In the sixth chapter of the book
of Revelation, the Apostle John gives us a vision that the Lord
gave him of great judgment in the earth. The opening of the
seals of judgment and the earth is filled with disease and war
and pestilence and earthquakes floods, tornadoes, storms, sickness,
and persecution. The earth is filled with those
things, as it has been and as it will be until the end of the
age. How can we, as God's people,
live in the midst of these great calamities and trials and difficulties
that come by God's providence as he sends his work in the world
in judgment, warning us of judgment to come. In judgment, judging
the sin that's in us now and warning us of judgment in eternity. All of these things we recognize
are acts of divine judgment. Were there no sin, there would
be no sickness. Were there no sin, there would
be no disease. Were there no sin, there would
be no heartache. Were there no sin, there would
be no floods or tornadoes or hurricanes or earthquakes. Sin
is that which brings about all the evil we experience in this
world. Well, where can we find strength
an inspiration to guide us in dark days, in the midst of sickness,
in the midst of bereavement, in the midst of sorrow, in the
midst of God's obvious judgment upon the society in which we
live. Where can we find strength to guide us, to inspire us, to
direct our hearts heavenward? John gives us another vision.
Let's begin in chapter seven and verse one. This great chapter
begins by describing the sure salvation of all God's elect. It begins by describing the sure
salvation of all God's elect. And the honor, happiness and
blessedness of those who serve patiently, suffer for and steadfastly
follow the Lord Jesus. Let's begin at verse one. After
these things after I saw the opening of these seals of judgment. I saw four angels Standing on
the four corners of the earth as it were four angels standing
north south east and west Holding the four winds of the earth now
watch this that the wind should not blow on the earth Nor on
the sea nor on any tree for angels for Mighty angels standing on
the north, the south, the east, and the west. Angels sent of
God to judge the world, but holding the winds that they should not
touch the earth. They should not touch the sea.
They should not touch even a tree. Verse two, and I saw another
angel. Thank God for that angel. An
angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living
God, having the spirit of God, having God the Holy Spirit to
give to his people. And he cried with a loud voice
to the four winds to whom it was given to hurt the earth and
the sea. These four angels holding the
four winds given specifically to hurt the earth, to hurt the
islands of the sea. Read on. And this is what the
angel, the Lord Jesus says, hurt, not the earth, neither the sea,
nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their
foreheads until we have identified and sealed God's elect in the
earth, sealed them with his grace by his spirit in the regenerating
work of his spirit, sealed them as my own verse four. And I heard
the number of them which were sealed. Who are they? Who are they? And there were
sealed and hundred and forty and four thousand of all the
tribes of the children of Israel. Now, that's not talking about
a specific number. It's given a specific number
to speak of an indefinite number. Telling us that there will be
those out of all the tribes of Israel and then he names the
12 tribes 12,000 out of each tribe God has a specific people
in every part of the earth who make up his Israel, the Israel
of God, and they shall be sealed by his spirit in regenerating
grace. God will save his people everywhere. God will save his people. And he rules the world to accomplish
it. Skip down to verse nine. He speaks of twelve thousand
out of each of the twelve tribes. And after this first night, I
beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number. Remember
I told you the 144,000 speaks a multitude no man can number.
This multitude is out of all nations and kindreds and people
and tongues. They stood before the throne
and before the Lamb, all of them clothed with white robes and
palms in their hands. When God gets done, This whole
elect multitude, this 144,000, this chosen people of Israel,
God's elect, shall stand before Him an innumerable host out of
every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. They'll stand before
Him robed in white robes with palms of victory in their hand. And they cried with a loud voice
saying, salvation to our God. Salvation came from God. Salvation
belongs to God, salvation returns to God. Which sitteth upon the
throne and unto the Lamb. Verse 11. And all the angels
stood round about the throne and about the elders and the
four beasts. They stood around the whole church of the redeemed
and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God. The angels of God worshipped
Him because they beheld the salvation of God's people saying, Amen,
blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and
power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Verse 13. And one of the elders
answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in
white robes? And where did they come from?
Whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said unto me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation. All that we read about in chapter
six. All the disease and pestilence and sickness and sorrow, all
the persecution, all the heartache described in that sixth chapter.
These are they which came out of great tribulation. came out
of the woes of this world. They came out of the sorrows
of this world. They came out of the difficulties
of this world. They came out of the plagues
of this earth. They came out of this world and
they've washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the lamb. Therefore, therefore, Therefore,
they're before the throne of God. Would you at last find your
place before the throne of God and of the lamb? Wash and be
made white in the blood of Christ, God's dear son. Therefore, are
they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in
his temple. And he that said it on the throne
shall dwell among them and they shall hunger no more. Neither
thirst anymore Neither shall the sun light on them nor any
heat For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them and shall lead them into unto living fountains of
waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes After
describing the character and blessedness of God's Saints the
angel of God gave John this vision of encouragement That which inspires
and motivates God's saints, that which comforts and cheers our
hearts and gives us hope. He calls John to see the lamb,
which is in the midst of the throne. The title of my message
tonight is the lamb on the throne. God help you to see him, set
your heart on him and follow him. Some say this blessedness
we read about in this chapter refers to God's saints who are
already in heaven. Others say it refers to God's
saints on this earth on their way to heaven. I'm convinced
it refers to both. The passage refers to the blessedness
of God's saints in the world to come and the blessedness of
God's saints in this present world. You see, that blessedness
that awaits us in glory Begun in grace and the glory awaiting
us is but the fulfillment of the grace already given us in
Christ Jesus We've come out of great tribulation We who are
gods have washed our robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb and we are now in a state of honor happiness and
blessedness in Christ of which the world can know nothing Blessed are ye, our Savior said. Blessed are ye. The word is happy. Happy are ye. God's people have
a joy in them. The world can never understand. We are blessed of God with all
the blessings of grace in Christ Jesus. blessed of God with the
knowledge of redemption and grace, blessed of God with the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed of God with the knowledge of
his providence, blessed of God with the knowledge of his promises,
so that we are indeed a blessed people. And those things that
God has revealed in us and causes us to experience in his grace
makes us indeed a happy people rejoicing in the Lord, while
we walk on this earth. And let me remind you of what
the scriptures teach concerning our blessedness. Here are eight
things that describe the blessedness of God's saints in this world.
Beginning of verse 14. If you trust the Lord Jesus,
if you're washed in his precious blood, robed in his perfect righteousness,
then you are blessed in your present state. Justified, sanctified,
Washed in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our
God Just not only are you are you blessed in your present state
before God? But in the place where you are
you live continually child of God before the throne of God Set your heart on things above
where Christ said it on the right hand of God. That's where we
continually abide before the throne of God, our father and
our savior who rules the world for us. And we are blessed in
serving him day and night in his temple. We don't worship
God one day in seven. but every day continually. The
believer's life is a life of service to God. The believer's life is a life
of service to God. We don't serve God only when
we do religious things. We serve God in the totality
of our lives, having surrendered all to him so that in the totality
of our lives, we walk before God, consecrated to him, worshiping
him day and night. We pray without ceasing. We worship
in the spirit. We live at the altar of Christ
Jesus and give praise to God continually. Now, look at our
company. Oh, how blessed we are. in our
company. He that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. The angel of the Lord campeth
round about them that feareth him. He that sits on the throne
dwelleth among them. What's he talking about? He's
talking about friendship, fellowship, familiarity, communion with the
triune God. God dwells with us and we with
him continually. The Lord God promised come out
from among them and be you separate sayeth the Lord touch not the
unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto
you and you should be my sons and daughters. Truly our fellowship
is with the father and with his son. Look at verse 16. Oh how
blessed we are in the freedom. God's given us They shall hunger
no more neither thirst anymore Neither shall the Sun light on
them nor any heat Listen to this in John chapter
6 you can be turning to Psalm 121 John chapter 6 Jesus said unto them I am the
bread of life He that cometh to me shall never hunger and
He that believeth on me shall never thirst Obviously our Lord
is not talking about Physical hunger and physical thirst that's
obviously not what he's talking about. He's talking about spiritual
things believers ought to be free from care and freed from
all fear of want, knowing that Christ meets all our deeds and
he is indeed all our need. All spiritual need, all carnal
need, all eternal need is supplied to us in and by Christ, our God
and Savior. Look here, Psalm 121. Psalm 121. I love to hear Brother
David sing this Psalm. As he often does, I will lift
up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help
cometh from the Lord, the Lord which made heaven and earth.
