I've got He is God, the one true God,
and He will provide our needs. Our God, He is God, the one true
God, and we will provide our needs. Are you down? It's like rough. Does it seem too tough? Is the God that we'll provide? Are you scared? Do you fear? That He's not quite so near? Our God will provide our need. Our God, He is God's, the one
true God, and He will provide our needs. Our God, He is God's, the one
true God, Do you worry what to do about
tomorrow's closing food? Our God is the God that will
provide. Enough for today. We'll go ahead. Lead the way. Because our God
will provide our needs. Our God. He is God, the one true
God and He will provide our needs. Our God, He is God, the one true
God and He Let's all thank Him all the more
for everything He has in store. Our God is the God that will
provide. Here on earth, we have all we
need, and He'll sustain us until eternity. Our God will provide
our needs. Our God is God, the one true
God, and He will provide our needs. Our God is God, the one true
God, and He will provide our needs. And while you're turning, let
me tell you how much I have enjoyed myself. I appreciate Paul and
Mindy so much for taking such good care of me, and I thank
you all for taking such good care of me, for your wonderful
attention and appreciation for the gospel. I am so thankful for the fruit
that God has given Brother Paul since he's been here. Oh, my,
how he's blessed your ministry. All those men down there a minute
ago, oh, my, he's blessed your ministry. He's blessed the message
here so much. I'm so thankful for it. It gives me great joy, great
joy to meet the Lord's people and be of the Lord's people.
And you know, we're the sheep of his pasture. It's He that
made us and not we ourselves. And it's a mysterious thing.
We can go for years and not see one another. And yet we see one
another just like we just saw one another just a day or two
ago. Pick up right where we left off. I'll pastor another church
in another state, and I'm just as comfortable here as if I was
at home and feel like I'm at home. That's the mystery of the
gospel. It's the body of Christ. It's
wonderful, ain't it? Thank you all for your generosity,
your goodness, your love, and allowing me to come and say what
little I've got to say. I want to try to deal with all
of Revelation chapter 5 tonight, and who is worthy. Who is worthy. And what we'll do, instead of
reading it and then going back and going over it, we'll just
go over it as we go. That's what we'll do. But you've
got to set this up. Let's look in verse 1 of chapter
4. After this, this is John speaking now, John the Apostle, the beloved
John. And after this, I looked, and
behold, a door was opened in heaven. He had a door opened
into heaven itself. And oh, he saw things there,
and oh, he saw the glory of God and the God of glory. And he
heard a voice like a trumpet, music, a musical voice. And he said to me, come up here. And I took him up. And he was
in the spirit. Now he's in the spirit, the Holy
Spirit's got him. And he's in the spirit. And he's
in a spiritual condition. And he saw the throne of God
set in the heavens and saw all the glory around the throne of
God. He saw the four and twenty elders and those four and twenty
elders, twelve of them represent the Old Testament saints. Twelve
of them represent the New Testament saints. Old Testament saints,
the twelve patriarchs, the New Testament saints, the apostles.
And so actually he sees all the saints of God represented around
the throne. And he sees the glory of God
around the throne. And there he sees some glorious things. He sees the rainbows. He sees
all the things and all the glory and all the jewels around the
throne of God. But then here in chapter five,
what he sees is this. And the thing is that the Bible
is not written in book chapters and verses. You know, if you
take the verses out and take the chapter headings off and
read it that way, you get the continuation of it, the following
of it. And wherever you see those little
little hook things, I don't see none right here, the little hook
things, but that's the beginning of a paragraph. But here, John,
he saw God's glory. And he was in the heavens and
he saw the glory of God there. Then he comes here in chapter
five and he sees the government of God. He sees the government
of God. And here he starts out by saying,
I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book,
a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven
seals. And here he sees and he said,
I saw first of all, I saw a throne. Now he sees somebody sitting
on that throne. And that one sitting on that
throne's got a book. And in the right hand of that
person on that throne is this book. And this book, beloved,
this book is written on the, within and on the backside. It's
a book that on both sides of the pages, it's got writing on
it. Writing on both sides. And it's sealed with seven seals.
