Good morning, everyone.
This is Memorial Day weekend. Young people, you need to know that this is not the holiday that celebrates the beginning of summer.
Memorial Day is the day in which we remember those soldiers who have fallen in wars and have given up their lives on behalf of the United States of America. It is a day to remember those who have given their lives on our behalf.
It was not my intention to arrange to have this message on Memorial Day, but it is so appropriate. This morning, we are going to look at the fifth seal. When you look at that fifth seal, what you see is the martyrs under the altar: the ones who have given up their lives for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, for His name’s sake.
They were challenged, and when they were challenged to deny the name of the Lord, they refused. They died for their decision. They were martyrs.
So, on this Memorial Day, we do remember those precious, dear saints down through the centuries who gave their lives for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ—for the good news. They willingly died horrible, terrible, tragic deaths because they refused to deny the name of the Lord Jesus.
It has been said that the church is built on the blood of the martyrs.
This morning, as I was thinking about Memorial Day, I could not help but remember especially World War II. I had a couple of uncles who fought in that war, and I can tell you, war is horrible.
There are some things that they even refused to share with me because it was so horrible. My one uncle was haunted by it the rest of his life.
Brothers and sisters, in that particular war, the spirit of Antichrist had come into a man. His name was Hitler.
The spirit of Antichrist was there. He was atheistic. He was a worshiper in the occult. He hated Christians, and most of all, he hated Jews.
Brothers and sisters, millions died in that war. Millions gave up their lives to overthrow Hitler and his army. They were fighting, of course, for their countries, just as many millions in the United States of America died to defend this country.
That was probably in most of their hearts, but something else behind the scenes was afoot, brothers and sisters. Satan had devised a plan in which to set up his own kingdom on this earth and over this earth.
We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is to set up His earthly kingdom for a thousand years, called the Millennium. This was a counterfeit kingdom that Satan was intent on setting up physically on this earth, and he was going to use Hitler to do it.
That is why he was so charismatic. That is why he was so received. Brothers and sisters, he was moving very close to accomplishing his goal.
Later in the war, Japan allied with them. It is interesting: Japanese culture was a warrior culture.
In their language, there is no word for sin—only shame. If you lost in battle, it was shameful. If you turned back in battle, it was shameful. It was all about war.
It was atheistic as well. I am convinced that the enemy intended to reign through Hitler on this earth and to use Japan as his enforcers, because they were cruel.
They hated the prisoners they took because they thought they were cowards. In their culture, to become a prisoner was cowardice. You had to kill yourself first.
So you understand what the enemy was using here. It was about trying to take over the world, to set up a kingdom on this earth—a counterfeit to the kingdom that the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to set up. This was what was at stake.
Many died. So I do remember this morning those who died, because whether they knew it or not, they were instruments through whom God was able to stop the forces of Antichrist. America was a big player in that.
I am very sorry about the road our nation is going down at this time, as we are turning away from the Christian base that the Lord raised us up on.
This morning, I just want us to realize that we owe a lot to those who died—not only to save our nation, but to overthrow the kingdom of Satan as he tried to establish it literally on this earth.
Brothers and sisters, he has not stopped. His methods have now changed. There will still be wars. We know there is going to be a great war ahead, a final push to finally take it. But it will not succeed, as we find in this book.
Another thing, young people: as you grow up, you go to Sunday school, perhaps you come here, and you listen to the stories about Jesus and the stories in the Bible. This is not just a storybook. This is not Alice in Wonderland.
This is a book that has come from God Himself to show us who Christ is and to lead us into His kingdom. That is real. These stories are real. He uses parables to demonstrate spiritual principles, but the history is real. It is a real book. It is not fiction.
I need to get off my soapbox a little bit, I guess. But I am very concerned about where we are headed. It is not the first time that the enemy has tried to overwhelm the world.
Today he is using humanism and the spirit of Islam, and it is on the rise. The good thing is that we know from prophecy, from this book, that they will not succeed.
Why? Because Christ, who was crucified and died on Calvary, did not remain in the grave. That is what this is about this morning. He rose from the dead, returned to the throne of God, sits on the throne, and ultimately rules over everything.
