Join me here, if you would, in
the book of Revelation chapter 4. We'd like to spend a little
time in the last three verses of this chapter. The last three
verses of this chapter. As we find the Lord has been
privileged to share with John. And John was privileged to hear
and to write this great message of the glory of God in the heavens. And what he got to see, others
had wished to see. And what he got to see, others
had seen but could not write about. But he allows us, God
allows us through John, to see into the portals of glory the
same truths that we read about from Genesis 1-1 through the
entire Word of God. That the Lord is high and lifted
up. The Lord is the Lord of glory.
The Lord is the Lord God Almighty, and his name is Jesus, and we
know him as Jesus Christ the Lord. Now, here in this passage
of scripture, I'd like to read the last three verses, but before
we do, keep your finger right there and turn with me, if you
would, to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter
11. And I want to read one verse
of scripture here, two, in Hebrews chapter 11, about Moses. And a word is used in this passage
of scripture with regard to Moses in the Old Testament that we
find continuously through the New Testament and particularly
here in the book of Revelation. And that is this word Christ.
Now notice these words in Hebrews chapter 11, and it tells us here
with regard to Moses, verse 24 of Hebrews chapter 11, by faith
Moses, when he had come to years, refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter. Now we know the account in the
book of Exodus about Moses and that he was hidden in the bulrushes
and how God provided him a place and provided him a nurse, happened
to be his mama. And he grew up as Pharaoh's son,
or grandson, as Pharaoh's daughter's son. And then it tells us here
in verse 25, choosing rather to suffer the affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Now notice verse 26, esteeming the reproach of Christ. Moses. He was esteeming the reproach
of Christ. Now, Moses had a savior. And his title is the anointed
one, is Christ. And he brought glory to Christ
and praised Christ. And he was esteeming the reproach
of Christ, greater riches than the treasure in Egypt for he
had respect upon the recompense of the reward. Now, I was blessed
with that verse of scripture while I was gone. Esteeming the
reproach of Christ. I'd never tied, I knew it, and
it's so true throughout the scriptures, but to have a verse that just
says that so plain, esteeming the reproach of Christ. He was,
he knew and understood what it was about, that Christ was of
more value than the world. Now, we're going to see that
as we go through the book of Revelation. This is the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And we have noticed in here,
and it may not be the interpretation, but I look at it as a wonderful
application, that these four living creatures share with us
the great things about the gospel. That when we go through the gospel,
the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, In every step of those
books, in every verse of the gospel that we read, it is glorifying
to the Lord. There is no detractors even in
the detractors. There is no way that even those
who did not honor God were not honoring God. They were used
for the glory of God. God hath made all things, yea,
even the wicked for the day of evil. And so even the detractors
were not the detractors. Even the one that betrayed him,
it is said, the Son of Man goeth as it was determined. So here,
these four living beings, four living creatures, and there's
nothing as alive as the gospel when it strikes you. We think
it's a worn out story until we're quickened by the Holy Spirit.