Now, this book is God's eternal decree. His eternal purpose. It's His counsel. Known unto
God are all his works from the creation of the world. As God
thought, so surely shall it come to pass. As he hath purpose,
so shall it stand." God's purpose will never be frustrated. What
he's going to do, he's as good as done. You know, the will of
God, you know, he willed to save us, so the will is as good as
the deed, as far as God's concerned. Now, you and I can will something,
and there's a thousand things that can happen. But not with
God. The will is as good as the act.
As good as the deed. And here's this book. And this
means that the affairs of this world are fixed. And they're
everyone written in this book. They're written in this blessed
book of everything for you and I to know. Everything that we're
not to know. And everything that's in this
book is for his glory and for our good. It's in this blessed
book right here. And this book is in his right
hand. That's his authority. That's his power. That signifies
he that's got all might and all authority and all power. And
this book is sealed. It's known to no one, no one
at all, but himself. It's got a seal, seven seals.
Seven seals. And nobody knows what it is in
that book but himself. Until he allows it to be opened,
Nobody will ever know exactly what God wills to do, what God's
purpose is to do, what his decree is, what his counsel is, what
his plan is, what he intends to do while this world's going
on like it is. And also, when it says here,
still with seven seals, these seals also means that this book
or the will of God in it, the purpose of God has not been executed,
not been executed. You know, when somebody dies,
you know that seal on that That will, you know, they execute
the will. Well, this book here, the seal
with these seven seals, means that the will hasn't been executed. The plan hasn't been executed.
The counsel hasn't been executed. And also, the seven seals means
that they're secret. Sealed is secret. And all the
scriptures tell us who has known the mind of the Lord. Who has
ever been his counselor? Who has ever given to him and
has to be reconvinced? And if this book remains sealed,
if this book remains sealed, God's purposes will not be executed. His will will not be made known.
His purpose won't be carried out. His plan won't be known
to anybody. But for those seals to be broken,
Not only means that they'll be revealed, but it'll mean that
God's purpose will be carried out. His decrees will be carried
out. But who is worthy to open this book? Who is worthy? That's
what I want to talk about. And then look what he said. And
he said, Now I saw in the right hand a book written on both sides
of the pages, sealed. God's authority, God's powers
got it. It's the secret things of God.
It's the secret will of God, the purpose of God, the power
of God, the counsel of God. It's not been executed. And then
he said, I saw something else. I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. Oh, I saw a strong angel. And
this strong angel, this great mighty angel, This angel from
the throne of God, he stands up and he makes a challenge to
the whole universe. He issues a challenge and he
issues it loudly and he says, who is worthy? Who is worthy? Let everybody hear. And he uses
a loud voice, and it's a clear voice. And who has the strength? Who has the wisdom? Who has the
power? Who is sufficient to know God's
will, to know God's purpose, to know God's counsel, and carry
it out and execute it? Who is worthy to take that book
and reveal the purpose and plan and carry out the purpose of
God Almighty? Who is worthy to do that? Oh, my, who's sufficient
to do it? Look what he says now. And no man in heaven. Now, he
challenges this challenge. Who's going to answer this challenge?
And he says, no man in heaven. Nobody in heaven could. There's
24 elders. There's 24 men. There's four
beasts around that throne. All these heavenly angels. There's
a strong angel himself. There's nobody in heaven can
take that book. Gabriel can't take it. Michael can't take it.
Who's going to open this book? Who's going to execute God's
will? Oh, my. And then he says, none on earth.
Oh, the wisest man, the magicians, the soothsayers, the so-called
prophets and apostles, the bishops, the Catholic priests and the
popes and the right reverends and the Doctors of divinity and
masters of divinity, he said, where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Where is that
man that can stand on this earth and reach up and take God's book
and carry it out? Who can open it and carry it
out? Oh, my. Then he says, watch this, and
there's none under the earth either. Not any of the fallen
angels, Lucifer himself. That son of the morning, none
of the departed spirits of men, they can't open it. And then,
watch what it says, none of these was able to open the book. They
couldn't do it. And not only was they not able,
now watch this, able to open it, but they wasn't even worthy
to look on it. They couldn't even look on it.
