The Title Deed of the Earth: Revelation 5 - Revelation: The Apocalypse

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

Are we in the last days?

I don't know, but I know you guys are.

I'm in my last days.

And some of you are in laster days than others.

But we're in our last days.

Whether it's the last days, it's your last day.

Let's make it count.

Let's make a difference this week.

Let's love people.

Let's serve people.

Let's minister to people.

Let's change our city.

One person at a time.

Today, Pastor Steve continues his series on the book of Revelation.

At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.

For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We get the Wall Street Journal.

The reason we get the Wall Street Journal is because Ruth, Liz's mom, got the Wall Street Journal and she was staying at our house, and we still continue to get it.

And so I've not been a big, you know, hard copy newspaper reader in many, many years.

Do everything pretty much through the internet, my phone, things like that.

So I read the op-ed.

That's the only thing I really read in it.

And this is not today, because I didn't take it out today out of the mailbox.

But this was yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

Headlines U.S.

allies step up efforts to strike at Islamic State in Libya.

And it shows two guys watching a rocket taking off, being shot out.

Then over to the right says UK rates slash to lowest in history.

Down below that, welfare cash aided plotters, at least five implicated in Paris, Brussels, terror attacks, got Belgian social service payments.

We are in the book of Revelation.

And I would advise you, if you're one who watches the news or reads the news, that you read the news in one hand and read your Bible in the other.

Because if you spend all your time here, whether it be CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News, you're going to walk around like depressed.

Seriously.

And whatever your political persuasion, there's plenty of depression to go around.

If you spend an inordinate amount of time in this book, you're going to have faith.

You're going to believe that God's sovereign, that he's in control, and that even though world events, as crazy as they are, are happening, that God is working out a plan for the end of the age that's going to be awesome.

And he's not going to come as a little infant in a cradle, in a barn, in a cave, in Bethlehem.

He's going to come on a white horse with a tattooed thigh, King of kings and Lord of Lords, and a sword's going to be coming out of his mouth, and he's going to be blood dripping from it, and he comes as a conquering lion of Judah.

So keep them both.

Keep them both in your hands.

Read your word, know the news, and watch what God's teaching us as we go through Revelation as it relates to current events.

And it's really actually pretty exciting.

I hope you're excited.

You should be.

Don't be depressed.

Be encouraged, saints.

So we're in Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

If you haven't been with us in a few weeks, we're in Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

We've gone through chapter 1, chapters 2 and 3.

And then the last couple weeks we've been in chapter 4.

We're in this part of Revelation, which we might call the last days.

So this is a beginning of the end time scenario of what Revelation teaches us.

And so from chapter 4 to 22, which is going to be the next year, we're going to be looking at the last days, the end times.

And we have divine intelligence, men and women.

You get to come on Saturday night, and then it's going to be Sunday morning and get an intelligence briefing that's divine.

It's not me, but it's us looking at what God has given us in the scriptures, the most notable book in all of the scriptures, to explain to us very specifically about how Satan's going to be at work and how God's going to be at work.

So John is a time traveler.

So he's in this cave on the island of Patmos, and he has this experience where heaven is open up, and we're looking at heaven right now.

We're looking at what he sees in heaven.

Now I've shared with you before that I'm a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial believer.

What that means is that I believe that we're going to, there's going to be a rapture.

I believe in the rapture of the church.

And I believe we're going to be raptured out, that we're going to be in heaven before the great tribulation period.

But that does not mean that we're going to be taken out before there's tribulation.

So we are going to certainly see the embryonic beginnings of the work of the Antichrist and the works of the beast and his prophet.

I believe we may see that.

I don't know.

I'm not sure.

Some of you may be more what we call the mid-a mid-tribulation.

This idea that we'll go through half, the first three and a half years of tribulation, and then there'll be a rapture, and some are post that the church will go through all of it.

But here's the thing: it at the road, we don't care because we don't know.

We have faith for something, and I believe there's scripture to back up a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial viewpoint.

But bottom line is everybody say this with me.

I'm pan-millennial.

It's all gonna pan out in the end.

It will.

Alright, verse one.

So we're gonna call this tonight the title deed of the earth.

How many of you have a title deed on your house or have a title deed on your car?

You know, you don't want to lose your title deed if the title deed was made in California.

I inherited Ruth, Liz's mom's car when she died.

It's a 2000 Toyota Camry.

Great car, but it's a it means it means it's not Rolls-Royce or anything, it's not Lamborghini, but it's uh Toyota Camry.

And for the life of her, in the last days of her life, couldn't find the title.

