I try in preparing to preach
to you to bear in mind the admonition given by our God in Isaiah chapter
40 to those who preach the gospel, where he says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. And I am certain God has given
me a message tonight that will be of comfort to your heart through
your days on this earth, if you'll give me grace to preach it and
give you grace to hear it. Turn with me, if you will, to
Revelation chapter 4, and just hold your Bibles open on your
laps at Revelation the fourth chapter. I cannot think of anything more
satisfying to my own soul, more encouraging in the midst of difficulties,
than trying to look upon things presently. from heaven's vantage
point, trying to look upon things as I know God Almighty rules
them and has arranged them and is executing them for his glory. Here in Revelation chapters 4
and 5, we have a picture of things exactly that way, from heaven's
vantage point. This is how things are, and this
is how they will turn out. First one, after this, after
this. Now, that's not put there to
fill up space, it's put there for a reason. It's referring
back to what has gone before. After the warnings that God gave
to his churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, the letters
sent to the churches. Now remember, these seven churches
of Asia Minor, these seven churches of that area, were literal congregations,
just like Grace Baptist Church of Danville. But these seven
churches represented all God's churches, all of God's people
throughout the ages. They represented the church as
a whole, and the warnings given speak to you and I in this age
as much as in that age. In the first letter to the Ephesians,
he warns us concerning departing from our first love. Let us ever,
ever, ever cling to Christ. Strive to maintain fresh, fresh
love for the Son of God and strive to maintain a constant knowledge
of his love for you. In the church to Smyrna, he urges
us to be faithful unto death. Faithfulness. Oh, what a commendable
trait. God's great faithfulness. is that which gives our hearts
joy continually in the midst of difficulty. And God's people
in this world are men and women who are made faithful. Faithful. God give us grace in all things
to be faithful to him, his word, his glory, his will. The church
at Pergamos entertained the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of
the Nicolaitans. That was the a great difficulty
there. They engaged those or cooperated
with those who, like Balaam, said, let's get along. If we
have to compromise the gospel, as long as we don't openly deny
it, let's get along with folks. The Nicolaitans were folks who
indeed taught, as we are often accused of teaching, but these
Nicolaitans indeed taught, since we're saved by grace, let us
sin that grace may abound. And we're warned to avoid both
the compromise and the antinomianism that was evident there. At Thyatira
they had a prophetess, they had a woman preacher, and she is
well named, Jezebel. Conspiring, corrupt, vile. I often get letters, folks read
things I've written, and they, how dare you, how dare you talk
like you do about women preaching, how dare you say such things.
Well, there's one female preacher in the New Testament, and she
is named Jezebel, that's enough said. He warns of the depths
of Satan to which they were exposed, speaking of works religion, and
he tells us that which you have already, hold fast till I come,
keep my works. In this day of apostate free
will works religion, hold tenaciously to free grace. Hold fast those
things which God has established in your heart. Let nothing and
no one in any way cause you to give any credibility to anything
that would detract from the free grace of God in Christ Jesus. Hold to his works and push yours
away. Every time you have a notion
of thinking something about yourself that's good, that would commend
you to God, recognize this is of the devil, push it away, and
hold tenaciously to Christ alone as your only acceptance with
God. And then he writes to the church at Sardis. He says, you
have a name to live, but you're dead. Oh God, keep us from that lethargy. that spiritual lethargy that
is religion in name only, and give us vibrant life continually
with Christ. He writes to the church at Philadelphia,
that church named for brotherly love, and he says, hold fast
that which you have so that no man take your crown. And then
he warns us in writing to the Laodiceans of lukewarmness, indifference
to Christ. That terrible, horrible tendency
of our flesh toward lukewarmness. That terrible, horrible tendency
of our flesh of taking things for granted. Isn't it horrible? Those things that we ought to
cherish the most. I think immediately of the blessed
relationship God's given me with my wife. You know, we've been
living together for longer than we lived apart. We've been together
a long time, but the terrible tendency of the flesh is to just
kind of take it for granted, just presume upon one another's
goodness. Oh, that's horrible, but this
is indescribably worse. To presume upon the goodness,
grace, mercy, and love of God in Christ. Let us never, never
grow lukewarm toward him. But watch this. After all this,
and after the counsel that was given in verse 18, we're given
a call in verse 20, and a promise in verse 21. In chapter 3, verse
18, he says, I counsel thee now, in the midst of these great trials,
buy of me gold. In the gospel, we're constantly
called to buy of God. To buy without money and without
price, but to buy. To buy and making a fair exchange.
