We are excited that you're here to worship with us and we're going to jump right in to the reading of the word. This is our tenth sermon. I believe, from the book of Revelation. And we're starting the second vision. The first vision, as you may remember, was John's vision of Jesus, the Son of Man, the sword coming out of His mouth, the eyes of fire, the feet of burnished bronze, and then he went into Jesus' seven messages to the seven churches. Now we're at the second vision. The book of Revelation is divided into six, seven, or eight visions, depending on who you read and how they count. If you want to understand the book of Revelation, read one commentary. If you want to be confused, read many commentaries. And then you find out that you can be wrong, but never confused if you only read one. So I think there's six visions because I think the seventh vision is a safe for us, the vision that we will have. I think John's inviting us to come be part of that. But who knows, I may be wrong. If I am, I'm not gonna leave. All right. So the second vision of John, which will stay for the next three weeks, the throne, the lamb and the seven seals. Hear the word of the Lord for Revelation chapter four. After this, I looked and behold, a door stood standing open in heaven and the first voice which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, Come up here. And I'll show you what may take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, and one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. And around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns, on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumbling and peals of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within. And day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before Him who is seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. And they cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are You, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things. And by your will, they existed and were created. Please pray with me. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Father, we have a lot of things we wanna say to you this morning. We have things that we're angry with you about, things that weren't working out for us just right. Lord, we have come to you this morning. Some of us have come here because we don't believe there is a throne in heaven, but we wanna find out. Some of us think that if there is a throne, then we've got some complaints we wanna take up with you. And I pray that you would come in and use this poor, lisping, stammering tongue to communicate that you are on the throne, and you are gracious, and you are merciful, and you can be trusted. Would you enable us to hear you this morning? We pray in Jesus name. Amen. I have an acquaintance colleague named Tommy Allen. Tommy Allen was a special forces soldier. And he was a bad man in the special horses. He's never really shared any details with any of his friends. He did make one reference to having used piano wire before and knowing how to do it again. None of us ask any questions and he didn't give any details. But he was a bad person, he made that clear. He's a very hardened person who has done bad things. And Tommy got converted after he got out of the services. And as a converted person, he began to sense that the Lord was calling him into ministry. And so he went to this ministry fair at kind of a missions conference. And, you know, all the if you've never been to one of these, it's kind of surreal because you have all these different ministries with their billboards and their placards trying to get your attention. And you're walking around and they're trying to tell you about their ministry. And he walked past a table that was set up for a racial reconciliation and justice. And on this table, there was this painting of a young African-American who was bound in chains. And he was staring out at whoever would look at the painting. And in his eyes was sorrow and misery and helplessness. And as he was looking at this picture, Tommy began to think of all the times he had seen that face. And he began to weep and he just began to sob uncontrollably. And behind the table, there was this large, Sweet African-American woman. And there's something about black women that just says it's OK to cry on me. And she walked around from behind the table and she gave Tommy this huge bear hug and he's just sobbing into her shoulder and she says, it ain't supposed to be this way, is it, honey? And Tommy just began bawling and crying out into her shoulder, it's not supposed to be this way. And she said, Jesus is going to make it all right. Where do you go? when you're confronted with the reality, the ugliness, the disappointment of this life, and everything in your body cries out, it's not supposed to be this way. It's not supposed to be this way. If you were God and you were speaking directly to one of your servants on behalf of the entire church, and you were about to explain to him, why things are the way they are. And you're about to tell them not only are things bad now, but they're about to get worse. And you can trust me. What would be the first thing you would want them to say? God shows us that. Before he begins to describe what the future is gonna be like, before he begins to describe the tribulation and the pain to come, he shows the church one thing. He shows us the throne and that he is on it. And the overwhelming message for us today is the Lord is on the throne. The Lord is on the throne, therefore there is true beauty. The Lord is on the throne. Therefore, there is true tranquility. The Lord is on the throne. Therefore, there is true praise. The Lord is on the throne. Therefore, there is a plan. And most importantly, our Lord, the Lord of the Bible. The Lord who gave us his son is on the throne. Therefore, there is grace. There is hope. There is mercy. The first thing I want you to see