Can't even get close enough to the throne. Rick ain't worthy
enough even to get to the presence of God to even look at the book,
much less open it. Oh, who in the world? Who is
worthy? Who is worthy? And oh, no, John, he does like
you and I do. And oh, my, he started crying.
Oh, he started crying. He said, I wept much. He began
to weep. He began to cry. And why are
you weeping, John? Why are you crying so much? Because
no man was found worthy. And if this blessed book is not
opened, if this blessed will of God that's hid in this book,
this covenant of God, this purpose of God, this will of God, this
redemption, if this book is not opened, there'll be no redemption.
There be no executing of God's will. There be no carrying out
of God's purpose. He saw God's glory in chapter
four. And now he weeps because no one is worthy to open the
book and reveal the glory in that book. They ain't able to
open it. They ain't able to read it. And
they ain't able to look on it. And old John begins to cry. What's going to happen to us?
Where's the person? There's the will. There's the
purpose of God. That's the will of God. Nobody knows it. Nobody will ever know it. He's
in glory. Who's going to know this? Who's
going to see it? Oh, and John's just crying. John's just crying. Oh, but watch what he says now. And one of the elders, I don't
know which one it was. It don't make any difference,
does it? And if it had been me or you, we'd have put our name
in there. But this shows us that this is
God's book. And one of the elders, it don't make a difference who
it was, they said to John, said, said unto me, John, quit crying. Just quit crying. Weep not. And oh, this wasn't an angel
telling John not to quit crying. An angel don't know nothing about
weeping. This is a person who has experienced the redemption
of God. This is a person who knows God. This is a person who has, God
has done something for. This is one of the elders. And
he said, oh, I know. He said, behold, we have a conqueror. We found
one word. We know one is sufficient. And I'll tell you who he is.
He said, behold, I want you to stop right now, John. Shut up
crying, dry your eyes. Behold, I know He's the Lion. He's the Lion. And Lion is fierceness,
strength, might. Behold the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, that royal tribe called, that kingly tribe. Oh, behold
the Lion. And oh, the scepter shall not
depart from Judah until Shiloh come. And Shiloh is going to
bring that peace. And then not only is it the line
of the tribe of Judah, but watch this, the root of David. The
root and offspring of David. He's the son of David, the king
of glory. That war that God said the son
of David, he's going to give him his throne forever. He'll
reign on his throne eternally. And of his government, there'll
be no end. Oh, that king of glory with power. And this is what I love. I love
this next two words. hath prevailed. I can't read
them two words without seeing my Savior facing everything that's
against me and you. When you think about somebody
prevailing, you think about somebody in a struggle. In a struggle. And he prevailed. And what did he prevail over?
Well, there's lots of things. before that book can be opened
to you and me. There's got to be sin conquered. I can't conquer it. I can't defeat
it. People say all the time down
home, they say, boy, you better quit that sin and you better
overcome that sin. You better put this sin away and that sin
away. I ain't never in my life put away one sin. In fact, I'm
not never going to put away any sin. You know why? Because he hath
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself once for all time,
for all his people, and for all of their sin. And he conquers sin. That's the
greatest obstacle. And then there's this horrible
thing called this. This thing that absolutely terrifies us.
I remember when I was in the Marines, 19 years old. That's
a long time ago. And I was one miserable human
being. I hated God. I was mad at God. Mad at my mother. Mad at my father.
Mad at the world. Mad at the government. Mad at
everybody. Mad at everybody. I took a .45
one time. Put that thing right up there.
And you know why I do it? Well, of course, now we know
it's God. I ain't told this in years and years, but I put that
right there. 19 years old. Now 45. And I said, I believe in this
world, but I was scared to death of what was on the other side.
As miserable as I was, I was scared to death of what I'd face
when I left here. I ain't no more. But I ain't
gonna put no guns in my head either. No, no. I'm not afraid
anymore. I know what's on the other side
now. That's why we earnestly groan to be clothed upon with
that house eternal made in the heavens. You see, he conquered
death. Death, where is your sting? He
went into the grave. And when He come out of that
grave, He perfumed it. He left a sweet fragrance in
it. He left a sweet smell in it so that when we go by it,
we can leave our loved ones and say, we'll see you later, honey.
