Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it is good to be here. In fact, it's
good to be anywhere right now. I'm so grateful to
(00:21):
all of you, those of you.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Who have come up to me to let me know.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
That you prayed for me and for my family over
the last several months. It means more than you could
possibly imagine. The encouragement from the people of God during
our darkest days was absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Some people have come and.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Commented on how well I seem to be doing, and
I am. Some have even wondered whether or not all
of this was really as bad as it seemed.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I got a scar I can show you.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
But no, the Lord has been good and we're grateful.
We're grateful for that. I'm going to be preaching tonight
from the Book of Revelation, and the Book of Revelation
is an incredibly meaningful book to me, always has been,
but is especially meaningful to me during these days. It
(01:32):
absolutely breaks my heart that although the Book of Revelation
was written with the intention of being the most encouraging
book to the believer and arguably the most practical book
to the believer, it's been interpreted in such a way
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in recent history that instead of us finding it encourage
and practical. We find it mysterious and frightening. Most Christians
believe that you can't really understand the Book of Revelation,
and that the only time that the Book of Revelation
is important is if you think that maybe that might
(02:15):
be the Antichrist on the horizon. So let's go look
at the Book of Revelation and see if we can
figure out. That's not why this book was written. It
was written as an encouragement to believers and as an
incredibly practical book, not for believers at some time in
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the future, but for believers in every generation. This is also,
by the way, the most christ exalting book in the Bible.
The Book of Revelation exalts Christ like nobody's business. And
(03:01):
it is therefore even more unfortunate that we don't run
to this book.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Now, one of the.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Reasons we don't run to this book is because we
do have a hard time in the Book of Revelation.
And the reason we have a hard time in the
Book of Revelation is because we don't know the Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
If you can't say amen.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You ought to say out. The Book of Revelation quotes
the Old Testament cites the Old Testament more than any
other book in the New Testament. In fact, outside of Ruth, Ecclesiastes,
and Hegey, it cites or quotes every book in the
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Old Testament, every book in the Old Testament. And so
if you're not familiar with the Old Testament, you will
find yourself a bit tripped up in Revelation.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And I did that.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
I shared during the Q and A that I didn't
grow up in the church. I came to faith late,
never heard the Gospel un till I got to college.
What I didn't share was that the first book that
I ever read as a new believer was Revelation. I
don't recommend it. I did not love it then like
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I love it now. But in order to understand this book,
there are a few things that will that will help you.
This book is filled with symbols and with numbers, and
our text today is filled with some important numbers. And
when you when you get a hold of these numbers,
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it really helps to understand and interpret the Book of Revelation.
And by the way, it also helps to memorize the
Book of Revelation.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
But I'll share that with you.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Some of the numbers that are important in the Book
of Revelation. The number three is important. It's important for
a couple of reasons. One of them is it's the
number of God, obviously, right, the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit. But it's also an important number
because it is the number of what I like to
(05:13):
refer to as the rhythm of revelation. We'll get to
that in the moment. The number four is important because
the number four is the number of creation. And so
we read about the four angels on the four winds,
and the four corners of the earth, but also a
people from every tribe, nation, tongue, kindred, What does that mean?
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A people from all over creation? And that number four.
When you see that number either expressed numerically or something
repeated four times, or something said in four different ways
like tribe, nation, kindred tongue, understand that that's the number
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of creation. There is also the number seven, which is
a number of perfection, a number of perfect completion, if
you will, And that number is important throughout the Book
of Revelation, not least of which because the Book of
Revelation is really organized around.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Seven parallel narratives.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But also they are the seven churches, the seven spirits,
the seven golden lap stands, the seven stars, seven seals,
seven horns, seven eyes, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven thunders,
seven crowns, seven heads, seven plagues, seven bowls, seven hills,
seven kings.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And then when you get tired.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Of seven, you get multiples of seven, like seven thousand
who die because of the earthquake. The seven beatitudes that
we find in Revelation, one of them will look at
in chapter one. Then there's the number ten, this number
of completion, the number twelve, which is the number of
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the people of God. So you have twelve tribes, twelve uscles,
twelve stars above the woman's head. New Jerusalem has twelve
foundations on which are the names of the twelve apostles.
