It is a real delight to be with
you this evening. Shelby and I had a delightful
afternoon with our friends, Brother John and Ann, and we've been
looking forward to that for a while, and been looking forward to being
with you again. I am particularly honored to have Pastor Alan Jellett
and his family with us tonight. I met Alan and his wife, Christine,
and their boys 21 years ago. Been a long time. So good to
see you. Alan's pastor of the newly formed
assembly over Nebworth, I think, north of here. Have I got my
bearings right? North of here. Somewhere north of here. So you
can meet Alan after the service. Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of Revelation. Often God's people are somewhat
put off reading the book of Revelation because we have been taught to
look at it as a book of prophecy and mysterious pictures and emblems
about which we can have little understanding and most of the
things that are written and spoken of the book are written and spoken
in such a way as to only add confusion. But the book of Revelation
is easily understood if you read the first line first. It is the
revelation, not revelations, but the revelation of Jesus Christ. Everything in the book, this
last book of inspiration, like everything in the preceding 65
books of inspiration, is about Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and
our Savior. Through this blessed final epistle,
the revelation of Jesus Christ, John was inspired by God the
Holy Spirit to give us a word of confident assurance. And he
gives it to us with seven successive visions that John had. These
visions are each independent. not one interlocked with the
other, but each independent, showing us one distinct message.
Each of the seven visions in this book are given to show us
the whole of the gospel age. Each vision begins with the first
advent of our Redeemer and continues to the second glorious advent
of our Redeemer. And the purpose of all seven
visions, the purpose of the book, is to show us and assure us of
the glorious triumph of Jesus Christ and his church by the
gospel. Did you hear me? It is written
to assure us of the glorious triumph of Jesus Christ and his
church by the gospel. Our Redeemer has from the beginning
prevailed. He is now prevailing and he shall
yet prevail over everything. Nothing rivals him, nothing hinders
him, nothing thwarts him, nothing causes him to back up and take
a second look at things. Everything from the beginning
of time to the end of time moves exactly according to his sovereign
and absolute purpose and there's never a time when that is not
true. Now I want us this evening to
look particularly at three things spoken of in Revelations chapter
4 and 5. Revelation chapters 4 and 5. You won't have any trouble following
my outline and you won't have any trouble remembering the title.
I'm going to talk to you about the throne and the book and the
Lamb. Let's begin in Revelation chapter
4 verse 1. After this, after I was given
the letters to the churches of the Redeemer, churches led by
their pastors, the angels of the churches, the letters to
be read distinctly in the churches, assuring the churches even in
their darkest times that I, the Lamb of God, walk in the midst
of the churches. The Lord Jesus Christ is with
his church in all ages of time. He meets wherever two or three
are gathered together in his name and he ministers his word
by his spirit. John says, after this, I looked
and behold, a door was opened in heaven. Oh, what a way to
begin. Will you hear me? immortal souls. There is a door opened in heaven
for sinners. A door opened by which sinners
may enter in. By which sinners have access
to God. A door by which sinners may draw
near to God and find acceptance with Him. And that door is Jesus
Christ the Lord. Will you hear me children of
God? There is a door standing open in heaven for us by which
we may continually have access to our Father. There was a door
opened in heaven and the first voice which I heard was as it
were of a trumpet, a clarion, clear sound, a trumpet sounding
in heaven talking with me. And this is what it said, come
up hither. Come up hither and I will show
you things which must be hereafter. I love that word must in the
scriptures. There are some things that must
be and John is about to describe for us those things that he saw
which must be hereafter. But it begins in verse 2 by stating,
and immediately I was in the Spirit and behold a throne. Now notice what it says about
this throne. A throne was set in heaven, fixed, established
in heaven. If ever God Almighty calls you
to Himself. If ever God Almighty calls you
to know Him by the revelation of His Spirit in His Son, this
will be the first thing you learn about God. He sits on a throne. Not the last thing, the first
thing. The first thing sinners learn
when confronted with the claims of the Sovereign Christ is that
He is indeed God Almighty sitting on a throne. And He can and will
do with you and me and with all His creatures exactly as He will. He is God who sits on a throne. He sits unmoved by anything,
unaffected by anything. unchanged by anything. He who is God indeed is God who
has his way always in heaven and earth and hell. He who is
God indeed is God who sits in the ease of sovereign serenity
on his throne. Don't ever imagine that anything
in God's creation is out of order. Oh, it looks like it is to us.
