you would join me the book of
Revelation chapter 4 this is such a springboard chapter due
to the fact of what we see here and then just the next four or
five chapters what we are privileged to see we have seen the message,
we've heard the message that the Lord gave to seven churches
of Asia, and how he revealed himself to those seven churches,
and what he had to say to overcomers in those seven churches, and
what reproof he gave to some of those. And we, far be it from
us to say, I told that church about this.
us keep those things in our mind and always be ready to say, Lord,
forgive us if they catch us not to blame it on, put it on someone
else or put it on another group. Those were churches that of the
living God. We're not talking about, uh,
off brand way out and left to right field church. Those were
straight arrow churches at one time. So the Lord, in his grace
appeared to them and gave them his message. And we just trust
that for a season at least, those who were reproved were corrected. And now John is in the spirit. He's been requested to come up
hither and immediately, verse two, immediately I was in the
spirit and behold, a throne was set in heaven and one sat on
the throne. And he that sat was to look upon
like Jasper in a sardine stone, and there was a rainbow round
about the throne, a sight like unto an emerald. And we spent
some time last week looking at this representation that John
was shown with regard to the great three in one, the Trinity,
and how the great three in one are so interested and necessary
and applicable to our redemption. And we saw that they're all interested
and have a purpose and a plan and a covenant of grace in our
redemption. And then when it came to our
Redeemer, all three had participated in his resurrection. And they're
the ones, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are those
that speak to us about the truth. The Father does not have a word,
and the Son have another word, and the Holy Spirit have another
word. They are in absolute, complete agreement on all things. They are one, and yet they manifest
themselves in three manifestations, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
equal in all respects, and yet we find that they have ministries
to perform. for the redemption of God's people.
And then we look in verse four here, round about the throne
were four and 20 seats. And upon the seats, I saw four
and 20 elders sitting. Now there was not one extra seat
and there was not one more elder than could be seated. I sang
those two songs tonight with regard to the church because
that's what this is speaking about, is the church. And we
just want to notice how they represent the church, and we
also want to notice that these four and 20 elders, they're unseats,
they are in sub-thrones. And we found out in the first
chapter that he has made us both kings and priests of the Most
High God. They are in thrones beneath the throne of God and
it tells us that they're doing something. They're sitting. Now
they are expressing to us that their work is finished. Now it's not their work on earth
is finished, their work for salvation is finished. How in redemption,
in regeneration, in God supplying us with his great salvation,
our work is over at that time. We too are sitting with Christ
at the right hand of the Father. We are no longer active or activated
to promote our position before God by doing something good. We rest in his righteousness. He prompts us to serve him and
he prompts us to work for him, but those do not add to nor take
away from the position that we have in Christ. We're just bond
servants delighted to wait on our king. And that's what we
have here. These 4 and 20 elders representing
the church. And we're going to look at that
in just a moment. And they're sitting. And now notice, they're
dressed. They're clothed in white raiment. They have the righteousness of
Christ, nothing else, nothing less. The righteousness of Christ. They're clothed in his righteousness
and they're sitting before the throne and that is the only way
the church can be seated at the throne of God is to be in the
righteousness of Christ and it's given to us just as an example
was shared with us in the book of Genesis when God clothed Adam
He closed him and Adam didn't do anything. He didn't participate. He received the clothing. Now,
whether he raised his hands like we get our kids to do or not,
I don't know, but God closed him. And that's the way God closed
us with his righteousness. We are mute. We stand still,
we have nothing to do with the gathering of that great clothing
that he gives us, but we are the recipients of it, and it
covers us, and it covers us from head to foot, and that is Jesus
Christ, our Savior, covering us from all the wrath of God. He paid the everlasting, eternal
price on the cross, and God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit poured out their wrath on God the Son while He
was on the cross that we would stand free. He became poor that
we might become rich. Now we're clothed in that righteousness.
