Revelation chapter 5. As you can see, I have another manuscript
for you. Revelation chapter 5, and our
text will be found in verse 9. 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 nation, and people, and nation,
and hast made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall
reign on the earth. In my prayer tonight, I have
three points. I'm going to have an introduction,
but I have three points that I pray that God the Holy Spirit
would instill in your heart as a believer in Christ that you
would take these things and that may God the Holy Spirit give
you such comfort in them. Because I know you're full of
troubles. I know you're full of difficulties. You have troubles
and difficulties and you're surrounded by them. Our Lord said we would.
He said, in this world you shall have tribulation. The apostle
said, don't think it's strange. Don't think it's some strange
thing that happened to you that hasn't happened to all of the
saints. as though these fiery trials
that try you are some strange thing. May God the Holy Spirit
apply this to our heart. I want us to see the Lamb and
His worth. Worthy is the Lamb. Second of
all, I want us to see the work of the Lamb. Why he is worthy
to take the book? Because of the work of the Lamb,
which is to redeem his people from their sins. And third, the
worship and the worshipers of the Lamb. Who are the worshipers
of the Lamb? Who are they that sing this song
of worship? But in order for introduction,
I do need to go back to chapter 4 and bring us to this point. John in this vision on the Isle
of Patmos is given this revelation. And this whole book is a revelation
of Jesus Christ. A revelation of Jesus Christ.
And John, he is taken up in heaven, into heaven by a vision. He is
immediately, verse 2 of chapter 4, and immediately I was in the
Spirit. And notice what John sees first of all, above everything
else, In heaven there is a throne. A throne was set in heaven and
one sat on the throne. John ushered up into heaven,
and he beholds a throne and one that sat on it. A throne is what? A symbol of power. A symbol of
power, of dominion, of rule. And this throne is not one that
appears, but rather one that is already set. Is already set
and fixed in heaven. In other words, when John got
to heaven, they didn't take a throne and put it in front of him. This
throne was there before John ever saw it. This throne was
set. And this throne that he saw was
God's throne. And it was God that sat on this
throne. And this throne is something
that is fixed. This is because God is the majestic,
sovereign ruler And His power and dominion are set over all
things and all events of time and eternity. This is the center
point of heaven. You want to know what the center
of heaven is? It is the throne of God. The
throne of God is the center of everything. And God's throne
is set. It's fixed. It's immovable. It's immutable. It's unchangeable. In Psalm 93 and verse 1, listen
to these three words, the Lord reigneth. That's not questionable. That's not debatable. That is
so. The Lord reigneth. And I love
this King James Version because of the word that ends in ETH. It is a present perfect tense. It is, He has reigned, He is
reigning, and He shall reign. That's what it means. Forever.
This is an immutable fact. God reigns. The Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The
Lord is clothed with strength. Listen, wherewith He clothed
Himself. Who clothed Him with majesty?
Who clothes God with strength? God clothed Himself with majesty
and strength. The world is established and
it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of
old, thou art from everlasting. The Lord reigneth. His reign
is established from eternity. And listen, if the world He created
cannot be moved out of its orbit, how do you suppose the throne
of God that established it would be moved? God's throne is set,
it's fixed. None is able to remove Him from
His seat of power. God alone is absolute sovereign,
absolutely sovereign in authority, in power, in dominion, in glory,
in honor and praise. Oh man! Listen, you men of earth,
behold thy God. He reigns. His throne is set in the heavens,
and He will never be overthrown, nor will He, anyone, impede or
thwart His sovereign decree that He has purpose from eternity.
Listen. Our God is in the heavens. And what has He done? Whatsoever
He pleased. Our God is in the heavens. And
what does He do? What is He doing right now? Whatsoever He pleased. Whatsoever He pleased. Psalm 135 verse 6, Whatsoever
the Lord pleased. That did He in the heaven and
in earth and in the seas and in the deep places. Why then
do the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing? Why do the people
lift up their voice against Christ, against His anointed, and say,
I will not have this man rule over me? Is that not the most
foolish? And vain and empty thing a man
could do is to shake his fist in the face of his Creator. That
is a foolish thing. God's throne is set and you won't
move it. Shake your fist all you will.
