Good morning, everyone. It is just a real blessing and privilege to be here this morning and to be able to share with you a message from God's Word. We always want to begin our time together by reading God's Word, and so I would like to read for you this morning Psalm 145, Psalm 145. I will extol you, my God, O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and highly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On your glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wonderful works I will meditate. Men shall speak of the power of your awesome acts and I will tell of your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of your abundant kindness and shout joyfully of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and great in loving kindness. The Lord is good to all, and his mercies are over all his works. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and your godly ones shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power, to make known to the sons of men your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food in due time. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him, and He will also hear their cry and save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever." Let's pray. Almighty God, what a great privilege we have as your creation to praise you to exalt you, to extol you, to honor and to glorify you. We praise you, Almighty God, that you have revealed to us that you are the great creator and that we are your creation. We praise you, Father. for the constant reminder that we have from your word that we live, we exist, we breathe to exalt and to glorify you. What a privilege it is, almighty God, to know you, not just as our creator, but to know you as our redeemer. What a blessing we have as your children to worship you as creator and to worship you as redeemer, to understand, almighty God, that you are the eternal creator of the heavens and the earth and to understand that you are the merciful, loving Redeemer of sinful man. Father, we would pray that as our world continues to be turned upside down and continues to go through this great period of turmoil, that Your Spirit would use all of this to draw more to Yourself. Almighty God, we would pray that your long arm of mercy would reach out into the darkness of this world and draw people out of their spiritual darkness and transfer them from the domain of Satan into the glorious kingdom of your Son, that they too might understand you as their Redeemer, that they too might have the peace and the joy of knowing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Father, we know that you use all things for your glory. We know, Father, that although you are not directly the cause of this virus, we know that you're sovereign over it, Lord. We know that you are using this virus to accomplish your purposes. We know that you have a sovereign will and that no one can thwart your sovereign will. No one, Lord, can stop your sovereign will. And so Lord, we pray that as we continue to struggle and we continue to have our lives disrupted, that we would be growing in our trust in you. Your will is sovereign and your will is good. It is good and perfect, especially for those who love you and for those who are called according to your purpose. We realize, Lord, that our purpose in life is to see you use everything to conform us into Christ-likeness, so that Christ is the preeminent One in all things, especially in your church. Father, we want to lift up to continually those in our family, church family, Lord, that are suffering physically. We thank you, Father, for hearing many of our prayers for Dan the other day when he was suffering in such great pain. We pray, Father, that you would just continue to guide and direct the doctors and the nurses as they look to cure and to help him through this physical pain that he is going through. Father, we lift up to you those in our church family who have lost loved ones. We lift up to you, Lord, those in our church family who are going through great spiritual difficulties now. We pray, Father, that you'd grant them the peace and the comfort that surpasses all understanding. Father, we understand that this world in this nation. So many people do not even recognize you or do not even acknowledge your existence. Lord, certainly there is not one of your creation that deserves any of your goodness. There's not a one of your creation that deserves your mercy. If we did, mercy would not be mercy. But Father, we still come before you as finite creatures, as those who are so dependent upon you. We do pray, Father, that you'd be merciful, that you'd be merciful and grant, Lord, a reprieve from this suffering that the world is going through. Lord, we long for the day when we as a church can gather again and worship you together, oh mighty God. To be together as a collective body of born again believers and as a collective body of your children and to worship you as a collective body. Father, we find such great joy and such great peace and comfort and encouragement. Father, we find our strength in our daily gathering together, or our weekly gathering together to worship and to praise you. We pray, Father, that soon, very soon, we'll be all back together again. Until then, Lord, just continue by your grace to enable us to trust you more and more and more. Continue, almighty God, to conform us into the image of your Son, Jesus Christ. It's in his name that we pray, amen. Well, this morning for our time in the Word, we're going to finish up the portion of scripture that we began to look at two weeks ago in Revelation chapter 5. If you have a Bible there with you, you might want to open it up to Revelation chapter 5. And in Revelation chapter 5, we are getting a glorious picture of the worthy one, the worthy one, the title of the message this morning is going to be thou art worthy. And we want to study the worthy one. We want to fix our eyes on the worthy one so that we might find all of our joy and our satisfaction in worshiping Jesus Christ. In this chapter here, Revelation chapter 5, we see the worship of Jesus Christ. We see the worship of the Son of God. In chapter 4, we saw more the worship of God the Father. Now we're seeing the worship of God the Son. We're seeing the worship of Jesus Christ. And it is my desire, as we continue to study Revelation chapter 5, that we will learn to find all of our joy and all of our satisfaction in worshiping Jesus Christ, in glorifying and honoring Jesus Christ. As we get ready to read again Revelation chapter 5, I do want to take us back to that psalm that we just read, Psalm 145. A psalm that really exemplifies man's creative purpose. Friends, we are created to glorify God. That's why we were created. And when you understand that, you want to fulfill your creative purpose. You will never find peace. You will never find joy. You will never find real meaning in life