It's the righteousness of Christ. It is Christ on us. And then
it tells us here that they had on their heads crowns of gold. Now, as we look at this, we want
to see that these 24 elders represent what we have here tonight. Save people. sitting in the presence
of an almighty God. That's what we have here. They
represent us. Glorious church, glorious things
of thee are spoken. Now it's only glorious because
the Savior is glorious. It's only glorious because the
salvation is glorious. It's only glorious because the
plan is glorious. It's only glorious because the
covenant is glorious. It's only glorious because God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit thought it
out, left to us. We know what we'd do with it.
We'd sell it. But it's glorious because it's
Christ given to us. Now let's look at this. In the
old economy, the number 12 leads us to the 12 sons of Jacob. I'd like to go through several
verses in the Old Testament and then go through several verses
in the New Testament that share with us another 12 and then the
book of Revelation just does the end for us. There's a city
whose foundations and whose gates are named and one group is the
12 sons of Jacob and the other group is the Twelve Apostles,
and they are brought together in Christ and made one glorious
church. Victorious. Victorious. The old fathers called it the
Victorious Church. I like a victorious church. successful
in Christ. Now turn with me, if you would,
over to the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis. God in his
determinant plan, in his decrees, in his predestination, in his
providence, he selected a pagan man by the name of Abraham out
of Ur, and he had nothing going for him. He had, it's been recorded,
some 1,000 gods that they worshipped in Ur. I was watching a television
program the other day and they had some tablets. Supposedly
one of them was signed by Abraham. Boy, that writing on there looked
like Greek to me. Some of the earliest writing
there is was on that tablet, but they said this is a tablet
that had something about Abraham. Now, Stephen had this to say
about Abraham. When he was talking to a whole
bunch of Pharisees, he says, the God of glory appeared unto
our father Abraham. Now it wasn't their pagan gods,
but the God of Glory appeared unto Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. Brought him out. Now, we know
his account. He had a son by a Gentile woman, and then he had
a son by his Gentile wife. Because at that time, everybody
was Gentiles. There was no Jewish nation at that time. And Sarah
had a son by the name of Isaac. And Isaac had a son, two sons,
and one of them was Jacob, and the other one was Esau. Now Jacob
had 12 sons by four, two wives, and two concubines. And you know
what? With all of that mystique about
it, every one of those sons was recognized by God as a tribe
of Israel. That's amazing. Now turn with
me, if you would, to Genesis 35. Here we have a statement
made about natural man and what they do, but the final sentence
of this verse is what I want. Genesis 35, 22. Genesis 35, 22.
The last sentence says, now the sons of Jacob were 12. He says in verse 22, and it came
to pass when Israel dwelt in that land that Reuben went and
lay with Bila, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the
sons of Jacob were 12. Now, we're gonna see as we follow
this through that this, you can look up the number 12 in the
Old Testament. They had 12 spoons, they had
12 basins, they had 12 brazen oxen underneath that huge basin
of water. 12 is just sprinkled throughout
the Old Testament. Let's look at a couple more,
Genesis 42, 13. The number 12 just speaks volumes about this, these, uh,
sons of Jacob, and then we're going to run into them as being
the tribes of Israel. Genesis 42, 13. Now they, they
may not have all known Christ. I don't know. Sometimes it's
just, it's just hard to put them into the church, but they represented
the church. It's hard to get everybody in
the church in the Old Testament. It's impossible. But that Jewish
nation, beginning with the 12 tribes of Israel, represented
the church. They were pictures of the church.