The tree at the end in chapter twenty two bears
twelve kinds of fruit for the healing of the nations.
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And then you have multiples of twelve. The twenty four
elders around the throne. That's twelve representatives of the people
of God in the Old Testament and twelve representatives of
the people of God in the New Testament. Twelve tribes,
twelve apostles. Then you have multiples of twelve. In chapter seven.
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We have this mysterious, debatable number of one hundred and
forty four thousand, which is what twelve times twelve times
one thousand, people of God times, the people of God times,
a number that represents hugeness the official theological terms for
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one thousand.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
In revelation, it represents hugeness.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So these numbers are incredibly important if we're going to
understand this book. But as I said, the other number
that's important, the number that's doubly important, is the number three.
It's the rhythm of revelation. It's a lot like to
call it that revelation waltz that one two three, one
two three. It's interesting. We talked about this backstage with
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the worship team, and then they came out and they
did one song with three four times and another with
six eight times. Y'all didn't know. I knew that it's
the rhythm of revelation. So you have threes. By the way,
that's why people tend to find this book easy to memorize,
because of the triads that you find all over the book.
(08:51):
So our text starts in verse four, but let's start
at verse one because it'll help us when we get
to our text and verse one the revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave him.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
So that's one.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
God gave this revelation to him to show his servants
the things that must soon take place. And then he
made it known by sending his angel. So God give
it to him. He made it known by saying his
angel to his servant John. And then what does John do?
John bore witness. John bore witness, So that's one, two three.
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Father gave it to the son, Son given to his angel,
and then Andrew gave it to John, who bore witness one,
two three. What did John bear witness to? He bore
witness to the word of God. One, he bore witness
to the testimony of Jesus Christ. Two and to all
that he saw. Three. So now we have one, two three,
one two three. Might we have another, Yes we do.
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Verse three. Blessed is the one.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. That's one.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
And blessed are those who here that's two, and who
keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
So right there in that first paragraph we have one
two three, one two three, one two three. We've got
three threes. So John is saying to you three is important. Amen,
it's important. Now let's come to our text, and immediately
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we see seven. John to the seven churches that are
in Asia. How many of you know there were more
than seven churches in Asia. There were there were more
than seven churches in Asia. But John writes to these
seven churches in Asia because that's an important number, this
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number of perfect completion, these seven churches that were in
a circular postal route. This message is not just for
those seven churches. But this is a perfect message from
a perfect God that is perfect for his people. And
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in the first part of this we understand why Christ
is worthy of worship. This book is all about exalting Jesus,
but upfront John wants us to know why Jesus is
worthy of the exaltation that he is about to receive.
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Why is Christ worthy of worship? Why do we do?
What we do is the people of God. We worship
the Lord Jesus Christ. When we gather, we worship Jesus.
People know us as Christians, followers of Christ. But what
makes Christ worthy of our worship? I'm glad you asked.
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Grace to you and peace. Get a bunch of threes
here from Him who is and who was, and who
is to come. Now there's a three, Him who is
and who was, and who is to come.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You're wondering who that is.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Go to Revelation one eight and we read I am
the Alpha, and the Omega says the Lord God, who
is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
So John says, grace to you and peace from God
the Almighty, the one who is and was and is
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to come. Here's that number three again, this number of God,
number of God. God is the one who is and
who was, and who is to come. Then it gets
a little mysterious if you don't know what you're looking for.
And from the seven spirits who are before his throne? WHOA,
(12:55):
what's that? The seven spirits who are before or his throne.
Before we go get all crazy looking for seven different
spirits before his throne, Let's wait a minute and ask
ourselves a question. If John says, after giving us one
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two three one two three one two three in the
first paragraph, grace do you in peace from Him who
was and is and is to come? There's a three,
And from the seventh spirits who are before his throne.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Two. There's probably a three coming.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Along with that, and that might give us a hint
as to what or who the seventh spirits refers to.
