Sealed for God

Father, even as we stand or sit here this morning, you know the different desires that are rattling around within us.

Father, you know that some of us have desires and longings which we're trying to push away, and we should try to push away.

Some of us, Father, have desires within that we should be pushing away, but in fact we're not at all.

Some of us, Father, have desires that we're confused about.

Some of us, Father, have desires that we know are good and we puzzle over them.

And Father, we could go on about our desires, but Father, we know as we stand or sit in your presence this morning that you know the desires of our hearts,

that you look into each and every single one of us who is here and see, you see what is going on in terms of our desires and our longings and our yearnings,

our imagination, our fears.

Father, we acknowledge before you that you are sovereign, that you are good, that you are kind, that you are filled with mercy, that you are mercy.

And we invite and give you permission, Father, for you to speak into our lives today, this morning, that your word would speak into our lives,

that you, Father, that you would fan into our desires that we should have, that you would help us turn from desires that we should not have.

And Father, we invite you to come into our lives and into our desires.

And we ask that you would do that in a saving way and in a sovereign way.

And so, Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us as we hear your word.

Work in us.

And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Oops.

Oops.

I have sort of a bit of an apology.

Not an apology.

Sort of a bit of a clarification or qualification of something that I said last week.

I made a slightly disparaging remark last Sunday.

Just slightly disparaging about radio preachers in the book of Revelation.

And after the service, somebody pointed out to me that I'm a radio preacher.

And the person who pointed it out to me, not only that they'd known this, it would have been even funnier,

but if you listen to the last two times I spoke on the radio, I spoke on the book of Revelation.

And in fact, on Tuesday, I go in to take my next sessions, and I'm going to speak on the book of Revelation.

So it's sort of a funny type of humbling thing for me to have made a disparaging comment about myself.

But you can pray for me.

On Tuesday morning, I tape some sessions.

I share a spot on CFRA radio at 6.30 in the morning, Sunday mornings, with three other pastors.

And so approximately every fourth week, I'm on the radio at 6.30 in the morning on CFRA on Sundays.

And so you can pray for me about that.

When can we begin?

That's sort of a very, very common type of question.

People might sort of wonder, when can we begin a family?

When will life really begin?

There's an old joke, maybe you've heard it before.

A rabbi, an Anglican minister, and a Catholic priest were walking along,

and they were having an argument about when life began.

And the Anglican minister said, oh, you know, life begins when the baby comes out of the womb.

And the Catholic priest said, no, no, no, that's a terrible thing to say.

Life begins at conception.

And then the rabbi smiled and said, you're both wrong.

Life begins when the kids move out and the dog dies.

Anyway, so we constantly ask the question, when will life begin?

When can we start doing things?

When can we, you know, start working on a mortgage?

When can we save money?

When could we tithe?

When can we be generous?

When can we begin a relationship that could be permanent?

We as a church, on one level, are always sort of struggling a little bit with when we can begin.

In particular, since we walked away from our building two and a half years ago

and moved into rental facilities and stuff like that,

it often seems as if certain types of ministries and all can't begin

until certain other external things start to happen.

And the Bible text that we look at today, it doesn't answer all of the questions about when we begin,

but it does have some actually very, very interesting and powerful things to say to churches

and to Christians in terms of at least part of the Christian life and church life

in terms of when certain things can and should begin.

So it would be a great help to me if you turn in your Bibles to Revelation 7.

Revelation chapter 7.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

And let's hear what the Bible has to say about this.

Some of you who might not know some things about our church,

two and a half years ago we walked away from our building

and separated away from the Anglican Church of Canada.

And part of the reason we did that was to be connected to the global Anglican Futures movement

of which we are a part.

And, you know, for somebody like myself,

who spent all of his life up until two and a half years ago

being in churches with buildings,

it's a real learning curve,

trying to have an imagination and a will

which reflects not owning property.

And I know that there's a lot of people who get excited by that,

but some sort of struggle with it.

And this text, believe it or not,

will sort of speak into it a little bit,

at least in terms of how we should pray.

And here's how it begins.

Revelation chapter 7, verse 1.

Revelation 7:1

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth.

Actually, you know what?

Let's go up a few verses

to what's just happened before this.

What's happened in the book of Revelation?

In our church we preach through books of the Bible generally.

