Let us commence our service this
afternoon by singing together hymn number 23. The tune is Locket's 173. A man there is, a real man, with
wounds still gaping wide, from which rich streams of blood once
ran, in hands and feet and side. Hymn number 23, Tune Locket's
173. There is a real man with wounds
still gaping wide. of man was born in heaven and
earth and feet and soul. Is there no fancy of our brain?
No matter, for all we speak There now reigns the Son of the
Father, our Saviour. This wondrous man, of whom we
tell, His true almighty God. Behold, our souls from death
and hell arise His love. That human body still retains
The throne in highest place, And feels each tempted Endless pain, forever convictions
please. Come then, repent it, shed the
guile. A church with humble faith, Her
wall now built, the turtle's home, His crown can self-admire, His blood can cleanse a blackened
soul, and wash away a guilt. We will resent Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in the book of the Revelation and chapter
4, sorry, chapter 5. the Revelation chapter five. And 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. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. And no man in heaven or in earth,
neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, 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 thereof. 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.
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of
them hearts and golden vials full of odours, which are the
prayers of saints. 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. 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 ten thousand times ten
thousands, and thousands of 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 unto 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. May the Lord bless the reading
of his own precious word and grant unto us a spirit of real
prayer. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
which is an art, an art to come. We bow before thy glorious majesty. We would seek grace to worship
thee. We come as the fallen sons and
daughters of Adam, born in sin and shaped in iniquity, unclean
and unrighteous altogether. Gracious God, we come to confess
our sins and our sinfulness And we come to plead that precious
blood that did for sin atone. We thank thee for those glorious
truths that we've sung together. A man, there is a real man in
heaven, our great high priest. Oh, we desire, oh Lord, a thankful
heart, the voice of praise to be granted unto us. for the sacred
and precious truth of the Son of God manifest in the flesh,
made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them
that are under the law. This, O Lord, is all our hope.
It's in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and what he has done,
his work, that covenant sealed with his precious blood. We thank
thee for the blood of the everlasting covenant, We thank Thee for that
holy life He lived as a man here upon earth. And in that holy
life, the perfect obedience to the law, the righteousness of
Thy people. O most gracious Lord, this is
our hope, the glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ. We thank Thee
for that glorious name, Jehovah Sidkenu. the Lord our righteousness. We thank thee for Calvary, where
the lamb was slain, where sin was put away. We thank thee for
Gethsemane, where our sins were laid upon him, and he took our
sins and he nailed them to his cross. Gracious God, fill our
hearts with gratitude that he suffered and bled and died for
our sins. and rose again for our justification. We thank thee for the empty tomb,
and we thank thee for those lovely words, come see the place where
the Lord lay. He is not here, he is risen. And we thank thee that thou didst
lead them out as far as unto Bethany and lifted up thy hands
and blessed them. O most gracious Lord, arisen
and are now exalted saints, For such an high priest have we,
who is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Oh, we do thank thee. We thank
thee for every mercy of thy kind providence. We can echo with
the prophet of old, thy mercies are new every morning and great
is thy faithfulness. We thank thee for the throne
of grace, whereby poor guilty sinners can come and confess
their sins We thank thee for the words of grace. To this man
will I look, to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and
that trembleth at my word. O gracious God, we would indeed
enter thy gates with praise and with the voice of thanksgiving
for all thy tender mercies and thy loving kindness, every blessing. and every favour freely flows
through Jesus' precious blood. Bless us as a church and as a
congregation. Work mightily, work powerfully,
work effectually in our midst. O Lord, we do beseech thee, fulfil
that precious word, for I am returned unto Jerusalem with
mercy. Pour upon us, those of us that
are spiritual, grant us a spirit of real travail. For as soon
as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. We long to
see the bringing forth of spiritual children. Precious souls born
again. Lord, remember the little ones
and the children. We love to see them and hear
them in the sanctuary. We pray that they would put thy
holy fear in their hearts, in their young and in their tender
years. And may we never forget those lovely words of grace,
suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not,
for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Gracious God, we pray
for thee, dear young friends on the threshold of life's journey.