What does that mean? He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold he that keepeth Israel
neither slumber shall neither slumber nor sleep The Lord is
thy keeper He's your guard. He's the Sentinel sitting watch
over your soul. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand The Sun shall not smite thee by day Nor the moon
by night The Lord shall preserve thee from evil. He shall preserve
thy soul and The Lord shall preserve thy going out and by coming in
from this time forth and even forevermore. What's he telling
us? The son of affliction cannot
smite us. The heat of persecution can do
us no harm. There shall no evil happen to
the just. Turn to Isaiah 30, Isaiah 35.
Isaiah 35. All children of God. Let nothing
make you uneasy in this world. Let nothing make you uneasy in
this world. I need that more than you do. Oh, Don Fortner, saved by God's
grace. Redeemed by Christ precious blood
robed in his righteousness Sealed by his spirit. Let nothing make
you uneasy in this world Isaiah 35 verse 8 and Highways shall
be there and away and it shall be called the way of holiness
The unclean shall not pass over it But it shall be for those
the wayfaring men Though fools shall not err therein Now watch
what it says about this way. Our Lord Jesus said, I'm the
way. This is the way he's talking about. No lion shall be there,
nor any ravenous beast shall go up their own. It shall not
be found there, but the redeemed of the Lord shall walk there. The redeemed of the Lord shall
walk there, not run. Not hurry here and there but
walk there And the ransomed of the lord shall return and come
to zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads They shall
obtain joy and gladness And sorrow and sighing shall flee away Some
years ago My friend by the end pots over in Huntington, England
Put together a a book sovereign grace past and present And he
put some things in there by myself and other current men, and some
in there by some of the older writers. And we picked it up
one day, Shelby and I were driving out somewhere, I think I was
going to Texas, and I picked it up out of the mailbox and
asked her to just read me the table of contents. I hadn't seen it,
didn't know what was in it. And she read a sermon in there
by William Huntington. And the title of the sermon was
An Innocent Game for Babes in Grace. I thought, what a title. An Innocent Game for Babes in
Grace. I sat and tell you what the text is. You'll immediately
know what the text is. I said, the text is found in
Isaiah chapter 11, where the scripture says that a sucking
child shall play on the hole of an asp, and a weaned child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice den, and they shall not hurt
nor destroy in all my holy mountains. She said that's the text and
she proceeded to read the sermon to me Masterful masterful sermon. I recommend you get it read it.
I If I could preach for about three hours, I'd preach it was
that's how long he preached But he just masterful and I laughed
and laughed and laughed as she read the sermon to me I just
left wasn't funny one. Oh, but bless you There shall nothing hurt in God's
holy mountain. Did you hear that? There shall
nothing hurt in God's holy mountain. Nothing hurt in this way. The
lion shall not be there. The lion shall not be there.