That's how we,

that's sort of what we do on Sundays.

And so we're going through the book of Revelation.

And, you know, in chapter 1 you sort of get an introduction to the book.

Chapter 2 and 3 there's stories or words that Jesus has to seven different churches.

In a sense that's seven different ways to enter into the book of Revelation.

Sort of almost like an examination of conscience

that challenges us as we go into the rest of the book of Revelation.

And then in chapter 4 there's a vision of God in heaven.

Chapter 5 there's a vision of Jesus in heaven.

And then last week we looked at chapter 6,

which is that the same one who redeems us,

which is Jesus,

is the one who has control over the future.

From the moment of the crucifixion and resurrection

until he comes back,

that the same one who redeems us

is the one who controls the future.

And so last week we saw these judgments of God

that were coming out.

And in chapter 6,

that's what we're just going to do,

it's like the sixth judgment is the sixth seal is opened.

And just look maybe at verse 14.

This is the sixth seal,

the sixth sort of judgment,

the sixth thing which is sort of happening on the earth.

And it says,

the sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up

and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones

and the generals and the rich and the powerful

and everyone,

slave and free,

hid themselves in the caves

and among the rocks of the mountains,

calling to the mountains and rocks,

fall on us and hide us from the face of him

who is seated on the throne

and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of the wrath has come

and who can stand.

And that's sort of where the action's taken us to right now.

And it's a very, very gripping type of image.

It's an image of,

in some ways,

all of the people on the earth

who've turned their back on Jesus

and the offer of redemption.

And they have,

there's chaos going on all around them

on a physical level.

And they have this sense

that they're somehow under the judgment of God.

And at the same time

that they have this sense

that they're under the judgment of God,

they also have a sense of his face.

That it's his face,

that it's God responsible for this.

And they actually even have a sense of his face.

Not just his presence,

but his face.

And the mystery of the text

is that even though they have this sense

of the face of God looking at them

in this time of chaos,

they turn not to the face of God,

but to a rock

and say to the rock,

hide us.

Who can stand?

It's a very, very gripping image.

That they turn their back

on the face of God.

They have this sense.

How many people would love to have

a sense

or to see the face of God?

And the text implies

that these people

in some ways

know the sense,

the face of God,

but turn from the face of God

to speak to rocks.

That they be delivered.

And then it's right after that,

verse 7,

chapter 7, verse 1.

And after this,

I saw four angels

standing at the four corners of the earth,

holding back

the four winds of the earth

that no wind might blow

on the earth or sea

or against any tree.

Then I saw another angel

ascending from the rising of the sun

with the seal

of the living God.

And he called with a loud voice

to the four angels

who had been given power

to harm earth and sea,

saying,

do not harm the earth

or the sea

or the trees

until we have sealed

the servants

of our God

on their foreheads.

Now just sort of pause here

for a second.

You know,

I watch lots of movies.

Not all good movies as well.

I don't know how many of you

have seen the X-Men movies.

But if you've seen

the X-Men movies,

you have an insight

to this biblical text

that the rest of you

don't have.

And that is,

for those of you

who've seen the X-Men movies,

what is it that Dr. X can do?

You know how one of the things

that Dr. X can do

is let's say,

you know,

we're all doing this

and I'm up here

and all of a sudden

Dr. X,

I don't know,

Wolverine's going to come

wandering in the room

and I'm,

all of a sudden,

I freeze,

we all freeze.

It's as if

for the whole room

he has the power

to suspend time

and it's almost as if

for those who he wants,

they're outside of time

for a moment

and they can,

you know,

they can walk around

the cafeteria,

you know,

juice or pop

is being thrown

and it all stops

and they can have

this conversation

that goes on

while there's chaos

or other things going on

that's all just stopped

and that's the image

of what's happening here.

Chaos is going on

and all of a sudden

it's as if chaos

is going on

and it just stops

and in the midst

of the chaos

it's as if

John has this vision

of,

outside of time

of a conversation

going on

between angels

and to John

to tell him something

and what he says

is

in verse 3

do not harm

the earth

or the sea

or the trees

until we have

sealed the servants

of our God

on their foreheads.

So,

here's the thing,

the first point

if you could put it up.

Even while the earth

is in chaos

God is sovereign

and seals

ordinary people

for himself.