You will bow. You will bow. His throne is set. And listen to this, do you realize
that even the wrath of man is ordained of God? The hatred of
man is ordained of God? The wrath and hatred of man is
either allowed or restrained by God and His sovereign rule. The scripture says it plainly,
surely the wrath of man shall praise thee and the remainder
of wrath. Thou shalt restrain." This was
seen clearly at the cross when the men hated the Lord Jesus
Christ, desired to crucify Him, and yet the apostles said, this
is what God ordained. That's what God ordained. And
second of all, John, he describes now the glory of God. He says
he sees a throne. He sees one sitting on the throne,
which is God. And in verse 3, he looked, and
he looked upon it like a jasper and a sardine stone. A jasper
and a sardine stone. I'm not a gemologist. I had no
clue. No clue. I had to look up these
things and study these things and understand them. A jasper
stone is a clear stone. It's a clear stone. It's kind
of like a prism. If you were to look at it, it
would be clear, pure. You could see through it. But
if you were to put it up to the light, it would be like a prism,
and it would display all of the colors of the light spectrum
to you. It's a clear stone. And this most surely pictures
to us the purity of God's holiness. God, the scripture says, is light. And in Him is no darkness at
all. He is pure. He is holy. And what is His holiness but
beauty? It's the most beautiful thing
in the world, in all the universe, is God's holiness. It's beautiful. And this Sardin stone, this stone
was not pure, but it was blood red. What is this but the justice
of God? The wrath of God, the vengeance
of God against all sin. And this is interesting to note
that these two stones were also placed in the high priest's breastplate. You remember that breastplate
that the high priest wore. But the order is reversed here. In the Old Testament, the sardine
stone, the red stone, was first. And then the last was the jasper
stone, the pure stone. What is this but to display man's
condition under the wrath of God, under the law of God? He
was under the justice of God until Christ came. Christ is
a picture of that jasper stone that has cleansed us from all
our unrighteousness. that has saved us from the wrath
of God. And now then, it's reversed in
the New Testament, Christ has already come, cleansed us of
unrighteousness. And what's coming? What's coming? The judgment of God. But yet,
those who are in Christ, we don't fear the judgment of God, we
welcome it. We welcome it. We praise God
for it. And so here these stones are
reversed and he is displaying to us the glory of God. The glory
of God in His holiness and in His justice. And then John sees
something else. He sees around this throne a
rainbow. He says, And there was a rainbow
round about the throne, and the sight like unto an emerald. This
rainbow was a token of God's covenant to Noah and all the
creatures of the earth. He said that He would no longer
bring water, destroy the earth by water, and He set the bow
in the sky as a token of a covenant. And Noah was the object of His
free grace. And God saved Noah and his family
by the ark, which is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
as the rains descended, the wrath of God fell on man and drowned
them all except for those in the ark. Even so it is that God
has promised to save some from their sins. He has chosen some
objects of grace that He has put in His Son And now, at the
end of the age, God has sent forth Christ, our Ark, and all
those elect souls that were in Him, as He endured the wrath
of God for them. And behold, the Lord Jesus Christ
has redeemed them, He has forever removed their sins, and God has
justified them, purposed their salvation, promises them in a
covenant oath, which is pictured by this rainbow. that he will
never destroy them. The judgment of God as the rainbow
gave Noah comfort that God is not going to destroy the earth.
What is Christ but a token of God's grace that he will never
bring his wrath on us? And this rainbow surrounds the
throne of God. Therefore, God is constantly
reminded of what? His covenant. He's reminded of
His covenant of mercy. You suppose God will ever forget
that covenant? You do. I do. But we're movable. God's throne
is not movable. And neither is that covenant.
That covenant is immovable. It's immutable. The covenant of God is immutable.
Therefore, as He now sends His Holy Spirit into the world to
save those elect souls for whom Christ died, He has given to
His preachers the message of reconciliation, the message of
the covenant. You who are far off, sinners,
come now to Christ and be reconciled to God. This is the message of
the covenant. This is the message of grace
and mercy to sinners. Come now to Christ and believe. This is the covenant oath of
God. This is the will of God. whose throne is set in glory,
and who does all things after the counsel of his will, so that
none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? Do
you not desire to know the will of God? Since God's will is immutable
and unchangeable, I'd like to know what it is. What is it?
What is the will of God concerning sinners? This is the will of
God, Jesus said. This is the will of God that
has sent me. And what is His will but His oath? You realize
in Hebrews chapter 6 it says that God swore an oath. When
He could swear by none greater, He swore by Himself. He swore
with an oath. That's His sovereign will is
His oath. He swore by His own person that
Christ who has entered into the veil with His own blood, what
did He swear? He swears He's an anchor for
your soul. That's what God swears to you.
