That's right. Let's pray. Father
God, we are glad to assemble today. Lord, we thank you for
all of life for salvation being all of grace. And we thank you,
Lord, that we can open your word tonight and look at the future
that awaits us in Christ. And we thank you, Lord, for the
glorious worship service for all of eternity that we long
for and look forward to. And Lord, as we look into Your
Word, Lord, open our hearts and minds to see and to savor the
beauty that You show us, the beauty of Your face, the beauty
of the face of Your Son that reveals Your heart and mind and
soul to us with all perfection. And it's in His name, the name
of Jesus, that we pray. Amen. Let's turn to Revelation
chapter 4. We're going to go through Revelation
chapter 4 and 5, and we're going to look at it from the perspective
of worship in heaven. Because here's
what we've gotten. We've gotten Jesus. He's talking
to these seven churches. I'll give you a little heads
up. There are always a Semitic significance to the numbers in
apocalyptic writing. Now what do I mean by that? Let
me break it down for you. The word Semitic means Jewish.
So if we look, if somebody is anti-Semitic, they're anti-Jewish.
They don't like Jews. So when we have Jewish style
writing, when I say Semitic writing, that's what it means, Jewish
style. John writes the most Jewish of any of the New Testament authors
in all of his letters. The Gospel of John, according
to rabbinic tradition, is the most Jewish of the entire New
Testament, more than Hebrews. It is the most Jewish because
it is written around the Jewish festivals, it is written around
Passovers, it talks about these things, and so if you were ever
thinking about an apologetic toward or an evangelist, an evangelist
toward Jewish people, the Gospel of John is a good place to start.
The same thing is true with Revelation. Numbers for the Jewish people
had spiritual significance, not literal significance. There are
not going to be, as we'll learn in the future, 144,000 people
saved. I mean, there's going to be more
than that. That's not a literal number. If you'll notice, the
tribes of Israel are 12. And out of those 12, 144,000
is divisible by 12. The number 12 is a number of
perfection. The number 7 is a number of perfection.
Number 8 is superlative of perfection, which is a blaspheme. As we'll
see, the beast takes the number 8. The number 6 is the day in
which man was created. And so it's indicative of man.
When something's done in triplicate, like holy, holy, holy, it is
an extreme position of utmost importance. It ascribes also,
when we see triplicate, it ascribes to the highest honor. So if we
see holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, that means His
holiness is above all things and it's of utmost importance.
If we see the number six, which is the number of man, and we
see that the number of His name shall be 666, it's a significant
thing that we should recognize that in the number of the beast,
if you will, and we're not going to talk about the beast tonight,
that it is an extremely evil thing. It's an extremely evil
presence, and it's extremely wicked. The same thing with seven. Seven is the number of completion,
is the day of rest. It is considered the Sabbath,
which means seven. Seventh day, God rested, Sabbath.
The future of eternity is considered the eternal Sabbath. So we look
at this text and we need to understand then going in tonight and throughout
the rest of this class is that these numbers have spiritual
significance. There's not just seven churches.
There were hundreds and thousands of churches during this time.
There's not just been seven. Matter of fact, we don't even
see any but Ephesus that we've ever heard of before from the
New Testament. Paul, don't you think he was an apostle over
all these churches? Yet we never saw him write to
Sardis. We never saw him write, but yet we see in the Acts of
the Apostles, in the Acts of the Holy Spirit, We see these
churches and where they came from. We see those cities, but
they weren't written there. So the number 7 is a number of
completion, the number 12 is a number of completion, and any
division of those numbers, like 144,000, is the fullness of fullness. That's how it should be interpreted,
and we'll look at that later when we actually get to that
point. But as we think about numbers, we also need to understand
that there's a lot of imagery coming up here. And the seven
letters to these seven churches by Jesus Christ, then we know
that it is a completion. It is letters written to the
completion of the churches, to the fullness of all those churches.
