Well, we move into chapter 5
of Revelation, and of course it's the same vision, the second
vision of the seven in the book of Revelation. The vision continues. John has been taken up into heaven,
and he sees a throne, and one sitting on the throne. This is
how things are. This is not storybook. This is
not Lord of the Rings and things like that. This is reality. This is heavenly reality. This
is eternal reality. Whatever you might think is real
that you can feel and touch and see now, Heaven is more real,
for this is fleeting and passing away. But heaven, for the glory
of heaven, the eternal kingdom of God, that is the thing which
is permanent. That is the thing which the scripture
assures us is the thing which really matters, which continues.
John had gone through that door into heaven. He'd seen the throne. He'd seen the one on the throne
in majesty who rules all things. who is absolutely sovereign.
So no wonder the scripture says to the people of God again and
again, fear not, fear not little flock, oh we're so little, fear
not. The one who is sovereign is on the throne of the universe.
He sees that, he sees the spirit of God proceeding from the throne
of majesty and glory. He sees the elders representing
the church in heaven. He sees the beasts which represent
creation, could be the preachers that God sends, but as I said
earlier in when we were reading, I think it means both of those
things. It's all looking at the one who is sovereign over all
things. And then as we move into chapter
5, we see more detail. If you remember as we read, we
see a book. We see a book. We hear a challenge. We hear a challenge goes out.
Who is worthy? We hear a response, or should I say a null response,
for there is no response. We see a lion who is a lamb. We see a multitude praising the
lamb. What can it all mean? What relevance
does it have to us here and now? Now what was the center of Christ's
preaching? If you were to say, if you read
the Gospels, what was it that Christ preached above all else? Just summarize it, get right
to the core, the kernel of it. It's this, the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is at hand.
The kingdom of God is coming. The kingdom of God is at hand,
therefore repent. repent, the kingdom of, that's
what he preached, didn't he? He went about preaching the kingdom
of God. Puzzled, what is this? And they
try and speculate as to what this kingdom of God is, what
is it? I thought he went about preaching the gospel. It's the
kingdom of God. The gospel is the kingdom of
God. It's about the kingdom of God. It's about God establishing
the salvation of his people, of establishing his kingdom which
subverts and replaces the fallen kingdom of this world, the fallen
kingdom of Satan and of principalities and of powers. The disciples
said to our Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, teach us to pray. And so
in what's wrongly called the Lord's prayer, it's actually
the disciples' prayer, our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed
be thy name. What's the next phrase? Thy kingdom
come. Thy kingdom come. That's the
title of this message. Thy kingdom, your kingdom be
established. Your gospel kingdom of sinlessness,
of righteousness, of redemption, of perfection. God is establishing
his kingdom. It's a kingdom of righteousness,
of peace, God's kingdom is a kingdom of peace. It's a kingdom of blessedness. It's a kingdom without sin. It's
a kingdom that is eternal, outside of time. And it's being overthrown. The kingdom of this world is
being overthrown by the kingdom of God. That kingdom of God is
replacing the kingdom of this world, the corrupted kingdom
of this world, the sinful kingdom of this world, the sinful kingdom
of Satan with its sin, with its defilement, with its rebellion
versus God. It's being replaced. Thy kingdom
come. You know, I've said it several
times before, Christine and I like choral singing, and we're in
a choir, and we're preparing at the moment to sing Handel's
Messiah, which is a wonderful piece, because it's the words
of the King James Version of the Bible set to music. And some
people have all sorts of qualms about that, I don't have any
whatsoever. I absolutely love the music, I think it's wonderful
music, and I just love the words, because they're the words of
the King James Bible. But we're trying to learn the Hallelujah
Chorus. so that we don't have to look
at our music while we sing it so we're trying to learn the
hallelujah chorus and then there's one phrase in it that summarizes
just exactly what I've said the kingdom of this world the kingdom
of this world is become the kingdom of our lord and of his christ
and he shall reign forever and ever that is what this message
is about if you want to summarize revelation chapter five the kingdom
of this world The fallen kingdom of Satan is become the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and
ever. Thy kingdom come, thy kingdom
come, thy kingdom come. With that in mind, now, let's
look at Revelation chapter 5. We'll look at the book, we'll
look at the challenge and the response to it, we'll look at
the lion and the lamb, we'll look at the citizens and their
praise. the book. Look at verse 1, I
saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book
written within and on the back side sealed with seven seals.