They were chosen. They were given all their needs
and all their wants. They were led and directed by
Almighty God. They represented the church. Now, there were people throughout
that time that God appeared to with his spirit and through the
gospel, and they were regenerated, and they were saved, and they
were sealed, and they're going to be with us in glory all through
that period of time. How many? I don't know, because
I still don't know how many on this side of the cross. We don't
know. It's a mystery number. In fact,
it's a number that no man can number. Just don't try to count
it, because God has it in his hands. But the Old Testament,
when we follow through, there's a shadow, a type, a picture of
the church throughout the Old Testament. And it is summed up
so often with this number 12 that has to do with the 12 tribes
of Israel. In Genesis chapter 42, and there
in verse 13, we read these words, it says, and they said, thy servant
are 12 brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan,
and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one
is not. Now, these are the sons of Jacob that went down to buy
grain, and Joseph has not revealed himself unto them yet. And they
are speaking to him through an interpreter, and they say, there's
12 of us, one of them's still back with dad, and the other
one, we don't know what happened to him. And they're speaking
to him. And then it goes on into verse
32 of that same chapter. It says, we be 12 brethren, sons
of our father. One is not the youngest is this
day with our father in the land of Canaan. So we've gone from
the 12 sons to the 12 brethren. Let's just go to Genesis chapter
49 and verse 28. Genesis chapter 49 and verse
28. As time goes on and the family grows, they go from sons to brethren. And now in Genesis chapter 49
verse 28, we read this. All these are the 12 tribes of
Israel. And this is it that their father
spake unto them and blessed them. Everyone, according to his blessing,
he blessed them. So they've gone from sons to
brethren to the 12 tribes of Israel. And we follow them through
the old Testament. Now it is a sad day for us to
go back there and look at them when they're going into Babylonian
captivity and said, now that's where they represent the church.
That is not where they represent the church because the children
of God, the church of the living God, do not go back into Babylonian
captivity. They do not go back under another
king. Their king is King Jesus. Their
king is their savior. Their king is the victor. Those
things. And we read about them going
backsliding. And just remember, when you're
backsliding, if you've ever practiced it, it's not turning around and
walking away. It's sliding back down the hill.
But your head is still pointed towards the object. That's what
backsliding is. We've got it all turned around
in our culture today, religious culture, and say, well, someone
made a profession of faith when they were 18 years old, and they're
just backslidden all their life. Backslidden to today's people
means they've been walking away from the king for all that time.
Backsliding in the Bible with representation of Israel as a
church is, yes, there is a day when we are not making the progress
we wanted to. We hit slippery ground and we
slid back, but our eyes are still on our savior. We haven't turned
around. God prevents us from doing that.
I love to watch those old westerns when the guy's going up the hill
and he's got the horse by the reins and the horse is trying
to go one way or the other and the guy holds him, keeps him
coming. God has reins on his people. He has hooks in their jaws. He's
ready and able and always willing to prevent us from removing ourself
from his presence. Now, if he didn't do that, we
would, but he won't let us do that. And thank God, that's a
victorious church. He is victorious and we're victorious
in him. And the children of Israel, we
never want to overplay them as pictures of the church. because
they wandered around and dropped like flies for 38 years. But that next generation that
came on, now that's a beautiful picture. The second group, the
second birth, they went in under Joshua and not under Moses. They went under grace and not
under law. They entered into the promised
land with grace and not by the law. Moses couldn't go in. Now,
it was a sad day for him. But I believe on the Mount of
Transfiguration he understood what this is all about. I couldn't
go in. The picture would be bad. Joshua
had to take them in. And he did. And Joshua is the
Old Testament name for Jesus in the New Testament. Now, let's
just look at a couple more here. Go with me to the book of Exodus.
Exodus chapter 24 and verse 4. So we think about the church
throughout the Old Testament. God was saving his people from
Abel on. I've met people and I've read
people that say Adam was a believer. I wish I could just have confidence
in that. I wish he was listed in the 11th chapter of Hebrews
and that would be very convincing for me. But his son is listed
there by faith able, by faith able. So if Adam is there and
Eve is there, I'm going to be thankful. But I'm confident about
their one son. I'm confident, because he's recorded
in the great chapter. Now, in the church I grew up
in, those people were not even in the church. But it sure is
hard on me to say that when they're found in the 11th chapter of
the book of Hebrews. They are by faith, by faith,
and by faith, and by faith, and by faith. And all those people
throughout the Old Testament, the just shall live by faith,
just like they do today. Here in the book of Exodus chapter
24, as we think about those 4 and 20 elders, as they represent
the completed body of Christ, the 4 and 20 elders that are
the whole gospel church 12 and 12, Old Testament, New Testament
combined, the one body in Christ Jesus, Jews and Gentiles, male
and female, bond and free, all of the comparisons that are used
throughout the Old Testament as well as the New Testament,
they're on equal ground. Those four and 20 elders, you
don't find them going around measuring their chair to see
which got the biggest one. They're equal, thrones, because
we're all equal in Christ. We have equal salvation, equal
representation, equal love, equal mercy, equal, equal, equal. Welcome, thou good and faithful
servant. And we may go through life saying,
I'm not getting much done. But God is victorious in us. And every child that enters into
his presence will be given that resounding welcome. Welcome,
thou good and faithful servant. Welcome into my presence. Been
waiting for you. I got the slot written down.