Let us begin by reading Romans 1:18-32.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.
For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:
who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Now let us read Revelation 6:9-11.
And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
Romans 12:1-2:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
First Corinthians 6:19-20:
What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Lord, we come to You this morning as we look in this book of Revelation, in the Apocalypse, the revealing of Jesus. We see this fifth seal opened and the martyrs who have given their lives for Your name’s sake down through the ages.
We ask, Lord, that their lives not be in vain. Lord Jesus, may You even today speak to us through what these ones have done for Your name’s sake in the past. Lord, glorify Your name today.
We ask Your blessing upon us. Lord, we ask that Your Spirit open our hearts to really see You, to hear You, Lord, and to be able to receive Your Word, for it has to be spiritually received. Lord, anoint both hearing and speaking, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
When our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, it was one of the darkest periods in history. The world had basically rejected God. It was a shameless, vulgar society.
Rome, the iron fist of Rome, ruled the world. They rejected God. It was full of sexual perversion, lust for pleasure, shameless vulgarity, superstition, and idol worship. A dark cloud covered the world.
The Jews themselves, God’s chosen people, had strayed far from God. Outwardly, they were still His people. They were chosen, thank God. Our Lord Jesus Christ never goes back on His covenant, and He had a covenant with the Jews.
But they had strayed far from God. Outwardly, there was some testimony in all the rituals they performed, but the inward testimony was gone. The life was gone. Their life with God was gone.
All they had left was the outward form of rituals and rules to follow. Oh, brothers and sisters, can you get heart to heart with rules? Have you ever been able to really feel heart to heart with rules?
No, it is a Person. It is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His life that you have in you, and His life that you follow. That is your one rule, if you want to call it a rule: to follow Him, to follow the anointing.
You will know. You will not really have to have rules. Rules do have a purpose, however. They show us that we have gotten outside the boundary.
We should be sensitive enough, as we reach those boundaries, to know it, but sometimes we are not. Anyway, that being said, it was a dark day.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth. He is a revelation of God Himself. He was the embodiment of the Godhead. All the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in our Lord Jesus Christ.
He came into this dark world, where darkness filled everything and His name was hardly known. He came to show men who God is and His desire to save men from their human tragedy, darkness, and darkened minds.
He demonstrated who He was by His words, by the life He lived, by the actions He took, and by the miracles He performed in the name of God.
Initially, He was received because they thought He would overthrow the Roman government and set them in control. But that was not what He was here for. He was here for the souls of men.
He knew the real issue was their souls and their depravity. They had replaced living reality with traditions. He knew the only thing that could change the heart of a man was Himself.
He is the way, the life, and the truth, and He offered Himself to men.
But as they began to see that His purpose really was not to overthrow the Roman government, but that He was trying to get at their hearts, they began to reject Him.
Once He began to reveal Himself not only as the Son of Man but as the Son of God, they rejected Him. It culminated at the cross of Calvary. “Crucify Him” was their call.
The cross is the culmination of the depravity of humanity—of the depravity of men’s minds and of the hatred and iniquity that reside in man.
A lot of people want to think that people are good. We may have some good qualities, but there is a flaw in there that eventually eats up humanity and makes it unacceptable. The flaws were quite evident at Calvary.
The very God who loved them, created them, and desired to save them from their iniquity was rejected and hung on Calvary’s cross. Oh, how depraved the human mind had become.
By rejecting God, according to Romans, the Lord gives men over to a depraved mind. No matter how intelligent you may think you are, or how good you may think you are in the eyes of men, there is a depravity within you that only Christ can cure.
They took His life—the culmination of man’s hatred and all that he is without God.
Before the Lord Jesus Christ went to Calvary, He pulled His disciples aside and began to talk to them. He gave them encouragement that the Holy Spirit would come and be with them—One like He was, living in them.
But He also gave them warnings. He said, “The world has hated Me, and it will hate you.”
