if you will, this morning to
Revelation chapter 4, the revelation of Jesus Christ
chapter 4. Whenever you read the book of
Revelation in this day when so many people have so terribly
misinterpreted the book, we need to remind ourselves this is the
revelation of Jesus Christ. It is not so much a book of prophecy
as it is a book of revelation, the revelation of the person
and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we get to chapter four,
we've come to a vision of the Savior's finished work with his
ransomed with him in glory. Let's read verse four together.
And round about the throne were four and twenty seats, And upon
the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white
raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold." They had
on their heads crowns of gold. What a statement. What a picture,
what a blessed prospect for God's elect, for our poor souls. Here, God the Holy Spirit tells
us that God's saints in heaven gathered together before the
throne of God and the Lamb in resurrection glory shall have
on their heads crowns of gold. Now that piques my interest and
I expect it does yours. I'm sure it does yours as you
have prospect of that which awaits us in heavenly glory. Our subject
this morning is crowns of gold. The hat on their heads, crowns
of gold. Let's take a glimpse without
curiosity, not simply trying to satisfy our vain curiosity,
but with the hope and faith and expectation of that which awaits
us with our Redeemer. I realize that we know very little
about heaven. The scriptures reveal very little
about the state of eternal bliss that awaits God's elect in heaven.
We know that there is a place of bliss called heaven. In the
presence of God and the holy angels, where the people of God
shall dwell together in perfect righteousness with the Redeemer
when time shall be no more. We know that heaven is a place
of happiness, bliss, glory, peace, love, and holiness, a place of
perfect righteousness and truth where neither sin nor sinners
can enter in. But beyond that, we know very
little. We know very little because the
Holy Spirit has saved up that which awaits us for that future
day when we shall enjoy it. Should the Lord God be pleased
to reveal all that awaits us, we could not contain it now,
and it would probably make us neglect our responsibilities
in the presence. As it is written, I hath not
seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God has prepared for them who love him. We don't
know where heaven is. We don't know what our heavenly
bodies will be like. We don't know what the events
of eternity really will be. We know a great deal more about
what will not be there than we do about what will be there.
There will be no sickness, no sorrow, no sin, no darkness,
No disappointment, no death, no corruption, no care, no crying,
no trials, no temptations, no tears. But that which awaits
us, we really cannot tell. There are some things plainly
revealed, however, about the believer's eternal inheritance
in heaven. And those things that are revealed
are revealed for our present encouragement for our present
comfort, for our increased expectation of heavenly glory, that we might
enjoy the consolation of that blessed prospect that awaits
us. Here in Revelation 4-4, the people
of God are described as sitting before the throne of God in the
presence of our great God and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. The four and twenty seats with
the four and twenty elders seated upon them represent the whole
company of God's elect. They represent all believers,
everyone who's been saved since the fall of Adam to the end of
time, the whole host of God's church, all the redeemed, all
who are chosen of God, all who are called by the Spirit and
born again, all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And those
four and twenty elders bear distinct things described in this passage
that show us something about that which is characteristic
and true of all who shall enter into heaven's glory. Let me show
you seven things. I encourage you to jot them down.
I'm going to go through them hurriedly because I want to get
to something else. These things are characteristic
of all who enter into heaven. First, we're told that they are
all clothed in white raiment. That is, they're all clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. Our only righteousness is Christ
the Lord. All God's saints have his righteousness
as laid to their account, imputed to them, charged to them because
we have been made righteous by the obedience and death of our
Savior and by the new birth. He has given us a righteousness
imputed to us and a righteousness imparted to us. In justification,
we are declared righteous. In sanctification, that is in
the new birth, God the Holy Spirit put a new nature in us. We're
made partakers of the divine nature, that new man created
in righteousness and in true holiness, so that the believer
is made worthy of heavenly glory. Second, they're all people who
worship the Lamb. In chapter 5, we see them casting
their crowns before the Lord Jesus, worshiping Him, and crying,
worthy is the Lamb. Third, all are redeemed. Redeemed by the precious blood
of Christ in that great eternal day It shall come to pass as
we often sing when this poor lisping stammering tongue lies
silent in the grave Then in a nobler sweeter song I'll sing thy power
to save Forth we're told that they are all around the throne.
