The state is offering to buy
property from people so they can move off the mountain. Knowing
mountain people, I don't think that's going to fly that much. There are several groups of people
working, loggers, excellent road builders, so they're out working.
Local loggers, we have a group in Swannanoa called, I believe
they're Rescue Savages, is that what they are? Something like
that. That's a Swannanoa group, and also a group from West Virginia,
some miners that brought their equipment down and finished the
road from Chimney Rock to Bat Cave, so they, you know, little
by little, The progress is being made, but it's going to be made
pretty much at a local level by groups who know how to work
heavy machinery, know something about how to work on mountains,
which is a whole different than working on flat land. It's just
a whole different ballgame. So remember these folks in your
prayers. And if you have someone that
needs help, let us know. I want to use all this money
for that purpose, to help folks who are in need. So let me know. after the worship service in
the morning we'll have the Lord's table and then we'll have dinner. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 70, Holy, Holy, Holy. Early in the morning, our song
shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, merciful and mighty,
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. Oh, the states adore thee. Casting down their golden crowns
around the glassy sea. of him falling down before thee,
which words and ardor evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, though
the darkness The eye of sinful man Thy glory
may not see Only Thou art holy There is none beside Thee Perfect
in power In love and purity Lord God almighty All thy works
shall praise thy name In earth and sky and sea Holy, holy, holy
Merciful and mighty God in three persons after scripture you can pray
and sing your hand out, hear of sovereign grace, and ascend
to the tune of the doxology. If you have your Bibles, turn
to the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, chapter 5, beginning
with verse 11, we'll read through verse 13. And I beheld And I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and
the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000,
and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I say, blessing,
and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne, and to the lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts
said amen and the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped
him that liveth forever and ever. Let us pray. Our father, we bless
you and thank you that as we look at your people surrounding
you in your book, they always surround you praise and thanksgiving
giving honor and glory to your name for that is what is due
you. They sing of the worthiness of
the lamb that was slain. We know that today as we receive
the Lord's table we'll be rejoicing to simply and silently proclaim
by eating of the bread and drinking of the wine the body and blood
of Jesus Christ, that lamb slain for sinners, that redeemed them
by his blood, that was made to be their righteousness,
and caused them to be accepted in the blood, and enabled you,
Father, to be just, to justify them that believe on Jesus Christ.
Help us, Lord, this day, to set our minds and hearts upon
him who's worthy of praise. Father, we pray for those who
are sick. Ask your help for them. Pray those who've lost loved
ones. Remember especially Debbie's brother, Grant, who's getting
ready to have an operation on his back because of severe pain. We ask, Lord, your blessing there
that you might to comfort and strengthen him and be with those
doctors as they minister to him. And also for Randy, who's still
having his chemotherapy. For the others who requested
prayer from this lady who's broke a hip. We know that these things
are common to all men. And if we live long enough, we'll
find something that'll put us out of business. We know that
the one constant and true thing, the one thing that never changes,
the one thing that we can always count on, is that lamb that was
slain, who even now sits at thy right hand, ever living, to make
intercession for his people. Help us, Lord, this day to worship
you, even as these have gathered together around the throne to
worship you. We ask in Christ's name and for
his glory. Amen. A song to the tune of the
Doxology. So play that. Play that again. Play the introduction.
I can't find the tune in my head. With thanks we gather in this
place to hear of free and sovereign grace. Oh, may our God this Send forth His grace and mighty
power. Tis true, we are but worms of
clay. Yet for God's presence we will
pray. And we will praise Him for His
grace. ? Down to take our place ? Now
listen as these men proclaim ? The glories of the Savior's
name ? Oh, worship Him, the sinner's friend ? And let His praises
now And when the time shall come
to part, Then let us be of kindred heart, And wheresoever be our
place, Still love to him of sovereign grace. Father in heaven, we thank you
for all the things you've done for us and continue to do for
us. We know and are full of wonder
that everything that happens in this world and this planet
and in this universe is for the good of your people and for the
glory of your name's sake. we cannot begin to understand
the intricacy of how you do things, and it's not for us to know.
