We turn in the word of God to Revelation chapter 5. And I wanted this morning to conclude this series on the Messiah that we began at the end of last year in December and carried on studying ever since. So I want to bring the whole series to a conclusion by drawing to your attention verse 9 of Revelation 5. And they sung a new song, saying thou wert worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and so on. And I want to set before you this chapter under this heading or theme. Universal admiration of Christ. Universal admiration of Christ. I want you to notice first of all the excellency of Christ in verses five to seven. but I want for a moment to put it in its context. In verse one, we read of a book or a scroll that is written on both sides and sealed with seven seals. When John saw the book, he also heard the voice of an angel proclaiming, who is worthy to open the book? And no one in heaven or earth or under the earth was worthy. Can I just pause at that point for a moment to explain for the benefit of the younger ones that in the Bible the entire universe is presented as it were as a three storey house. You have what is above and what is below and earth is in the middle. So it's a sort of a three-story image of the universe. Heaven is above us, hell is beneath, and earth is in the middle. No one is worthy. And because none were found, John wept. And one of the elders told him not to weep, because there was, in fact, one who was worthy. and directs him to Jesus Christ with the words of verse 6 and verse 7. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, and so on. Verse 5, however, cannot be ignored because in verse 5 it says, Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the Book, and I beheld, and he beholds a Lamb. In other words, John is being told, here is one who is infinitely excellent and sufficient to open the book. He is both a lion and a lamb. John Lennon Edwards describes these two verses as an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies. In other words, every excellency is to be found in Christ from both these angles, as a lion and as a lamb. The lion symbolizes kingship, as represented by David of the tribe of Judah, and the lamb symbolizes sacrifice. In other words, in this you see these two apparently contradictory things, his deity His Humanity, His Highness and His Condescension, His Wrath and His Mercy, His Justice and His Grace, His Glory and His Humility, His Majesty and His Meekness, His Equality with the Father, His Submission to the Father, His Dominion and His Obedience, His Sovereignty and His Resignation. Now given this remarkable diversity, only in Christ can these diverse excellencies be united together. Only in Jesus Christ is this possible. They are perfectly joined together. And in the course of your singing, The Songbook of the Church draws this to your attention. Psalm 85 and verse 10. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Here you have that combination of diverse excellencies being united together. Justice is set before you in the words of truth and righteousness, grace is set before you in the words mercy and peace. So they have, as it were, met together. They have kissed each other. These two diverse excellencies are perfectly united in the one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see all this said before you, even in his birth. If you turn for a moment to Luke chapter one, we read in verse 35, the angel answered and said unto her, the holy ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God. But then, In verse 31, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. So in verse 35, he is God. But in verse 31, he is Jesus, God and man, perfectly united together in the person of our Lord. And you also have it displayed in his ministry. If you turn to Luke chapter 8, we read in verse 1, here you see his meekness and it came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him. Here is the meekness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He preaches the kingdom of God. But we also have his majesty in verse 24. And they came to him and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased. And there was a calm, meekness, majesty. These diverse excellencies perfectly united together in the person of Jesus Christ. Now John's point in Revelation 5 is very simple. He is setting before you the glory of Jesus Christ. And we are to be full of admiration for this Christ. The excellency of our Lord. And you know, there's an immediate test of ourselves. Is Jesus Christ excellent to you? Who has the greater excellence, Christ or the celebrities of the world? Friends, if Christ is excellent, the celebrities of this world mean nothing. So there is a constant daily, weekly test of yourself. Who do you admire most? Do you admire the celebrities of the world? And the world is full of them. They come and they go all the time. There's always a change. After all, they get old, get wrinkled and they die. But when they're at their peak, thousands of people follow them. And they have their little Instagrams and their Facebook, and they love to announce, I have 195,000 followers, and if