Join me tonight in the book of
Revelation chapter 4, and I want to say some things about the
gospel. That's our goal in this place, is to say things about
the gospel. Good news. And the gospel is
called many things in scripture. It's found throughout the Old
and New Testament. It's termed different ways, but
it all points to the same thing. One man said, our Lord Jesus
is both the center and the circumference of divine revelation, and I like
that. He's the center and he is the
circumference. He encompasses everything about
divine revelation. In fact, the revelation of Jesus
Christ is mentioned here, and he is the spirit of prophecy. And when we leave him out of
prophecy, we're just out there dangling. We have a dangling
modifier. There's nothing we can accomplish
without the Lord Jesus Christ. And it becomes speculation. That's
what speculation is, is prophecy without Christ. So here we have
so much said about the Lord Jesus. Now, I want to say a few things
about the gospel and then we're going to look at a term here
in the book of Revelation chapter 4 that shares with us just another
view, not a separate view, but another view about the gospel
and what it is. Now, the gospel was preached
in the Old Testament. The gospel was preached in the
Old Testament. There was not two gospels. There was not two
views of the gospel, Old Testament and New Testament. God preached
the gospel in the Old Testament and he shares that knowledge
with us. He shares, I preach the gospel
in the Old Testament. Would you hold your finger there
in Revelation chapter 4 and turn with me back to the book of Hebrews.
The book of Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2, and we read here that
the gospel was preached in the Old Testament. Now, to some,
as we're going to see on Sunday, to some it was effectual. The
gospel was effectual to some. It was effectual to David. It
was effectual to Joshua and Joseph. It was effectual to them. We
know that because they love God Almighty with all their heart
because God Almighty and Christ Jesus love them with all his
heart. And they only can reciprocate
or give back what they've been given. So, it was effectual. Now, here in the book of Hebrews,
chapter 4 and verse 2, the scriptures share with us this about the
gospel. For unto us was the gospel preached. Paul, sharing with the Hebrews,
said, the gospel was preached unto us. Now, when Saul of Tarsus
heard the gospel for the first time, we don't know. But we know
this. He heard the gospel and then
God appeared to him on the road to Damascus. There is no one
ever saved without the hearing of the gospel. It is an absolute
essential. It is the seed that God uses
and it is essential. There will not be any chickens
born without seed. And there's not going to be anybody
born again without the seed, the word of God. It's an impossibility. Now here in the book of Hebrews,
chapter 4, verse 2, for unto us was the gospel preached as
well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith. in them that heard
it. Now he's speaking specifically
of those Jews in the Old Testament. They're in the wilderness wanderings
and they did not have faith. Why? It was not granted to them. Even though the gospel was preached,
every time there was a sacrifice made, the gospel was being preached.
And there was prophets and preachers and priests that preached the
gospel as clearly as it is preached today. There is no difference. But we find here that it was
not effectual to everyone, but the gospel was still being preached. And we find that the gospel is
called, turn with me back just a little further into the book
of 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter
4. beginning with verse four, this
gospel that was preached in the Old Testament, and it was preached
at the time of the Lord Jesus, and has been preached throughout
the centuries, and is being preached today where God has his people. Here in 2 Corinthians chapter
four, beginning with verse four, it says, in whom the God of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Now
I'm convinced that the God of this world is not Satan. The
God of this world is just purely religion and natural man's heart. Satan does not have that authority. But my goodness, people's heart
is desperately wicked. The God of this world, religion,
has blinded their hearts, minds, and them which believe not, lest
the light of the, now notice this, the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine upon them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. Now
we could just go right back to Genesis chapter one and read
this experience that God performed upon this world in a physical
manner when he gave light and there wasn't even a sun around.
But here to our hearts, the gospel is used for God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. What a description of the gospel
is given to us in this passage of scripture. It is glorious. It's called the glorious gospel
of Christ. And it is also what we preach. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus. And then in verse 6, it says,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel is. It
is preaching Christ and Him crucified. And when we preach Him, we're
going to be preaching about a people that know not God by nature and
must be quickened by the Holy Spirit. We're preaching a gospel
that shares with us that God loved a people before the world
began. that he had an interest in people
before the world was created, and that he is in the business
then and today of interfering in people's lives and bringing
them the gospel, shaking them by their boots. Now, it may be
that still small voice or it may be Saul on the road to Damascus,
but God will get his lost sheep's attention, and he'll do it by
the gospel, and it will break the rock to pieces. This word
is a hammer breaking the rock to pieces. It's a fire that God
places in us. Now we find throughout the scripture
that there's many descriptions of the gospel. In some places
it's called the gospel of peace, and in other places it's the
gospel of God and the gospel of Christ. It's good news. It's
good news. Every time we hear about the
gospel, we are hearing about good news. It's called the gospel
of the grace of God. My goodness, there's no better
description than the gospel, than the gospel of the grace
of God, the unmerited favor that God would show merit upon a people
that are lost and hell bound. absolute contrary to God in every
purpose of God, and yet this gospel is called the gospel of
the grace of God, that he would have an affection for a people
that have no love for God. He says in Romans 8, who are
God lovers. Now he's changed us to do that.