I knew you're coming, but welcome. Welcome into my presence. All
right. Exodus 24, there in verse 4,
Exodus 24, verse 4, it says, and Moses wrote all the words
of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built an altar
upon the hill. And twelve pillars according
to the twelve tribes of Israel. There's going to be twelve stones
left in the Jordan River. There's going to be twelve stones
taken out of the Jordan River. And we heard that wonderful message
by Gene Harmon, I believe it was last year or the year before,
about he's able to raise up stones to testify about him. And right
there was a pile of stones that was a reminder to Israel that
Israel crossed over the Jordan River dry shod under Joshua as
their leader. 12, they had 12 golden spoons,
they had 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, representing the church in the
Old Testament, the glory of the church, the mind of the church,
the power of the church, the savior of the church, the keeper
of the church. judge of the church, the Lord
Jesus. Time and time again, this issue
keeps coming up, keeps coming up about the Lord and his church
in the Old Testament. Finally, if you'd turn with me
to Joshua, Joshua chapter four, verse two, there's many, many
verses that have to do with the subject in the Old Testament
with the 12 tribes of Israel representing God's people in
the Old Testament. Now, Paul helps us with this
whole thing in the book of Romans. He says, please remember, not
all Israel is of Israel. And he shares with us that Israel
is not on the outside. It's not the miters. It's not
the phylacteries. It's not the hats. It's not the
curls on the side. That's not Israel. True Israel
is on the inside. child seed of Abraham spiritual
seed of Abraham the stars of heaven not the sands of the sea
the stars of heaven now Joshua chapter 4 verse 2 3 & 4 We have this account, Joshua
chapter four, verse two, take you 12 men out of the people,
out of every tribe of man, and command you them saying, take
you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where
the priest's feet stood firm, 12 stones. And you shall carry
them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where
you will lodge this night Then Joshua called the twelve men
whom he had prepared of the children of Israel out of every tribe
of Every tribe a man Representing the church now when you get over
in the book of Leviticus, and I didn't I didn't go there tonight
but you find that in the book of Leviticus a That high priest
is going to have those wonderful, beautiful stones on a breastplate. The name of every tribe is put
on one of them. Put on the shoulders, name of
every tribe, put on there, representing. As the high priest went into
the Holy of Holies, he is representing spiritual Israel. Now he does
it in a type, he does it in a picture, he does it in a shadow. He goes
in there for this group of people out here. But he is going in in picture
as Christ did, he entered into the Holy of Holies having eternal
redemption for us. There's the picture. The reality
is Christ entering into the holy place having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Now turn with me if you would
to the book of Matthew chapter 10. We enter the New Testament.
The Lord Jesus Christ does what in some respects would happen
in the Old Testament. He chooses Out of his own decrees,
purpose, predestination, covenant of grace, he chooses 12 apostles,
12 specially trained individuals, specially with him. They go with
him. They see him. They hear him. He instructs them more than he
did any other group. and they represent to us the
church under this economy. Now, they're saved by the same
grace as they were in the Old Testament, saved by the same
regeneration as they were in the Old Testament. No one was
ever saved by the keeping of the law. The blood of bulls and
goats could not take away sin. And remember, during the lives
of most of these apostles, the temple service was still going
on, but the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
was right in and among them. And Peter was used as a representative
to represent, even as those 24 elders did, Peter was a representative
of everyone here that knows Christ, when he said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And when Jesus said, flesh and
blood did not reveal this unto you, but my Father which is in
heaven, we get to hear the same thing in our ears. I didn't get
this out of a book and I didn't get this on my own. It came down
from heaven and a special grace that God extends to us through
his covenant of grace. When he opened up my heart, when
he raised me from the dead, when he regenerated me, when he gave
me the new birth, he made me to know Christ. Flesh and blood did not reveal
the son to be but my father which is in heaven. Now, it's a miracle
when he opens up our brain to see it. He opens up our mind
to hear it. It's a miracle. He quickens us.
