If you did get one, take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. This is the same verse of scripture that we read together the last time that I preached on a Sunday night, which was probably about a month or so ago. And we're gonna look at the second part of our series tonight on the preexistent glory of Christ. And once you found John chapter 17, if you'd stand for the reading of our text tonight. John chapter 17, and we're gonna read verse five. Jesus is in the middle of praying here, and this is the longest recorded prayer that we have in the scripture from his own mouth. And I mentioned this the last time, but if you ever just want to feel special, go and study John chapter 17, because he's praying for you in John chapter 17. And every word that he says in this chapter is expressly and explicitly for his children, those who have put their faith and their trust in him. And if you ever need to be picked up, go read the entirety of the chapter. But we're going to focus tonight on verse 5. He says, And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. We're gonna look at the second part tonight of this glory. This glory comes in two particular facets. We talked about the first about a month ago, and we're gonna look at the second tonight, and I hope that it blesses you the way that it's blessed me as I've studied it. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. I'm gonna ask Brother Michael to open us up and lead us with prayer. Father, we thank you tonight, God, for the privilege to hear thy word. Thank you for the reading of the word, God, that has set the stage for the sermon that Brother Ryan will deliver tonight. Father, I'm confident this evening that he has prepared himself, studied in the Word. You have spoke to him and touched his heart with special things that you have given to him tonight that I pray you'll help him to minister unto us. Help us, God, tonight not just to be hearers of the Word of God, but help us to be doers of the Word, to receive it and make application of it in our hearts and in our lives and in our faith that we might be stronger in our walk with you, God. Lord, we thank you for the scriptures that teach us about the preexistent glory of God. And tonight I pray that there will be great liberty for Brother Ryan to preach. And I pray, Lord, tonight that as we get the message and receive the blessings, Lord, help us to express it with joy and delight. And Lord, above all, help us to live it that we might honor you and please you. When all has been said and all has been done, examine our hearts. And if there are needs in our lives, help us to bring it to you tonight, casting our cares upon you because you care for us. And when we leave the house of God, let us say it's been good to be in thy house. For it's in the name of Jesus that I pray and ask these things, amen. Amen, you can be seated. The pre-existing glory of Christ, we're gonna look at part two tonight. This is one of those series, I guess, sermon series I had preached several, several weeks ago on Sunday morning on a topic called The Glorious Incarnation of Christ. And that had got me thinking about a couple of different things. And then one message that Brother Mike preached, I believe it was on a Sunday morning, he referenced this particular verse in John 17 and 5. And as I went in and I started to read it, there were two things that stuck out to me about this particular verse. And I wanted, and I asked myself the question, what was the glory? that Christ had with the Father before the world was. And that's the key part of the verse. It's not the glory that he had while he was here on earth. It's the glory that he's always had from eternity past to the present moment into eternity future. And so he's asking God here and nothing that Christ has ever asked has ever gone unanswered. And he says, glorify thou me with thine own self. In other words, beside thine own self. Glorify us together is what he's saying. With the glory which I had with thee before the world was. So this two types of glory must have existed in Christ and in the Father before there ever was a world. Before there was ever man to worship or man to reject, this glory had to already exist. And I told you the last time that we looked at part one, I kind of made a joke and I said, I hope you brought your ibuprofen or your Tylenol, because your head might hurt after the message was over. And I kind of feel the same way about this. This is a topic that as I got in and started studying it, I realized that I'm probably not overly qualified to talk about this because it's beyond me. But I've realized that over the past year of being called to preach, that the Lord's allowed me to taste a little bit of that glory and I can't seem to get enough of it. And I want you to taste it too. I want you to be unable to get enough of Him. That's the purpose of lessons like this. That's the purpose of the studying that we do that may seem repetitive and it may seem monotonous, but it's for you to taste and see that He is good. And so we've got, I wanna do just a very quick review over our topic of last lesson. There are two types of glory which Christ had with the Father from the beginning. And so your first blank that we talked about the last time is His supernatural glory. And this was the glory that he had from the beginning as the Word of God. The word supernatural means being beyond or exceeding the powers or laws of nature or any natural system. It is by definition miraculous and unable to occur outside of the agency of divine power. That's what supernatural means. And the supernatural glory of Christ was shown in three ways. The first one was His supernatural essence. That's His character. He is identified in John 1 and 1 as the Word who was God. The Word was not like unto God. The Word was God. The second one was his supernatural eternality. He was from the beginning. He was before the beginning. He has always been and he always will be. This is the Word who was with God from the beginning. So not only was the Word God, the Word was with God from the beginning. And third was his supernatural endeavors, what he did as the Word. He is the Word who first created and the Word who sustains all things that have been, that are, and ever shall be. So his supernatural essence, his supernatural eternality, and his supernatural endeavors. And whether you got much out of last sermon's topic or not, I did. And it brought to light and it let me learn some things that I've always struggled with reading in the book of John. The book of John is one of the most beautiful books in the entire Bible. But there's several passages in the book of John that always, I didn't ever really know what to make of them. And there are several different places, John chapter five, John chapter six, John chapter eight, and John chapter seven, I believe. In various places inside of those chapters, Jesus says some things that always used to puzzle me. He would say things like, I can do nothing of myself. which is a strong statement coming from God in the flesh. I can do nothing of myself, but I do those things which I have seen or