We find that it's the gospel of the kingdom. My goodness,
when I was growing up in religion, we had the gospel of the kingdom
and that was something else. The kingdom of God and the kingdom
of Christ and all these things. What is it? It's the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when there's a king that
has the gospel written about him, it's a gospel about a kingdom.
He's ruling and reigning. It's the gospel of salvation.
It's the glorious gospel of Christ. It's the mystery of Christ. It's
the word of God, the word of Christ, the word of grace, the
word of salvation, the word of truth, the word of life. And
it is what we find here in the book of Revelation, chapter 4.
And turn with me there, if you would. Revelation chapter 4. They're beginning in the middle
of verse six and we looked at that throne. There was a sea
of glass like into crystal And we I just I just believe That
that's speaking about a fountain. That's as clean as crystal And
this is the fountain that god has dunked every one of his children
in to wash away their sins in the blood of christ And when
we are washed in his blood that fountain is as clean as it was
before man ever was dunked. It's the blood of Christ. It's
absolutely essential, but it takes care of every sin. There
is no dirt in the water. It is as clear as crystal. No sin mars the glimmer of this
fountain. No sin overpowers this fountain. It is absolutely pure. And it is as clear as crystal,
after all the sheep of God have been taken through this fountain,
fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, here in
the presence of the King, it is for our benefit to look into
this fountain and see that it is clean. It's not for God's
benefit. It is for our benefit to see
that this fountain is clean because he's washed us and loosed us
from our sins in his own blood. And his blood is so powerful
that it takes care of the sin issue. And it's just as pure
as it was before anybody was taken through it. It's the only
fountain that's just as clean before as in the end. No other
fountain takes care of that. All right. Now, it tells us in
the midst of the throne, middle of verse six there, in the midst
of the throne and round about the throne, there are four living
creatures. This is one area that I wish
they had translated correctly. Maybe it was in their day and
time. Maybe that's what it meant in their day and time. But in
our day and time, beast means something on Halloween. It doesn't
have a positive connotation, but this has a positive connotation. It is another statement about
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will never find
the gospel has a negative connotation to God's elect. Now, it is a knife, a spear,
a sword to cut death into death. There's not much good said about
the gospel by those who don't know it. There's not much good
said about the gospel by those who will never have it. But to
God's people, the gospel is their life. It's the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the message of Christ. It's the goodness of God in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. And there is no negative connotations
about the gospel. We'll never find one written
in the word of God about the gospel being negative in any
sense. If we look at it negative, we're
looking at it with a jaundiced eye. God didn't leave that message. He left it as the glorious gospel,
the gospel of his grace, the gospel of power. It's a glorious
message about the Lord Jesus Christ. And these four living
creatures share with us some things about the gospel. They
represent it. They are a picture of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It shares with us that there's
four living creatures. They're full of eyes before and
behind. Now, that's just another statement
to share with us that the gospel has been the same from eternity
back as it has from eternity future. It's 2020 vision in both
directions. It's been the same in every direction,
in every age, among every people. We don't need it doctored. We
don't need it modified. We don't need it dummied down.
We need to leave it alone. It is the glorious gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Just leave it as it is. It has
been the same from the inception, and I say that because we just,
it's before time began. In eternity past, in the covenant
of grace, and it will always be the same throughout every
generation and throughout eternity. The gospel is the same, the good
news. We sang that song. We're going
to sing about his sovereign grace before his throne. We're going
to sing about his great redemptive purpose and plan in the gospel. Now, it goes on to tell us that
these four living creatures, they have a description. In verse
7, the first living creature was like a lion. The second living
creature was like a calf. The third living creature had
the face of a man, and the fourth living creature was like unto
a flying eagle. Now when we look at these living
creatures as they're described here, they're the same description
over in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel saw the same living creatures.