There will come a day when just saying My name will result in imprisonment and perhaps death. Family members will turn upon one another and turn you in because you are My disciple, or because you will not deny My name.
There will come a day when many will be imprisoned and persecuted for My name’s sake. History has proven this to be a fact in every age.
Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen the rise of this in the United States of America. We have seen how, in this nation, there has been a great onslaught against God, trying to drive Him out of every corner of this nation.
Nothing concerning Christ, God, His name, or prayer is to be seen or mentioned in any public place. You cannot pray in public. We have seen this onslaught increasing in recent years.
Even in Christianity today, brothers and sisters, universalism has gripped it. What is that? It says, “Look, it does not matter. Everybody is going to be saved. Christ is not the only way.”
To say Christ is the only way, they say, is to be bigoted or prejudiced. It is rejected.
The Lord also says that they will call evil good and good evil. The good news of Jesus Christ is now considered evil and offensive. The cross is an offense.
I remember a pastor in a little Methodist church my wife used to attend standing up and saying, “Christ was not the only way. There are many ways.”
Is this the church of God? We have gone so far. We have denied His name already, even in His supposed church.
We have become lovers of pleasure with our darkened minds. We do not have God to seek after, so we seek pleasure. That is what we want, and everything depends on my pleasure—what is best for me.
That is why abortion has reached the place it has today. The world is all about me, what is good for me, and what is best for me. Lovers of pleasure.
Self is unrestrained and on the throne of men. A great darkness, I think, is once again enveloping not only the world but the United States.
Romans 1 describes the pathway we have taken. First, men reject God. They do not want God, and they reject Him. Then their minds become darkened.
Have you ever wondered how intelligent people can do some of the things they are doing today and say some of the things they are saying? These are not dumb people. These are intelligent people, but they have darkened minds.
Once you reject God, your mind becomes darkened. Thinking themselves to be wise, intellectual, and full of knowledge, they actually become foolish and do foolish things.
They begin to love pleasure and lust in their hearts after more pleasure—lovers of pleasure more than God. Then their hearts become darkened, not only their minds.
They begin to give themselves over to perversions in life, corrupting the body: homosexuality, abortions, euthanasia, pornography, and lust. It is on the rise.
Then came judgment. Brothers and sisters, I do not think we are far from judgment. In fact, I think we are in the throes of it.
Eventually, when men get to this stage, they do not want to feel guilty about what they are doing. If you happen to be a Christian with moral values and you stand up against some of these things, they hate you because they do not want to feel guilty.
When they used to sacrifice babies to the god Moloch, they would pound the drums as they were doing it so they could not hear the screams of the children. They did not want to feel guilty. They did not want to know what was going on.
There have been over fifty million abortions. I have been reading lately about what actually is involved, and I tell you, it is horrible. It is horrible.
Our personal freedom is valued above the lives of these children. It all began because we began to reject God, and our minds became darkened.
Brothers and sisters, do not think that we are not affected by this darkness. We are, even as Christians. We have to continually stand before the Lord and ask for forgiveness and mercy, that we do not become like the world and enter into the world’s way of thinking.
We must truly seek Christ in truth. It is only the truth of Christ that sets men free. The Lord said, “Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
It does not say, “Make up a pack of lies, and then you will be free. Forget that you are ever guilty about anything. You will always be forgiven. You are never guilty.” That is not freedom. That imprisons you even more.
They rejected Christ. Brothers and sisters, if you stand up for Christ, if you truly live for the Lord, you will be rejected as well and challenged, even more so in the days to come.
We are involved in the battle of the ages in Christianity. That battle is over the testimony of Christ—who Christ is.
Christ gave testimony to who God and the Godhead are, and the world tried to destroy Him. But it could not. Even in the grave, He arose victorious over it.
We are involved in that battle, the battle of the ages. Just as World War II was not merely a battle of nations, there was tremendous warfare going on in the heavenlies because Antichrist wanted to set up his kingdom on this earth.
It is the same today, though he is using other techniques—humanism, progressivism, and all these isms—to replace Christ.
Our warfare, according to Ephesians, is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers of darkness under the rule of Satan.