Do you know I am told, I'm no expert on the original languages,
but I am told that when it says I saw in the right hand Really,
more strictly correctly, it's I saw on. Can you imagine, those
listening, I'm holding out my flat palm. Something's on there. What's that saying to anybody
around? Come and take it. You who are able, come and take
it. Here it is. It's being held out for another
who is able to come and take it. There it is, it's on the
right hand of him that sat upon the throne. On the right hand
of God who is sovereign over all things is a book. And it's
a book written all over it. There's no blank space. It's
completely covered. covered. There's nothing more
can be added to it because it's full. There's nothing can be
taken away from it because that would leave white space and that
cannot be done. It's written on the front and on the back.
And it's sealed with seven seals. Why seven? Seven is always the
divine number of completeness. And being the divine number of
completeness, as opposed to the world's number of completeness
which is ten, seven is the divine number of completeness. It's
perfect. It's perfectly sealed. It's perfectly divinely closed
up, is a book. Here is this book. literally,
on his hand, it's covered with writing, seven seals, and look
what it is, look at verses 9 and 10, And they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,
and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall
reign on the earth. It is the book of God's purposes
accomplished in establishing his kingdom. And how is his kingdom
established? It's established by redemption
as those verses tell us. Because the lamb has died. Redemption. He's paid the price of satisfaction
to the law, the offended law of God. This book, this book
on the hand of the one who sits in the throne is God's plan.
God's plan. I know that has echoes. Those
of you that remember Arminian messages, God has a wonderful
plan for your life. If only you would let him do
it for you. No, no, no, no, no. But God has a plan. Oh yes, God
has a plan. Perish any thought of those false
Arminian messages. God has a plan. This book is
God's plan. His plan to conquer Satan, to
conquer all worldly rule, and establish his unrivaled kingdom
of peace and righteousness. Any of you that, you know, I
was a project manager for quite a bit of my working life, any
of you that have ever managed projects, you know, you have
something that you want to achieve and it's clear and it's written
down and it's got a mandate to go and do it and make it happen.
How are you going to get there? You must write down a plan. A
plan. Not just a timeline, not just
a schedule, but this is how we're going to do it. This is the way
we're going to do that. This is the way we're going to
do the other thing. And so on. We're going to follow, this is
the way we are going to achieve the objective of the plan. This
book, in the hand of him that sat on the throne, is God's plan.
It's God's plan for his conquering of Satan. and all-worldly rule. It's his plan for the establishment
of his unrivaled kingdom of peace and righteousness. Thy kingdom
come. But it's sealed up perfectly
with seven seals. Perfectly. Divinely perfectly
completely sealed. It's safeguarded. Can't be altered. cannot be altered. It's kept
secret so far, kept secret. Romans 16, 25 talks about the
gospel mystery being kept secret but now made manifest. Ephesians says the same thing,
the mystery that was secret from generation has now been made
manifest in the gospel of His grace. And if its plan, this
book, this scroll, if its plan is to be implemented, you see,
why do we want to open this book? Why do we want to break the seals
of this book, loose the seals of this book and open it? Is
it just to look at it and go, oh well, can you imagine a project,
think of the place of work and you've got a project plan and
it's there. And the management of the company wants to know
what's in your plan. You're the project manager, what's
in the plan? Let's open the seals of the book so the plan is open.
And they all go, oh, that's very interesting, yes, okay, fine.
We don't open it just to find out what's in it. We open it
to do it. We open it to accomplish it.
We open it to make it happen. It's to implement it. That's
what it's for. It's to implement the plan that
the seals must be loosed. As long as this book stays sealed
up, the plan is not implemented. It must be opened. The seals
must be loosed. If God's kingdom is to come,
thy kingdom come. This book seals must be loosed. They must be. So there's John
in his spiritual vision and he's taken up in the spirit on the
Lord's day on the Isle of Patmos come up hither and he's seen
things Paul says he had visions of heaven and he says I can't
utter them. They're just in language, I just cannot utter them. Speech
fails, but the Holy Spirit inspired this to give us a vision of what
John saw, and to teach us, and to encourage us here and now.