We'll see you later, sweetheart. We'll see you tomorrow, babe.
Tomorrow I'm going to see you, and I'll see you in glory. Why?
Because He prevailed. He prevailed. And oh, my. And He prevailed by satisfying
God's righteousness and fulfilling God's holy law. He conquered
the world. He conquered sin. He conquered
Satan. He conquered all that was against us. You know, in
Colossians 2.15, it says that he took everything that was the
handwriting that was against us. And all the ordinances that was
against us. You know, whenever they used to take somebody and
hang them or they read that they put their crimes against them
on their Write out all of our crimes. Well, our crimes were
written out in great big letters. Sin, lying, stealing, cheating,
murder, adultery, fornication. All of our sins up there. And
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. Well, our
Lord Jesus Christ, He took all of our crimes. All indictments
that was against us. And it says He nailed them to
His cross. And He took them out of the way.
made a show for everybody to see. And He triumphed over them. We're at His cross. You see why this makes me happy. I can't help it. That just blesses.
You know, He prevailed. And if He prevailed, I prevailed. If He conquered, I conquered.
When He died, I died. When He bore sin, I died to my
sin. God don't let me or you get by
with sin. He punished our sin. Where at? In His Son on the cross. My soul, my sins, O the bliss
of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross. I bear them no more. Praise the
Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. It
says here he prevailed. What did he prevail to do? Open
that book. And he loosed them seals, seven
of them. It would be one thing to be able
to open one seal, but to open seven of them. And watch this
now, and I beheld, and lo, in the middle of the
throne, right in the midst of that throne, and of the four beasts in the
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb. That's what I mean. This is how
I prevailed, by being the Lamb. By being the Lamb. And out among
all them elders and around them beasts, there stood a Lamb. And
guess what? When we see Him in glory, we'll
see Him just like John did. A Lamb as it had been slain.
We'll see the evidence of our redemption. We'll see the evidence
of Him bearing our sins in His own body. You see, He was a Lamb
as it had been slain. He earned the right. paid for
the right to take that book and open it and loosen them seals. And watch what, and then it says,
and He took, and this just amazes me. Look in verse 7. And He came. Who did? This Lamb that had been
slain, that prevailed, and that's how He prevailed, by being slain.
And He came and took the book out of Him, out of the right
hand of Him that sat on the throne. Who in the world would be Who
would dare go into the very presence of God? Who would dare walk up
to the throne of God? Who would dare go into the presence
of light that no man has ever seen and poached unto? Who would
dare walk up to God Almighty and reach Him up to His right
hand and take a book out of His hand? Who would dare do that? Well, I am. You'd better walk it up to God.
There He dwells in all of His glory and His might, and the
angels are crying, the beasts are crying 24 hours a day, 7
days a week, 12 months a year, throughout eternity and eternity
and eternity, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.
And then He walks up to her and reaches in there and He's right
here and gets that book. Who would dare do that? The Lamb
that was slain. Oh, my. No wonder John said,
Behold, the Lamb of God. No wonder, beloved. God said
to Moses, let every man take a lamb for a house. I've got
a lamb for my house. And guess who provided it? God
provided it. I'm like Abraham going up that
mountain. Father, we got the wood. We got
the fire. We got everything we need. We got the knife. But where's
the lamb? He said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb.
And he provided himself a lamb. And oh, bless his holy name.
And it says that he was as a lamb led to the slaughter. As the
sheep before his shears, he is dumb, and he didn't open his
mouth. And he came and took that book.