I said, well, no problem, we'll just get it.

Then she died.

And I'm going, oh no, she registered it in California.

Five times.

Five times I've written them, filled out their stuff, sent it in.

They sent me another thing that wasn't filled out, filled that in.

Every time it's been a different document, they never gave me the first time.

And I'm now up to$150 that I've paid.

I still don't have the title deed on the car.

And we want to be like California.

That's where we're headed, gang.

It's gonna really be fun.

Verse one.

And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

Remember, he's in heaven, and he sees God the Father, this king on a throne, a scroll in his hand, written inside and on the back, and that's important, sealed with seven seals.

So this is a typical contract in this time in Roman history, including deeds, marriages, contracts, rental, and lease agreements.

These scrolls would be written on the inside with the details of the contract, and on the outside with an outline of the contract.

So the way the Romans did it is they would take a piece of parchment and they would write on one side kind of an outline of the contents of the contract, and then you'd flip it over, and then it was the details.

It was the finer details.

Then they would roll it, and listen now.

Each time they'd roll it, they would seal that.

They would put a wax seal on that roll part, then they'd roll it again, and they'd put another wax seal on that part until there were seven seals.

And the idea was that the only person who should be able to open that would be the recipient for whom the letter or the scroll was sent to, and nobody else.

And if anybody did a peekaboo, you know, and they were kind of trying to see what was in here, they would have to break a seal.

And so it would give them away.

And so there were seven seals on this scroll, and men and women, this is the title deed of the earth.

So we believe that this is the title deed of the earth.

In other words, the contents within this scroll probably contain the date of the coming of the Lord.

It probably contains when the when the point has been reached, listen, of immorality.

I'm gonna talk about that in a moment because here's what you're gonna learn tonight, we're gonna talk about it tonight, is that, listen, God doesn't measure time primarily chronologically, God measures time morally.

Listen, God measures time morally.

And I'll explain that in a moment.

But that's how he looks at nations, that's how he looks at the earth, and that's how he looks at individuals.

He measures your life morally, and there's this appointed time by which there's gonna be three witnesses.

You always in a Roman, in a Roman document or a deed or a contract, you had to have three witnesses.

And we're gonna see the Father and the Son and John as witnesses here.

Three witnesses for this scroll to be open.

And I believe what God is doing here, men and women, is he's ramping up the heavenly war machine.

So the angels are getting set.

Probably demons are wondering what's going on.

Satan knows a lot, but he doesn't know the coming of the Lord.

He doesn't know the beginning from the end.

He's not the Alpha and the Omega.

Only Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega.

Jesus knows, and he's ramping things up, and he's getting his heavenly war machine ready.

And he's seeing, remember in Revelation 4, he's seeing all these rumblings.

There's thunder and there's lightning and there's voices.

But God measures time morally.

Jot this down if you're taking notes.

If you got your app there, you'll see it.

Genesis 15, 16, very interesting verse.

Genesis 15, 16 says this.

But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

So God was waiting on the iniquity and the sin of the Amorites to be complete for his coming.

God has a timing based on immorality.

He gives opportunity to repent, and then he unleashes judgment.

Moab, a mighty nation, had three years to repent and did not.

Because of their child sacrifices and their pride, Isaiah said this.

But now the Lord has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.

If you know anything about Moab, Moab was hugely successful financially.

Had a mighty army full of pride and arrogance.

And God came through the prophet Isaiah and said, You got three years.

You got three years to repent, and if you don't, the end will come.

And that's what happened.

No Moabites today.

God has a time for his wrath on people, nations, and now upon the earth.

God gives a nation time to repent, and if they don't, he eventually releases his wrath and his judgment.

The time is coming upon the earth when the murder of the innocents, abortion, sexual immorality, the sex trade, slavery around the world has reached what I'll call the point of no return.

God has a title deed on the earth, and he has marked it out, and he's opening it up before John.

God is the creator of the earth, the earth is his.

And as Romans 1 says, and this is a warning to us in America, God, quote Romans 1, 24 through 28, summed up, God will give a nation over to its uncleanliness, its vile passions, and its debased mind.

Have you ever noticed how stupid it seems like people are today?

I'm serious.

I mean, you see, you see stuff on the news every day, and it's like, does anybody get this?

I had a guy, I was at a wedding today, and we were sitting in the lobby, and this person said to me, Steve, I don't understand how this person can, I'm not even who it is, you know, but like this person's so popular and and and and and everybody's like applauding, you know, the policies of this individual, and it's like lie after lie after lie.

And it's like, what's the problem?

