complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this evening. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to the book of the Revelation, chapter
4, by way of text, verses 10 and 11. The book of the Revelation,
chapter 4, verses 10 and 11. The four and twenty elders fall
down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that
liveth for ever and ever, and casting their crowns before the
throne, 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. The four and twenty elders fall
down before Him that sat on the throne and worship Him that liveth
forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, 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. Sometimes we must venture upon
controversial topics and tonight's subject is no exception. Nevertheless,
for the sake of faithfulness and maintaining our doctrinal
distinctives and standards it is necessary from time to time
to venture upon these controversial subjects and topics. And this
evening for the time that we have I wish to prove to you the
ever-living and I believe divine truth that every believer's reward
in heaven is the same. Now this is no new doctrine. This is in fact the historical
doctrine of our denomination and has been since the beginning. Some of you may be in possession
of a book by the name of J.W. Stiles who left Spersianism and
Moderate Calvinism and joined the Surrey Tabernacle where the
late Mr. James Wells preached. and he
wrote a book called a manual of faith and practice and this
was after I had considered this particular subject and was going
to bring it before you and also one or two other places and he
maintained this truth that every believers reward is the same
very recently only the last month I came across an article which
is the belief of the majority of the professed Christian church
ascertaining that every believer's reward is dependent upon their
service after conversion. This is particularly popular
in dispensational circles and some of you may have experienced
it. And they say there's a sore winner's
crown and there's this crown and that crown and the other
crown and that you have to work in order to gain those crowns
in God's service. Friends, that doctrine is no
different to a type of purgatory. Indeed, it is a Protestant type
of purgatory. Because, friends, we cannot absolutely
cannot separate God's mercy in salvation from heavenly glory. Our reward when we get to heaven,
if the Lord preserves us and brings us there by electing power,
will be Jesus Christ and Him only. And every believer will
receive that reward. Because friends, that's the only
reward we can receive. It's Jesus Christ Himself. Now we see through a glass darkly,
but then we will see Him face to face. Isn't that a wonderful
truth? Isn't that a wonderful truth?
Oh friends, we can't preach degrees of reward in heaven. I read an
article that It was a write-up of a seminar that was taking
place on Christian service and this was the whole emphasis that we put God under obligation
to us for our service. Friends, God's servants are not
mercenaries. We can only stand here And you
in your own service, not every form of Christian service is
in the pulpit. But wherever we serve the Lord,
maybe in our secular lives, we can only do so. We can only do
so because we love Him. That's the only reason. Because
we love Him. And we are desirous to follow
Him. The truth is this. Whatever you or I put our hand
to, immediately it's corrupted. Immediately. Man at his best
is stained and died with sin. At his very best. But you know
the Lord has a people. We have here, and I ventured
forth with this text, the four and twenty elders that fell down
before him. Now in verse 4 we read, 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. Now, we're preaching from the
book of Revelation and contrary to what men will tell you the
book of Revelation is not only to be read by scholars and by
men that are familiar with Greek and Hebrew this book is written
for every believer Don't listen to these people that tell you
that the revelation, friends, is beyond us. It should not be
beyond, if I may use this term, even the simplest of Christians.
Because it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And blessed
is he that readeth and keepeth the words of this prophecy. It's
not meant to be a mystery. That's what Rome teaches. The
book of the Scriptures, what we have before us, God reveals
word. He's revealed a note and he opens
the eyes of his people by his Spirit. This is for the simplest
of Christians. So we venture upon this text. Who are the 4 and 20 elders sat
upon these 4 and 20 seats? Well, we must firstly discard
the view of some that it is the 12 patriarchs or there is an
idea that these are 12 angels, for instance, nothing of the
kind this is a representative number of God's elect 24 elders
last week we looked at the truth that the number 12 is representative
of the church there were 12 judges, the Lord had 12 disciples and
so 1212s are 144 144,000 being another symbolic number of the
whole of God's elect this is what is meant here and notice
this and they had on their heads crowns
of gold. Every elder was there in his
right place and they all had on their heads crowns of gold.
This is a symbolic truth. This is not a literal truth,
friends. If you take the book of the Revelation in that literal
sense, it wouldn't make any logical sense to us at all. What do we
read? At the very beginning of the
revelation that the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave
unto him, that is John, Patmos, to show unto his servants the
things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified
it by his angel unto his servant John. These things are written
in signs. Now they may take some time. If we lived in the first century
we would be much more easily familiar with what was written
here immediately. But we don't live in those times.
I say every believer should be able to look and read the book
of Revelation but these things may not come immediately to us. John was writing, and I'll tell
you something, this was a very dangerous book to have written
when it was written. Brother Cliff mentioned this
morning the truth of tribulation and counting the cost, I can
tell you now. There was a tremendous cost to this book and to this
truth. The 4 and 20 elders representing the whole of God's elect. Notice
this was an absolute number. an absolute number. Not one more
and not one less. The 24 elders. God's elect. God will bring His elect to Himself.