And he's there in the Spirit, and he sees the one who is sovereign
over all things, and he sees that there is a plan to establish
the perfect kingdom of righteousness and peace. And there's John suffering
all of the persecution of the first century. And he's seen
all his fellow apostles martyred. And he's seen great persecution
on the church of God. And he knows, he still believes,
he knows that the people of God go the day they leave this body
to be present with the Lord. And now he's having a vision,
ninety-odd years old, on the Isle of Patmos, very old man,
ninety-odd years old, and he sees this vision, and he sees,
yes, there is God, who is in control of all things. And he
sees the majesty and the indescribable glory of the God who is sovereign
over all things, and he sees a book, this is what must be
implemented. If him, And all others who believe
Christ, the people of Christ, are to be in that eternal kingdom
of absolute bliss and righteousness and peace and glory. And it's
sealed up. And as long as it stays sealed
up, it's not going to be implemented. And do you know what he does
when he sees that? It causes him great sorrow and
anxiety, for he hears a voice. Look at verse 2. I saw a strong
angel. An angel? Do you know what an
angel is in the scripture? I can imagine that you get pictures
of kind of medieval art and Roman Catholic icons and all that sort
of thing, of these kind of shining creatures with bright wings.
Well, whatever they look like we don't know, but we do know
that if we saw one we would be absolutely awestruck. But the
key thing about an angel is this, an angel is a messenger, a messenger. And that's what it is, an angel
is a, when in the letters he says to the angel of the church
at Philadelphia, to the angel of the church of, it's the pastor,
the messenger of God to that people. There's an angel, one
of God's messengers, and he's a strong angel, strong angel. He's not going to talk like this. He's not going to mumble into
his hand. He's talking loud. He's a strong angel. I saw a
strong angel. A strong messenger. A loud messenger. God's messenger. Strong. Loud
to be heard by all creation. Who's got to hear this? What
he's got to say. The angels of heaven. The powers
that be. the principalities, Satan and
all of his hosts, the kingdom of men, all the kingdoms of this
world. And this is the question, he
said this with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book
and to loose the seals thereof? There it is, any of you. angels,
men, kingdoms of this world, powers, principalities, Satan
even. Who is worthy? Who is qualified? Who is able to come and unloose
the seals of this book? Because if these seals are not
loosed God's plan of his kingdom coming, of him establishing a
kingdom where there are men and women who by nature in the flesh
are sinners and therefore fall short of the glory of God, who
deserve only the curse and condemnation of God for what we are, a kingdom
in which they must be citizens will not be established unless
somebody undoes, looses the seals of that book. Who is worthy?
Who is qualified? Who is capable to implement God's
plan and establish his kingdom of peace and righteousness? Are
worldly empires? Will worldly empires do it? Why
have worldly empires ever been set up? Do you know I'm absolutely
convinced that even down to the man Adolf Hitler, even down to
him His intention, initially, was to establish a worldwide
kingdom which everybody would love to live in. Because all
sorts of things that he considered to be wrong would be put right.
And every other emperor has had that as his objective. Napoleon
Bonaparte. You name them. the Czars of Russia,
the Holy Roman Empire, all of these have had it in mind that
they can create a kingdom of righteousness and peace in which
people will delight to live. The challenge goes out to worldly
empires. The challenge goes out to human
philosophy. We live absolutely immersed all around us. The human
philosophy of our day is a human philosophy of materialistic evolution. just purposeless, random. We are here because of a big
bang and the random consequences of it. There is no other explanation
for it. You talk to the ones that are put on pedestals. Professor
Brian Cox, you know, oh, such a clever man, such an appealing
man, such an alluring man with his theories. His theory is a
theory of hopelessness. It's evolutionary materialism. It's empty. It's lost. The end
of it is destruction. There is no hope in it. Without
Christ and without God and without hope in this world. They look
to science and technology. Science can answer everything.
I'll tell you what, I've got a few questions that science
can't answer. And I speak as a very lowly one, but I am a
scientist by training. There's plenty of questions that
science just doesn't come close to answering. Communism. What about communism? You know,
the theories of Karl Marx and how they were put into practice
in the most evil regime of the last century, the 20th century
was filled with these evil communists. What was their objective? To
create kingdoms of what they considered to be righteousness
and peace. And all they did was abuse and
kill and subvert their people. Oh, now? It's modern democracy. Come on, modern democracy! Are
you worthy? Are you worthy to unloose the seals of this book?