That is why we gather on Wednesday nights to pray. Yes, we pray for personal things, but our heart is to stand in victory in this battle. The victory has been won, but the Lord has asked us to stand in that victory.
We are to hold the flag of victory up in all these dark situations. Our warfare is not really against men or politics. It is what is behind it all, brothers and sisters, that is our warfare.
This battle has been going on in ages past, even in eternity past. I want to give you a little background, because you need to know why these martyrs died—the ones under the fifth seal, the ones the Lord notices.
It began when Satan himself, standing before God—what we think was the highest archangel before God—began to think about himself.
He said, “I am not getting what is right. I should have the place of Christ. I have the beauty and the talents. I have been endowed with almost everything and empowered by God. Why should I not have the place of the Son?”
God knew of it, and He threw him out. Unfortunately, Satan was able to influence a third of the angels, and they were cast out with him.
The evidence is that they were cast into the atmosphere and took residence in the atmosphere around this earth. I believe that is why, when you see in Genesis that God created the heavens and the earth and everything was glorious, darkness later came in.
A darkness enveloped this earth. Chaos entered into it. If you look into prehistoric history, you see the results of that chaos and wildness that entered this world.
Finally, the Holy Spirit moved upon the earth, and God thought about man. He said, “I will bring the earth back to Myself, and I will use a man.”
“I will create a man in My own image and after My likeness,” which means a man who could have His character, a man who could be of His nature—not divinity, but a human being able to have something of the character of God Himself.
Man is a special creation. The other things God simply spoke, and they came into being. But with man, He took the dust of the earth and breathed into him. Humanity was joined with God.
We are a special creation, and part of our ministry—part of our being created by God—is to restore everything back to God. When you see the book of Revelation, you see the consummation of this restoration.
Unfortunately, man fell. He was challenged by Satan immediately, and Satan could not have it any other way.
First, God had to restore the earth, and that is what you see in Genesis: a restoration, making it habitable for man. Finally, He created all the animals and man.
But man was challenged to obey the Lord, and he failed. He was to be the testimony of God on this earth, the one who would reject Satan. Instead, he listened to Satan and fell.
His nature, his very human nature, became corrupted. In that corruption, we see the fall of man and even the failure in His church today, because that corrupted nature is with us until we are with the Lord.
But we do have a new life. I do not want to end there. We have a new life that we can live by and live in, setting aside that old corrupted nature in the cross of Calvary, where Christ nailed it. Brothers and sisters, that is our hope.
The work of Satan is to destroy the testimony of Jesus. He is at war with our Lord. He does not want the Lord to inherit the world and the nations. He wants to keep them for himself.
All the fury and power of hell stand against the testimony of Jesus in your life. You need to know that.
You may have lived a quite peaceful life, I do not know, but for most of us there has been some turmoil. You need to know that what you are standing against is an enemy who wants to destroy the testimony of Christ in your life. That is what he is out to do.
In the church in particular, he wants to destroy. It appears that he is winning. I do not see anybody disagreeing at this point.
But that is why the book of Revelation is so important: the Apocalypse. Do you know what that means? It means the unveiling. The Apocalypse is the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
It is the unveiling of His restoring the earth back to His full purpose, restoring man back to his full purpose, and restoring creation back to its full purpose, that He might inherit these things and return all things back to God Himself.
We are part of all that because we are the church. As we begin to look into this book of Revelation, the Apocalypse begins with Christ in glory.
Christ did not remain in the grave. He is in glory. He is on the throne. We see the triumphant, risen Christ at the beginning of the book of Revelation.
He is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. As Son of God, He is deity. As Son of Man, He lived a perfect, sinless life on this earth.
In Him, we truly exist. Because He made it back to the throne, we can make it to the throne.
Then we see Him as the High Priest looking at the churches. Remember the seven churches. He is in the midst of something very important to Him: His future bride.
She is to be like Him, but as He looks at her, there are flaws. There are spots and wrinkles. She is not what she needs to be. She is not ready for the wedding yet.
He admonishes her and challenges her. In every case, He calls for those within the church to overcome.