until you realize your purpose is to glorify God and you see yourself fulfilling that creative purpose. Listen again to some of the words of the psalmist from Psalm 145. The psalmist writes, I extol you. My God, O King, I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you. I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and highly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wonderful works, I will meditate. I will speak of the power of your awesome acts, and I will tell of your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of your abundant goodness and will shout joyfully of your righteousness. Verse 10, all your work shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and your godly ones shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power and make known to the sons of men your mighty acts and the glory of your majesty. Finally, he closes the psalm up with verse 21. my mouth will speak the praises of the Lord, and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever." You see, we are created to glorify, to praise, to exalt, to speak of the greatness of God. That's when we find our greatest joy in life. That's when we find our greatest satisfaction in life. And as we continue to study the worthy one here in Revelation chapter five, I pray that we'll really begin to understand what it means to live, to glorify Jesus Christ, to live, to worship Jesus Christ, to find all of our joy and all of our satisfaction, our meaning, our purpose for being and worshiping Jesus Christ. Let me read Revelation chapter five again. I saw in the right hand of him who sat on a throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly. because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it. One of the elders said to me, stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals. And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders, a lamb. standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and He took the book from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense. which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. and every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped." Let's pray. Oh glorious Almighty God, as the words of your scripture ring in our ears, and we understand the infinite power in your Word, and we understand the absolute truthfulness of your Word, and we understand our need conform our lives to the truth of this Word. And we understand, Lord, the sinfulness that lurks within us that makes it so difficult to live according to Your Word. God, I come before You now, and I pray, Father, for a special outpouring of Your grace Lord, even as I stand in an empty room, God, will you not use the preaching of your Word to lift us to heights of worship that we have never yet experienced? O God, may we on this earth begin to experience the worship of our Savior that is ongoing in the heavenlies to such an extent that all of our joy, all of our satisfaction are found in worshiping Jesus Christ. Help us now, O mighty God, I pray, in Christ's name, Amen. As we looked at this passage last week or two weeks ago, one of the first things we noticed was the scroll When John is transported into the heavenlies, the first thing he sees is Almighty God sitting on the throne. And he describes Almighty God sitting on that throne. He describes Him in His sovereignty. He described Him in all of His splendor. He described Him in His severity. He described Him in His sinlessness. He described Him in His sacredness. And He described Him in His supremacy. And now his eyes are drawn to the scroll that is sitting upon the hand of Almighty God. I realize our English translations makes it look like the scroll is in the hand and being held tight by Almighty God, but it is just sitting upon Almighty God. It is a scroll that emphasizes permanency because the writing and the sealing of it has been done in a permanent way. It is a scroll that emphasizes supremacy because it is in the hand of the one sitting upon the throne. It is a scroll that is speaking about the purposes the purposes of what is about to happen, how it is that God is going to reclaim the earth, and it's going to once again come under the complete control of His power and His wisdom and all that He is. We know that God controls all things, but for now He has sovereignly allowed Satan to be the ruler and the controller of this earth. But one day God is taking that back, from Satan and he is going to begin to rule and control directly over this earth. It is called the day of the Lord. It is called the day of the Lord. The day when the Lord takes over and control and sees to it that all things are done according to His will, His purposes. We looked at this scroll. We looked at a search for one that might open the scroll. The search was called for by the angel speaking with a loud voice looking for who might be worthy, searching throughout the realms of heaven who might be worthy. We spoke of all the many multitude of past righteous men, men of God, that would be there. Not one of them was worthy. Certainly any one of them would have been worthy to speak of the revelation that's within the scroll, but none of them would be worthy to bring about the events that are described within the scroll. To be worthy to open that scroll, you have to be worthy to bring about the judgments that are going to come upon the earth once the scroll is opened up. And there's only one that is worthy to do that. is Jesus Christ. And John here describes Jesus Christ as the root from the tribe of Judah, going all the way back to a prophecy that Jacob spoke about the coming Messiah thousands of years before this time. He's described as the root from David, speaking of the humanity of Jesus Christ and speaking of His fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. He's described as the one who overcomes. speaking of the conquering nature of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ conquered the works of Satan. He conquered sin. He conquered death. He conquered the law. And then it speaks of Jesus Christ as the one standing, who was slain in standing, speaking of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is worthy to open the scroll. because he is the lion from the tribe of Judah, he is the root of David, he is the conqueror of the works of Satan, he is the redeemer of lost man. He redeemed lost man from their sin that man might have a relationship with God, that man might stand right before God. And he comes and he takes the scroll. He takes the scroll from the hand of his father. And then what we begin to see in verse 8 is the song of the worthy one. The song of the worthy one. As we consider this song, we realize that this song is sung by the grandest choir. We realize that this song is sung according to the grandest acceptance. We realize that this song is sung with the grandest relevance. This song focuses on the