He makes a part of us that was absolutely dead in trespasses
and sin alive and willing and wanting to hear the glorious
gospel of God's free grace in Christ Jesus. And we just say
hallelujah. And as we've heard several times
in the Sunday school lesson, the Bible class, once you've
heard it, you can never go back to that brush pile. I never want to be in a place
where I, like the cow that's just hungry, going out there
and eating thistles and have to roll those thistles out of your
mouth. It's not worth it. Why not just go where there's
green grass? And that's what we're promised in the 23rd Psalm.
Just go where there's green grass, because that's where he's going
to take us. All right, here, Matthew chapter 20 and verse
10, chapter 10. Verses one and two, and when
he had called unto him his disciples, he gave them power against unclean
spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness
and all manner of diseases. Now the names of the 12 apostles
are these. Now, can we find the names of
the 12 tribes of Israel? Absolutely. Can we find the names
of the 12 apostles? Absolutely. They're listed right
here. Here's the Simon who is called
Peter, and oftentimes we find Peter is answering questions. And also, he's asked questions. He's sometimes our representative. And sometimes he says things
like we say, we should build three tabernacles here. And God
spoke. Now that's grace. Grace. No, we don't wanna build three
tabernacles here. We want to hear what the father
said. This is my beloved son, hear
ye him. Don't build three towered temples.
Hallelujah. We're sitting down. We don't
want to build anything. The building has been made. The
building has been built. Now here it is, the list of the
12 apostles, and this list goes on. There's many times in the
New Testament, part or parcel of them are listed. Now, there
is one passage of scripture, Acts chapter six and verse two,
Acts chapter six and verse two. Now, we have a time when Judas
Iscariot, who was, this is a verse of scripture about Judas, the
son of man goeth as it was determined. Now that takes us before the
creation of heaven and earth, takes us before the creation
of man, takes us back to the covenant of grace, and in that
covenant of grace, it was determined that this man Judas would betray
the Savior. It was in the plan. Jesus was
not caught off guard. It was in the plan. It was in
the plan that it go that way. Yet Jesus said it would be the
Son of Man goeth as it was determined, yet but woe unto him by whom
he is betrayed. And in other places, it'd be
better if he wasn't born. Now, everlasting torment, because
he never knew Christ. Jesus said, I know one of you
is a devil. And he knew who it was. He did. So he is used in this capacity
to betray the Lord Jesus Christ to a group of Pharisees that
couldn't pick him out. Now, there is a verse of scripture
in the Old Testament and Psalms that Peter said, we've got to
take care of some business. One of us betrayed him, and we
need someone to take his place. Now, I've read where Paul was
the one that took his place, but that's not what happened
in scripture. And Paul is never called one of the 12. He was
an apostle to the Gentiles. That's what he says. But notice
in the first part of Acts, it talks about that. And then in
Acts chapter 6 and verse 2, we don't have this new apostle listed,
but we have him numbered. And I want to be in that number.
All right. Acts chapter 6 and verse 2. He
is numbered, Matthias is numbered. He was selected by God to fulfill
a position that Judas, and over there in the Psalms, Peter's
led by the Holy Spirit, brought it up and they took care of it.
It says Acts chapter six and verse two, then the 12 called
a multitude of disciples unto them and said, it is not reason
that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. So he
is here by number, maybe not by name. Now this number continues
through the word of God. Turn with me if you would to
James chapter one. This is an interesting verse
of scripture. James chapter one. Here we have the 12 tribes scattered abroad. Hmm. Double meaning. Now, they may have been Jews,
but he's writing to believers. They may have been 12 tribes.
It says here, James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ
to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. Now, they had
been a lot of turmoil in Jerusalem. They had been a lot of persecution
in Jerusalem and a lot of people left. And this letter is written
to them. God is so gracious to take care
of his people, even in the hinterlands to the 12 tribes scattered abroad.