Why? Because the church in general does not overcome as a whole, but there are some within her who give their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His purpose.
They overcome by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and by loving not their lives unto death. They overcome.
It does not mean they are perfect. If they were, they would not need that blood. But they do have the testimony of Christ in their lives. It is real. Therefore, they can give a word of testimony.
They love not their lives unto death. What does that mean? It means self is not the center of their lives. Christ is. It is very simple. That is what it takes to overcome.
John is taken up into the third heaven, and what does he see? The throne. He sees the throne, all this activity, the lightnings and the thunders.
It tells us one thing: the throne is in control. We often think men are in control and that we are in control, but God says, “Ultimately, I am in control.” The throne is in control.
Next, we saw the Lamb. There is a Lamb on the throne, and the Lamb is worthy. He is worthy, brothers and sisters, because He gave His life as a sacrifice for men.
He was the only One found worthy to open the seals of the book. We know that book was the deed book of the earth.
Opening every seal begins to bring about the consummation of the ages—the full restoration of mankind, the earth, the nations, the Jews, and the church into its fullness. That is what this whole Revelation is about.
We have opened four seals so far. The first seal was a white horse, a false prophet. The second seal was a red horse, speaking of war. The third seal was a black horse, speaking of famine. The fourth seal was pestilence—disease.
The Lord says these things will happen. Brothers and sisters, these are the things the enemy is using to destroy the testimony of Christ.
As the seals begin to open and we move toward the consummation of the ages, these become very intense: false prophets, war, famine, and pestilence. They will intensify in greatness.
We have noticed that. It has been obvious, particularly in weather phenomena in the last four or five years—a tremendous increase.
From Satan’s side, it is his desire to destroy everything that is of Christ. But God says, from His point of view, from the view of the throne, these are birth pains.
All these tragedies and difficulties are for the training of the saints and the building up of the saints in Christ. To live through these things, you are going to need Christ, and you are going to need to learn Christ.
You are going to have to experience Christ in your life, not simply have knowledge of Him, but actually experience Him in all that you go through in life, that you might learn who He is and what He is.
Birth pains. In other words, God is preparing a people.
In Revelation 12, we see the man child. We see this woman in birth pains, and a man child immediately comes out and is caught up to the throne.
The man child is what God is looking for today. It is probably the next major event that will happen. All of a sudden, some saints will disappear from this earth.
These are the overcomers. These are the ones who are ready. This is the firstfruits of the harvest—the firstfruits that have ripened early because they have given their lives to the Lord and are ready.
The man child will be raptured to the throne to make way for the Lord’s return to this earth.
We see in these four horsemen Satan’s great desire to destroy any opportunity of that happening. Brothers and sisters, if you are really all out for the Lord, Satan is all out for you. You need to know that.
Do not think things are merely consequences of life. The Lord is trying to build you up in the faith and get you ready for Him.
In the fifth seal, it says, “I saw underneath the altar them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.”
When we open the fifth seal, it is as though the Lord is saying, “Look, there are some folks I need to recognize. I need to draw attention to somebody.”
“I need to draw your attention to the martyrs who have died for My name’s sake. I want to recognize them. They have a special place in My heart because they gave their earthly lives to Me.”
“For My name’s sake, they would not yield when the enemy came after them and tried to beat them into submission and make them deny My name. They stood up for My name, and I want to recognize them as special—a memorial, so to speak.”
I recently shared about the remnant who returned out of Babylonian captivity to build the house of God as a testimony of God on this earth and to rebuild Jerusalem, the temple, and its walls.
There were two returns. In the first return, about fifty thousand came out. In the second return, it was about two thousand. Finally, Nehemiah returned, as we read in the book of Nehemiah, to finish the work of building the wall and complete the testimony.
There were only a few. I told you it represented about four percent of those in captivity in Babylon. About four percent of the people were overcomers willing to come out, go back, and build the testimony of Jesus in Jerusalem—a testimony to the world.
During this period, the Lord God refers to Himself as the God of heaven, not the God of heaven and earth, because the testimony was gone.