He just roars against it. And the cockatrice in the ass
shall do no harm. Not only that, but we're blessed
in our provision. For the lamb that is in the midst
of the throne, we're told here in Revelation 7, shall feed them. Word feed has the idea of pasturing. It's a pastoral word, a shepherd
work. It seems that he's telling us that the lamb, who is our
shepherd, will feed, rule, and protect his people. That's what
Christ does for us. He feeds us with the bread of
life. He rules us with his word, by
his grace, by his spirit, and in his providence, and he protects
us from all evil. And then we're blessed in our
direction. He shall lead his sheep under fountains of water. In the midst of trouble, he makes
me to lie down beside still water. He leads us to fountains of water
to revive us and comfort us and to cleanse our souls. And then
we're blessed in our joys as well. We're told God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Obviously, Not here. Obviously not here. But it is
enough to walk in the light of the promise. God shall soon wipe
away all tears from our eyes. Here he dries our tears a little,
but we still hurt. Here he dries our tears a little,
and I do mean a little. but we still hurt in the midst
of sorrow. Soon, soon. Oh, happy day. God shall wipe away all tears
of every kind from our eyes. Charlie, I just can't hardly
imagine that. You just stop for a minute and
think about the tears you've shed in your lifetime. And all
the reasons. And most of them are your fault.
It's a fact. Most of them are my fault. Not somebody else's fault. My
fault. My fault. Because of my stupidity. Because
of my arrogance. Because of my meanness. Because
of me. Most of them are my fault. Because
of my sin. because of my own belief. You
understand that? Is that not so? Most of them's
our fault. And Rex, God's going to wipe
away all tears from our eyes. I have no idea how that should
be accomplished. But when God's done with us, there will be no weeping. and no sorrow and no regret of
anything. Oh, how blessed indeed we are. Now, look for a minute at God's
lamb. That's the blessedness of God's
elect. Take it home with you and enlarge on it the best you
can. Look at verse 17. This is, in my opinion, the most
blessed, glorious part of the whole chapter. The Lamb is in
the midst of the throne. Were it not for the Lamb, which
is in the midst of the throne, there would be no blessedness.
Who is this Lamb? This Lamb is the Lamb of God,
and this Lamb is the Lamb who is God. The Lamb of God sat before
us in the Old Testament scriptures in type, in picture, in promise. This is that lamb that was set
forth in Genesis when the Lord slew an innocent victim and made
clothes out of skins for Adam and Eve. This is the lamb that
was set before us when Abel brought a lamb for an offering unto God.
This is the lamb set before us in the picture of Isaac and the
ram caught in the thicket. Substitute for Isaac being slaughtered
on the altar. This is this is portrayed for
us in that Paschal lamb Sacrificed on God's altar every year in
the lambs Sacrificed every morning and every evening until at last
when John the Baptist saw Christ walking up toward him He says
behold the Lamb of God. This is the one we've been hearing
about talking about all these years This is the Lamb of God
who by the sacrifice of himself takes away the sin of the world.
This is the Lamb accepted in heaven today, yonder He is. John says, I saw the Lamb, the
Lamb of God, the one I saw hanging on Calvary's tree in my stead. The one I saw transfigured before
me in the Mount of Transfiguration. There He is, the Lamb of God,
sitting on His throne. Sitting on the great white throne
of judgment by which God rules the world and shall judge the
world Sitting on the majestic throne of his grace from which
all grace comes The Lamb of God is our Savior and he rules the
world This is the Lamb who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords
Sitting in the midst of the throne He is the Lamb. And though he's
exalted, he's still the Lamb. He sits upon the throne as the
Lamb's slave. And he sits there with all the
ease and serenity of total sovereignty to rule the world for those for
whom he was slain. He has seven horns and seven
eyes. The seven spirits of God. That
is to say he has perfect power and perfect wisdom. Perfect power
and perfect skill. Seven horns of omnipotence with
which to rule the universe. Well, what is this throne? What
is this throne? Turn to Revelation 22. Look at
the throne. First thing John saw when he
saw a door open in heaven in Revelation 4 is I saw a throne
and one sitting on the throne And he sees the throne again
with the Lamb of God sitting on the throne here in Revelation
22. He sees this throne in the end He showed me a pure river
of water of life clear as crystal Proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb in the midst of it and on either side
of the river It was there a tree of life the tree of life which
bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month,
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it. And his servant shall serve him,
and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their
foreheads. This is the throne of total sovereignty,
total dominion, the throne where God's glory, having been established,
is revealed. This is what Isaiah saw when
he said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. He saw Christ
sitting on the throne. The very same thing that John
describes here. It is the throne of God's holiness. As the grace
of God is the glory of God, so all the glory of God shines in
the face of Jesus Christ, who sits on the throne. And this
is the throne of justice. Ralph Erskine made this observation. His glorious and holy throne
of grace stands firm upon the foundation of justice satisfied
for the sinner. and justice executed against
sin in the blood of the lamb that is in the midst of the throne.