I All of them seated around the throne. No back place, no front
place. They're all seated around the
throne. And they all shall reign with
Christ upon the earth. We're made kings and priests
unto God. And we shall reign with him,
we're told in Revelation 20, a thousand years. But really,
the word thousand is a little bit misleading to us in our English
translation because there's no such thing as a singular thousand
number in the original text. Rather, they shall reign with
him thousands of years. Shall reign with him forever
and ever. When God makes all things new,
We who are Christ shall reign over God's creation as God intended
it should be when Adam was given dominion over all the earth.
And then we're told that they all shall have on their heads
crowns of gold. Crowns of gold. According to
the book of God, all God's people shall have crowns of gold upon
their heads when they enter heaven's glory in the last day. When all
things are made new in the resurrection glory, we're brought before God,
presented before him with exceeding joy, holy, unblameable, unapprovable
in his sight. They all have on their heads
crowns of gold. So let me answer a few questions
about these crowns. First, what are they? What are
they? I have in the last several weeks
received numerous calls or had numerous conversations with folks
who were very concerned about the things they had been taught
concerning these crowns and rewards in heaven and so on. Well, what
are these crowns? If you read the New Testament,
you will see that there are five distinct crowns named for God's
people. Five of them. Five distinct crowns
promised to believers which God shall give to his saints in eternity. First, Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians
9 of an incorruptible crown. An incorruptible crown promised
to those who finish the race. Not to those who enter the race,
but to those who finish the race. Like runners in a race, the believer
must press on. We must persevere in the faith. We must continue in the faith,
persevering to the end. He that finishes the race wins
the prize. There's no reward for those who
don't finish the race. In Hebrews chapter 12, Paul speaks
of us as being portrayed like the Olympic Games in ancient
times, with a great cloud of witnesses urging us to run with
patience the race that's set before us. Then James chapter
1 verse 12, James speaks of a crown of life. A crown of life which
is the reward of faithfulness to our Lord Jesus. Our Savior
himself in Revelation 2 promises that he will give a crown of
life to those who are faithful unto death. Those whose trials
destroy their faith never really had any faith. Trials do nothing
except prove what we are. Trials don't make us any more
righteous or any less righteous. Trials do not give us faith or
destroy faith. They simply prove whether our
faith is real. You want to see if a ship will
float, you take it out of the shipyard where it's built and
you put it in the sea and you'll soon find out. Believers are
many women who believe Christ continually. Continually, God
graciously sees to it that we must trust our Redeemer. Many
I have seen over the years who, by trials, just quit. Quit worshiping
God, quit believing God, quit having anything to do with the
things of God. Believers face the same trials and harder, and
they cling to the Savior. Believers face the same trials
and more difficult, and they tenaciously hold on to Christ
Jesus. I don't say they don't have difficulties. I don't say we don't have doubts
and fears. I don't say we don't stumble
and fall. All of those things, Merle, we
do. Some, it's obvious outwardly. Some, it's not obvious to anybody
except him. But believers in the midst of
their doubts and fears and unbelief continue believing Christ. This
crown then of life is given to those who actually have life
and faith in Christ Jesus. Third, scriptures speak of a
crown of righteousness. Paul said to Timothy in his last
letter to Timothy in 2 Timothy, There's laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, and then it says, not to me only, but unto
all them that love Christ at His appearing. So this crown
of righteousness is for those who love Christ at His appearing,
who look for the coming of the Lord Jesus. And then Paul speaks
of a crown of rejoicing and 1st Thessalonians 2, he strikes those
Thessalonian believers and he says, you are our crown of rejoicing. Now, Proverbs tells us, children's
children are the crown of old men. And when our Lord Jesus
comes in his glory to gather his elect from the four corners
of the earth and presents them before the father saying, behold,
I and the children which God has given me. He rejoices in
the salvation of his elect and the fullness of his body So we
will rejoice Imagine what it will be to see God's elect all
Presented faultless before the presence of his glory to the
everlasting praise of his name Paul was not saying I Glory and
rejoice in the fact that I was the instrument of your conversion I pray every day, every day. I continually pray, God, make
me a help, a blessing to the people I touch, whose lives I
influence. I want that. I delight in that.