Even while the earth

is in chaos

God is sovereign

and seals

ordinary people

for himself.

Sealing

in this particular case

in the ancient world

that would be

like

you get something

like wax

doesn't have to just be wax

but something

which is melted

and you put it

on something

and the king

or the important person

would have a ring

or some other object

that could be pushed

into the wax

or some other thing

which is melted

and it would leave

an impression

in that

and that's sealing

something.

And so in the ancient world

there's three

connections

to being sealed.

To seal something

means to authenticate it

or it means

to signify possession

or it means

to signify protection.

So what's

so the three things

that sealing means

is that it either means

that it's authenticating

something

it's signifying

possession

of something

or it's signifying

protection of something.

So here

the image is

that

the lamb

who is the redeemer

is in control

of the future

as part of the future

is there's these things

that are going on

in the planet

the things that are

going on in the planet

the question within

all of the things

in the question

of the planet

is will suffering

incline my heart

towards God

or away from Him?

Will suffering

incline my heart

towards God

or away from Him?

And in the midst

of all of this

chaos

which is going on

and all this stress

which is going on

that in the midst

of all of this

we have this image

that in the midst

of it

that God

is sealing

ordinary people

for Himself

It means that when I put my faith and trust in Jesus, when an ordinary person like you puts your faith and trust in Jesus and what he's done for us on the cross,

that God, as one of the things that he does to us as a response to us putting our faith and trust in the salvation which is offered to us through Jesus

and what he wins for us on the cross, is that God seals me.

He seals you.

It's as if he puts a tattoo on your forehead.

Not a scary tattoo.

But a good one.

And he does that to signify that you're authentically his.

That you are authentic.

That you really are his.

That you really belong to him.

And that he really will, in an ultimate sense, from the point of view of all eternity, that you will now be under his complete and full protection.

And that is given to the ordinary person who puts their faith and trust in Jesus.

Even while the earth is in chaos, God is sovereign and seeks ordinary people for himself.

Seven years ago or so, while I was still part of the Anglican Church of Canada, I went to a synod.

Maybe it was the second to last synod that I ever attended.

And there was a guest speaker.

And the guest speaker was the Archbishop of the Sudan, the head of the Anglican Church in Sudan.

And as some of you know, it's been very, very hard.

It was very, very hard for Christians in Sudan for a long time.

Many of them were captured.

They'd be sold into slavery.

They would be killed.

Terrible, terrible things.

And he came and spoke to our diocesan synod.

And everybody was asking him all these questions about slavery and the poverty and et cetera, et cetera.

And so I got up and I went to the mic.

And I said to him, Bishop, does evangelism still happen in Sudan, even though all these terrible things are happening?

Or has it stopped you from doing evangelism?

And it was so wonderful.

I wish it was filmed.

And he burst into a huge smile.

And he said, oh, God has been very good to us in the midst of all these trials.

He said, our church has been growing.

He said, I go into a village.

And one of the things I will do is I will visit some of the individual Christians.

And then I go into the center of the square in the village.

And I open my Bible.

And in a loud voice, I tell people about Jesus and what he's done for us on the cross.

See, here's the thing.

For a lot of us in the West, we wait until we have our own resources before we think that life can go on.

So for churches, we think if the economic indicators aren't going the right way for us,

if the culture isn't drawing people to us but pushing people away from us,

if the demographics are against us, if the building ownership is against us,

and it's as if we constantly are waiting for the culture to turn, the economics to turn,

the possession issues to turn, and we keep waiting,

even though we don't have to deal with even remotely the type of chaos that they do,

let's say, in Sudan,

we keep waiting for external things to be ready and set so that we can begin.

And this text is saying that what this archbishop in the Sudan,

he understood Revelation 7.

I mean, our prayer should be that we could be like the church in the Sudan.

Hopefully God grant us not to suffer that type of persecution and poverty and oppression.

Father, may you spare us from that,

and may you have mercy upon our brothers and sisters in Sudan

and other places in the world that have to live under that.

But even in the midst of chaos, with earth and chaos,

God, the sovereign God, is still sealing people, ordinary people for himself.

And the question for churches and the question for Christians

isn't when will the culture allow us to do things again,

or when will our owning of buildings allow us to do things again,

or when will whatever allow us to do things again.