They're just listed in a little bit different order, but they
are the same description over in the book of Ezekiel. And he's
sharing with us the gospel there, too. Now, when we look at the
gospel, we find that God authorized four men to share with us the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those four men looked at the
Lord Jesus Christ through the eye of the Spirit of God, but
God granted them, when they wrote down, to look at our Savior from
an aspect different from each other. They looked at the Lord
Jesus Christ from four different aspects, and every one of them
is glorious to every believer in Christ Jesus. When we look
at that first living creature, we find that this living creature
shares with us the message that Matthew shares with us. And I
hate to say the gospel according to Matthew. It's like saying
the revelation of Jesus Christ and Matthew was the secretary,
just like we read the revelation of Jesus Christ and John was
the secretary here. In the book of Matthew we find
that he is depicted as a lion. And I say that because the scriptures
share with us in the book of Matthew that he is declared to
be the son of God, king, and divine kingship is presented
to us in the book of Matthew. My, he is the king of glory. He is as a lion, and the children
of God relish and delight in his kingship. It just shivers
my timbers. when people don't see Jesus Christ
as ruling and reigning today. Because you just don't have to
read very far in the book of Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or
John, and you'll find out he's a king. He is king by his word. He is king by his actions. He
is king by his thoughts. He is king over all nature. He is king over all people. He
is king of king and lord of lords. And this gospel shares with us
that kingship. Now, not that the others don't,
but the predominance of this book shares with us that he is
king. There is a small book called
Mark. Mark is the author only in the
sense that he is the one God chose to be a secretary. Now
there's something strange about the book of Mark. You don't find
that this one described in the book of Mark had any genealogy
whatsoever. It doesn't matter when we're
reading about a servant. And that second living creature
we find has a description or the face of a calf, an ox. And in this book of Mark, we
find the Lord Jesus depicted more than anything else as a
servant of God, a servant of the church, and the servant of
his elect. He shares with us his servanthood. Now the church delights in that.
Who would we rather have to be the one who served us? Served us with his voice, served
us with his word, served us with his person, served us with his
life, served us with his blood, served us, this servant. It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he would be the servant. He came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and give his life a ransom for many. He
came as a servant. What a glorious statement. The
God of heaven, creator of heaven and earth, would come down and
serve us in him becoming a ransom. He would be our ransom price. He's a servant. And the gospel
declares the king of kings and him as servant. He is the servant
savior. He is the divine, has divine
servantship. He is a high priest. What was
a high priest? Servant. Prophet. What was a prophet?
Servant. Servant of the people. Servant of God. The descriptions
of the Lord Jesus Christ with his servantship. And then we
find this third living creature, again declares the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ when we see him as a man, as the face
of a man. The book of Luke describes the
Lord Jesus in the perfect manhood of Christ. Now this isn't found
in the book of Luke, but this is found. There is one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. We have the gospel
describes to us the glories of a man. dying for his people. Now he had to come as his brethren.
He had to be likened to his brethren. He had to have what we have,
yet without sin. The great servant, the great
king, and the great man. Now, he didn't separate himself
from God. We don't call him 50% man and
50% God. He's 100% God and 100% man. He is the God-man and our life
depends on the life of this man. Our spiritual life depends on
the life of this man. the man Christ Jesus. He must
be our man. He must be our kin's man. He must be the fit man to take
our sins away from us, like we find there in the book of Leviticus
about the scapegoat. I had a note written there. If
I'm asked to bring a message at the Easter sunrise service,
it's going to be on the scapegoat. and the man who took him out
into the wilderness, a fit man, had to have rule, had to be a
servant, had to be a man, the God-man. God could not die, but
the God-man could. God could not suffer, but the
God-man could. He came born of a virgin. How descriptive we find the book
of Luke is about the birth of the Lord Jesus. He came as man. He was tempted in all ways. We're
tempted yet without sin. And then, that wonderful book
of John. In the beginning was God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This next view
that we have of the gospel found here by this flying eagle, soaring
high above. God, man, God. It's essential that we have God
as our Savior. It's essential that we have the
God This is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord Christ. Jesus is in there. That's the
man. That's the body that was prepared
for us, is Jesus. But right on both ends is the
Lord Christ. He's the man, but he was only
a man in time. Now he appeared in a manly form,
in a human form throughout the Old Testament, but he came, born
of a virgin, the God-man. Now the God-man did things that
no one else ever did. One of the things the God-man
did was he spoke as one having authority and not as one of the
scribes. He spoke to the wind and stopped
it. He spoke to mentally, at a distance,
spoke to a donkey and it didn't have any problem with those who
came and got it. He spoke to a fish. He's God. He's the God-man, the Lord God
Almighty, with God and was God. This is the Savior. Now, in verse
8 of the book of Revelation there, chapter 4, verse 8, the scriptures
share this about these. It says there, the four living
creatures, each of them had each of them six wings about him,
and they were full of eyes within. And I like this part, they rest