You may have observed that in the United States we're going
through a political cycle. We're going through what they
call race for the presidency. And if you follow the newspapers
at all, it looks like things are in a mess. And things are
in a mess, as far as I can see. As far as I can tell, if I could,
I would change some things. I'd make things different. Bless
God, I can't. And everything is moving exactly
according to divine decree and divine order. And I pray for
grace to bow to God's will, whatever it is. Our God sits in the ease
of sovereignty ruling the world absolutely all the time everywhere
and we who believe him ought to walk before him in the ease
of confident faith. Read on. He said, I beheld a
throne was set and one sat on the throne. And he that sat on
the throne was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone,
glorious in appearance. And there was a rainbow round
about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. Now you don't have to guess what
this rainbow represents. This rainbow encircles the throne. And the first time we have mention
of it is back in Genesis chapter 9. When Noah had come out of
the ark, God said to him, I've set my bow in the sky. And when it rains, I will set
my bow in the sky and the bow will tell you I will never flood
the earth again. I will never destroy the earth
again as I have by the waters of the flood. What does this
bow about the throne say? John says, I was called up and
I saw the throne, majestic, wondrous, glorious, God on his throne. And there's a bow about the throne.
And that bow speaks of a covenant. A covenant ordered in all things
ensured. A covenant fixed before the world
was by the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. A covenant that declares wrath
is over, judgment is finished, everything proceeding from this
throne comes according to the covenant. Nothing passes from
heaven to earth except according to the covenant God made with
his Son and made with his people in his Son from all eternity.
He said, I saw this bow round about the throne. And round about
the throne were four and twenty seats. And upon the four and twenty
seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting. Seats for all God's elect, described
here as 24. Described later as 144,000. Speaking
of all the tribes of God's Israel. Speaking of all the host of God's
elect in the Old Testament and in the New. Then it says there
are these seats and every seat is filled. Reckon what that means? That means there's not any vacant
places. That means there's not one seat in heaven that shall
not be filled exactly according to God's purpose and God's decree. None shall be missing for whom
this kingdom is prepared. And these four and twenty elders
are sitting before God clothed in white raiment. White raiment. pure and white, spotless before
God, without spot, without wrinkle, blameless, faultless, and holy. White raiment, white, made so
by the perfection of Christ's obedience and made so by the
washing of Christ's precious blood, so that these who stand
before God stand before Him holy, perfect, pure they were chosen
to be holy and without blame before him and here John sees
them every one of them clothed in white raiment and they had
on their heads crowns of gold more about that in a minute every
one of them are perfect before God Every one of them had the
crowns of conquest, of royal majesty, of high honor, crowns
of pure gold on their heads. Not crowns they earned, not crowns
that they merited by their works, any more than they merited the
white raiment, but rather crowns given them just as the white
raiment is. And out of the throne proceeded
lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven
spirits of our God, that is, perfection. the perfection of
God running through all the earth with all omniscience at all times
and by the Spirit of God everything being performed exactly as He
will. It is written of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever and
forever. And before the throne there was
a sea of glass like unto crystal And in the midst of the throne,
around about the throne, were four beasts, four living creatures. This is much the same thing as
Isaiah saw, isn't it? So it said, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and he saw
the Lord Jesus on his throne. Our Lord said so in John 12,
so this is what Isaiah saw. He saw him seated on the mercy
seat. This throne is a throne of sovereignty,
but it is the throne of grace. And he saw the seraphim. who are continually looking on
the sacrifice. Here they're described as these
living creatures, these four beasts, full of eyes before and
behind. Who are they? They're gospel preachers. Just
as the angels of the churches are described as the messengers
of God to his churches, they're gospel preachers, men gifted
of God, full of eyes before and behind, gifted with the distinct
wisdom and gifts of grace that only God the Spirit can give.