God swears Christ is an anchor for your soul. And this is His will that He
swore that all which the Father gave Christ. How many should
Christ lose? How many should this covenant
fail? Jesus said, this is the will of him that sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing. That's the will of God. That's
the will of him who sits on the throne, that he should lose none
of his elect. But all shall come to him by
faith, and none of them will be cast out. Now then, I'm going to go through
this rather rapidly. In verse 4 it says, Round about
the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw
four and twenty elders clothed in white raiment. And they had
on their head crowns of gold, and out of the throne proceeded
lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven
spirits of God. And before the throne was a sea
of glass like unto crystal. Oh, I love this. We see again
the justice of God in the thunderings and the lightnings. Doesn't that trouble you? I tell you, when I hear of things
like that, my soul begins to quake. I begin to be fearful. But do you notice something?
He says there's a sea of glass in front of the throne. Everything's
calm. Do you realize that our God,
who is sovereign, that there is nothing out of place? It's calm. There's lightnings
and thunders because of His justice, but I tell you this, God is not
wringing His hands wondering how this thing is going to work
out. Everything is calm before our God. Pure, clear, a lake,
a sea of glass. Have you ever seen that? I ain't
never seen that. Not the one, it's got a little
ripple somewhere. This is smooth. It's glass. Everything is smooth
before our God. But He sees these thunderings
and lightnings, and He sees these beasts full of eyes, and these
beasts are crying out in verse 8, Holy, holy, holy Lord God
Almighty, which was and is and is to come. And when those beasts
gave glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the throne
who liveth forever and ever, the four and twenty elders fell
down before Him. and sat on the throne and worshiped
him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crown before him,
saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and
power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure
they are created. But now then comes a dilemma.
He sees all of this glory and majesty. But something disturbs
John in this vision. In chapter 5, verse 1, we see
what catches his eye. Out of all this that's going
on around him, something catches his eye in the hand of God. And he said, I saw in His right
hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on
the back side sealed with seven seals. He sees all of these things,
but yet what attracts his attention is this book. And notice this
book. It's written on the inside and
on the outside. In other words, this book is
completely full. There's no room left to write
anything. It's written on the inside and on the backside. What is this book but the full
counsel and will of God? This is the decree of God from
eternity. And listen, there's no room to
add anything. Whatever God has willed from
eternity and decreed, that is what will come to pass. This is the book of the will
of God, the whole decree of God with respect to the universe
and its complete history. It has written on every page,
every single providence and action and circumstance of all men,
angels, devils, and every creature upon the face of the earth. That's
what this book is. It's full. It's full of the providence
and wisdom of God. But what most concerned John
about this book was this. This book contained God's purpose
of salvation. And most people want to know
when they say, I want to know the will of God. What do they
want to know? They want to know some future
events so they can enrich themselves or change something. That's what
they want to do. They want to know God's will
so they can thwart it. They want to escape it. If you
were to learn that a certain day you were going to die, what
would you try to do? You would try to change it. He's not talking about that.
He's not desiring to know God's future plans as far as providence. What concerns John the most is
salvation. In that book of God's providence,
he knows how it is that God can be just and justify the ungodly. That's what I want to know. That's
what I have interest in. I'm a sinner, and I need salvation,
and I need to know how it is God can accept me. That's what
I need to know. And John knows that this book
contains the salvation of God, the wisdom of God's salvation. This is the book that refers
to what Jesus said when he said, Lo, in the volume of the book
it is written of me to do thy will. And lo, the book of salvation,
this will and purpose of God. Notice what troubled John. It
was sealed. It was not sealed with one seal. It was sealed with seven seals.
What does that mean? It was perfectly sealed. That's
what the number 7 represents, perfection. And so he sees this
book in the hand of God which contains the salvation of God. And he cannot know the salvation
of God because it's sealed. It's sealed. It was divinely sealed. calls the gospel of Jesus Christ
in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom of God,
the hidden wisdom of God, which God ordained before the world
unto our glory, which no man knew, no man knew. I hath not
seen nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man what God
hath prepared for them." What God had written in this book,
no man knew. No man could know. No man could
find it out. It was sealed. It was sealed. And therefore, we see in verse
2, a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy
to open the book and loose the seals thereof? Who's worthy? Who's able? Who is capable of
taking the book from the hand of God and opening the seals
of it? Who can do it? The strong angel
obviously couldn't, otherwise he wouldn't be asking. Who is
it? Who's able? Who's worthy? And
listen to the answer. No man in heaven nor on earth,
neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
look thereon. No man of Adam's race can know
God's salvation. No man can be saved by his own
power or will or knowledge. This is what he's telling us.
