Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us,
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org, or just look
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Last week we saw that the Lamb is worthy, and certainly the
Lamb of God is worthy. We cannot doubt.
That the Lamb of God is worthy where the angels were not worthy
to open the seals, and where the mankind as in general is not
able to open the seals. And even the patriarchs and the
elders and the leaders were not able to open the seals.
There was one who was able to open the seals, and that was the
lion. Of the tribe of Judah, the root
of David that is Jesus Christ. And we saw that Worthy is the
Lamb. And we echo that again tonight,
don't we? Worthy is the Lamb.
If we said nothing else tonight and said Worthy is the Lamb,
well, we would be doing all right, because you can't speak
anything else. Other Everything else is really
an offshoot. Of the fact that the Lamb of God
is worthy. And tonight I want us to kind of
continue that thought as we continue on in the Book of
Revelation, Chapter #5 specifically.
But I want us to look not necessarily at the fact that the
Lamb is worthy, but ask the question.
What makes the Lamb worthy? What is it about the Lamb that
makes it worthy? What is it about his abilities?
And of course, we could talk about this all night, couldn't
we? I mean, we could elaborate on
the worth of the Lamb of Jesus Christ.
Well, we could elaborate on it till the end of time.
You. Just like if we considered the
Book of John at the end of the Book of John and said that if
the works of Christ were to be able to have been written, that
the world would not be able to contain all of the works that he
has done. And well, I kind of feel the
same way about Revelation Chapter #5 and addressing the
issue of how worthy Jesus Christ is.
However, there are some very specific things about the worth
of the Lamb that are mentioned in this text, and I believe
those are the things we need to explore tonight and understand
because they're. Being communicated to us through
this chapter in this text. And I want us to look at it here
tonight. And so we're going to go back
and although we're not going to address all of chapter 5
tonight, I do want us to read all of chapter five once again.
So you remain seated and we're going to read Revelation Chapter
#5 here tonight. And it says and I saw on the
right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within
and on the backside sealed with 7 seals.
And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice.
Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth,
was able to open the book, neither to look there on.
And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to
read the book, neither to look there on.
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not, 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. And I beheld and low in the
midst of the throne, and of the four beasts in the midst of the
elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having 7 horns and
seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into
all the earth. And he came.
And took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon
the throne. And when he had taken the book,
the four and beasts, and the four and 20 elders fell down
before the Lamb, having every one of them harps.
And golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the
Saints. And they sung a new song,
saying, thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof. And thou was slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by the blood out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation, and has made us unto our God kings and
priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about
the throne, and the beast and the elders.
And the number of them was 10,000 * 10,000.
And thousands of thousands we saw last week that's numbering
over 100 million and then more. On top of that saying with a
loud voice worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power
and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and
blessing and every creature which is in heaven and on the
earth, I'm sorry. Oh, and on the 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.
And glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the land, for how long, forever and ever.
And the 4B said, Amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever.
And surely, as Thomas would have said and proclaimed when he saw
the hands with the nail scars, and he saw the side that was
riven, he said. My Lord.
And my God. And you can't come to any other
conclusion to read Revelation chapter five with an open heart
to the Holy Spirit and look at the Lamb of God, the line of the
tribe of Judah, the root of Jesse, the root of David, and
say my Lord and my God, and we see him in His Majesty here.
So last week we looked at Jesus and his worth reflected in his
titles. Those titles remember the line
of the tribe of Judah, the root of David.
We ended our message last week by looking at him.
At his titles. But tonight I want us to look at
him and his worth reflected in his traits.
What is it about Jesus Christ that makes him worthy?
And again, I know we could talk about this well for ages,
literally and never exhausted, but I want us to look at what we
see here in Revelation chapter #5 that is highlighted for us by
the Holy Spirit here tonight. And the first thing I want us to
see about this is this. Number one, He is worthy.
To redeem number one, he's worthy to redeem First
Corinthians chapter 15, and that great chapter that expounds the
gospel in a way that maybe is not mentioned or or expounded in
any other place in the word of God, Paul says by the
inspiration of God. For I delivered unto you, first
of all that which I also received, how the Christ died
for our sins, according to the Scriptures.
And that he was buried and that he rose again the 3rd day.
According to the scriptures, that's what Jesus Christ did to
redeem mankind. That's found in verse #9 in our
text. And it says, And they sung a new
song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the
seals thereof. For thou wasst slain by the way.
It doesn't say, for thou are slain wast in the past.
By the way, that's one of the exceptions we take with the
Catholic Church that perpetually sacrifices Christ.
In every Eucharist that shows Him on the crucifix still slain,
they're perpetually slain for the sin of mankind.
No, He was slain. And although He shows those
scars and those marks to remind us of that sacrifice that was
made, yet He lives again, so that was slain and has redeemed
us. There's That word has redeemed
us to God. By thy blood out of every
kindred tongue and people and nation.
