May it please the Lord to bless
us together this evening as we look to his word. Let's turn
to the book of the Revelation, chapter 5, and reading verses
9 and 10. The book of the Revelation, chapter
5, and reading verses 9 and 10. And they sang 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. We have in this book of the Revelation
a little glimpse of what glory or what heaven may indeed or
will be like. And one thing is very clear and
that is it will be a place where the Lord God is praised. And I'm sure if we understand
anything of the truth of God's Word and the blessing of the
Lord in our own heart, we will recognise that such a situation
must be really the only outcome and must be that which must occur
where the Church of God, where all gathered safely home at last,
will be able to praise and honour and glorify the Lord their God
for all that He has done. No doubt there will be Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. There will be a wonderful position
and situation which will exist eternally, no more going out. And we commence our reading after
the beginning of the fourth chapter, which of course was after the
third chapter. You may remember those previous
two chapters gave an account of the words that John was commanded
to give to the seven churches in Asia and how relevant they
were in those days and how relevant they are still today, although
of course there are not those seven churches in Asia, but they
are still relevant to the Church of God. And then we read, and
after this, I looked and behold, a door was opened in heaven. The Apostle was blessed with
this view and he was told The first voice which I heard was
as it were of a trumpet talking with me which said, come up hither
and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the
Spirit. So we can conclude from a statement
like that that the Apostle was blessed with this revelation
of those things which are to come and he was blessed with
That view of he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and
a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round
about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about
the throne were four and twenty seats. And upon the seats I saw
four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and
they had on their heads crowns of gold." Well, very quickly
we can appreciate, I'm sure, a little of the magnificence
of the situation which will exist. And there was the Lord God. And the Lord God Almighty held
in his right hand a book. I saw in the right hand of him
that sat on the throne, a book. written within and on the backside
sealed with seven seals. Now, around this throne then,
with the Majesty of High on this throne, there were seated these
24 elders and what were they saying? Thou art worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory and honour and power. for thou hast created
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." We
should not forget a statement like that. The Lord has created
all things. We may believe that, I hope we
all do believe that the Lord has created all things, but also
to realise, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. For the pleasure of Almighty
God, so that he might enjoy the work of his hands. And the great
work of his hands is, of course, the redemption of the Church
of God. To think then that the Church
of God were created for his pleasure. So the Church of God may one
day indeed be found praising and glorifying the great Redeemer. And so as we move on to this
fifth chapter, we see this book, the strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. There were these seven seals,
there was this book, it was held by Almighty God. And who was? to open this book. Well, appeared
to be no one who was qualified. No one was able to come forward. No man in heaven, nor in earth,
neither under the earth, was able to open the book and neither
to look thereon. The effect was that John wet
much. And I wet much because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. Then one of the elders said,
Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seven seals thereon. Who was the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David? None less than the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we read, he hath prevailed
to open the book. He it is who is worthy to open
the book. And so John had this view. And
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, as it had
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth, And he came
and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon
the throne. When he had taken the book, the
four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours,
which are the prayers of saints, and they sung a new song. And this was the song that they
were singing. This is a song which we need
to consider this evening. And that song says, Thou art
worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof. And there was a reason given
why this Lamb was that one who was worthy to do this great action. For Thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. We have here then in this short
phrase really the majesty and the wonder and the blessing of
the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ and why he is worthy to open
the book because he was slain and he has redeemed us to God
by his blood and those who are redeemed are as of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation from all parts they will come
they will be gathered together around this throne in glory to
sing the praises of the Lord. Well, as we think upon these
words tonight, how important it is for us to enter in to the
truth of them and to rejoice in the truth of these words and
to bless God that such words are recorded and to come and
bow down. It's so significant, is it not?