The temple had been destroyed, and the only reason it was destroyed was because the hearts of His people lost the testimony first. Then that outward symbol of the testimony was eventually destroyed.
But brothers and sisters, these people went through tremendous hardships to go back, farm, build a life for their families, and at the same time build this temple. It was tough. It was hard.
If you read the story, you find that they were not without faults, troubles, and problems. But eventually they overcame. They eventually built the temple and the wall as a testimony to Jesus.
God took special note of these.
Obviously, this will be two messages, so I will try to find the right spot to stop today.
They gave up their lives to return and build that testimony. Brothers and sisters, I hope each one of us has been touched in our hearts that the primary thing in our lives is the testimony of Christ.
It should overcome all other desires. It should be the purpose of our lives because it is God’s purpose.
We see these who were martyred, and God wants to give special recognition to those who were martyred for His name’s sake. He points them out before He continues on.
I want to read a little from John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. That is not an easy book to read, by the way.
It was written in 1563. Foxe went to great lengths to verify the stories he wrote down because, remember, this was the 1500s and there were many stories going around.
He made diligent search to make sure that he was accurate in what he reported and to give an account of what had happened. He says this:
The tyrants and organs, or instruments, of Satan were not contented with death only to take the life of the body. The kinds of death were many and horrible. Whatsoever the cruelness of man’s invention could devise for the punishment of man’s body was practiced against the Christians: stripes, scourgings, drawings, tearings, stonings, plates of iron laid on them burning hot, deep dungeons, racks, strangling, given to wild beasts, grillings, gibbets, and gallows.
Moreover, when they were killed, their bodies were laid in heaps, with dogs to guard and keep others from coming to bury them. Nor would any be allowed to pray for them.
And yet, notwithstanding all these continual persecutions and horrible punishments, the church daily increased, deeply rooted in the doctrine of the apostles and watered plentifully with the blood of the saints.
How precious is the blood of the martyrs? Our Lord wants us to recognize that as He opens this fifth seal.
The blood is under the altar. They are under the altar.
In the Old Testament, on the altar, we are familiar with the sin offering. The sin offering was the presenting of the animal to be slain, and its shed blood covered the sins of the people.
We know that was a foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary’s cross. He died for your sins. His blood and sacrifice were for your sins, and for the fact that you were a sinner and flawed. He had to take care of the flaw. That is what Calvary is about: the sin offering.
But there was also the burnt offering. Before they offered these animals, they would take and cut away the fat from the organs of the animal, and that was put aside.
That fat was burned unto God as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to God. The blood is for man, and the fat is for God.
What does that mean? The blood was shed for you and me, brothers and sisters, but Christ willingly offered Himself not only as a sin offering but as a burnt offering, pleasing unto God.
His whole life was an offering pleasing to God. That is the burnt offering.
We have no part in the sin offering. There is no price and no amount of deeds that can be accomplished in the name of God to offset your sins. Only the blood of Christ can do that.
That is the Word of God. That is truth. There is no other way for man’s sins to be dealt with than for a price to be paid, and it required the life of a sinless man.
Christ came and lived as a man in order to take your place and my place on Calvary’s cross. He died as a substitute, but He also died, brothers and sisters, as you.
He died as you, that He might take away the old man and the old way of life. You would now be able to live by His life, which has come into you.
We cannot take part in the sin offering, but we can take part in the burnt offering: the offering of ourselves for the pleasure of the Lord, for His pleasure.
We are thankful that God even allows us to do this. He says, “You can offer yourself wholly to Me.” It is that burnt offering—the offering of ourselves to serve His pleasure.
That brings us to Romans 12:1.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Some translations say, “your reasonable worship.”
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
That you might present your bodies a living sacrifice—your reasonable worship unto Him—not being conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Brothers and sisters, when we accept Christ, the darkness in our minds does not immediately disappear. But as you begin to concentrate on Christ, live with Christ, and live by His life, the darkness begins to fade and the light comes in.
The light dispels the darkness. That is why it speaks of transformation: that we might be transformed.