So we ask ourselves this, this question I What does it mean to
redeem? We see here that he redeemed us,
but the question is, what does it mean?
That Jesus Christ redeemed us. Well, this word, redeem has
taken many different forms over the years.
It can be used many different ways today.
There are ways that you can redeem yourself.
You ever heard someone say that they redeem themself or about
someone else? That they had redeemed
themselves. What does that mean?
That they made amends? That they vindicated themselves?
And typically it's about something that they have done on
their own to better themselves. I.
Would think in Literature of the Christmas Story by Charles
Dickens and Scrooge. Redeemed himself, didn't he?
At the end of that story that he made good of himself.
By the way, that's not in the Bible.
Just want to make sure you understand that.
But if you were to take something that the world would
say, well, what did he do? He found it in and of himself.
To make himself a good character again, by the way, which is
exactly opposite of what the Bible says, that are worth is
not found in doing good deeds on Christmas.
Redeemed himself. Are worth is found in Jesus
Christ and that's where we find that and through salvation in
him that good deeds don't make us a good person.
There are people who do that and try to get saved and find out at
the judgment seat. Watch at the great white throne
judgment that those good deeds never save them, and so
certainly an awful thing, but the world would say that well.
So that's one way to use it. If you have coupons, remember
what those used to be? That's back when people used to
have newspapers back in the day. But I remember my mom had a
shoebox full of coupons back in the day and she would pay me a
dime for every coupon that was expired.
Every few months I would go through and get all the expired
coupons and show them to her. And then she'd give me a dime
for all of them. Well, inflation.
I should have been making hundreds of bucks for that.
Now that think about it. But here's the coupon for milk
and here's the coupon for I can't believe it's not butter.
I could believe it wasn't butter didn't taste like it.
But here's all these coupons there.
What do you do with them? They say you need to redeem
them. And in that sense, it literally
means to exchange it. To turn in, I'm going to give
the coupon, I'm going to turn it in and I'm going to get
something in return that's a little bit closer to what we
would see here. But yet not even the same Boaz
is going to redeem Ruth. And I mean, I know I'm getting a
little bit ahead of myself from Sunday night, but we're going to
find out that Boaz would be the Kinsman Redeemer and we'll talk
much about that later on. So I don't want to actually
spend a lot of time on that component of this evening, but
it is right here in our text, this redeeming that word redeem
that we see. Here comes from 2 Latin words or
two Latin forms that the first word, the Latin word red or form
red meaning black or not, black back rather, and emo meaning to
obtain or purchase. And so literally, the word would
mean to buy back. To buy back the 1828 dictionary
puts it this way. To purchase back to ransom.
To liberate or rescue from captivity or bondage.
Were any of us in captivity or bondage to anything?
Oh yes. Before we knew Jesus Christ our
Savior, we were in bondage to sin and we were enslaved by our
Father, the Devil. Those are Jesus's words, not
mine. Before we belong to Him, we
belong to our Father. The devil, but we were in
captivity or bondage. From any obligation or liability
to suffer or be forfeited by paying an equivalent to redeem.
As to redeem prisoners or captured goods to redeem a
pledge, you could look at it maybe this way.
If someone left something at a pawn shop, what would they do?
They would. Redeem it at some point.
That's what you're supposed to do.
If you're able to, you go and well, you buy it back.
You purchase it back. You have now liberated from
behind that window with the bars over it, and now it's set free
and it's back in your home again.
Well, that's maybe a very worldly or earthly way of
looking at it, but when we look at what Jesus Christ did for us.
He redeemed us from the clutches of Satan.
He redeemed us from the power of sin, and he redeemed us from a
future that we had living in a devil's hell from all eternity.
Jesus Christ, the day we got saved, redeemed us for all that,
and that redemption was sealed on the day that he died on the
cross. And then three days later, it
was authenticated once again as he rose from the grave, going
back to First Corinthians 15, where it says that he died in
three days, he was buried, and he rose again.
That's the. The gospel message He redeemed
us. He set us free.
By the way, you're free today. And he that is free, it says,
and John is free. Indeed, this verse here at verse
#9 tells us that the vehicle of the redemption was his death in
the shedding of his blood. That's what it says right here
by his blood. We are redeemed by his blood.
And then it also tells us about the vastness.
It's not just the vehicle of his redemption.
But the vastness of his redemption, how vast is it?
Every people, every kindred, every tongue, every nation?
I mean, I would say from what I see here, that upon the
authority of the Word of God, each one will have some
representation. Someday in heaven, it will be a
true United Nations. Not the puppet court that we see
here on Earth today that gathers together and gets nothing done.
In fact, it probably gets less than nothing done, all things
considered. But no, here we see, it says of
all of these people that we represented.
Why? Because they're redeemed.