And as we looked last week, we recognized that there are characteristics
of these Christians, of these congregations. that we find in
each of our own lives, each of our own congregations, if we
will, in different seasons of our lives. Most of us could say,
oh yeah, I know a church of Thyatira, I know a church of Ephesus, I
know a church of Sardis, I've been in one, I've been part of
one, or what have you. So then it transitions then to
chapter 4. He says, after this I looked
and behold a door standing open in heaven. I'm not going to read
all the text. I'm going to read it, talk about it, read it, talk about
it. That's what we're going to do tonight. And think about this. This is
not succession of chronology. It doesn't say this happened
and then this happened and then this happened. John says, I saw
this and then I looked and I saw this and then I looked and I
saw this. So if we were to see a paint by, let's just say not
a paint by number, if we were to see an ordered number of things
on the wall, and there was a chronological order of them, but we looked
at them in different sequences. We would say, and I saw that,
and I saw that, and I saw that. It doesn't necessarily mean this
happens, then this happens, then this happens. It means this is
what I looked at, this is what I saw, and then this is what
I saw. So after this, after what? After Jesus had given the letters
to John to write to these churches, then I saw, I looked, and behold,
a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard
speaking to me like a trumpet. Did he say he heard a trumpet?
No, he said he heard a voice. And it sounded like a trumpet.
What is a trumpet? It's forceful. It's out there. You don't mistake
a trumpet. I should have gotten a trumpet. A trumpet is like
a trumpet. It's forceful. And it said, come
up here and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit,
and behold, a throne stood in heaven and one seated on the
throne." So now John's been given a vision. He's been transported
in a place where he can see something that he described as heaven.
Jesus Christ talking to him. And he said he saw that which
looked like a throne in chapter in verse three. And he who sat
there had the appearance, listen, of Jasper and Carnelian. And around the throne was a rainbow
that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne, then,
were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four
elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.
From the crowns came flashes of lightning, and rumblings,
and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven
torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before
the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass-like crystal. So now we see a picture, don't
we? We see a picture that is embroiled with simile. So if it's simile, is there any
literal expression of actual notation or explanation here? I mean, ask yourself that. There's
a voice like a trumpet, and he sees one seated on a throne that's
not named. We don't know who it is yet.
It hasn't been named. And He who sat there had the
appearance of Jasper. Now we know in chapter 5 that
it's Jesus Christ who is sitting on the throne. We know that because
it's the one that was as a lamb that had been slain. So does
Jesus look like Jasper? Is He describing Jesus as carnelian? Is there a rainbow of the color
of an emerald? Is that what Jesus looks like?
No. What is He trying to show us? What does it mean? It's pretty. It's beautiful. It's inexpressible. It's like this. It's the appearance
of Jasper. He didn't say it was Jasper.
He didn't say it was a rainbow. It had an appearance of an emerald.
That meant it had a green color. An emerald is beautiful. If you
ever see a real emerald, not a lab-created emerald, they're
very beautiful. They're very soft. They're very
expensive because they're very fragile. The larger the emerald,
the more fragile it is. So if you've got a large emerald
that's cut, it's very likely you're going to break it if you
wear it all. If you drop it or you hit it on the side of a table,
it's a very delicate thing, but it's a very pretty and it's a
green that does not exist anywhere else in the world. And so what
John is describing here is a beauty of the one who sits on the throne
and the presence of the one who sits there. Around the throne
then we see 24 thrones. Do you really think that's what
it's like in heaven, that there's a big throne and Jesus sits on this
throne and then there are 24 little thrones surrounding this
big throne? Have you ever seen depictions of this letter? Have
you ever seen those video depictions on YouTube of certain aspects
of Daniel and and revelation and it's almost ridiculous looking
when they start to actually illustrate it out and put it in a sense
where it can be watched like a movie. It's crazy. But here
we know that there are 24 elders that rule in the temple. We know
that from historical tradition of the Old Testament. Now is
that what it means? We don't know. You know why we
don't know? Because it doesn't tell us. But what we do know
is that 24 is divisible by 12, and that's in twos. We do know
that 12 is a number of completions, so that 24 would be a number
of double completions. Either way we look at it, there
are people who in some sense are ruling with Christ. Does
Paul not tell us that we rule with Christ? Does Paul not tell
us in Ephesians chapter 2 that we've been, what, seated in the
heavenlies with Christ? Is that not the same imagery
that Paul is using that now John is seeing? That we've been seated
with Christ, we're raised with Him, we are there with Him, we
rule with Him. Does Paul not tell the Corinthian
church, don't you know that you shall judge the world? Don't
you understand that we are going to be able to sit and rule with
Christ who is our head? And then we see they're clothed
in white garments. What is the expression of white
garments? We learned that in the illustration of the letters
we saw last week. What was it? White garments. The white garments is an expression
of righteousness, purity. So we see these 24 elders. We
see on their heads crowns. We see that they sit around the
One who sits on the throne with crowns on their head. And from
their throne, look at verse 5. Look at verse 5. From the throne
came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder
And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire. Now what
is this teaching us? What does thunder and lightning
remind you of? Think about it. Look at the synergy.
