There is no scripture that's
simple. The Bible talks about the ways
of God and the glory of God and the gospel of God being a mystery. And the things of God are foolishness
to the natural man. He doesn't understand them and
doesn't comprehend them and the only reason that we understand
anything in this book in relation to God's redemption is by the
revelation of the Holy Spirit. I lay no claim at all to having
the ability to understand the Scriptures. I rather resent these credentials
that men wear like master of divinity. How can any man call
himself a master of divinity or a doctor of divinity? It's
utterly ridiculous to even assume that we're masters of theology. And the book of Revelation is
one of the most difficult books. In fact, several men who have
written commentaries on the scriptures have omitted the book of Revelation. They just never tackled it. They
never attempted to write a verse-by-verse commentary on the book of Revelation.
But there's some things here that are beautiful and blessing.
And there's some things I want to say about chapter 5. If you
look beginning with verse 1 of the fifth chapter of Revelation,
there'll be a lot of places here where I'll say I don't know what
this means. But it's a picture, it's a dream, it's a vision which
John had. And he said in chapter 5, and
I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, and that
has to be the Lord God, that has to be the Heavenly Father.
It must be. No question about that. I'm as
confident of that as about anything that I preach here, that that
is the Heavenly Father. I saw in the right hand of him
that sat on the throne a book. And this book was written within,
and it was written on the backside, and sealed with seven seals.
Now here, and it's important for us to understand what the
book is. And I believe I have some understanding
of what the book is. When I prepare a message of this
nature, and considering and dealing with these difficult things.
I don't take one single source of information and preach it.
That's a mistake. You see, even the Scriptures
are to be interpreted in the light of the Scriptures. You
don't just say Peter said this and therefore this is the way
it is and this is what I believe he's saying. You compare Scripture
with Scripture. The Word of God says all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, etc., etc.,
etc. And it says no Scripture is of
any private interpretation. In other words, there's no verse
that'll stand alone. It has to be interpreted in the
light of the rest of the Word of God. And no need for me to
go into that. I've done that many times here. Find out who's
speaking, to whom he's speaking, and the subject he's dealing
with, and compare it with the rest of the Word of God. And
so I looked at several writers, and they say most all of them
agree, and it fits in with the Word of God, that this book written
within, written on the backside, and sealed with seven seals,
is the counsels, the decrees, and the purposes of God. The
counsels and decrees and purposes of God relating to His redemption
and to His church and to His people. This book that God holds,
the Heavenly Father, now remember this is a dream, this is a vision.
This will not be reenacted. This is not something we're going
to see at the judgment, but this is a vision that John had, and
he's glorifying Christ. All scripture is given to glorify
Christ. It's to show us the way of redemption. It's to show us how God saved
sinners. Not only the book of Genesis
and the book of Psalms, but the book of Revelation also. And
the Heavenly Father is holding this book. And this book, written
within and written on the backside, is just written all over because
it's very full of matter. There's not a vacant space. It's
just full of blessings and full of benefits and full of glows.
You can think about it. The counsels of God in regard
to every creature. The counsels of God in regard
to his angels, and his church, and his son, and his heaven,
and his earth, and his glory, and all of these things, all
the counsels, all of the predestinating purposes, and all the decrees
of God Almighty are contained in this book that the Father
holds. You see what I'm saying? Sealed with seven seals, the
seals of God's holiness, the seals of God's justice, the seals
of God's truth, the seals of God's righteousness, all these
seven seals of God Almighty's awful attributes and holiness,
this book is sealed. Are you with me now? This book
is sealed. Verse 2, And I saw a strong angel,
Now all angels are glorious and strong and great, but this is
a particular angel. And this angel, this strong angel,
proclaimed with a loud voice, with a loud voice. And this angel's
inquiring in heaven, earth, and hell, and all the universe as
if that voice is reaching every place where God dwells, every
place where the creature reaching to every creature in heaven,
the cherubims and seraphims and angels and the heavenly host,
every son on this earth, bond and free, male and female, white
and black, old and young, learned and ignorant, every demon in
hell, every creature in hell. And that voice, that angel stood
and cried with a loud voice and said, Who is worthy? Who is able? to open the book
and to loose these awful seals, to loose God's blessings and
God's benefits, to reveal them, Charlie, to make them known who's
worthy. Now, if no one's found worthy, it's going to stay closed. That's what he showed me, if
no one's found worthy. And what is the worthiness? Not
the best man who ever lived or the best angel that ever walked.