Are you worthy? There's another one that's arising,
isn't it? It's in the news every day. Islamic
State in the Middle East. Oh, if only we have the kingdom
of Allah and Islamic State, then people will live in peace. And
stupid people are leaving this country. Muslims to go and live
and serve and work in what they call ISIS because they think
that is a kingdom of righteousness and peace being established.
I know how bitterly disappointed they are because all of them
come to nothing. Who is worthy to implement this
plan and establish God's kingdom of righteousness and of peace
and of bliss? Look at verses 3 and 4. The question's
gone out to everyone. Who is worthy? And no man in
heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to
open the book, neither to look thereon. The plan He's currently
kept closed. The plan is not opened. If the
plan is not opened, the plan is not implemented. If the plan
is not implemented, there is no kingdom of God. There is no
kingdom of righteousness and peace. And John's reaction? Because
what's he been preaching ever since he met the Lord Jesus Christ
and knew him? The disciple whom Jesus loved,
he says, I wept much. In his vision, I wept much. Like
having a dream when you know that you're either laughing or
you're crying or the sensations are so real. I wept much. Why? Because no man was found worthy
to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. It must
be opened. It must be read. It must be looked there on for
it to be implemented. I wept much. He wept. There's
no response, no response. Think of all of man's attempts
at establishing a utopia of peace. Think about them. The great empires
of the ancient world, the empire of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. The
empire of Medo-Persia, of Darius, and all that followed him, Artaxerxes.
The empire of Greece, of Alexander the Great. The empire of Rome,
with all its emperors. The Holy Roman Empire, as it
was wrongly called, but that's its name. The great empires of
the world. European monarchies, even now,
the European Union, the Soviet Union, Hitler, modern Western
democracy, even ISIS. They're silent. There's no man,
none of them, none of them are able to come and take that book
and open the seals and implement the plan. They utterly fail,
without exception, to bring anything. What do they bring? They only
bring death, destruction, exploitation, and obscene extremes of wealth
and poverty. Don't they? Don't they? Isn't
that what this world produces? Just obscene extremes of wealth
and poverty? Don't you realize how bankrupt
is all hope of eternal blessing outside of the Lord Jesus Christ? The book remains sealed. The plan isn't implemented to
completion. There's no kingdom of peace and
of righteousness. So John weeps much. But look
at verse five. Look at verse five. One of the
elders saith unto me, Weep not. Don't cry. Stop crying, John. Old man. Old disciple and apostle
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't cry. There's no need to
cry. Why? Behold. Behold? What does that
mean? Look! Look. Look now. There's a lion. There's a lion. The lion of the
tribe of Judah. The root of David. He has prevailed
to open the book. There is one. There is one who
is worthy to open the book, to loose its seals, to implement
the plan. Weep not, behold the lion of
the tribe of Judah, of the root of David. This is one of the
elders speaking in heaven. Do you know, I don't want to
make this too complicated, but you know, there is the idea,
which is a good idea to keep, that the church is divided into
divisions. And those that are in glory,
the saints that have believed Christ and walked with Christ
and have been taken to eternal glory and are in heaven now,
they're called the church triumphant, for they're there. They're in
glory. They're in that kingdom of peace
and righteousness now in eternity outside of time. We here on earth
are the church militant because we're not there yet. We're still
fighting the battle with flesh and sin and the devil and all
of these things all around us. But one of the elders is one
of the church triumphant and he knows that it's all accomplished. He knows that that book has been
opened. He knows that the seals thereof
have been broken and opened and loosed and implemented by one
who is worthy. He knows that the gospel has
been a complete success. And he says to the church militant,
to you and me, if we're members of his kingdom now, weep not. Why not? Give me a reason. Why
shouldn't I weep because this book is sealed? Why shouldn't
I weep? The answer is this. Behold, the
lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed
to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. And
I looked, I beheld. I did as he said. He said, look,
and I looked. He said, look at the lion. Look
at the lion. And I looked at the lion. And
what did I see? A lamb. I looked at the lion,
and I saw a lamb in the midst of the throne. I beheld, and
lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in
the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, bearing the marks of
having been killed, having been slain. But he's standing up,
so he's alive. He's got seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God. The lion and the lamb. I saw a lion. I looked at a lion,
and I saw a lamb. If you go to the middle of the
Lake District, right in the middle, look at the English Lake District
and put a pin as near the middle as you can, and you come to the