I speak those things which I have heard, he said, and that always puzzled me because I know he is God. He was just as much God here on earth in the flesh as he ever has been God or ever will be God. But that lesson allowed me to understand what he meant by saying those things. Because if you'll remember, we talked about what does it mean to be the Word of God? What does it mean to identify him as the Word of God? And we looked into the Word of God and how God has told us in multiple different places in both the Old and the New Testament, that as we think in our heart, so we are. The Bible tells us, and Jesus quoted it several times, He said, The things which we are by nature are the things that come out of our heart, and the things that we speak showcase what our heart is. So when God opens his mouth and he speaks, the word that leaves his lips is the essence of his heart. It is his very nature and it was that nature of God that was made flesh and dwelt among us. And when you start trying to contemplate the wonder of the Word being made flesh, it becomes a little bit easier to understand why Christ made the statements, I can do nothing of myself. Because though He was in flesh, He's still the Word of God. And every single thing that He did proceeded forth and came out from God the Father. And so everything that was in the heart of God the Father is exactly what Christ the Word Incarnate did or said while he was here on earth. And so those three points I think help us or give us a greater appreciation of why Christ appeared to be submissive in his duties to the Father. And so that was last lesson. That was the first type of his preexistent glory. The second type of glory that he had with the father from the beginning, which is what our lesson is about tonight, goes in there on your blank in verse two. This is his sacrificial glory. So we had first his supernatural glory, and now we have his sacrificial glory. And this glory is presented as the Lamb. His supernatural glory was presented as the Word. His sacrificial glory is presented as the Lamb. And what I hope to do tonight, and what I hope you will do with these lessons, is I didn't leave you a lot of room to write a lot of things down. A lot of what you'll be writing tonight, if you fill in your paper, are just some scripture references, and I'm gonna encourage you to do exactly what I encouraged you to do the last time, which is take this home and study it for yourself. Because there is more in this book about this topic than what it is absolutely possible to discourse in one evening. And I think it will bless your heart. So his sacrificial glory is shown also in three primary areas, and these are the same three areas we've already looked at, but I've reordered them for sake of coherency. Number one is his sacrificial eternality. His sacrificial eternality. He had supernatural eternality. He also has sacrificial eternality. And the first part of this on letter A, says he was foreordained to be slain. He was foreordained to be slain. Now the word slain there, we would commonly think of that as being killed. That's not necessarily what the term means in this context. He was going to be killed. They did kill him. They crucified him. When they were done, they stabbed a spear through his heart. They did kill him. He died a natural death. But the word slain here better means offered. So you could say that he was foreordained to be offered. He was the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. And there's two scripture references that talk about this. The first one is 1 Peter 1 and verse 20. And I promise that if you don't get all these written down, I'll have some things for you at the end of the lesson that you can take with you that's kind of a cheat sheet. But 1 Peter 1 and verse 20 says this, who, speaking of Christ, verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Now one thing that you have to understand about the Word of God is that nothing said in the Word of God is just said because it sounds nice. Every single part, every single word has some particular meaning that God wants us to understand. So He was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13 verse 8 gives us a clue. It says, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. So he was foreordained before the foundation of the world. He was slain, he was offered from the foundation of the world. So what does this mean, this term foundation of the world? It means exactly what it says, the moment that creation began. In Genesis 1-1 when it says, and God in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. That was the foundation of the world. When he spoke it into existence, the foundations were laid. He asked Job in the book of Job toward the end of the book, he said, Job, where were you when I laid the foundations of the world? They were settled and they were established by God. But before there was ever the smallest atom that existed in the natural universe, Christ was already offered to bear the sin of many. And what we're going to be looking at tonight is what does that actually mean? How could he have been offered when there was no sin, when there was no one to be offered for, when there was no sinners, when there was no cross, how could he have already been slain before the world ever even was? Because what you have to understand is before the world was, there was no such thing as time. And we cannot fathom a universe or a place in which time does not exist because every single facet of our life is bound up inside of time. We talk about moments and minutes and seconds and happenings and circumstances. And all of our lives are stuck inside of a box called time. Some of us wish for more of it. Some of us wish it would go faster. Some of us wish it would slow down. And we cannot perceive a world in which time does not exist. But it does not exist in heaven. Because heaven is outside of the realm of time. And so before there was ever an atom, before there was ever a creation, before there ever was anything in the natural, there was God in the eternal day. And in this eternal day, God's heart, that part of him that was his essence, was already set on redemption, and he had already determined what Christ would come to do. Hebrews 10 and 12 says this, by the witch will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once and for all. But this man, after he had offered, there's that word again, one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. The work of salvation was not established with the cross. nor was it established with Christ's coming in the flesh. So salvation did not start when Christ died on the cross. Salvation did not start when Mary laid him in that manger. Salvation, the plan of salvation had ever already been of old before the world was ever even created and before Christ ever came in the flesh to die on the cross. Take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter four. Keep your Bibles open. I'm gonna have you turn to a multitude of different places this evening. Turn to Hebrews chapter four, I wanna read a couple of verses here to prove this point. Look at verse one. The writer writes and he says, let us, and he's speaking to us as believers, let us therefore fear, that word fear means believe, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them." Now he's speaking of Israel. He's speaking of the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel received the gospel just like we received the gospel. But the word that was preached to them did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith. in them that heard it. That's why you will have people, that's why there will be people that will sit in church their entire life and they will die and they will go to hell because it has not been mixed with faith. They've heard it all their lives, but it's never been mixed with faith to be of any profit to them whatsoever. He says, for we which have believed do enter into rest. As he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, this is God speaking, if they shall enter into my rest. And what he's saying there is as I have sworn in my wrath, they shall not, that's what that phrase means, enter into my rest. Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. If you go back, and you don't have to turn there for sake of time, but if you go back to Numbers chapter 14, that is where this particular instance that's being referred to occurred. Israel had come through the Red Sea. They'd come through Mount Sinai. They'd spent almost two years at Mount Sinai receiving the law, getting the sacrificial system completely set up. And they took an 11-day journey from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea, where they camped. That was the final camping spot before they would go over into Canaan. That's where Moses sent the 12 spies out to spy the land. And they came back, and they told the people, the land is fabulous. It's marvelous. It's wonderful. It's beautiful. It has absolutely everything in it that we could ever need. But we can't do a single thing about it because the people there are giants, and they'll crush us. And this is just too much for us. And the Bible says in Numbers chapter 14 that the entire congregation, the entire congregation, all two million or so people that were camped out there in the wilderness lifted up their voices and they wept and they blamed God and they blamed Moses for leading them out there into the wilderness to die. And they said, we will elect us a captain and we will go back to Egypt. And that is the moment when they made that statement. And it wasn't just this guy or this guy over here or that guy back yonder. It was all of them, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua. The entire congregation took their heart and turned around and went back to Egypt. And God was so angry with them that he swore to them, he said, your carcasses will fall in this wilderness and you will die because you refused to believe me. It is the exact same way today. If we do not believe him, we will perish. And that is the only thing that is necessary for salvation is to just believe Him. Just believe Him. And they could have believed Him. because the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Christ did not have to come and die for them to make it into the promised land. All they had to do was believe. All they had to do was believe in the same God who had rained fiery hail down on the Egyptians who had killed all the Egyptians' cattle and all their livestock and turned their water to blood and sent flies and locusts and frogs among them, killed all their firstborn while all their firstborn was safe at home. All they had to do was put their faith and trust in the one who had opened the Red Sea, let them walk through on dry land, and then they could turn around and watch their enemies be completely wiped out when God broke the waters and threw them back down on the Egyptians. All they had to do was believe because the works were already done. God had already fixed the way if they would have just had faith. But because they didn't, they did not enter into rest. So from the foundation of the world, God had already established salvation. It was not a new thing that was born in the New Testament. People got saved in the old the exact same way they got saved in the new. There was no difference. So he was foreordained to be slain. Letter B, he was also foreordained to be our surety. He was foreordained to be our surety. I wrote the definition down for surety because it's not a common word that we use, but it is a biblical word. Surety means this. It is a noun. It means one bound with and for another. One who answers for another's payment of a debt and who, in case of the principal debtor's failure, is compellable to pay the debt or to pay the damages. I'm gonna read that again. One bound with and for another, who answers for another's payment of a debt, and who, in case of that debtor's failure, is compellable to pay the debt or damages. Christ is our surety. The Bible says in Proverbs, and I thought this was interesting, Proverbs chapter 11 verse 15 says this, he that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. That word smart there means suffer for it. He that is surety, he that is a stand-in for someone else, will suffer for it. And you know why that is? It's because whoever you're gonna stand in for is imperfect and cannot always fulfill their obligations to you for standing in for them. And so if you stand in for somebody, you're gonna suffer because they're only human and they can't help but make mistakes. That's why the Bible cautions us against becoming sure to ship for somebody, because we could get ourselves in a place that's rather precarious, and it would be very hard to get out of. But Christ, having come in the flesh, decided that he would step in and he would be the surety ship for a bunch of people who were strangers and aliens from God and from the mercy of God, knowing that the moment he stepped in for them, We would utterly fail Him. We would utterly wound Him. We would utterly harm Him. And every day that I wake up and look at myself in the mirror, I see all of the myriad of ways that I continue to do the same thing with my flesh. And He still said, I will be the surety for Him. I will still do it regardless of all the suffering I'm gonna have to do on their behalf, regardless of the time since I've been saved I have made Him cry over the sin in my life, I will still step in and I will still be the surety for Him. And He does the same thing for you. Regardless of what it cost Him, regardless of how much it hurt Him, He still did it for you. So he was foreordained to be our surety. Hebrews, this is your first blank there. Hebrews chapter seven, verses 20 through 22. And in as much as not without an oath, he, this is speaking of Christ, was made priest, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Ephesians chapter one. Verses 4 and 5, Paul wrote, he said, According as He, that's God the Father, hath chosen us in Him, that's Christ the Son, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him, that's before God, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. That is the suretorship that Christ stepped into our place to