That worthiness is the worthiness of God himself, the holiness
of God himself. It's the purity, immaculate,
infinite, everlasting purity of God Almighty. That's what
we're talking about. And this angel with a strong
voice, with a loud voice, he proclaims in all of heaven, who
is worthy up here to earth, who is worthy down there to all the
regions of the damned, who is worthy down there. Is anyone
worthy? He doesn't expect any answer
because he knows there's no one worthy. What that angel is showing
is the total impotence of every creature in regard to God's book. The total, complete impotence. I'm talking about every Pope
that ever lived. Put them all together, wrap them
up all in one package, and put them in one person, and they
wouldn't be fit to look on the book, let alone open it. Every
Cardinal, and Bishop, and Preacher, and Evangelist, and Missionary,
and Deacon, and Elder, and Song Leader, and Sunday School Teacher,
wrap up all the good thoughts they've ever thought, and you
wouldn't find one worthy to open the book. All the good deeds
they've ever done, you can't find one that's worthy even to
look on God's throne and not touch His book. The Heavenly
Father holds in His hand that book. Here's all the blessings
a holy God has and an everlasting counsel for men. Here's all the
purposes and decrees relating to God's redemption, relating
to His church, all written in one book. Here it is written,
written to be read, written to be blessed, be a blessing, written
to be enjoyed. Here it is. Now it's sealed,
though, with God's awful attributes. Who's worthy to open it? And verse 3 says, And no man
in heaven, and no man on earth, And not
one man under the earth was able to open the book, neither
to look down. I tell you, when the preacher visits, folks
get so good, they get so good, you'd think they's worthy. Or
when folks come to church, they get so pious, We have a way of
putting on a religious veneer that would fool most people but
God. But I'll tell you, when God speaks,
and when men are faced with that awful presence of the living
God, they kept their mouths shut. Everybody volunteers except when
this angel speaks, and nobody says it. Nobody in heaven? Who
is worthy? I was listening to that fellow
give his testimony in prayer meeting last Wednesday. He sounded
worthy. I was watching that television preacher talking about how he
suffered for Jesus, and he gave the impression he was worthy.
I read that biography of old so-and-so back to Puritan who
lived many years ago who got up every morning at three o'clock
and prayed while the snow blew in through the window and covered
him. That sounded worthy to me. That fellow who wrote the book
made him worthy. But I'll tell you in the face of God's awful,
awful, awful majesty and holiness, and he holds that book out, and
that angel says, Who's worthy? Come on, step up! Who's worthy? Who's worthy? No man in heaven,
earth, or hell opened his mouth. This is what I wish, this, if
you're ever, I'm persuaded of this, If a man's ever convinced
of his guilt and filth and sin, if he's ever truly convinced
of the magnitude and multitude of his sins, it won't be when
we preach law or rules or regulations. It'll be when we preach the holiness
of God. I'm convinced of it. I think
most folks have missed it. I think they go forth as ministers
of the law, they say, to shut men's mouths. The law won't shut
a man's mouth. It didn't shut the Pharisee's
mouth. It didn't shut Solitarius' mouth. It didn't shut the mouth
of those at the judgment who said, hold on here now, Lord,
we preached and did all these things. I'll tell you what shut
Job's mouth when he saw the Lord. He said, I put my hand on my
mouth. I'll tell you what shut Isaiah's mouth when he saw the
Lord in his, what? Holiness. He said, I'm unclean. I'm unclean and everybody I know
is unclean. That's when, it's what shut Daniel's
mouth. And even this man who wrote this
book here, Revelation, on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
when did he fall at the feet of Christ as a dead man? When
he saw him in his glory. And I'll tell you this awful
revelation of God's character. God says, here's the book. Here's
all that a holy God has in His counsels, in His glory, in His
purposes. Here's all God has for addiction,
for cleansing, for justification, sanctification, eternal life. Here's all that God has sealed
with the holiness of God and the justice of God. Come on,
open it! Somebody open it! Who's going
to open it? Who's worthy? And nobody opened
his mouth in heaven, earth, or hell. And John said, I cried. And this
is crying time. What's that song, Crying Time
in Dixie? Well, this is crying time in the universe. If you and I could ever lay hold
on what's going on here, it'd be crying time for us. God has