Remember when we talked about how to read apocalyptic literature?
Remember the last thing which was synergy, scriptural synergy?
What is it that we remember when we hear lightning and thunder?
What is it? Sinai. We saw that when Moses
went on Mount Sinai to receive the law of God, that lightning
and thunder and a tempest, so much so that the people of God
trembled in fear. They did not want to not only
see the mountain, They could not bear, we see in Hebrews,
reminders of that. They could not bear the sight
of Moses, nor could they bear to hear another command, come
from the mountain, which some of the commands were so stern,
it said this, that if a beast touches the mountain, it should
be stoned. Friends, as I read out of Isaiah
this past Sunday, it's something we ought to really recognize.
When we come to hear the Word of God, we are in a position
to hear God speak. We should tremble. We should
not be... What is the word I'm looking
for? Familiar with God in that way. We should be in awe of His
holiness as we're about to see. At the same time, we know that
there is an intimacy with God. We know that there's an intimacy
that we have through Jesus Christ. But it does not violate what
we see in heaven. We see worship with awe, reverence,
trembling, fear, majesty. And out here in this thunder
and lightning, which gives the attention to God's power and
rule and might and omnipotence. These burning seven torches of
fire. These seven torches, maybe as
we see, which are the seven spirits of God. Did God not just teach
us in these second and third chapter that there are those
who were talking to the churches. He writes to the angel of the
church of Ephesus. He writes to the seven spirits
This is the words of Him who holds the seven stars, who walks
among the seven golden lampstands. What is the significance of the
seven torches, the seven spirits of God? What does it mean? Are
there just seven angels? Are there just seven pastors?
We don't know exactly what the fullness of it means, but we
need to understand that in the perfection and the fullness of
heaven, we know. We know. that all things are
perfect with Christ. We know that in this day, that
will come to pass, that all those who are His shall come. The perfection
of His messengers, the fullness of His churches, all His elect
shall be with Him. And look at verse 6, and before
the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. Now that also is imagery. As
it were, like a sea of glass, like crystal. As if it were a
sea of glass. What does it mean to be a sea
of glass? Calm. You ever seen seas that
had no motion? Of course you haven't. There
is no such thing. There's no sea that doesn't have
waves. There's no pond that doesn't
have ripples. There is no way ever to see water that's out
in the natural world that doesn't have some disturbance of some
kind. Sometimes you can see it early in the mornings if there's
fog there and it looks like a piece of glass set out. But large bodies
of water have tides. They're affected by the moons.
What is the point of the calmness of the sea of glass like crystal?
What does it mean? Well, think about the letters
that have just been written. Look at the turmoil that is happening
to these people. Look at the sin and the wickedness
that is continually being brought under condemnation in the careful
eye of Jesus Christ. And yet here in heaven, before
the throne, it were as if a sea of glass, like crystal. Who stands
before the throne of heaven? The people of God. So what is
the condition of their hearts? Are they distraught? Are they
frustrated? Are they fearful? Are they worrisome?
No. They're at perfect peace. They're at perfect peace. And
around the throne and on each side of the throne, we see four
living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind, The first
living creature, like a lion. It didn't say it was a lion.
It said like a lion. The second living creature, like
an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man and the
fourth living creature, like an eagle in flight and the four
living creatures, each of them with six wings. Oh, they've all
got wings. Are full of eyes all around and within. And day and
night they never cease to say. Now what is this talking about?