And I said, debase mind.

God actually gives a nation over to what it really wants.

And men and women, that's true in your life.

If you want porn, you can have it.

If you want sex outside of marriage, you can have it.

If you want to have premarital, God will give you over, he'll let you go, and he'll warn you, and he'll convict you in your spirit, and he'll put others in your life and say, man, dude, don't do that.

You know, and then there's a point where he just gives you over to it.

And it says here three things that he says in Romans 1 that he gives a nation over to: uncleanness, vile passions, and a debased mind.

So when you see a nation with a debased mind, they're near the end.

Because they can't even think straight.

And so I've had so many friends that some were missionaries with me who went the way of their flesh and came in, you know, a couple times came to me or to one of our buddies there and confessed stuff, and we ministered to them and sought forgiveness with the relationship and things, and then six months again, nine months again, suddenly they don't even come to us anymore.

And and then they just they're it's like they can't even think anymore.

And so God gives us the freedom to go after that which we desire, and he convicts us and he uses people and he uses the church.

That's why coming together is so vital here on Saturday night and soon Sunday morning.

Because there's something about the anointing, there's something about the atmosphere, there's something about being around other believers that kind of in and of itself brings a level of accountability, doesn't it?

And when we talk about D groups, we're talking about D group leaders here tonight.

That's discipleship groups, if you're new to our church, D groups.

And I tell guys all the time, and you guys, you some of you absolutely who have not signed up need to go to the wilderness encounter because there, God's gonna bring revival to your heart.

And here's how he's gonna do it we're gonna be out in the wilderness, we're gonna be intense, and here you're going, uh, that sounds really fun.

You know, but you're gonna be out in the wilderness, intense, with some guys, and because of the geographic kind of hardship of that, God is gonna slow you down.

Some of you guys are going way too fast.

You are.

I like what Ryan Steyr, Pastor Ryan, said he's some man, he's looked at me and said, dude, you got a busy mind today.

And he can tell, like I he's talking to me, but it's like it is not penetrating.

It's just bouncing all over things.

I'm I'm in Kansas, somewhere with my head, and he's trying to talk to me, you know, because I I need to slow down.

And some of you need to wilderness.

You need to come, you need to turn off the cell phone for three days, and just hear from God.

And even the bark of a coyote or an owl hooting at night, you need to get away from the office, you need to get away from your family, you need to get away from your marriage, you need to come and meet with God in the wilderness.

Because you're too busy.

You're too busy-minded, right?

And then that's why we're doing it.

And so if we don't, men and women, if we don't have these checkpoints in our life, we lose ourselves.

And we lose our hearts.

And in so doing, the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

In Jeremiah 32, we see Jeremiah, very interesting story.

We won't go there, but he says, he tells Jeremiah, go purchase this land from your uncle, even though the Babylonians are in control, because he says that it's going to be yours.

So he's he's he's predicting something in the future of a moral dispensation that he's up to.

And here's what he here's the deal: the Babylonians are usurpers.

They're usurpers of the land.

And the usurper of the earth is Satan.

This is not his earth, this is God's earth.

And the only people who redeem God's earth from the squatter that Satan is, is the church.

We're the only ones who can uproot the usurper.

No political part.

I have no hope in the Republican Party.

I have no hope in the Democratic Party.

I have no hope in the American way.

My hope is in the one who died at Calvary, who throughout history at pivotal times has brought great revivals and great awakenings that then have affected the political realm, then have affected the economy, then have affected city welfare and jobs and economy.

We need a revival.

And we need a third great awakening in this nation.

We should be praying for that.

So there's a squatter, this usurper named Satan, because there's always world leaders that are willing to take the place of God on the earth and take the title deed from him.

Rome was willing, Genghis Khan was willing, Stalin was willing, Hitler was willing, Pol Pot was willing, and ISIS is now contending for the crown of a worldwide Muslim caliphate.

But this is the Lord's earth, and he wins.

And so, men and women, we have two addresses.

We have an address on earth, and we have an address on heaven.

And so, 1 Corinthians 7.31, Paul writes, the form of this world is passing away.

1 John 2.17, we read, and the world is passing away, and the lust thereof, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

And Jesus tells us, seek first the kingdom of God.

Men and women, we are challenged to pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So we are God's agents of transformation, his ambassadors is what the scriptures say of transformation in this city.

Folks, this is our territory.

You that are living in Colorado Springs or whether where you live in this area, this is our call, this is our territory, this is our opportunity.

Because are we in the last days?

I don't know, but I know you guys are.

At this, he's like, Yeah, a strong angel.