fulfill. Take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter three. Turn to Ephesians chapter three. Remember, we're talking about the preexistent glory of Christ. Well, where is the glory in what we've looked at so far? Where is the glory in his sacrificial eternality? Where is the glory in him being offered? Where is the glory in him being our sure to ship? Look at verse three. We're gonna read this together. Paul's writing here, he says, how that by revelation, he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words. Look at verse 5, which in other ages, this was the mystery here, was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given." I'm going to stop right there and tell you this. Paul called himself the chiefest of sinners. Did he not? He called himself the chiefest of sinners. Is that because he truly was the chiefest of sinners? The answer is no. He was not the chiefest of sinners. because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And when you read verses like this, where he said, verse eight, unto who? Who just said that? It's all of us. Unto me. who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Do you know, and most of you I know are not preachers and I've only been doing this for just this long in comparison to some other people, But do you want to know why people like Brother Mike get so incredibly beside themselves when they get up here and start doing this? It's because inside of their soul it's breaking because they look out on their audience and I'm not just saying you I'm talking about preachers everywhere look out on their audience and they cry inside and they think, dear God, if these people could just get what you have shown me, not because I'm smarter than them, not because I'm more intellectual than them, not because I have any right to know anything more about this than anybody in the audience does. If they could just find some of the unsearchable riches of Christ, it would make them the same way that I feel inside. That's why they get beside themselves, because they want everybody to understand the unsearchable riches of Christ. Look what he says in verse 9, and to make all men see. That's understand what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world, there's that phrasing again, have been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. You know what that verse means? It means when you're having a bad day and the devil is driving you insane, look at him in the face and sing about the amazing grace that you have received because of God's sacrifice. Sing to the angels, sing to any principality and power that's floating around in the air that will listen to you of how great things God hath done for you. Verse 11 says, according to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Wherefore, I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. And for this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family and heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, might be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all fullness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. You can't get much more glorious than that. And it's for every single one who will believe. The works were finished before the foundations were ever laid. Redemption was already established before the first sunrise ever fell across the ground. And all who will believe in Christ will praise the glory of the grace of God because we are accepted in him. Number two, not only do we have his sacrificial eternality, we have his sacrificial essence. His sacrificial essence. Essence is defined as the formal existence of a thing. It is that which makes anything to be what it is. It is the unique and peculiar nature of a certain thing. We've already seen his essence as the word of God, the word was, the word is God. But what is his sacrificial essence? 1 Peter 1, verses 18 and 19, that will go in your first blank. This sums up his sacrificial essence. 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19. It says, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish, and without spot. So letter A, he was the lamb without blemish. He was the lamb without blemish. So what does it mean to be without blemish? In your blank there, you can write down this reference and I'm gonna turn, you don't have to turn here for sake of time, but I'm gonna read you something that I thought was interesting. Leviticus chapter 22, verses 22-24, Leviticus chapter 22 verses 22-24. God gives 12 indicators of a sacrifice and a sacrifice must meet all 12 of these indicators before it could ever be accepted by God on the altar. Says, in whosoever offereth the sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord to accomplish his vow or a freewill offering in beaves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein. It could not be the following, blind, broken, maimed. It could not have a win, which is like an ulcer or a sore of any kind. It couldn't have scurvy. It could not be scabbed. It could not have anything superfluous. It couldn't be lacking in any of its parts. It could not be bruised, crushed, broken, or cut in any way at all. 12 criteria that all sacrifices that would be offered by fire unto the Lord must meet in order for them to be perfect and without blemish. Now those 12 characteristics there look simply on the outside or the exterior of an animal. But God doesn't look on the outside. He looks on the inside. And when he looked at man, do you want to know what he saw? People who were cut, blind, maimed, they had winds, they were injured. We have a whole lot of superfluous things about ourselves. We were unfit to redeem ourselves. Not because we may be gangly, or we may be larger than someone else, or we may be skinnier than someone else, or we may have a broke foot, or we may be missing an arm, or we may be missing an eye. It's because our heart is polluted and our heart is defiled. And because our heart is defiled, we've got blemishes galore and we cannot save ourselves. So what does it mean for someone to be without blemish in the sense that they could be the perfect sacrifice? In your blank there, Ephesians chapter five, verse 27, lays out the qualifications for an unblemished person, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, that's your first blank, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Glorious, no spot, no wrinkle, and holy. That is what it takes to be the perfect sacrifice. You must be glorious. You can't have a spot. You can't be wrinkled. And you must be holy, none of which mankind fits. You can't be stained with sin. You can't be wrinkled. Now, I thought the word wrinkle was interesting. And the word wrinkle here denotes the blemish of decay and death. Because what happens to all of us as we get older? What do we develop? Wrinkles. Wrinkles are imperfections that occur because our bodies are dying. They're returning to the dust from whence they came. And a sacrifice could not be wrinkled. It could not be imperfect in any way. And all of these things can only be attained through Christ, who is himself glorious, without spot, without wrinkle, and perfectly holy. So he was the lamb without blemish. Letter B, he was also the lamb without blame. He was the lamb without blemish, and he was the lamb without blame. 