We can have all kinds of thoughts about the gospel until we're
quickened by the Holy Spirit. And that gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, as it's declared in the word of God, and particularly
in the four gospels, is heartwarming and God-glorifying, and the church
bows before it and says, this is the message of my Savior. We read it with delight, and
we do not try to alter it. We try to agree with it. And when we find ourselves not,
we say, Lord, help me to agree with it. We're not trying to
find fault with it. Now here, read with me in verse
nine. To me, the most important word
in this verse is when. Notice this, and when the four
living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him that
sat on the throne who liveth forever and ever. Now, when does
the gospels give glory and honor and praise unto the Lord? 100% of the time. Whenever the gospel is read,
it is giving glory to God. Whenever it is thought about,
it is giving glory to God. When it's preached, it's giving
glory to God. It is based upon the glory of
God. So when these four living creatures,
representing the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in all
his glory and splendor, and giving up the glory that he had with
the Father before the world was, coming down to the sin-cursed
earth, when it is declared, this is what happens to the 4 and
20 elders. Notice with me in verse 10, the
4 and 20 elders. Now these four and 20 elders
represent the church throughout all ages. From the first one
that God wrapped in his grace to the last one God calls out
of this world to his grace. This four and 20 elders represent
them from beginning to end. We can call them the Old Testament
believers. We can call them the New Testament
believers. But in their compact, they are the church of the living
God out of every age, out of every kindred, out of every people,
out of every tongue. And when the gospel is declared,
as it says there in verse nine, when those beasts give glory
and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne who liveth
forever and ever, the four and 20 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. Now, there is a principle here. The gospel speaks to the church
first, then the church responds in kind. The gospel declares Christ in
all his glory. He knows who he came for. He knows who he died for. And as the song says, he knew
who it was finished for. And when the gospel declares
that in the ears of the church, they fall down and worship. We worship before this God who
finished his work. We worship before this God who
finished salvation. We worship before this God who
has purpose to give himself a ransom for many and has also purpose
to come back for everyone that he died for and cause them to
sit down with him in his kingdom throughout eternity. Now it says
here that they, the 4 and 20 elders, when the four living
creatures, when they said this, the 4 and 20 elders fell down
and worshipped. Now this is their song. Thou
art worthy, O Lord. Now we don't find in there, thou
art worthy, O Jesus. Now could have, but it would
have been Lord Jesus. It doesn't say in here, thou
art worthy, O Christ. But if it did, it would say,
thou art worthy, O Lord Jesus Christ. This is Lord to receive
glory and honor and power. The most powerful impression
that God places upon the church of the living God is that he
is Lord. That comes before Savior. That
comes before high priest, that comes before king, that comes
before prophet. Before we ever see those glorious
truths about our Lord, we recognize him as our Lord. He is number
one, predominant. He is in all things that he might
have the preeminence. And that's what the church is
saying here. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy
pleasure they are and were created. And that's the song that the
church sings about God when they hear the gospel. They hear it
and they respond in kind. We hear it and we respond in
kind. Now, this gospel that we find
in the scripture, the gospel speaks to us through the Holy
Spirit and you read the old writers, it's a miracle. It's not something
that we contrive. It's not something we make up.
It's not something that we invent. It is a miracle of God's grace,
and God quickens his people through the preaching of the gospel,
and when that happens, there is a response, and it is thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and praise. This
principle is often found in the scripture and it's exemplified. Turn with me if you would back
to the book of 1st John, 1st John chapter 4. This principle
is found throughout the scriptures. We find it right here in 1st
John chapter 4, but this is not the first and it's not the last,
but it is one of many times that we find this principle found
in the scripture. This principle is that we do
nothing and we have nothing spiritually that we cannot trace right back
to Christ. He is the headwater for all spiritual
blessings. He is the headwater for all spiritual
praise. And not only that, he's the headwater
for all physical blessings. And he's the headwater for all
spiritual blessings. Now notice this, 1 John 4, beginning
with verse 6, it says, we are of God. He that knoweth God,
heareth us. That's an interesting verse of
scripture. He that knoweth God. Now what is John doing? Preaching
the gospel. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. What's he saying? He that knoweth
God, knoweth the gospel. And it's not this, this synthetic
gospel. It's the gospel of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, a Savior that saves and not trying to
save, a Redeemer that redeems and not trying to redeem. He
is a, he is one that does what he says he will do. Now he goes
on to share with us here in first John chapter four, verse six,
we are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us, and he that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we
the spirit of truth and the spirit of air beloved. Let us love one
another For love is of God and everyone that loveth is born
of God and God knoweth He that loveth not knoweth not God for
God is love in this We, and this was manifested, the love of God
toward us because that God sent his only begotten son into the
world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that
we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation
for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. Now, there's a lot going on here
about the love of God and God's people loving God. God's love
for his people and God's people's love for God. Now, let's never
skip verse 19. That's the principle that we
find throughout the scriptures, and that's the principle we find
here in Revelation chapter 4, verses 9, 10, and 11. When the
gospel is declared about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
it promotes the church to give glory to God. It is not something
that we think about. It is just something we do because
God is working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. It is not conscious. It is given
to us. It is created in us. Now notice
here, this is the verse we want. We're not going to get all of
the rest of it without this. We love him. Everybody says,
we love him. What? Because he first loved
us. Now that's the principle. And
we're going to find that principle throughout all the scriptures,
that whatever we're given, God gave it to us. Whatever spiritual
blessing we're enjoying, God gave it to us. Whatever love
we might have for God, God gave it to us. Whatever hope we have
in God, God gave it to us. And that principle is decreed,
and that principle is drawn out, and that principle is laid down
throughout all the scriptures. And that principle is brought
out here in Revelation chapter 4, verses 9, 10, and 11. When
the glory is given in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
church falls down and worships God. It is not something we plan on
doing. I think I'm going to worship
God today. No. It's something we do in our innermost
being because he has created a new creation to worship him
and the song goes out from our soul. Worthy. Thou art worthy,
O Lord. Now, in verse 9, the most important
word there is when, to me. And it's always going on. But
in verse 11, the most important thing the church can ever say
is capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Lord. And that's not some sniveling
little lord over there in England that has 10 acres and a horse. That's God Almighty. Lord, thou art worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory. Turn with me, if you would, back
to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. The gospel gives
all the glory to God in all things. Nothing is left to chance or
Adam's children. I'm so thankful for that. Nothing
is left to Adam's children. It doesn't take us very long
in reading the scriptures to find out that the term that the
old fathers of the church used, total depravity, is absolutely
true. It's just in our heart and in
our core. We are stony hearts. I want to thank those who filled
in for me. We're stony hearts. We have not a heart to worship
God. We couldn't if we wanted to.
We're enmity with God. We're at variance with Him. We're
born with our fist curled just like this and is headed for God. And we're saying in our heart,
we're saying with our lips, I love Jesus. And with our heart, I
will not have this man rule over me. And now, oh, the glorious gospel. God sends his army. God sends
his spirit. The hound of heaven, I like one
old father, he said that, the hound of heaven is turned loose.
And he's got olfactory glands that has sheep in them. And he's
going to find every lost sheep because he knows their scent.
And he's come down to find them. And the gospel is declared. And
the gospel always declares the Lord, always declared victory,
always declares honor in God, never despair. And the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the food of the church. And you know
what? It causes our knees to bend. Oh, worthy, worthy is the Lord. Now, notice with me here in 1
Corinthians chapter 15, the Apostle Paul is sharing what was given
to him. And it shares with us here about
the gospel. Now, I have not come to the conclusion
of what it means. And we're doing, we're studying
that. We're trying to bring it out. How that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. We've gone through Genesis, we've
skimmed the tops, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua,
Judges, 1st and 2nd Kings, the minor prophets and many of the
major prophets, the New Testament books. And what we're doing is
we're finding Christ in the scriptures as the glory of God in the gospel.
And every time we do, it causes our knees to bow and worship
God more than we've ever worshiped Him before. And the next day,
it's the same. Because what we worship God today
will not carry over to tomorrow. He bows us again and causes us
to say, worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lord, worthy is God. And
it is as a result of the gospel being preached and taught to
us in our hearts. Oh the glorious gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ now notice here moreover brethren verse
1 I declare unto you the gospel Paul said that in every message
now he may not have used those words but in every message he
ever preached he did not stop until he had declared the whole
counsel of God the first message he ever preached he's preaching
about divine election God is the God that has chosen the people,
and he understood clearly that if he hadn't, he wouldn't. He
knew the necessity of God interfering in his life. He was so self-righteous and
so religious, and he could not turn to God. Now, preached unto
you also that you have received and wherein you stand, by which
also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto
you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto
you, first of all, that which I also received. You can't share
what you don't know, and you can't share what you haven't
received. But once you've received it, you can never share anything
else. You never find the Apostle Paul ever preaching the law again. never preaching Judaism again,
never preaching what he had preached before. He's always preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. From then on, he never
went back. He uses as an example of stony
hearts, he uses an example of the lack of love for God, but
he never went back and he never used those old messages. And
that one thing, Paul and I are alike. When the Lord saved me,
I grabbed all those messages I had recorded in books and hauled
them to the dump. I think two or three survived,
and I wonder why I kept them. Because if you don't have any
light, you might as well not even turn on the flashlight.