Salvation is a sealed book. And you and I cannot open it. Go to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. Verse 38. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, Christ,
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that
believe are justified from all things from which you could not
be justified by the law of Moses. Listen, I declare unto you tonight,
I am declaring this unto you, there is salvation only through
the Lord Jesus Christ. If there is any forgiveness of
sins, it must be by faith in His blood and righteousness alone. If there's any one of you to
be justified before God, it must be through this man, Jesus Christ. Now notice what Paul says to
those he just declared that to. He says, Beware therefore, lest
that come upon you which is spoken of the prophets. Behold, you
despisers and wonder and perish. You despisers of God's free grace
in Christ, you who wonder at the sovereign mercy of God that
says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion, and whom I will I
harden. Now, I'll tell you what, some
men just despise the gospel of Jesus Christ. And some men wonder
at it. Some men are curious. And they
want to look into these mystical things of election and predestination
just to tickle their mind. They really don't have any interest
in it, but they want to look into it. You who despise it and you who
wonder at it, if you don't believe it, you will perish. You will
perish. For I work A work in your days, a work
which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto
you. I work a work of salvation in
your day. Listen, today is a day of salvation.
I know this. God has worked a work of salvation
in this man. See, I understand the book. I
understand the mystery because God worked a work of grace. God
revealed it to me. I didn't just learn it. Now,
I knew this stuff when I was a kid. I knew election and predestination. I knew all of that, those catchphrases
and words people use. I was really smart when I was
a kid. But I tell you what, I didn't
know Christ. Not until God revealed Him to
me. And though I declare it to you,
though every word I just told you, you understand plainly,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I tell
you plainly, but you will in no wise believe it. That's what
God said. I didn't say it. God said you
would in no wise believe it. Even though a man tell you plainly. This is because man by nature
is dead and depraved and blind and cannot see the kingdom of
God, no matter how clearly we explain it, no matter how plainly
we reveal it to you. It's not by my power or my skill
that you're going to believe. It is by the grace of God alone
that you'll ever believe this message. That's it. It's by the
power of God. Unless God gives you life, unless
God opens your eyes, you'll never believe this, and you'll perish
in your sins. And notice this, John wept. Go
back to your text. When he heard this, that no man
could open it, he wept. He said, I wept much because
no man was found worthy to open the book and read it, neither
to look thereon. No man was worthy to approach
unto God and open this book or cause John to see it. No man by nature can figure it
out. Are you such a man as John? Do you hear the gospel but not
understand it? Do you weep because of your sin
with no hope of ever understanding. Are you such a vile worm as to
not be able to expect any help from God? And there's a message
here for you. Verse 5, one of the elders said
unto me, Weep not. Weep not. Behold, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open
the book, and loose the seals thereof. John Warburton was such
a man as heard of the mercy and grace of God, but he knew this,
it was only for God's elect, and he had no idea how to become
one. He had no idea how it is that
God would ever show him mercy. Not until God opened his eyes.
And when God opened his eyes, he revealed the book. Here is the message to weeping
sinners who have no hope. Weep not, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah hath prevailed to open the book. No doubt this was pointed
out concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The one God had chosen
and prophesied to come. Listen to the words. The lion. Boy, does that not instill confidence?
A lion. Someone who's strong and powerful. Someone who's able to open this
book. You know, in Scripture, when
the first prophecy was given, He said, the seed of the woman
shall what? Crush. I like that. Crush the head of the serpent.
That has to do with power, doesn't it? He shall crush the head of
the serpent. This is victorious language,
isn't it? He shall. And this reference
to the lion of the tribe of Judah has to go back to Genesis chapter
49 when Jacob gave his son that prophecy. And he said, Judah
is a lion's whelp, a young lion. He was speaking of Christ, his
son, Judah's son, the man who would come from Judah's line. It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the young lion of Judah. And this prophecy says, from
its prey, my son, thou art gone up. I didn't quite understand
that. From its prey, he's gone up.