And then look what else he had there in the last part of verse
6. This lamb had seven horns. We all, we know, and Brother
Paul told you, pastor, your pastors told you many times, seven means
perfect. Seven means perfect. He had seven
horns. Horns represent power. Power. When you get around something
with horns, you get around a big bull with horns, or a cow with
horns, you stay clear of them. They'll hurt you bad. Well, he's
got power. He's got perfect power. Now,
when anybody in this world's got power, they'll always abuse
it. Here's one who has perfect power,
and he always uses it perfectly. He uses it just exactly right. It was his power that conquered
me. It was his power that conquered
you. It'll be his power that'll make
his enemies his footstool. It'll be his power in the gospel
that comes and encourages you and strengthens you. It's his
power, beloved. His authority. He's got all power
in heaven and earth. Perfect power. And uses it exactly
right. Never abuses it. never misuses
it, always uses it exactly the way it ought to be used. And
not only that, but look what else he says. He has seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God. Oh, seven eyes, seven spirits. That means he sees everything
all, sees everything perfectly. You know, when We used to, we
used to get meanness, we'd hide to do it. Used to, you know,
I used to sneak, when I was a little boy, sneak out behind the bar
and smoke, steal cigarettes and smoke, and go get apples and
watermelons, always sneak around the dark to do things. Because
I didn't want to get caught, didn't want nobody to see me.
Now, I don't have to sneak anymore. God sees everything I do. And
you know what I find such joy in that? You know, here I stand,
as frail, and as weak and as miserable as I am, a human being,
a man full of faults and infirmities, and if you don't believe me,
next time you see Mary, ask her. But you're talking about her,
and I'm not, it's not a false humility. God knows it, but I'm
telling you I find assurance in that man that I can come to
God just like I am. He knows me inside and out. There's
just no reason. You know when I go in, you know
when I go out. You know what I think before I think it. He said, if
I go up, He said, I'll meet you there. If I go down, I'll meet
you there. There's no place that I don't go that you're not. And
oh my, just like that glass of water, I'm as clear as crystal
to God. What comfort. What assurance. What joy that He sees us, and
right now, in this seven-spirited, all over the earth, God beholding
everything. And His eye is always on His
people, always on His people. And oh my, well, and then it
says He took that book, He took that book, and it says
out of the throne of Him that You see, our Lord is the One
who executes God's will. He's the only One who can take
that book and break them seals and open it. And He's the One. If you want to know the will
of God, it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't want to
know the purpose of God, it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said it like this, The
Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands.
Let's look at Hebrews chapter 2, just a minute. You know, in
Ephesians 3.11, I'll quote that to you while you turn over here,
it talks about God's eternal purpose which is in Christ Jesus.
Our Lord, the Lamb, took that book out of Him to set upon the
throne, out of His right hand. He's the only one. God said,
here's my will, here's my purpose. You carry it out. I'm going to
put all my eggs in one basket. I'm going to put all my purpose,
all my will, all my counsel, everything in this world, I'm
turning over to you." And he took that book and he opened
it. And believe me, he's carrying out the will of God. He's executing
it just exactly the way it's supposed to be. Just exactly. Look in Hebrews 2.8. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection
unto him, he left nothing that is not put unto him." But now
watch this now. But now we see not yet all things
put unto him. As far as our natural eye sees,
we see all these governments, they don't seem to be unto him. We see all these rebels, they
don't seem to be unto him. We see all of our loved ones,
they don't seem to be unto him. Oh, but we're not looking with
this natural eye. But guess what the next word
says, but we do see Jesus. We do see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor. Oh, we see him. And all we know,
we know that it may not look like everything's under his feet
right now. But one of these days, everything that has breath is
going to be under His feet. And we see Him crowned with glory
and honor because He, by the grace of God, tasted death for
all His elect. And here, beloved, here's the
reward of His humiliation. He's crowned with glory. He's
crowned with honor. And God governs this world through
the Lamb. And I'll tell you something back
over here in Revelations. Once this Lamb is introduced
right here, going up and taking that that book out of the right
hand of him that sat on the throne. From then on, it's called the
throne of God and the Lamb. Still one throne, but it's the
throne of God and the Lamb. Let me show you that over in
Revelation 22. It's the throne of God and the
Lamb. And it's that the lover of our
souls, our Redeemer, took that blessed book and opened it. And
because He executes the will of God and got all this power,
she's and knows all. I know my sheep. He comes and
gets us. Executes that power. And look
here in verse 1. And He showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal. Where is this coming from? Proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. One throne is the
throne of God and the Lamb now. All right, let's go back over
it here in Revelation 5. Just look at the response. Look
at the response now in verse 8. Look at the response after
he takes that book out of the throne of him, that Lamb that
was slain. And when he had taken the book,
when he had taken the book, after he had loosed the seal, The four beasts and the four
and twenty elders fell before the Lamb before they had been
around the throne, praising God. Now they fell down before the
Lamb. Oh, my! Why did they fall down before
the Lamb? They adore the Lamb. They worship the Lamb. They find
the Lamb to be so glorious, so wondrous, so amazing, so full
of glory, so full of majesty. They see that Lamb as it had
been slain, and they fall down before They adore the Lamb. They fall down before Him. And
look what they had. Every one of them had Him a harp.
