Turn with me to the book of Revelation
chapter 5. Revelation chapters 4 and 5 make
up the second vision given to John when he was on the Isle
of Patmos. And in this vision, he shows
us Christ being appointed of the Father, approved of the Father,
taking and opening and fulfilling all that God has purposed to
do. He put it all in His hands, trusted
it all to Him. Now look with me here in Revelation
5-1. 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. Now this writing within and on
the back side simply says that the book had everything in it. It was complete. Nothing could
be added to it, nothing was needed to be added to it, and nothing
could be taken away. Everything that was needful,
put into this book. No blank pages, everything's
sealed. Nothing in there that something
may come along and change things. It's written. This is going to
happen. This is going to happen. This
is going to happen, and so on, all the way down through time. So what is this book? Here's
this one who sits on the throne, and he's holding in his hand
a book. John sees it. It's written within,
written on the back side. Sealed with seven seals. What
is this book? This book is the book of God's
eternal purpose of grace. That's what it is. Everything
God intends to do and what God intends to do has to do with
the salvation of his people. This book is the book of God's
eternal purpose of grace, and it's the book of revelation.
God intends for these things to be revealed. A fellow told
me one time, he said, you know, you're talking about predestination,
talking about election, he said, those things are closed, those
things are in God's hands. He said, that's not for us to
deal with. And I said, no, it's in the word of God. And if it's
in the word of God, it's revealed. That's what the word of God is,
the revelation of God. And so this is what we're looking
at here. And it includes all the eternal
appointments of Christ, the election of his people, The predestination
of all things, the end of which is all God's elect being perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. It includes creation, providence,
and salvation. Not a sparrow can fall to the
ground, our Lord said, without your father. Now, I don't know
about you, but I shoot sparrows. They get in my stuff and eat
my stuff, and I shoot at them. I don't care anything for sparrows.
And he told his disciples, he said, did God say this because
he cares for sparrows? Or did he say it not altogether
for your benefit? Not a sparrow can fall to the
ground. That's pretty complete, isn't
it? That's got providence. It includes all of these things.
It includes the fall of Satan and a third of the heavenly host.
It includes the fall of man in the garden by which condemnation
came upon all his race. It takes in the history and the
future of the world. What's going to happen? Exactly
what God's purpose to be. That's what's going to happen.
Exactly. The rising and the falling of
kingdoms and kings. It takes in every minute of every
day of every man whoever was or whoever shall be all of it
in this book it takes in the elect angels and their reason
for being it takes in droughts and floods and fire and earthquakes
it takes in damnation and salvation it takes in judgment and justification
and it takes in the destinies of men all of these things in
this book So vast is the scope of this book that it's shown
sealed in the hands of God. Here it is. Everything God intends
to reveal that He's doing, He holds in His hand in a book.
All right, Revelation 5, verse 2. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. Whoever takes this book must
be worthy to open the book, and he must be worthy to fulfill
everything that's within the book. You see, when God reveals
a thing, He accomplishes the thing. He reveals it by doing
it. He reveals it by being it. And
when God revealed Himself, He didn't just reveal Himself in
words, He revealed Himself in His Son. His Son was manifested. And then those who know Him know
the Father. Whoever takes this book must
accomplish everything that's written within and on the backside,
and he must do so in harmony with the character of God. Everything
that's done in this book. The damnation of fallen men,
the damnation of fallen angels, everything that's contained in
this book must be done in full harmony with the character of
God. God can't do anything out of
harmony with his own character. Everything God does is perfectly
in harmony with his character. If you want to know, sometimes
you're looking at something and you say, This don't sound exactly
right or it just don't feel right to me. Go into the word of God
and look at the character of God and then go back and look
at that doctrine. Does that doctrine violate his
character? Then it's not of God. All right, Revelation 5-2, and
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who's worthy
to open the book and to loose the seals. I tell you this, whosoever takes
this book, he must be given the right to it. It's in God's hands. It's in God's hands. So whoever
takes it must be given the right to it and the approval to take
it. Who's worthy? Who's worthy? Religion says we are. Is that not what they say? We're
worthy to look upon the book of God and unravel its mysteries. God tell me that all the time.