It's to say, Father, what divine assignments do you have for me?

What divine assignments do you have for my church?

Father, deliver me from thinking that everything depends upon my resources

or the external things being completely and utterly correct

before I can pray or act or seek to obey you and bring you glory.

Deliver me from thinking that I...

Deliver us from thinking it's all about our resources

and all about external things.

And help us to hear the voice of God

and seek to be obedient in telling people about Jesus and ministry.

That even in the midst of chaos, God is sealing people for himself.

Now, sometimes Christians fight amongst themselves about things.

We're all sort of familiar about...

Maybe we're most familiar about the way that Christians maybe fight about

whether you could speak in tongues or not.

I didn't have a fight this past week,

but I had sort of a sincere conversation a little bit

with my trainer of the book of Revelation.

The fact the person who really knew the book of Revelation very, very well,

and he knew that I'd just done chapter 6.

He knew I was going to do chapter 7.

And so he asked me, he said,

George, okay, you know, the things in chapter 7,

like when are they happening?

Like, are you like a preterist and think that it all happened like in the year 90?

Do you think you're like an amillennialist

and it's all sort of happening right now?

Do you think it's like going to happen just before the Great Tribulation?

Do you think it's going to happen in the middle of the Tribulation?

Do you think it's going to happen after the Tribulation?

George, what do you think?

And I had a very simple answer for him.

You can all write it down.

Like, he asked me, which one of those things do you think it is?

And I had a very simple answer.

The answer is yes.

Yes, all of those things.

Like, all of the above.

Like, why do you have to choose one in particular?

But while we're sort of familiar with maybe Christian's fight,

I mean, he was all ready for a fight with me

about whether I was going to be a preterist, an amillennialist,

a premillennial dispensationalist,

historic premillennialist, pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib.

He was ready for a fight on this particular issue,

and he didn't quite know what to say when I said yes to all of them.

But a very, very more modern type of a disagreement amongst Christians

is over politics.

And so it, you know, churches,

there's some churches that their great dream would be,

maybe more emergent churches,

or maybe more what we would call liberal churches,

their great dream would be to have somebody from the Green Party,

or the NDP attend their church or speak on a Sunday morning.

And there's other churches,

and their great dream would be to have some great general

from the United States military come and speak,

or some football, college football coach.

And the sort of the left-wing type Christians

look down their noses at right-wing type Christians

and say, look, look at that.

They've got all their identity and everything all confused.

And the more right-wing Christians look down their noses

at those left-wing Christians

and say they've got their identity all confused.

They're completely and utterly captivated by politics.

And the left-wing Christians look at the right-wing Christians

and say, you've got all, like, completely captivated by politics.

And both of us can sort of look at each other about that

and have problems with the other.

But the text in Revelation says something very, very powerful about this.

But let's continue reading.

Revelation chapter 7, verse 4.

Revelation 7:4

So remember, verse 3 was about having the servants of God

sealed on their foreheads.

In verse 4, I heard the number of the sealed.

I heard the number of the sealed.

144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.

And then it goes through 12,000 of Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher,

Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun,

Joseph, and Benjamin.

Some of those words, I don't know if I pronounced them correctly,

but I said them confidently,

so now you all think that's the right way to pronounce them.

But you go through this long list.

And then verse 9,

Now here's the very interesting thing about this text.

There's lots of very interesting things about this text.

And I didn't catch this when I was reading it the first time.

I've read it many, many times.

It was only when I had to study the text that I noticed it.

Like, it begins in a very curious way in verse 4.

I heard the number of the sealed.

144,000 is a symbolic number.

It's a number of completion.

12 times 12 times 1,000.

It's a number of completion.

From every tribe of the sons of Israel.

But for a devout Jew listening to it,

there's something, a variety of things,

which are really odd about this text.

As the angel starts to speak out loud,

it's all Israel,

so John's going to expect something,

but the list is an odd list.

It's Israel, but not Israel.

There's a tribe missing.

Dan is missing.

And there's something else odd about it.

There's sort of two different primary ways

in the Old Testament that the tribes are listed.

And this does neither of them.

And it does something contradictory.

You see, there's also a half-tribe mentioned.