Had Him a harp. And oh, they began to make music.
They began to play that harp. Began to make that music. Strumming
that harp. Singing songs to the Lamb. And
oh, and then there was making joyful music to Him. Making joyful
songs to Him. Singing and making beautiful
music to Him. And then they had a golden vial. And this golden
vial was full of odors which are the prayers of the saints.
And what does that mean? That means this golden vial,
gold means precious, valuable. And here, our prayers, our praise,
our thanksgiving is so valuable that God calls them gold and
he puts them in gold and they ascend just like an incense.
We come unto God offering praise and thanksgiving through him
and unto him. And that's what they all did.
They began to give thanks and praise unto him. And then look
what happens in verse nine. And they sung a new song. Well,
they called it a new song. They had never sung redemption
before. They saw the lamb as it had been slain. So they got
a new song to sing, a song of redemption, the song of blood. There is a fountain filled with
blood. We get that's what we have to
say. We have to sing the word to me.
But I don't know what they thought of, but it was a new song. And
all beloved, they sang a song of redemption, the song of blood
bought people, the song that satisfied God, the song that
allowed God to approach under sinners and sinners approach
under God. And this song is new because he is worthy. and never
had a redemption ever been accomplished before until that book had been
opened and the lamb had been slain. And look what it says. And here's what they begin. This
is the song, part of the song. And one of y'all fellows that
know how to write music and sing songs, you ought to put this
in one of your songs. And it says here, this is part of that
new song. He said, Thou art worthy. That's
the first verse. That's the first stanza in that
new song. Thou art worthy. Now I'm ready to go. So right
now I'm ready. And here's the next line. To
take the book. Now we had a pretty. Now I'm worthy. To take the book. And I, you
know, that's the best I could do. I'll sing that song to you
because he's worthy. Look at the next line of it.
For thou was slain. Oh, how many times have we sung
about the lamb being slain? Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved. To sin no more, to no longer.
It has redeemed us. Oh, that song just gets better
and better and better. You've redeemed us. You've bought
us. All the lambs that have ever
been slain before never redeemed anybody. All the blood of bulls
and goats never redeemed anybody. But, oh, now you were slain,
and you redeemed us. You actually bought us. You paid
for us, and we're redeemed. And, oh, guess who we're redeemed
to? To God Almighty, infinitely holy, infinitely righteous, infinitely
perfect. And, oh, and how did you do it?
And this is all the verses of this song they're singing now.
by thy blood." Our Lord Jesus Christ took His
precious blood through the eternal Spirit, entered into the presence
of God, and God seen that blood and accepted that blood, and
that blood stands there freshly slain. And when He went behind
that veil, He come out, beloved, with eternal redemption for us.
And look what else it says now. And this is the people He redeemed. All kinds, all characters, all
races, all colors out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation. Oh, just look here in this congregation.
Look at all the different characters. All the different races and colors
and languages. And they did advise blood. Paul's been to Mexico and Mindy
has. Some of you all have. Go down there and you preach
this, preach down there and interpreter interpreting for you. And they
sit and rejoice in the message just like you do. They know about this redemption.
I don't know how you say it in Spanish, but they know something
about it. Spanish means sangria. What's
sangria? Blood. Sangria means blood. You
get up and mention the Lord Jesus sangria. They
know what you're talking about. Now look here in verse 10. And has made us. Us. I love us. I love being one of us. There's
a whole bunch of us. And oh, that has made us. He
didn't. We couldn't make ourselves. He has made us unto our God. You sing it. Our God is the Only
God, the true God, the living God. And thus made us unto our
God. Kings? Us kings? And priests? But you know, kings
reign. Kings reign. Well, I got news
for you, beloved. We do reign. We reign on earth
right now. Well, what do we reign over? Well, we reign over the
world. The world don't reign over us.