I mean, if we were to draw this and turn it in, say, hey teacher,
this is what I, we'd go to the crazy bin. If we were to say,
oh this is what, what does it mean? Well let me tell you what,
we don't know. We don't know what it means.
And we can think about it, and we can allude to different places,
we can look at other areas of apocalyptic writing, but we don't
have a clue And your study Bible, if it's honest, should say that.
Your study Bible should say, we don't know. It might give
some references to other things that are seemingly close to these
things. It may give places in other parts
of Scripture that may actually show some different things. But
in all of this, what is it that we should actually understand?
What should we see? Well, I believe that we should
see that this is the fullness of all creation. Everything that
has ever been made, all their stances and posture is focused
looking at the One who sits upon the throne with perfect peace.
And what are they doing? They never cease to say, Holy,
Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. This is the song of heaven. This is the cry of creation. This is the truth of the majesty
and the power of God, the one who is on the throne and that
all those in all places. Friends, we don't know who they
are and who they aren't. For does not Paul teach us that
every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord and that every
knee will bow, those on the earth and under the earth and above
the earth? all people, all creation. We see the expression of the
psalmist who says to us that the rocks and the hills will
cry out and worship God. Friends. Where's the application
here? This is what we are looking for. We aren't looking for a break.
and worship. We're not looking for an opportunity
to just spend time with ourselves. We are looking for that never-ceasing
song. Holy, holy, holy. And verse 9 gives us some other
things to consider. And whenever the living creatures
give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne,
who lives forever and ever. You see, that's a sermon right
there by the way. You see that? They give glory and honor and
thanks to Him who is on the throne, who lives forever and ever. The 24 elders fall down before
Him who is seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever
and ever. They cast their crowns before
the throne, saying, Worthy are you, O Lord and God, to receive
glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by
your will they existed and were created. Now think about what's
happened here. There's a lot there. There are
many, many, many, many, many, many sermons in this little bit
of text. But for our understanding of
reading this, what comes to your mind? What embraces your heart
when you hear these words? This is the position of not only
creation, but all of those who in the fullness of time are the
elect of Christ. They worship God. And even though
we may rule, our rule is subject to the authority and the majesty
and the dominion and the glory and the honor and the wealth
and the awesomeness of Christ. And as far as that we throw our
crowns, which give us the authority to rule at His feet, For it is
not our authority but Christ's who is our head. We wear no such
crown above that which is Christ. Christ is our crown. Do we really
think we're getting crowns? No. Christ is our crown. Worthy to receive all glory,
honor, and power. Why? For you created all things. Is not the master and the owner
and the creator of all things worthy of all glory, honor and
power? Is he not the one who says to
the clay, I will make you this way? Is he not the one who affords
grace to those who are worth not saving? Is he not the one
who finds the way, as we'll see in chapter five, and the will
and the purpose to establish justice against wickedness while
still forgiving those who commit such wickedness? You created
all things. And look at that at the end of
verse 11. And by Your will they existed and were created. That's
strong. It's strong. It teaches us something
about God. It teaches us something about
sovereignty of God and creation. And that all things exist. Where
else do we see that? We see it in Colossians. We see
it in many places in Scripture. We see it in Ephesians. We see
it in Romans. All things exist, as Paul would
say to the church of Colossae, for Him, and by Him, and through
Him, and nothing exists that He has not made. So in this,
we must recognize the unshakable majesty of God. And this is what
John is seeing. Imagine, for just a moment, Had
John seen this before he saw the cross? Imagine for a moment that because
John saw the cross, you know he was the only disciple there.
The only one! So that when he writes the words
of his first epistle, that which was from the beginning, that
which we have seen and heard and touched with our hands concerning
the eternal life, What John must have thought when
he saw this. All of a sudden now, wow, this
is what it's all about. This is why Christ came to die. That He might receive all glory
and all honor and all praise by those whom He has reached
down to save. Imagine what was going through
his mind. And if we stop there, it would
be a magnificent picture. But it doesn't stop there. Chapters
4 and 5 are one thought. First we see the majesty of God
in heaven. We see the illustration of the
beauty and the power and the tempest. We see the reality of
worship and thanksgiving and praise and honor. We see that
which is due God. And then in chapter 5, then I
saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne,
a scroll. Now check it out. written within and on the back,
sealed with seven seals. Now think about it, what's a
scroll? And there's a lot of illustrations that could come
from the Old Testament. We know that scrolls is where
kings wrote their commands and they sealed them. Why seven?