They're redeemed. The the vehicle, the blood, the
vastness. All of the peoples of mankind.
Ephesians 17 in whom we have redemption.
Through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to
the riches of His grace. Where's our redemption from?
It's grace. For by grace are you save
through faith and that not of yourself.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. Which reminds us that word gift
is very much synonymous with grace, that they are very
similar their kindred terms in many ways.
That by grace we have salvation. It's not that we earn the
redemption. Well, that's not what it's
about. Well, I did the work.
I clipped it, I turned it in, and then I got something back.
Nope, that's not what it is. No, it's that Jesus Christ did.
Look what he did on the cross, that he proved what he did when
he rose again. And that because of that, when
you and I call upon Jesus Christ to save us, at that very moment,
we could know that we're seated with Christ in the heavenlies
because of the redemption. That's an exciting thing.
They don't even make a Baptist shout.
OK. I mean that that wasn't
shouting, but that's OK. It's as close as we'll get.
I mean, we're not going Pentecostal tonight, but that's
all right. I'm just saying it's exciting,
You know, it's exciting that Christ redeemed us.
And that's what we see here first.
Peter won 18 and 19. For as much as you know that you
were not redeemed with corruptible things, what are
corruptible things? Will look in your wallet.
What's corruptible things? Look on your online bank
statement, what's corruptible things?
Look in your portfolio. And I'm not saying there's
anything wrong with those things in and of themselves, I mean.
Those kind of financial blessings are just that,
blessings, as long as we don't make them into idols themselves.
For it's the love of money. It's not money that's the root
of all evil. It's the love of money that's
the root of all evil. But those things are corruptible
in the sense that when this world goes up, guess what?
You're not taking it with you. We are not redeemed with
corruptible things. Silver and gold from your vein.
Conversation received by tradition from your father's.
But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without
blemish, without spot, who's that lamb?
We're seeing him here in Revelation Chapter 5, in all the
splendor and all of his glory. We'll look more again at this
redemption as we look at Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer in the book
of. Ruth, but I we can't go past
this here tonight. And and not just dwell with
wonder at the Lamb of God, who's slain, who shed his blood.
It was slain to be able to secure our redemption.
He is worthy to redeem. By the way, was anyone else
worthy to redeem? There was no one else that was
worthy. It's not just that he was worthy
to open the seals. There was no one else worthy to
redeem. That there was no one.
There's no Angel that can make the sacrifice.
No man that could take the sacrifice.
There wasn't the blood of bulls and goats that could forgive
sin. They could only cover the sin of
mankind. It's only Jesus Christ who is
worthy to redeem. I'm glad we agree on that.
All right, #2. Let's look at this.
He's not only worthy to redeem, He's worthy to reign.
He is worthy to rain REIGN. That's not talking about what
happens outside with some precipitation.
We're talking about ruling and raining like a monarch would
rain. Verse 10 talks about this when
it says, and has made unto and has made us unto our God, kings
and priests. And we shall reign.
There's that word rain on the earth.
I believe verse 10 here when it talks about we shall reign on
the earth is a direct connection to the millennial reign, that
thousand year reign of Christ after the seven-year tribulation
because we'll get here in like 5 years.
Revelation chapter 20 verse #6 where it says blessed and holy
is he that has part in the first resurrection.
On such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests
of God, of and of Christ. And shall reign with him for
1000 years. And so I believe there's a
connection here to that millennial Kingdom, that
millennial reign. And he says that we will be
kings and priests and we are kings and priests.
And by the way, that thought of being kings and priests is
mentioned three different times in the Book of relation.
It's already been mentioned in chapter #1 and will be mentioned
again at the end of time in the dawning of eternity.
But we see us being kings and priests as kings.
He grants us authority. You realize no authority can
flow from any other place than from God.
Romans 13 verse one says let every soul be subject under the
higher powers, for there's no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God.
Now of course that's talking about human government, but I
think we can also make a direct connection to say that when
mankind has power, in essence it flows from God.
As kings He is granting us authority, but as priests he's
granting us access because in the Old Testament, what did the
priests have? They had access that other
people did not have. That's why it was so amazing
when Christ died on the cross, you and he proclaimed it is
finished. What happened in the temple, the
veil between the holy place and the holiest of holies, it was
rent into and it wasn't just rent from the bottom of the top
like a man could do so. And by the way, from what I
understand about that veil, that it was constructed in such a way
no one was just coming up and going.
Like you were taking a shear from, you know, one of your
windows at the house that it would have been likely
impossible for a person to tear anyway, but just so that God
made sure that no one made any kind of of thought process, that
it was man, it was rent from top to bottom, which wouldn't have
been the normal way that would have happened.
Which was the finger of God that took care of that and the voice
of God that took care of that. And that partition was removed
and what do we have access? And we have access today.
I I say this verse a lot, but I'm going to give it to you
again because it's just so important.