I'm sure as finite creatures such knowledge of the infinite
would completely put us out of business. Lord, we are thankful,
and let our giving reflect our thankfulness. We pray in Christ's
name, amen. you. Revelation chapter 5 verse 11
through 14 what prompted this message I think when I began
to think about it was I read this article by this young lady
who had left religion all together was raised in church. She talked
about how she loved the part of the church service of the
singing and what she called fellowship. She loved that part. She said,
I always got the most encouraging and wonderful feeling from that,
happy and euphoric. She said, then I went to a rock
concert and I got exactly the same feeling. figured out whatever went on
in church didn't have a whole lot to do with anything other
than making me feel good. So she quit. She was talking
about what is commonly referred to as praise services or worship
services that are carried on in the name of Christ in this
day that appeal to the flesh. have nothing to do with the mind
and the heart, but how it makes you feel. That doesn't say that
knowing God is without feeling. You feel it. What you feel makes
you return thanksgiving to God and praise to His holy name. John is on the Isle of Patmos
receiving the sevenfold revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and
he hears, as it were, a heavenly chorus join in with the church
in praise of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb that was slain. Now,
if worship could be defined, this would be as close a definition
as possible. You see, this is the business
of the church in this world and is equally the business of the
angels and glory. And I know the church is a help
in the community and we must be. We always, always ought to
seek opportunity to be of service to others and help to the widows
and the fatherless. For the Lord says this is true
religion and undefiled before God to help the widows and the
fatherless. A salvation that does not create compassion in
the heart of the recipients is not the salvation wrought by
the Lord. Such things, however, are not the true reason for the
existence of the church in the world. The Church is here for
the declaration of the Gospel and the worship of God. In truth,
these two things are one thing. True worship is done under the
preaching of the Gospel, and the preaching of the Gospel is
true worship. Now, there is such a thing as
private worship, which a believer does in ways that are particular
to the individual. In prayer and reading of Scripture,
there is true worship of the Lord. In meditation and pondering
the things of God, there is worship of the Lord. However, when worship
is set forth in this book, in Scripture, by and large the context
is always that of public gathering of God's people to worship the
Lord. They are to be in communion of
mind and spirit and in one accord with one thing upon their mind
to praise God through thanksgiving. And if you're thanking God, you
can't thank yourself and you can't thank anybody else if you're
thanking God. One element is absolutely necessary
to true worship. There is no worship where the
truth is not preached, where the gospel is not preached. There
is no worship where the truth of the gospel is not preached.
There is no worship where the person and work of Christ is
not clearly declared. I know folks talk about praise
services where all manner of tomfoolery goes on, where people
speak of things like there was not a dry eye in the house or
the Holy Ghost was so powerful in the scene that there was no
time left for the preaching, but these are nothing more than
the demonstrated displays of carnality designed to bring about
some euphoric infusion of dopamine and endorphins and then blame
it on God. Such endeavors are splendid,
shining sin. That's what the old Puritans
used to call it. In order to worship God, it must
be done through the preaching of the Word of God, and the result
will not be that men and women calling attention to themselves,
but rather worship is the decrease of man and the increase of Christ. There must be spirit when there
is worship, both the Holy Spirit and the spirit or passion of
men. There must be the truth. The Lord told the woman at the
well, the days come when men will have to worship God in spirit
and in truth. There is no worship where there
is not truth. Now, we may have a good time. I remember one time
I was at a service where shouting was the big thing. Who could
out shout somebody else? And that's basically what it
was. It was a contest. It was a competition because
somebody would shout over on this side of the church and look
around. See, you heard him shout. Then somebody would shout loud
on this side. It was a competition. It was a competition. But truth
wasn't preached though. Worship is congregational. and
is accomplished through the gospel as the people of God, God's sinners
saved by grace, gather to be reminded of and to rehearse the
grace they have received by the blood and death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When the gospel is preached to
the congregation, there is nothing left for them to do, if the gospel
is preached clearly. There is nothing left for them
to do but to praise God, because the gospel will never point to
you to do something. except to worship god except
to worship god praise and thank god worship him in spirit and
truth over in psalm twenty nine when he talks about giving praise
and honor and glory to god in psalm twenty nine it ends next
to last verse says everybody in god's congregation gives praise
to god not somebody not a few people but everybody and a member
of God's family gives praise to God. And here in this passage
we see what I think is as clear a representation, as true worship
as you can get. The four beasts have declared
the holiness of God. If you read the chapters coming
up to this, you'll find that that's representative of those
six-winged beasts in Isaiah chapter 6, who went out without failing,
day and night, singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. we just saw holy lord all my
works praise see or be declared holy 24 elders cast their crowns
talks about cast scripture the believer is given crown of righteousness and a crown of life, and what
that simply means is they were endued with these things, they
were endued with righteousness and endued with Christ, and they
cast their life and their righteousness at the feet of Jesus Christ.