We lovingly commend them to thee and to the word of thy grace.
which is able to build them up and to grant them an inheritance
among them that are sanctified. Gracious God, all we pray that
thou would richly bless them, bring them to living faith in
Jesus Christ, deliver them from the temptations of the wicked
one and the allurements of the world, guide and direct them
in all the matters of providence. We think of that lovely promise,
instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest
make princes in all the earth. O Lord, we pray that the glory,
light, and power of the gospel may shine into this village and
the surrounding villages and hamlets. Precious, precious souls
may be gathered unto Christ, the strongholds of Satan pulled
down, the fulfilling of thy ancient promises. I will bring thy sons
from far, and thy daughters from the ends of the earth. O Lord
of hosts, O God of Israel, O thou that dwellest between the cherubim,
shine forth. Let thy hand be upon the man
of thy right hand, the son of man, whom thou madest strong
for thyself. So will not we go back from thee. O Lord, we do pray for the prodigals
that have wandered from the sanctuary. We pray that thou wouldst stretch
out thy almighty arm, that thou wouldst cause them to be in want
and to return. There's nothing too hard for
thee. Indeed, thou art able to do abundantly more than we can
even ask or think. We do pray, most gracious God,
that thou wouldst remember parents as they bring up their children.
Give wisdom and help and guidance and remember all in the midst
of the journey of life. Undertake for each one. We do
humbly beseech thee. When the enemy comes in like
a flood, may the spirit of the Lord lift up a standard against
him. Deliver us each from the power
of unbelief, from the power and dominion of sin. Remember all
in the evening time. Lord, remember us for good. Grant that we may have some sweet
foretaste of eternal glory and that evening time it may be light.
We do humbly beseech thee for thy great namesake. Remember
thy dear servant with us here this afternoon, our beloved brother. Bless him indeed. Undertake for
him in all his concerns. We do humbly pray thee. Remember
all thy servants as they labour in word and doctrine upon the
walls of Zion. Set them free, set them at liberty. We thank thee for the sending
forth of another young man into the ministry of the word and
we pray that thou would gird him with all sufficient grace
and help him to preach the word to be in season and out of season
for thy great name's sake. And we pray thee, the great Lord
of the harvest, to send true labourers into the harvest to
build the walls of Jerusalem, to establish, O Lord, the little
hills of Zion. And instead of a closure of chapels,
may we see the building of chapels. Oh, do hear us, Lord. Thou art
able to do abundantly more than we can even ask or think. Remember
us as we come around the Lord's table. May our hearts be knit
together in love as we remember the tremendous sufferings of
our beloved Redeemer. We ask with the forgiveness of
all sin, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 100. The tune is Catherington 110. Jesus, with all thy saints above,
my tongue would bear her part, would sound aloud thy saving
love, and sing thy bleeding heart. Hymn 100, tune Catherington 110. O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave? ? The King of Heaven ? ? The King
of Heaven's Lord ? ? The King of Heaven's Lord ? And there's
a time that the spirit shone In the ancient light of night. The Lamb of the free, one triumphant
Son, was slain, and now He reigns. I say, O God, I love Thee, God,
I love Thee, The Lord is with thee, and thine
is the kingdom, and thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. O say can you see, by the dawn's
early light greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I direct your attention to the fifth chapter
of the book of the Revelation, and read in verse six for our
text. Revelation chapter five, verse
six. 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. What a beautiful vision John
was given into heaven. As far as I can tell, there are
only two places in Holy Scripture where Christ is said to be standing
in heaven. That was when Stephen was martyred and he saw
Christ standing. But what a wonderful picture
that he is standing in heaven to receive him into eternal glory. It's a beautiful picture, isn't
it? Of the Lord's care, love, compassion, for each of his people,
and then here, in this verse that we have, stood a lamb as
it had been slain. See, in the midst of the throne,
the glorious person of Christ. While I was meditating yesterday
morning, immediately that hymn 23 came so beautifully to my
mind. A man there is, a real man. with wounds still gaping wide
from which rich streams of blood once ran in hands and feet and
side. We have a great high priest who
is passed into the heaven. So say, we only read of him twice,
standing, of all the other references, he's sitting. And as the apostle
says, he rests from his labors. His work is finished. He sits
at the right hand of the father. I remember many years ago reading
Dr. Gill on this particular point. He said, we mustn't run away
with the idea of our great high priest kneeling before his father.