Hebrews 416 Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of
grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. I know, and I I I don't want to
be labor this here tonight, but we have people coming from all
kinds of different places in their spiritual walk and some
are early on in their spiritual walk and some are more.
Experienced in their spiritual walk.
I wouldn't call anyone here older, but they're more
experienced in their walk. But I want to remind you tonight
that when you sin, you don't have to come to me and confess.
Now you can come talk to me and I can help you and pray with you
and maybe show you some Bible verses.
You don't have to go to Diane and confess.
Only I have to do. Oh, no, never mind.
You don't have to do that. All right, you know what we do.
Hey, we go right to God now. If you have transgressed against
someone, you need to go to get it to them and ask for their
forgiveness. That's an important thing in the
Bible teaches about that. When we have done wrong to
somebody that we go and apologize to them.
But if we want to get that rightness with God, we don't
have to go through the priest. We don't have to go to my office
and shut the door and have you confess.
No, no that you can go right to the.
Throne of God. As a priest, And you have been
granted access, and that's what it says.
And we shall rain on the earth, because we're kings, and we're
because we're priests. Spurgeon put it this way.
Ye are kings and priests unto your God.
That how much ought kings and priests give to the king of
kings? This speake to yourselves I am a
king. That I will give a king I will
give as a king giveth unto a king.
Now, Mark, you know paltry subscriptions.
We don't expect kings to put down their name for trifles.
That again you were a priest. Well, priest, do you mean to
sacrifice? Yes, you may say.
But you would not sacrifice a broken legged lamb or a
blemished Bullock, would you? Would you not select the best of
the flock? Very right.
Then select the very best. What is he saying?
Is kings and priests Well as kings?
We don't give trifles. We give much because we've been
given much. And as priests, what do we do?
We make sure we sacrifice the very best we have to God as
kings and priests. It's not just, wow, look at all
these things that God has given to me.
Although that's true, it's wow. Look at all these things that
God has given to me. I need to give these to others
as well, and just be a conduit of God's grace to other people,
as a king and as a priest. But yet you might say this
tonight, Pastor. You keep talking about us ruling
and raining, but yet you say up here.
That he's worth it to rain. It seems like you're taking the
verse here and you're taking something that's talking about
us and making it about Jesus Christ.
And I mean, I understand that if you're thinking that as I'm
speaking about this because it says again in verse #10, has
made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on
the earth. But yet let me ask you this
tonight, How can we reign unless we're given that authority from
a higher authority? How are we able to be kings and
priests if someone is not worthy?
Who is higher than us? Who is able to confer that title
upon us? It would require, if we have
been made kings and priests, that someone with higher
authority is able to give us that kingship.
That someone above us is able to give us that priesthood which
reminds us that it's Jesus Christ who is worthy to reign.
And that makes us worthy to reign because he has the power.
Why was Joseph able to reign? Well, because there was one
greater than Joseph who gave him that power which would have been
Pharaoh. Why did Mordecai was he able to
reign coming from having the death sentence upon his head
from Amon just a few chapters previously?
It was because one greater than Mordecai, King Ahasu Eris
conferred upon him the same title basically as Joseph, the
second in command of all of the Kingdom.
And for you and I to be kings and priests, it requires that
there is one who is greater than us, who is able to give us that.
And that's Jesus Christ, Luke 133.
And he shall reign over the House of Jacob Forever.
And of his Kingdom there shall be no end.
By the way, that's not just good in December.
It's good all 12 months out of the year.
Hebrews 18 We went over this last week, But it's so good we
have to do it again. But unto us but unto the sun he
sayeth thy throne. Oh God is forever and ever
again. Remember showing that deity of
Christ unto the sun. He sayeth thy throne.
Oh God, it is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy Kingdom. So what does he have?
He has that scepter of righteousness, that sign of
ruling and reigning. We'll look at this later.
Revelation 11/5. The 7th Angel sounded and there
was 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 forever and ever. If you thought that came from
the Hallelujah Chorus, that's not where it came from.
It came from the Word of God that he shall reign forever and
ever. That's not handle or handle or
whoever. It was pretty sure his handle.
But you know what it was? It was from the word of God that
we find that he shall rain. He's worthy to rain.
And by the way, if he's worthy to rain and he's put the
authority on us, that means he's allowed to tell us anything,
anywhere, anytime, what to do. Because we are all excited about
the fact that he's worthy to rain and that he's coming back
and he's going to settle accounts.
But may I remind you that he's worthy to rain in your life
tonight, That if he's to come down from heaven and touch your
heart, which is what he can do through your holy, through his
Holy Spirit that lives within you, if he is to tell you do
this or do that, go here or go there, just as that man told
Jesus Christ I also. Am a man under authority and
understand go here and go there, do this and do that with that is
what he does to us tonight. Who are we to say No, God, I
won't do it. No, I won't go there.