Not necessary for God to choose a preacher and call a preacher
and send a preacher. Not necessary for God to do all
these things. I can take the book and I can
read it and understand it. I can unravel it. I'm worthy.
That's what religion says. We're worthy. We're worthy to
choose our destinies. We're worthy to exalt the law
and make it honorable, to manifest a perfect love for God and a
perfect righteousness before God. We're worthy to repent and
believe. We're worthy to begat the children
of God. We're worthy. We can open the seals and accomplish
the will of God. well listen to what the word
of god says revelation five verse three and no man in heaven nor in earth neither under the
earth was able to open the book neither to look their own who's
worthy? nobody and john said i went much
first of all because no man was found worthy to open the book
or to look their own you ever wept over an unrevealed
future i feel you got shut me up to
his father and there's nothing i wanted more than to know the
will of god concerning me and i wept i wept much over and over
again i didn't know what my what does my future my future is in
his hands when you find out that all of these things are in his
hands you'll be interested to know what he has to say That's exactly right, and that's
why John's weeping. He knows everything in the will
of God concerning his people is in that book. He knows that.
And he weeps because nobody's able to look on it and to tell
him what is the will of God concerning him. God's providence sealed in the
hands of him who sits on the throne and tries his will, you
can't see it. Can't look on the book. You ever stood trembling before
God, not knowing His sovereign will toward you? Well, I tell you, when the Holy
Spirit shuts a man up to the sovereign will of God, he'll
weep till God gives him the revelation of Christ. And he'll keep on
weeping. Revelation 5-5, And one of the
elders said 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. It's my prayer that the Lord
will enable us to see the significance of what's taking place here in
John's vision. The promised one, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the promised Christ, You know, when old Israel,
Jacob is who I'm talking about now, God named him Israel. And when old Israel blessed his
sons, he said this of Judah. He said, Judah is a lion's whelp. Talking about his son Judah. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up. He stooped down, he couched down
as a lion and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? He's
talking about that coming Redeemer that's gonna come through the
tribe of Judah. Now this prophecy was given way
back in Genesis 49, 9. And then he also identified Christ
in Revelation 5, 5 as the root of David. And another prophecy
is given concerning this coming Redeemer over in Isaiah 11, verse
10. He said, in that day there shall
be a root of Jesse. Now here he talked about the
root of David. Well, Jesse is David's father. Which shall stand as an ensign
of the people. And to it shall the Gentiles
seek, and his rest shall be glorious." So here's the line of the tribe
of Judah. This is that foreordained one,
this one chosen of God from the very beginning. He's able to
open the book. The prevailing Lamb has to be
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, Revelation
5, verse 6. And I beheld in low in the midst
of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the
elders 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. Now John saw the lamb in the
midst of the throne. What's that mean? here's this angel uh... i mean
this uh... elder and he's saying that the
the lion of the tribe of judah he's prevailed to open the book
and john said i looked what was he looking for looking for the
lamb you see when god when god begins
to reveal himself he reveals himself through the lamb and
when men are just seeking a way out of their troubles when men
are seeking this and seeking that. They're not seeking after
God. But when God the Holy Spirit shuts a man up and he begins
to seek after God, he seeks after the Lamb. And so John was looking
in this vision and he's looking for this one who's worthy to
open this book, this one who can reveal to him purpose of God and the purpose
of his grace and the will of God concerning him. And he said,
I looked and in the midst of the throne, I saw the Lamb. I saw the Lamb. It means that
the Redeemer and substitute of God's elect is God. That's what
that means. The Lamb is God. And he sits
on the throne with his Father. What makes this one worthy to
open the seals of this book is that he's God himself. And being God, he fully understands
what God demands. Being God, he's able to perform
all that's demanded. And being God, he cannot fail.
Being God, he was with God in the beginning. Isn't that what
John said after he saw this vision? He wrote his gospel. Here's what
he said. In the beginning was God. In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. When was he with God? In the
beginning. In the beginning. I just don't know how to talk
to people. I had a fellow call me this week. He wanted to know
what did we preach. What do y'all preach there? And
I said, well, we preach what the Baptists have always preached
from the very beginning. We're traditional Baptists. We
preach that old sovereign grace of God. Well, I don't know what
you're talking about. And I said, well, do you know
what Calvinism is? Oh, he said, I know what Calvinism is. And
I said, well, that's what we preach. Well, he said, I don't
believe that. I said, why not? Why not? Well, I did a study
on it. I said, what did you use as the
basis of your study? Well, just suffice it to say
I did a study on it. I said, yeah, but what was the
basis of your study? I said, I used the word of God.