not day or night. I like that aspect about the
gospel. It doesn't, the ability of God's word working in people
doesn't stop with sundown. It's ever present, working, comforting,
convicting. It is always, my goodness, it's
full of eyes within and rests not day and night, and this is
what it says. Now we mentioned the other day,
if you don't have holiness about God, you might as well skip sovereignty. If you don't have holiness, you
might as well skip omniscience. If you don't have holiness, you
might as well skip omnipresence. Those things are irrelevant if
you don't have holiness. If God is not holy, sovereignty
means nothing. If God is not holy, his self-existence
means nothing, and his immutability means nothing. Holiness is the
core. Holiness is the heart of the
attributes of God. And when this holiness is declared,
when this holy God is declared as these do, and the gospel does
declare a holy God, Why do we need to be saved? You'll not
approach a holy God on your own. Why do we need a cross? You'll
not approach God, a holy God on your own. You could care less
if he's sovereign or immutable or anything else. If you can't
come before him, if he's not holy, if you can just twiddle
your thumbs and come into his presence, but his holiness. Now when he is declared to be
holy, he is holy, then his sovereignty means something. When he is holy,
his immutability means something. When he is holy, all of his attributes
mean something. His eternality and his omnipresence
and his love and justice, they mean something when God is holy
and he is. So these, the gospel, the gospel
in the Old Testament, if there's one thing declared throughout
the Old Testament, it is God is holy. His law is holy. His word is holy. His sacrifices
are holy. My goodness, you will not approach
God without blood. You can't come into his presence
without blood. And it was pictured by the animal
sacrifices, and to us, it is declared by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is no coming into his presence
without the blood of Christ. Holy, holy, holy. We find this
in the book of Isaiah, chapter six. Holy, holy, holy, those
seraphims. And this Lord God Almighty, if
there's one thing that the gospel declares, it declares Lord God
Almighty. There's no room for a little
g in the gospel. It is a God of greatness, of
almightiness. It is a God that has decreed
and will fulfill His decrees. It is a God that reigns and will
continue to reign. He is the Lord God Almighty.
A gospel that fails on this point will fail on every point. A gospel
that fails on holiness will fail on every point. A gospel that
can be stopped by mere men will fail on every point. It is, as
we read there in verse 8, they rest not day and night. If the
gospel can be stopped by my will, it isn't a good gospel. There's
no good news in that, that I have the ability of stopping the gospel
of the Lord Jesus, that I have the ability of saying a gospel
that has no holiness in it, that's not a gospel. It fails. How the
gospel that, quote unquote, little G, that the world preaches is
such a failure. It's a failure. It's an absolute
failure. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is an absolute success because it declares holy, holy,
holy. It rests neither day or night.
And as it goes on here, it says it declares Lord God Almighty
and besides that which was and is and is to come. the eternality
of the purpose and plan of God. It was not an afterthought. It
was an aforethought that it was before the world began and carried
out in time. And he will fulfill and complete
his purpose when he returns again to take all his elect from the
east and west, north and south, out of every kindred nation,
people, and tongue. What glorious gospel. It's going
to have a successful ending. All those that have died, they
shall be brought back. All those that are buried at
sea, buried 10,000 years ago or however long, there will be
a successful end. And that's the good news. Successful
end. Gospel has a successful end,
had a successful beginning. The covenant of grace had a successful
interim. The Lord Jesus Christ came down
here and he gives us the knowledge that he is the son of God, that
he is the servant, that he's the son of man, and he's absolute
God. He came to testify of the purpose
and almightiness of God. And then it says here in verse
nine, and when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to
him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever. And
that gospel does that, but now notice what the church does when
it hears the gospel giving glory and honor and praise to the Lamb
of God. When the gospel praises God,
Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw on to me. When I'm
exalted, I'm lifted up. Don't give me this little bitty
peanut God. When I'm declared almighty, when
I'm lifted up, I'll draw the powerful gospel. And here it
says there, 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. When the gospel honors
God, the church will honor God. When the gospel is declared that
honors God in every aspect, in all of his attributes, in all
of his glory, in all of his purpose, when he's honored as a servant
and as a king, when he's honored as the son of God and the son
of man, when the gospel is declared and made, declared to be holy,
declared from beginning to end, and declared that it will be
successful, what's the church do? Follow suit. Church follows suit. Church says,
the gospel said it, I'll do the same. What's the church do? The 420 elders fall down before
him and sat on the throne and worship him. Why? As the gospel, it's like a riptide
catches us, it puts us in the same motion as the gospel. catches
us, puts us in the same bowing of the gospel, same respect of
God as the gospel, the greatness of God declared in the gospel
and his success in salvation. The wind just catches and places
us in the presence of him. We're doing it voluntarily against
our will. We're caught up. We're taken
hold of. were gripped, were brought through. And here it says, the four and
20 elders fell down before him that sat on the throne and worship
him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before
the throne, saying, now this is what the gospel has said all
along. The church just gets caught up. It's a voluntary, involuntary
action. The gospel declares it in such
We can't come to the end of it. I don't know what it is before.