That's too far. That's too much.
No, that's not something I'll give up.
No, if He's worthy to reign the. Scene that we see here in
Revelation Chapter 5. If he's worthy to reign over 100
million or so angels, I think he's worthy to reign over our
heart, my heart and your heart. He is worthy to reign #3 I also
see this. He's not just worthy to redeem
and worthy to reign. He's also worthy to receive.
He's worthy to receive looking verse #11, it says I beheld and
I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the
beasts and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 *
10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud
voice Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive.
We'll just stop right there. He is worthy to receive.
Which means there are some things that we see not just in
the phrases that follow, but in this text.
There are some things that he is worthy to receive from his
children or from the Angels or for the 20 and four elders.
There's some things that he's worthy to receive that maybe we
wouldn't be able to receive. Well, actually, there's no maybe
about it that we wouldn't be able to receive.
There are some people who are worthy to receive certain
things. There are some people who are
not. There are awards that are given
out at different times, different seasons.
Some people are worthy to win those awards.
Some people are not. You know, a catcher is not
worthy to win the Cy Young Award in baseball.
You know why they give it to pitchers?
They're not going to give it to a catcher that that's he's not
worthy to receive it. We are not worthy to receive the
things that we see here. The only one who's worthy to
receive these things is God alone and Jesus Christ,
specifically in the Godhead who has mentioned God the sun here
in our chapter. But what's the things that we
see? There's four things that we see
that he is worthy to receive in our text.
And the first is this. He's worthy to receive worship.
Of course, we have dealt with a
whole Series A few years ago on worship.
Look at what it says in verse 8 and it says.
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and 20
elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them
harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of
the Saints. And then we see later on
specifically that verse #14 and the 4B said Amen.
And the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that
liveth forever and ever. There are times in the Bible
whether it was specifically, I think of the book of Acts where
there were some who would fall down before one of the apostles
and they'd say this get up. I'm a man just like you are.
Don't bow before me. I'm just a man.
What would Paul have been saying?
What would Peter have been saying?
They're saying we're not worthy to receive worship.
It is not becoming of us to be able to receive worship that is
only worthy of the Lord. They we see here they were
bowing and again, once again reminding us that true worship
is the posture of humility, that there is a difference between
praise and worship. And again, I know that the world
and Christianity uses those words interchangeably, and
sometimes they just yoke them up together like it's one thing.
Praise and worship, praise and worship.
But yet, praise and worship are both distinct things, and we
don't get to just make our own definitions for them just
because it's what popular Christianity does today.
What's worship? I see people getting down and
get low. And by the way, it's not just
their body, it's their heart. Because worship that has you
down on your face before God but has you stiff neck is not real
worship. You say stiff neck.
You mean like I've been down on the ground so long that my neck
gets stiff? No, no.
I'm talking about spiritually being stiff neck that you can be
down on the ground you could be. You could be prostrate on the
ground, nose on the ground as low as you possibly could get.
But if you were defiant towards God, your worship is not as
humble as your posture might seem to indicate.
He is worthy to receive worship. How many during Jesus earthly
ministry would come to the realization of who he was and
what would be? What would they do?
They fall down before him. When they came to realize who
Jesus was, immediately they would fall down before him and
worship him. And guess what?
Everyone will do this someday. For some, it will be eternally
too late for salvation, but they will have no other conclusion
than to come to than to bow the knee to Jesus Christ that goes
all the way by the way back to the Old Testament, because
Isaiah 4523 says I have sworn by myself.
By the way, you have to swear by a higher power.
So what does God do? He says.
I swear by myself. Who else is he going to pick?
I mean, we can probably just make a message right on that,
and be probably in good form. But I got to keep on going.
I have sworn by myself the word has gone out of my mouth and
righteousness, and shall not return that unto me every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall swear.
Now who is speaking there? It's God.
Now Romans 14 verses 10 through 12 reiterate this.
Paul gives a call back to the Old Testament when he says, But
why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou said it not thy
brother? For we all shall stand before
the judgment. Seat of Christ Ford is written
as I live. Say it, the Lord every knee
shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God, so
that every one of us shall give an account of himself to God.
So what does it say in the New Testament that every knee shall
bow and every tongue shall confess to Jesus Christ?
By the way, if you want another proof of the DD of Christ, the
Old Testament says every knee will bow to God.
The New Testament says every knee will bow to Christ.
Calling back that Old Testament verse, what does that mean?
That there isn't the nickels worth a difference between Jesus
Christ and God. Because Jesus Christ is God the
Son. That he is not just God the Son,
the Son of God rather, but he's also God the Son that he is
both. And I bring it up often because
the Jehovah Witnesses or the Mormons or other cults will say,
oh, he is a a son of God, but you can be too.
And of course they're perverting what the Word of God says,
because it does say we become adopted into the family of God.