is the first thing John describes, that the throne is occupied. The Lord is upon the throne. He says, at once I was in the spirit and behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. He's there. It's not an unoccupied throne. There's no one asleep at the wheel. There is a throne from which the universe and all of history is ruled. And there's somebody on it. This is not the Wizard of Oz, right? Dorothy hasn't gotten into the Emerald City and found the wonderful Wizard of Oz to only find that he's a pathetic man behind a curtain. The Lord is on the throne. He's really there. There really is somebody who loves us, who is in charge of the events that go on. There's a true king. There is not chaos. There is not chance. We're not hopeless and helpless. There's a true king and he's not up for reelection. There's a true king. And it's not Caesar. And for those who were in ancient Rome. under the whims of whoever happened to be on the throne that day. They could be persecuted, they could be thrown in jail, or they could be rewarded depending on his whims. And for those of us 2,000 years later who live in an economy that's so big that none of us really seem to be able to dictate what tomorrow is going to be like, we're told there is a throne and somebody's on it. And since the Lord is upon the throne, there is beauty, we're told." Look at how he describes it. He who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Beauty surrounds the throne. It's a place where beauty can be experienced. I sent out a little Facebook message this week. What does beauty do for you? What do you feel like when you experience true beauty? It's an amazing thing. It's unlike anything else. One time I was with my boys and Bianca and I had homeschooled our children. That's a lie. Bianca had homeschooled our children. And we were the typical homeschool parents, very afraid of putting them in school. I didn't want to let our little children go. We decided it was time, and we're going to put them in school. Those of you who are astronomy nuts like me, you know that there's a meteor shower every August right before school starts. And we were in the pool with my boys the day before school started. I was terrified, but we were kind of milking this last day for all that it was worth. And we were in the pool, and I was flipping them around. And it was the day they learned how to do back flips off the side of the pool. And we were there right as it was getting dark. It was just kind of perfect. As we were going in, I said to my two oldest who were starting school the next day, I said, y'all jump in the car. And we drove out to Haskell to get away from the lights, and we laid out beside the road and we started watching the meteors. And we saw some small ones, but there was nothing great. And we had some great conversations. And then just as we were getting ready to leave, I said, boys, when I'm trying to make myself wait just a little bit longer, sometimes I'll say the Lord's prayer. Why don't y'all say it with me? And we prayed together. And just as we came to the end of that prayer, the biggest meteor I've ever seen came streaking across the sky. And we were quiet. And it was beautiful. And yet the second that I experienced it, it was gone. And I've been to see every Perseid meteor shower since. And it's never the same. And it's never as good. And experiencing beauty is a bittersweet moment because it gives you peace. And when I saw that, I wasn't afraid anymore. I wasn't afraid to give my children to the school. I knew the Lord was gonna be with them. But I almost immediately started missing it. I wanted that moment to last. And what John here is telling us is that there is true beauty. What happens when we experience beauty is there's a crack in the universe and we're able to see it, get a glimpse. Just get a glimpse. But it's a glimpse of a reality. It's not something we hope exists. Beauty exists before the throne. Beauty exists before the throne. And we'll see it because the Lord is upon the throne. And because the Lord is upon the throne, there is tranquility. There's peace. Look how he describes it. Before the throne, there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. Now, as a young Bible interpreter, you know, and everything had to be literal. And so I'm looking at this and I see a sea of glass and I'm like, why? Does that mean we'll all be able to walk on water? Because water's gonna be glass? What does this mean? I couldn't even visualize it. How can fish live in glass? It just didn't make no sense to me. Well, you know, thank the Lord I'm not as smart now as I was 20 years ago. And I understand a little bit of, you know, a little bit of poetry. And I know what a glass sea looks like. You do too. It means it's perfectly calm. It's still. And in Hebrew literature, the sea was a place of terror. It was a place of fear. It was where there was no control. We're told at the beginning of creation that the waters cover the face of the earth and they were out of control and there was chaos. And what God has been doing since the very first step of creation is he's been bringing beauty out of that chaos. And we're told in heaven around the throne, it'll be complete. And the sea is like glass. It's not moving. There's no waves. There's no tides. There's nothing beneath it stirring it up. It's like glass. There's tranquility. It calms us. Why? Why are we calm? Because the Lord is on the throne and everything is as it should be. He reigns in beauty, not chaos, and serenity surrounds him like a sea of glass. And where there is beauty and serenity, there is joy. There's the praise of all creation. We have these four animals that whenever you see the number four in Revelation, that's the number of the earth, the four corners of the earth. Four is just the number of creation. Trust me. And so you have these four animals, which represent kind of all the animals of the earth, right? You have