What's it say over there? It says, liveth forever and ever. Holy, holy, holy. I don't understand
all that, but you know what happens? This is what we'll say. Thou
art worthy, oh Lord, as a result of the gospel. the good news,
Christ Jesus the Lord. It is that glorious gospel. It's
the gospel of peace. It's the gospel of Christ. What
does it produce? 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. What is the
result of the gospel to our heart? Sovereign grace of God. Everything redounds to your glory. Everything was created by you
and you have pleasure in everything you created. And what's the greatest
creation of God? Not just man. The greatest creation
is new birth. It's God's greatest creation.
Now, second is creating man. But the greatest creation is
the new creation in Christ Jesus. And that produces a new language. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power. What just happened? The gospel
has been declaring it from eternity to eternity. been declaring God
the Son, the Son of God, the Servant, the Lord God Almighty,
and when this works in the hearts of God's people in the church,
there's not having a mealy mouth about a little bitty God that
can't get anything done. They're just worshiping a great
high priest, a great God, a great king, a great prophet, a great
word. 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. Now the same
power that brought those that came after the Lord Jesus with
spears and sticks and forks and shovels and everything else and
he put them on their face is the same power that we get bent
over with to worship him. We just don't come up with dirt
in our face. We come up with a worshipful
attitude about God. He has bent us over. He has brought
us to worship. He has caused us to see him as
king. He has caused us to see him as
lord. He has caused us to see him as
they see him. The church saw him. We put it this way, the scripture
says this, and for thy pleasure thou has created all things and
for thy pleasure they are and were created. We just go back
to the book of First Kings and say, well, there's hewers of
wood and drawers of water. God put them on the earth for
his people. Or we put it this way. The world is a, God is the,
is the master. He's in charge. And the elect
are the actresses and actors, and everything else is props. That's saying the same thing.
For thy pleasure, you've created all things, and for thy pleasure
they are and were created. Now, my grandfather was a rapscallion. He was not a good man. My dad was beat within inches
of his life. He was a drunkard. He left his
wife and my dad's mother when my dad was 12 years old. But
you know what? God used him to get me here. He was a rascal. And just think of the numbers
of rascals God has used to get his elect born. Nobody else in
the world paid any attention to Christ except he brought us
to the point by whatever birth we were brought, brought us to
the point that we'd hear the gospel. God has created all things
and for his glory they were created. So the church bows and says,
we worship you. We worship you. You're holy,
holy, holy. That's what the gospel declares.
And what's the church? We agree. We're not going to
have a vote against it. We agree. We agree with everything
the gospel declares. We hold it high and honor it
long. It is so glorious. It is so good. that God, using the same power
that he put those rabscallions that came after to arrest him,
causes us to worship him. And they bowed, and they worshiped
him, and they cried, Thou art worthy, O Lord. And the church
has been doing that in every generation. Every member of the
church has been praising it. Then we say, well, what about
all those that are not? I said, every member of the church,
of the Lord's church does that. Well, what about all those that
say they're Christians and don't do that? I said, every member
of the church does that. Now, I find out that there's
just a, it limits, doesn't it? There's a whole bunch of people.
I don't agree with that. Well, every member of the church
agrees with it. Four and 20 elders agreed with
it. Old Testament and New Testament saints agree with it. Doesn't
matter whether there's a bunch of people that don't agree with
it. The church has always agreed with the gospel and never fussed
about it. They said, yay and amen. And
everything was created by you and for your pleasure were they
created.