Usually in the Old Testament,

when they're listing tribes,

they say either neither of the half-tribes

or both of the half-tribes,

because Joseph had two sons,

Manasseh and Ephraim,

and usually they mention just the two half-tribes,

but it mentions Joseph,

and one of his sons,

but not the other's son,

and Levi's included,

and it's puzzling.

And ten and a half of these tribes

in the 8th century B.C.

were taken away to Assyria and disappeared.

Nobody knows whatever happened to them.

In fact,

Mormons believe that North American aboriginals

are the lost tribes of Israel,

which is why Jesus,

after he rose from the dead in Jerusalem,

had to come here and preach to them.

There was a movement in the 19th century in England

called British Israelism,

believing that the English people

were the lost tribe of Israel,

and therefore all of the promises to Israel

in the Bible were applied to them.

But the tribe,

ten and a half of the tribes disappeared.

They got lost from history,

and yet they're mentioned,

and a half-tribe's missing,

and Dan's missing.

And then,

it's a little bit like,

those of you might remember,

in Revelation chapter 5,

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

there was a similar type of funny thing.

John hears

that this mighty act

is going to be done

by the lion of the tribe of Judah,

and then after he hears this,

he gets an opportunity to see,

and he's expecting to see a lion,

and what he sees is a little tiny lamb.

Bah!

Bah!

Bah!

He hears lion,

sees bah!

Bah!

And here,

he hears Israel,

but then as he's hearing Israel,

he's getting puzzled,

and then what does he see?

He sees

what's in verse,

my page is flipped,

he sees what's in verse 9,

a great multitude

that no one could number

from every nation,

from all tribes,

and all peoples,

and all languages

standing before the throne.

he's surprised.

It helps to show

that the number is symbolic,

and that somehow or another

that God is making this new thing,

this new Israel,

that those who are healed

aren't just,

here's how I put it,

and please take it

with a grain of grace.

Put it up on the screen, please.

God does not want

more Canadians

or Africans,

gays or straights,

men or women.

He seeks

more

douloses.

I don't know how to spell it.

It's D-O-U-L-O-S

with an apostrophe at the end.

God does not want

more Canadians or Africans,

gays or straights,

men or women.

He seeks

more

doulos.

If you go back up

to verse 3,

it says,

do not harm the earth

or the sea

or the trees

until we have sealed the,

then the word there

translated as servant,

some of your Bibles

might say slaves,

is the word doulos.

And

some of you have heard me

say this before,

the problem with the word

doulos in modern English

is that neither servant

or slave

is a very,

very good word.

Many of us,

when we hear the word servant,

we think of

TV series like

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Come on, we do.

And, you know,

often in American films,

the servant

is the smart,

confident one

in the family, right?

The whole family

is dysfunctional

except the servant.

Well, that's not

what this text means,

okay?

And the other thing,

we hear the word slave,

we think of things

like 12 years a slave.

We think of the

terrible, terrible,

terrible things

that happened

on the slave plantations

in the Caribbean

and the United States.

And that's not what,

that's not really

what's meant either.

That's why often

I use the word doulos

because it,

it, it,

I mean,

it means both servant

and slave,

but it's something different

in the ancient world.

But the primary idea

behind it does,

just like with sealing,

has the idea

of possession

and under authority.

Like, in some ways,

the image of private

would be better,

but in terms of

if you're in the army.

You know,

if you just get,

you get,

I've never been

in the military,

but if you come in

as a lowly private,

the distance

to general

is really high.

That's really high.

You don't,

you don't get any,

you don't,

you don't get

bossed anybody around

if you're just

a brand new private.

You're,

you're under authority.

And,

and that's in a sense

what's just being

communicated here.

And,

and you see,

what's being communicated

here is that

God doesn't want

Canadian Christians,

African Christians,

gay Christians,

straight Christians,

male Christians,

female Christians.

He's looking for doulos.

His doulos.

His doulos.

You see,

what happens

when we respond

to Jesus

and put our faith

and trust in him

that amongst other things

is not only are we sealed,

but we're also given

a new identity

and a new destiny.

We're given a new identity

and a new destiny.

And our primary identity now

is that I am the doulos

of the living God.

I am the doulos

of the lamb

who was slain

to redeem

gays and straight

Africans

and Canadians

and Asians

and men

and women

for God.