something for men, but men can't, they can't let hold of it. God
has a redemption, but It's got to be a redemption purchased
by a worthy person, and we're not worthy. And I wept. John said, I cried, because no
man, no man was found worthy, able, holy enough, righteous
enough, pure enough, strong enough to open and read the book or
to look there on. And one of the elders said to
me, oh, here's the good news of the gospel. Weep not. Weep
not. Behold the Lion of Judah." You
know who that is? Turn over here to Genesis chapter
49. Genesis 49. I'll tell you, the
more I preach and the older I get, Genesis chapter 49, verse 9 and
10, the older I get, the longer I live and try to preach. I see
the Lord Jesus Christ every time I open that book, every time
I open that book. And here, there's no question
this chapter in Revelations is showing us dumb folks Christ
in His glory. It's trying to shout in these
deaf ears, it's Christ, and to let these blind eyes see it's
Christ, and to let these darkened hearts see the light of God in
the face of Christ, the glory of God in the face of Christ. And here Jacob had gathered his
sons together. He was dying. Verse 1 of Genesis
49, he said to his sons, gather yourselves together that I may
tell you that which shall follow you in the last days. Gather
yourselves together and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken
unto Israel your father. You remember I told you this
morning God changed his name from Jacob to Israel, a prince.
Then he talked to Reuben, then he talked to Simeon and Levi,
and then he got down, verse 8, to Judah. Judah, that's the kingly
tribe, by God's sovereign purpose. And he called Judah over. He
said, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy
hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's children
shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp from
the prey. My son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as
a lion, as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter. You see, Judah is the tribe of
David. David came from Judah, the kingly
tribe. That's where all the kings, Levites, the priestly tribe,
Judah's the kingly tribe. And old Jacob said, the scepter,
that's the reigning rod, shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver
from between his feet, till Shiloh, till Shiloh come, and unto him
shall the gathering of the people be." That's our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lion of the tribe of
Judah. He's Shiloh. He's the King of
Salem. He's the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. And all the way from back there
in Genesis, old Jacob lay a dime. And he called his sons, and he
said, the scepter shall not depart from Judah till the line of Judah,
till shallow, till the king of kings cometh. And here is John
on the Isle of Patmos writing about the last days, the last
thing. And he refers right back to that
prophecy of Jacob way back yonder years before. You see that the
message of Christ and the name of Christ spans the whole Bible. the whole history of the church,
where God has had a redeemed person, that person is resting
in Christ. Like I said this morning, it
doesn't matter on which side of the cross you're born, you're
looking to Christ both ways. It doesn't matter which generation,
it doesn't matter which dispensation, it doesn't matter which era you
may live in, you live there. If you're redeemed and know God,
you know Him through Christ and Christ alone. And old Jacob prophesies
of the coming line of the tribe of Judah, the scepter shall not
depart from Judah, it will shallow come. And John, in closing this
book, under the power of the Holy Spirit, talks about the
line of the tribe of Judah. That's Jesus Christ the man. Now watch this. And the root
of David. Now he's called the branch of
David because he's a man. And he's called the root of David
David came from him, Bob, because he's David's God. He's David's
God. The Bible is so perfect. Let
me show you something here in the book of Isaiah. Turn to Isaiah
chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9. Let me tell
you a little story. One of our men here in the congregation,
I wish I had him up here to tell it, but he was entertaining one
day in his home some folks who were coming around knocking on
doors selling Bibles and so forth and talking about their religion,
some sect or cult. And he asked them what they thought
of Jesus Christ. And they said, well, he was a
good prophet, great man, great teacher, healer, preacher, so
forth. But they said he started in Bethlehem. And this member
of our church, he's one of our elders. And he's very keen and
sharp, but he was playing this thing negatively to keep from
scaring them off so they could get in the message. That's why.