That's why you're here tonight, because the world don't reign
over you. That world out there is just
nothing but a burden to you. You have to go out there and
work. I understand that. I know you have to make a living.
But you come in here so you can get cleansed and refreshed because
that world don't have no authority over you. And this flesh, you
have no confidence in it. It don't reign over you. Whenever
you feel it raising its ugly head, You find you a place to
pray, you get your Bible down, you start reading, you say, Oh,
God, please, please do this for me. Oh, God have mercy. It don't
rain over us. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
comes in that new heaven and new earth, we're going to reign
in that new heaven and new earth with him. We certainly are. And you know, this is the most
mysterious thing. You know, tomorrow I'll be driving home and you
all go back to your jobs. And you'll go around and people
will not know. They don't know you. They don't
know you like I know you and like you know me. All they see
you as somebody that they work with. They don't understand the
relationship you have with God, the relationship you have with
the world, that it don't mean nothing to you. They don't understand
that. They look at you. They're just looking at another
person. They see me driving. They don't know I'm a preacher.
They don't know that I, where I've been, what I've been doing. And I don't care. Because I'm
reigning, I don't have... I don't have... They're not reigning
over me, I'm reigning over them. I'm the one above. You know,
we're up here. The world's down here. We're
up here. And as priests, we come to God. We don't need another
priest to do it. We got a high priest, and we're
made priests. We can come to God for ourselves. And then look in verse 11. And
oh, he keeps beholding things. I'm telling you, it's dangerous.
And he said, And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels
round about the throne, and the beast and the elders. And he
says, And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousands
and thousands of thousands. He heard more voices than they
could not be numbered. He said, Ten thousand times ten
thousands and thousands and thousands of thousands. He said, I can't
number them. I hear all these voices and they
can't be numbered. And all these voices around the
throne, and they're all saying the same thing that those four
and twenty elders were saying when they saw the Lamb slain.
And, oh, they began to say with a loud voice. Oh, they're singing,
and they're singing that song again. Oh, with a loud voice,
the elders, the angels, the whole universe, and ten thousand times
ten thousands of thousands are saying, and that's what we'll
be doing, beloved. John is seeing what we're going
to enjoy throughout eternity. We are all saying, worthy, worthy,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain. The whole universe is going to
do it. All the angels, we're going to
hear them. And all the chorus is going to gather around. Even
us that can't catch it in a bucket, we're going to sing, worthy,
thou art worthy. The Lamb, and you see the Lamb's
always in capital. That's a title of our blessed
Savior, designating what He is and what He did. That was slain. And oh, they praise Him who is
worthy, and they attribute seven things to Him. Seven things of
this blessed lamb, that lamb that was slain. Oh, thank God. And it says this. The first thing
they attribute to him is power. You're worthy to receive all
power. Ain't that what we do? We just stand back and say, Lord,
you're worthy to have all power. You know how to use your power.
Manifest your power for me. To keep me, to save me, to preserve
me, to keep the church, to keep the dear saints. Oh, you're worthy
to have all the power. Nobody else, nobody else I know. The hard word, that's what we
say. And then what's this? And riches? Oh, who's worthy to have all
the riches? Oh, don't trust me with nothing. I'll waste it, and dumb it, and
mess it up, dumb it away. Oh, our Lord Jesus, the heart
worthy to receive all the riches. Everything that the Father has,
heaven and earth, belongs to you. It's yours. You take it.
You take all the grace. Just give me some. You're rich
in grace. You're rich in wisdom. You're
rich in wealth. Be honest. And out of your riches, will
you give me some? And he does. You know, we draw
out of his... Our Lord, out of his riches, has been giving his
people his wealth. from Adam until the last person,
and you know he's got as much wealth as he had when he started? He's as wealthy now as he did
when he started. And watch this now. Not only
risk and wisdom. You're worthy to receive all
wisdom, to have all wisdom. All the wisdom of God is in Christ. All the wisdom of how God's just
and justifier, the wisdom of how God creates the world and
upholds it, the wisdom of the power of God in the gospel, the
wisdom of the glory of God, it's in Christ. He's worthy to have
the wisdom. And then strength. Thou art worthy
to receive strength all night. You got any strength? Got any
spiritual strength? He does. He's got all of it.