1 Peter 2, 22 and 23. 1 Peter 2, 22 and 23 says this. Who, speaking of Christ again, did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, Paul wrote, For he, this is speaking of God, hath made him, that's Christ, to be sin for us who knew no sin. He knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And your last blank there is Revelation chapter 5 verses 1 through 14. Revelation chapter 5 verses 1 through 14. And when you get a moment, I'd like you to turn there. Again, we're talking about the Lamb without blame. Revelation chapter five is an interesting chapter because it presents a particular scene in heaven that's very hard to be explained. It's not so much hard to explain what's going on, it's hard to explain why it's going on and at what time is it going on. John had been praying in the spirit on the Lord's day and he'd seen a vision of Christ coming to him in all of his glory. Christ had given John letters to seven churches and at the end of those letters the Bible says John was caught up in the Spirit into heaven. And chapter 4 of the book of Revelation shows us the celestial worship of the Almighty God in his throne room. Chapter 5 flows directly out of chapter 4. And I want you to look at what it says. And I, this is John speaking, and I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. He had already been looking at God. He had already been looking at the throne. He had already been looking at the light and the glory and the majesty and the beauty and the honor. He'd already heard the songs. He'd already watched the worship and there was no book. And now, all of a sudden, a book appears in the hand of Him who sat on the throne. And it was a book that was sealed completely with seven seals. This is a book of humanity's judgment and their condemnation. And John said, I saw in verse two, a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book. and to loose the seals thereof." In other words, who is worthy to take this book of judgment and open it, that all of the judgment and all of the condemnation that this world duly and justly deserves for all of the sin that has ever been in this world, who is worthy to open that and to pronounce that? Verse three says, and no man in heaven, that phrasing there, no man, literally means no one. No one in heaven, nor in earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Because there is none righteous, no, not one. We are all together gone aside. We have all together turned out of the way. Every single one of us that has ever lived, ever has lived, ever is living now and ever will live are like sheep who went astray. And none of us are worthy to judge anyone because we're all sinners ourselves. And then I thought this was interesting and I wept. Much, John said, because no man was found worthy to open the book, to read the book, or to even look at the book. And I thought it interesting and I asked myself, why did John break down at this point? What was it about this scene that made John begin to weep so much? Because you have to remember, he had just seen Christ. He had just seen Christ. Chapter 1, in all of his glory, he had looked on him. He had just watched and listened to the praise from the throne room of God. It is not that John didn't know who Christ was. It's not that John didn't know why he came. It's not that John suddenly forgot that Christ had taken his sin upon himself on the cross and done away with it and redeemed his soul. So why did he cry at just the glimpse of this book? And I'm gonna offer you my thought, because I don't know what the answer is, but I'm gonna offer you my thought. Because this is a book of judgment and condemnation. When John's eyes found that book, he saw what he deserved, was judgment and condemnation. And when he looked full face at what he as a sinner rightfully and duly deserved, it was more than he could handle, and he fell in tears. Because if God would let us catch the smallest glimpse of what we actually deserve, we would fall apart. We would completely fall apart. Because no one was worthy to take that upon themselves and do for John what John needed done for him in that particular moment. Because when he looked at that, he didn't see his salvation anymore. He saw his punishment, he saw what he deserved to happen. But then verse five, and one of the elders said to him, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book. and to loose the seals thereof. And look what he did, he said, and I beheld, in other words, I picked my head up and I looked, and in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a what? A lamb, not a lion. He just called him a lion. He just called him the lion of the tribe of Judah. I'm not sure if John picked his head up or not expecting to see a lion, but instead he saw a lamb. If you know anything about lions, if you've ever looked at lions or watched any documentaries or even seen a lion in person at a zoo or whatever, they are truly majestic animals. And if you ever hear one of them roar, it is of absolute no surprise why they're called the kings of the jungle. Because when they roar, every other creature stops and pays attention to them. And it doesn't matter how small they happen to be or how large they are. When they roar, you know it. And all of nature around them knows it. Lions are proud animals. You can tell it by the way they walk. If you've ever seen a video of a full-grown male lion walking, it can only be described as a strut. They know they're the king and they're going to show you they are the king. That's not what he did when he came. Because he didn't ride in on a cloud the way he deserved to. He came as a baby in the backyard of an inn, laid in some hay and almost everyone missed it. Almost everyone looked the other way. That's not a lion, but it is a lamb. And as he grew up and as he began his ministry, he never took one ounce of glory on his own self. He was full of it. Everywhere he went, we trailed it after him. Yet he gave all of it to the father who sent him because he wasn't a lion, he was a lamb. And when the time came, he didn't puff his chest up and look at those Roman soldiers and those Jewish men who came after him and said, take me if you can. Even though when he asked them, whom seek ye? And they told him Jesus of Nazareth. And he looked at him and he said, I am he. And the Bible says they all, every last one of them fell backwards over onto the ground. He still just stood there. He let Judas walk up to him and kiss him. He could have taken his hand and pawed Judas into eternity. but he wasn't a lion, he was a lamb. He let them bind him and lead him away. He was mocked and beaten. They took the hair on his face and tore it out of his skin. And he said not one thing, because he was a lamb, not a lion. They flayed him to within an inch of his life, and he said nothing. because he was a lamb, not a lion. But there was one time he did roar while he was here on earth. They nailed him to a tree. They raised him up where all people could wag their heads at him. where