Because it's perfect. It's perfect. Seven judgments,
perfect judgment. Seven mercies, perfect mercy.
Seven churches, all the churches. Seven. So while the Antichrist,
as we'll see, takes the number eight because he thinks he's
better than God, he's better than Christ. This one seated
on the throne has this scroll. It was where kings gave their
edicts, their command sealed by their name, the perfection
of God's name. It's also the same way we would
see a will and testament, the order of one after his death
that would be executed upon his heirs. And here in this picture, whether
it be one or the other, or both in the same, we see this scroll. But here is what happens when
he sees the scroll. It's sealed. Who can open the
seal of the king? The king. Who can open the seal
of the one who has closed? What if it is a will? Who opens
it? The air opens it. And I heard, I saw, A strong
angel. Listen to this, y'all proclaiming
with a loud voice. Who is worthy to open the scroll
and break it seal? Now think about this in the court.
In the king's court, here is this throne room. Here is this
worship. Here is this glory. Here is this
honor. And the one on the throne receiving this worship holds
the seals of the edicts of the king, the proclamation of that
which is to come. Those things which are certain
and guaranteed because in his power and in his sovereignty,
he will surely effect that which he has decreed. And the angel
cries, Who here is worthy to open these seals? And no one in heaven or on earth
or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look onto
it. And I begin to weep loudly because
no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look onto it. Think of it. No one's worthy. What is that a picture of? Depravity. It's a picture of the inability
of man to not only not able to touch the scroll, not able to
open it, not even to look upon it. No one seeks after a God. No one loves Him. No one is righteous. No, not one. John wept when he
saw this. Who shall open the scrolls of
God? Who shall open the blessings
of the decrees of the king? Who shall do it? There is none
worthy. And one of the elders said to
me, I want this on my tombstone by the way. Weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can
open the scroll in its seven seals. That's good stuff. Don't even put my name on there. Weep no more. The lion of the
tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can
open the scroll in its seven seals. What do we see there?
Now we know who holds that thing. We know that it is Jesus the
Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the seed of David, the
prophesied one who has come. And what is in these seals? We
will see next week. What are these things that is
to come? What is it that God has established? We don't know
yet, but we do know who will put it into place. And between
the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders,
what did he say? I saw a lamb standing. I saw a lamb standing. As though
it had been slain. With seven horns and seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God sent out all to unto all
the earth. And he went and took the scroll
from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. Wait
a minute, who's on the throne? I thought it was Jesus. Who is it? It's God the Father. He's not dead. The lamb was slain. And he went and he took the scroll.
And he had taken the scroll. The four living creatures and
the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding
a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers
of the saints, and they sang a new song." Now imagine this
for a second. Here is all of worship being
given to God. And now here all of a sudden
these scrolls, this scroll which is sealed, is handed to the Lamb,
who then all worship shifts to Him. Did Jesus not say the same thing
in John 4 and John 5? That which the Father does, I
now do. I do not speak of my own accord,
but I say that which the Father is speaking. I mean, I've been
in this text, what, six weeks now? And I want to preach John's
gospel so bad on Sunday mornings that I'm prayerfully considering
starting it in January. But it would be five to seven
years. More like seven. Perfect. Maybe we could preach a chapter,
take a few months, preach another chapter, take a few months, and
preach another chapter. That'd be 15 years. I'd really
have to hold out. I'd be old when I got through that, wouldn't
I? Ur, old ur, not old. And when they had taken the scroll,
they fell down and they sang a new song. Worthy are you to
take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain, and
by your blood you ransomed people for God, from every tribe and
language and people, and nation, and you have made them a kingdom
and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." Now
we know who has the scroll. Now we know who sat on the throne.
Now we know who is worthy. And why? Why is Jesus Christ
worthy? Paul says to the Ephesians, when
he says, have this mind among you, right after he says, do
not think of yourselves, but think of the Think of others.
