And I'm certainly glad they are.
It was left up to me, and Ryan mentioned this the other
night, down there in the hospital. He said if we had God's power,
we would change lots and lots of things, but if we had His
wisdom, we would not change anything. Ain't that right? If we had His wisdom. I'm going to deal with chapter
5 tonight. You know I finished up chapter 4 last week and we
saw the throne. A throne, a door opened in heaven
and a throne. And then it said here in chapter
5, And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne
a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven
seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. And no man in heaven nor in earth,
neither upon the earth, under the earth, was able to look,
open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because
no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither
to look thereof. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book,
and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a lamb stood a lamb as it had been slain
having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits
of God sent forth into all the earth and he came and took the
book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne
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 hearts and golden vows full of odors, which are the prayers
of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open
the seals thereof. This is what makes him worthy,
for Thou was slain slain and has 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. And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beast, and
the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands. And this is what they were saying,
with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb, that was slain, to
receive power, riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and
glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I say, blessing,
and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that setteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four
beasts said unto him, said, Amen. And the four twenty elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever. Remember last week when we were
talking about this, John saw a door opened in heaven and he
went in through that door. And when he got there, he saw
God on his throne. He saw God in his glory. He saw
him shining like a diamond. Shining like a diamond. Clear
as crystal. Rainbow round about that throne.
Showing the covenant between God and that the storm is over
and salvation is accomplished. And boy what he saw when he got
there. He's in the spirit. And he saw
God's glory and now here's the God's government. Remember that
that throne represents God Almighty. He governs this universe and
everything in it. That's what that throne represents,
authority and power. And he is the sovereign of this
world and everything that's in it. Now here he comes to the
government. Here he comes to God's governing
in this world. And I tell you, John said, now
he's seeing all these things. He saw the throne. He saw the
20 elders. He saw the four beasts. And then
they all throw down their crowns before the Lord and cried, worthy
is the Lamb. And that's what you deal with
again. Worthy, worthy, worthy. Who is worthy? Who is worthy? Who is worthy? And John said,
when he is up there, he said, I saw that one sitting on the
throne, he had a book. And he had that book in his right
hand. And that book was sealed within and without. It had seven
seals on it. Sealed with seven seals. A book. Locked up. Seven seals on it. Written on both sides. Oh, he saw seven. He said, oh,
it's in the right hand. A book written. Sealed with seven
seals. And this book, this book is God's
eternal decrees. His eternal purpose, His counsels. And I tell you, if you keep this,
and look in Acts 15, 18. I could quote this for you, but
you need to see it for yourself. Acts 18, excuse me, 15, 18. You know, this book is God's
eternal decree, His eternal purpose, His counsel. And look what Paul
said here in Acts 15, 18. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. How long has God known what's
going on? Since the beginning. All of his counsel, all of his
works. And I tell you what, the affairs
of this world, I mean I tell you, they're fixed. They're fixed.
And they're all written in this book here that we're talking
about. Everything for us to know and everything for us not to
know. And everything in this book is
for His glory and our good. Everything that's fixed in this
book. And it says it's in His right hand. It's in His right
hand. That right hand is the power
of authority. It means power and it means honor. Christ sat down at the right
hand of God. That's the position of authority.
That's the position of power. And that's the position of honor.
God said, this is my son. Sit right here. Gave him the
position of honor and glory and authority right there. And I
tell you what, he said it is sealed. Now what does that mean
that it's sealed? It's known to nobody but God
himself. That's what he's telling you.
That's why it's sealed. It's known to nobody but himself. And I
tell you what, nobody will know what's in that book until he
allows it to be opened. Allows it to be opened. And it's
got seven seals. And when it means it's sealed
up, that means it's not been opened yet. That means his will
and his purpose, now we're talking about how this thing goes through
here. It means that his will, his plan
and purpose hasn't been executed yet. And remember what we do
is we have Christ coming, Christ accomplishing His work, saving
His people, coming the second time, and He does that seven
times throughout this whole book, in three different sections.
And these seven seals tells us that they're secret. Who hath
known the mind of the Lord? That's what they said. Who has
known the mind of the Lord? Who's ever been His counselor?