No, he said he sits at his right hand. And when a poor trembling
sinner comes, He beholds Him in His Son sitting at His right
hand. He beholds Him washed in that
precious sin-atoning blood of Jesus. He beholds Him clothed
in that glorious everlasting righteousness of Jesus Christ. I can no denial take when I plead
for Jesus' sake. What a wonderful thing that is. Whatsoever you ask in my name,
I will do it. Now, let us just briefly look
at the context here. And it says, and 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. I feel that this
is the book of the everlasting decrees of salvation and of redemption
for the church of God, for the bride of Christ. book and a strong
angel proclaiming who is worthy to open the book, open those
seals, those seven seals, that it was a closed book and there
was no man in heaven nor in earth nor under the earth was able
to open that book. What does this teach us? We're
the only person that ever could open this book was the Son of
God manifest in the flesh, the glorious Holy God man. The man
Christ Jesus. The work that was made flesh
and dwelt among us. He says that we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. You think of Simeon
when he came into the temple by the Holy Ghost when Joseph
and Mary brought the holy child Jesus. And he took him in his
arms. Now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which
thou hast prepared before all people. He had it in his arms
and he knew it. Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah. What a wonderful, sacred occasion
that must have been. Now here he says, I wet my because
there was no man found worthy to open and to read the book,
neither to look thereon. My beloved friends, there's only
one person ever able to redeem the church and to deliver the
church from sin and Satan's power. It's Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. It's not the work of a mere man. It's the work of God. It's the work of Almighty God.
His name shall be called Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, the
Glorious Person, the Almighty. That's who Christ is. He's the
Almighty Son of God. He lived a holy life, a sinless
life, a perfect life. He did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. He said, I come not to destroy
the law, but to fulfill it. And that is what Christ has done
when he lived as a man here upon earth under the law. I do like,
I quote them to you so often, those lovely words in Galatians
4, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem
them that are under the law. My beloved friends, his perfected
obedience is the righteousness of the church. Perfect obedience
of Christ. Only he could ever do that. You
might say, why? The whole of the human race,
after Adam fell, born in sin. The whole of Adam's posterity,
born in sin. Shapen in iniquity, unrighteous,
unclean. But this man, I love that phrase,
but this man, This glorious holy God man, the man Christ Jesus. The apostle says, wherefore he
is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.
Hence these words. You see, he said, I wept much
because there was no man found, but this man. One of the elders
saith unto me, 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 thereof. Weep not, the lion. You couldn't get anything more opposite, could you? A lion and
a lamb. And yet both, they represent Christ. I see in it, The lion,
the eternal son of God. The lamb, his sacred, holy human
nature. The lion and the lamb. As the
son of God, he's almighty. He's eternal. He is. As a man, as he took into
union with his divine nature, a holy human nature. And then he lived here upon earth,
a holy, sinless life. He fulfilled and magnified and
honored the holy law of God. He's done that. Christ has done
that. He's done it on behalf of his
people, and it's called his righteousness, the glorious righteousness of
Jesus Christ. the eternal son of the father. Weep not, behold the lion of
the tribe of Judah, the root of David. In the last chapter
of the book of the Revelation, Christ speaking to John, he says,
I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning
star. The root, the son of God. He is the son of God, he's David's
root. David drew all his strength and
all his wisdom from the son of God when he was here upon earth.
But then it says in the offspring, how can that be? He's born of
David's seed. You think of the poor blind man
as he begged by the wayside, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. You see, that was the term that
was used by the Jews for the Messiah that was to come. That
poor blind man knew exactly who he was, Jesus. Thou son of David,
have mercy on me. So, he's the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed. What a wonderful
thing this is, my beloved friends. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ,
hath prevailed. against all that was against
him, against all the tremendous wrath of God, against sin, he
hath prevailed. Says in Isaiah 42, he will not
fail. He will not fail, and he didn't
fail. He redeemed his church. He redeemed
his people. You see, and he loosed the seven
seals thereof. 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. The four beasts, I don't really
feel sufficiently to understand fully the meaning of the four
beasts. And in the midst of the elders
stood a lamb. Well, we know who this is. Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. There
stood a lamb in the midst of the throne. See that? It's a revelation that
was given to John as it had been slain. And it was this little
clause, really, that seemed to lay hold of me yesterday. A lamb
as it had been slain. Christ. One hymn writer says
about Christ in glory, decked with resplendent wounds. He still has those pierced hands. He still has that open wound
in his side, decked with resplendent wounds. You see, my beloved friends,
the tremendous cost of our salvation. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her, sheer as his dom, so he opened Not
his mouth. He opened not his mouth. Lead
as a lamb. The meek and the lowly lamb.