If you read through Revelation, we see the elders and the four
beasts and the 144,000, etc. And what did they do? They came
and they bowed down before the Lord. Well, may we bow down before
the Lord in humility, recognising what a gracious God we have. One who has done for us that
which we could not do for ourselves. There we were helpless, under
sin, dead, in trespasses and in sins. No hope, and yet to
believe that through the grace of God, today we have a good
hope. And let us not forget, a little
hope is a good hope. A little hope is a good hope. Therefore, to have that right
desire, to come and to bow down before this Lamb of God, and
truly say from our hearts, Thou art worthy to take the book. that we recognise tonight that
this gracious God is worthy. He's worthy of our praise. He's worthy of our adoration,
forgetting all the things which may so easily beset us, the sins
which so easily beset us, all our down sittings and all our
uprisings to come as it were as David did many years ago,
come and sit before the Lord, to bow down before Him and say,
Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof. And the reason is because He
has been slain. He has slain, given up His life,
died upon that cross at Calvary in order to redeem us to God. What a glorious theme redemption
is. And if it had not been for the
Saviour being slain, there would be no redemption. There would
be no hope for us. But it is through the Saviour
being slain and redeeming us, and redeeming us by His shed
blood. Bernard signified death. Blood had to be shed in order
that death occurred. The blood of the Saviour was
shed. And as that blood of the Saviour
was shed, so his church, his people, were redeemed unto God
and has redeemed us to God. That means that we have peace
with God. Prior to that, we were at enmity
with God. We were far off from God. But
to know then the amazing love of the Saviour. The love indeed
of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, my friends,
they were all involved in our salvation. And to think of that
great act, that great agreement in eternity past when you and
I, nor may it be so, you and I are numbered amongst those
who were chosen of God before time began. Such a humbling,
such an amazing consideration that we were chosen out of the
vast multitude that exists in this world multitudes who care
nothing for the Lord God, who care nothing about their souls,
who do not rejoice in what the Lord has done. Do we not praise our God for
His mercy? Do we not praise God for calling
us? The Apostle Paul knew what it
was to be called from darkness to light. It's a wonderful thing,
it's a miracle to be called from darkness to light because it's
from death to life. And there we were dead in trespasses
and in sins and there we should have remained were it not for
the love of God. Well tonight, my friends, we
need to ask ourselves the question as to whether we have passed
from death to life, whether we do have a little hope in His
mercy, when there is found in our heart that desire to bow
down and to praise the Lord and say, Thou art worthy. I believe
this is a very positive evidence of the life of God in our souls. If there is found within us that
real desire to praise and to honour our God and to come and
say, Thou art worthy, O Lord God, to take this book and to
open the seals thereof." Well, it will be a good thing if we
have an evidence in our heart tonight, if we find welling up
within that true concern, that true desire to glorify our God
in this way, to sing this new song, a song which we didn't
know before, In the days of our unregeneracy, the days when we
were dead in trespasses and sins, we didn't know this song. We
didn't know the Redeemer. We didn't know what it meant.
We had no desire. Well, can we bless God tonight? Can we bow down before our Lord
tonight and from our hearts sing this new song? Perhaps it is a new song. Perhaps it is a song which you
haven't sung before. What a blessing it is if we are
able to sing this new song from our heart. Not just in theory,
but from our heart. Realising what it means. What it means is this. We are
praising the Lord. for what he's done in redeeming
our soul. That's the whole reason, that's
the whole consideration, to think that this great God has redeemed
our soul. And, you know, we read on in
this chapter, he beheld and he heard the voice of many angels
round about the throne and the beasts and the elders The number
of them was 10,000 times 10,000. It's a very large number, isn't
it? It's a hundred billion. Saying
with a loud voice, echoing this same theme, worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and blessing. Surely, the effect of the work
of the Holy Spirit in our heart will produce this desire to honour
and glorify our gracious God for that which he's done for
us. So unworthy, such great sinners. And I believe when the Spirit
of God opens our understanding, we shall realise that we are
not a little sinner, You won't think yourself a little sinner,
you'll think yourself a great sinner indeed. You may agree
with the Apostle Paul and come and say, less than the least
of all saints. You won't take a high place,
you'll take a low place. Worthy is the Lamb and he is
worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour
and glory and blessing. And I believe our desire will
be, and it must really be so, wasn't it, to honour and glorify
our God for His amazing love for such unworthy sinners. It is amazing love, is it not?
The Lord God, the Lord God, that you and I may have some understanding
of the greatness of this The Lord God, the almighty ruler
of the universe, took on Him our nature, our human
form, in order to walk upon this earth and to live that perfect
life and to then stand in our place
and accept the condemnation which was due to you and me. That condemnation
of death, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, He stood in our place as our great and glorious substitute. Indeed, how beautifully it's
set forth in that account of Abraham and Isaac and Mount Moriah. and there was Isaac about to
be slain and Abraham told to restrain his hand and take that
ram caught by its horns in a thicket and offer it up instead of Isaac
as an offering. It's a beautiful picture of substitution
and as we may perhaps view ourselves as an Isaac there to be slain
and yet The hand of wrath, the hand of judgement stayed, and
the Lord Jesus bore and bears the punishment instead. And what punishment that was,
to save our souls. How little we really understand
and appreciate the cost of our salvation. To come back and think
of the Lord God, the Almighty God, The great God, He, Himself,
entered this world in that humble position, in that manger in Bethlehem
and lived that humble life for those 30 years. And then as He
was revealed, as indeed John the Baptist said, behold the
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." And there
we then have the gracious example of the Saviour. We see that He
was baptised by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. And we see
the wonderful evidence of God's approbation upon that act. when the Apostle was able to
recall, he saw the day of ascending, and he heard that voice, this
is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. The Lord Jesus
commenced his ministry. And my friends, what he suffered
and what he endured. He went about doing good. How
many spoke against him? how many accused him wrongfully,
how many times they tried to take him, but his time was not
yet come. He lived on the earth for those
three years after the time of his baptism, until the time came
when he was to offer up himself. offer up himself, nothing less
than that would do. He had to offer up himself. We read in the 9th of Hebrews,
the situation regarding the Saviour, and we read, which is only in
meats and drinks and in divers washing and carnal ordinances.