But if that should be the case, if preaching this message should
be of help to you, that's no cause for me to glory. Paul says,
what are we, Paul or Apollos or Peter? We're just instruments
by which God has communicated his word to you. There's nothing
in the instrument. The power is in God and his grace. What Paul is saying is this,
I glory and rejoice in the salvation of God's elect because the salvation
of God's elect is the glory and the joy of Christ. And then in
1 Peter 5, 4, Peter tells us that God's people will receive
from the chief shepherd a crown of glory that fadeth not away. When Christ comes, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. Our Savior said, the
glory which thou gavest me, I have given them that they may be one,
even as we are one. There's a crown that's incorruptible,
a crown called the crown of life, a crown of righteousness, a crown
of rejoicing, and a crown of glory. What are they? Turn back
to Isaiah chapter 28. Isaiah chapter 28. What are these crowns? Look at verse 5. In that day
shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem
of beauty unto the residue of his people." All of these crowns
are one crown. You see, all God's people persevere
to the end. All God's people love Christ
and his appearing. All God's people are faithful
unto death. All God's people rejoice in the
salvation of God's elect. These distinctly named crowns
are all but other names given to our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is called by numerous names in the scriptures. Christ is the
prize we seek, the crown we shall wear, the reward we shall have
in heaven. What more could we need or desire? I get a little bit out of shape
when I hear people denigrating the glory of Christ as though
somehow His glory and possessing Him, being one with Him, being
like Him, somehow that doesn't satisfy. I remember years ago
with a Clayton Kavanaugh No, Clayton's daddy, Brother Cavanaugh
down in Mattisville, Kentucky, was an old man when God saved
him. His brother had been in one of these big B Baptist churches,
one of these landmark churches down there for years, and Clayton
wasn't in their group. So Brother Cavanaugh wasn't in
their group. So his brother came to him and
was talking to him about, I'm glad that the Lord saved you,
But you're not going to have any crowns. You're not going
to have any rewards. And Clayton talked to him a little
bit in his plain way. And finally, he said, do you
reckon I'll have Christ? He said, oh, yeah, you'll have
Christ. He said, that's enough. That's enough. Christ is ours. And Christ is all. And Christ
is the gift of God's grace. Well, who will wear these crowns?
Back to Revelation chapter 4. Here, all the 24 elders have
on their heads crowns of gold. Now, we do not believe, and I
say we because I speak collectively for this congregation. We do
not believe the doctrine that there are degrees of reward in
heaven, degrees of glory, and degrees of happiness among the
redeemed. Such doctrine is nowhere taught
in this book. It is nowhere implied in the
Word of God. And upon the very surface of
things, it is completely contradictory to everything revealed in the
book. It promises a reward of debt. A debt that God is obliged to
pay to men. It promotes pride and self-righteousness. You've not been as good as I
have, you've not been as faithful as I have, you've not done as
much as I have, so really you're not going to have quite as large
a mansion or quite as big a crown or quite as shiny a yo-yo as
I have in heaven. It says that some of heaven's
glory is earned by human wages and not a gift of God's grace. This idea of degrees of reward
in heaven makes our acceptance and joy in heaven to depend upon
our own works and not upon the grace of God. It gives honor
and praise and glory to men and not to God. I say let this heresy
be rooted out and dashed in pieces once and for all. The notion
that there will be degrees of reward in heaven runs contrary
to everything that most plainly reveals the gospel of God's grace. What do you have that you've
not received? And if you've received it, why
do you glory as if you've not received it? Who maketh thee
to differ from another? Our salvation and acceptance
before God is a matter of pure, free grace. By grace, you're
saved. All the blessings that God gives
to his people in heaven were already given to us in Christ
before the world began, Ephesians 1, 3. All of them. Will God give
and then take away? I think not. God never accepts,
much less rewards, anything except perfection. It is written in
the law, Leviticus 23, 21, it shall be perfect to be accepted. God will not accept the best
we can do. He will not accept our best efforts.
God accepts that which God demands and God gives perfection. And
Christ is our perfection. We are made perfect in Christ
the Lord. Our Lord plainly states that
our reward shall not be based upon the merits of our service.
but upon his purpose of grace. In a little while, I'll read
to you a parable our Lord gave in Matthew 20. I suggest that
you read it carefully yourself as well. Our Lord goes out and
sends his servant out and hires men early in the morning, middle
of the day, later in the afternoon. And he says, I'll give you what's
right. And at the end of the day, he calls for his paymaster
to come and pay the servants. But he says, start with those
who were hired first. and then pay those who were hired
last. And those fellows who came, they
got their penny, next got their penny, next got their penny.
And those who were hired at the last hour of the day got the
same penny. And the fellows who came out
early in the morning began to complain. They said, you have
made them equal with us. Isn't that terrible? You've made them equal with us. That's exactly what God's grace
does. God's people are one in Christ
Jesus. And when we have done the best
we could do, it is infinitely less than we should have done.