Christ has opened the book in the first part of this chapter
to reveal the glory of God and the salvation of sinners. The
preachers and the congregation have sung a new song, a song
of praise and thanksgiving, worthy is the lamb that was slain, that
has redeemed us by his blood out of every kindred, nation,
tongue, and people, and has made us kings and priests unto our
God. The song of the angels is the same as the song of the church,
with one marked difference. They sing of the worthiness.
and the fact of the worthiness of the lamb, the fact of his
redemptive blood, but they don't know anything about it themselves.
They can't know it personally. Christ did not shed his blood
for angels, so they do not sing of his blood being shed for them.
What they know of redemption they learn from the church, from
the preaching of the gospel and the glory and its beauty, but
not because of personal experience. In 1 Peter chapter 1 and verses
10 through 12 it says the angels desire to look into these things.
It is an amazing thing, and I expect it was quite an amazing thing
for the angels of Glover to look down from heaven off the banisters
of heaven and see their Maker, their Creator, take on the form
of human flesh and being found in the fashion of man be obedient
even to the death of the cross. It must have been a wonder. They
must have asked, What in the world is going on? Well, they
learned from the Gospel what happened there. learned from
the gospel what happened there because they didn't understand
it. Christ didn't die for angels. They do not know however the
fact and the reason for worshiping Christ and thus sing of him as
the lamb that was slain. Christ and him crucified is not
only the song of the redeemed but is likewise the theme of
all who worship God and the theme of everyone who stands and preaches
the gospel and everyone who takes time when the time comes to tell
folks about Jesus Christ. The words that these men, these
10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands and thousands of
heavenly hosts, is the truth, the only song they know. This is the only song they know.
How'd I know? When Jesus Christ was born. When
he came to this world, the angels filled up heaven. the glory of
God shown in heaven, and they sung this song for unto you is
born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ
the Lord, and the host of heavens. Glory be to God in the highest,
and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. Their estimation
of the value of what the Lord accomplishes, the Lamb of God
prompts them to ascribe greatness to Him and glory to His name. He is worthy to open the book
and His worthiness extends to the glory for all that is. He is worthy to receive power,
that's what it says, saying with a loud voice. worthy as the Lamb
to receive power. He has as the Lamb of God, slain
for sinners, attained to this high place because of His sacrifice. Now He was Lord before the world
began. He was the creator of this world,
a creator and a maker of man and all that there is. It says
that in John chapter 1. He's that Word that was made
flesh and dwelt among us, but He was that Word that made everything.
that made everything but this position of power says he's worthy
to receive power he has received power and he's worthy because
he did this as a man as a human being sure he was God in human
flesh but as a human being he went to the cross and died in
the room instead of his people and Paul in the book of Romans
says for to this end Jesus Christ both died and rose and resurrected
he might be the LORD of the living and the dead. And this I can
tell you about you and me and everything that walks, writhes,
and wriggles upon the face of this earth this morning. Everything. Jesus Christ is your Lord. You may say, well, I ain't going
to call Him. It don't matter what you want to call Him. Well,
you don't. He's your Lord. You're going to find that out.
But one day every knee is going to bow and every tongue confess
that He's Lord to the glory of the Father. Every tongue. so
he's the lord i might tell you god loves you and i might be
lying to you because it says he hated jacob and loved esau
and he hates the workers of iniquity so he don't love everybody i
could tell you that christ died for you and i might be lying
to you there because christ died for his sheep i laid down my
life for my sheep he said i laid down my life for my sheep and
his sheep hear his voice when he calls and they follow him
and he gives to them eternal life you die in this world without
eternal life is because you ain't one of the sheep, and Christ
didn't die for you. God's title was His because of
His being, His man. It was something He earned. He won the title and the glory
that attends it. This is also a proclamation of
His deity, for in Psalm 62, it says, Power belongs to God. all power belongs to God. He
is worthy to receive riches, riches. The earth and all that
is therein belongs to Him. He's been given authority over
all flesh. He owns you, lock, stock and
barrel, and will do with you as He sees fit. He's been given
authority over all flesh and all things are given into His
hands because the Father loves Him. That's what John the Baptist
said. The Father loves the Son in John 335 and has given all
things into His hands. you won't find god you can find
jesus christ got but all these days more jesus christ all these
are his disposal you are his disposal you may think you acted
uh... uh... He manipulated every step you
took, every breath you took, and every heartbeat you have
to find that out. You say, well, I don't feel it. That's because He don't want
you to feel it. He's put the world in our hearts. We might
know what he's doing and not doing at any given time. Might
not know what he's doing at any given time. That's what it says
in Ecclesiastes 3. What does that mean? The world in our heart.