What does that mean? When a lion pounces on its prey, is there
any hope for the prey? Is there any hope? You know, you see those National
Geographic channels, and you watch that deer, and he's running
out there, and that lion pounces on him, and he's got him in his
claws. There anyway, you're kind of like, oh, deer, I hope he
escapes. But I tell you, he's not. He's not, not if he's a
young, powerful lion. He's not going to escape. Jesus
Christ is that lion who was sent to conquer sin and death and
hell. He was sent to crush the head
of the serpent as his prey. He pounces on him and there's
no hope of escape. No hope of escape. And he says,
as the lion comes up from his prey, you see the lion after
he's already devoured the animal, he comes up and the blood is
on his face and he walks into his den victorious. Satisfied. When the Lord Jesus Christ died
upon the cross, the prophecy was he shall see the travail
of his soul and be what? Satisfied. Satisfied. And as a lion gets up from his
prey and enters his den, who will rouse him? Will you go in
and rouse him? Only a fool would rouse Him.
And I tell you, Christ is at rest and no man will rouse Him. He has victoriously conquered
our sin. He has victoriously crushed the
head of the serpent, forever put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself. And you know what? God's satisfied. God's satisfied. Behold, the
lion of the tribe of Judah hath what? Prevailed. Prevailed. And he's also called
the root of David. Notice he's not called the seed
of David. Here he's called the root of David. He's not only
David's seed, he's David's root. He's David's God. He is God manifest
in the flesh. How is it that He prevailed to
open the book? Because He's the God-man and
He cannot fail. That's what. That's why He's
able. That's why He prevailed because He's the God-man. And
now John turns. He's weeping. He's crying. He's
lamenting. No man could open the book. How could anyone be safe? And
he says, Oh, don't cry. The Lion of the tribe of Judah
has prevailed to open the book, John. He's prevailed! He's going
to open the book! And John turns around. But does
he see a lion? I'm sure he turned around expecting
a lion, a victorious conqueror to stand before him. No. What
does he see? Look at your book. And I beheld,
and lo, in the midst of the throne and the four beasts, 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, seven horns speaking of power, seven
eyes being omniscient, This is the Christ, the Lamb of God. And this is Him. You who are
sinners in need of salvation, I tell you this, you'll never
find salvation anywhere else but the Lamb. The Lamb. You remember on the night of
Egypt when God passed through the land of Egypt, those plagues
that went before, they affected all of Egypt except for the land
of Goshen where God's people were. But this plague, this last
plague, it was to span all of Egypt. And God said, when I pass
through this night, I will pass through in judgment and will
kill the firstborn of every household, man and beast. But what was it that stayed the
hand of God? What was it that was to stay
the hand of God? How was there any way of escape? Yes! God said, slay a lamb, kill
a lamb, and not just any lamb. It had to be a perfect lamb.
It had to be a spotless lamb. God said, slay the spotless lamb
and put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and the lentil.
Only then would the justice of God pass over that house and
save the firstborn. Listen, Jesus Christ is the Lamb
of God. He is the Lamb. The Father sent
Him to be the Lamb and He Himself is the Lamb who is the Son of
God. You remember Abraham said, son,
God will provide himself a lamb. Sinners, this was always God's
purpose, how he would save his elect, which were pictured by
the firstborn in Egypt. That His Son, His Lamb, His Son
should be slain, and His blood should be applied to the hearts
of God's people. And God's justice, not overlooking
their sin, but seeing that the Lamb paid for our sin is able
to pass over us. God is not sliding your sin under
the rug. This is the best news. This is
it. That God is not passing by you
unjustly. I know some of y'all have family
members experienced this. A man was in jail and he got
out and he didn't know why. And he was always fearful Of
what? Justice coming back and taking
him back. Believer, we have no fear of
this because the sentence has already been carried out. On the lamb. On the lamb, he
was slain. He was slain. This was God's
purpose. And He was triumphant. He was
victorious. And He has accomplished our salvation. And therefore, we are justified
through Him. We, through faith in His blood,
have the forgiveness of sins. And God cannot, who is holy,
cannot demand twice payment. He cannot. He will not. Behold the Lamb, And now He is
risen from the dead and He comes to His throne. And you know what
He does? Look at that. Verse 7, He came
and took the book. He didn't ask for it. He took
it. Because it was His right. Now as God, we know this, He
wrote the book. Did He not? The Son of God and
His will is the same as the Father. He wrote the book. But yet now
He comes as the slain Lamb and He takes the book because He
has redeemed us to God by His blood. He's able to take the
book because he's finished the work that God gave him to do.