Not gifts learned in seminary, not gifts trained up by other
men, but gifts of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. And
the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf,
and the third beast had the face of a man, And the fourth beast
was like a flying eagle, four of them, because God has his
elect from the four corners of the earth, north, south, east,
and west. And he says to the north and the south and the east
and west, give up, keep not back, bring my sons from afar. And
so these four beasts represent gospel preachers in all the world
and every age, and they're described distinctly as men, Bold as lions. Bold. Not arrogant. Bold. Not self-serving. Bold. Bold. If there's anything that's needed
in the pulpit today, it is a man. a man. God's servants, all of
them, are men. That means they can't be controlled. They cannot be controlled. Not
by any denomination, Not by any board of elders, not by any board
of deacons, not by any influence, not by any money. They are men. Men on a mission from God. And if you find a man who knows
he has a mission from God, you better either get in line or
get out of the way. He can't be stopped. He can't
be stopped. They're bold. Not only bold like
a lion, but strong like a calf. And yet men, men of tenderness
and compassion, understanding men in their weaknesses and in
their frailties and in their sin. And they are men undaunted
as the flying eagle. Verse 8, And the four beasts
had each of them six wings round about him, and they were full
of eyes within. and they rest not day and night. They give themselves relentlessly
to the labor of the gospel. They give themselves relentlessly
to the business of making Christ known. Saying, holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty. Sanctified, sanctified, sanctified,
hallowed, hallowed, hallowed is the Lord God Almighty. He
alone is God. Read on. Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. The triune God
is always the same yesterday, today, and forever. And when
the beast give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on
the throne, who liveth forever and ever, The four and twenty
elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne and worship
Him. Is this what John is seeing? Does God's church always follow
the lead of faithful pastors? Does God's church always follow
the lead of gospel preachers? Does God's church always follow
the lead of those being sent of God to be their leaders? Yes. God's church does. I often hear
folks say, well, I won't follow a man. If you follow God, you
will. If you follow Christ you will,
you will follow the man who bears God's message. These 24 elders
follow the lead of the four beasts in worshiping the Lamb. Him that
sat on the throne. Now watch what it says. And they cast their crowns before
the throne. How come? Because we who have
been made kings unto our God Recognize we are utterly, utterly
and completely indebted to God our Savior for all we have. And we cast our crown before
Him saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, and Thou alone to receive
glory and honor and power, not us, not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, unto Thy name give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy true
sake. For thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Now I could
spend a little time here, and it would be good to spend a lot
of time here. There is a day coming called
the restitution of all things. when our God shall gather together
in one all things in Christ, both of which are on earth and
which are in heaven, even in Him. And all creation shall be
made to see and clearly understand that all things were made by
Him and for Him according to His pleasure. Everything that
comes to pass in time we will see was brought to pass by the
hand of God's wisdom and His goodness. Everything. He who
said in Isaiah 45 verse 7, Behold I create peace and I make evil,
I create light and I make darkness. He will show all things to redound
to His praise and His glory. And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a book. John says, I saw one sitting
on the throne and I saw in his right hand a book. A book that
was written. Written within and on the backside
and sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and loose the
seals thereof? Is there anybody who can take
this book and tell us what his writing is? Who can open the
seals of the book and display its mysteries? Is anyone worthy? The book is the book of God's
everlasting purpose. the book of God's absolute decrees. The book John sees is that book
written from eternity by which all things that come to pass
in time were ordered in God's sovereign purpose for the saving
of his people. Oh, can anyone tell us what God
purposed from eternity? Can anyone fulfill the things
written in this book? And no man in heaven nor in earth
Neither under the earth was able to open the book or even to look
on it. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders said unto
me, Weep not. No need to cry. No need to concern
yourself. Behold the lion. What a name for our Redeemer!
The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, that is, He
from whom David sprang, and He who sprang from David, He who
is the God-man, our Redeemer, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seals thereof. There is one indeed, John, one
worthy to take this book and to fulfill everything in it.
One worthy and able because he's prevailed with God from old eternity
as the covenant sheriff of his people, and he can fulfill it
all. One into whose hands the Lord
God has put everything. And I beheld, and lo in the midst
of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the
elders, right in the midst of all this. Here's the throne. circled with a bow, surrounded
with the elect of God, and right in the midst of it all stood
a Lamb. A Lamb. Let me tell you a little secret. Everything in God's purpose centers
on that Lamb. Everything in God's book focuses
on that Lamb. Back home in the States we have
a religious thing, radio, television ministry called Focus on the
Family. And about everything focuses on family or focuses
on this group or that. Would God, His church would focus
on the Lamb. Everything focuses on Him. this lamb as it had been slain."
Now watch him, have him seven horns and seven eyes, perfect
power and perfect wisdom, which are the seven spirits of God
sent forth into all the world. Now I realize that I'm in a slightly
larger city than one I live in, and probably some of you city
folk aren't aware of this fact. I live out in the country, and
country fellas learn early on that most of the time, animals
with horns get their way. Most of the time, they get their
way. This lamb always gets his way. He always gets his way. His seven spirits are the spirits
of God sent forth into all the world with absolute power. And
watch what he does. He came and took the book. He didn't ask permission to because
this lamb is himself God. He doesn't need permission. He
came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat
upon the throne. And when he had taken the book
The four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the lamb having every one of them hearts and golden vials
full of odors which are the prayers of the saints. Hold your hands
here and turn over to Revelation chapter 10. We'll see this lamb
again. Here he's described as the mighty
angel. And I saw another mighty angel
come down from heaven. clothed with a cloud and a rainbow
was on his head. The same rainbow that was around
the throne. The same covenant. The same word of assurance. And
his face was as it were the sun and his feet pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little
book open. What a description. This great
book, this great book of God's purpose, this great book that
includes the whole history of the universe, this great book
that has fixed everything that shall ever come to pass in time
before ever time began, it's a little book. Well, how can
that be? It's in His hand. It's in His
hand. It's easy enough for Him to take
care of it. We tend to think that there are
obstacles with God. Please understand there are none.