they're really popular, they might have two million followers on Facebook. And this is a boast. So here's the test. Who has the greater excellence? Christ or the celebrities? The child of God isn't fazed at all by the celebrities. because Christ is excellent. And then secondly, moving on from the excellency of Christ in verses five to seven, to the sacrifice of Christ in verses eight through 10. It has already been pointed out in verse six, the lamb slain, but then we come to verse nine, the lamb slain, who redeemed us to God. And then in verse 12, again, the lamb slain. Significantly, when Christ is called a Lamb in the book of Revelation, it is never in a state of humiliation. He is always presented in a state of glory. And we notice that in the context. We are told in verse 2, worthy to open the book. In verse 4, he is worthy to read the book. And then in verse 9, he is worthy to take the book. Why is he worthy? Well, he is worthy because of his person, verses 5 and 6, and also because he has prevailed, we are told in verse 5. He has prevailed to open the book. But also John is now telling us he is worthy because as the Lamb he has been victorious, he has conquered, he has redeemed. Note that word, he is worthy because he has redeemed. Who has Christ redeemed? John says he has redeemed us. verse 9, and has redeemed us to God. How has he redeemed? We are told by his blood. And then you will notice the particularity of his redemption. It is out of Every kindred, tongue, people and nation. The Lord Jesus Christ has not redeemed every nation. That is universalism. That is Arminianism. No, John says out of every kindred, tongue, tribe and nation. There is a particularity. But of course the entire scope of it all means there is a number no man can number, but there's still a particularity to the redemption. And then you will see the fruit of redemption. For he tells us in verse 10, And hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. But the focus is redemption. The focus is the great work of redemption wrought by Christ. Why? Why is redemption the focus? Redemption is the focus Because God aims at his own glory and the means to accomplish that is by redemption. In other words, God aims at his own glory in making the world. Why did he make the world? He made the world in order to communicate to his creatures something of his glory and his greatness and his power. The same is true of the fall. He aims at his glory in decreeing the fall. What happens after that? He predestinates a people for himself who will delight in his glory and pursue his glory. How is that to be accomplished? By redemption. So redemption is the means to the fulfilling of the great plan of God. Glory. God's grand design is to glorify himself by redeeming a people whom he has chosen out of the world and whom Christ has redeemed. For what reason? To glorify God. I want you to keep all this in view in mind because we must make application of it. But I want to impress upon you Redemption is the focus because that is the means by which a sinner is brought to magnify God. In other words, God's saving office has a purpose, His glory. And then thirdly, verses 11 to 14, the exaltation of Christ. The redeemed proclaim in verse 12, worthy is the land that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And all the universe responds in verse 13, every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that's seated upon the throne. So angels, beasts, and elders, 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, verse 11. the entire universe, angels, beasts and the redeemed, all with one heart and with one voice, exalt Jesus Christ. Blessing and honour and glory and power be on the Christ, they say. And you will notice three things here. You will notice, first of all, that to Christ's exaltation belongs everything. So it's listed. Power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. To Christ, everything belongs. And secondly, that the things ascribed to Christ relate to his being the Lamb slain. Because he has conquered, he is victorious. And you will notice in the third place that it is those who are redeemed along with the angels and beasts who ascribe to Christ all glory and honor. Christ's exaltation, then, you will see, is far above every creature on earth and in heaven, which accords with Ephesians 1 verse 20, which he wrote in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." You will see the similarity of terms from Paul to John in Revelation 5. He has ascribed the same things. And then in Philippians 2, that well-known passage that relates to his humiliation and exaltation, verse 9, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth, and things unto the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So Christ is exalted to a position of supreme dominion and glory and honor. And all the universe confirms it. He is exalted. Well let's come to some applications of this. And the first point of application is that Revelation 5 shows you that scripture will be fulfilled. The point that is being fulfilled is referred to in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 10. When he shall