grandest of all themes. And this song is concluded with the grandest of all encores. First of all, I'd like to consider the song of the worthy one being sung by the grandest of all choirs. Verse number 8, when he had taken the book, When Jesus Christ, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the Overcomer, the Redeemer, steps up and takes the book from His Father, immediately the four living creatures and the 24 elders fall down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sang a new song. They sang. Here we have the angelic beings, the 24 elders, which I have spoken in the past that I believe are angels. And we have the four living creatures, which are obvious angels. These angels fall down before the Lamb and they begin to sing. They begin to sing a song unto the Lamb. And we're going to see that their song is focusing on redemption. Friends, I believe that this is a song that the angels have been anticipating singing with this relevancy for 6,000 years, since the time of creation. These angels have been anticipating this time when evil would be punished. Since the time that Lucifer rebelled against his creator and led in rebellion, one third of the angelic realm, the angels that remain true to God have been anticipating this time. since the time that God put a curse on the serpent, saying there would be an everlasting enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, an everlasting enmity between those who are of God and those who are of Satan, the angels have been anticipating this song. The angels have been at battle with evil. We see this in Daniel chapter 12. In Daniel chapter 10, rather, in Daniel chapter 10, Daniel has seen the Son of God in his pre-incarnate form, and he's heard his voice speak to him. As soon as this happened, Daniel fell into a deep sleep on his face, with his face to the ground. Then an angel comes. An angel comes to his aid and helps him to his knees, but Daniel is trembling on his hands and knees. He stands there like an animal on his hands and knees, trembling. And the angel says to him, do not be afraid, Daniel. For from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come in response to your words. This angel has come in response to the prayers that Daniel has been praying. What's kept him so long? He's been praying for three weeks. was kept the angel, verse 13, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for 21 days. Then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. So we get just a picture of the constant spiritual battle that takes place between the angels and between the demons within the heavenly realms. We know that our fight is not here on this earth, that there's a spiritual battle going on. The spiritual battle has been going on for 6,000 years. It was the angels that announced the birth of the Redeemer. It was the angel Gabriel that came and told Mary that she would be with child, that she would be with child with the Son of God. It was the angel that spoke to Zachariah and Elizabeth. It was the angels that enabled Jesus Christ to go through the onslaught of the temptations, or rather were there after Jesus went through the onslaught of temptations from Satan. It was the angels, not man, that came to strengthen the Redeemer. when he agonized about going to the cross with unspeakable agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, none of Jesus' apostles could help him. It was the angels that were there to help him. And it was the angels that were there when the stone was rolled away from the tomb. And the angels were there when the Redeemer ascended back into the heavenlies to take his rightful place at the right hand of the Father. It is the angels that Peter describes as longing to look at the particulars of the gospel. You see, the angels themselves have never personally experienced redemption, but the angels have been contemplating redemption for 6,000 years. And now, when the worthy One, Jesus Christ, comes and takes the scroll from the hand of His Father, the angels know that their anticipation is about to be fulfilled. And they fall down. They bow down to the Lamb. and they begin to sing. It is the grandest of choirs singing a song that is in accordance with the grandest of acceptance, in accordance with the grandest of acceptance. In verse 8 here we see that they fell down before the Lamb. Each one of them holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense. You see, if we study the purpose of incense and worship in the Old Testament. We realize that incense was used to help make worship acceptable to God, to help make worship pleasing to God. And this is the grandest of acceptance. This is the grandest of incense. And what is this incense? Listen to what this incense actually is. It is the prayers of the saints. It is the prayers of the saints. Now later on, when Jesus takes the scroll and the seals begin to be opened, Jesus himself will open the fifth seal. And that judgment is the prayers of those who have been persecuted and already martyred for their faith during the tribulation. Well, those are prayers that are offered up after the scroll is opened up. So we're not talking about those prayers. And we're not talking about prayers for things like health. We're not talking about prayers for things like wisdom. Not that those prayers aren't important. Those prayers are incredibly important. Our prayers that we offered up for Daniel as he was laying in such excruciating pain, they're incredibly important. But these prayers are not those types of prayers. As we continue to move through this song of the worthy one, we're going to see that the theme of the song is redemption. These are prayers that the saints have offered up in relation to redemption, in relation to the gospel. They're the type of prayers that Paul asked for in Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4. Let me turn there. Colossians 4. He writes here to the saints in Colossae, devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well that God will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have also been in prison that I may make it clear in a way I ought to speak. He's asking for others to pray. that he would have an opportunity to share the gospel. He's asking others to pray that God would open up the door so that the mystery of Christ might be made known to others. He has a similar request in Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 18, to the saints in Ephesus. Again, he asks them with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the spirit with this in view be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the Saints and pray in my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador and change that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak These prayers that help make this song acceptable, these prayers which are an incense, are prayers that the saints have prayed down throughout