the eagle, the lion, the ox, and man, the four kind of pillars of the earth, as it were, the eagle ruling the sky, the lion ruling the wild animals, the ox ruling the domesticated animals, and man, who's supposed to be over it all. And all of them, with complete vigilance, surrounded by eyes, are crying out, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And if you're like me and you hear that worship is something that's going on all the time in heaven, you think to yourself, that's boring. But what is worship? Worship is a place of joy. It's a place of complete joy. You don't worship when you're sad, you don't. Worship is something you do only when you're happy. And you do something like this. Everybody in here has something like this. This is the fight cheer. And when it goes on in heaven, people know how to respond. It's like this. Boomer! That one's weak. Boomer! Orange! Boomer! Orange! It's like that. Golden! Golden! There you go, got any, got any, are you ready? Ah, you're not gonna do it? Ah, good, it means no Ole Miss Rebels, glad to hear it. What's your response to Suie? Suie! That was weak. Suie! Boomer! Orange! Golden! Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty! Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Like a cheer. Something more important has happened than a football crossing a line. The king of the universe is on the throne, sin has been dealt with, your soul has been saved. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. It's a place of serenity and beauty and joy. And if you hear about it, you want it. And that question for us is, how do I get there? How do I get there? The throne is occupied. The throne is occupied. There is peace and there is joy and there is beauty. And how do I get it? How do I get it? Our heart longs for a place where beauty is not fleeting. Our heart longs for a place where there is true peace and we're not afraid anymore. Our heart longs for a place where we have something to praise and to shout about that's not stupid. Your heart longs for that. How do you get it? I want you to understand this. The only way to get true peace is to enter the throne room of God. Everybody else who tries to tell you how to get tranquility or calmness, what do they tell you to do? Empty your mind. Empty your mind, right? That's what the Eastern mystics will tell you to do. Why do they want you to empty your mind? Because if you think about anything, your tranquility is gone, right? There's just too much out of control here. There's too much bad going on here. Why? Because it's not supposed to be this way. You can either lie to yourself and convince yourself that there is nothing so that you can have tranquility and have it interrupted every time you enter your open your eyes. Or you can enter the throne room of God where there is true tranquility going on forever. But how do we do it? How do we do it? It's really interesting sometimes when you ask people to describe heaven, what most people will describe is, you know, a place of love and of puppies and of, you know, green grass and blue water, and it's all great. But what you'll find absolutely clear in every case, when you have asked an unbeliever, a non-Christian to describe heaven, God is never there. And since God is never there, all I've got to do to be there is be good. And since God isn't there, then the standard of being good just means this, I have to be better than you by my standard. So, you know, since, yeah, there are things where you're gooder than me, I said that on purpose, there are places where you're better than me, but I don't care about those. And on all the things that matter, I'm better than you, or better than the bad people. Well, if heaven were your own creation, that might work. But if heaven is real and if heaven is ruled by the Lord upon the throne, then being good isn't enough because you might be better than me. But you're not this good. You're not good enough. You can enter a place of perfect tranquility because you're not at rest and you would interrupt it. And you can't enter a place of perfect beauty because you're not that pretty. and you would pollute it. And you might be better than me, that might be saying like you can jump further than me, but if we all try to jump the Grand Canyon, we're all gonna end up at the bottom. And you may be able to jump 12, 20, you may be able to jump 30 feet, but you're still going to the bottom. How can you get into the throne room? Well, how did John get there? It says, After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. How did John get there? The first voice, the Son of Man brought him in. The only way to get there is by the access that we're given when Jesus brings us in. That's how we get there. You can't walk there on your own. You can't be that good. If you don't understand that yet, then I beg you to take the book that we have on the back table called How Good is Good Enough. Take that home, read it. I want you to think about it. I want it to get into you. It's not a matter of how good you are. Heaven will have no good people in it. It will be filled with forgiven people. It will be filled with people who are the friends of the Son of Man who brings them in. Will you receive that friendship? The Lord is on the throne and it's there for you. And if you have received it, you can begin enjoying it now. The Lord is on the throne and you need to realize that right now. Realize that truth. What does Paul say about us in Ephesians 2? He says, God, who is rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ. God who is rich in mercy because the Lord who is on the throne is gracious. Because he is merciful, because he loves to forgive, because he loves to show mercy. Therefore, we've been made alive together with Christ. And look at this past tense. He raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ, if you received him right now, spiritually speaking, you are enthroned, you