And if this book, If this book remains sealed, God's purpose
is not done, His will is not carried out, and salvation is
not accomplished. And for those seals to be broken
only means that whatever is opened up is a revelation. And I tell
you who can open this book carries out God's purpose and makes everybody
to know what it is. And then look what he said in
verse 2. He said, I saw it. Everything he says here, I saw,
I saw, I saw. And he said, I saw a strong angel,
a strong angel, mighty angel. And this angel was proclaiming
with a loud voice. Oh, he was issuing a challenge. And he issued a challenge very
loudly. He said, who is worthy? He cried
out through heaven and he cried out through earth. He cried out
unto the earth. He said, who is worthy to open
that book and to loose themselves thereof? Who's done it? Who has
the strength? Who has the wisdom, who's sufficient
to know and carry out God's decree, God's purpose, and God's will? Huh? Oh my, he said the child,
who's worthy out there? And look what the answer come
back. And no man in heaven, you notice
it says a man, no man in heaven, nor in earth, Nobody under the
earth was able to open the book and listen to this now not even
able to look on it Couldn't get close enough to look on it, huh? No one could accept that challenge
not one angel could stand up and say I can do it Gabriel didn't
do it Michael didn't do it No one on earth The world and its
wisdom couldn't do it. The magicians and the astrologers
can't do it. The soothsayers can't do it.
The agnosticators can't do it. And there's not a prophet on
the earth that could do it. And there's nobody under the
earth. None of the fallen angels. None
of the men that departed spirits of men. And nobody was able to
open that book and couldn't even get close enough to see it. Oh my, what happened? Couldn't
find anybody. Couldn't find anybody. And John said, oh I started crying. I didn't just shed a few tears,
I began to weep and I wept much. Wept much. Now remember, he's
in the Spirit. He said, and I've wept much because
no man was found worthy, and it's always worthy, to open that
book, open and read the book, neither to look down. Oh my,
he wept much because he knows and understands if that book
is not opened, There be no redemption. There be no salvation. There
be no executing of God's will. No executing of God's purpose.
He saw God's glory over here in his throne. He is filled with
awe and wonder. Now he starts and weeps. Why
are you weeping John? Because I was nobody worthy. To take that book and open that
book. And God's glory and will won't
be carried out in this earth. But oh, listen now. Look what he says. And he said,
one of the elders said unto me, Don't weep. That's like our Lord
told Mary. Mary was standing there just
weeping and weeping at the Lord's tomb. And saw the gardener and
said, she was just weeping. The Lord Jesus asked the woman,
why weepest thou? She said, they've taken away
the body of my Lord. And said, if you know where they've
laid him, please tell me. And he said, Mary. And she was
crying. That's what this elder said.
One of the elders. Now there's 24 of these elders.
I don't have any idea which one it was. It might have been the
Apostle Paul. It might have been one of the
elders of Israel. Might have been Judah. Might have been Benjamin. But
one of the elders said unto him, we've not Don't you weep. Oh, listen. He said, don't you weep. Don't
weep. We've got a conqueror. We've
got someone worthy. There's one sufficient. And then
he said, look over yonder. He said, look at what you see
now. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. And I tell you, in Genesis
49, He's called the Lion of the tribe of Judah there. And the
law shall not depart from Him until Shiloh come. And I tell
you, He's the Lion. He's got the authority. He's
got the power. He's got the ability. And then He's the Root of David,
after the flesh. He's the Root of David, the one
who has the throne forever and ever and ever. And then look
what it says. He's a king, he's glorious and
he's got all power. And then look what it says. The
root of David hath prevailed to open the book. Now how do
you mean, what did he prevail to open it? That means he had
to put forth an effort to prevail in something. For you and I to
prevail in something, that means we have to tackle the task and
then prevail in it to accomplish it. Well, our Lord, He said here,
He prevailed. What did He prevail over? Well,
the first thing He prevailed over, He prevailed over sin.
I mean, He couldn't have been there if He hadn't prevailed
over sin. You know, that sin, sin and death go together. Wherever
that would, when sin come into this world, death went with it.
Death and sin go together. Nobody would die if they didn't
have sin. Nobody. Nobody. And the only
reason Christ died is because not for his own sin, but the
sins of his own people. And I tell you what, He prevailed.
When He took on sin and death, He conquered them both. The greatest obstacles to us
was sin and death and God's justice that demanded our death because
of our sin. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He prevailed in satisfying God Almighty, satisfied God's righteousness,
God's justice. Oh my! He upheld God's holiness
and righteousness. And I'll tell you something else.