And so,

what that means

is that,

you know,

part of what it means

to grow as a Christian

is the question

before us is

do I grow

into my new identity

or do I grow away

from my new identity?

God wants me

to grow into

my identity

that I understand

that even though

I am a Canadian

and I live in Canada

and all of that,

that my primary identity

is his doulos,

that the dream

of my heart

should be

to be his doulos,

that even though

I'm in Canada

and I should be

praying for the blessing

of Canada

and I should seek

the good of Canada

and there's nothing wrong

with serving

in the armed forces

or serving on

Parliament Hill

or serving in

industry

or serving anything

that,

but that my primary

identity

that when it is

for me to grow in

to understand

first and foremost

where my citizenship

and my identity

comes from

and it comes from

being his doulos

first and foremost

and it not only

gives me a new identity

it gives me

a new destiny

and the question

before me

in growing as a Christian

is will I grow

into my destiny

or away from my destiny?

You know,

growing away

from my identity

is to think

that being a Canadian

or being right wing

or being

whatever it is

is more important

than my identity

as a Christian

that that's the

fundamental thing

that determines

my walk with Jesus

and in terms

of my destiny

it's that we become

insular

that we lose

this sense

that every doulos

of Jesus

is called

to be a world

Christian

that we have

an obligation

in our community

to the arts community

in the gay community

in the entrepreneurial

community

in the bureaucrat

community

and the university

community

in the poverty

community

and the poverty

workers community

and that we have

an obligation

not just to the tribes

and nations

and languages

in our city

of those who speak

Arabic

and those who speak

French

and those who speak

English

but to the ends

of the earth

that we are to pray

that as we grow

in our walk

with Jesus

that we grow

into an appreciation

of our destiny

to look

not with fear

and loathing

from a right wing

or a left wing

view of the world

but to see the world

is ripe for harvest

and that God

has called us

to tell tribes

and nations

and languages

and people

the good news

that they can be

sealed by the living God

and can belong

to him forever

and can have

the end

of what they were

made for

which was to know

and to be reconciled

to the living God

that that

is possible

for them

now some of you

might be troubled

by some of what I said

I've now had

six kids

graduate from university

and of course

sons-in-laws

and daughters-in-law

and all like that

and I ask some of them

some of them take courses

in this area

and if they talk

about missionaries

in University

at University of Ottawa

I mean we all know

how they're going to talk

about missionaries

at University of Ottawa

they don't say

woohoo

missionaries rock

they don't say that

they say missionaries

are bad

they're terrible

that it's imperialism

colonialism

triumphalism

it's pride

it's coercion

and that's the way

and so

for me to talk

about this type

of identity

is actually

sort of

it really goes

against the grain

of educated culture

and popular culture

in Canada

and so some of us

if we're honest

are a little bit

troubled by it

but in fact

if you listen

to how it's described

here

it's the most

profoundly

unproud

untriumphalistic

uncoercive

thing imaginable

and it's profound

good news

listen to it again

verses 9 and 10

after this

I looked

and behold

a great multitude

that no one

could number

from every nation

from all tribes

and all peoples

and all languages

standing before the throne

and before the Lamb

clothed in white robes

with palm branches

in their hands

and crying out

with a loud voice

what do they cry?

this folks

is dynamite

against pride

this folks

is dynamite

against presumption

and arrogance

and colonialism

and triumphalism

what is the cry?

salvation belongs

to our God

who sits on the throne

and to the Lamb

salvation belongs

to our God

who sits on the throne

and to the Lamb

and in the original language

it could be translated

it should be

it's more literally

salvation belongs

salvation is

of our God

and in Greek

the word

of our God

here

there's two different ways

it can be translated

into English

the same

one Greek word

means both

but we don't have

an English word

which is the same

and of

in this particular text

in the original text

can either mean

possession

or causality

and so it's either

saying

and so the ESV

some of your translations

will translate

a little bit different

because translators

have to make a choice

so it's either saying

that salvation

belongs to God

or salvation

is caused

by God

and so our English

we have to choose

one or the other

and translate it into English

but the original language

is saying both

it belongs to him

and it's caused

by him

here's the dynamite

if you could put

the next thing up

here's the dynamite

no person

no family

no philosophy

no spirituality

no institution

owns salvation

salvation

only belongs

to God

and to the Lamb

no race

no color

no educational attainment

no socioeconomic status

or wealth

or bank account

owns salvation

I do not own salvation

this church

does not own salvation

the Anglican Network

in Canada

does not own salvation

the Roman Catholic Church

does not own salvation

Canada

the United States

the military industrial complex

the Green Movement

none of them

own salvation

only God

owns it

salvation

only belongs

to God

and to the Lamb

no person

no family

no philosophy

no spirituality

no institution

owns

salvation

it is of God

it belongs to Him

what does this mean?