And he said, well, my pastor said that Christ was in the Old
Testament, that in the Old Testament, that rock is Christ. The old
fellow said, that's not so. Well, he said, my pastor said
it was in the Bible. He said, no, it's not in the Bible. So
he turned over there and read, that rock was Christ. Guys got
big, you know. And something else followed and
he talked about that Passover is Christ, you know. Well, these
fellas don't believe that. They don't believe that. And
here we're reading where in Revelation 5, now watch this, where he says,
and I want you to stay at Isaiah 9, he said, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, that's Christ coming through the lineage of Jesse,
father of David, tribe of Judah. And the root of David, that is
Christ sprang from David. He's the offspring of David as
a man. But he's the root of David as
his God. David came from him. Now watch
Isaiah 9, 6. The Bible says, under us a child
is born. This is talking about Jesus Christ.
The Lord himself will give you a sign, a virgin shall be with
child. Call his name Immanuel, God with
us. Under us a child is born. Under
us a son is given, and the government shall be on his shoulders. His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." That's Jesus of Nazareth.
That's Jesus Christ. And I want you to notice these
first two lines. Under us a child is born. That's
a child that never lived on this earth before he was born. He
was conceived. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ
didn't have an earthly father. The angel said to Mary, that
holy thing, and that's the way the angel put it because how
do you describe a God-man being formed in a woman's womb? It's
a child, but it's not a child, it's God. So he said that holy
thing which is born of you should be called the Son of God. And
so God Almighty put his nature in a human body. And that child
was born. And that baby that they washed
and swaddled and laid in the manger had never been on this
earth before. That child was literally actually
born from Mary's womb, just like any other child is born. But
he said, unto us a son is given. That wasn't Mary's son, that's
the Son of God. That's not Joseph's son, that's
the Son of God. And this son is not born. My
son was born, 1955, Paul. But this is God's son. He wasn't
born. God's son was given. This baby,
this child was born. This son was given. This is the
mystery of mysteries. Somebody said, old C.D. Stevens,
I believe it was, said this, the three greatest miracles are
creation, And regeneration and incarnation, and incarnation
is perhaps the greatest of all. God became a man. And this is
the exactness of God's word, and this over here in Revelation
back in our text. God holds the book of all the
purposes and counsels and promises, redemption, justification, your
cleansing. Your regeneration, your new nature,
your resurrection, your ascension, your glorification, the new heaven,
new earth, all this is in the book, all of it's in Christ.
But it's sealed, and the angel said, who can open it? And no
man, no man can open it. And John said, I cried, I wept,
no man was found worthy to open it. Hell is our portion. Eternal
damnation is our future. Eternal rejection, there's no
hope. And one of the elders said, don't weep. The only one who's
capable, the only one who's suitable, the only one who's able, the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, a man, a man, the root of David, God,
hath prevailed. Somebody said, hath prevailed
with the Father. He hath prevailed with the law. He hath prevailed with the justice
of God. He hath prevailed with all the
wrath of judgment of God. He hath prevailed. He hath prevailed. He prevailed and he prevailed. And he's going to open that book. And he's going to loose the seven
seals. And I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne. He's
a king. He's the king in the midst of the throne and of the
four beasts. And a lot of folks, bless their
hearts, I'm not smart at all, but I'm smarter than this. There's
so many preachers that get bogged down right there on the four
beasts. Instead of dealing with this book, and this God on the
throne, and these attributes of holiness and righteousness,
this book that must be opened, and the impotence of men, and
the unworthiness of men, and the glory of Christ, and the
house and lineage of Christ, and His effectiveness and ability,
they get bogged down on who are the four beasts. Well, I spent
a little time trying to find out. I went to Gill, and I went
to Henry, and I went to Matthew Poole, and I've worked on it.
And I've come to this conclusion. I don't know, and they don't
either. Now, that's a fact. That's an honest fact. They don't
know. Somebody says it's the four evangelists,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Somebody said it's the ministers
of the church. All of them disagree, Charlie,
every one of them. And I don't have the slightest
notion who they are. I just know they're there. And
someday, I'm going to take the things God reveals and leave
the rest of it to judgment, to glory. But if you want to see
something about them, it's over here in chapter 4, verse 6, 7,
and 8. But don't get sidetracked, please. I'll tell you, don't come up
after the sermon and tell me who they are, because you don't
know either. Verse 6 says, Before the throne there was a sea of
glass, like unto crystal. In the midst of the throne, round
about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes, before and behind.