Have this mind among you, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who,
though he was equal with God, did not take equality with God,
something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, obedient
unto death as a slave, even death on a cross." And what does he
say after that? Therefore, what? God has highly
exalted him and bestowed upon him the name of Jesus. that is above every name, so
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and
on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Here is the
expression of the worthiness of Jesus Christ to be called
God. the Redeemer, the Lamb that was
slain to redeem a people. When you see all, and when you
see all people, and when you see these things, and people
want to argue with you that it means everybody, take them to
Revelation 4 and 5. And then you take them all over to the judgments of Revelation
15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. And you let them see that a majority
of the world is consumed in judgment. But that when we see the apostles
dealing with Jesus Christ being the what? Savior of all peoples.
This is what he means. You ransomed people for God. You ransomed people for God by
your blood, for you were slain. You bought a people for God. Who are these people? People
from every tribe, from every language, from every people,
and every nation. And you took them out of nothingness. You took them out of darkness.
You took them out of bondage. You took them out of judgment.
And you transferred them to the kingdom of your Son. You transferred
them to the kingdom of righteousness. And now you have made them a
kingdom. And you've made them a kingdom
of priests to our God. It's exactly what Paul taught
the Ephesians. God has highly exalted Him that
all these people will worship Him to the glory of God. Christ
is worthy. This is a JW kick in the teeth,
y'all. Jehovah's Witness. You go there, they'll do one
of two things. They'll come back stronger the
next week or they'll never come back again. Because Jesus gets
all the worship, gets all the praise, gets all the glory. But that's not what it says. It says that He was worthy to
open the seal because He ransomed a people. So He's going to step
back in. See, this is what cults say. This is what the cult of
Jehovah's Witnesses say. That Jesus will step back into the
creative order and worship God like the 24 elders. Then I looked, verse 11, and
I saw and I heard around the throne and the living creatures
and the elders, the voice of many angels." How many angels? Look at this. How many angels
did John see? He doesn't tell us because he
couldn't see them all. He says, I looked and I heard. I heard the voice of many angels
numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands Hear
that myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands saying
with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain. Look at verse 11 of chapter four. Go back. Worthy are you, our
Lord and God, who sits on the throne to receive glory and honor
and power. Now look at over at chapter five. Verse 12, worthy is the lamb
who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing. Jesus Christ is the God of heaven.
Jesus Christ is the creator of the universe. Jesus Christ is
the redeemer of a people. Jesus Christ is the land that
was slain. Jesus Christ is the point of
history. Jesus Christ and His glory and
His honor and His wealth and His power and His dominion and
His worship is the reason that all these things exist. For His
will and by His pleasure, when He said, Let there be light,
and there was light. When He said, Let the heavens
separate from the earth. Let there be light and darkness.
Let the waters be teeming. Let the skies be full. Let the
creatures walk on the land and let this dirt in my hand become
a human being as I breathe the breath of life into him. Let
him walk up right with me and out of him I shall take a woman
and they shall be one flesh and this is a picture of what I will
do for these depraved, unworthy, unsettled, wicked haters of my
glory. I will pay the penalty for their
sin and I will receive all glory and honor forever. Did you get that out of that?
You should. It's right there in black and
white. It's right there. And verse 13, and I heard every
creature in heaven, uh-oh, back to Paul. St. Paul. Paul got it from Jesus, y'all.
In heaven, on the earth, under the earth, and in the sea, And
all that is in them say, what's that mean? Let me tell you something,
this is what it looks like. It looks like this. I'm not a sports fanatic, never
been a sports fanatic. I like to watch sports in seasons
of my life and that quit. When the Major League Baseball
teams picketed, when was that, 94? Yeah, 94, I was through. Haven't watched another baseball
game since. I've watched three football games since that time.
I've watched one hockey game. I've watched 64 seconds of golf.
And I've probably seen about 300 hours of nine ball. It's been a long time. It's probably
been 10 years since I ever even saw an athletic event. But every time I see them, there's
always somebody. shirt off, painted body, hair
spiked up, cheese on the head, you know, if it's up there in
one of those guys, the Packers, you know. Going bananas. 32 degrees, snot is frozen to the
mustache, but they're shirtless and they're yelling and they're
hoarse and they can't talk for weeks. They spent $600 to get
there, 125 for the tickets and 9 million for the concessions. They were all in. And at that
moment when they're yelling for their team to do the thing that
they want to see them to do, which is get victory. Nothing else is on their mind.