they could laugh at him, and they could mock at him, and they could tell him, if you're really the son of God, why don't you come down? This man saved others, but he can't seem to save himself. But while he hung there, just before he died, he roared one time. One time. I don't know if he screamed it. I don't know if he cried it. I don't know if he whispered it. It doesn't matter. But he said, it is finished. The lion roared once and it was absolutely enough. And I don't know if the demons and the devils in hell understood anything that happened while he hung on that cross, but God did and God heard him. And in the moment he said, it is finished. This centuries, millennia, eternally old plan was done. But he wasn't a lion. John saw a lamb. And he saw a lamb, look at verse six, as it had been slain. Not currently dead, not currently wounded, not currently bleeding, not currently broken, but perfectly alive. resurrected and full of glory and honor and power. Look what it says, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the world. John saw the lamb covered and dripping in the spirit of God. And he, the lamb came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And notice this, he didn't open it. He didn't say one word. John had been weeping because he saw his condemnation. He saw his judgment, he saw what he deserved, but when that lamb took that book out of the hand of him that sat on the throne, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell immediately. They fell before this lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals, for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and hast 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 beasts and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands 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 every creature 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 unto the Lamb forever and ever. Can you get any more glorious than that? Can you get any more glorious than that? His sacrificial essence, he was without blemish and he had no blame. Has it ever occurred to you, and this is a thought that I had that I don't know what to do with and I can't seem to make it make sense. Brother Mike mentioned it this morning. Brother Arliss, have you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Do you know that in the eyes of God you have no sin and you were blameless in His sight? Do you feel blameless? Does anybody in here feel blameless tonight? Raise your hand. But He said you are. And do you want to know why you're blameless? Is it because you're without sin? No. The Bible says that if any man say that he's without sin, he deceives himself and the truth isn't in him. That's not why you're blameless. It's because he's blameless. And when God looks at you, and God looks at me, He doesn't see me, and He doesn't see you. He sees Jesus Christ. And that is enough for Him to pronounce you blameless. Because His Son is blameless. So not only do we have his sacrificial eternality and his sacrificial essence, lastly, we have his sacrificial endeavors. His sacrificial endeavors. Because he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the meritorious sacrifice of Christ was just as perfectly fulfilled. before the foundation of the earth ever was laid as it was when Christ himself came in the flesh and died on the cross. Before I knew anything about anything, And before I got saved and I thought I knew something about the Bible, this is what I thought. I thought that nobody in the Old Testament could actually have ever really been saved because the blood sacrifices that Israel did in the sacrificial order just rolled their sin forward every year. So it just kept piling up every year a little bit more, every year a little bit more, every year a little bit more, until it finally reached Jesus on the cross, and then Jesus died and God just dissolved all of it. And there's a part of that that's true. But I thought that since because Christ hadn't actually died yet, no one could really be saved and God just kind of, God just kind of knew who believed in him and then when Christ died, then he went back and saved everybody. That's ridiculous. Because it isn't true. And what God did in the Old Testament and what He did for men and in men and with men is just as glorious and beautiful as what He did in the New Testament to all who believed on Him then. Enoch didn't fellowship, didn't have the fellowship that he had with God because he, or I'm sorry, Enoch didn't fellowship with a God that he could not know because Christ hadn't yet come to save him. He fellowshiped with a God that he knew intimately because he believed in God. Noah, the Bible says, moved with faith and fear and obeyed God in building an ark and found grace in God's eyes. And Abraham was justified by his faith in God's promise. They were just as saved. as you are and I am standing in this service tonight. There was not one shred of difference in their salvation and in our salvation. But the only way that could have happened, the only way God could have justified them the exact same way that he justifies us on this side of the cross was because he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So look at letter A. He was a predetermined propitiation. He was a predetermined propitiation. That's a big word that we don't use a lot, but it's a beautiful word when you study what it means. Propitiation is defined as the atonement offered unto God to assuage or appease his wrath and render him propitious towards sinners. Propitious is also a word we don't use, and it means inclined to be gracious, and merciful. Did you know that God is inclined to be merciful to you because of what Christ did? He was inclined to be merciful to Abraham because of what Christ had already done. He was inclined to be merciful to Lot because of what Christ had already done before the foundation of the world was ever even established. Romans chapter three, verses 21 through 26. Once you write that down, turn there if you would. Romans chapter three, verses 21 through 26. Paul wrote these words, he said, but now the righteousness of God without, that word without means outside of, the law is manifested. In other words, it's seen in person. It was seen in the person of Christ being witnessed by the law and the prophets. So it had to have existed already if it was witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, For there is no difference. There was no difference in the Old Testament saints. There's no difference in the New Testament saints. There's no difference in Jews. There's no difference in Gentiles. For all have sinned. and come short of the glory of God, he said, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, here it is, whom God hath set forth, there's the predetermination, whom God hath set forth of old, that was before the foundation of the world, to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed, look at this, through the forbearance of God. That word forbearance there means patience. Through the patience of God, I'm gonna say it like this, the patience of God towards sinners until the atonement could