I haven't ever seen a weak angel anywhere in the Bible, but anyway, he says strong angel, proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals.

Verse 3.

And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it.

He says a strong angel.

The identity of the angel is a mystery, but I believe it might be Gabriel, which means strength of God.

So it could be the angel Gabriel.

Who is worthy?

Now, understand that in a in ancient Rome, and this would have been true among the Hebrews also, the only one worthy to open a scroll was the recipient of the scroll.

You hear what I'm saying?

So you can be a great, you could be a king, but if the recipient of a letter is to your treasurer or your secretary, they're the only ones who can open it.

And so he he, it's kind of a certified delivery system.

But he's saying, who's worthy?

Who's worthy to open the scroll?

Men and women, you and I are not worthy.

You've never been worthy, and you're not worthy.

You're not worthy to open the scroll.

There's only going to be one that's worthy to open the scroll, but it ain't us.

But the temptation is to think you are.

Now listen to me, because it sounds, I'm starting to tread on heresy here.

So I want to be, I want to go a little further with heresy before I get back to reality.

Satan, listen, Satan said to Eve this you will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will what?

Be like God, knowing good and evil.

The first and the continued lie upon the human heart is that we can be like gods.

There is some Christian pastors today that are teaching that you can be little Christ, that you can be little gods.

And that's why Satan, Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, was kicked out of heaven.

He was cast to the earth.

And so his primary temptation is that you can be your own God and you're worthy.

Anybody know who Anton LeVay is?

He's dead now, but Anton LeVay was the head of the Satanist Church of America.

And in one of his writings, he defines a Satanist this way: quote, to be a Satanist, one must be, as a Satanist, knowing his own human potential.

And herein is one of the essential points of Satanism.

He must attain to his own Godhead in accordance with his own human potential.

Therefore, each man or woman is a God or gods in Satanism.

So men and women, nothing's really changed.

The temptation in the garden was that you can be like God.

In Satanism America, Anton LeVay and other writings, you can be like God.

You can be God.

Buddhism promotes it.

Taoism promotes it.

You are a God.

Paul warned in 1 Timothy 4 1 of the doctrines of demons.

The doctrines of demons.

Listen, you are not worthy.

But Jesus in you makes you worthy.

It's really, it's small, but it's huge.

And so what you have in positive mental PMA teaching and stuff like that is that you have all this pent-up potential.

Is that true?

There's truth to it.

Absolutely, there's truth to it.

But the tendency is to enthrone yourself and not God.

So today a young man came into my office and he was staying at our house for a wedding.

And first his girlfriend poked her head in and saw that I was there.

And then he poked his head in.

I said, Come on in, you guys.

Tell me about your relationship.

Because they knew they were dating.

So we started talking about it.

And I just asked a few questions.

And then he opened up about his alcoholism and how he's been sober for the last eight months.

And I said, What's been the key to that?

He said, the key has been to surrender everything to God.

To realize that I can't change me, that I don't have the self-control or the power or the ability to stop drinking.

But that in Christ, as I surrender my life and my heart to him, he can do it.

And he can do it through me.

So men and women, there's no confusion in heaven.

We're not worthy to open the scroll.

But there's only one that's worthy.

And then there's silence.

So look at verse 4.

So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it.

But one of the elders said to me, Do not weep.

Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah.

The root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.

No angels, no principalities, no powers, or no humans were allowed to open the title deed of the earth.

No one is worthy, and John weeps over this.

No one.

This is the title deed of the earth.

And this title deed, it would seem, has the date for the coming of the Lord.

For the believer, this is good news, for there is a new heaven and a new earth coming, and we will reign on this new earth.

Revelation 21 and 22.

There's only one worthy to open the scroll.

Listen, and this relates to the wilderness encounter.

There's only one worthy to open up your heart.

And that's the Lion of Judah.

Men, when you open up your heart to the Lion of Judah, he does heart surgery.

For that young man today, in his mid-twenties, already having struggled with alcoholism, and now is sober because he surrendered all to Christ.

He said, I was living a double life, full of shame.

And when I gave it all to Christ, everything changed.

Because that's what God does.

He takes the scroll of your heart, and he's the only one who can open it up, and he opens up your heart.

He does heart surgery and he doesn't leave it open.

He closes it up and he brings healing into your life.

And this young man is experiencing victory because he's allowed God to do that in his life.

And this is the scriptures say the Lion of Judah.

I love that term.

It's just so masculine.

I like it.

Because I've grown up my whole life thinking of Jesus as so wimpy.