He didn't struggle. He didn't rise up. When Peter took the sword and
cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest, he
said, put thy sword up in its sheath. The cup that my father
hath given me, shall I not drink it? You see how willing was the
Lord Jesus to suffer, to bleed and to die. When he was in the
garden, our gracious eternal Father laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. And the Lord Jesus willingly
paid the debt to redeem us. to deliver us from sin and Satan's
power, from the curse of the law. He was made a curse for
us, Christ was. He was made a curse for us. Oh
my dear beloved friends, this holy Lamb of God, this man that
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. spotless,
innocent and pure, our great Redeemer stood while Satan's
fiery darts he bore and did resist to blood. In 2 Corinthians chapter
5 in the last verse he says, for he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Everything is in Christ. I've often pointed out to you,
and it's most prominent in the epistle to the Ephesians, and
the apostle, it doesn't matter what he's preaching on or expounding,
whether it's doctrine, experience, or practice, he uses these terms
all the time, in him, through him, by Him, unto Him. Everything's in Christ. Everything's
in Christ. Our life is hid in Christ, in
God. It's hid in Him. 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. A lamb, the glorious lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. You know these, he says here,
the four beasts, And he speaks also of the 24 elders in verse
8. And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and the four and 20 elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them hearts and golden vials
full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they bow before him, the
four and 20 elders, 24 elders. What does it signify? What does
it mean? the 12 tribes of the children
of Israel, and the 12 apostles of the Lamb. So in other words,
represented in these 24 elders, is the whole Church of God, the
Old Testament Church, under the Levitical dispensation, and the
New Testament Church, under the New Testament of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. They are one in Christ. And the
Apostle says in his epistles, for there is no difference between
Jew and Gentile, between bond and fruit, there is no difference. Everyone is equal in Christ.
What a precious beauty there is in this. And this lamb, as
it had been slain, this is what unites The Old Testament, the
New Testament, under the Levitical dispensation and the sacrifices
and offerings under the law, they pointed to Christ. The tabernacle pointed to Christ.
There will I meet with thee, there will I commune with thee,
from off the mercy sea. Why? Because it pointed to Christ. The Old Testament Church was
saved in the same way as the New Testament Church. All those
sacrifices and offerings, none of them could take away sins.
Not one. Not all the blood of beasts on
Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or
wash away the stain. But Christ, the heavenly lamb,
bears all our sins away. sacrifice of nobler name and
richer blood than they. You know that that's a beautiful
illustration the Apostle uses in the Hebrews. You have the
altar and you have the sacrifice on the altar. They are distinct
one from another. The altar typifies the sacred
perfect, glorious person of the Son of God, his divine nature. That's what it represents. That's
what it typifies. The sacrifice on the altar represents
his human nature. So he offered his own perfect,
spotless human nature upon the altar of his divinity. it says
several times, he sacrificed himself. You can't separate those
two, the divine and the human in Christ. That union made in
the womb of the virgin is an eternal union, never to be broken,
never to be separated. An eternal union. And so even
in his death, in his sacrifice we see the divine and the human.
The divine representing The altar and the sacrifice on the altar
representing the sacred, holy, human nature of Jesus, the Son
of God. He offered himself without spot
unto God. You know, there's that lovely
word in 1 Peter 1, verse 18, for as much as ye know, that
ye were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world but was manifest in these last times for you. Manifest in these last times
for you. Isn't that what we would like
to feel for you? Or as the apostle Paul puts it
in the epistle to the Hebrews, for us, for us. I love the times he uses that
expression in the Hebrews, especially in chapter 9, when he speaks
of the glorious sacrifice of Christ and of his entrance into
heaven. And he speaks of the old dispensation
in chapter 9. And he says in verse 21, moreover
he sprinkled 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. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with much better sacrifices
than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. You think, this is what we have
in our text. Christ, now to appear in the
presence of God for us. Our glorious high priest, or
as the apostle puts it, our great high priest. And he says here
in the last verse of chapter 9, so Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. And then he gives us this distinction
in chapter 10, for the law having a shadow, a shadow, there's nothing
there, is there? It may look as though there's
something there, but actually there is nothing there. And he
said that is what the sacrifices and offerings under the law,
they're a shadow. But there's nothing of substance
there. For the law having a shadow of good things to come. and not
the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers there
unto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered because that the worshippers once purged
should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. but then he speaks of the coming
of Christ. And he says in verse 10, by the
which will, that is the will of the Father and of the Son
and the Holy Ghost, by the which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus once for all. There was only
ever the need of this one sacrifice, the glorious person of Jesus,
the Son of God. and every high priest daily ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take
away sins. But this man, this glorious holy
God man, the Lamb of God, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. henceforth expect until his enemies
be made his footstool for by one offering." How lovely words
of grace. For by one offering he has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. The Lord's people are made perfect. I've often explained to you that
the word perfect and the word complete are often They're interchangeable. They mean the same thing. So
when he says he's made perfect, he's made complete. The apostle
puts it another way, in the Ephesians, ye are complete or perfect in
him, in Christ. Our perfection is in Christ.