village of Grasmere. And if you stand to the south
side of the village of Grasmere and look north, you will see
a little mountain. It's only a small one, but it's
quite a good climb. It's called Helm Crag. but it's
also called the lion and the lamb because on the top of it
when you stand to the south of it there are rock formations
on the top. There's one great big rock with
a little one next to it and from that angle you would just think
it was a lion with its big mane and a little tiny lamb sitting
next to it and you know the idea is incongruous because you boys
know what would happen if you went to the zoo and there's a
big lion And they went and put a little tiny lamb in the cage
with the lion. I don't think the lamb would
last very long, would it? I think the lion would lick his
lips and start thinking, right, we'll have some lunch here. Lamb
chops coming up. The lion and the lamb. This is
the vision. Look at the lion, and he sees
a lamb. There is one. There is one. Only one. who is worthy to loose
the seals. There is one, look, weep not,
the lion of the tribe of Judah. No, nobody else, deafening silence,
but look, don't cry, for there is one, the lion of the tribe
of Judah. Look at him, the lion speaks
of being a king. This comes from Genesis 49, when
Jacob was blessing his sons, and you know, he had 12 sons,
and one of them was Judah, and he says, Out of him, the scepter
of power, the kingly rule will be in Judah until Shiloh comes,
until the Messiah comes, until the Christ of God comes. The
lion of the tribe of Judah. The king of God's kingdom. You
know, like the lion we say is the king of the jungle. The lion
is the king of the plains of Africa. The lion is the king
of beasts. There's that musical, isn't there,
and the story, the lion king. The lion of the tribe of Judah,
look, look, one who is a lion, sovereign, he's king, he's ruling
over the people of God. The sector of absolute power
is in his hand and he's ruling his people until Christ comes.
Well here is that lion, look, look at the lion. He's also the
root of David. Where do we get that from? Isaiah
chapter 11. The prophet Isaiah talks about
a root of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David,
the shepherd boy, who became the king of Israel and reigned
over his people. And that line of David went on
until Christ came. Out of the root of Jesse, the
root that's in the ground, what grows out of roots? Branches.
There's a branch will come, a glorious branch. Jesus said this, Right
at the end of the Bible, the end of Revelation, 22 verse 16,
I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify
unto you these things in the churches. I, this is how he describes
himself, just before scripture closes, I am the root and the
offspring of David and the bright and morning star. He's effectively
saying this, the fact that I was the root of David, that from
which David sprang, made it possible that I am his offspring. Later
when Christ came, born, where was Christ born? in the city
of David, the town of Bethlehem, a little town of Bethlehem. We
sing in the Christmas carols, don't we? That's where he came
from, of the line of David. The fact that he was the root
of David made it possible that he was the offspring of David.
And the elder, who is the saint in heaven, The believer, the
redeemed one in heaven, tells John, and he tells us here, that
there is a king who has been found worthy to implement God's
kingdom plan. He says, rejoice, don't weep. Do you believe Christ and his
gospel? If you believe Christ and his
gospel, if you're resting in him, you've got a home in heaven. That's your eternal destiny.
That's the place where you will be in that kingdom of righteousness
and of peace. And it's certain, and it can't
be taken away. It's reserved for you in heaven,
as Peter says. Peter says to the scattered persecuted
saints in 1 Peter 1 verses 3 to 5, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. reserved in
heaven, kept in heaven, can't be destroyed, won't fade away.
You who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Behold the lion and verse
six. Okay, John weeping, stop weeping. Look at the lion and he looks
and behold, in the midst of the throne, a lamb as it had been
slain. The lion has overcome and loosed
the seals. But how has the lion king, the
king of God's kingdom, how has the king loosed the seals? He's
done it in the capacity of a lamb. That weakest little thing, submissive
little thing, he's done it. The king, the lion king has loosed
the seals only in this way, in the capacity of a lamb. A lamb
for the slaughter. The lamb speaks of submission. Speaks of, you know, the weakest
of us here. You wouldn't have much of a fight
with a lamb, would you? You know, it's not going to bite
you or tear you to shreds. It's so weak and timid and it's
just a symbol of submission. Isaiah 53 verse 7, speaking of
the Messiah, the Christ, when he would come. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter. He's bearing the marks of sacrifice
and of death, but he's standing, so he's alive. He's got seven
eyes, which means he's got the fullness of God's Spirit upon
him. It tells us that. Seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God. The fullness, the perfection
of God's Spirit is upon him. He's got seven horns of power,
not ten. You see in the symbols that are
in the book of Daniel and elsewhere in the book of Revelation, you
see power symbolized as ten, which is always worldly power.