He's worthy. He's the sinless, spotless lamb
that was slain. He obeyed the law of God and
the righteousness of God, and now he comes and he takes the
book because he finished the work. Notice what they sing in
verse 9. They sing, worthy, thou art worthy
to take the book and to open it and loose the seals. Why? Because. Thou was slain, and
hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood." The Lord Jesus Christ
took the book because He earned it, because He accomplished the
work God gave Him to do. What was the work God gave Him
to do? He gave Him the work of redemption to redeem us. A man explained it like this,
once he was lost, and came under the conviction of God, and it
was as though he came before the court of God, and God sent
him, arrested him with conviction, and put him in the cell, in the
dungeon, and he was chained by his sin, and a jailer that watched
over him was named Justice, and Justice would not let him go. Justice could not let him go
and still be justice But one day mercy came with a message
a man named mercy came and he came with the message of this
Deliver his soul from going down to the pit For I have found a
ransom I've found a ransom What did justice demand? Justice demanded
blood. He demanded death. It's the only
way you're getting out of this. And what mercy had found was
blood. Not just any blood. It was the
blood of the Son of God. It was a worthy sacrifice. I have found a ransom for him. This ransom was the blood of
Jesus Christ that bought our freedom. from the justice of
God and reconciled us, completely and perfectly satisfying the
justice of God. Therefore, because he has redeemed
us to God, he is worthy to open the book. And you know what he's
doing right now? What is Christ doing as a resurrected
king? He is reading the book. He's
executing the book. He's fulfilling the will of God. He's calling the names of those
written in the book. He is fulfilling all the decrees
of God and he is calling all of his people that he has reconciled. How is he doing that? All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the word of reconciliation. Be ye reconciled to God, for
God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we should
be made the righteousness of God in him. Through this word
God calls his people. There is no other means that
God has chosen to save sinners. Surely men call this foolish.
Surely they mock and they say there's got to be another way. God said it's not. God said it
pleased him by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
belief. This is how God saves sinners,
through the preaching of this gospel message. And I tell you, God has sent
Christ to be a ransom for all. Now who are the ones singing? Thou hast redeemed us to God
by Thy blood, listen, out of every kindred, tongue, nation,
and people. These people who worship God
here in song are not all men without exception, but rather
they are all men without distinction. They are out of every nation,
kindred, tongue, tribe, and people. They are not every nation, kindred,
tongue, tribe, and people. They're just out of it. So God has sent forth Christ
to be a ransom for some. For who? All who are in the book. Do you have an interest? I don't know who's in the book.
But I sure have an interest to know if I'm in it. You know, I receive a... I'm
injured in the military and I get a check every month. My name's written down in Washington
somewhere. Otherwise, they wouldn't send
me a check every month. Now, I've never seen my name in Washington,
but I've seen the check. I've seen the check. Listen,
I know my name is written in that book because I've received
the down payment. I've got the spirit of God inside
of me, and he gives me every grace necessary. Faith, hope,
love for Christ. I love this book. I love this. I love Christ, who is the sum
and substance of this book. Why? Because he hath redeemed
me out of a sinful race. And now he is calling all of
his elect, and I say to you tonight, why will you not come? Why will you not come? Christ saves all men without
distinction regardless of race, color, age. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold, the Lamb of God hath prevailed. Believe on Him. You
know the only way you can be denied if you come to Christ? You know the only way you'd be
denied is if you come with something in your hand. If you come with your own works
in your hand, you'll be denied. But if you come with nothing
but your sin, he will never cast you out. Never. How do I know? I've found it to be so myself. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. If anybody's ever gonna open
this book to you, it's gotta be him. I suggest you beg for
mercy, and perhaps he'll show you mercy. Otherwise, this book will be
sealed to you forever, and you'll never believe it. Praise God that He has opened
the book. Praise God He is saving His people
from their sins. We worship a victorious Savior. Is He not worthy of your praise?
Is He not worthy of your worship and honor and glory? You know,
that's what heaven's about. It's gonna be worship all the
time. Without interruption, without sin molesting, without anything
intruding, it's gonna be constant worship of the Lamb of God, the
redeemed us. That thrills my soul. Surely
not my flesh, but my soul. It surely does. I pray that God
would even open his book even now to you. Let's stand and be
dismissed in prayer.