the ages, prayers that have been prayed in connection with the spread of the gospel. Praying that people's hearts would be opened. Praying that God would remove the blinders from people's hearts that they might see the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Praying that God might set people free from the bondage of Satan, knowing that Satan has held people in bonds, keeping them from doing God's will. Praying that God would regenerate. Praying that God would renew the spirit of the mind. Praying that God would take the preaching of His word and use it to regenerate those who are dead in their sins, praying that the long arm of the mercy of God would reach into spiritual darkness and bring spiritual light. Praying for your sons and your daughters, praying for your brothers and your sisters, your mothers and your fathers, your grandparents, your aunts and uncles, praying for those you do not even know, praying for the darkness in this country, praying. that there would be an outpouring of the gospel, praying that there would be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, bringing many, many, many to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Well, there are so many things that we should be praying about, but nothing more important than the furthering of the gospel. And you notice how these angels, as they sing the song and they offer up these prayers, what are they doing? They're glorifying the Lamb. So as we pray for the lost, as we pray for those dead in their sins, as we long to see our loved ones saved from the wrath to come, as we long to see them being able to live lives of fulfillment, let us long for those things that it might bring glory to God. The ultimate purpose in praying for the lost is the glory of God. The ultimate purpose for praying for the lost is the glory of the Lamb. The ultimate purpose of praying for the lost is that the Lamb who was slain might receive His just rewards. That He might receive the reward for having been obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Oh, we long to see our loved ones trust in Christ so we could have the assurance that we would be with them in heaven one day and that they would not suffer an eternity in hell. I understand that longing. And we long for our loved ones to understand what it means to have a right relationship with God, that they might experience life to the fullness. We know that Christ came to give us life and to give it abundantly. And we want our loved ones to experience that abundant life. I understand that. But the greatest purpose for praying for our loved one's salvation is the glory of God, the glory of Jesus Christ, the glory of the Lamb who was slain, standing there, coming and taking the scroll from His Father's hand. This Song of the Worthy One has the grandest of all acceptance. And it is sung with the grandest relevance. It is sung with the grandest relevance. We go back here to Revelation chapter five, verse nine. And the song that they sing is described as a new song. It is described as a new song. Now that word there, new, could refer to something that's never been sung before. But it also can be referred to something that's just sung with a new sense of fervency. It's sung with a new sense of joy and anticipation. The song that these angels are singing is a song about how worthy Jesus Christ is because He purchased with His own blood men and women from every tribe, tongue, and people, and nation, and how He purchased them for God. It's a song praising Jesus Christ for redemption. I can see very well where this song might have been sung by these same angels on the Day of Ascension. Or maybe even on the day of resurrection, when the resurrection of Jesus Christ put God's stamp of approval on the death of Jesus Christ. When the resurrection of Jesus Christ proved that through faith in Jesus Christ we might stand justified before God. I could see where maybe the angels were singing the song then. They were singing the song when the ascension happened. Maybe it's a song that they break out and sing every time a dead sinner is caused to be born again and puts their faith in Jesus Christ. But now, now as the culmination of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ is about to be complete, they sing this song with a new fervency. They sing this song with a new joy. There is an excitement in the beings of these angels that they've never ever quite come to. This is the fulfillment of their anticipation. This is the day that they have been longing for since the fall of mankind, when not only man is going to be redeemed, but all of creation is going to be redeemed. The ultimate end of this scroll is the new heavens and the new earth and the new Jerusalem and all the redeemed living forever and ever in the presence of God the Father and the Lamb, God the Son, the Lamb. This song is being sung. with a new relevancy. Never before has the song of the worthy one ever been more relevant than it is right now, as the worthy one is about to open up the seals on those scrolls and bring to completion the fullness of His redemptive work, to bring it all to completion. Do you long for that day? Is that your anticipation? Are you longing from the day when even just you yourself will experience the fullness of Christ's redemptive work in your life? That day when you too will receive a glorified body unto like that of Jesus Christ? Is that what you're longing for? Is that your joy? Is that the ultimate expression of your satisfaction? Well, not just you and your glorified body, but all the other believers who put faith in Jesus Christ, all those others for whom Jesus Christ died, all stand together with glorified bodies, worshiping God Almighty in the Lamb. This is a song that is sung with the grandest of relevance. And this is a song, this is a song that is focused on the grandest of themes. This is a song that is focused on the theme of redemption. Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You purchased, you purchased Jesus Christ You redeemed. It is a song that focuses on redemption. Peter writes in 1 Peter that we were not redeemed with perishable goods like silver or gold from our futile way of life which we have inherited from our forefathers. Oh, life is so futile. All the things that we pursue, all the things that we long for, all the things that we so passionately live for, all the things that we are so concerned about, losing, even our health, even our wealth, all these things. It's so futile. But we've been redeemed from that futile way of life. And it wasn't with perishable things like gold and silver that we were redeemed from that futile way of life. We were redeemed with the precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished, and spotless, the blood of Christ. Oh, we have a life that has of eternal importance. We have a life that is so far removed from this futile life that we are born into. And it is a life that we have because we were redeemed with the unblemished, spotless blood of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is talking about every spiritual blessing in heavenly places that is ours. We have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places that is ours. And when he begins to describe those spiritual blessings in heavenly places that are ours, one of the first descriptions he gives is of the redemption that comes from the blood of Christ. That's one of our greatest spiritual blessings that is ours in heavenly places. It's our redemption that comes from the blood of Jesus Christ. That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, I'm determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I'm determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ crucified. This is why he says in Galatians chapter 6 verse 14, but may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. I don't want to boast in anything else except for the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to live for anything else except for the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. For it's through the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ that the world has been crucified to me. It's passions, it's evil, it's desires, it's longings have been crucified to me, and I to the world. The evil of the world can't have a hold on me, and the evil within me doesn't long for the world, all because I've been crucified with Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Why would I boast in anything else except for the cross of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Oh, the song that they sing is the song of redemption, one of the grandest themes. We too, when we gather together, oftentimes we sing songs of redemption. Songs, hymns like, There is a Fountain. There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. ♪ And sinners plunged beneath that flood ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ ♪ And sinners plunged beneath that flood ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ Then there's Hymn 337, Nothing But the Blood. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Marvelous grace of our loving Lord. Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured. There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all my sin. What a wonderful Savior. Christ has for sin atonement made. What a wonderful Savior. We are redeemed. The price is paid. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord. And perhaps one of my favorites, Redeemed. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite mercy. His child and forever I am. Redeemed. Redeemed. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed. Redeemed. His child and forever I am. See, we have songs too that we sing of our Redeemer. There is no grander theme than the theme of redemption. And as these angels are singing their song of redemption, we see five glorious aspects of redemption. Five glorious aspects of our redemption. We go back here to Revelation chapter 5 verse 9. They sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God. We see here the exclusivity of redemption. See, Jesus Christ is the purchaser. He's purchasing for God. The power of decision lies within the hand of the purchaser. The one who decides what is to be purchased and what is not to be purchased lies in the hands of the purchaser. If anyone has been purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ, for God the Father, they've been purchased because of the purchaser's decision to purchase them. We also see in this song the necessity the absolute necessity of redemption. What did Jesus Christ purchase people with? He purchased them with his blood. He purchased them with his blood. Let me look with again here with you in Hebrews chapter 12, verse three, where the right of Hebrews says, for consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself. Who is it that is on that cross? Who is it that is enduring such hostility by sinners against Himself? Who is it? Whose blood is it that's being spilt on the cross? Who is it that's being crucified? This is the eternal Son of God! the eternal Son of God. If there's to be redemption, if there's to be any redemption, if man is to be redeemed from his sins, if there's to be any hope of man being made right with God, if there's to be any hope of escaping the eternal destiny of hell, if there's to be any hope of salvation, any hope of heaven, the only way it can happen is for the eternal Son of God to become man. and to go to the cross and be crucified. It's for the eternal Son of God to become man and bear your sins and endure the wrath of God that those sins justly deserve. Do you see the necessity? Do you see the necessity of redemption, the necessity of the atonement? Your sins are so vile and you are so hopelessly dead in your sins. You are so without hope that it took the eternal Son of God to become man and go to the cross and be crucified for your sins. There's nothing within us that is worthy enough to pay for our own redemption. We are hopelessly bound in our sin. We are hopelessly bound to the default destination of every human soul, which is an eternity in the lake of fire. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We need a Savior. We need Jesus Christ. We need the Son of God to become man and to go to the cross and die for our sins. Redemption, the purchase place, was the blood of Jesus Christ. We see the exclusive nature of the atonement. The purchaser decides who he's going to purchase. We see the necessity of it. It took the blood of the God-man, Jesus Christ. We also see the extent of our atonement. The extent of our atonement. We continue to read here in verse nine, he purchased with his own blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. This word translated from is one of the most descriptive prepositions in the Greek language, in my own opinion. In my opinion, it's one of the most descriptive one of the most theologically helpful prepositions in the Greek language. It literally means, out from, out from. You see, the blood of Jesus Christ purchased men out from every tribe, out from every tongue, out from every people, out from every nation. Not Everyone in every tribe is redeemed. Not everyone of every tongue is redeemed. Not every person is redeemed. Not all the nations are redeemed. The redeemed come out from them. We begin to see the extent of the atonement. There is an essence in which that extent is limited to the ones that Jesus Christ purchased, and it is limited to those who Jesus Christ brings out from. every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation. You know what we begin to see here? We begin to understand other portions in the Scripture where it speaks of world and all, don't we? Consider 1 John 2, verse 2. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the world. Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins. Jesus Christ is the means by which God's wrath is propitiated. Jesus Christ is the means by which God's wrath is appeased. Jesus Christ is the means by which God's wrath against sin is satisfied, not just for us, but for the whole world. Is John speaking of the whole world without exception? that Jesus Christ paid the wrath for every single individual in the world? No. He's talking about the whole world without distinction. Revelation chapter 5 verse 9 helps us to understand that. It's not every single tribe. It's not every single tongue. It's not every single people. It's not every single nation. It's those out from that. When the New Testament speaks of world, it's not speaking of the world without exception. It's speaking of the world without distinction. And the same understanding is true with the word all. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2, verse 3, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. When Paul says that God desires for all men to be saved, is he talking about all men without exception? No, he's talking about all men without distinction, without distinction. And when you have just a little bit of the background of the Apostle Paul and the Apostle John, you can understand why they make this emphasis on the perpetuation for the world and why they make this emphasis on salvation for all men. These two men, the Apostle John and the Apostle Paul, were Jewish men. They come from a nation. They come from a people. who thought that they were specially loved by God and that they had a special place in God and that they were just a touch better than everyone else. And sometimes much more than just a touch. They thought that God's salvation was just for them. And John and the Apostle Paul come along and they begin to preach a message that salvation is not just for the Jew, but salvation is for the Gentile. And they begin to emphasize that God's redeeming love is not just for the nation of Israel, but it's also for the Gentiles. And you begin to understand why they start speaking of salvation in terms of for the world. It's not just for the nation of Israel, it's for the whole Gentile nation. Why, they begin to talk about salvation for all people, not just the people of Israel, but for the Gentiles also. Read through Romans chapter 11. We won't take time to do it this morning, but it becomes very, very clear in Romans chapter 11 that the The term world and the term all is not referring to every single individual. It's not world and all without exception. It's world and all without distinction. It's not just one tribe. It's not just one tongue. It's not just one people group. It's not just one nation. It's people. It is individuals from every tribe, individuals of every tongue, individuals from every people, and individuals out of every nation. It doesn't matter what your lineage is. It doesn't matter what your language is. It doesn't matter what your race is. It doesn't matter what your political identity is. When we talk about people from every tribe, we're talking about your lineage. When we talk about people from every tongue, we're talking about the language that you speak, whether it's German or Spanish or English or whatever the language is. When we talk about people, we're talking about every race. It doesn't matter what your race is. When we talk about nations, we're talking about political identities. See, it doesn't matter what your political identity is. You can be a Democrat. You can be a Republican. You can be an Independent. You can be a Patriot. You can be the most liberal political person out there. You can be the most conservative. It doesn't matter. Every single one of you needs salvation. Every single one of you need to be redeemed. And Jesus Christ died to redeem people from every political identity. It doesn't matter whether you're LBGTQ or whether you're the straightest person there ever was. It doesn't matter what group you're in. You all need redemption. Everyone needs redemption. And Jesus Christ purchased with His blood people from out of every political identity. It doesn't matter what race. It doesn't matter what color. Jesus Christ died to purchase people out of every single color. It doesn't matter the language that you speak. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where you come from. Jesus Christ died to purchase people out of every tribe. He died to purchase people from every tongue. He died to purchase people from every race. He died to purchase people from every political identity. At the foot of the cross, we are all condemned. We all need the justification that can only come through faith in Jesus Christ. We all need the forgiveness that can only come through the blood of Jesus Christ. We all need the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us so that we might stand before God. We see here the extent of the atonement. Not only do we see the extent of the atonement, we also see the effective nature of the atonement. Those for whom Jesus died will be saved. Those for whom Jesus died, they will have their sins forgiven. Those for whom Jesus died, they will be made right with God. Look what we see here in the first part of verse 10. You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God. Every single person for whom Jesus Christ shed his blood will become part of the kingdom of God, will become priests unto God. Every single person, not a one, not a single one for whom Jesus Christ paid the price of the sins with his blood. No one for whom Jesus died will ever go without becoming part of the kingdom of God. No one for whom Jesus died will not become a priest unto God. All of those for whom the Father gave to the Son, for whom the Son died to, will come to the Son. And the Son will not cast out one of them. And the Son will raise up each one of them because it is the will of God. If it was the will of God for Jesus Christ to go to the cross and He's willing to fulfill the will of God and even go to the cross as He did just to fulfill the will of God, do you not think that Jesus Christ will fulfill the will of God in raising up every single one for whom He died? Do you not think that the Holy Spirit will not renew the spirit of the mind of every single individual for whom Jesus Christ died? This is the effectiveness. This is the effectiveness of the atonement for all for whom Jesus gave His blood. They all will be redeemed. They all will be redeemed. And we see the permanent nature of the atonement in that last phrase there in verse 10. And they will reign upon the earth. They will all come to faith in Jesus Christ. They will all find their sins forgiven. And not a one of them will be lost. It is a permanent atonement. They all will one day reign on this earth. All for whom Jesus Christ died, all the redeemed are one day going to reign on this earth. This earth. Not the