They're not concerned about the light bill that's past due. Because
they bought that ticket. They're not concerned about the
children who haven't eaten in six hours because they're yelling
and screaming too, and they're frozen to death. They're not
concerned about their marriage because they're having a good
time with the guys. They're not worried about the garden, the
yard, the job, nothing. It's not on their minds. The
only thing on their minds is, my God, this is awesome. And they make an utter fool of
themselves on national TV. When the camera comes by on the
big, what do they call that thing, that big screen? And they go,
doo, doo. And they go, wow. With everything that's in there.
Everything that's in there. When Robin and I were engaged,
I worked here, and she worked at the courthouse and met her,
which is a good 30 minutes. I had an hour lunch break. And I got in my great-grandmother's,
whatever that thing was, had a Mitsubishi engine in it. What
was it? I don't know. A little wagon. Dodge or something. Ugly. And I drove to her job,
picked her up, went to Hardee's, took her back to her office,
and drove home. Drove back over here. I was all in. I could see her for like six
minutes. Six minutes. Y'all do that too? That's why
you had to move closer. That's what you do when you love
something. You're all in. You don't love
something and you just, whatever. You don't love something partly. Here is all those creatures on
the earth, under the earth, in heaven and in the sea. And all that is in them saying
to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing
and honor and glory and might forever and ever. This is what we're looking for,
church. This is what we're living for, church. This is what we're
doing this for church to prepare our hearts to do this forever. No longer will you have to hear
a half-beaten weirdo try to get it right. You can hear it from
the mouth of the Lamb. And the four living creatures
said, Amen. Wow! Have you ever thought about
that? We use that word a lot. Amen. You better vote! Amen. Better
love your wife. Amen. Discipline your children. Amen. Clean your bedrooms. Amen. I
mean, you know, what else could we go? Touchdown. Amen. I mean,
we say amen for everything. What's the, what's the amen?
You know, what is the English translation of that word? It is true. So it is. So be it. Verily, verily. Truly, truly. Amen. Amen. Amen. It is. It is. It is. Why? Because I am said it was. That's why. And that's the end
of it. It's over. It is. And there is
nothing that can stop it. Nothing that can halt it. Nothing that can squelch it.
The living creature said it is. It is. What is? The Lamb and the one who is on
the throne be blessing. and honor and glory and might
forever and ever and ever and ever. And they said, It is. It
is. And the elders fell down and
worshipped. Friends, there are several things that
stick out here. One specifically is that we now see a very clear
picture of that which is very clear to me in the New Testament
otherwise, of Jesus Christ's eternality. We see a very clear
picture of Jesus Christ's authority. We see a very clear picture of
Jesus Christ's sovereignty. We see a very clear picture of
Jesus and His work in redemption. We see exactly what it is that
God the Father intended for the sake of the saints and for the
joy of His people, that they would worship that which they
most love forever. Though you may not agree with
all that John Piper might say he is definitely a zealous man
when it comes to loving the glory of God. Much like John Owen,
which I've been reading this week, and Jonathan Edwards. When he uses this very phrase,
is that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied
in Him. That's where he gets it, I'm
sure. among many places. Salvation
is to affect satisfaction in the creature with Christ. Salvation brings glorious affection
that cannot be mustered inside the human condition. That our
joy is what? Somewhat? Our joy is partially
there. Our joy is a little bit better.