It's a cumbrance to have a flashlight that doesn't work. So I throw
them all away. I want something new, Lord."
And you know what he showed me? Christ. In every page, in every chapter,
in every book. And that's what he causes us
to bow our knees over. He says here, he was, I delivered unto you, first of
all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. And I've just not come to the
conclusion of that yet. There's some more scriptures
to go to. And the more we read, and the
more we speak from, the more we see that it's there in greater
depth than we ever thought. You know, for years and years
and years and years, they thought Crater Lake was a bottomless
lake. They just did not have the ability of measuring the
depth. Now we know exactly how deep it is in its deepest place,
almost 2,000 feet. But you know, we will never get
to the depths of what it means to launch out into the deep. We'll never get to the end of
it. The scriptures are just that
way. We'll never learn it all. Now, it goes on to say here,
and that he was buried. Now that's an interesting statement
about his humanity. God come in the flesh, he was
buried. And God's gonna show us through
that burial the greatness of his sacrifice and the greatness
of the acceptance of that sacrifice. Because if he did not take care
of all of the sin, of all the people he intended to take care
of, he would not have come out of that tomb. He'd still be there. And the Arabs would be right. And the pagans would be right.
And the atheists would be right. But, goes on to say there, he
was buried. And that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. The scriptures from Genesis to
Revelation declare that truth, the truth of the gospel, the
truth about Christ. It is from cover to cover. And
when God's people hear it, when it comes to them in the power
of the Holy Spirit, when it's revealed to them, they have one
option. God's people do not argue with
God on this. God's people do not try to take
an inch from God on this. They don't tell God the answer
to it. God is the answer to it. Christ
is the answer to it. And so it causes every sheep
in every pasture, in every place that they've ever been called
out of to agree on this. When the gospel speaks, we will
bow. Just like it says here in the
book of Revelation, chapter four, verses nine, 10, and 11. When
the gospel speaks, the church bows, and we get one of the greatest
songs ever written in all the scripture about the Lord. And everything was created by
him and for him. Now we will agree that he created
the heavens and the earth. But all the discussion that goes
on, what he does spiritually, but the church has always known
what he did spiritually. He caused a new creation in Christ
Jesus. There's a person that had never,
ever had life before. And that's the person within
every lost sheep. He does not ever, has never,
and never will promote evolution by making goats into sheep. But
he will always find his lost sheep. That Holy Spirit's olfactory,
the nose of God is serious. And he can track down every lost
sheep. It doesn't matter if they've
gone through acres of water. He's still going to find them
and he will bring them the gospel and they will believe the gospel
and they will be humbled before God and say, worthy of the Lord. It's the words that Paul used
on the road to Damascus. Now the gospel gives all the
glory to God. and strikes a chord in the hearts
of all of God's people. It's such a clear sound. So clear. It's just a ping. I wish I could sing. I've been
around people that they just, they can tell you when the piano's
out of tune. I can't. I don't know when it's
out of tune until it's so bad. People have such a clear understanding
of the vibration. But this I do know, the vibration
that comes out of the gospel. If it's not there, you just want
to throw up. All right. Back to the book of
Revelation. Would you turn there for me just
a moment? The 4 and 20 elders, oh my, the church, their response,
you can count on it. You can count on it. And it doesn't
matter which nationality. It doesn't matter which creed.