The first beast was like a lion, the second beast like a calf,
the third beast had the face of a man, the fourth beast was
like a flying eagle, and the four beasts each had six wings.
I don't know who they are, but I know who that lamb is. I know
who that lamb is. I know who's sitting on that
throne, Ronnie, holding that book. And I know who we are. I know we're in a mess. I know
that. And I know who this Lamb is.
And that's what John is seeing. He's seeing the Lamb. All right,
read verse 6. In the midst of the throne of
the four beasts, in the midst of the elders, 24 elders, somebody
said, well, that's the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles
and put together the Church of the Old and New Testaments. It
may be. I don't know. But I know this lamb," watch
this, "...and stood a lamb as it had been slain." I'll tell
you, a lamb is of no use to us, even the Lamb of God, till he's
slain. It's the blood that maketh atonement for us all. I heard
a preacher say one time, we've got to quit drenching our congregations
in blood. We've got to start drenching
them in blood. It's the blood that cleanseth,
it's the blood that maketh atonement, it's the blood that offering
before God for our souls without the shedding of blood, there's
no remission. Oh, the precious blood of Christ. And he had seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent
forth into all the earth. And he took, came and took the
book. Oh, my. You know the book? He
came and took that book out of the right hand of him that sat
on 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 vows full
of odors, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sung
a new song." Brother, let me tell you something. I love music,
and the people of God have always loved music. We talked about
the song of Moses. Moses sang this song, and the
song of Solomon. And Isaiah talked about singing,
and God is honored and exalted in the songs of the redeemed,
the right kind of songs, right kind of song. We need to be very
selective in our singing of songs. I hope everybody here, I've tried
to enforce this through the years, I'll rebuke a bad song as quick
as I will a bad sermon. We're just not going to have
somebody preaching one thing and singing another. magnifying
the flesh. We're going to exalt Christ in
word, preaching, and song, and teaching. We're going to select
the songs that are glorifying to Him because our Lord is glorified
in singing. The Bible tells us to sing unto
the Lord a new song. Come before His presence with
thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto the Lord. And the
Word tells us there's singing up in heaven. Spurgeon wrote
this one time. He said, I shall, unblemished
and complete, appear before my Father's throne, with joys divinely
great, then loudest of the crowd I'll sing, while heaven's glorious
mansions ring with shouts of sovereign grace." Loudest of
the crowd I'll sing. And John says here in verse 8,
and when he took that book, they sung a new song. Now let me give
you three things in closing. They sang about three things.
They sang about their Redeemer, they sang about their honors
through Him, and they sang about their future. I want to give
you this briefly. Now, I can tell you one certain
thing about the heavenly music. Those who stand before the Father's
throne sing about the Lamb. Read this song. And they sung
a new song. And they said, Oh, we've passed
through the valley. Oh, we've suffered on the earth.
Oh, we've shed many tears for God. Oh, we've won many souls.
No, sir. And they sung, thou art worthy,
thou art worthy to take the book. Thou art worthy to open the seven
seals, for thou was slain. and thou hast redeemed us to
God, and by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, and people,
and nation, and thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests,
and we'll reign on the earth because of what you did." My
friends, some people on earth just don't seem to know where
to put the crown. They just don't seem to know.
But I'll tell you, those in heaven know where to put the crown.
They put it on His head. They never talk about themselves.
They never talk about their works. They never praise their free
will. They praise Him. He is worthy. He is worthy. He hath redeemed us. He hath
made us under our God, kings and priests. When did He do this
glorious work? When did the Lord Jesus Christ
do this glorious work? Well, let me tell you something.
He took the book, but I would say briefly Our Lord did this
work in redeeming us and revealing unto us the blessings and purposes
and counsels of God when He entered into the Council, the Covenant
of Grace, and the Council Halls of Eternity. That's when He started
the work. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
came to earth in human form, and when he met the Lord and
was tested in every point, and when he climbed Golgotha's hill
and died on that old rugged cross, and when he arose from the tomb,
and when he ascended to heaven and sat down, and when he calls
our names, it's all of grace and all of his mercy. He hath
redeemed us. He. hath made us unto our gods
kings and priests." Now, let me look briefly into this. Would
you look down at verse 10? Verse 10. The believers sing
about their Redeemer and about the honors they have in Him.