Buy of me gold, the gospel of my grace. Tried in the fire that
thou mayest be rich. And white raiment, perfect righteousness. But preacher, we already have
that. Remember what I said about taking things for granted? Constantly,
constantly go to the throne of grace and seek grace in the gospel. Seek the righteousness of Christ
that thou mayest be clothed that the shame of thy nakedness do
not appear. Now, this never really sunk home
to me until I was preparing this message. As much as I've read
it, as often as I've preached from these passages, nakedness
throughout the Old Testament scriptures, nakedness always
represents our sinful self-righteousness. Always. It always represents
man's sin and primarily his self-righteousness. You remember, we're not to go
up to the altar that is built to worship God, Exodus chapter
20, on stairs so that we don't ascend on steps gradually up
lest our nakedness be exposed. Noah's son Ham exposed his father's
nakedness, his sin. And our Lord is telling us, buy
now this white raiment, perfect righteousness, through blood
atonement, through the imputation of Christ's righteousness, to
cover your nakedness and anoint thine eyes with eye salve. Anoint
your eyes constantly with the gospel that you may see. Now
in verse 20, the Lord Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and
knock. What a great picture. He is standing,
leaning hard against the door of this assembly right now. That's
the picture. Leaning against the door. Knock
it. So he can knock it down, yeah?
And thank God he does when we refuse to open. But he leans
hard against the door and says this, if any man hear my voice,
anybody in there, anybody in there, It doesn't depend on everybody,
anybody. If Bobby Estes will hear my voice,
and if his wife Judy will hear my voice, I will come in and
open the door. I will come in to him and suck
with him and he with me. As we come together, throw open
the door of your heart and cry out to him, Lord God, my Savior,
come in and feast with me and let me feast with you. And he
says he will. He says he will. Verse 21, here's
the promise. To him that overcometh all these
things, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne. All
right now, let's look at chapter 4, verse 1. In these two chapters,
Revelation 4 and 5, I want to show you five things. Five things
clearly set before us here as the Primary principle things
John observed. First we read in verse 1, After
this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven. A door
opened. Now, you can talk a lot about
that, but you know what a door is. Our Lord Jesus said, I am
the door. I'm the door. You know what a
door is used for. Don't you love the simplicity
with which the most profound mysteries of Scripture are presented?
How do you get to glory? You enter in by Christ the door.
How do you find God's salvation? You enter in by Christ the door.
How do you learn of God? You enter in by Christ the door.
How shall we enter into glory? Walk through the door! Christ
Jesus the Lord. Now, he's presented for us as
the door so that we might enter in by him, not so that we can
sit down and examine the door and describe the details of the
door and tell where the door was made and how it was put together
and fuss and argue about what color the door ought to be. Just
walk through the door. Just walk through the door. Christ
Jesus says, I am the door. A door opened. Oh, hear me children
of God. Hear me needy sinners. Christ
Jesus is a door opened for sinners by God Almighty in heaven. Opened for you. open for you
to enter in, open for us to come boldly to the throne of grace
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. And the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet
talking with me. Same voice he heard earlier in
chapter 1. Same voice he's heard speaking to him in chapters 2
and 3. This voice is the voice of Christ the Lord. The voice
speaking like a trumpet. The trumpet sounded on the year
of Jubilee. The trumpet of freedom. The trumpet of the gospel. He
said, I heard this voice talking to me like a trumpet. Which said,
come up hither. The door is open. And the gospel
says, come on, come on up to glory through Christ the door. And I will show thee things,
now get this, which must be. Must be. Listen to me now. Everything that is must be. Everything that has been must
be. Everything that shall be must
be because God has ordained it for the saving of his people
and the glory of his name. If we can get that much, we've
got enough to help us long ways. Everything in this world, everything
that comes to pass must be because God Almighty, our Father, has
ordained it for our good. All right, look at verse 2. First
thing John saw was the door open. Now here's the throne sent. And
immediately I was in the Spirit. Immediately. When one is called
by God, when one is born again of God's Spirit, when one is
made to behold Christ the Lord and enter in by Him, he's in
the Spirit. He lives in the Spirit. He's
translated into the Kingdom of God's dear Son and walks in the
Spirit by faith. Immediately I was in the Spirit.
And when a man is in the Spirit, When a woman is in the Spirit,
when a person has been born of God, the very first thing they
see is a throne of sin. Now this is not something we
come to see by degrees. We study, you know, and we search
the scriptures and we investigate the arguments and we read the
theology books and now I have come to this position. I'm a
little uneasy when I hear folks say, I've come to a new position.
