It the Spirit who gives life: the flesh profits nothing……(68) But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Our verses today were written by the apostle John and address the antidote to spiritual defection – in other cases the defection may be due to unresolved doubts or unanswered questions about the Bible -such as how do you resolve the seeming contradictions in the Bible; how can you reconcile the creation account with modern science; how can a loving and powerful God permit all the evil that goes on in the world? if God is sovereign then aren’t we just robots with no free will. How do you handle the kind of hard trials and disappointments? How do you persevere in your faith when things don’t make sense – what is the antidote to spiritual defection.

To begin we need to acknowledge there are hard truths in God’s works you don’t like or understand. We must come with a teachable heart. if you come to God with that attitude you would walk with God. You may not like what the Bible sovereignity choosing some for salvation and passing over others but Jesus repeatedly teaches that. -it is taught from Genesis to Revelation. But if we accept the parts of the Bible that fit with what we like we are not following Jesus as Lord but rather ourselves as lord.

How do we submit to hard truths. We must be born again of the Spirit. Jesus explains all your learning and religious activities are incapable of getting you into heaven but that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. It is the Spirit who gives life, points to God as sovereign and must impart new life to us.

our learning

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; ; and the number of them was ten thousand times, ten thousands, and thousands of thousands. (12)saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the lamb, who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (13) and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under and glory with a loud voice: strength and honor and glory and blessings every creatures which is in heaven and on the earth and such as in the sea, and all that are in them. I heard saying: . “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne and to the and to the Lamb foreve. (14) who was the slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and blessing”. (13) Blessibg and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the four elders then the twenty four living elders fell down and worshipped Him. Who lives forever and ever.

Revelation was written during a persecution for Christians – the Roman emperor officially sanctioned the torture and extermination of Christians whom he blamed for the great fire in Rome in A.d.64. The early church fathers ascribed the authorization of Revelation to John the apostle. John received his revelation about the victory of God in the face of terror and evil during a time of great persecution for the church. God’s impending judgment of the wicked Roman Empire is a prelude to His judgment at the end of time. John’s message is that God has already triumphed over evil and that He will destroy all evil at the end of time. John was confident that a decisive victory and emphasized that he was writing what has been personally revealed to him.

The primary emphasis of the book of Revelation is the triumphant Christ who is unveiled in His glory.

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