He conquered the world. He conquered the world. He conquered
the devil. He conquered Satan. Oh my! Let me show you something. You
keep this and look over in Luke chapter 10. Look in Luke chapter
10 and verse 17. This is... show you something over here
about satan about satan all people talk about the power of the devil
the power of the devil listen christ put him on a chain and
he's been on a chain you cannot find him any place in the scriptures
where Christ did not put him on a chain and he could not do
no more than Christ would allow him to do he had to ask permission
to do things and look what it says here in fact they called
the Lord they knew the Lord Jesus Christ was the Holy One sent
from God they recognized him when they saw him but look what
it said here in verse 17 and 18 and he had sent him out to preach
and the 70 returned again with joy saying Lord even the devils
are subject unto us through thy name and he said unto them I
beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven he said I saw him
fall I saw him fall he was bright he was like a star falling and
he fell he said I saw him fall I saw Him fall. In fact, I believe
if you look in Revelation, I mean, excuse me, Isaiah 14, you'll
see that the Lord cast Him out, throwed Him out. But everything
that was against us, when it said He hath prevailed, everything
that was against us, sin, death, hell, Satan, the world, everything
that was against us, He took it out of the way and he nailed
it to his cross. And then look what it says. He
hath prevailed, now listen to what it says now, to open that
book. Not only is he able to open it,
but he's able to open the seven seals. He's not only able to open it,
but it's got seven seals on it and you've got to open them seals.
open them seals and then oh my then it really really tells us
how he prevailed and I beheld and I looked and I saw he said
oh look and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four
beasts right in the middle of them these four beasts oh and
all the elders around him stood a lamb now I want you to notice
lion is capitalized. Root is capitalized. And David is capitalized. Lamb
is capitalized. All of them are descriptions
and titles of our Lord Jesus Christ. And everything about
him is capitalized and set out to be more than anything else
in this world. And he said he saw a lamb as
it had been slain. Uh huh. Off stood a lamb. He's standing up now. He's standing
up. And look what it says, as it
had been slain. How did he know it had been slain?
How did he know it had been slain? He saw the nail prints. He saw
them in his hands. He saw them in his feet. That's
how he knows he was the Lamb slain. And he earned the right having had been slain he earned
the right to open that book and look what it says in verse 7
now listen and he came and he came this lamb came up and took
the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne
who in the world would dare go to God himself and take anything
out of him that sat on that throne. There he sits, he got that book.
And who in the world would dare to walk up to God and reach up
and take anything out of his hand? Who would dare do that? The Lamb slain, that's who it
was. The Lamb slaughtered, that's
who he's talking about. The Lamb sacrificed, And in Exodus
he was the lamb for a house. He was the Passover lamb. And
look over here in Acts chapter 8. Talk about the lamb slain. Oh, the lamb slain. Look in Acts chapter 8. You know, John saw a lamb slain.
And thank God our Lord Jesus Christ was God's lamb. told Abraham,
he said, oh, father, where's the, Isaac said, father, where's
the lamb? He said, God will provide himself
a lamb son. And he did. He provided himself
a lamb. He provided his son. Provided
himself and his son. And so he took that book. Who
was the one that was able to do it? The lamb that had been
slaughtered. The lamb that had been sacrificed.
The lamb who shed his blood. Look here in chapter 30. I mean
Acts 8.30. Philip is going to join this
Ethiopian eunuch. And Philip ran there to him and
heard him read the prophet Isaiah. and said unto him do you understand
what you're reading and he said how can I except some man should
guide me and he desired Philip that he would come up and sit
with him and listen to this now and the place of the scripture
which he read was this he was led as a sheep to the slaughter
and like a lamb done before his shears, so open not his mouth. Laying as a lamb to the slaughter.
And that's what John saw. I saw a lamb as it had been slain,
as it had been slaughtered, as its blood had been shed. And
then it says that this lamb had seven eyes. And these seven eyes,
he tells us what the eyes are. They're the seven spirits of
God. And where these seven spirits of God go, that means they go
out into all the earth. Seven horns means He's got all
power. Seven eyes, seven spirits, seeing
everything that's over the whole earth. Going out into all the
earth. Going into everybody sent forth
into all the earth. And that's where seven always
means perfection. Perfection. And listen now what
he said here in verse 8. Well let me say, let me back
up a minute here just a little bit. He took the book out of
the right hand and set it on the throne. And here's the Lamb
slain and done it. Our Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ
is the only one who can execute God's will, carry out God's will,
He is God's will in this world. He is God's purpose in this world. He is the eternal purpose of
God in this world. Everything about the Lord Jesus
Christ, He came here to do God's will. To carry out God's purpose. To fulfill everything that God
gave Him to do. And He's still, still carrying
out God's will. He's still executing God's will. And He's the only one that's
worthy to do what God told Him to do. Only one. And He carries out God's will.