Our hope is in Christ, in what Christ has done. in his finished
work 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 a horn represents power
seven represents complete or perfect having seven horns that
is complete power having seven eyes, which are the seven spirits
of God. Again, he's speaking of the Holy
Ghost, the perfect, the complete spirit of God in all places at
all times. He's the eternal spirit of God.
He's co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and with the
Son. And you see, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are
the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. This
is what Christ promised when he was about to be crucified,
when he speaks to the apostles in John 14, 15 and 16. What does he speak of the Spirit
of God? How that he would be sent forth
from the Father and the Son in a gracious effusion, an outpouring
of the Spirit upon the New Testament church. And that is what is being
referred to here. And sent forth into all the earth.
Why is he sent forth into all the earth? Because the Lord has
his people in all the earth. Every nation, clear in the word
of God. Every nation, kindred, tongue,
and tribe, and people. That's where the Lord has all
his people. And when he made that promise to Abraham, he said,
in these shall all the nations of the earth Be blessed. Abraham's
seed is Christ. It's Christ. It's the eternal
son of God. 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. That is complete power, seven
horns. and seven eyes which are the
seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and stood and took the book,
it's Christ, out of the right hand of him that sat upon the
throne. He took the book out of his father's
hand. And 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, saying, Thou art worthy. This is a song unto the Lamb,
unto our Lord Jesus Christ in eternal glory. This will be the
song of the redeemed in heaven. 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. You see, and then
he continues with this song of thanksgiving. 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, thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour
and glory and blessing. 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 honour
and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne
and unto the Lamb forever and ever. Oh, that we, by the Spirit,
may enter a little into the spirit of worship, the spirit of thanksgiving, because
Jesus has finished the work of redemption, because Jesus has
completed the work of redemption, because Jesus the Eternal Father
and Jesus Christ have sent the Holy Ghost to work here upon
earth. And those precious souls whom
the Father chose, whom the Son redeemed, whom the Spirit will
sanctify, he will enter into their hearts, he will quicken
their soul into life, he will bring them to see that Jesus
is the way to God, Jesus is the way to bliss. Do you know this? Jesus is the
way to God. Has this been revealed unto you,
that Jesus is the way to God? Do you long to lay hold of him?
Do you long to hear his voice? Do you long to see his countenance?
Do you long to worship him, the glorious person, Jesus, the Lamb
of God? Slain from before the foundation
of the world in the eternal councils of Jehovah. And here as we have it revealed
in the revelation, he's been slain. He's offered his sacrifice. He's finished the work that his
father gave him to do. He cried on the cross of Calvary. It is finished. Salvation's work
is done. Do you long for interest in the
finished work of Christ? Do you sometimes say, the soldier's
pierced his sight is true? And you long to say, but I have
pierced him through and through. My sins were the nails and the
spear. That's why he suffered. Becomes
very personal. When the Lord brings us to the
cross, it becomes a very personal thing. He suffered, he bled,
he died for me. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. So he died under
the weight and the burden of acid. But he rose again. Why? Because he paid the redemption
price. And their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. That is what it means when he
says he rose again for our justification. Their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Justified. Just as if I had not
sinned. Why? Because Jesus lived, suffered,
died for our sins. What a fullness there is in the
gospel of Jesus Christ. 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. You know, in Revelation chapter 20, it says
there, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. Upon such a second death hath
no power. Now, my beloved friends, what
is the first resurrection? It's the new birth. He must be
born again. That's the first resurrection.
Are you born again? Am I born again? Have you been
brought to know Jesus Christ and to long to serve him and
to follow him in your day and in your generation? And in the
midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. May the
Lord add his blessing.