We are all as unprofitable servants and acknowledge it. I ask you
again, what I've asked you many times. Do you really want to
stand before God? and be rewarded and judged on
the basis of something you have done. Of course not. We don't serve God being motivated
by a desire for gain. We serve him being motivated
by love and gratitude. The love of Christ constraineth
us. God doesn't reward greed. and the bliss and glory, the
happiness, the reward of God's elect in heaven shall be equal
to all God's saints fully. Equal to all God's saints. Those
who in our eyes have been most sacrificial and most faithful
and most dependable shall not have one whit more blessedness
in heaven than those who in our eyes have all their lives been
up and down and just always wonder about them. I talked to a lady this week,
she said, And she's sobbing, it's hard to make her out. She
said, you mean, Brother Don, God's not going to hold it against
me. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute sin. Now, does that rejoice your heart
or not? God will not charge me with my sin. Now, one man may
do something that's seen by us all. And the rest of us never
be seen doing such horribly evil things. That doesn't mean we
don't do them. That doesn't mean you don't do
them. No. You see, all of God's saints
are equally loved of God. Equally redeemed by the blood
of Christ equally made righteous by the grace of God equally heirs
of the covenant of grace and the promises of God equally redeemed
Heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ Who should
wear these crowns? every saved sinner every sinner
on this earth who believes on the Son of God I see yonder a
man who knew the scriptures from a child and served God from his
youth, all the days of his life almost, a man by the name of
Timothy, faithful unto death. And I see seated right beside
him on one of those 24 seats another man who spent his life
until the hour of his death in riotousness and ungodliness and
murder. dying thief To whom the Savior
said today shalt thou be with me in paradise and there's no
difference between them Do you understand that they're
saved by God's grace heirs of God's grace righteous in Christ
Jesus Well, brother Donna, that's the case. How do we get these
crowns? I How did these 24 elders sitting
upon these 24 seats have these crowns on their heads? Those
elect, redeemed, blood-bought sinners out of every nation,
tribe, and tongue are wearing crowns of pure gold. How did
they get them? They got the crowns by the grace
of God. Grace lays in heaven the topmost
stone and well deserves the praise. They got their crowns because
God gave them their crowns. They got their crowns because
they are their hereditary descent. They are descendants of God Almighty. Descendants of Abraham. Descendants
of the family of God. So that we are heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ Jesus. There are none in heaven but
the sons of God. And that which we shall possess
in heaven is that which is our heredity given to us by God our
Savior. They got their crowns by God's
sovereign predestination. In Ephesians 1, Paul tells us
that we have obtained an inheritance. Do I look like I have been glorified? Do I look to you like I am already
seated with Christ in heaven? Do I look to you like one who
is already made perfect in Christ Jesus? Oh, no. No. And I'm sorry, you don't look
that way to me. How can Paul say, we have obtained an inheritance? It's already ours by divine predestination,
being predestinated by him who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. Not only that, but they got their
crowns by a rightful claim. Some people have the idea that
God's saints are going to enter into heaven by the skin of their
teeth. Nothing could be further from
the truth. God's saints will enter into heaven triumphantly,
rightfully, in a blaze of glory. How can it be said that heavenly
glory is yours by right? It was purchased for us by the
blood of Christ. It was earned for us by the obedience
of Christ in his life of righteousness. We have been made worthy of it
by Christ coming to dwell in us, Christ being made our life. And Christ himself has already
claimed the heavenly prize for us. Children of God, laugh at your
trials and laugh at your adversaries. And God teach us to laugh at
our own miserable failures. Nothing shall interfere and nothing
shall pervert and nothing shall thwart God's marvelous work of
grace in Christ Jesus. And these 24 elders take their
crowns off their heads. When Christ is seen standing
on the throne and cast their crowns down at his feet. because we recognize that he
alone is worthy. And with supreme intense gratitude
and deep affection and love and commitment, we cast our crowns
before him. Would you have these golden crowns
to be your own? Would you have Christ and his
glory to be yours? then fall down before Him and
worship Him as your Lord and your King, committing all to
Him, trusting Him alone as your Savior, your wisdom, your righteousness,
your sanctification, and your redemption. And we will meet
around the throne of God soon in the glory of heaven and with
one unanimous act of tribute to our Redeemer will cast every
crown at His feet. Amen.