But at the same time, to pretend that once we get saved or we
become righteous, that we are on the same level as Jesus Christ
in his worthiness is to twist the scriptures to such a point
that it's uneven, recognizable to what the word of God says.
So what do we see? Old Testament?
New Testament, This relationship, the deed of
Christ. We saw it in Hebrews chapter
one, verse eight. We see it here in Romans chapter
14 as well. That every knee shall bow, every
tongue shall confess. Why he's worthy of worship.
What else is he worthy of? He's worthy of prayers.
It's amazing to me that people
will pray to statues. It's amazing to me that people
will pray for Saints. Hey, did you hey, did you lose a
coin. Did you lose your job?
Hey did you have someone that's sick.
Pray to Saint elsewhere. Pray to Saint this one or
Bartholomew or St. No maybe not St. elsewhere but
pray to this and and and I'm being a little flippant but the
idea is there are people who say if you're in this situation pray
to this St. here's the situation.
I pray to this St. who then prays to Jesus Christ, which is
not what the Bible says, nor does it indicate.
And by the way, the Bible makes very clear that when you are
saved you become a St. Now, we don't always act like
Saints, but the Bible does say upon the authority the word of
God, that we become Saints when we are saved.
That's why you see that pretty much in the address of every
epistle as it's identified to the Saints which are at.
The name of the Church. Why?
Because those are the ones who know Jesus Christ, their Savior.
So we don't pray to these other entities.
We don't pray to statues or to so-called Saints.
What do we do? The only one who's worthy to
receive prayers is our Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Look at what it says in verse 8. And when he had taken the book.
And the four beasts and the four and 20 elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odors. Which are the prayers of the
Saints? Well, where are they pouring
those out, if you will? Though it doesn't technically
say they're being poured out, but where are these vials
located before those who are kneeling?
And so I'm just of the opinion that as as they are kneeling
before him, they're pouring these out.
If you see this differently, I wouldn't argue with you.
But what are they doing? They are presenting, I think
that's very clear, these prayers to none other than the Lamb.
Why? Because He is the one that is
worthy to receive them. That's why we pray to the Father
in the name of the Son through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Because all of them are important, integral, impossible
to remove from our prayer life, and only he is worthy.
Robert Sergeant put it this way about this passage.
In his commentary he said our prayers reach heaven, our
prayers please God. As a sweet smelling savor, our
prayers are stored in heaven and our prayers worship God as an
expression of our total dependence on him.
I like that this shows our prayers reach heaven.
Where do they go? Well, it shows right here to the
very throne room of God. We see that from Hebrews chapter
4. What is it?
Show there a sweet smelling savor.
Psalm 141, verse two says this. Let my prayer be set before
forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as
the evening sacrifice. That that sweet smelling savor.
Listen, prayers smell good to God.
Summers smell good to God. That that's something that He
anticipates. It's something that He desires
from His children. Just as your heart might rejoice
if you get to hear from your child.
Can you imagine how much more so our Heavenly Father who created?
US anticipates and looks forward to hearing from his children.
Well, he knows what we're going to say.
Well, does that matter to him? It seems that he finds this to
be a very pleasant thing when his Saints come to him in
prayer. He says, Sergeant, that his
prayers are stored in heaven will replace these vials, which
means this. Those prayers are important
because they've been stored, they've been collected together.
And I don't know that. I know doctrinally all that goes
into that, but it does seem like there's some collection of these
that takes place. I don't know all that means, but
I know this. Do you think God is going to
forget the prayers of one of the Saints?
I can't imagine that he does. What does that mean?
They're precious to him. They're precious to him.
And our prayers are worship as an expression of our total
dependence on Him. When you pray to God, you're
expressing your total dependence upon Him and Him alone.
When you pray with the heart that is right before him, you
know, God, I'm laying this before you.
There is nobody else that's worthy to hear this.
There's nobody else who has the ability to answer this.
So I'm coming before you. What a beautiful, beautiful
thing. And the fact that they're
presented before him shows that he was and is worthy to receive
them. Let her see.
I also see this. He's worthy to receive our song.
He's worthy to receive our song, it says in verse #9.
And they sung a new song. I like that saying.
Now art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
for that was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood
and out of every kindred a tongue and people and nation.
Now I've heard people take that phrase, the new song there and
say, see, we just need to sing new songs.
That's all we need to sing and and listen, I mean, that's
certainly very convenient if that's your theology, but I
don't believe that's what it's saying here.
And by the way, I'm not against new songs that there are songs
that we sing in our hymnal that are a couple, 100 years old.
There are songs that we sing. Sometimes it's specials, and
there's some in the hymnal as well that are just years old or
maybe just a decade or two old. And the way that it is given
unto the Lord. It's not the time that the song
was written that makes the song good.
It's the content of the song that it exalts Jesus Christ that
makes the song. But really what this shows us is
this is that when we sing in a song service, we're not singing
for each other when we sing a special.