be made and after the atonement had been made. to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he, this is God, might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Do you know what that's saying? How can a holy, righteous God forgive sin? because it contradicts his nature. That's why it's grievous to him, because it goes completely against everything that he is. This explains why He can forgive us. This explains why He could forgive people like Adam and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Moses and David and Daniel because Christ had not yet come in the flesh and died on the cross and His blood hadn't yet been in the flesh shed. But He could forgive them because of their faith in himself, because he knew there was coming a day when the lamb would be slain and the perfect atonement would be completely finished. So God could still be just as holy as he ever was, just as just as he ever was, just as righteous as he ever was, but still forgive men of their sins on that side of the cross and on this side of the cross. This is seen in Ephesians chapter one, verses three through 12, and we won't turn there for sake of time, but I'd encourage you to write that reference down and go home and read Ephesians chapter one. Verses three through 12 show us three facets of God's predetermination. The first one there is the good pleasure of his will. the good pleasure of His will. That's seen in Ephesians 1 and 5, where we learn that through Christ, we can become the sons and the daughters of God. We can become the sons and the daughters of God adopted into His family through Christ, according, it says, to the good pleasure of His will. Number two, it's the mystery of His will. And that's in Ephesians 1 and 9, the mystery of his will. This is the mystery, that through Christ, because of what Christ would do, all might be made one. All who would believe on earth made one with a holy, righteous, sovereign God in heaven, and Christ himself would take the two of them and bring them together inside of himself. That is the mystery. That's why Enoch could walk with God the way that he did. That's why he could have that communion with God the way that he did. And finally, one day when they were walking along together, and God looked over and said, Enoch, come with me. And he took him like that. That's why he could do those things, because Enoch had already been made one with God through his faith in who God was. And number three is the counsel of his will. And that's in Ephesians chapter one in verse 11. The counsel of his will said that through Christ, our eternal inheritance would be the endless praise of the glory of God. That's why I do not understand why some people say they're Christians and they love God and they love Christ and yada, yada, and yada, yada, but they will not go to church. You don't love God, nor do you love Christ if you will not go to church. Because heaven is one eternal church service. And if you do not like church on earth, you will not be there in heaven. Period. Letter B, he was a precious propitiation. Not only was he a predetermined propitiation, he was a precious propitiation. 1 John 4, verses 9 and 10. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love. In other words, what the apostle's saying is let me define love for you. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us. And he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Love could not be shown until wrath was appeased. And so, propitiation had to be ordered. And it had to be ordered from the beginning. Because if it had not been ordered from the beginning, Adam would have died and perished alone, completely without God. God would have left him in the dirt. He would have had to leave him in the dirt. But because he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, He could show mercy to Adam, and He's still showing mercy to all who would call upon His name. If propitiation was ordered from before the beginning, then God could justify fully all who would believe by the one singular moment when Christ would appear to offer Himself upon the cross in perfect obedience to God's righteous demands. God is able to show us mercy. Do you know why he is able to show us mercy? Because he did not show any to Christ. I want you to think about that. He did not show any mercy to his son on that cross. Because the Bible tells us in the book of Isaiah chapter 53 in verse 10, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. That word bruise there means to crush him. It carries with it the essence of taking your foot and placing it upon something and grinding it as hard as you can into the ground. It pleased the Lord to bruise him for my sake and for your sake. And so he could continually, every single day, show us the mercy we do not deserve. He showed none of it to Jesus in his suffering. Praise the Lord. Verse John 2, 1 and 2 is your next blank. He said, my little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The propitiation of Christ ensures continual grace. for all of those who will believe. And lastly there, 1 Peter 1 and 19 again, we are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. How could we not see the glory in Christ tonight. As Ron comes and gets ready to play an invitation song. One day some soldiers arrived at a jail cell. And there were two men inside of the jail cell. And they heard the door being rattled as the key was fitted in the lock. And the door was opened and rough hands reached in and grabbed them and drugged them out. They already knew where they were going. They already knew what lay ahead. They'd already been sentenced. And I guess as probably much as possible, they had already accepted that there was going to be no escape from the fate that they had. And they were led out of the town and they were given a cross, each of them to carry. And as they were given a cross and they began that long march down the road outside of the city and up a hill, they got to the top of the hill and they were forced to lay down on the wood and nails were driven through their wrists and through their feet and they were tied for good measure to the wood. They screamed, they cursed, they blasphemed, they reviled in their pain, And they were lifted up and dropped in a hole and left there to die. And as through all of the agony that they were in, they saw another procession start up the same hill with another man. But there was something different about this man because this man was no longer carrying his cross. And as they watched and saw why he was no longer carrying this cross, it was because he was beaten so severely. He didn't even look like a man anymore. There was bits of flesh just hanging from Him everywhere. Blood streaked the ground behind Him. And there was a man who followed Him carrying the cross that was meant for this man. And they drug Him to the top of the hill and they laid the cross down and they tied the beam together and this man, they noticed something different about this man. He wasn't beaten and thrown down on that cross. Instead, this man knelt in the dirt of his own accord and turned around and laid down on the