Let us read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit.
The point I am making, brothers and sisters, is this matter of a living sacrifice. God has called us to be a living sacrifice.
You may never die what is called a martyr’s death, losing your physical life. But we are called to live a martyred life.
Do you know what the word martyr means? Witness. Witness to the point of giving up your life.
Think about it this way: if you are going to be a full witness to Christ, then the self-life has to go.
A martyred life means putting self in its place on the cross and saying, “No more. Christ is on the throne.”
A martyred life. You need to live a martyr’s life. Martyrs are important to the Lord, and He recognizes these martyrs—of course, these are the ones who have given their physical lives.
I just want us this morning—we will share more next week—to consider what we have been called to and what Christ thinks is important.
Brothers and sisters, I think this whole seal, the whole fifth seal, is dedicated to the martyrs. Look at it this way: it is like a memorial.
“I want the whole world to see that in the consummation of the ages, the martyrs carried out a very important purpose because they maintained the testimony of Christ on this earth.”
Think about the martyrs in those early centuries, brothers and sisters. They were given to lions and displayed. They would take a man and put him on a hot plate, then put another man on top of him. They would do the cruelest things.
They did this simply because these people were disciples of Christ and would not reject His name when they were challenged. They were torn apart. Some of them were literally torn apart.
The blood of the martyrs speaks. I think we read this morning that the blood of Christ speaks louder than the blood of Abel.
Did you know that the blood of Abel spoke? God recognized it. Abel’s life had been shed because of the testimony of Christ in his life.
Why? Because he brought the lamb. He brought the acceptable sacrifice for God. His brother would not. His brother said, “I want to offer You the work of my hands.” The Lord said, “No, that is not acceptable.”
What is acceptable is the sacrifice of My Son, Jesus Christ. That is literally what Abel was bringing before God.
The one thing that brought God pleasure was His Son, because His Son is completely obedient. His Son has the nature and character of God Himself and is willing to give up His life on our behalf.
He said, “This is what is acceptable.” The acceptable sacrifice.
So God says, “I recognize the blood of Abel has been shed, and it is important to Me because it was the testimony of Christ that was involved.” That is why it was so important.
The blood of these martyred saints speaks loudly. Brothers and sisters, I will share more on it next week.
It is interesting: these martyrs do not say, “Lord, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.” Now, the early martyrs did.
But when you come to this fifth seal, what are they saying? “Lord, how long before You avenge our death? How long?” That is their cry. It is their prayer. Their blood speaks loudly.
When the Lord prepares to judge, when the Lord prepares to make a great move, the Word of God speaks about the fullness of times. We are getting close, brothers and sisters.
In the fullness of times, there are always two things involved: the negative and the positive.
When the Lord decided to free the nation of Israel from Egypt, what did He do? He brought out all the gods of Egypt and destroyed them.
The ants, locusts, frogs, and all the things that came upon the people of Egypt were representative of their gods, and He used them against them.
Eventually, the firstborn was taken, and He destroyed the army in the Red Sea. Their fullness of iniquity had come.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is about to return, and two things are going to happen. One, there is going to be the fullness of iniquity. That is on the negative side.
The other side is going to be the fullness of testimony, which the overcomers carry and which the martyrs carry. It is the fullness of time.
I think it is amazing: you look at the sixth seal, and the first thing that happens is an earthquake—a tremendous earthquake that affects the whole world.
Do you think God is not responding to the prayers of these martyrs? “Lord, how long? How long before You avenge us?”
It is important, brothers and sisters, because of where we live. This is reality. The Lord is coming soon. All of this is about to happen.
We need to be those who are willing to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, and, if necessary, a martyred death.
Lord, we come to You this morning. I have to say that I know this matter of offering ourselves a living sacrifice is a matter of Your grace working mightily within us.
Lord, I ask that it might work mightily within us, that in these days our attention would not be distracted by many things, even the tragedies and world situations that we have talked about today.
Lord, we do not want to be distracted from what our call is in all of this: to be a living sacrifice. Lord Jesus, may it be so. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.