We're not singing to impress the people in the quote UN quote
audience. Do you realize that when we sing
for a congregational song that we sing on Sunday morning, we
lift our hearts up to the Lord? Or even if it's on a Wednesday
night like we did just a few moments ago, that when we sing,
we're not singing for the person that's next to us.
We're not singing for the person whose ears in front of us and
the row in front of us. What are we doing?
We're singing unto the Lord. We see that all throughout the
song. Singing to the Lord.
Sing a new song with everything. Have breath.
Praise the Lord, like the old preacher said, we've.
Done here before. Is given to him.
And so you'll put your hand in front of your mouth and blow.
If you felt anything. Well, the Bible says with
everything they have breath. Praise the Lord.
So if you felt something, that means he's talking to you.
And if you didn't feel something, you got bigger
problems than just praising the Lord.
Let me tell you, we gotta probably help you with that
because you might have some very dire issues, but the idea is
this our. And anytime we sing where the
congregation is special, our audience is truly the Lord and
not the people around us. And I will tell you, one of the
things that I appreciate about some of the older songs more
than some of the newer songs, and I'm speaking generally here,
not specifically, is that many of the older songs seem to make
much of God. Many of the newer songs seem to
make much of our own experience. And I'm not saying there's
anything wrong with. Having a song that talks about
our experience, the fact that Christ saved us when the Lord
saved me, when the Lord saved me, something wonderful happened
when the Lord saved me. That's a fairly new chorus and
it talks about our experience, but we do get out of balance
when all of our songs were about.
Us. And they're not about God and
who he is. Because I look at these songs
here and I know we're looking at a small sample here, but when
you look at the song from verse 9 and on.
And you hear what's said, You realize this.
This is all about Christ. This is all about him.
This because I will say, you will run out of songs about your
own experience, but you'll never run out of songs talking about
who Jesus Christ is. You will never run out of
talking about his greatness. But our song he is worthy to
receive. We don't sing about each other.
We don't sing for each other. If you say, well, I don't sing
very well, Pastor. I don't like to sing in church
because I don't have a great voice.
Listen, I don't want to be unkind about that, but but don't
worry about that, don't think about that.
You sing. Some of my favorite voices are
the ones that sing with gusto and the people who don't think
about what or care about what anyone else hears and they're
just going for it, man. I mean, they're taking it
seriously when it says make a joyful noise before the Lord.
They're being literal, and that's OK.
In fact, that I have to imagine that somewhere that's translated
from from this building to the throne room of heaven and in the
ears of God, that it's just a beautiful thing.
Because you know what? It's not the the, the vocal
cords that he's really taking in.
It's the. Heart that when we sing, we're
not really singing. As much with the vocal cords as
we are with the heart and and that's who's worthy to receive
that he's worthy to. And So what do we see?
Very. Quickly, we're almost done.
We've mentioned this before, but he's worthy to receive our
sevenfold praise. It says in verse #12, and this
is not technically part of the song.
It says that it was said, but I don't know.
It does say we heard the voice and then it says saying with a
loud voice. And so I believe there's still a
connection here. But it says, And I beheld and I
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the
beasts and the elders. And the number of them was
10,000 * 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud
voice. Worthy is the lamb that was
slain to receive power and riches.
Wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
And once again we see seven different characteristics there
7. The number of perfection in the
Bible. Perfect praise being offered to
God power. That Word power is the Word.
Dunamis. You've heard me.
Use this example before how that word dunamis is where we get the
word dynamite today. That it's not just power, but
it's dynamite, explosive power. That's the power of our God.
The power that could create everything out of nothing.
That's power he's worthy for all.
Riches. Ephesians 3/8.
The unsearchable riches of Christ.
I mean, you could search the riches of Christ your whole life
and never come to the end. You could never get to the
bottom. Second Corinthians 8-9.
For ye know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, That ye
through his poverty might be rich.
I mean that unsearchable riches he sacrificed for us, coming
down and having the form of a servant.
So what? We could have the riches that we
see here in Revelation chapter #5?
What incredible love. We see his riches.
We see his wisdom. 1st Corinthians 124.
Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
So we've already seen Christ has the power of God, just a couple
before, but also the wisdom of God.
I'm amazed I'm going through the Proverbs right now.
Some of you might read a proverb every day.
Some people do that differently. I'm amazed.
It doesn't matter how many times they go through the Proverbs,
just how amazingly simple but powerful they are.
I mean it would be common sense other than the fact that we
don't think this way, but then you look at it and say it.
Makes all the sense in the world, yet the world doesn't
understand it. Well, where is?
Where's that? Wisdom come from Solomon?
Well, who gave him that wisdom? It was the Lord.
We know that from his encounter with the Lord very on, early in
his kingship. Oh, I got to go.