I was somewhere here a little a while back, and I hadn't heard
a song in a long time, and I hope I don't have to hear it again.
I hadn't heard a song in a long time, and it was, Lord, hold
my hand. Let me hold your hand. Lord,
hold my hand. I can't make it by myself. I don't want Him to hold my hand.
I want Him to hold me in His hand. Don't just get me by the
hand. Get me in Your hand and hold
me in Your hand. The Christ is our strength, not
part of our, we don't have any strength. He's our strength. He's our strength. And then what's
this? An honor. Oh, can we honor him
enough? I get so discouraged, and I know
you do too, we do, but oh my, just because we can't do it the
way we want to and honor him the way he's worthy of, We're
not going to quit, though. We're going to keep on trying
to honor him. We're going to keep on honoring him. We'll never
do it like he ought to be, but we're not going to quit because
we can't do it right. No, no, we're just going to keep on honoring
him because he's worthy of honor and glory. Oh, you're worthy, Lord, to receive
all glory. All glory. Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. And then in blessing,
blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh, Lord Jesus, blessed be your
holy name. He's worthy of all praise, all
thanksgiving and all blessing. Oh, if we blessed him more, instead
of not asking him to bless us, if we blessed him more, we'd
get a heapsight more from him probably. But oh, watch what
he says now. And then look what happens in
verse 13, in every creature which is in heaven. and on the earth,
and under the earth, and everything in the sea, everything in heaven,
earth, and in the sea, and under the sea. I heard all of them
at the same time. All creation. I heard them all,
everything saying. That means the fishes, the birds,
the fowls, everything, sea, heaven, and earth, everything. saying,
Blessing and honor and glory and power. I love it. Unto Him that sits on the throne
and unto the Lamb forever. All things will ultimately glorify
God and His Son. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshiped Him that liveth forever and ever. The
church eternal. Old Testament and New Testament
fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. And everybody
said, Amen and Amen. Oh, our Father, our gracious,
eternal God, blessed be Your holy name. Oh, how wondrous You
are in might and power, glory and majesty. And blessed Lord
Jesus, lover of our souls, redeemed us by your blood, loved us with
an everlasting love. Oh, Lord God, thank you for this
wonderful privilege, this blessed time to be with the people of
God, the saints of God here. Father, thank you for the love
of the word of God, the love of the gospel, appreciation for
our Lord Jesus Christ and his grace. Thank you for these people
whose hearts just rejoice for the fellowship we've enjoyed.
Thank you for this dear pastor and his faithfulness. And I ask
you, Lord God, that you continue to bless, strengthen, uphold,
encourage, teach, instruct, preserve, guard your dear, dear people
here. And for those, Lord Jesus, who
have lost loved ones, who desire to see them come to know you.
I pray that you would enable us all to keep praying for him,
to look to you for your word. And, oh, Father, bless our hearts
to be knit together in love while we live on this earth. And, Lord,
those who know you, I thank you for them. Oh, I thank you. But, Lord, God,
most of all, I thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, my Redeemer,
our Savior, our precious, precious Lord. God bless these dear saints,
and use this church to your glory. Oh, God, use it to your glory. Cause it to grow and flourish. Bring forth fruit to honor your
holy name. Thank you, Lord. Blessed be your
name. Amen. Amen. Would you do me a favor, Paul,
when you come up? Would you all sing 258? You've
already probably got some, but I tell you I'd love to hear 258.
258, stand with me. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the depth
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. Third verse. With numberless
blessings each moment He crowns, And filled with His tolest divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock, a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the
depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers
me there with His hand. Donnie, go stand down here and
come by and bid him farewell, okay? You'll be down here. Sing
this last part. When cold and his brightness
transported I rise To meet him in clouds of the sky His perfect
salvation, His wonderful love, I'll shout with the millions
en rave. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the bed
of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me
there with His hand.