We judge things by circumstance. If something happens to it, we
think that's, you know, that if it's a bad thing, we think
that shouldn't happen to it. We think that, but circumstance
makes our mind work. The things of this world control
us to a great deal in our mind, but they are not outside the
control of God. All power and all riches and
all wisdom belong to Him. His riches are unsearchable. How unsearchable are His riches?
He is worthy to receive wisdom. God, He is omniscient, He knows
all things and He said to be the wisdom of God in Proverbs
chapter 8. But as the Lamb saying, He deserves
and therefore has received the store of all wisdom, all wisdom
and knowledge according to Colossians chapter 2. As the Lamb saying,
He deserves and therefore has received the store of all wisdom,
He knows His people intimately. He knows the inclinations of
their heart and the machinations of their mind. He knows the words
that are upon their tongue, it says, before they speak it. And
as the Savior, He's entitled to this. He's worthy to receive
strength, it says. Even the strength to rise from
the grave. Even the strength to keep us
from falling and lift us up when we do. He's worthy to receive
honor. Honor. This word comes from the
root word punishment. or price paid. That's where that
word honor comes from. So it has to do with substitution.
The meaning is that because the Lord was punished, took upon
himself our sins on Calvary's tree as the lamb slain, paid
the price due for our sin which was death, he is worthy and valued
for the accomplishment of his sacrifice. He would not be worthy
and he would not be valued if his sacrifice did not secure
the salvation of those for whom he made it. plenty of chairs and plenty of
seats in heaven. Every one of them has got a name
on it. He pardons, says in Jeremiah 50, whom he preserves. Whom he
preserves. He's worthy to receive glory.
Glory. The glory of the king is his
crown because he's the only one in the whole kingdom who has
a right to wear it. the whole of the kingdom. He's the only
one who has a right to wear the crown. The glory of the victor
is the trophy, the prize, and the only one who deserves the
trophy is the winner, and there is only one winner. Only one winner. It is the singularity and uniqueness,
the distinctiveness that is the glory If you and I can do something
that God can do, then in that thing He does not deserve glory
and does not have the glory. And in salvation, all glory belongs
to God. His glory is that which is uniquely
and distinctively and singularly and specifically belongs only
to Him. His glory is intrinsically His. And Jesus Christ has earned
the right to that glory because intrinsically He alone by Himself
with no help, not even God the Father hung on Calvary's tree
and took our sin upon Himself. and God poured out his wrath
upon his son so much so that God the Lord Jesus Christ himself
said to the Father why hast thou forsaken me? Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani, why hast thou forsaken me? He was punished for our sins. punished for our sins. And in
being punished for our sins, and we'll celebrate today in
taking this table, He put our sins away by the sacrifice of
Himself. He perfected forever by one sacrifice
them who are sanctified by the will of God. So much so that
God says, I will, I will remember their sins no more. They have
no sin before God. They are righteous and accepted
and perfect before God. He made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. I don't understand that except
say it works really well and He did the job. He did the job. Uniquely His glory. Glory to the Lamb that is slain
to receive blessing. To receive blessing, that's what
it says. We get our word eulogy from this word. You know, eulogy
is what you say at funerals to people. You eulogize them, and
generally speaking, you say nice things about them. I remember my grandmother, when
she would bury her sister, Ruth, her grandmother was named Fern,
and she was a saucy old gal, full of spit and vinegar. And
her and Ruth didn't get along very well. They were sisters.