He will. This is the truth. This is the
truth. And in bringing His elect, He always puts His people into
service. As I say, it may not be a preaching
ministry. Certainly for the ladies, it
is not a preaching ministry. Regardless of what the Church
of England say. It's the truth. Only men are
to preach. But frankly we must not, I mention
this as an aside, we must not in any way undermine the ministry
and the hospitality that many of us have enjoyed from Christian
ladies. Many of them have kept our chapels
going in very difficult times. They have ministries in themselves
to encourage the brethren and so on. But you know we don't
venture upon our Christian service with the motivation of expecting
a reward or a certain crown. Now, this is what is uniquely
different from free grace and every other religion whether
it be Judaism, whether it be Hinduism whether it be Buddhism
or free will works religion the difference between free grace
and all other things is that God's work in the heart brings
about a change in a man and this change is wholly and completely
of the Spirit's work now there is a result of this
and the result is God's we venture upon God's service in one sphere
or another but you know we do so we do so
with an experiential acknowledgement that we are sin that we are corrupt and that the total depravity
of man within our heart is real now if we really believe in the
total depravity of man and that it's only by the Spirit of God
and by His grace that we are kept then we cannot believe in
degrees of reward in heaven because it does not mean the gift of
God's grace but rather the payment of a debt. We are saying that
God owes us something. God owes us nothing. God owes
us nothing. What did the Apostle Paul say?
He was the least of all saints. He was the least of all saints.
Now, upon this statement that I have
made and upon the text that we have before us you may say well
you're using the example of these four and twenty elders and I'm
not convinced I'm not convinced well we read didn't we from that
parable in Matthew's gospel the parable in Matthew and chapter 20 where we're speaking of the labourers in this vineyard. And this is precisely what the
Lord Jesus here is exposing, this spirit of works. Because this man that was a householder,
he went out early in the morning to hire these labourers. And
they'd agreed to work. for a penny. That was what was
agreed at the beginning of the day. But we saw these other men about,
it says, standing idle in the marketplace. Now I didn't immediately
realize this, but the marketplace that they are speaking of here
was a certain type of what we might say today of a labor exchange.
they were generally people that had no settled job and had no
settled home many of them were given to drunkenness apparently
and lived not very advisable even naturally speaking advisable
lives but this man was desirous of labour in his vineyard so
he went out and he agreed the sum that would be paid to these
men and he went out again and the 6th and the 9th hour and
did likewise but he went out even at the 11th
hour when the day was nearly done remember this was this man's
own vineyard it was his but he still went out looking for these men we wonder
we may wonder today what purpose there would have been going out
of the eleventh hour but he went out and found others standing
idle and he said unto them why stand ye here idle the day the
day idle and he said because no man hath hired us and he said
unto them go also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right that
shall you receive so when even was come when the
day's work had finished when the day was over the Lord of
the vineyard sent them to his steward call the labourers and
give them their hire, give them their wages from beginning from
the last unto the first and we read this and when they
came that were hired about the eleventh hour they received every
man a penny they all received a penny now here we see human
nature making itself manifest but when the first came they
supposed that they should have received more And they likewise
received every man a penny. That, friends, that the Lord
is exposing there is the attitude of the human heart. Because this
is exactly what we're like by nature. We must realise this.
When the Lord... and we can be like this in the
church, you know. We have to guard, friends, against
the spirit of Phariseeism. They're not as good as me. They've
committed this sin. They've committed that sin in
their unregeneracy. Or look at this man's life before
he was called by grace. This is the spirit of works here. How can he receive the same reward
as me? I give you an example of this.
There was a man, two brothers, in the southern states of America. It's an illustration to demonstrate
what I mean. And one was involved in a Free
Will Baptist group and he professed the faith for many years. And he'd been in the church as
a member and contributed to the church's activities and for many years his brother
lived in unbelief but in latter years the Lord dealt with him
and brought him into free grace circles and his brother said to him well
I'm pleased that you've been saved but you're not going to
have any crowns you've been saved in later life you see he hadn't
got time to work and to perform all these works and do what this
brother felt that he needed to in order to gain all these crowns.
So his brother said, but will I have Christ? He said, oh you'll
have Christ, but you won't have any crowns. He said, if I have
Christ, I will have enough. And that's the truth of it, friends.
As soon as we go down the line of believing that there are degrees
of reward in heaven. We are preaching a works religion. No question. I don't care what
name it comes under. It's works religion. It's works religion. And this
is exactly what the spirit of these men here, these labourers
in the vineyard, they murmured against the good man of the house.