It doesn't matter which religion. It doesn't matter male or female,
bond or free. It doesn't matter. When God works
a work of grace, here's the results. The four and 20 elders fell down
and wanted to. They wanted to bow. They wanted
to bow before the Lord. They recognized him as the only
reason for their existence. They recognized him as the only
giver of life. They recognized him as the only
creator. They recognized him as their
only creator. Have you ever breathed ammonia?
You can't breathe it. You have no capacity to. You
just bring it in and there's no. Oh, that's harsh. That's
harsh. That's terrible. That's terrible. We're so dependent upon air.
That's just the way it is on God's people with God. We're
dependent upon him. And you ever get a whiff of ammonia
religion, it'll take your breath away. You're sick. Oh, this is
so sweet to breathe the clean air of God. This, the church
does not argue with God. The church does not question
God's word. Now, we may ask questions. Sometimes,
some of our best research in the word of God is asking questions
about it. Now, what does that mean? Why are these two words put together?
Why is this word the only word that's ever used in this capacity,
in this place, in all the Bible? Well, and then, uh, an answer
to that is the word used for word in John one logos, very
significant, very significant, or the word that Jesus used for
love. And the word that, that Peter
used for love, they weren't even the same word. Peter's just showing
us an example. We can't speak the language on
our own. We can't form the words. It was
down there in Mississippi and we're walking along and Nancy
brought up that word, shibboleth. We're talking about that and
I just had to say something. I says, in today's world, people
try to say grace and it comes up corks. They just can't form
the word, you know? Gorks! I'm trying, I'm really
trying to say grace, but it comes out gorks, and that's a mixture
of grace and works. You know, you just can't form,
you can't form the word unless it's in your heart. And all the
time it turns out to be gorks, until... There's a new creation
in Christ Jesus, and we can say grace for the first time and
know what it means. The church hears the word and
worships. Nobody's worth a salt unless
he ascribes all the glory to God. And that's what the gospel
does. Now, turn with me back over to
the book of the Psalms, Psalm 115. The church is a conformist. Did you know that? We are conformed to the image
of God. We are conformists. God says
it and we conform to it. We don't disagree and we don't
argue and we don't fuss. There's no orders ever given
by God that any of his people have ever argued with. Now we
may, our boss may give us some words sometime that we just don't
want to do. But the Lord never. My sheep hear my voice and there's
a wonderful response with my sheep. They hear my voice and
they follow me. That's a wonderful response.
Now it's not our response, it's his response in us. Now notice
here in Psalm 115. Psalm 115, verse one. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory. Isn't that interesting? The church
says, don't give us any glory. We know where we came from. We're
just dirt. We're just worms. Not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake. We're not worth anything. We
know where we came from. We know our birth, but Lord unto
you give glory. And you know what happens? When
the Lord gives glory to the Lord, you know what happens to the
church? They give glory to the Lord. When the Lord gives glory
to the Lord, that's the gospel. Gospel's all about giving glory
to the God, giving glory to God. That's the gospel scheme, give
glory to God. God giving glory to God, God
honoring God, God praising God. And you know what happens to
the church when that happens? Right here, thou art worthy,
O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. And we could have just as easily
added this last word, amen. You created me for you. I'm a
new creature in Christ Jesus for you. That's the only reason. Not unto me, Lord. Not unto me,
but unto thee, Lord. Give glory and honor and praise. And what does the church do?
Worthy is the lamb. It's just, boy, God gives glory
to God and the church says, I agree with that. That's our job. That's our only job. giving glory
to the Lord. And when he is honored, the church
gives glory to God. When he is preached, the church
gives glory to God. When he is held up, the church
gives glory to God. And when God gives glory to God,
the church says, I give glory to God. The church is a conformist. They conform to Christ through
the preaching of the gospel. We have no problem with ruined
by the fall. We have no problem redeemed by
Christ. And we have no problem with regenerated
by the Holy Spirit. And then we say, as these saints
have said, thou art worthy, O Lord.