cross on his own. And this man took his hands and he stretched them out to either side and he said not one word while they drove the nails through his wrists and while they drove the nails through his feet. and while they tied him there for good measure. And then this cross was lifted up and dropped in a hole that was directly in the middle of these other two men. And they sat and they watched in their own agony, in their own pain, and they listened to everything that these men, this crowd of people at the bottom said, about this particular man. And what they realized is that no one was paying a bit of attention to them anymore. It was like they didn't even exist. All of the attention of the mob at the base of these crosses was focused on the central figure. And they shouted at him. They reviled him. They blasphemed him. And so these two men turned and both did the exact same thing. Because they were in pain, and they were in agony, and they were in torment, and they didn't have any idea what else to do. And then they heard this man say something that was very unique for the situation they were in. And he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And it caught the attention of one of those two men. And as he hung there dying, he thought, that's odd. And he shut his mouth from the blasphemy and the reviling that he had been spewing. And he began to look at this man. And he watched him look out into the crowd and find a particular woman that sat at the base of the cross weeping. And he said, and he heard him say, woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy mother. And he listened to the tenderness and the compassion and the love that was in this man's voice that was totally contrary to what should have been in his voice. which was unending screams of torment and agony because of what his body had been through. And it did something to one of those two man's hearts. And as he sat there and as he watched, and as he suffered, there was suddenly a great storm of darkness that came over all the land. And the noonday sun disappeared like that. And he realized there is something different about this guy on this middle cross. And as the hours ticked on, and he heard what they said to him, he heard them call him the king of the Jews. He heard them say, if you're really the son of God, come down from the cross and we'll believe in you. But this man never said a word. And as he looked upon him with his own life draining away, he decided something. And he looked at him and he said, we have indeed received justly for what we've done. But this man. this man's done nothing wrong. Because it takes us, there's a certain kind of people that get crucified. And this man's not one of those types of people. And so we said, Lord, remember me when you come to your kingdom. I guarantee you That man had no idea what he said, but it never kept him from saying it. And this man turned and looked at him, and he said, today, you will be with me in paradise. He heard the man cry, it is finished and father into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he watched the man breathe one more time and die. The hours rocked on and finally they came and They broke this man's legs and he sagged downward upon himself, no longer able to pick himself up and he felt death coming for him. But he had no fear of dying now because something had happened inside of him. And he finally closed his eyes in death. And when he opened them again, he was in a different place. And he looked around at things that he could not even begin to describe. And I wonder if some people came up to him and they might have said something like this, who are you? What are you doing here? And the man said, I don't know. Well, did you, were you a member of a church? And the man said, no, I didn't know what church was. I was a thief. I was a robber. Well, you exercised faith to be here, right? You believed in faith. You were justified by faith, right? And the man would reply, I don't really know what faith is. What do you mean by justify? What does that mean? Well, then how on earth did you arrive here? How did you get here? Because it takes a certain kind of person to get in here. And the man just simply looked at him and he shrugged his shoulders and he said, the man on the middle cross told me I could come. The man on the middle cross told me I could come, so here I am. That is all. of the glory of Christ. That is all of the glory of Christ. The man on the middle told me I could come. He's speaking to somebody here and he's whispering, you can God, if we only knew how much glory is inside of Jesus, we would not be able to stop talking about him. Let's stand tonight. Father, we thank You in Jesus' name. And we're like Paul. We bow our knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who before the world began, before there was ever a creation, had already determined that You would adopt through Yourself sons and daughters made like unto You. We praise your name that you saw fit to save us who are here tonight that have accepted you. We praise your name that through all of the years we were ignorant and we had no idea and we did not know you had mercy on us through the forbearance of your love because of the sacrifice of your son. And we praise your name tonight, world without end, that you whispered to us today. You can be with me in paradise. And if we will come unto you, you will in no wise cast us out. Lord, this message, I don't care if it did not one thing for anybody in here. You have blessed my soul. Teach us what our salvation means. And how glorious it truly is. What it cost you to do it, to purchase it for us. And what it means to really be saved. As we open the altar tonight, God, I don't know who you're dealing with. I just know you're dealing with somebody. Give them the strength they need to come find that you are altogether lovely. You are altogether worthy of all of the praise heaven sang to you. They're still singing the same song tonight. Every time we pray unto you with thanksgiving for the sacrifice that you showed and the mercy that you gave us in saving us, those odors, those vials are opened in the throne room and our prayers enter into your nose and they are a sweet smelling savor. And though we're down here in the flesh in this temporal, time-bound existence, Our praise is just as eternal in the heavens as all who have gone on before us. And you love it just as much to hear us pray as you do to hear them sing in your presence. We bless you, we thank you, we worship you tonight. Because you could have left us laying in the road. But you stopped, and you poured wine into our wounds. You bandaged us, and you put us on your own animal, and you took us to an end. And you told the sweet Holy Spirit, watch over him while I'm away. And when I come back, I'll take him with me. We thank You for Your mercy and we thank You for Your love. I don't understand, Lord, why anybody would not want to know the love of God that passeth knowledge and to be filled with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Lord, do something tonight no man can do. Raise people to life. In Jesus' name.