So he says, from Him who was and who is
and is to come, from the seventh spirits who are
before his throne, put a pen in that, and from
Jesus Christ. Now do we know of a three part
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formulation that has God the Father Almighty, and Jesus and
another somebody in the formulation, Yes, we do that perfect Spirit,
seven spirits, seven number of perfection. So we have here
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this trinitarian formulation. But it's a trinitarian formulation that's not
in order. And the reason this Trinitarian formulation is not
in order is because John is getting ready to go
off about the second person of the Trinity. So he
puts the second person of the Trinity last so that
he can communicate to us why the second person of
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the Trinity is worthy of worship.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
But he's already answered the question.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Christ is worthy of worship because he's God. And we
see that because of the formulation. Grace and peace to you.
We see that because of the formulation of the three
right from the one who is and who wasn't, wisdo
that's the Father. From the seventh spirits before ste that's
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the Spirit. And from Jesus Christ that's the Son God,
the Father God, the Son God, the Spirit. But even
beyond that, he says, grace to you and peace from
who are you gonna get grace and peace from? Besides God?
(15:24):
Grace to you and peace from God and fred No
grace and peace come to you from God and God alone.
So we see here through this trying reference that John
is communicating to us that Jesus is worthy of worship
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because he's God, and that in and of itself is enough.
Worship Christ because he's God. He's not like God, he's
not close to God, he's not almost God. Jesus Christ
is God, and that is why we worship him. By
the way, if we worship Jesus and he is anything
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other than God, then we are guilty of idolatry, because
God is the only one who's worthy of worship, which
is why Christ allows his apostles to fall and worship
at his feet.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Worship is reserved for God and for God alone.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
And so we worship the Lord Jesus Christ because he's God,
because he's the creator of the world, because he's the
sustainer of the universe. He is inherently worthy of our worship,
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and he is the only one who is inherently worthy
of our worship. Worship the Lord Jesus Christ, because he's
God often told the story of a plane ride. A
plane ride I'll never forget. I'm writing the next door
a woman who's reading a book, and she's reading a
New Age book about Jesus. If the title of the
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book didn't give it away, the cover gave it away
that this was a New Age book about Jesus. And
it was one of those times I was tired, you know,
I just you know, I know you'd probably love to
think that. You know that us, you know, preachers, when
we go somewhere and we preach and we do all
that we have to do, we get on the plane
and we.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Just can't wait for the Lord to give us somebody
to witness to. No.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
No, when we threw it, y'all, we want to get
on the plane and go to sleep. And that's what
I wanted to do, but not this day. I'm getting
on the plane and I just want to go to sleep.
Get on the plane and I sit down and I'm
like my row is empty. And it's one of those
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days where I just felt, Lord, if you love me,
give me this row. God, just give me this row.
And this woman sits down. That's fine, she's Lisa. Wasn't
a big old burly man right like me. There's nothing
like two big old burly men sitting next to each
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other on the plane. Right again, whose elbow is going
to be up on the No, So it's a it's
a woman. Okay, Lord, thank you, I appreciate that. I
was ungrateful. So now I can sleep because it's not
a big burly man. And she opens up a book
about Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Not gonna happen, is it?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And so we have a conversation about this book about Jesus,
that she's reading this book about Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Who's you know?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
And I asked her, you know, if she knows my
Jesus and she says yes, And I said, well, who
is my Jesus? Then he's you know, it's a good man,
good prophet and a good teacher. And that was all
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that was all, And so I just had to ask.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I said, okay, well do you believe that he's Do
you believe he's God?
Speaker 1 (19:21):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
No, I don't believe that he's God. I believe he was.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
You know, a man who was close to God, and
he was this and that and the other. And you
don't believe his God. Do you believe that he's the
only way to God. No, I don't believe he's the
only way to God. You know there are many roads
to God. Do you believe he died and rose again
on the third day? No, no, I don't believe he
died in rose on the third day. So then you
don't believe that he ascended to the right hand of
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the Father and he's coming again to judge the living
and the dead.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
No, no, I don't believe that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I said, well, ma'am, I don't know you very well,
but I feel obligated to tell you. You got issues.