there are many people

there are many

spiritualities

there are many

philosophies

there are many

ideologies

that teach in fact

that some of us

are doomed

and that we cannot

do anything about it

and this says

that is not true

that is not true

are you an untouchable

in India?

are you

a despised person

in China?

are you

are you mentally

handicapped?

are you

poor or broken

or alcoholic

or some type of

broken and despised

whatever it is

the way that the

left despise

or the right despise

because

salvation

is belonging

to God

and the God

that is revealed

here

is a God

that desires

people

from every nation

every people

every language

every state of life

to be with Him

in Heaven

it means that

there is no one

who is doomed

by external

or internal

forces

that what some

Muslims teach

that in the moment

of your conception

in the womb

that God

writes on you

whether or not

you will go to Heaven

or whether you will not

that that is not true

that salvation

belongs to God

and that every person

can say

I cannot trust in myself

I cannot achieve myself

God

salvation belongs to you

may you grant that

to me

may you bring that

to me

may that come to me

may I dwell in that

it belongs to you

and I desire

what only you have

and what I can never have

by my own power

or my own accomplishments

Father will you give me

Lamb of God

who is slain for me

will you give me

what belongs to you

and God not weighing

our merits

but pardoning our offenses

will so give it

there is hope

for the despised

of the earth

there is

it undercuts

pride

and presumption

it means that

my grandchildren

can't say

I don't have to deal

with these matters

my papa's a pastor

my kids can't say

I don't have to deal

with these matters

my dad's a pastor

we can't say

I don't have to deal

with these things

I'm a Canadian

Canadians get what

they want

it deals with

all pride

it undercuts

all pride

all presumption

yet at the same time

it gives us

a very very secure

thing

friends there are

times in our lives

if some of you

are young

maybe it hasn't

happened to you yet

but you live long

enough

you deal with

illness

you deal with

failure

you deal with

depression

you deal with

sadness

you deal with

things that just

don't work out

and if salvation

is something

that depends

upon you

you wonder

if there is

any hope

as you hear

the cry

of heaven

that salvation

belongs to

our God

then my hope

is secure

and it's not

pride

it's not

presumption

nothing in my

hands I bring

not weighing my

merits

not weighing my

accomplishments

not looking at

my race

not looking at

my sexuality

not looking at

any of these

things because

it belongs to

God and he

gives it to

those who

call out to

him with a

broken heart

to give me

what only you

have and what

only you can

cause

and that is the

message that we

can take to the

untouchables

to the despised

to the powerful

to the rich

to the educated

a few years

ago at our

evening service

I used to

have an evening

service and

when we had

interns at that

time there was

a brief period

where our

evening service

had all these

guys and gals

with PhDs

like if you

only had a

master's degree

you were like

uneducated in

the crowd and

I'd have these

interns and they

were terribly

intimidated

and I said to

one of them

listen I went

over what he'd

done as his

sermon I said

listen don't try

to impress

these PhDs

with educate

like listen

you try to

start talking

about when

things change

in western

civilization

they'll just

you know what

I said every

one of these

guys and gals

in that room

they all struggle

with pride

they all struggle

with envy

they all struggle

with sloth

and with lust

and with greed

and with gluttony

they all have

problems with

their kids

and their

wives

and their

boyfriends

or their

husbands

like give

them Jesus

don't try to

intellectually

impress them

tell them that

salvation belongs

to our God

and not to the

University of Ottawa

or Carleton

or Oxford

or Cambridge

but salvation

belongs to

our God

just sort of

in closing

I don't have

the time

to really

develop it

here's the

final thing

when I came

to this

church quite a

few years ago

and I was

trying to figure

out what I

should share

with them

with my vision

and all of

that type of

thing

and after a

couple of

years I came

across this

guy who asked

a very very

useful and

helpful question

and asking

this question

is a very

very helpful

question