Well, I don't go along with it, and I don't think we could get
along. I said, I don't think we could either. God cannot fail. And God here
is being revealed as the Redeemer. This is the God-man. He can't
fail. And people talk about being saved
and lost and cut off and backsliding and all that. God can't fail. Salvation is of the Lord. It
ain't of you. It's of Him. And He can't fail. He can't possibly fail because
He's God. Didn't he say, I'm God and I
do all my pleasure? That's exactly what he said.
When John saw this lamb, he was in the midst of the throne. The will of God fully comprehended
in Christ, and then secondly, John saw this lamb as he was
of the four beasts. What were the four beasts? Preachers. Have you ever seen that in this
text before? He said he was of the four beasts. Jesus Christ
himself was a preacher. When the four beasts were described
in Revelation 4 verse 7, it said the first beast was like a lion.
Isn't that what it says? What kind of lion? The lion of the tribe of Judah. Hebrews 2, he said this gospel
that we preach, he said, first began to be spoken by our Lord.
You can read in the book of Luke, he'll tell you in detail the
day that our Lord stood up and read that old prophecy by Isaiah
and told him, today is this prophecy fulfilled in your ears. And then I'll tell you this,
he's of the four beasts. He said to all those sin of him,
he said, he that heareth you, heareth me. So here we see the lamb in the
midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and then thirdly,
in the midst of the elders. What's that talking about? That's
talking about the church. Where can this lamb, this worthy
lamb be found? He can be found on the throne.
He can be found in the gospel and he can be found in the midst
of his people. And we're told that this lamb
had been slain. This one who's even at the right
hand of God and who dwells in the midst of them is one who
was slain. He was slain. He was slain in
the mind and purpose of God before the world began. Watch people wanna fuss and fight
about the doctrine of eternal justification. I don't understand
it. Our God's eternal. You think God did something new
when Christ came, died on the cross? You think that's where
salvation began at the cross? Salvation began in eternity.
And the lamb was slain in the mind and purpose of God way back
yonder. He was slain in every type and
symbol of the ceremonial law. And he was literally slain on
the cross of Calvary and by his own blood obtained eternal redemption
for us. And then it says this about this
lamb. He had seven horns. Now whenever you read about horns
in the book of Revelation, he's talking about power. He's talking
about authority. He's talking about a monarch
having horns. And he had seven horns. Seven
is the number of completion or perfection. So he had perfect
and complete power over all things. Absolute rule over everything
that is. And he had seven eyes. That means
he had complete and perfect wisdom, comprehending all that God has
purposed to make known. And he had seven spirits. That
is, he had the perfect and complete Spirit of God in him. He was given the Spirit without
measure. And no other being, no other
angel or man could open this sealed book to the minds and
hearts of men but the Lamb slain. All right, now watch this, Revelation
5 verse 7. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. One of the old writers said this,
and I thought it was really good. He said he didn't ask for the
book, he took it. He took it. He didn't bow down
and say, may I have it? He took the book. And he took
it from him who sat on the throne. He took it because he had a right
to take it. In Matthew 28, 18, Jesus came
and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. Now you go preach. You go teach
my gospel to all nations. You do that because all power
is in my hand. And then listen to this one,
Romans 14, verse 7. Paul said, for none of us liveth
to himself, And no man dieth to himself. For whether we live,
we live unto the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died
and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead
and the living. Now, he didn't snatch the book
out of the hands of God, but he took it. He took it. He took it as one having a right
to it. All right, Revelation 5-8, and
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of
them hearts and golden vials full of odors. You know, in the
old ceremonial law, there was different kinds of perfumes and
things, certain mixtures that they used in the worship. And
when that priest would go into that tabernacle, he would spread
that perfume out. That was a symbol of the prayers
of God's saints going up. And here, he says, is the fulfillment
of this. The whole church bowing down
before him with hearts and bowels full of odors. That is the prayers
of the saints. And this whole thing is a picture
of the coronation of King Jesus, which is the reward for his mediatorial
accomplishments. All that he had accomplished
and done. Jesus Christ is pictured in the
Many parables in the scriptures as having received the kingdom.