new heavens and the new earth, but this earth. There is coming a day when Jesus Christ is going to return and He's going to establish His rule, His kingdom on this earth and all of the redeemed, all for those for whom Jesus Christ died, they too will reign with Him. on this earth. This is the song of redemption. This is the theme of the song of the worthy one. Can there be any grander theme than this theme? Should not this be the theme that is filling our hearts? Should not this be the theme that is bringing us joy and satisfaction? We want to just continue a little bit with this song of the worthy one. We see that it is joined with the greatest encore ever imaginable. The grandest encore ever imaginable. Look how it all comes to a crescendo. What a crescendo! Look at verse 11. Then I look And I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders. Now we're not just talking about 28. We're not just talking about the four living creatures. We're not just talking about the 24 elders. No, there are many. The angels have risen up and they're all joining in with the worship of these four and these 24. And the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, ten thousand times ten thousand times thousands times thousands. It is an incalculable number. John can't even begin to count the myriads and the thousands of thousands, the number of all these angels. all of the angels ever created except for that one third that followed in the rebellion of Satan and became demons, all the rest of them there, and you can't even count them. Oh, what an encore. What an encore. And they're singing with a loud voice. They're singing with a loud voice. I sing with my loudest voice. when what I would refer to back 40 singing. You don't have to worry about what people think. You just sing with a loud voice. I love singing with a loud voice. Oh, we need to sing with loud voices, friends. If you are among the redeemed, when we get back together, we need to be back together and we need to sing as a choir with loud voices to our Redeemer, because our Redeemer is worthy of our worship. Listen to this encore, the words of this encore. They are saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Now in every creative thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. When the multitude, the incalculable multitude of these angels say, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing, it's not as if they think they're giving the Lamb who is worthy any power. They're not giving the Lamb any riches. They're not giving the Lamb any wisdom. They're recognizing that He has all power. They're recognizing that He is the owner of all riches. They're recognizing that He has all wisdom. He has all might. He already has all honor. He already has all glory. He already possesses all blessing. They're just recognizing what the Lamb already possesses. They're recognizing who the Lamb is, what the Lamb is, and what He represents. Power. omnipotent power. Power to create. Power to create all things out of nothing. The Word of God spoke all things into being out of nothing. The power to hold it all together. Infinite, powerful abilities belong to the Lamb who is worthy. We tend to think we're so powerful, don't we? We hear mentioned That we are the most powerful nation on the earth. That we have the most strongest economy on the earth. The whole world thinks it's so powerful. Yet one little tiny virus brings us to our knees. Brings us right down to our knees. Disrupts our whole way of life. Brings everything crumbling in. And if God, by His mercy, did not bring an end to the virus, if God, by His mercy, never allowed for a vaccine, never allowed for a cure, the virus would bring an end to humanity. We think we're so powerful. God Almighty is the powerful one. Jesus Christ is the worthy one. He is all-powerful. Riches. Riches. You might think that this just refers to spiritual riches. That's not so. This refers to the unconditional wealth in realms befitting an all-sufficient God. This is talking about spiritual wealth, and I'll talk about that in a moment, but it's not just talking about spiritual riches. It's talking about all riches that are befitting to an all-sufficient God. Look with me in 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17. Paul writes here to Timothy, "...instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited, or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches." Don't be conceited about your riches. Don't begin to think that you deserve those riches. Don't begin to think that your wisdom, your power, your prowess enabled you to obtain those riches. Don't be conceited. Don't fix your hope on those riches. Riches can be taken away from you so quickly. But fix your hope on God, who richly supplies us with all things. All things come from the Father. All of our riches, all of our wealth, all of our blessings, they all come from the Father. Fix your hope on Him. You see, this encore is recognizing that all the wealth, all the blessings, all the riches that anyone's ever experienced has come from the Lamb. Recognize here at the end of verse 17 why it is that God richly supplies us with all things. To enjoy. To enjoy. We've been given all things to enjoy. And you know when you enjoy them the most? When you realize you do not deserve them at all. And when you realize your hope is not built upon them. You see, all riches come from Jesus Christ. Even the riches of this life. Our families. Our clothing. Our houses. Our food. our discretionary income. It's all coming from Jesus Christ. And we need to understand that we don't deserve any of it. And we need to fix our hope on the giver and not the gift. See, even in this song, these angels are recognizing that all blessings come from the Lamb who is worthy. And most important, All spiritual blessings come from the Lamb who is worthy. Paul writes of Jesus Christ, He who was rich for our sake became poor so that we through His poverty might become rich. Jesus Christ lived in heaven. The Son of God existed in heaven. The vast riches of heaven. He existed within them, but He became poor. He became a man and he came down to this earth which is a garbage can compared to heaven. He became poor. Why? So that we, through his poverty, might experience the riches of heaven. might experience redemption, might experience a deep, abiding, personal relationship with God the Father through faith in Jesus Christ, might begin to truly fulfill our creative purpose and find the truest contentment, the truest satisfaction, the truest joy. See, all the earthly riches in the world that we receive mean nothing if we don't allow the Holy Spirit to use those things to help us fulfill our creative purpose and to give more glory and honor and praise to God the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, who granted us all those things, and to realize that the greatest riches of all is our