I feel I would not do you justice and do right by this
sermon if I didn't take the time to give you what I believe that
I see right here. He hath made us kings. He hath
made us unto our God. I'm not talking about unto the
people of this world. I'm talking about to our God.
Kings and priests. He hath made us to our God. I
don't know whether I can scratch the surface here, but let me
ask two questions. How is the believer like a king?
And secondly, how is the believer like a priest? First of all,
kings have a royal heritage. The next king of England, I believe,
is Prince Charles, right? He's in line. Why? He was born
of the Windsor family. That's their kingly heritage. He'll be the next king because
he's in line. You know why I'm a king? I know
a lot of folks that are looking up their ancestry. They write
to these companies trying to find out their family trees. I've got a cousin that's a real
gung-ho for that. He wants to find out where all
the mayhems came from. I could save him a lot of money.
They all came from Adam. I could save him a whole lot
of money. Every one of them came from Adam.
And he's looking for some lords and ladies, but there ain't none
in that whole crowd. They're all horse thieves and
criminals. That's right. There's none good, no not one.
There's none righteous, no not one. There's none that understand
it. That's right. Now some of them might have been
promoted higher than the other worms, but they're still worms.
They're still crawdads in the hole of sin. That's right. Let
me tell you something. I have, I have, and we lost in
Adam our nobility and we lost our rights, but the believer
is a son of the king. We're born of the King of Kings.
My right to the throne is because I'm a son of the King of Kings.
Now, I'm a king in that respect. Secondly, a king has a royal
entourage. Now, that's not my kind of word
at all, but that's a royal surroundings and court. That's a crowd with
him. Everywhere you see a king, everywhere
he travels, He's got, whether he's at home or abroad, he's
surrounded by protectors, he's surrounded by servants, he's
surrounded by royal court. You say, well, preacher, if you're
king, where's your royal court? They're here, you don't see them.
They're all around. That's right, isn't it, Charlie?
They're all around. Let me show you that. Turn to the book of
2 Kings, chapter 6. Like I said, we're kings to our
God. In 2 Kings, chapter 6, Old Elisha, he and his servant had
pitched a tent, and this king and all of his people were after
Elijah. They were going to skin him. They were going to get rid
of him. And Elijah and his servant had
pitched their tent down here in this valley, and they slept
that night. And the servant got up the next
morning to go get a bucket of water. And verse 15 of 2 Kings
6, the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone
forth, and behold, a host compassed the city, both with horses and
chariots, and his servant wrung his hands. Alas, master, what
shall we do? How shall we do? And Elisha said,
Don't be afraid. They that be with us are more
than they that be with them. We got more help than they have.
We're surrounded by heavenly hosts. And Elisha prayed and
said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about who? Around
about the king, God's king. What king? And I'll tell you
this, and I know a lot of you are afraid of flying and you're
afraid of dying. And you're afraid of a lot of things. You're afraid
of burglars and bogeymen and everything else. You don't need
to be. That's right. You're a king. No king's afraid. He's surrounded
by protectors. He's surrounded by royal court.
Fear not. He said, I'm with you. I'll never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. You believe
that? Well, it's so whether we believe it or not, Richard, it's
so. We're surrounded by heavenly host. Satan couldn't touch you. No, anybody acquainted with him
without God's permission. Now, if God gives him permission,
it's going to be all right, isn't it? If God lets death come in tonight
and take, say, your daughter or son, it'd be all right, wouldn't
it? Because you're a son of the king. Whatever he does is for
your good. But you're surrounded. He hath
made his angels, he hath given his angels charge over you. And
I'll tell you, those boys ain't going to sleep. They're not going
to fail. You got a watchdog. It's a heavenly
watchdog. I believe that. I really do.
I believe it up here. I wish I believed it down there
like I believe it up here. But I may so anyhow, whether
we believe it or not. And then I've got a crown. I've
got a crown. Now I hear these preachers, old,
I forget his name, the walking Bible, he's always talking about
the five and seven crowns and all this stuff that if you'll
send him your tithe, he'll be sure you get two at least, or
three of them in heaven. Brethren, let me tell you something.