imposed on them until the time of reformation, but Christ, being
come and High Priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves but by his own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place having obtained eternal redemption for us and let us
remember there had been of course the tabernacle and the temple
and there was that holy place the holy of holies that the high
priest entered into once a year on that grand and glorious day
of atonement. And now the Lord Jesus Christ
has entered into the holy place, and that holy place not being
made with hands, the holy place being glory itself. The Lord
has entered in, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Oh, what a blessing it is to
think of that. The Lord Jesus has obtained it. It's been accomplished. It's
complete. It can never be reversed. What
God has done is done forever. My friends, you and I can rest
our salvation tonight on that great finished work of the Saviour. And so we read forth the blood
of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling
the unclean, sanctifying to the purifying of the flesh. How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the Living God. The Church of God
is called to serve the Living God. And for this cause, He is
the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
They which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Those who are called, called
by the grace of God, called by that holy voice into our hearts,
which brings us out of darkness into the glorious light, that
call which sets our feet upon a rock, that call which establishes
our goings, that call which has put a new song in our hearts,
even praise unto our God. And so we have this wonderful
picture that the Apostle is able to bring before us, illustrated
so clearly in the New Testament. For a testament is a force after
men are dead. We know that when a will is made,
It doesn't come into force until that person has died. The person
could change the will before they died. But once they died,
that will which they made, that stands in force and it cannot
be changed. When Moses had spoken every precept
to all the people, according to the law, he took the blood
of calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and
sprinkled both a book and all the people saying, this is the
blood of the testament. which God hath enjoined unto
you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and
all the vessels of the ministry, and almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is
no remission." There's no forgiveness without shedding of blood. And
we're thankful today that the Lord Jesus Christ, on that Passover
night, he instituted their Lord suffer, so that we might remember. And he says, do this in remembrance
of me. And what do we remember? We remember
his broken body and we remember his shed blood. That blood which
was shed for the remission of sins. It was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified
with these, but the heavenly things themselves, with better
sacrifices than these for Christ, is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are the figures of the true,
just a picture, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God for us. Oh, what a wonderful thing, is
it not, to contemplate the Lord Jesus, remember the great God,
now standing and appearing for us. The Father's right hand to
speak for us, to present our prayers unto His Father. What
a wonderful and glorious consideration it is to meditate and to think
of these things. Because surely they should be,
and they must be, food and drink to our souls. The Lord Jesus,
when he was on this earth, he spoke, and you can read it in
the 6th of John, he says, except we eat the flesh and drink the
blood of the Son of Man, there is no life in us. What that means is, if we do
not meditate, if we do not rejoice, We do not sing the praises of
God for those things which he has done. But therefore, figuratively,
we eat the flesh and drink the blood. There is no life in us. And all tonight, then, may we
be found rejoicing in what Christ has done and singing this new
song. Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof. For thou wast slain. Remember the reason. because
the Saviour was slain and has redeemed us. Now let us not forget
the cost of our redemption. Let us not underestimate the
cost of our redemption. How often, I suppose, we do underestimate
it. If we really understood what
a great cost it was to Almighty God, would it not influence our
lives more and more? Would we not be living nearer
to the Lord? Will we not be more desirous
to follow the Lord more closely because of the great cost of
our salvation? Redeemed to us, redeemed us to
God. That means once again we are
brought to God, redeemed to Him by the blood out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation. We remember that also John had
a further view of this picture in glory when we read in the
7th chapter, and after this I beheld below a great multitude which
no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues
stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes
and palms in their hands. Look at that. Wonderful scene
isn't it? In glory. White robes no more
filthy garments, taken away, clothed with the righteousness
of Christ. And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne
and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and
fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying,
Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and
honour, and power, and might be unto our God for ever and
ever." You see, it's the same statement, is it not? Praise
the God. One of the elders answered, saying
unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes? And
whence came they? And I said, Sir, they are knoest. And he
said, these are they which came out of great tribulation. Perhaps we often forget that. These are they which came out
of great tribulation. We don't stay in there. We may
be in a time of tribulation. It may be great tribulation.
We will not stay there. These are they which came out
of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, therefore are they
before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his
temple and he that sits on the throne shall dwell among them.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
the sun light on them, nor any heat for the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them
unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." It's a wonderful picture, isn't it? It's a wonderful
thought, isn't it? As we journey on through this
life to realise there will be that great and glorious time
when by His grace we shall look on His face and that will be
glory be glory for me." Will it be glory for you? Will it
indeed be glory for me to look and to behold this great and
glorious Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world? Now, just to conclude with those
words from the Apostle Peter, which are really so suitable. The Apostle Peter, he knew something
that he did not. of the value of this blood. He knew what it was. And he says
that we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from our vain conversation received by tradition from our
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. That's how we're redeemed. It's
through that shed blood on Calvary. My friends, if you and I know
something of the power, there's power, there's a chorus which
says, there's power in the blood. And so there is. The power to
realise that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Not some sin. It cleanses from
all sin. And therefore, if we're able
to be granted that faith, to believe that wonderful truth,
and to know the application of these things to our own soul,
then the result will be that we will join together and sing,
with those we read of here in the Word of God, Thou Art Worthy. To take the book and to open
the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast, and hast, it's
done, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and glory. To his praise be all
the honour due. Amen.