A strength he's worthy for to be praised for his strength,
William Barclay, the commentator, said.
There is no situation of which he cannot cope.
Think about that. There is no.
Situation of which he cannot cope.
You put something on my desk, I'll try to handle it.
I may and I may not. There's nothing that goes across
the desk, if you will, of Jesus Christ, that he's not able to
cope with all strength, all honor.
The world honors those who are often dishonorable and
disreputable. The honor of the world is many
times honor among thieves, but yet the honor of God He is
worthy. He is truly.
Worthy to receive honor where a lot of these people who are
honored today are honored because they can act or honored
because they can sing or honored because they can play a sport.
But no, they're not many times worthy to receive that honor as
we find out about their private lives later on.
But what do we see? That when it comes to Jesus, it
doesn't matter how far deep you go, you'll still come to the
same conclusion. He's still worthy to receive
honor. You know, they talk about our
heroes, quote, UN quote today. And they say don't dig too deep
because you don't know what you'll find.
You know, it doesn't matter how deep you dig into the
unsearchable riches of Christ, you'll come to the same
conclusion he's still worthy of honor.
There will be no November surprise, if you will, like
every presidential candidate has every four years.
Well, watch out for the November surprise.
We'll find out something about them that will make us not want
to vote for this one or that one.
There's no surprises when it comes to God.
It's all revealed right here. And the deeper we get.
Listen you all, we're all eternity.
At no point when we say, you know what?
He wasn't what I was expecting. There will be no point in all
eternity that we will say Christ wasn't what I was expecting.
All honor, all glory. There's many times that
something's built up in our mind and it disappoints.
You know the glory of Plymouth Rock.
And then you get there and you realize it's not as glorious as
you thought. Yeah.
So, yeah, you get there. Yeah, you get there.
And it's a Pebble, right? You say, all right, where where
do I find the lobsters for 20 bucks?
And so. And the answer is nowhere
anymore. So.
But so there are many things that are glorified in this world
and they disappoint. And just like with his honor,
there is never a time with his glory that you'll say, you know
what, I'm disappointed in who I thought he was.
That will never happen. And blessing William Barclay
once again says this here is the inevitable climax of it all.
All these things Jesus Christ possesses and every one of them
he uses. The service of men for whom he
lived and died. He does not clutch these to
himself, meaning this, these things and the sevenfold praise
he bestows upon us as kings and priests.
And that leaves us with this thought because we're done here
tonight. What's the response of all those
who are there to this song, to this spoken word that's given?
And it says in verse #13, And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the 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 upon
the throne, and under the Lamb of God forever, the Lamb forever
and ever. And the 4B said, Amen.
And the four and 20 elders fell down and worshipped him that
liveth forever and ever. What was their response?
First their agreement. What do they say?
Amen. When you say Amen in church,
what does it mean? I agree.
I'm with you pastor. I I like what you're saying
pastor, because it's the word of God.
But they said Amen. Meaning I agree everything that
said here he's worthy. I agree Amen.
They gave their agreement but they also gave him this, their
adoration. They looked into the lamb and
they said this he's worthy and they fell down on their face.
So I'm 4/4 says this stand in awe.
But you know what the next part is?
Because we do stand in all of Him, We should stand in all of
Him, shouldn't we? That we look at Him and we just
stand in all in Him. But that standing in all that
adoration and that agreement should, should not just have a
stand in all. Psalm 4/4 says that stand in all
and sin not. The more we stand in adoration
of Him, and the more we look at Him for who He is, the closer it
should draw us to Him. The more we ponder the worth of
the Lamb, the more we should become like the Lamb.
You know, you become like what you watch.
You know why there are Christians who sometimes have
problem with their mouths? Because they're watching things
on television that also have problems with their mouth.
Ooh, that just slipped out. No, it didn't.
It got programmed in many times. And I know sometimes we can all
have the slip of the tongue. I'm not trying to be unkind, but
I'm saying is those things are not just put in there on
accident. We watch it and we become it.
I've watched sometimes teenagers that when I was a youth director
that would hang around a certain teenager and before I knew it
there was one teenager acting one way and one teenager acting
the other way and after. A while They were two teenagers
acting the same way because they had modeled behavior to one
another. They'd watched each other for a
while, and they had become like one another.
What do we do? Well, you want to walk with God?
Stand in all Him. You want to grow in your walk
with Christ? Find out more about Christ.
And standing on him because when we stand in all of him for his
worth, you know what it says. We'll sin not because we
understand his power and his glory and his honor and his
riches and his wisdom and his strength and his blessing.
When we just stand in all of that and say you are.
Worthy of that, all we can do is say, why would I want to sin?
Why would I want anything else? In fact, I don't even need to be
told not to do that stuff, because the more I look at him
and the more I observe him and and the more I dive into the.
Unestimable riches of his grace. The more I want to be like him
and the more I want to serve it. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.