are sitting with him in the heavenly places and you need to realize that. When you're afraid. When you're sad, when you're overwhelmed with depression, when you don't know what's gonna happen, when you feel like a child being tossed around, you need to realize that you've been seated in heavenly places. I am so silly. The other day, I'm terrible. You know why I do ministry from this stage? Because it's the only place I can do it. I'm just a buffoon when I try to do it in other places. And so we have these friends in our neighborhood who just baptized their child, and I wanted to do a little ministry, right? It doesn't seem that hard. They just baptized their children. They were kind of, you know, looking for it. But still, I was gonna take them a little book, the Jesus Storybook Bible, and I got to their front porch, and I was just so weak. I just couldn't make myself knock. Isn't that embarrassing? And I walked off. I was like, they don't want this right now. And I stopped and I said to myself, will you please act like you're seated in heavenly places? Will you please stop acting like an idiot and start acting like a child of the Lord? And I walked back and gave it to them and of course they were glad to get it and it was stupid. How many times this week do you need to tell yourself, please, will you please act like you're seated in heavenly places? Will you stop acting like a child? Will you stop acting like there's no such thing as beauty or there's no such thing as peace and you'll never experience it? Will you stop acting like your entire future lies in what happens when you take this test and what kind of mood your professor's in? Will you stop acting like your only chance for happiness is if your least happy child smiles? Will you stop acting like you are under the waves of life and start acting like you are already seated by the sea of glass, where there is tranquility and there is beauty and there is joy. And as you realize that, we begin to reinterpret life. Romans 8 says, We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. What does that mean? It means whatever happens to me happens to me because the Lord of the universe who is on the throne and who loves me dearly had it happened to me. So if there's something I don't have, you know, last month, some of you know, we spent a whole year trying to get a grant, a sabbatical grant. I'm going on sabbatical after Easter, there is this place giving away $50,000. So that would make it a really nice sabbatical, right? And several of you worked on it and we worked on it, but you know what? I didn't get it. And I didn't get it because The Lord of the universe who sits on the throne, who loves me dearly, didn't want me to have it. And I can trust Him. When you start interpreting your life that way, because the Lord is on the throne, if there's something you're not supposed to have, it's because the Lord who loves you doesn't want you to have it. If there's a difficulty you're going through, it's because the Lord who loves you wants you to go through it. And it's good for the church and it's good for you. And as we believe that, we can receive peace. Beauty and serenity and peace exist. Even when the world feels like it's not supposed to be this way, they exist. And we can enjoy them now. We can enjoy them now. Sometimes we get a glimpse. Yesterday, I did a wedding. And it was William and Rachel's wedding. And some of you don't know them and you don't know their story. So I'm about to tell you now because they're on their honeymoon, so they're skipping church. William's not from Tulsa. William had a good friend betray him, and William lost the only way he was able to pay his way through school. And William didn't have anywhere to go. And he sent me a text message, and I was at my son's practice when he got the text message. It said, I don't have anywhere to go, and I've got to go somewhere. And since I was not in a place where I could talk, I just said, do you want to come stay with me? And William moved here because he had nowhere else to go because everything had gone wrong and all the plans in his life had fallen. And Rachel is not from Tulsa. But Rachel's sister was going to school in Tulsa and Rachel's sister went on a Christmas break trip skiing. And when she was on that ski trip, she hit her head and she almost died. And she needed somebody to take care of her when she got back. And so Rachel left her school and left her friends and left everything she thought her future was gonna hold so she could come to Tulsa and take care of her sister. And God took two terribly broken circumstances. and tears, and pain, and near tragedy, so that William could marry Rachel yesterday. Because the Lord's on the throne. And because that's the way He works. You see, he took a day when he put his own son on the cross and he poured all of his anger and all of his wrath and all of his hatred at sin and all of his anger that the world has been messed up and it's not supposed to be this way. And he poured it out on his son. He blamed his son for how broken this world is. And he punished his son for how broken this world is. And he took that wrath upon himself. To heal this world. and we can receive that and we can worship Him because He is on the throne. Now, if you haven't made peace with Him, I'm gonna ask you to do that today. We're gonna sing now, we're gonna ask the musicians to come on forward, we're gonna start singing like people who believe in praise and beauty and glory and peace, and we're gonna sing for a while. And I'm gonna be down here, I always sing in the front so nobody can hear me sing. And every now and then, I sing too loud, and musicians look at me like, did we do that? I was like, no, it was me. I'm down here, and Bo's going to be down front. And if you want to come and pray with us and make peace with the king now so you can have that beauty, I would invite you to do that. Please pray with me.