You read about it in Luke 19, 12 through 27. You read about
it over in Philippians 2, 6 through 11. You read about it in Psalm
chapter 2. He set his king upon his holy
hill and Zion. And you can read about it in
Daniel 7, 9 through 14. As God He gave the book, John Trapp
said, and as mediator, he took it. He gave it and he took it
as one who sits on the throne. And then I want you to see this.
It is the sovereign purpose and grace of God in Christ that causes
his people to worship. When he took the book, When Christ
took the book, when you saw that book in His hands, and Him opening
those seals, that's when you begin to enter into worship.
That's when you'll begin to bow down and give Him all the praise
and honor and glory, when you see everything in His hands. Well, how did they worship? Well,
they worshiped with hearts. That is, making melody in their
hearts. In Ephesians 5.19, he says, speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord. When they worshipped,
they worshipped in song. They worshipped through music.
The Lord said by his prophet Jeremiah, he said, I am their
music. You ever read that? I am their
music. And they had harps. And then
secondly, golden vows full of the prayers of the saints. Prayer
is a form of worship. Did you know that? You can't
worship God and not have prayer. Prayer is expressing our gratitude
and praise to our God. All right, and then watch this,
Revelation 5-9. And they sung a new song. saying
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof
for thou was 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.
We used to sing songs, didn't we? Those of you who, like me,
were raised in religion, we used to sing songs. We used to sing,
will the circle be unbroken? Yes. Yes, it will. Yes, it will. We used to sing this song. If
anybody makes it, Lord, surely I will. Oh, what a self-righteous,
self-presumptuous song. But now our hearts sing a new
song. We sing Amazing Grace. How sweet
to sing. We sing on Christ the solid rock. All other ground is sinking sand.
We sing the song of redemption in Christ. And by right of his
accomplishments, he's made us kings and priests and we reign
on the earth. How do we reign? I don't feel
like I'm reigning, do you? How do we reign on the earth? Well, we reign through grace.
Grace reigns in us. Where sin did once abound, grace
doth now much more abound. Grace reigns in our hearts. How
do we reign on the earth? We reign through a revelation
of Satan and all his lies and deceits. This world can't convince
you otherwise, can it? You know the truth. You know
the truth. And we overcome by our faith. And we reign on this earth in
providence of no one else on this earth except his own people. Can this be said? All things
work together. I've heard that at so many funerals.
I heard it at my brother's funeral. He was a drunk. I love my brother,
but he was a drunk. He had no interest in God, he
had no interest in salvation, and he lived that life, his whole
life long, and then died. And we get up there and this
preacher comes up and he starts talking about all things working
together for good. Start talking about him being
settled into God. There's nobody else on this earth
except God's saints. who fall down before him and
worship him can this be said but it can be said of them everything
in providence everything whether you see it or whether you don't
is working together for your good and his glory and we reign
we reign on this earth and we reign in this an unbreakable
love of christ for us What's going to separate you from my
love? Nothing. Nothing. And so we rang. We rang. All right. Revelation
511, I'll hurry. And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and
the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands. All of them together sang with
a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power,
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in
the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing,
and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four
beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. Everything that's in the sea,
everything that's in the heavens, everything that's in heaven itself,
everything, Everything calls out and praises Him. And I'll
tell you this, even the judgment of the wicked in that day will
praise the Lord. They'll praise the Lord because
He's holy and just, even in their damnation. Paul said, for creation was made
subject to vanity not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected
to same in hope. Because the creation itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. So that everything finds its
solace in the Lamb who sits on the throne and holds in his hand
the book and loosens the seals. Now that's what he's telling
us. He's assuring us of our salvation in Christ all through this gospel
age, clear through to the end. He's assuring us of this because
all of the things concerning our salvation is in the hands
of the Lamb. And He's opening the seals. You
ain't opening them. He's opening them to you.