salvation. The greatest riches of all is the forgiveness of sins. The greatest riches of all are knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that I stand before God justified not because of who I am, not because of what I have done, but because of who Jesus Christ is and because of what He has done. These are the riches that the angels understand so well. And as they sing their encore of worship to Jesus Christ, they recognize that these riches come from Him. Wisdom. Wisdom refers to the divine attribute that demonstrates itself in the conscious and purposeful creation of the world. The wisdom of Jesus Christ to create the world. The wisdom of Jesus Christ to oversee and govern the world. By this wisdom, The execution of God's will is done in such a matter as to bring into being God's designed destiny for all things. God's sovereign will cannot be thwarted. God's sovereign will cannot be stopped. And this wisdom that creates all things, that sustains all things, is being used to bring about God's absolute perfect design for all things, to bring about God's absolute perfect sovereign will for all things. There is a rule of righteousness and moral power that pervades all things, and it determines the progress of world history. God has a rule of righteousness and moral power that is determining all things throughout history. This rule of righteousness and power comes from the Lamb who was slain, comes from the worthy. Honor is the rightful possession of the Lamb because He is God. But honor also belongs to the Lamb because He is willing to be obedient to His Father to the point of death, even death on a cross. Honor belongs to the Lamb because in the Garden of Gethsemane He said, not My will, but Your will. to the Lamb because He was willing to be obedient to His Father to the point of death, even death on the cross, and take upon Himself the sins of those who would be redeemed and take their sin and endure the wrath of God against those sins. That's why, that's why the Lamb who was slain. That's why the worthy one deserves to be recognized for His honor. Glory speaks of the divine, heavenly radiance of the Lamb. It's the divine, heavenly radiance of the Lamb that is a manifestation of His glory, the expression of that glory, the summation of all the attributes of the Lamb. He's worthy to be recognized for His glory. He is worthy to be recognized for His blessing. This is the quality of Christ that invokes man's praise. He has a quality about Him that creates within man the willingness to praise, to praise the One from whom all blessings come. When you know the Lamb, when you know Jesus Christ, there is something about the blessing of Jesus Christ that just invokes within you the willingness to praise Him, to glorify Him, and to honor Him. Kings throughout the ages have coerced their subjects into praising Him. Jesus Christ doesn't coerce anyone into praising Him. Jesus Christ simply reveals Himself to those for whom He wants worship, and they recognize the blessing of Jesus Christ, and they just break out in worship. There are no signs behind Jesus Christ that's saying, clap now. There's no signs behind Jesus Christ that are saying, worship Him now. There's no signs behind Jesus Christ that are saying, bow down now before Him. No, we look upon Jesus Christ and we immediately worship Him. John, the Apostle John, as he's writing this letter, as he's writing the book of Revelation, he saw the exalted, glorified Jesus Christ and he fell down like a dead man. There's just something about Jesus Christ that makes you want to worship Him. You know what kind of worship we call this? We call this theologically motivated worship. It's not psychologically manipulated. It's not like we need to somehow whip up enough emotion and excitement to worship Jesus Christ. What do we need to worship Jesus Christ? We need a revelation of Jesus Christ. We need to have Christ revealed to us through the pages of Scripture. We need to have Christ revealed to us through the proclamation of His truth. We need to be caused to have an encounter with the holiness of God to the point where we have nothing else to respond but in worship, to be theologically motivated to worship the Lord. That is the worship of the angels. They know Jesus Christ. They know who He is and they worship Him because of who He is. And they give Him this monument, this monument of praise. And the encore continues here in verse 13. And it goes beyond just a monument of praise and it becomes an expression of the deity of Jesus Christ. and every created thing which is in heaven, and all the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and dominion forever and ever." Here John is recognizing the worship of the two coming together. the worship of the one who is worshipped in chapter 4 and the worship of the one who is worshipped in chapter 5 coming together. Why are they being worshipped together? Because they are equal with one another. God the Father and God the Son. Here we have an expression of the worship of the dual nature of Jesus Christ. What a song of praise! It is a song not just of the grandest choir, not just of the grandest acceptance, not just of the grandest relevance, not just of the grandest theme, but of the grandest satisfaction. The grandest satisfaction. Listen to the satisfaction of those who began the song in verse 14. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen? Amen. Amen. Amen. Yes. Yes. Yes. We agree. We agree. We agree. Amen. Amen. Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. So satisfying. So satisfying is this worship. It is the incomparable fulfillment of anticipation that has caused the angels in heaven to break out in an unparalleled, ecstatic expression of joy and an unsurpassed, exuberant expression of jubilation. They are singing the grandness of all themes. They are singing the theme of redemption, the forgiveness of sins accomplished by the blood of Jesus Christ. A redemption that provides an unmatched demonstration of God's love puts the epiphany of God's righteousness on display in such a way that reveals equally His justice and His mercy. God has used the vilest expression of man to provide the most splendid, sublime manifestation of His glorious nature. He used the vilest expression of man to make known the splendid, sublime manifestation of His glorious nature. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, unfathomable His ways! Is not Jesus Christ one who is worthy of your all? Is He not worthy of your all? Can you not give yourself to Him in such a way that you become filled with joy and satisfaction that enables you to worship Him? Where He leads me, I will follow. Where He leads me, I will follow. Where He leads me, I will follow. I'll go with Him, with Him all the way. Lord, we'll go with You, with You. All the way. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ. It's in His name that we pray. Amen.