive the seal of the living God will be numbered with those who will be annihilated by the 4 destructive winds which will be unleashed on the earth. This sealing angel shouts HOLD THE WINDS, until we have sealed God’s people, HOLD THE WINDS, until God has got the number he is looking for, HOLD THE WINDS, until God’s people are all in one place safe and secured.
But in order for you to be sealed you must be signed-up in the registry of Heaven. Notice verse number 3 again, the only people who are going to be sealed are those who are the SERVANTS of God already. How do I become signed-up and a servant of God. Well brothers and sisters the first thing you have to do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ according John 3:16 [recite it], and in Romans 10:9, and I John 1:9 states you have to confess your sins and believe that Jesus is able to cleanse you from sin:
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Once you do this your name is written down into the Lamb’s book of life, Luke 10:20. Getting our name placed into the Lamb’s book of Life is easy. As a matter of fact it’s just a matter of accepting the free gift of God--eternal life. Keeping it there is the hard part. For you see God is sitting in judgement right now on all those who claim to be his servants. I Peter 4:17, reminds us where the judgement begins. God’s magnifying glass is not on the pimp, prostitute, crackhead, and politician right now He knows they are not straight. It appears we have been misjudging the judgement:
For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God: and if it if first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 and in Luke 6:46:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Yes keeping your name in the book is a chore. It is to be sanctified. Sanctified from what? God is trying to sanctify him a people from the world.
The sealing process is a process of sanctification. You mean to tell me that if I gave my heart to the Lord once that doesn’t seal it for me? No brothers and sisters it doesn’t. In fact your name is subject to being taken out of the Lamb’s book of life. I don’t understand people who believe once saved always saved. If once saved always saved, Sis. Lot would have made it. If once saved always saved, Judas, the thief and betrayer of our Lord would have a crown waiting for him in glory. And if once saved always saved, the Devil would leave you alone. In Revelation 3:5 states:
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, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
God’s people where acting up so much so that God was ready to destroy them before they even crossed over into the promised land. And Moses, he had great faith in the promises of God, and He reminded God of his promise. He opted to be the atoning sacrifice for the people so that God’s promise could be fulfilled to which he gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Exodus 32:31-33, listen very closely to the conversation that they had:
And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
Furthermore David reiterates in Psalm 69:27, 28:
Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
I’m still talking about being signed up. See there are two things registered in the Lamb’s book—your name and your sins. Peter after he had experience a shower of the Holy Ghost recaptures this theme in his message and preaches in Acts 3:19:
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
So either your name is blotted out and your sins remain or sins are blotted out and your name remains.
And there is one more important factor we must include about being signed up in Heaven. You have to be signed up with the right church. Oh yes this is important because if you notice the only people who were sealed were the 144,000 and they were Jews. I don’t want you to focus on the number of the 144,000 right now because that is the least of our worries. In our text Revelation 7:1-4, we could be here literally until morning with the information that I could share with you on the 144,000 but you are not Eutychus and I am certainly not Paul so maybe next time I will be able to return and share with you another time on the number of the 144,000.
Of course we are not talking about the Jews who now live in Palestine today. They don’t have a fighting chance if they do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. They are not God’s people. Jesus is the King of the Jews. Jesus is our King not their king they said they have no king but Caesar (John 19:15). Remember! Furthermore Paul said in Romans 2:28, 29 and in Galatians 3:26-29:
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond
nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
So there you have it brothers and sisters, you are spiritually known as Jews, the people of God. They were considered to be the church of the wilderness in Acts 7:38. Jesus said in Matthew 16:16-19 that he would establish His Church on the testimony of Peter that He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God and anybody who accepts this testimony will become members of His church. Philippians 4:3, says that membership to the right church ensures that your name is in the Lamb’s book of Life.
Outside of this characteristic there are three other characteristics to signing up with the right church. In order to insure yourself that you are in the right church you better check your church off by the following characteristics. In Revelation 12:17; 19:10 and Revelation 14:12:
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Did you catch those three main characteristics: God’s people or church keep His commandments, have the testimony of Jesus Christ which is the spirit of prophecy, and have the faith of Jesus? I know a lot of churches that believe in Jesus but don’t keep his commandments, and I know a couple of churches that keep his commandments and have the faith of Jesus Christ but they lack the spirit of prophecy and remember the Bible says without a vision the people perish so they do not measure up to God’s last day or remnant church.
In fact God is trying to get all of His people into the one body and one faith that Paul talked about in Ephesians 4:4-6. I told you on last evening that Revelation 14:4-12 is the last warning given to this planet by God. Well let me tell you that Revelation 18:4 is God’s last appeal before he unleashes the four winds. Let’s look at Revelation 18:4 together:
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues.
Jesus knows that His people are scattered in religious confusion. He likened himself to the Good Shepherd who is searching for his sheep and he said how he was going to call them. In John 10:16, he says:
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd.
This is it Jesus is giving the gospel call to all of His sheep so that they can come into His fold and be protected by His love and grace. “If you love me,” he says, “Keep my commandments.”