God reveals things. And when God reveals them, you
see them. And when God saves a sinner, the first thing the
sinner is made to see is that he's God. Sitting on a throne. A throne set. I love it. Forever, O Lord, thy throne is
established. Established above the earth.
Established above the raging sea. Set. Nothing moves God's
throne. Nothing shakes God's throne. Oh, would to God he give me grace
to see that. Nothing, nothing, nothing causes
God's throne to be in the least bit shaky, in the least bit moved. It is a throne set in the heavens
and one sat on the throne. You see, sovereignty of necessity,
absolute sovereignty, of necessity breeds serenity. The Lord God
sits on his throne with perfect ease, undisturbed, sits. He sits in the majesty of total
dominion. One sat on the throne, one God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but one who sits on the throne.
And verse 3, And he that sat on the throne was to look upon
like a jasper, the sardine stone. Now there's much could be said
about that, but what he's saying is he's glorious, majestic, splendorous. To look upon is wonder, wonder. And there was a rainbow around
about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. Now try to get
the picture. And remember, it is just a picture. Not a painted
picture, a word picture. To try to paint the picture would
be ludicrous as well as idolatrous. But the picture is painted in
words to give us an idea of how to behold things. God sits on
the throne. Now, that obviously is allegorical
language. God's a spirit, incomprehensible.
He's not sitting on the throne. He's spirit. But he sets King
forever on his throne. And around the throne, encircling
the throne, is a rainbow. A rainbow. What is that? Genesis chapter 9. You remember
when Noah came out of the boat, God made a covenant with him.
And he said to him, he said, Noah, I'm going to put my bow
in the sky so that you'll understand I'll never destroy the earth
again with the waters of flood as I've done this. And I can
picture old brother Noah. And he and his family is sitting
around one afternoon and sees a little cloud rise in the sky,
a little uneasy. And it gets dark. And suddenly
it starts to rain. And they're hightailing it for
the highest ground. He says, boys, we've already burned up
that ark. We used that thing for kindling. And it's fixing to
rain again. And it was just one of those
quick showers, you know. As soon as it was over, rainbows in the
sky. And he thought, oh, Noah, you
silly old man. God said he wouldn't do it again.
He said he would keep his word. He said he would not bring a
flood of wrath again upon the earth. Not like this. And he
set a bow in the sky and Noah remembered the covenant. Now
that bow represents God's covenant and that bow encircles God's
throne and declares to us that everything that proceeds from
the throne Everything that must be hereafter is that which comes
to us through the bow of God's covenant, comes to us because
of covenant mercy, comes to us because God has sworn to do us
good. And then we read in the next
verse, verses 4 and following, of the people gathered around
the throne. The door opened, the throne set,
and now let's look at the people. And round about the throne there
were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw four and
twenty elders." Now that speaks of the whole Israel of God. It's
given as 24 because the New Jerusalem is a city whose foundations are
the 12 prophets, the gates are the 12 apostles. We are built
together upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
It's talking about the completion of God's temple, the completion
of God's city, the completion of God's church and kingdom.
It's the 144,000 chosen out of the 12 tribes of Israel. Not
the literal seed of Israel, but all God's Israel. The total number
of God's elect. That's what's represented here.
Sitting. They're sitting on these 24 seats.
Every one of them now clothed with white raiment. Clothed with
the perfect righteousness of Christ. Clothed with the garments
of salvation. And they had on their head crowns
of gold. crowns of grace made kings and
priests unto God by Jesus Christ the Lord look at verse 5 and
out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices Now
as you go through the book of Revelation and read it, you see
this frequently through the book. Lightnings, thunderings, voices.
I heard a voice. There's a thunder in heaven,
the voice as of many waters. These lightnings and thunderings
and voices represent all the decrees of God. Everything God
has ordered. They proceed from the throne
through the bow of God's covenant. For of Him And through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. And
there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, perfect
holiness, perfect wisdom, perfect light, which are the seven spirits
of our God, the perfect being. Look at verse 6. And before the
throne there was a sea of glass likened to crystal. And in the
midst of the throne, around about the throne, four beasts might
be better translated, four living creatures, as it is normally
translated in modern translations. Four living creatures full of
eyes before and behind. Now these living creatures, I
have no hesitancy at all in telling you, are gospel preachers. Men
gifted with spiritual wisdom, gifted with grace and knowledge
to instruct his people. Remember how he said in Jeremiah
3.15, I will give you pastors according to my own heart who
shall feed you with knowledge and with understanding. That's
what's represented here. Verse 7, and the first beast
was like a lion. God's servants are bold. Bold as lions. They're not timid
cowards. They're bold. That doesn't mean
they're arrogant and cocky. It means they're bold. They know
they're God's servants, and they speak for God and serve the cause
of God, and they do so with boldness. They don't cower before men.
They don't bow and scrape before men, but they speak for God with
boldness. And the second beast, like a
calf, a strong ox. They're men made strong by God's
grace. And the third beast had the face
of a man, bold and strong. but compassionate and tender.
Men, just like you. Men just like you. When I was
growing up down south, we had a common saying. Some of you
I'm sure are familiar with it. It may have been common where
you grew up as well. Somebody get a little up at it,
and somebody says, well, he puts his britches on just like I do. Well, that's
exactly what he's saying here. Men. Just men. Just men. But men set by God in this blessed
work. Men to have compassion on men.
And the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. These men who
are God's servants, who lead God's church in worship, who
lead God's church in the things of God, they are men who soar
to heaven to find God's message and bring it to men living upon
the earth. There are four of them. Facing
the north, the south, the east, and the west. facing the four
corners of the earth from which God gathers his elect. Look at
verse 8. And the four beasts had each
of them six wings. Same thing Isaiah saw in Isaiah
6. When he saw the Lord Jesus on his throne, high and lifted
up, sitting in his glory, he saw the seraphim, they had six
wings, with two they covered the face, with two they covered
the feet, with two they flew quickly to do his will. That's
the picture of God's seraphim. These men bowing before his throne,
in humility, but quick to do his bidding, doing his will in
all things. They had six wings about them,
and they were full of eyes. Full of eyes. That doesn't mean
that they're brilliant. That doesn't mean that they're
scholars. That doesn't mean that they're intellectual giants.
It means that they have a God-given wisdom. Full of eyes to discern
the things of God. Full of eyes to discern the needs
of the age. Full of eyes to discern the word
of God. They're full of eyes. And they
rest not day and night. They labor in the word and in
the doctrine. They labor in the gospel. Without question. In the religious world, I guess
the easiest living a man can make in the laziest form of life
is to serve as a preacher in a church. He's not expected to
do anything except visit hospitals and sip tea with old ladies.
But God's servants, now you listen to me, God's servants labor in
the word. They labor in the word, studying. Seeking to understand the things
of God. Seeking a message from God. Seeking
to expound the scriptures to men. They labor in the word and
in doctrine. Laboring day and night. Seeking
a message and bringing the message wherever God opens the door.
And this is what they say. Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy. For God is
the thrice holy God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Lord God Almighty. He is our thrice holy God, who
is our Redeemer, the Deliverer of His people. He's the Omnipotent
One Almighty, and He's eternal, for He is that One which was,
and is, and is to come. Now these living creatures, these
preachers, these angels of the churches, lead God's saints in
worship. Look at verse 9. And when these beasts give glory
and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne who lives forever,
all God's servants do. They give glory to him who sits
on the throne. They point men to him who sits
upon the throne and give honor to him alone. When they do that,
then in verse 10, the four and twenty elders fall down before
him that sat on the throne and worship him that lives forever
and ever. And they cast their crowns before
the throne. They cast their crowns before
the throne. Now notice they all have the same crowns because
they were all given crowns by grace. But they cast their crowns
before the throne because they acknowledge that the crowns they
have were given them, not earned by them. And besides that, it's
impossible for you to wear a crown on your head when your head's
bowed before the throne. When you bow before him, the
crown falls off. Look at verse 11, and this is
what they said, as they cast their crowns at the footstool
of Christ the King, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and
for Thy pleasure they are and were created. Now, that's a blessed,
blessed picture. The Lord God has created all
things that are. Everything. It didn't just pop
into being. He created it. But more than
that, everything that comes to pass is his work just as much
as the original creation. For thy pleasure they are and
were created. And everything that God has made
and everything God brings to pass is for his pleasure. for his honor for the doing of
his will all right now read on look at chapter five and we read
about a book and i saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back
side sealed with seven seals written right up to the edges
perfectly full complete written front and back and then sealed.