come to be glorified in the saints and to be admired. and all them that believe." Revelation 5 tells you that shall be fulfilled. Every believer, every saint, will at the second coming begin to admire Christ. They will be full of admiration. Yes, of course, we admire Him. but it is little in comparison to what shall begin at the second coming, for we shall physically see him in all his glory and majesty. And when he comes, all the believers, gathered together as one people, with all their attention focused upon Christ, they shall be full of admiration. Revelation 5 is being fulfilled. But here's the question. Of all who are gathered in this congregation today, will you be part of those who will admire Christ? Will you? Will you be part of that company full of admiration for Jesus Christ? young people, adults, will you be part of that company or will you be excluded for all eternity? That's the vital question. That's the pressing issue today. And I must impress it upon you. Will you be part of this company? part of that company that is described as 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands full of admiration for Christ. Let me go even further and ask you, if you are a professing Christian, are you anticipating this? Are you? And it's not enough simply to say, of course I'm anticipating it. Because then the reply must be, well what is the evidence that you personally are anticipating Revelation 5? Anticipating, admiring Christ. In other words, what are you doing in your life now that evidences and proves you, in particular, each and every one of us, is anticipating and working for, looking for, and desiring to see Christ so as to admire him. What is the evidence of that in your life? I put it to you, friends, that if we spent more time preparing for this, we would be less troubled by the things that go on in our own lives. So what is the evidence that you in particular are anticipating seeing Christ? Then secondly, redemption is enough. Redemption is enough. There is a certain type of professing Christian who is always looking for a post-conversion experience. Some want, they claim, the experience to speak in tongues, to work miracles, and so on. They're wanting a post-conversion experience. Let me say to you, friends, that is contrary to the word of God. Because in scripture, as you see in Revelation 5, redemption is enough. Redemption is central. Redemption is enough to satisfy us. You know, there's a character called Joel Austin, he wrote a book some time back, Your Best Life Now. That is not what the Bible says. Your best life is yet to come. If you have your best now then there is no future, there is no eternity, there is no new heavens and new earth. But multitudes of people have swallowed all this. They want the best now. The best is yet to come friends. Otherwise there is no eschatology at all. It is just destroyed it all. And one nice little cliche. Redemption is central to redeemed in heaven. Why is it then that some are not satisfied with redemption, with conversion? Why are they not satisfied with this astonishing work of Jesus Christ and want a post-conversion experience? It is for these reasons. The first is that their experience of redemption is far too shallow. Maybe we might even go so far as to have to say it may be they were never converted at all. But their experience, we shall charitably say at the moment, is too shallow. That's why they want something extra. Perhaps they made a profession of faith falsely on the basis of what someone promised them. They're expecting some miracle, some thrill, some body shaking or whatever going on, thinking, well, I didn't get the buzz, so I need something else. You see, there's the problem of all these false conversions, of all these people who are swept into the church, who have signed a card, raised their hand, walked the front, did whatever it is they do, and they're now Christians, so they want something more. Their experience of redemption is too shallow. There's a second reason, equally as serious. Their admiration of Christ is superficial. And you see something within professing evangelicalism, you know the celebrity, we have celebrity preachers nowadays. How astonishing. Celebrity preachers. And people travel all over the planet following celebrity preachers. There is something fundamentally wrong. Christ hasn't sent celebrity preachers to the church. He has raised up ministers all across the world to preach the word. That's all we need to hear, the word preached. But there's a problem. Admiration for Christ is superficial. So what's the underlying problem? The underlying problem is a man-centeredness. That's the underlying problem. By contrast, you will notice the Trinitarianism of salvation in verse 6. So you have the Spirit, you have the Lord, and you have God. There's a Trinitarianism to our salvation. And that is a means to negate man's centeredness, to see the glory of God and the glorious work of God and the centrality of redemption. So I ask you, my friends, is redemption enough for you? Is pardon for sin enough for you? Is effectual calling and justification, adoption and sanctification on all the several