So that now there is no hindrance, no impediment to our access to
God because Christ sits on the throne who satisfied justice
for us. What is this throne? It's a throne
of grace. Let us come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. It's the throne of judgment.
All the judgment that God executes upon this earth. Listen now. Pay absolutely no attention to
what the religious pundits and the news pundits and the world's
philosophers had to say about all the things that take place
in this world. Mark Henson paid no attention to it. Pay no attention
to what everybody else says. All the evil that comes to pass
in the world is God's judgment against sin. It is. Doesn't matter whether it's your
family or mine. It is a manifest judgment of God against sin.
And it's right. It comes to pass from the great
white throne on which the Lamb of God sits. And in the last
day, when he cast sinners into hell, there will be no arguing
with his justice, for he executes that which is lawful and right
from his great white throne. The lamb is on the throne for
which he bargained in eternity. And the father said to him, Now
you finish the work I've given you to do and ask of me and I'll
give you the heathen for your inheritance and accepted him
as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world and gave him power
over all flesh so that the world is ruled by Jesus Christ, the
lamb who sits on the throne. He came in time and died in our
stead at Calvary, rose again, and ascended up on high, and
God the Father, the triune Jehovah, manifestly showed Him to be the
Christ of God, the Son of David, and gave Him power over all flesh
to give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him.
But what are the implications of all this? What great dignity
our Savior possesses? Oh, the heights and the glory
of his exaltation. He sits upon the throne of the
universe, the throne of grace and the throne of glory. And
his mediation. Is perfect, as perfect as his
dominion is universal. He who sits upon the throne is
Christ, our mediator, our advocate on high. He who is our advocate before
the throne is God our Savior who sits on the throne. Bone
of our bone, flesh of our flesh, one with us and thus one with
him. Not only does he have an intimate
care for us as being one with him, but he pleads the merits
of his blood and righteousness in all things on our behalf and
thereby pleads effectually, making intercession for the saints according
to the will of God. Oh, what must be the beauty and
equity of his dominion. He who sits on the throne, he
who sits on the throne is God the Lamb. who sacrificed himself for us. He does everything right. He does everything well. He does
everything perfectly. He does everything in indescribable
love for our souls as the lamb who laid down his life for his
people at Calvary. And he feeds us. He feeds us. Oh, how he shepherds
his people with his word, in his worship, in his house, by
the power of his spirit, by his omnipotent grace, feeding us
ever upon himself, so that the believing soul forever feeds
upon Christ the bread of life, and drinks of Christ the water
of life at the living fountains of waters. The religious legalist
feeds on his own works. You may recall in 2 Kings 18,
Rabshakeh threatened to make the people sitting on the walls
of Jerusalem eat their own dung. Legal preachers accomplished
what he threatened. He who teaches men to feed upon
their own good works, their own goodness, and their own righteousness,
teaches them to feed upon dung, their own dung. Christ feeds
his sheep upon himself. And oh, how well fed his sheep
are. The finest and best things are
always free. And Christ, the bread of life,
the water of life, is free. Listen to what he says. Oh, everyone
that thirsted, come you to the waters. And he that hath no money,
come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money
and without price. God give you grace, O blessed
Lamb of God. Lead these immortal souls to
your throne. Feed them with your grace as
only you can. Amen.