And you say you're making fun. Well, I'm in good company. Elijah
made fun of the prophets of Baal, didn't he? He made fun of them.
And I'm making fun of these hucksters. And these merchandisers of souls,
they're crooks and conmen who ought to be put in jail. That's
exactly right. They ought to be put in jail.
Now, there are no degrees of glory. Every child of God is
loved equally, blessed equally, and glorified equally in Christ. That's right. And the crowns
are at his feet and not on our head. You see, if you're looking
for some reward in heaven for what you do, you better commission
somebody to collect it because you ain't going to be there.
You don't understand grace. You better have somebody else
pick up your paycheck because you're not going to be there.
Everybody in glory said unto Him, unto Him be the glory both
now and forever. Every smidgen of it, every atom
of it, every jot and tittle of it belongs to Christ. Now the
crown that we have, we have right now in Christ. I have a crown
of life, I have a crown of joy, I have a crown of rejoicing,
I have a crown of glory, and I have an incorruptible crown.
That's right. And I wear it in Christ. I got
it because he gave it to me. And I have a robe. I have a robe. I'm covered with a robe of his
righteousness. I have a robe that's a spotless
robe that'll take me right into the presence of the King. And
something else I have, I have a dominion. You say, where's
your dominion? All things are mine. Turn, if
you will, to 1 Corinthians 3. Everything's mine. I'm an heir
of God, an heir of all that God has, and I'm a joint heir with
God's Son. I'm a king. He hath made me a
king. Let's don't poor-mouth it. We're
kings, Mike. We're kings. We don't need anything
this world has to offer. We're kings, it's ours anyways.
1 Corinthians 3, 21. Therefore let no man glory in
men. No glory in men, they're nothing.
For all things are yours. All things are yours. Don't covet
what men have and who men are. That old stuff will pass away.
All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or
the world or life or death or things present or things to come.
All things are yours. and you're Christ, and Christ
is God's. That's a partnership, isn't it?
You talk about a corporation, you talk about a partnership,
everything is mine, and I'm Christ, he bought me, and he's God's,
and so it's all mine. I have a dominion, and he has
made us priests. Let me show you something. How
are we like priests? Well, priests are divinely chosen. He said,
no man takes this honor upon himself, but he that is appointed
by God. Priests are divinely chosen. I was chosen. Secondly,
priests can enter, watch it, only the priest can enter the
Holy of Holies behind the veil, but I can't. I can't. When Christ died for me, he ripped
that veil in two and said, come in. Let us come boldly before
the throne of grace. Well, priests offer sacrifices. Well, we do too. Sacrifices of
thanksgiving, sacrifices of praise, and such sacrifices are well-pleasing
to God. Oh, I tell you, the highest honors
are ours, and here's our future, and I'll quit. He said in Revelation
5, verse 10, and we shall reign on the earth. I'll give you some
scriptures to study if you want to, but I'm confident of this,
that God's going to make a new heaven and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. And we're going to have access
not only to heaven, but to a new earth. God's going to make a
new earth. There's nothing wrong with this
earth now if you take sin out of it. It was perfect when God
made it. God made it, put man in the garden,
and he said it's good. God said it's good. And if it's
good to God, it's good to me. But God's going to make a new
earth, a new earth. And the Holy City is coming down
out of heaven to this earth. And we're going to have bodies
of flesh and bones. That's right. You read Luke 24,
and our Lord appeared to his disciples. He ate with them,
is that correct? And he told them, he said, reach
out here and touch my hands. You see my hands? Touch them.
A spirit doesn't have flesh and bones like you see me have. And
I'm going to be like my Lord. I'm going to be a perfect man
someday. Perfect inwardly and outwardly,
and I'll never die. Never die. I'm going to be like
Christ. There's a man in glory, and he's coming back, and with
him, all the saints. And he's not going to sit over
there in a little old walled city called Jerusalem while a bunch
of Arabs and Jews fight over him. He's coming to a new earth.
It's going to be purged before he comes. It's going to be made
all new, and we're going to reign with him forever and forever
and forever. That's my future. I got a glorious
future because I got a sorry past, but a glorious future because
my Lord made the difference unto him. Thou art worthy. Thou art
worthy.