They'd agreed to work for a penny. They'd agreed to it. but they
felt that they'd not got enough they'd felt that they'd not got
enough they murmured against the man of the house and they
were very explicit, they said these last have wrought but one
hour and thou hast made them equal unto us which have borne
the burden and heat of the day now would make this observation and
this comment if the Lord deals with us in early life it is a
blessing and a privilege we learn in the scripture that it is good
for a man to bear the yoke in his youth and I remember a relative a dear
saint, he's gone now he said to me when I first started attending
the means of grace he said you'll never regret coming to chapel
you'll never regret it and he was absolutely right was absolutely
right the hand of providence brings
some in in early life he brings some in in middle years and he
brings some in in later life but friends every believer will
receive the same reward every believer because grace is grace it's not
works this is the truth and what did this man say said
friend I do thee no wrong didst thou not agree with me for a
penny Take that thine is and go thy way. I will give unto
this last even as unto thee. The man was rebuked. Is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with my own? It's lawful for the Lord to do
what he will with his own. And this is the truth of it. And you see then there are those
that say, well I'm still not convinced and that this doctrine
that you're preaching fosters a spirit of laziness I say again, God's people they're
not mercenaries and they say, well what about
1 Corinthians 3? this is usually the objection
it's right that we should answer objections, you know to our doctrinal
position and they say you may wish in your own time
to read the entire chapter I'll just read a few verses from chapter
13 this is what men often say to you, every man's work shall
be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall
be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of
what sort it is if any man's work abide which he hath built
thereof he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burnt
he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire now these verses are some of
the most badly abused in scripture men say this applies to every
man at the judgment seat a man is almost on trial as it were
and that the evidence will be presented to him and you'll be
weighed in the balances well friends The judgment, we
don't read anything of that in the judgment. The judgment day
will be a day of declaration. But we read in the books were
opened. And another book was opened. There's not going to
be two judgment days. There's not going to be two resurrection
days. The judgment day will be a day
of declaration. because the reprobate will be
condemned in their own sins and the Lord's people will be justified
by the blood of the Lamb. We read in the Scripture, ye
are complete in Him. The Judgment Day will be a day
of declaration. for the books were opened and
another book was opened the Lamb's Book of Life in order to say our names written
in heaven that's the most essential thing but in respect of these
few verses men say there are those that say that
there will be weeping in heaven and regret for people we've not
witnessed to or sins that we've committed after conversion. Friends,
we don't read of any such thing. The book of the Revelation says,
and there shall be no more tears. All tears will be wiped away. All tears. now in respect of this chapter in respect of this chapter what
we are reading of here are those who are called to the ministry
for we read in chapter 3 and verse 9 for we are labourers,
this is the context you see we must always interpret Scripture
by the context in which it is written. For we are labourers,
this is Paul speaking, together with God. Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building. According
to the grace of God, which is given to me as a wise master
builder, have I laid the foundation. He's speaking of preaching here.
He's speaking of preaching. Those who are called to the ministry. And you see here, we have a solemn word. I have
to say this particularly to myself as much as anyone else who preaches
the Gospel. The meaning here is this. We
come and we hear the preaching. We come and we hear the preaching.
We come and we hear the preaching. some of us preach week after
week and our preaching is made our
work is made manifest in this we don't see the results often
times of preaching often it's hidden from us but I can think of men and they've
gone now even in my short life and they've left a lasting effect
upon me some of you here I know from conversation I've known
preachers over the years some of them have stood in this pulpit
who have had a lasting effect upon you that is what is meant
here that is what is meant here because you know there are men and let me put it like this their ministry has been so powerful
by the Spirit of the Lord and they've been used of the Lord that the doctrines that they
preach are the doctrines that we hold
dear because we see them in the scriptures and we believe them
with our heart and because they were preached faithfully and
the distinctives were spelt and drawn out they have an effect
upon our ministry then there are others and they're
faithful men and I've known some of these as well and they were
good men and they've gone now and I believe they're in heaven But friends, what was the effect
after they had gone? Their chapels had left their destictives, the strong meat,
the doctrines of which they had preached. They were saved. They
were good men. They were saved men. They were
saved men. But they didn't have that lasting
effect. And this is what Paul is speaking of here. in this
particular chapter. He's not speaking of rewards
in heaven, in the eternal realm, but he's speaking of the effect
of the ministry of men upon this earth. What is the result of our ministry? We don't know, but we pray that
we may be used in the Lord's service. To come back to our text in Revelation,
it's remarkable, isn't it? It's remarkable. The Christ-centeredness
of this book is amazing. we think here of
the throne, we're looking here at the throne, the four and twenty
elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship
him that liveth forever and ever and they cast their crowns before
the throne now earlier in the preceding verses we read of this that everything that surrounded
the throne, the 4 and 20 elders he that was sat about the throne
those that were sat round about the throne those that were sat
like in verse 6 before the throne and before and behind they were
all to elevate who was on the throne And who was on the throne? It is Christ that is on the throne. Before, and behind, and round
about, it's all to exalt Jesus Christ who is on the throne.
And you know whenever we preach, whenever we preach, it is only
Him that we can preach. And all merit, all blessings,
all favour, All has to come from Christ. It's not to be found
in any other. Not to be found in any other. This representative body of the
elect, the 4 and 20 elders. They all had crowns and they
cast their crowns before the throne. saying thou art worthy thou art worthy we can't earn
any crown we can only be granted it by the Lord's grace this is
the difference isn't it? this is a faith which worketh
by love we can't be motivated by anything
else nothing else we're not men and women who can
claim that we have done this or we have done that or that we deserve this or that But each of us, if we're spared
in glory, will have to cast our crowns before Him and say, Worthy
art Thou, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power. For Thou hast created all things,
and for Thy pleasure. It's all for the Lord's glory.
They are and were created. Well, I'll leave it there for
this evening. May the Lord add His blessing.
Amen.