Now, if they are members of the tribes of Israel, that's wonderful
because he's writing to Christian people. And if that's true, then
we can look at them as a summation of what God had had to begin
with. We're going to make. All of my
people make up one body in Christ Jesus. Now, in the book of Ephesians
chapter 3, Ephesians chapter 3, it mentions this. And then
we're going to go to the book of Revelation and look at several
verses over there that have to do with the subject of the tribes
and the apostles in Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians 3, verse 14, for this
cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Now that's,
the living here is not detached from the saints there. That song
we sing, they may see more bliss, but we're just as assured of
it here as they are there. Now the whole family in heaven
and earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches
of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the
inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith and that
you might be rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height,
and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that
ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. A family in
heaven and in earth. We have brothers and sisters
that have gone on before us. Some of them hundreds of years,
thousands of years before us, but we're still brothers and
sisters. We made this statement before.
I like it. I read it somewhere. There's no aunts and uncles.
There's no grandparents. It's all brothers and sisters,
bought by the same blood and born by the same parents. how
glorious it is to be in the Church of the Living God, dressed in
His righteousness, and sitting at the right hand of the Father
in Christ Jesus. Now turn with me, if you would,
to the book of Revelation, chapter 21. Revelation, chapter 21. We find that it is spoken of
here in the book of Revelation. Those four and 20 elders are
broken apart, if you might, and shares with us what they are.
Verse 12 of the 21st chapter of the book of Revelation. Revelation
chapter 21, verse 12, speaking about this great city. Verse
10, let's back up. He carried me away in the spirit
to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city,
holy Jerusalem. Can you imagine a man that's
in it looking about it? John is in it. He's part of and
stepping back and getting to see it from the outside. It's just figurative language. Holy Jerusalem, great city. The Holy Jerusalem, it just really
rankles me when people introduce me pastoring a little church
in the Dalles. It's a great city. Church is
a great city. It's bought with the blood of
Christ and covered with his righteousness. And then it goes on to tell us
here, a holy Jerusalem, having the holiness
of Christ, descending out of heaven from God and having the
glory of God. My goodness. I just can't get
around that. Having the glory of God. The
church has the glory of God. Now it may not be quite as evidenced
right now, but it is there. Having the glory of God, the
redemptive work of Christ adds to the glory that we have. And
then he goes on to say here, and her light was like unto a
stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal,
and had a wall great and high. and twelve gates, and at the
gates twelve angels, and the names thereon were which are
the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel." Church
in the Old Testament. And, and on the east three gates,
and the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and
on the west three gates, in every direction, The church is north,
south, east, or west. Go to the north, to the south,
to the east, or the west. He's going to tell his angels,
and gather my elect out of every kindred, nation, people, and
tongue. Gather my elect. And now notice on verse 14, and
the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and in them the names of the
12 apostles of the land. Now talk about the total aggregated
group of the family in heaven and in earth. Here it is, Old
Testament, New Testament put together in an everlasting testament. The everlasting covenant, the
blood of the everlasting covenant purchased all of them. What a
glorious, John got to step out of his city and look at the city
and says, this is what it's like now. We're not going to be in
this building like this. It's God's people put together
in a glorious fashion and everybody gets to touch the foundation. Everybody gets to touch the glory. Everybody gets to touch Christ.
Everybody is attached to and grafted into the glorious Christ
that has saved us from our sins. Now, let's go back to Revelation
chapter 4 and verse 10. And we find out what this church
gets to do, the 4 and 20 elders. They have a job, but it's not
tiring. They get to do what we get to
do. And they're just demonstrating
that. They're sitting, every chair's filled, every chair's
around the throne. They're just miniature thrones
around the throne. Great God, our God, Savior, sitting
on His throne. And then around His throne is
the church stationed, represented by 24 chairs, thrones. And sitting on them are these
elders, and they're clothed in white. Now let's notice in verse
10, what do they get to do? And the four and 20 elders fall
down before him that sat on the throne. And what? And worship
him. That's part of the everlasting
covenant. That's what God said, they shall
be my people and I shall be their God. We will worship him in truth,
in spirit and in truth. We desire to now, but in our
spirit we're doing it and there in eternity we will do it. We
worship him. How do we worship him? He gives
us worship to reflect back to him. Now, what's it go on to
say here? They worship him that liveth
forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying,
Now whatever God does with those crowns, there's a crown of life
given to us and several crowns mentioned in the scripture, but
I'll tell you what, there's no such thing as rewards. Abraham was given this. Jesus
said, I am thy exceeding great reward. These little diddly rewards that
are talked about. A man came to me. I printed some
books one time. Oh my goodness. How stupid can
you be? How stupid can you be? Anyway,
a man came to visit me and I told him what had happened to me.