My dad, Ruth, laid out in a royal blue dress and had her red hair
all done like she'd done it braided and rolled up in a bun. She was
laying on that silk pillow in that casket. My grandmother walked
up to the casket and said, best she ever looked. That was sort of a eulogy, I
suppose. But usually eulogy is to say
something nice about someone, to say something kind, to honor
them to their best. to be eulogized is for the person
eulogizing to believe that the person eulogized is worthy to
have good things and nothing but good things said about them
so when Paul used this word blessing in Ephesians chapter 1 or Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 3 he said blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in Christ, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy, without blame before Him,
in love having predestinated us to the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ unto Himself, to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved. What was He doing? He was saying
something nice about God, what He had done for us. Nice and good things that Paul
said about him are the declaration of the salvation of the Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Preaching of the gospel and the
worship that ensues is but a bunch of redeemed, thankful sinners
saying really nice things about God. This is worship. And what follows may be attributed
to the day when all men will confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. Verse 13, it says, And every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth
and such as are in the sea and all that are in him. I say blessing
and honor and glory and power be unto him that sit upon the
throne of the Lamb forever and ever. however in the context john is
able to see in a vision that can only be seen by faith there
is at present an innumerable company of angels surrounding
the church of god ministering spirit sent to minister to those
that shall be heirs of salvation we can't see the angels the lord
said sometimes there appears men as angels unawares be careful
you see to entertain me be hospitable as you could be you're entertaining
an angel unaware but the angels surround the church of God as
the holy host of heaven and we are protected by them John sees every creature singing
praises to Christ every creature to the extent that this is true
at this moment because every creature is employed by God and
used by Christ for a particular purpose in bringing the knowledge
of the gospel to the elect of God in some way or other. What
that girl said about quitting religion made me think about
Christ. She quit and she didn't have nothing to do with it. She
could go to a rock concert and get the same feeling she had in church. I wasn't mad at her. me think
this passage great power slain everything is beautiful everything is beautiful his time
goes everything in one way or another glorifies the work of
Christ mercy He is the Lamb enthroned forever
and ever. The preachers in verse 14, the
four beasts appreciate the message of the angels. They collectively
rejoice in the message of all the beasts of the earth. In the
sermon preached by the heavenly host, they say amen to it. So
be it. The result of the declaration
of the worthiness of the Lamb slain, if you understand it,
will cause you to worship. cause you to look away from yourself,
cause yourself to bow down to the dust of the earth, and worship God. We thank thee,
Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto base, for
even so it seemed good in thy sight. No man knoweth the Father,
but the Son, and no man the Son, but the Father, he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him." He's the Lamb slain for the people
of God, for the Church. This is why they gather. This
is why they come together to worship the Lord. Thank God that
we have a place where we can gather. people in this world can't do
what we do here right now in this place. There are people
that have to go to lean-to's out in the woods even yet today
to hear about Christ because the government is against them
or some rule, some regulation says they can't do it. Be thankful
that you can come and gather your brothers and sisters in
Christ one heart one message praise him praise him all creatures
praise father son do now is take The Lord's table of wine and
bread is a suggestion, a remembrance, a recollection of what God has
done for His people. To take this table is to say worthy is the Lamb
that was slain and has redeemed us by His blood out of every
people. when I asked Grandpa Stan and
Steve. of this bread and drinking this
wine is no experience of some kind of spiritual infusion. It's
bread and wine. That's all it is. It will go
in your body. It will become part of your body.
The nutrients will go into every cell of your body. And the rest
will be cast out the rest. But what it says, when you take
this table, if you take the merits of someone else for
my salvation. Not me, but the Lord Jesus Christ. For it was his body and his blood
that was broken. and so we can't be saved. If
you're a believer and you trust in Christ, welcome to this order
and be thankful and remember what Christ has done. Let's ask
the blessing from the Lord. Father, we take this bread and
this wine. We know it speaks to our Lord
giving himself for his people, giving his body to be broken
in his life for ours. Help us now to worship him, simply
and plainly on this night of Great Christmas. The night our Lord was betrayed,
after taking the Passover, the final Passover, the one that
He said to His disciples, I'm looking forward to this Passover,
because in this Passover, I'm going to break this bread and
hand it to you and tell you something about what's going to happen
in a few days, I'm telling you. I'm going to take this wine and
proclaim to you that this wine is a new covering in my blood,
so you'll understand. And that night,
He took that bread The night he was betrayed by
Judas, they came and took him. He gave himself voluntarily to
them. And he says, when you, my children,
gather together in a quiet and simple ceremony, you do commemorate
what I did two thousand years ago. I'll buy it. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus.