Okay, today now the message in
our continuing study in the Revelation. Remember, it's the Revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm taking the title for the
message from chapter 19, verse 6. John says, as he receives this
vision, I heard, as it were, a voice of a great multitude,
This is a great multitude, innumerable, 10,000 times, 10,000 and thousands,
singing, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive all honor
and glory. This great multitude has a voice
of many waters, has a voice of mighty thunderings, saying all together, this great
multitude, these many waters of the voices all in unison and
harmony, one message, one saying, hallelujah. That means praise
the Lord, because or for or because the Lord God omnipotent, He reigns. He reigns. Notice, He reigneth. He always has reigned, always
will reign. That phrase, hallelujah, means
praise ye the Lord. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is our God and Savior who reigns forever and ever. upon His throne
of absolute authority, absolute sovereignty. There's no beginning
of His reign as God and King, and there certainly will be no
end of His sovereign, holy reign over all things. We read through
the Psalms earlier, Psalm 93, Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 99,
and that repeated message over and over, hallelujah, the Lord
God omnipotent, the Lord does reign. He does reign over all
things. And I like what it says down
in verse 7 of our text, let us be glad. Aren't you glad that
God is God? that He does all things right
and well. Let us be glad, and let us rejoice, and let us give
Him honor. I'm glad that He does reign over
all things. He is, and we're going to see
in this chapter, look at verse 16, He's King of kings and Lord
of lords. Now, the presidents and potentates, or they call
themselves potentates of this world's government, they think
they reign, don't they? the king's heart in the hand
of the Lord, and he turns it like the river, whether so ever
he will. He's king of kings, and he's
lord of lords. Another psalm says in Psalm 47,
verse 7, God is king of all the earth. He's king. He's king not
by democratic process. We didn't have a vote on this.
God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified. God hath
made him both Lord and Christ. We bow to his Lordship. We acknowledge
his Lordship. We don't make him Lord. Some
people say, well, make him your Lord. You can't do that. He's
always been the Lord by God's eternal decree. This statement,
it says here, hallelujah, which means praise the Lord, is found
in the book of Psalms 22 times. 22 times. Now, I realize that in this day,
there used to be a TV show years ago, remember, called the PTL
Club. You remember that? Nonsense. That's silliness back
in the 70s. PTL, praise the Lord. It's a
praise the Lord club. And it became just a meaningless
statement of just religious saying, didn't it? But to the people
of God, that's what they truly desire in their heart, is to
praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Worship, honor, and glorify Him. Another psalm I found, Psalm
106, verse 48, said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from
everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. That's why we're here today,
to praise the Lord. And it's not this outward show
of, you know, we're going to get together and we're just going
to have a hallelujah time. This worship before God is a
matter of the heart before God. Be still and know, he said, that
I am God. Now, in this chapter, chapter
19, when the great harlot of false religion, false Christianity,
and the religion of anti-Christ. Now, the religion of anti-Christ,
they're not anti-religion, they're not anti-good work, they're not
anti-morality, they're anti-Christ. They stand in opposition to the
Christ of God, when the great harlot a false religion, the
refuge of lies, the religion of Antichrist, the great city
of idolaters called Babylon, is experienced the whine of the
fierceness of the wrath of God's holy, eternal judgment. All the heavenly hosts, those
redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, will say,
Amen. Hallelujah. They will be in total agreement
with God's holy justice against all sin. All heaven, the great
multitude of the redeemed, saints and angels, celebrate the total
and complete victory of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
over all opposition. Every knee will bow. Every tongue
will confess. What? Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. The lion of the tribe of Judah
has indeed prevailed. Never again shall the wicked
be able to assault the kingdom of God, the throne of God, or
the saints of God. He will put all opposition out
of business. He'll cast them into the lake
of fire and brimstone to be remembered no more. The line of the tribe
of Judah hath prevailed, he went forth conquering and to conquer,
and all believers have the complete and total victory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember he said in Revelation
1.18, I am he that liveth and was dead, Behold, I'm alive forevermore. I have the keys of hell and death.
He rules and reigns over all things. We can say with the Apostle
Paul, thanks be to God who has given us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. We're more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Because He conquered sin, death,
hell, and the great Satan. Because He conquered, we are
winners in Him. Now, verse 1 and 2. Revelation
19, after these things, and we could spend a lot, we could spend
the rest of the morning talking about after these things. Everything
we've seen in the first 18 chapters. After these things, I heard a
great voice of much people in heaven. How'd they get there?
Certainly not by their deeds, certainly not by their works.
This great multitude in heaven are there because God brought
them there by His grace. save them through the blood and
righteousness of Jesus Christ, the great voice of much people
in heaven. And the people in heaven are
those for whom the Lord Jesus Christ called his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sins, saying, what do they say? Praise the Lord. They say
praise the Lord. They say praise the Lord now
too, don't they? Saying, Salvation, glory, honor, power, and to the
Lord our God. We acknowledge that all power,
glory, and honor, He's worthy of all such. There will be many
redeemed in glory with the Lord. There'll be much people in heaven.
Remember in chapter 5, it talks about those who sing the song
of the redeemed, redeemed by the blood of Christ out of every
kindred, tribe, nation, tongue, and people under heaven. 10,000
times 10,000 and 7,000. And what are they saying? What are they
singing? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, blessing, power both now and
forever. Who are these people? Much people
in heaven. They are those who are sealed
by God in their forehead. Remember, turn back to chapter
7. That's 144,000, remember? In chapter 7 verse 2, And I saw
another angel ascending from the east, having a seal of the
living God. And he cried with a loud voice
to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and
the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the tree,
till we've sealed the servants of God in their foreheads. They're signed, sealed, and delivered
by the Lord Jesus Christ. They're sealed with God, the
Holy Spirit of promise, unto eternal salvation. Who are these
people? They're chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. As Paul said, we're bound to
give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. He has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in Christ, according as He has
chosen us in Him. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Their names were written in the land book of life before the
foundation of the world. He wrote our name down. The foundation
of God standeth sure, having His seal, the Lord knoweth them
that are His. He knows the name of His sheep
and He calls them out. How long has He known them? From
eternity. They were redeemed by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back to chapter 1, verse
6. I quote this verse all the time. I hope that I love it as
much as I quote it. In Revelation chapter 1, unto
him, the last part, let's read verse 5, Jesus Christ, who is
a faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the
prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests
unto our God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion
and honor forever and ever, what do we say? Amen. The redeemed
in glory know why they are there. They are there because they're
chosen and redeemed and sealed. in the Lord Jesus Christ for
all eternity. They were saved by his sovereign
grace. We can say with Paul, I am what
I am by the grace of God. Sovereign grace, sovereign grace,
sovereign love. Hail sovereign love that first
began a scheme to rescue fallen, fallen sinners. Grace reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. I ran into
a local preacher here. If I called his name, you would
know who he is, but I'm not going to call his name. But he's a
local preacher who pastors a church here locally. I ran into him
at Walmart one time, and he said to me, you can't show me in the
Bible where it says sovereign grace. I said, really? You don't believe that? And I
thought of this verse. I'll just read it to you. Romans
5. For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of another shall many be made righteous. One man's
disobedience, Adam, made sinners by the obedience of another Christ,
shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered in
that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Now here's sovereign grace. Revelation,
Romans 5, 21, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might
grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. That's sovereign grace, isn't
it? Grace reigns through Righteousness. Whose? Whose righteousness? You know whose righteousness,
right? Christ. By His obedience, many shall
be made righteous in Christ. And what do they say? They say,
praise the Lord. They say, salvation of the Lord. They say, all glory, honor, power
be unto the Lord. Now, we've seen this before.
We've seen this statement before. Turn back to Revelation chapter
7. They say the same thing. Even
in chapter 5, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him
that sitteth on the throne. You see Revelation 5 verse 13. But look at Revelation 7, verse
9. It's a repeated message. Revelation
7, verse 9. redeemed by the blood of Christ,
which no man could number, of all nations, kindred, people,
tongue, stood before the throne, before the Lamb, clothed with
white robes and palms in her hand, and that cried with a loud
voice, saying, Salvation to our God, that sits upon the throne,
and the angels run about the throne, and the elders, and the
four beasts, fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped
God, saying, Amen, blessing, glory, wisdom, thank-giving,
honor, power, might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. You see, it's a repeated
message, isn't it? Repeated message. Again, turn
to chapter 11. Chapter 11, verse 15. Chapter 11 verse 15, the seventh
angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying,
the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of his Christ, and he shall reign, that reign, that sovereign
reign forever and ever, and the four twenty elders, that's the
church, set before God on their seats, set before God on their
seats, fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We
give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and was and
art to come, because thou hast taken to thee great power, and
thou hast..." What? What's that word? "...thou hast
reigned." You see, that's the message of this whole book. God
is God over all things, and He reigned supreme, absolute, It's
a repeated message of this revelation of Jesus Christ. And here's what
they say. They say, well, praise the Lord. And it's not just this meaningless
religious slogan. They really mean it in their
heart. As David said, bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is
within me. Bless His holy name. Isn't that
the desire of your heart? To worship God as He ought to
be worshipped? To believe Him as we ought to
believe Him? Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. David said in another psalm,
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name that we
give glory and honor for all things thou hast done. And notice
in verse 1, they say not only praise the Lord, but they say
salvation. They say salvation is of the Lord. Now who needs
salvation? Good folks don't need salvation.
Sinners need salvation. I need salvation. I'm a sinner.
I need salvation. They say that salvation is of
the Lord. They praise the Lord for His salvation. Redeemed in
glory certainly know that their salvation is of the Lord. They know why they are there.
And they don't look to their works and say, well, look what
I've done, look what I've earned. No, they look to the Lord Jesus
Christ and say, praise the Lord for what He has done for us.
Salvation of the Lord in His planning, for He's a Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Salvation of the Lord
in His purchase, He bought us with His own blood. Salvation
of the Lord in His performance, He performed all things for me. Everything God demands of this
sinner, the Lord Jesus Christ has performed and provided for
me completely. Salvation of the Lord in His
perfection. You're looking at a sinner that
perfected in Christ Jesus. That's complete in Him. The Apostle
Paul writes about it this way in Romans 8, For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. That's
perfection. Anybody who says, I don't believe
in predestination, that man immediately, you know that he doesn't believe
God reigns. God has predestinated the people
to conform to the image of Christ. Salvation of the Lord in its
planning, its purchase, its performance, perfection. Salvation of the
Lord in its purpose. God saves every sinner He saves
on purpose. All things work together for
good to them who love God, to them who are the call according
to His, I love that word, purpose. God saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our work, but according to
His own purpose, purpose and grace given us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. I can't say that strong enough.
I wish I could say it as it says there, as a voice of great thundering,
as a voice of many waters. Purpose, purpose. And then they
say not only salvation, not only hallelujah and salvation, they
say glory and honor. You see that in verse 1? Glory
and honor is due to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. What is the
grand design of redemption? It's the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, isn't it? You remember back in chapter
4, turn over there. We've seen this before too, haven't
we? Revelation chapter 4, when those
beasts, verse 9, give glory and honor and thanks to him that
sat upon the throne, who liveth forever and ever, the beasts,
the four beasts there, are the servants of God, they say in
verse 8, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is
and is to come, Revelation 4, verse 8. He sits upon the throne
forever and ever. Verse 10. They fall down before
the throne and worship Him that liveth forever and ever. They
cast their crown before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy. You
see it, verse 11. O Lord, to receive glory, honor,
and power. You see, it's a repeated message
of all the Word of God, is it not? God has created all things
for thy pleasure. They are and they were created. God created all things by the
word of his power. Then they say salvation, back
to Revelation 19 verse one, salvation, glory, honor, power, power. People love power in this day.
Politicians love power. They want to get some power.
When they get a hold of that power, they don't want to let
go of that power. They don't have any power at all. All power
belongs to God. All power belongs to God. The saints of God know that their
salvation is due to God's power alone. Our Lord prayed in John
17, Father you've given me power over all flesh that I should
give eternal life to as many as thou has given to me. Remember
we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 that Christ crucified is the
wisdom of God and the, what? The power of God unto salvation. Everyone that believes. You see,
it's His power that put away our sin. I can't put away sin. If you could stop sinning, and
you can't, but if you could stop sinning, what about all those
back there? You don't have any power to make
atonement for your sin. All power, the Lord Jesus has
all power to put away our sin. Now how much power does it take
to put away sin? The power of Almighty God. He
appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He has all power to call us out
of darkness into His marvelous light. He calls us, translates
us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear
Son. He has all power to do that. Thank God He does. He has power
to raise us from the dead and quicken us together with Christ
Jesus. We only believe the gospel by
the working of His mighty power. It's not man's free will. We
had it on the radio this morning. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him. No man can come. No man
has the will or ability to come. There's no such thing as man's
free will. Man has a will, yeah, but it's
fallen into prey. So it's self-worth and downward,
never God-worth and upward. We only believe the gospel according
to the work of him. He has mighty power. That's what
it says. The gospel of Christ is called
the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it.
That's why Paul says, I'm not ashamed of that power. God, the
Lord God omnipotent reigneth. And then he says this next in
verse 2. The saints of God know this.
True and righteous are his judgments. True, his judgments are true.
They're true to his holy character. God cannot. Now there's something
God cannot do. Did you know that? God cannot
lie. God cannot change. He said, I'm
the Lord, I change not. It's impossible for God to lie.
Everything God does is according to His character. He's true to
His character. When He saves sinners by His
grace, He doesn't bypass His holy justice. He honors His justice
and His mercy in Christ crucified. He saves us in a way, in such
a way that His truth is honored and His mercy is honored in Christ.
You remember that scripture, Psalm 85, 10. Mercy and truth
are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. For true and righteous are His judgments.
Everything God does is right. He does it in truth. And He does
it according to His holy character. His holy character. All the decrees of God are just
and right. Have we seen that before? Let's
turn back to chapter 15. Revelation 15, verse 3, And they
sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, the song of the Lamb,
saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty,
just and true are thy ways, thou King of the saints. Yeah, that's
the message. True and righteous are His judgments.
Let's see if we can find another one. Chapter 16, Verse 7, and I heard another out of the
altar say, even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous
are thy judgments. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? He will. He will do right by
his own eternal, immutable, unchangeable decrees of God. He will do everything
that is right. in harmony with his holy character. He saves sinners in a just and
a right way in all things he does right. He's too holy to
do otherwise, too holy to make a mistake. Those who are condemned
are getting exactly what they deserve. Is that true? Exactly. The wages of sin is
death. The gift of God is eternal life.
If God sent you to hell, that's exactly what we deserve. We don't deserve mercy. Thank
God he delights to show mercy, but all I deserve, all I've got
coming to me is wrath, judgment, because I've sinned against God.
Now, I take my place before God as a mercy beggar. Lord, have
mercy on me, the sinner. He said, come to the throne of
grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. Verse 3, look at verse 3 in our
text. And again, they said, hallelujah, and the smoke rose up forever
and ever. He's talking about the judgment,
God's holy, righteous, immutable judgment against all sin and
sinners who are cast into the lake of fire, as it says in verse
20 of this same chapter. The beast was taken with the
false prophet that wrought miracles, which deceived them that received
the mark of the beast. and them that worship his image,
these were both cast alive into the lake of fire burning with
brimstone." Haven't we seen that before? Turn back to Revelation
chapter 14, verse 9, the third angel followed saying with a
loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image, This
is 14 verse 9, "...worship the beast in his image and receive
his mark in his forehead or in his hand. The same shall drink
of the wine of the wrath of God, It's called the wrath of the
Lamb, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of indignation. He shall be tormented with fire
and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, in the presence
of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment
ascended up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or
night who worship the beast and his image, who receive the mark
of his name. There is an eternal condemnation. Just as certain and sure as there
is an eternal, glorious salvation, certain and sure there is an
eternal condemnation for those not found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The saints of God praise the
Lord for his strict and holy justice. The smoke of their torment
arose forever and ever. The condemnation of the wicked
is forever, it's everlasting destruction. Sin is only put
away by the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our suffering
for our sin will never put it away. It's only by the suffering
of the Lord Jesus Christ that sin is put away. Put away by
the sacrifice of Himself, once for all, forever. Now look at
verse 4. These 24 elders we know from
reading the word of God back in chapter 4 represent all the
elect of God. The four beasts are those living
creatures who were sent to preach the gospel. They are a picture
and type of those ministers sent north, south, east, and west.
The four, he said, go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. They fall down and worship God
that sits on a throne, and they say, or they say, hallelujah,
hallelujah. Verse 5, and a voice came out
of the throne saying, again, praise our God. Praise the Lord. All ye his servants, we are bond
slaves of Christ. Ye that fear him, there's a reverential
fear for God, both small and great. And I heard, as it were,
a great voice of a great multitude, as a voice of many waters, as a voice of mighty thundering,
saying, Hallelujah. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Now, have you ever noticed that the Scripture repeats itself
over and over and over and over again? It's no wonder that God's
servants preach the same thing over and over and over again. We repeat the same lines over
and over and over again. If I come to you quoting someone
else or something else, hit that door and leave. Don't listen
to me. If I come here quoting Shakespeare
or Socrates or Plato or some philosophers we repeat what God's already
said. That's what preaching the gospel
is all about. It's just repeating what God's already said. They
say the Lord reigns. They say praise the Lord, He
reigns. They say that God reigns, that He's omnipotent. That means
He's all-powerful. All-powerful. Remember, if you
look back quickly at chapter 4, Verse 8, holy, holy, holy Lord
God Almighty. Lord God Almighty which was and
is and is to come. He's the omnipotent God. Now,
can we take this too far? Can we put it in such a way as
to give God too much power, too much honor, too much glory? I want to be guilty of doing
that. You can't preach Him high enough, big enough, strong enough,
powerful enough. I wish I had words to do it,
but we're confined. The Lord God is absolute, omnipotent,
sovereign, reigns over all things. The Lord reigneth. And we usually
mention three things. He reigned in creation. He created
all things by the word of His power. Now how much power does
it take to create a universe? In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. He spoke all things into existence
by the word of his power. We don't create anything. Man
has never created anything. Now we might shuffle a few things
around, but God is the only one who creates all things. How can
he do that? He's omnipotent. He reigns over
all things. Created all things by the word
of his power. And we talk about the sovereignty of God not only
in creation, but the sovereignty of God in providence. He worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. The Lord said,
I've spoken it, I bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I will
do it. Of him and through him and to him are all things to
whom be glory both now and forever. What is that? Romans 11 verse
36. Of him and through him and to
him. That covers all things, doesn't it? He rules in all things
in providence. And certainly He rules as the
sovereign in salvation. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. He will have mercy on whom He
will have mercy. On whom He will, He'll harden.
Why do some people hate the gospel and some believe it? The sovereign
purpose of God. The only reason you love the
gospel and believe the gospel is because God gave you faith. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe the gospel. In the book of Job we read, he's
of one mind who can turn him. What his soul desireth, even
that he doeth. He performeth the things that
are appointed for me. God has not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation. by the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
Lord says, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. As
I purpose, so shall it stand. The Lord has purpose, who shall
disannul it? His hand is stretched out, who
can turn it back? His hand is stretched out. There
was a king one time who lived in Babylon. Remember when Daniel
was carried away into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. There
was a king who reigned in Babylon. Remember his name? Nebuchadnezzar. And he bragged one day, read
it in Daniel chapter 4, he bragged one day, oh, this is great Babylon
I've built. And God said to him, you're going
to be like a wild animal cast out in the field. And God cast
him out. And God taught him a lesson.
And here's what he said. Here's what he said. It's recorded
in Daniel. Chapter 4, he said, when the
Lord taught him this lesson, he said, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of this
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, Lord God
Almighty, what doest thou? Now that's the lesson we need
to be taught. All those who have heard and
learned of the Father, they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then
Nebuchadnezzar confessed this. He said, Daniel 4 verse 37, Now
I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven,
all whose works are truth, his ways, judgment, those that walk
in pride, he is able to abase. Boy, he learned that lesson,
didn't he? God will teach you that lesson too. He'll abase
you. He's not them of a broken heart. Save us such as be of a contrite
spirit." Our message is one of the absolute
Lordship of Christ. You remember in Isaiah 52, how
beautiful a pound of mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth
good tidings, that publish peace, that bring good tidings of good,
that publish salvation, that saith unto Zion, what did they
say? Thy God reigneth. You see, that's
the message of the Bible. That's the message of the gospel.
The Lord reigns in heaven and earth. Say among the heathen,
the Lord reigneth. Now, a lot of people lost religious people. when they're
confronted. Now, here's the thing. Here's
the thing. When you're faced with this absolute
lordship of Christ, His absolute dominion from sea to sea, His
absolute reign from ever and ever, when you're faced with
that absolute sovereign God, two things, either bow to it
or run from it. By His grace, we bow and submit
to the absolute Lordship of Christ. We confess He is Lord through
the glory of God the Father. Now, the first line in verse
7, let us be glad. Let us rejoice. Let us give Him
honor. And we'll look at that next week.
We're married to the Lord. shall not the judge of all the
earth do right, he will. True and righteous are his judgment.
Salvation, glory, honor, power unto the Lord our God forever
and ever.