Now when you discover God’s true church and have gone through step one of becoming a servant of God by getting signed up which is accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you are now ready to be sealed. In Revelation 7:3, it reads again that the seal is for the servants of God. A seal is, as defined by Webster, an instrument used to make a stamp or impression, and it is also the impression made. It is used to authenticate a document. Equivocally the seal is basically the instrument used to place the seal and the seal itself. The angel had the seal and was ready to seal the servants of our God in the foreheads.
Every government official in the world uses a seal. It shows the authority of the particular official who is passing some edict or law or authenticating some other instrument. Even in the US when Congress passes a bill, notice I said bill you political science majors, it does not become a Law until it has the executive seal or the Great Seal of the President of the United States of America. The seal contains three elements of authorization. The name of the governing official which in our case would be George Herbert Walker Bush, Jr., the title of the governing official which is President, and territory of the governing official which is the United States of America and its territories. Name, title, territory is stamped to every piece of legislation that is produced by Congress and if it does not have it then it is worthless.
God’s government is no different. His Great Seal is attached to His law. If you want to know what the seal of God is you have to go to His Law. When we turn to the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:1-17 we could readily identify the seal of the living God. Remember we are looking for His name, title, and territory. [RUN THROUGH THE COMMANDMENTS AND SKIP THE FOURTH] If we would home in on the fourth commandment we would see God’s seal. [break it down] Just to let you know that this is God’s seal let’s quickly turn to Ezekiel 20:12, 20. The Sabbath is a sanctified day for a sanctified people. It is there to let us know who we ought to be worshiping that is why the first angel’s message of Revelation 14:7 is for the inhabitants of the earth to worship God notice that made the Heavens, the earth, and the fountain of waters. That’s the way the fourth commandment ends. The Sabbath was given by God to be a sign between him and us that we may know that He is the Lord that sanctify them. A sign brother and sisters is the same thing as a seal they are synonymous. Exodus 31:15-17 states the same thing.
Since the seal has been identified as the Sabbath, then what is the instrument that God will use in giving us the Sabbath seal? Jesus said in John 14:16, 17 and 16:13:
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
The Holy Spirit is to lead us and guide us into all truth. The Bible says in John 17:17 our sanctification comes by the Word of God. The psalmist declares:
Thou [art] near, O LORD; and all thy commandments [are] truth. Psalm 119:151.
How can we say we believe in God and don’t keep His commandments? The Holy Spirit is to guiding us into all truth and there are some of God’s people walking around without this seal. The Bible says again in 1 John 2:4:
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him or her.
Paul said that we are sealed by the Holy Ghost in Ephesians 1:13; 4:30. But I still don’t understand how he seals me you may ponder. Brothers and sisters it has always been God’s desire to save us from sin and to keep us from sinning and he provided a better way by the indwelling Christ. Christ dwells in our hearts or minds by the indwelling Spirit. In fact the Bible states very plainly how God was going to seal his servants. In Hebrews 10:15,16:
Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
The New Covenant is the sealing or placing of the Law of God including the Sabbath into our hearts by the Holy Ghost. God said to Israel a long time ago in Deuteronomy 11:18, 19 and Psalm 119:11:
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
See brothers and sisters I don’t keep the commandments to become a child of God. I was made a child of God by accepting Jesus Christ. I keep the commandments of God because I am a child of God. Jesus the Bible says kept the Sabbath every week Luke 4:16 why because He said it was the will of His Father. Peter said that Christ is our example and we should follow in his steps.
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray, but now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. I Peter 2:21-25
Did you hear that Brothers and sisters you were sheep going astray now tonight you here the loving call of the Master calling you to seal you with His Sabbath. He said my sheep hears my voice. Come out of her my people and be ye not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues.
Now that you have been signed and sealed, you are ready to be delivered. God will have gathered all of his sheep into the one fold and He now bids the four mighty, barometric Angels to whom it was given to destroy the world the command to let ‘em all go and the Bible says that that day is going to be a very terrible day. Daniel 12:1 reads:
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every on that shall be found written in the book.
Left behind! No brothers and sisters, there is no left behind! You must be sealed before the time of trouble because the Bible says only those whose names are registered in the Book above is going to make it. 911 was nothing, SARS, AIDS, and even Cancer are no match for what will be unleashed when those four winds are let loose. You aren’t making any money off the stock market now because of a collapsing economy the bible says there will come a time when you will throw your money in the streets because it will be worthless after the winds are set free. Don’t play God’s not going to have those angels holding those winds forever.
The promise is given to us who are sealed that we won’t have to worry about food just like Israel in Egypt when the plagues of frogs, locusts, lice destroyed their crops and they had blood to drink, but God said that we want have to worry, for bread will be given us and our waters shall be sure (Isaiah 33:16). God said that he will protect in the time of trouble as we close on Psalm 91:
We will see our Lord coming in the clouds of glory and we will rejoice when the darkness is lifted by the entrance of King Jesus and the heavenly host we will all in unison proclaim (Isaiah 25:9):
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this [is] our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this [is] the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
[CLOSE WITH NOAH’S DAY (Mat. 24:37) & PRAY]