No, our joy is full, complete. Why? Because we have fellowship
with God, the Father, and fellowship with Jesus Christ, the Son, and
we are sealed by the Spirit of God who dwells within us. We
are full. In chapter 5, one of the things
that really stands to me is the weeping of John. John knew. Think about that. John knew the perfection of what God would
decree on his behalf. He had no idea what was in the
scroll. He had no idea what was to be shown to him. He just knew
that if it came from the hand of God, it would be for John's
blessing. It would be for John's good. It would fulfill that which
Paul so eloquently penned in Romans 8, that God calls us all
things to work together for the good. And he wept because there
was no one worthy to see what it was. There was no one worthy
to understand and comprehend what might truly be one of the
most glorious, joyful expressions of God's mercy and blessing to
the praise of His glorious grace. It wasn't just for John's happiness. It was for John's happiness as
it was divinely connected to God's glory. So that in John's
weeping, I believe that John wept not only for the fact that
he knew that what was there was good, but that if it was not
revealed, then God would not be honored as he should be. Think
about that. There was no fear in John. There
was no worry in John. There was no trembling in John,
wondering if there was condemnation for him there, for he knew there
was no condemnation for him from the hand of his father. For it
was all for his good. And the worship of the Lamb is
revealed in such a way, Church, that this ought to paint the
picture of our own worship, of our own lives. When we see Paul
writing in Romans chapter 12, when he says, Do not be conformed
to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
I think this is one of the places we ought to go more than often,
more than not, to Revelation chapter 4 and 5. We've got to
be reminded of what it is that Christ has done for us and how
much glory and honor and worship and power and wealth and majesty
and might is forever His. When we think of these things,
we ought to really, really be hearing Scripture running through
our hearts and running through our mind so rapidly that we have
to slow down a minute and catch our breath. And if we say to
ourselves, well, it's just not there. It's not because we have
not read it. It's because we are not reading
it. We're not eating it. I ate there
yesterday. Are you eating it tonight, beloved?
The Scripture says in this book, as we started in these first
few weeks, blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of
this prophecy and blessed are the ones who hear it and blessed
are those who keep what is written in it. Are you blessed tonight? Are you invested in all that
you are in the worship of Christ? Friends, if you are, you will
not long to be in this class. You will long to bring the joy
of your study and your passion into this class. In with these
other brothers and sisters who love Christ as you love Christ,
and if our love for Christ is waning, it's because we have
not heard him. It's because we have not listened.
It's because we have not looked. And I looked. I love it. And
John says, and I heard. Are you hearing the voice of
Christ? Let he who has an ear to hear, hear what the Spirit
says to the churches. Jesus said that seven times last
week. Well, here, but we went through
it last week. Let us who have ears to hear,
hear what the Spirit says to the churches. In our closing
this evening, my prayer for you is that you do hear. Is that
you not only hear, but that you heed. and that you hope in that,
that you hear and heed, that you are full because you hear
the words of Christ, that you are satisfied no matter what
life has here, no matter what tribulation sits upon your doorstep,
no matter what trauma falls upon your consciousness, you are okay,
that your joy is full because you see that which is to come. Friends, What is there to lose
in death? Nothing. To live is Christ and
that's what we're doing. To die is far better, Paul said. Is death a friend to you or a
fear for you? Beloved, I pray that the Word
of God would be so strong for you. That it would be almost
like a wish. That it would come soon. That
that would be our hearts pulse. And as we continue to grow as
a people, as we continue to look at these chapters unfold, I pray
that you're reading them. Don't wait for me to read them
to you. Bring in here the work of God together so that we might
rejoice more deeply. You miss it. You miss it. I miss
it. When you have the Word of God
in you and you come and bring that Word with you, then my joy
is fuller. And as you'll see this sermon
coming this Sunday about what Paul says to the Thessalonians
about his boasting in them. Beloved, I want to be a people
for which Christ would boast. Because the boasting of Paul
for us, the boasting of Christ for us would be a boasting for
his glory. Do you feel empty? There's a
reason. We eat. I pray that you would
eat and be satisfied. Let's pray. We love You, Lord. And we thank
You for all that You are. Glorious, full, fabulous, never-ending. We thank You, Lord, for Your
Son Jesus, the Christ, who came to live, to take our sin, and
to receive Your justice upon Himself so that You could forgive
us. Thank you for your word. Thank
you for your spirit. That sends forth your word to
our ears with hearing so that we have believed and that we
are believing now and that we will be believing tomorrow. Bring
us continually to the table of the feast of your majesty as
we focus on your tongue. on your heart, on your mind,
through the lens of this Scripture, who is the living Word, who is
Jesus Christ, the righteous. Keep us until we meet again with
all the fullness of You within. In Jesus' name, Amen.