I think it

was called

it was a

long article

called 10

questions for

the rest of

your life

and one of

the questions

was imagine

that you're

like 80

years old

85 years

old

90 years

old

and you're

looking back

on your

life

what is it

that you'll

wish you

hadn't achieved

or tried to

do

that's a

very very

very helpful

question

and in

fact I

found it

very very

challenging

and thought

provoking

and you

see that's

one of the

functions

of all of

these visions

of heaven

you know

palm branches

might not do

it for you

but look

again here

at verse

9 and 10

and 11

and 12

after this I

looked and

behold a

great multitude

that no one

could number

from every

nation from

all tribes

and peoples

and languages

standing before

the throne

and before

the lamb

clothed in

white robes

with palm

branches in

their hands

and crying

out with a

loud voice

salvation

belongs to

our God

who sits

on the

throne

and to

the lamb

and all

the angels

were standing

around the

throne

and around

the elders

and the

four living

creatures

and they

fell on

their faces

before the

throne

and worship

God

saying

Amen

the blessing

and the

glory

and the

wisdom

and the

thanksgiving

and the

honor

and the

power

and the

might

be to

our God

forever

and ever

Amen

and the

question is

at the end

of your life

do you want

to be there

should that

or can

that

be your

supreme

ambition

put up the

next slide

growing a

biblical

longing for

heaven

will heal

order

and ground

my dreams

and yours

I write

my so that

you write it

down in your

notes

you're speaking

about yourself

growing a

biblical

longing for

heaven

will heal

order

and ground

your dreams

see the text

doesn't say

that we all

become monks

that we all

become nuns

it doesn't say

that we all

become pastors

of churches

it's all

nations

all peoples

all people

groups

but it

it sets

before us

this biblical

notion of

heaven

and it's

to clarify

within us

if my

should that

not be my

supreme

ambition

that I

not by

my own

merits

but by

the shed

blood of

Christ

and what

he has won

for me

on the

cross

that I

will one

day stand

with angels

and archangels

and the entire

created order

that I

will stand

before the

living God

unashamed

clothed with

a righteousness

and a favor

from God

that is not

my own

but is given

to me

freely and

utterly

by Jesus

and what he

does from

the cross

and should

that not

be my

supreme

ambition

that then

can put

into place

some of

my other

ambitions

let me just

tell you

very briefly

how it

worked in

my life

I know

I'm a

pastor

but here's

how it

worked in

my life

I realized

when I

asked this

question

that to

myself

and I

looked at

this text

that I

did not

care

at the

age of

90

if God

lets me

live so

long

at the

age of

90

I will

not

care

if I

have

ever

been

a

bishop

I

I

have

actually

become

a

canon

but I

said I

wouldn't

care if

I've

ever

become

a canon

or a

bishop

a dean

been in

a famous

church

had any

particular

honors

you know

there's

three types

of things

that at

the end

of the

day

that I

would

wish

that

at 90

I would

look back

and hope

that I

could do

and one

of them

is that

God

this is

something

private and

personal

but some

of you

have heard

it

that God

would use

me

and that

I would

be willing

to take

the risks

that in

a city

like

Ottawa

God

would

build

a church

like

All Souls

Langham

Place

or St.

Ebbs

or St.

Aldate

in Oxford

and some

of you

don't know

what those

churches

are

but that

if God

there was

no such

church

like that

in Ottawa

and if

God

would

use

me

if I

would

be

willing

to

take

such

risk

only

God

could

build

it

but

that

I

would

be

willing

to

take

such

risk

that

such

a

church

where

God's

word

is preached

where

missionaries

are sent

out

where

people

are

equipped

to

live

godly

lives

in

their

place

of

work

whether

it's

the

BBC

or

university

or

washing

dishes

that

God

would

use

me

in

such

a

way

and

I

realized

that

at

the

end

of

the

day

what

I

would

hope

at

90

is

that

if

God

not

only

grants

me

such

strength

but

my

wife

that

I

am

still

married

to

Louise

and

that

we

love

each

other

and

that

if

God

grants

me

such

strength

at

90

that

my

kids

when I

die

will

be

standing

with

me

there

in

heaven

and

my

grandkids

and

their

husbands

or

wives

and