Why is that well, because you believe that Jesus is
a good man. But this man said, I and the
Father are one. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
You say you don't believe he's God, but he said
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that he was God. A man who says that he's
God is not a good man if he's not God.
You also say you believe he's good prophet, but you
don't believe that he died and rose again, ascended to
the right hand of the Father, and that he's going
to come again to judge the living and the dead.
But Jesus prophesied that he would go and prepare a
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place for us, and that if he went to prepare
a place for us, he would come again and receive
us to himself. If he's not going to do that,
then he's not a good prophet. He's a false prophet.
You also said that you don't believe that he's the
only way to God, and he said, I am the Way,
the Truth, the Life, and no one comes.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
To the Father but by me.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
How can he be a good teacher If he taught
that he's the only way to God when he's not,
that would make him.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
A false teacher.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
You see, if Christ is not the God man, if
he's not everything that the Bible says that he is,
then he's not worthy of our worship, because he's a
liar and a false prophet and a terrible man. But
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the good news is she was wrong. He is God,
and so we worship him. He is God, which means
that we're obligated to worship him. We are commended to
worship him. You don't have to want to worship God.
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It doesn't matter if you want to worship God. You
are the creature. He is the creator. You were created
to worship God. And in fact, if you don't worship God,
you are guilty for not worshiping God. And you stand
condemned for not worshiping God. Yeah, but I don't believe
in God. Who cares. He's God?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And so we worship Jesus because he's God. But wait,
there's more. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, because
he's God.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That's enough. We worship Jesus because he's God. But not
only is he God, but he is the faithful Witness. Now,
when a witness comes to the stand, we ask him
if he swears to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help him God, this
witness is God. And this witness not only tells the truth,
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but this witness is the truth. Jesus is the faithful Witness.
He's not a faithful witness. He is the faith witness.
There are others who've come before him, who have testified
proximately to the truth, but none of them are the truth.
Jesus is the truth. Therefore, he's the faithful witness who
is worthy of our worship because of his faithfulness. But
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not only that, not only is he a faithful witness
whose testimony is true, but in fact, all of the
testimony in the scripture that is given by other witnesses
is testimony about him.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
In Luke chapter twenty four, he makes.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
This clear that all of the writings that the law
and the prophets testify of him. So here's the faithful
witness who not only testifies to the truth, but is
the truth. But he's the faithful witness that all other
witnesses point to.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
He's worthy of our worship.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Not only is he the faithful witness, but he's the
first born from the dead, the firstborn from the dead.
And that word firstborn if you remember back to the
passage that was read just a few moments ago in
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Colossians chapter one, that idea of him being the firstborn,
him being preeminent, him having first place over all things
in creation. This is about him being pre eminent over
death and pre eminent in his resurrection.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
You can argue all you want.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
That you know Lazarus would have preceded him, and Lazarus
would have been the firstborn from the dead. But listen
to this, Lazarus was not resurrected from the dead. I
hear you, heresy, Nah, not like Jesus, Because if Lazarus
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was resurrected like Jesus, he'd be at the conference. Lazarus
had a really bad day. First of all, he died,
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bad day. Second of all, he dies and he's gotten
that over with, and he's called back.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Bad day.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Thirdly, he died, he got it over with, he was
called back and he had to do it again. But
even if Lazarus had experienced the resurrection like that of
Christ already, Christ would still be the first born from
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the dead because he is pre eminent. He is first,
he is before, he is more than, He is greater
than the last time I checked, and I didn't look today.
I meant to look before coming over. The last time
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I checked, the death rate was one per person. All
of us will die and then face the judgment. And
there is only one who has overcome death and hell
and the grave, and that makes him worthy of our worship.
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He's God. Worship him, He's the faithful Witness. Worship him.
He's the first born from the dead. Worship him. And
then here's the third one. Remember one two three, one
two three. The third thing. He's the ruler of kings
on earth. Worship him. He's the ruler of kings on earth.