We see Jesus. He was made lower than an angel. And I'll tell you, angels are
eternal. Whether they're fallen angels or living angels. And
there was no election of angels. I mean, there's fallen angels
and there's angels in God living. We saw 10,000 times 10,000 thousands
of angels here. But our Lord Jesus Christ, when
He came, He was made lower than an angel. What does it mean man lower than
the angels can't die? Christ was made lower because
he could die. And we see him made lower than
the angels. But we also turn around and see
him crowned with glory and honor. And I tell you what, He is going
to bring many sons unto glory is what He says. I tell you,
you're talking about our Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture says
He must reign. Here's the reward of His humiliation.
He's crowned with glory and honor. God governs through the Lamb.
And listen, when you get here, You know where we end up at?
We see here the Lamb opening this book. And we're going to
go through seven seals. But look over in Revelations
22.1. Look where we're going to end up at. Look at that, Revelations
22.1. Oh my, we start out here. It's the throne of God and the
Lamb. He's in the midst of it. And
he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal.
Listen now, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb. Here's the throne and the Lamb,
and that's where we're going to end up at, back there at that
throne. That's the throne and the Lamb. Start out with the
throne and the Lamb, we're going to end up with the throne and
the Lamb. And look at the response now. Let me look at the response
here in verse 8. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four
and twenty elders and then you know what it told us up there
in Toulouse the seven seals there and when he had taken the book
the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the lamb oh listen having one of the every one of them having
a harp golden vials full of odors which are the prayers of the
saints they adore the lamb they fall down before the lamb And
every one of them had a harp. And you know them harps that
people play? That's why they had a harp. Every one of them
had a harp. They was making beautiful, beautiful instruments of joy. Instruments of beautiful music.
And they were making beautiful music to the Lamb. And they had
a golden vial. And that was full of prayers.
What was the prayers? It was the orders of the saints,
the ascensions of the saints, the prayers of God's saints going
up here out of this golden vial. You're talking about Christ interceding
for us. Here they are. God puts our,
the scripture says He puts our tears in a bottle. And He hears
every prayer we pray. And I tell you why did he put
all these prayers in a bottle and put them in a golden, golden
bottle, golden vial. He pulled the top on it and all
these prayers of praise and thanksgiving and all the joy and pray and
agony and sorrow and tears that we had before God and they all
went up before him. His golden, because that means
they're precious. God didn't even just put them
in a glass bottle, He put them in a gold bottle. Oh my, the
next time you pray, God gonna put it there. When I tell you, when our Lord
Jesus, when Philippi was stoning him to death, and he was down
there on his knees, and he was about to die. I mean, they didn't
pick up little bitty rocks. They went and got big rocks.
You know, when you find out they stoned somebody, they got big
rocks. Then they put those big rocks on them. They didn't pick
up little old rocks you got in your garden and rocks. Nah, they
got big rocks. And they was throwing them big
rocks at Stephen. Stephen's about to die. And you
know what he said? He looked up and he saw the Lord
Jesus Christ standing up just like he was there. And you know
what he said, Father, lay not this sin to their charge, just
like his master. And that prayer that he prayed
is now a sweet odor in the presence of God. Huh? When you can't,
you said Lord, I don't know how to pray sometimes. I'll tell
you what, God knows your prayer whether you put it out in words
or not. And he puts them in that bottle. And he opened that bottle. Oh
bless his holy name. Oh my. And then they began to
sing. And they began to sing. Oh my. What song are they going to sing?
They are going to sing the song of redemption. And why is it
new? Why is it called new? Because
they saw a lamb and they saw something they had never seen
before. A lamb taking a book with the seven seals. It's new
because they saw Him who is worthy. And they never saw such a redemption
had ever been accomplished. That's why it's a new song. And
you know when God saved us by His grace, God gave us a new
song. Has it got old yet? It ain't got old yet, has it?
Oh my! He hasn't. And oh, they sung
that new song. They saw that lamb as it had
been slain. Salvation has been accomplished.