And just so, just so like, I don't know, like really soft and kind and gentle.

And he is, that's great.

But he's more like soft and kind and gentle.

That's also can, you know, if a bad guy came in, he'd kind of kick his butt.

That kind of guy.

You know, and he's got scars.

He's been, he's been run through.

He's the commander of the special forces of heaven.

He's the Lion of Judah.

One of the earliest titles given to the Messiah is Lion of Judah, Genesis 49.

Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise.

Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.

Your father's children shall bow down before you.

Judah is a lion's whelp.

From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He bows down, he lies down as a lion.

And as a lion, who shall rouse him?

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet.

And then here's the prophecy until Shiloh, capital S, until Shiloh comes, speaking of the Messiah.

And to him shall be the obedience of the people.

He's describing Jesus here.

And you've been to the zoo, or maybe some of you have been to Africa on a safari or something.

That's the Lion of Judah.

It's like that.

He's dangerous.

He's surprising.

He's powerful.

He's fast.

He's quick.

He is a predator.

Lion of Judah is coming.

And he's going to judge heaven and earth.

And those in the sex trade all over Asia and in America and in Russia.

And all of those plying the abortion clinics and those that are involved in sexually abusing little girls and little boy, they shall be judged.

That's the Lion of Judah.

It also says it's the root of David, another early messianic title, Isaiah 11:1.

Isaiah 11:1

And there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of its roots.

Jesus is of the line of David.

David, listen, was a warrior king.

Jesus has now been described with 24 different titles in the book of Revelation up to this point.

And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are of the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Verse 7.

Then he came and he took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

The Lamb of God is going to open the scroll.

This is the Passover Lamb.

Twenty-eight times in the book of Revelation, Jesus is described as the Lamb of God.

It's his favorite title.

The God who is the omnipotent one, the Lion of Judah, Almighty One, calls himself the Lamb.

John the Baptist, when he first saw Jesus, behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.

Isaiah 53, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before it shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

And he has seven horns.

Horns in the Bible always represent the power and authority and the sovereignty of God.

And he says, with eyes all around, he sees, he's omniscient, he's seeing it all happen.

Nothing of what's happening in Russia today, nothing that's happening in Syria today, there on the border, nothing escapes the eyes of God.

And he measures time morally.

Judgment's coming.

If Christ had not been slain for the sins of the world, there'd be no purpose for this life.

There'd be no purpose for the human race.

There'd be no purpose for America.

There be no purpose for the history of Israel.

There be no purpose for your life.

But at the center of everything is a means for the redemption and forgiveness of sins because no one is found worthy.

All of us are unworthy until we give our hearts to Christ.

And if you have not given your heart to Christ, it'd be really smart for you to do that.

Because the righteous judgment of God is coming.

And the mercy and love of God is right next to it for those who know Him.

We will not be judged.

We will be forgiven.

We'll be welcomed.

Now, we'll be held accountable according to rewards as to the actions of our life.

But if you have not given your heart fully to Jesus Christ, if you're unsure of that, make sure tonight.

Give your heart to Christ.

Repent of your sin.

And then some of us in this room, we're living half-hearted lives, and that's the worst place to be.

At least if you're wholehearted for sin, you know, you don't know any better, I guess, because you're just a big dummy, but you know, you're whole-hearted for sin, and so you don't even know anything else.

And so, well, you know, I remember me, I had a great first 18 years.

I mean, I seriously had more fun than any human being should be allowed to have.

And I was just moving along and da-da-da, doing my thing.

And then I got arrested by Jesus because this lady introduced me to Christ, and then this guy followed up and introduced me to Christ.

And everywhere I turned, there's Jesus freaks.

And I gave my heart to Christ and never regretted it.

Not even for a second.

There's two things I've never regretted.

One is accepting Christ, and the other is marrying Liz.

Almost everything else I have had some regrets about.

But that's two that I haven't had no regrets about.

Jesus is at the center, listen, Jesus is at the center of everything.

And the revival of your heart and the healing of your life is to love him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And when you get that, you get the greatest freedom for which your life was created for.

And if you haven't experienced that tonight, come to Christ.

Come all the way.

Be wholehearted.

Be an Olympian for God.

The Olympics start today.

The opening ceremonies were last night.

They start today.

Those men and women are wholehearted for a gold medal.

And we have a gold refined in the fire that will never perish.

In church, that's what we live for.

Men, that's what makes you a man.

Women, that's what makes you a woman.

Because he created you that way.

Be wholehearted.

You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We hope you have been blessed by today's message.

To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.

If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.

Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.

Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.