benefits that flow from and accompany these things, is that enough? I suppose we're simply saying, have you been catechized in the Christian faith to see what is central and what is not central? Is justification enough for you? Is adoption? Oh what a truth. Adoption that God would take those who were not his children and he would make them his own and he would place them amongst a number. He would make them citizens of the kingdom having taken them from the kingdom of darkness. He has translated them into the kingdom of his dear son. Is that enough for you? Is it? It's enough for the redeemed in heaven, that they have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, seeing the whole plan. One of our problems is, of course, that we are so short-sighted, we reduce everything to the individual. I've said this before, I'm going to keep on saying it, we think that what God has done is wonderful because it's been applied to us. Well that in a sense is true, but it's only part of the truth. What God has done, the works of God are wonderful whether you're part of it or not. But I want you to see afresh today from Revelation 5, the whole plan and seeing how and where we fit into this plan. And that is so remarkably encouraging and comforting to know that when God saved us, it was part of a plan. And we're part of that plan. Look at verse nine. Has redeemed us to God. Redemption. Then in verse 10, and has made us unto our God kings and priests. And also in verse 10, we shall reign on the earth. And in verse 14, worship Him. You see the whole plan. It starts with redemption and it ends with worshiping God for all eternity. He has made us, as a consequence of redemption, kings and priests under God. What does that mean in reality? Well, let me, for the benefit of the children, explain it in this simple way. He has made us kings. That is to say that in everything we do, we exercise a certain dominion over it. We want everything to be done for the glory of God. We have that power and enablement to do that. He has made us priests. What do priests do? They offer sacrifices to God. What is the sacrifice? We offer the sacrifice of praise. So when we gather, we gather as kings and priests unto God. But there's something else going to happen. We shall reign on the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ said, the meek shall inherit the earth. every square inch of the entire universe shall be overseen under Christ by the Lord's people. What else? Worshiping Him. So you see, when you come to worship on the Sabbath day and in the midweek and at all other times, when you gather for worship, you are in fact anticipating, you're also preparing yourselves for eternity. See the whole plan, friends, from redemption to worshipping in the new heavens and new earth forevermore. And if you're a believer today, if God has brought you by grace into his kingdom, has saved you, has changed you, you then are part of this plan that's being worked out in this world And then fourthly and finally, every reason to choose Christ, to love Christ, and to serve Christ. Every reason to follow Christ. What are these reasons? They're here before you. Every excellency resides in Jesus Christ. He is the Lion and the Lamb. All glory, honor, power and blessing is ascribed to Him. Every excellency. Every grace and every virtue resides in Christ. And when the Lord Jesus Christ says, come unto me and I will give you rest. He is speaking of His excellency and sufficiency for all who come to Him. Christ encourages us by saying, I am meek and lowly in heart. There you have these two excellencies. I will give you rest. There is His majesty. There is His power. I am meek and lowly. There is His meekness and humility. all these diverse excellencies they meet in Jesus Christ. William remained in one of his letters and he is dealing with this phrase, my soul doth magnify the Lord. He writes this, he took my nature that I might take his. He lived for me that by his obedience I might be made righteous. He suffered my punishment that I might never suffer it. He bore my curse to redeem me from the curse of the law. He was forsaken of the father that I might never be forsaken. He rose again to take possession of life for me. What he has, I shall have. What he is and was is for me. You have every reason to choose Christ. Every reason to love Christ. Every reason to serve Christ. Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Have you begun to follow him? Children, if you're not already following Christ, I urge you, begin today. Younger ones, Do not be distracted by the celebrities of the world, but rather be dazzled and allured by the excellency of Christ. Older ones, as you are all getting older, and we all are getting older, do not lose sight of the glory of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ, the wonder of Christ. And do not think because you're getting older your usefulness is getting less. To the contrary, you're becoming more useful as you get older than when you were younger. So that you may exemplify what it truly means to love and serve Christ for everyone else. May the Lord bless His word to your hearts.