Heard the gospel for the first time. The Lord saved me. And
he was just hoping that I hadn't been baptized yet so I could
be baptized by the right church. And I told him I had been baptized,
and by whom? Oh my, Norm, you just lost all
your rewards for printing those books. And I thought to myself, we're not even talking the same
language. Not even talking the same language.
He is my exceeding great reward. And I'll get to worship him.
I've got to worship him. Not like I want to, but much
better than I used to. Now, this is what they get to
say. Worthy, 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. So, we're sitting, resting in
Christ, Oh, to worship Him, we bow before Him, we cast our crowns,
and we worship Him, and we sing this song. Now, that's not the
only time, though. Chapter 5, verse 8. Look with
me. Chapter 5, verse 8. And when He had taken the book,
the four beasts, and four and twenty elders, fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odors, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sung
a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to
open the seals thereof." What are they saying? You are victorious! And every believer says the same
thing. I like what, oh, John Newton,
we sang one of his songs tonight. A man came to him and said someone
had been saved in their village and he would never again doubt
God, because if God could save him, he could save anybody. John
Newton says, I realized a long time ago, when God saved me,
he can save anybody. Yeah. So they say, sung a new
song, saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open
the seals thereof. For thou wast slain and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation and has made us unto our God kings and
priests and we shall reign on the earth. Talk about a victorious
song. All hail the power of Jesus name
Turn that's not up. Although look what they get to
do verse 14 and the four beasts said Amen, and the four and twenty
elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever
we just get to stand on our knees What a day when we do that. Worship Him every day. And then,
oh, they're not through though. Chapter 11, verse 16. Chapter
11, verse 16. It says this, and the four and
twenty elders were set before God on their seats, fell upon
their faces, and worshiped God. You know what? They're not minding
a bit. Doesn't bother them. You know? They're not being worn out. I
went to church with my aunt one time at Easter. She was a Lutheran.
I'm telling you, I thought I was in PE class. These people don't mind. They're
worshiping their king. This is not just some liturgy.
This is they're worshiping their king. There in chapter 11, verse
16, it says, they fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,
we give thee thanks. O Lord God Almighty, which art
and wast and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great
power and hast reigned. Hallelujah. Thou hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and
thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, and they shall be
judged. And thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants, the
prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name,
small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the
earth. Hallelujah. Gonna sort them out like a shepherd
does the sheep from the goats. But they're not through yet.
Chapter 19, verse four. Look at this with me. 4 and 20
elders chapter 19 verse 4 the 4 and 20 elders and the four
living creatures fell down and worshiped god that sat on the
throne saying amen hallelujah unspeakable words And the voice came out of the
throne saying, praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that
fear him, both small and great. And so as John was privileged
to view this host, he got to see himself represented. Four and 20 elders sitting on
their thrones in robes of righteousness, white linen. And oh, he watched
them. They got down on their knees
and worshiped their king through their crowns to him. We're glad
to be here and we're thankful to be here, but it's all because
of you. And then let's have another opportunity. Second verse, oh,
let's worship him. Third verse, let's worship him.
Fourth verse and fifth verse, they worshiped him. Their king,
glorious sovereign. And that's what the church does
now. at rest, at peace, worship the King. That's all we want
to do. We don't want a stubble. We don't
want a chaff. We just want to worship the King.
Let's hear more about Him. It just draws worship out of
us. It just draws it right out of us.