Well, it's good to see you this
morning. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Revelation chapter 19. Let's have a word of prayer. Our Father, this morning, we thank you for the day that
you've made. Lord, you've made it for your
honor and for the good of your people. And we pray this morning
that you would bless the preaching of your word Bless our hearing. May it be that we truly hear
from the heart. Cause us to rejoice. These things
we ask for Christ's sake. Amen. John saw four and twenty elders, the
church, and the four beasts fall down and worship God. We looked at those four beasts
extensively last time and considered the issue of worship. These four beasts, the cherubim,
I thought this morning concerning those glorious creatures. Amazing when you consider what
the Scripture says about them. They're living creatures. No
doubt about that. Living creatures. And these living
creatures fall down and worship God, and they are emblems of the glorious person of the
Lord Jesus Christ that set forth His covenant engagement to redeem
His people. That's who they are. I want you
to turn to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. In verse 24, Genesis 3-24, after
Adam rebelled in the garden, what happened? God put him out. And the Scripture says in Genesis
3-24, So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of
the garden of Eden cherubims. and a flaming sword which turned
every way to keep the way of the tree of life." Knowing that
the cherubim are emblems, they are living creatures. They are
not inanimate. They are living creatures that
set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is a cherubim. And
the Scripture says, a flaming sword. That flaming sword is
the sword of God's justice. I want you to turn to Zechariah.
Now, if you find the book of Malachi, which is the last book
of the Old Testament, one book before the book of Malachi in
verse 13 tells us something of this flaming sword. Now here's
the cherubim who is the keeper that keeps the way to the garden.
And he has that flaming sword, the sword of God's justice. Zechariah
chapter 13, verse 7. In the Lord Jesus Christ, in
his covenant redemptive glory, this is what the scripture says
concerning him. who is the way for all of his
people to God. I am the way, he said. Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd and against the man that is my
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd. The sheep
shall be scattered. I will turn mine hand upon the
little ones. It shall come to pass in all
the land, saith the Lord. Two parts therein shall be cut
off and die, but the third part shall be left therein. And I
will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them
as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My name, and
I will hear them, and I will say, It is My people. And they shall say, The Lord
is My God." This cherubim that held that sword, the sword of
God's justice, when man rebelled against God Almighty, the one
who holds that sword is the one in whom the sword was plunged. For all of His people, the Lord
Jesus Christ, He bore their guilt, the cherubim, setting forth the
Lord Jesus Christ in His covenant mercy. And then the scriptures
also concerning these cherubim, Exodus 25. Turn with me there,
Exodus 25. Whenever God told Moses to build,
Exodus 25, verse 18, He told him, He said, build an ark, the
ark of God's covenant. Exodus 25, verse 18, Thou shalt
make two cherubims of gold. Of beaten work shalt thou make
them in the two ends of the mercy seat, and make one cherub on
one end, and the other cherub on the other end. Even of the
mercy seat shalt thou make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch
forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings.
And their faces shall look one to another. Toward the mercy
seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy
seat upon above upon the ark. In the ark, thou shalt put the
testimony which I've given thee, and there I will meet with thee
and will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from between
the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all
things I will give thee in commandment upon the children of Israel.
This cherubim is the place where God meets with his people in
whom Will God meet in peace with a sinner, one that is a rebel
in himself but redeemed by the glorious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Where can you meet a holy God
except in the Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ? These glorious
living creatures, Paul said they fell down and they worshiped
God. worshiped, praised, set forth. Remember, they're living creatures
that set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. They're not the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. I told you last week, I realize
I'm way over my head here. I understand that part of it,
but I can understand the Scriptures in the light that God gives us
light. And these living creatures set
forth Christ, His attributes, who He is, Brother Scott says,
who is He? What has He done? Where is He
now? These creatures. Well, here we are. Revelation
19 and verse 5, And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise
our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small
and great. Praise the Lord. Praise our God. In order to praise the Lord,
which is the same word as thanksgiving, that's where we get the word
praise and thanksgiving so intermingled. The only one that can acknowledge
the perfection, the work, the benefits of Almighty God is one
that God has given an understanding of who I am. For me to praise
Him for who He is. See, man by nature thinks that
he's in some kind of a working relationship with Almighty God
and it's somehow that man's will and God's purpose and God, somehow
we tie that thing together. Praise our God. Praise is an act of a new heart. Nobody praises the Lord but a
believer. I know it's a nice thought. Men
can talk about praises. I've said before, they go through
these outward motions, but praise is of the heart. It is a thanksgiving
of who God Almighty is. And John heard this voice, an
acknowledgment, a declaration out of the throne. Praise our
God, all ye His servants, those that God has made a willing,
bowing, thankful servant. As I told you before, all men
are the servants of God. All men are God's servants. Some
serve in the declaration of His justice. Some serve in the declaration
of His mercy. These are those that set forth
the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ and say in their
heart, thank you, thank you, thank you. Praise Him. All ye
that reverence Him and respect Him, respect, fear Him. Small and great, the description
of the redeemed. That word means tried. Satan desired to have Peter. Satan hath desired to have you
and sift you as wheat. But the Lord said, I prayed for
you that your faith fail not. When I think of that glorious
intercession of Christ for His own. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed,
asked, that Peter's faith fail not. What do you think the possibility
of Peter's faith failing? None. Why? Because he's kept
by the power of God. Praise the Lord, you that have
gone through the fire. That's what he said. Tried. Tested. Proven. Trials prove God's people. They set them forth that God's
keeping them. Leave me to myself and let some
pressures come on me. And I think, you know what, this
is just a little bit more than I want to fool with. This ain't
what I thought it was going to be. I don't think I'll fool with
this. But if God keeps me, I'll be kept. Praise the Lord, all
you small and great Great in yourself? No, no. But
great in Him. Great in the sense that we're
robed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The wedding
garment. Robed in Him. Covered in Him.
That when God sees me, He sees Christ. When Almighty God sees
Him. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. great the Lord Jesus
Christ who was conquered, death held in the grave. Conquered
it for me. In Him, I am great. Outside of
Him, I am nothing. In verse 6, I heard, as it were,
the voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters,
as the voice of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth." This was a loud voice, a voice of
a great multitude, a voice that acknowledged the awesomeness
of God Almighty. The Scripture said that mighty
thunderings, if you're looking in your notes, shocking and arresting. What arrests the people of God? It's that God reigns. that Almighty
God is in control. This is the comfort. I was talking
to Brother Don Fortner the other day, and I know here in a couple
of days, we have a great election of the presidency of the United
States. And I know there's a lot of controversy. Brother Don said this, this is
the comfort of a believer. He said, God Almighty is in control
of this thing. That God reigns in the army of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And before the
foundation of the world, God determined who was going to be
there. And no matter what, we're still
the redeemed. And no matter what, He said,
I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. And there I can say, praise the
Lord. Thank you. Thank you. You know, that just
settles the heart of a believer that we should be concerned absolutely,
that we should be mindful of the fact that this great country
has been blessed of Almighty God, yes, but that our God reigns. Praise the Lord. John said, I
heard as it were, voice of a great multitude, mighty waters, voice
of mighty thunderings, hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigns. And in a moment, in a vapor,
all of this will be over and we will stand before Him. who
has done all things well. May God Almighty be pleased to
bless our hearts this morning to the understanding that we
are to praise our God. Let's just stop for a few minutes
and we'll just come back.