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You worship him because of his rank, even because of
his earthly rank, we worship him.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Now.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Now listen to this now, all of us, regardless of
how you feel about the president. And there are times
when an illustration like this carries more weight than at
other times. But regardless of how you feel about the president,
he's the president, amen, somebody, regardless of how you feel
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because of the office. You can talk trash all you
want at your house. You can call names all you
want at your house. You can stick your chest out
and be big and bad and talk about this, that
and the other at your house. But when the black
limbo with the flags pulls up and the man gets out,
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you can say what you want to under your breath,
But what comes out is, mister President. Americans can go
to the United Kingdom and talk about how we're independent
from those people.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
No king, but.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Jesus, we fought a war so that we didn't have
to be subjects for free men. You're all over here
talking about your subjects of her Majesty's this and that
and the other. If she walked up, you buy your
little head curtsy, do it all wrong, and you would
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show respect for the office. But what John says is
that regardless of the office you or anyone else holds,
there is another one who is King.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Of all kings and Lord of all lords.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And while you may respect and genuflect, there's only one
whom you worship, and that's Jesus. And so we worship
him because because he's God. We worship him becase he's
faithful witness. Worship him because he's firstborn from the dead.
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We worship him because he's the ruler of kings on earth.
And just when we are about to be overwhelmed and
beaten down, I mean, at this point, you know, it's like, okay, fine,
I get it.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I owe worship to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I will give him worship because I owe it to him.
I will give him worship because he's intrinsically worthy of worship.
Because he's God and I'm commanded to worship God. I
worship him because he he's faithful witness. I worship him
because he's first born from the dead. I worship him
because he's the ruler of kings on the earth. Okay, fine,
I will worship him just before you take a knee.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
John says there's more.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
He's true worship, to borrow a phrase from Bruce Leafblack,
professor at Southwestern Seminary back in the day. True worship
happens when we set our mind's attention and heart's affection
on the Lord, praising him for who he is and
for what he's done.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So far.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
We've seen who he is. Amen, He's God. We worship
him because of who he is as God. He's the
faithful Witness. We worship him because of who he is
as faithful witness. We worship him because who he is
as firstborn from the dead. We worship him because who
he is as ruler of kings on the earth. And
then he says, to him who loves us, that's just good.
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The rest is enough, Amen, the rest is enough. And
he's worthy of our worship because of all of those things.
But if that's the only reason that we come to
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him and bow down to him in worship.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
It's insufficient. Because the most majestic aspect.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Of Christ's worthiness is not just who he is, but
what he's done, and the magnitude of what he's done
is more significant because of who he is as the one.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Who did it, and to him who loves us.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Of defining love elsewhere as an act of the will
accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of
its object. The text here is not talking about Jesus
being worthy because of an emotion that he displays toward us. No,
it's more significant than that we worship him because of
(32:25):
the love that he has for us that has been
manifested in his actions. By the way, there's a triad
here as well, to him who loves us and has
freed us from our sins by his blood. God demonstrated
his love for us in this and that, while we
(32:45):
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Christ died for sin once for all, the just, for
the unjust, in order that he might bring us back
to God.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I love the way Asaiah puts it, All of us
had gone astray, each of us had turned to his
own way. But God has laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. He freed us from our sins by
his blood. It's an amazing thing to be freed. But
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we weren't just freed. We weren't just liberated. We were
liberated from our sins, which means we were liberated from
something that we deserved. Amen, you are a sinner in
need of a savior. There was a holy and righteous
God who is a judge that you have offended.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
And you deserved his wrath.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
You rightly stood condemned before that holy and righteous God,
and you could not deliver yourself from your sins. Someone
outside of you had to deliver you from your sins.
But not just anyone could deliver you from your sins.