And you'll even see in the book of Daniel where the ten horns,
they try and get rid of three of them to make themselves God,
with seven horns. This is seven horns of power,
which is divinely perfect power. He has it. Why does this make
the lion worthy to loose the seals? Why does the lamb make
the lion worthy to loose the seals? It's because the kingdom
of redeemed sinners are made, as verse 10 tells us, kings and
priests to God, and that's only established, and it's only implemented,
if satisfaction is made to God's infinite holiness and justice,
which must condemn and punish sin. The kingdom of the people
of God who will be round his throne praising him, and are
even now, are redeemed sinners. And the law says that nothing
that defiles can come in. So how is it to be established?
Only in the doing and the dying and the shedding of the blood
of the one who is the Lamb of God. For he who knew no sin was
made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The lion being slain as a lamb, as a substitute for the people,
he has made satisfaction to the law. That's the gospel. Have I preached it? Peter prayed
in his prayer that we might hear the gospel preached. That is
the gospel. The lion who is king in the capacity
of a lamb has made satisfaction to the law of God for his people.
And so that kingdom plan in the scroll on the hand of God has
been implemented. It's seals have been loosed,
it's been opened, it's been implemented. He has come and done it. Hence,
he is worthy to loose the seals and implement the establishment
of God's kingdom. He takes the book. He implements
the book. He has done it. It's there. Be
assured. There's the 24 elders around
the throne praising. Now let's look briefly. the citizens
and their praise. The church's response to seeing
the lamb take the book, verse 8, when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials
full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they
sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof. For, why? Because you were slain. You were slain. And what was
that accomplished? You have redeemed. You have paid
the debt. You have paid the price. You
have purchased us unto God. What paid the price? Your blood.
Your infinite lifeblood. The life of the Son of God was
the price of justice for the sins of His people. Out of every... And where are they from? Where
are these people from? Not just Jews, they're out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And what are
they who are sinners made? They're made kings and priests
unto God. And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round the throne, and the beasts and the
elders. And how many of them were there? The number of them was 10,000
times 10,000, and thousands of thousands. The picture? a number that's impossible to
number, a multitude that no man can number. And they all said
with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain because
that gave him, that qualified him, that gave him the power
to take the book of the plan of the kingdom of God and loose
its seals and implement it and bring all of them to glory. And
everyone who's there says worthy are thou. that was slain to receive
power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour. All of these
things which are beyond superlative and every creature, do you know
every knee shall bow? Every knee, we're told every
knee shall bow and confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Every people, every tongue, without
distinction of race, gender, or language, all exalted sinners
made kings and priests, an innumerable multitude, ascribing praise and
honor to the Lamb. Let me finish with a question.
One question. And it's to me as well. Are you
a citizen of that kingdom? Where is your eternal home? Is
it in, as Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress described it, is it in the celestial
city, or are you firmly rooted in vanity fair? Where do you
want to be, surely for eternity? Oh, I want to be in that kingdom
of righteousness and peace. That's where I want to be. There's
only one alternative, and it's a hell of godless bitterness. What qualifies you to apply for
citizenship? Do you know there are people
trying to get citizenship of this country and other developed
Western countries because they think their life will be so much
better. And if you want to go to Australia, for example, you
have to have certain qualifications, you have to have certain points
in their system before you're allowed to be a citizen. Well,
what is the point system for this kingdom of God? Thy kingdom
come. What's the point system? If any
man thirst, let him come to me. If any man thirst, what are you
thirsting for? The righteousness of God. If any man hunger and
thirst for righteousness, Are you burdened? If any man's got
a burden on his back, man or woman, boy or girl, whoever,
if any man's got a burden of sin on their back and they know
it will drag them down to hell, are you burdened and heavy laden?
Hear the voice of him who is the lion and the lamb when he
walked this earth. Come unto me, all you who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He shall not fail.