The book has been taken. The book has been opened. And
they sung a song. And this is why they sung this
new song. They said, you're the one worthy You're the only one
worthy, not only to take the book, but you're worthy to open
the seals to that book. And here's why they sing that
new song, for thou was slain. You were slain, you were slaughtered,
your blood was shed. And you redeemed us, you bought
us, you paid for us. And look how, who did he do it
for? Out of every kindred on the face of the earth, huh? All
kinds. Every language that's on the
face of this earth. All kinds of people, all races,
all colors, all languages. And all out of every nation. And all by. He said, that's why
you're worthy. That's why we're singing this
song. Because you're worthy. You're worthy. And then he said,
look at, and because you did this, look what you've done for
us. You made us unto our God. Now
these are the four and twenty elders and the four beasts now.
He's not the angels talking about being redeemed. And you've made
us unto our God kings. See how that's Small case, kings
and priests. I don't understand these things
like this. And we shall reign on the earth.
He's made us unto our God, kings and priests. And it says we shall
reign. When do we reign? We reign with
Christ right now. We reign over men in the world
right now. And one of these days we're going
to reign with Christ in a new heaven and a new earth. Is that
not right? And oh my! Then he said in verse
11, he said, I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels. And
all those angels, you see, you got the throne, you got the four
and twenty elders, then you got the four beasts, And then you got all these angels
around him. But David thinks right here on
his throne, Christ in the midst of his throne. And all these
voices of many angels round about the throne. And the beast and
the elders, and listen to this. How many angels were singing?
Ten thousand times ten thousands and thousands of thousands. And
you know what they were saying? Just like they sung that new
song. The first thing they said, who
is worthy? Take the book. Well, they found
out who is worthy. They all said with a loud voice,
worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. And you know
every single time it talks about a Lamb that was slain. Oh everybody is talking, the
whole universe is talking about it. And I tell you what, worthy to
be slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, honor, strength and glory. And listen to this now. In every
creature, now we are talking about the whole universe right
here now. Everything in this universe and you know God said
He is going to make everything praise Him. And every creature
which is in heaven. Every creature on the earth.
Every creature under the earth. And every creature in the sea.
Heard I saying, everything that could speak and praise and honor
God, said it. And I heard them saying, blessing
and honor and glory and power be unto him that sat upon the
throne and the Lamb forever and ever. Oh my, everything that
I mean in this universe, said worthy is the Lamb. And let me
tell you something. Let me show you seven things
that they said about him. First of all they said unto him
all power. I mean you got all power. You
got all authority. Then he said riches. You got
all the riches. Then they said you got all the
wisdom. You got all the strength. And
you get all the honor. And you get all the glory and
you get all the blessings. Seven things they said about
him. And then look what it says in the last verse. And the four beasts when they
heard all these angels and heard everybody saying all these things
and praising God. Praising the Lamb that was slain. Every creature in heaven, on
earth, under the earth, in the sea and everything that you heard
saying. set up on the throne and under the Lamb forever and
ever. And the four beasts, you know
what they said? Amen. Let it be so. It is true. And what did they do then? They
done just like they did last week. Let's go to chapter 4. And the four beasts and the four
and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever
and ever. Oh boy. That's just what he sees
in heaven. You know, God lets us enter into
a little bit of that here. Just a little bit of it. Just
a little bit of it. Alright, let's give thanks. Our
Father, oh our gracious, gracious God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that precious
lamb, that blessed lamb, you were slain to redeem us, to buy
us out from under God's justice, save us from the curse of the
law, redeemed us from our sin, redeemed us unto God, made us
accepted washed us white in your blood. Oh Lord, you are worthy. Oh God, you're worthy. No wonder
they sang, How worthy is the Lamb in glory. No wonder they
sang those songs. No wonder they sang with a loud
voice. Because you're worthy. You're worthy of all of our being. You're worthy of our hearts,
our souls, our minds, our songs, our praise, our prayers. But oh Lord, you made us worthy,
you made us fit, and we thank you for it. God bless these dear
saints, and oh Lord, bless the saints that are at home watching
and listening. And Lord, we ask you to send
people back in who hasn't been here in a while. Lord, bring
them back to worship, bring them back to sit at the Lord's table,
bring them back to sit under the sound of the gospel. where
they can fellowship with the saints of God, fellowship with
the sheep of God. Oh Lord, move on their hearts
to come worship again with us. We ask these things in our Lord's
name. Amen. Amen. Jesus Christ is made to
me. All I need, all I need, He alone
is all I need. my plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power. Holiness forever. Well, I'll see you Wednesday,
God willing.