There are none. Nothing stands in His way. He
stands here. He's got this little book open
in His hand. And He's got His right foot on the sea. and his
left foot on the earth, and this is what he's doing. He is that
one to whom God has given power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as the Father has given him,
and every day he's just turning the pages of the book. History is just our Lord having
turned the pages of the book, and fulfilled the will of God
to this point. Tomorrow morning, there'll be
another day and He's still standing, one foot on the earth and one
foot on the sea, absolute sovereignty, turning the pages of the book.
He's just fulfilling what He purposed from eternity. All right,
back here in Revelation 5. The saints of God have their
hearts and their golden vials, which are the prayers of the
saints. What are they? Remember the Lord's disciples
said, teach us to pray. And the Lord Jesus said, pray
like this. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. What is it you want? What is
it you want, child of God? I tell you what I want. I want
the glory of God. Don't you? The glory of God. Father, honor
your name. The Lamb says it will be done. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. It'll be done. He tells us to focus our hearts
upon the will and the glory of God, the saving of His people
to the glory of His name, and these things He shall indeed
accomplish. Read on. Verse 9, And they sung
a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and
opened the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood." Oh, the precious, precious blood
of the Lamb has redeemed us to God. Now watch this, out of out of, not along with, out of. Thou wast slain, and being slain
in our room instead, as our substitute in charity, you have redeemed
us, being made a curse for us out of every nation, our every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. And having redeemed
us, You made us unto our God kings and priests. Kings. God's people are kings. Made to rule. made to rule over
the passions of their flesh, made to rule over the earth,
made to rule while they walk through this world, so that they
are not brought in subjection to the world, but rather rule
over the world. Not brought in subjection to
their passions, but rather rule over their passions. And priest. Priest with direct access to
God. Priest who do business with God
in the holy place all the time. And we shall reign on the earth. He speaks of us reigning with
Him for the thousand years in Revelation 20. This is talking
about the very same thing. You and I who are born of God's
Spirit right now reign on this earth as kings and priests with
Jesus Christ our Lord. Verse 11, And I beheld And I
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the
beast, and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. And this is what
they said, worthy is the lamb that was slain. Let me tell you something about
this lamb. whose glory is great in God's salvation. He's worthy
of your absolute faith and mine. He's worthy of total consecration
and devotion. He's worthy of relentless praise
and adoration. He is worthy of all the honors
laid upon Him by the triune God, giving Him preeminence in all
things and over all things. Thou art worthy, worthy is the
Lamb to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing and every creature, every creature every creature thou hast given
him a name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth
and things under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father brother John read
in Isaiah 45 just a moment ago all that are incensed against
him shall be ashamed and bow before him Every creature, every
creature in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth. Every creature
in heaven, earth, and hell, and 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. Oh, what a day that will be when
then cometh the end and our Savior presents the kingdom to the Father
and every creature, every demon of hell Every rebel against God,
along with all the saints of God, all the angels of God, give
praise to Jesus Christ the Lord and acknowledge that He is worthy
of all praise. Verse 14, And the four beasts
said, Amen. All God's servants said, this
just went on to me. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshipped Him that sat on the throne. They worshipped Him that liveth
forever and forever. Oh may God give you grace then
to worship Him. Worship Him, calling on Him as
Lord. Worship Him, trusting Him alone
as your Redeemer. Worship Him. in the devotion
of your heart and life to Him. Amen. Our Father, O God of all grace, our hearts are humbled before
You to bow before the God of heaven and call You our Father
and how we rejoice in the privilege We acknowledge our sin. We acknowledge
the corruption of our hearts. And yet we acknowledge and rejoice
in the free forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ the Lord.
We ask that you will be pleased. Make Him known more fully in
our hearts and make Him known more fully in this generation
by our efforts to proclaim his greatness and his glory. I ask particularly for this assembly, the churches and pastors represented
here, and for this land, once so rich,
now so bleak. once so full, now so empty. Lord,
God, will you grant a little reviving and raise up men again
in these dark days to proclaim the gospel of your free grace
with that manliness that only your Spirit can give and cause
your Word to flourish again in this land and from this land
around the world. Use us, we ask Lord Jesus, use
us for the furtherance of the gospel in the days that we live.
For the increase of your kingdom, for the glory of your name. Amen.