The book speaks of God's eternal decrees, God's everlasting purpose
of grace, of divine predestination. This book written, obviously
now again, it's an allegory, it's a spiritual picture. God
Almighty did not take a pen, set it down and write out everything
that will be done. He ordained it at once. But he seals it. Now those things which God has
purposed, and God has decreed, and God has ordained, no man
can pry into. I don't know what's going to
happen before I get my next breath out, much less what's going to
happen tomorrow. I don't have any idea. But somebody does.
Somebody does. And that somebody is God my Savior. Look at this, verse 2. And I
saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who's worthy?
to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof. And no man
in heaven, no man in earth, no man under the earth was able
to open the book, neither to look thereof. And I wept much,
because no man was found worthy to open the book, and to read
the book, neither to look thereof. Look at verse 5 now. And one
of the elders, one of those preachers said to me, Quit crying. Don't weep. 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. The Lord Jesus
Christ is described here as the Lion. The Lion. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. Brother Bob Poncer, one day I
was visiting with him, I know it's been a while back, he was
reading Genesis, and he said, did you ever notice in chapter
42, in Genesis 43, the scripture tells us of Judah becoming surety
for Benjamin, but in chapter 42, Reuben, do you remember talking
to me about it? Reuben volunteered for the job, but Reuben couldn't
be the surety, because our Lord Jesus sprang not from the tribe
of Reuben, but from the tribe of Judah. And he is the lion
of the tribe of Judah who prevails. He always prevails. The lion
crouches and waits for his prey. And he prevails upon his prey. And I'm telling you, Jesus Christ
the Lord will prevail. If he's marked you, he'll get
you. He'll get you. All hell can't
prevent it, and your free will certainly won't. He'll get you.
And if he has marked you for destruction, He'll get you as
well. The lion of the tribe of Judah
has prevailed. He is called the root of David.
He is the one who comes from David's line, but more than that,
he is the God from whom David has his existence. He's prevailed
to open the book, to take the purpose of God, the decrees of
God, the covenant of God's grace, sealed with seven seals of perfection
and grace, And he opens the book. Looses the seals. Now then, look
at verse 6. Here's the lamb in the midst
of the throne. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne,
and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood
a lamb. Stood a lamb. We see him sitting
most of the time. Matter of fact, we see him sitting
always, except twice. We see him standing here, same
thing mentioned in chapter 10 we'll look at in a moment, and
standing to receive his martyr Stephen when he comes up into
glory. Pictured as one who cares for his suffering children, and
pictured as one who rules in total dominion over all things. But this Lamb stood as it had
been slain, the Lamb of God, crucified as our substitute,
slain in the place of sinners, slain to put away sin. The Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world and the Lamb slain
in the fullness of time according to the purpose of God. And he
rises up out of the midst of the throne. as the lamb slain.
Here he is in the midst of everything. John looks and he sees the door
open in heaven and he sees the throne and the rainbow and the
24 elders and the four living creatures and right in the middle
of everything is the lamb. Because he's the center of all.
He's the center of everything. He's the center of attention
and he deserves it. A lamb as it had been slain, having seven
horns, perfect power, and seven eyes, perfect knowledge, which
are the seven spirits of our God sent forth into all the earth.
Verse 7. And he came and took the book. Isn't that a wonderful statement?
He took the book. I have back here in my library
some books. Some books, they're mine. They're
mine. And if you're polite and want
to use them, you're welcome to them. But I would recommend that
you ask. Especially if they happen to
be some of those rare leather-bound editions that I have. Just ask,
because they're my books. But now, if they're yours, just
reach and take them. Just read them. They're mine.
The Lord Jesus reached and took the book, because it's His. He's
the one who wrote it. He's the one who's the center
of it and he's the one who will fulfill it. He took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. Out of
the right hand of the triune God is the God-man taking the
book which God has ordained and which God has fixed. Now turn
to chapter 10. This is nothing new to you. You've seen it before. We see
this same book again. And I saw another angel, a mighty
angel. Come down from heaven clothed
with the cloud and rainbows on his head. Same thing all over
again. This mighty angel is the angel of the covenant, the Lord
Jesus. Clothed with the cloud with the bow of God on his head.
And his face was as it were the sun and his feet as pillars of
fire. And he had in his hand a little
book open. This is to me one of the most
delightful pictures in all scripture. Here's the Lord Jesus, and he
has in his hand this same book. You say, but preacher, you said
that was the book of God's decrees, including everything. But here
it says it's a little book. That's because it's in a big
hand. It's in his hand. And he stands with the book open,
and his left foot is on the earth, his right foot's on the sea,
And he cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars, the lion
of the tribe of Judah. And when he had cried, seven
thunders uttered their voices. Everything written in the book
is brought to pass according to the terms of the covenant.
Now this is what he's doing. Picture him if you can. The God-man,
our Savior, into whose hands has been committed power over
all flesh. stands with his foot upon the
sea and his foot upon the earth with the book open, and this
is what he's doing. Every moment, every hour, every
day, every week, every month, every year, he's just turning
the pages of the book. He's bringing to pass what was
purposed for us from eternity for the glory of God. All right,
look at verse 8, back in our text. chapter 5 verse 8. And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them hearts and golden vials full of odors. Oh, what is that? The prayers
of the saints. Read the next line. What prayers? What prayers? Here he is standing
in the midst of the throne One foot on the sea, one foot on
the earth, encompassing the whole of mankind, the Gentiles and
the Jews, all peoples, with the book in his hand, fulfilling
the book. And these elders fall down and worship him. And they have hearts and golden
vials full of odors. They're prayers. They're prayers. These things by which he is honored.
These things by which he is served. The prayers of the saints. What
are they? What are they? What is it you
really want? That's a sobering question isn't
it Rex? What is it you really want? Really. In the core of
your being. In the depth of your soul. In
the heart of hearts beating within you. What is it you really want?
I'll tell you what it is. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be your name. Let your name be honored. That's
what I want. That's what I want. As God is my witness, that's
what I want. Your name be honored. Your kingdom
come. Save your people. Save your people. Your will be done. Not my will,
thy will. Thy will. I don't know what's
best, you do. I don't even know how to want
what's best, you do. Thy will be done. Give us this day our daily bread. God give me what I need. That's what I want. What I need. Forgive us our debts. Oh God,
receive me as a sinner forgiven by your grace. Forgiven through
blood redemption. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Now, these are the prayers by
which God is honored. In Merlehart, when God gets done,
they're going to, every one, be fulfilled. Every one of them. That's exactly what God shall
accomplish for us. These are the prayers of the
saints, verse 9. And they sang a new song, these
saints, whose prayers he has answered. Thou art worthy to
take the book and open the seals thereof. How come? For thou wast
slain. The worthiness of Christ is wrapped
up in his accomplished redemption and has redeemed us. You have
purchased and delivered us to our God by thy blood, precious,
precious blood out of every nation or every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. Look at verse 10. And you've
made us to our God, kings, and priest kings and priest made
by God's grace no longer to be men who live under the lust of
their flesh serving this world and serving the lust of this
world but rather kings who reign over their circumstances by grace
reigning within because Christ has established his throne in
our hearts and rules in us by his spirit and priest priest
Constantly, forever, accepted of God in the holy place by the
merits of the God-man. And we shall reign on the earth. Right here. I don't know much about what's
going to happen in the future. But when Christ comes, he's going
to make all things new. And he's going to clean this
mess up. He's going to clean it up. He's going to thoroughly
purge his floor. He's going to burn up this present
earth and create a new heavens and a new earth. And here we'll
reign with him forever. Verse 11, And I beheld and 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, thousands of thousands. God's elect remnants are huge
remnants. Thousands of thousands. All the saints, all the host
of God's elect. That's who he's talking about.
And this is what they said. Saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the Lamb. He's worthy of everything he
has. He's worthy of all the praise
you can give. He's worthy of the greatest sacrifice
you can make. He's worthy of everything. Worthy. How come? Because he
was slain. That means he's worthy to receive
power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and blessing. But God's elect are not the only
ones who praise him. Read on. 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 on the
throne, and unto the Lamb forever. Everything that must be. Everything that has been, everything
that is, praises Him. Everything. And God's people
say that's just the way it ought to be. Look at verse 14. And
the four beasts said, Amen. And the four twenty elders fell
down and worshipped him that lives forever and ever. One of the old writers, I've
forgotten who it was, I think it was Roland Hill, but I'm not
sure. He said, I dreamed a dream. He said, I dreamed in my dream
that as I was leaving this world, I heard a great choir singing. And I got closer and closer to
the sound of the choir. As I ascended up into heaven's
glory, I saw this choir around the throne singing. And they
were singing a song I knew well. It went something like this,
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like
me. And I looked and saw these 24 seats around the throne. And the people sitting in these
seats were singing the psalm. But I looked and saw that one
seat was empty. And I got a little closer and
noticed that my name was inscribed on the seat. And I sat down and
I joined the psalm. and saying his praise forever. And that's the way things shall
be hereafter. Amen. All right, leave us in
the hymn if you will.