(34:16):
Your mama loves you, but she couldn't deliver you from
your sins.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Your Daddy might love you, but he can't deliver you
from your sins. The best friend you've ever had or
known cannot deliver you from your sins. Your heroes can't
deliver you from your sins. Even your biblical heroes couldn't
deliver you from your sins. Adam, you got us into this,
Get us out. Sorry, I can't I ate Abraham, can
(34:52):
you okay?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
David? You're a man after God's own heart. Oh, Bethsheba,
I got you.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Moses the lawgiver, Certainly you can Oh, you didn't even
get to go into the promised land.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
My bad.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
There's something that is captured in chapter five of Revelation.
Listen to John as he writes in chapter five. Then
I saw in the right hand of him who was
seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on
bat sealed with seven seals.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
There's that number again.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice,
worthy or who is worthy to open the scroll and
break its seals. And no one in heaven, or on
earth or under the earth was able to open the
scroll or to look into it. This is God's judgment
about to come out. And I began to weep loudly
because no one was found worthy to open the scroll
(36:04):
or to look into it. And one of the elders
said to me, stop crying, boy, weep no more. Behold
the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David,
has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and
(36:25):
its seven seals. And between the throne and the four
living creatures, and among the elders, I saw a lamb
standing as though it had been slain, with seven horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent out into the earth, and he went and took
(36:46):
the scroll from the right hand of him who was
seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll,
the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell
down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden
bowles full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you
to take the scroll to open its seals? For you
(37:09):
were slain, and by your blood you ransom to people
for God, from every tribe, language, people, and nation. He's worthy.
He's worthy because he freed us from our sins by
his blood. And so we worship him because he's God,
(37:34):
and because he's a faithful witness, him because he's the
firstborn from the dead, because he's a ruler of kings
on earth. We worship him because he loved us. We
worship him because he freed us from our sins by
his blood. But then verse six and made us a
kingdom of priests to his God and Father. It's interesting
(37:57):
if you look back again at Revelation five, where we
left off verse ten. Let's read verse nine again. They
sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take
the scroll and to open its seals? For you were slain,
(38:18):
and by your blood you ransom people for God, from
every tribe in language and people in nation. And you
have made them a kingdom and priest to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
One Peter two, verse four.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
As you come to him a living stone, rejected by men,
but in the sight of God, chosen and precious you, yourselves,
like living stones, are being built up to a spiritual
house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
To God through Jesus Christ. Why is this significant because
we just turned a corner.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Christ is worthy of our worship. First almost because he's God,
and that's enough. He's worthy because he's the faithful Witness,
and because he's a firstborn from the dead, and because
he's the ruler of kings on the earth. So he's
worthy because of who he is. But he's also worthy
because of what he's done. He's worthy because he loved
(39:18):
us and he freed us from our sins by his blood,
by his substitutionary atoning death, through his active and passive obedience,
through his active obedience of keeping the law on our
(39:40):
behalf so that he might impute righteousness to us, and
in this passive obedience, by dying on the cross, the
death that we owe, so that our sinfulness could be
imputed to him, so that through this double imputation we
might be declared righteous. And because of that he makes
us worthy to offer worship. You see, here's what's interesting.
(40:09):
If we read this the right way, John is essentially saying,
worship Jesus because he's God. And if you say, okay,
I worship him because he's God, John says, stop, you're
not worthy to offer him worship. And then he says,
worship him, Worship the faithful, witness, worship the firstborn from
(40:30):
the dead. Worship the ruler of kings of earth. Okay,
I worship him. Stop that you're not worthy to offer
him the worship that he deserves. How do I become
worthy to offer worship that is worthy of the one
(40:52):
who is worthy of worship? To him who loves us
and freed us from our sins by his blood. That's
what made us unworthy and made us a kingdom of
priests to his God and Father. That's what makes us
worthy to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Amen. Christ is worthy of worship because of who he
is and because of what He's done.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
But Christ is also worthy of worship because in his
person and work, he makes us worthy to offer him
worship that is worthy of him. Because apart from the
person and work of Jesus Christ, there is nothing that
we could possibly offer that would be worthy of him.
(42:00):
We cannot lift up clean hands before God. If our
hands are not clean, we can't do it. Turn with
me to the Book of Isaiah Isaiah chapter one, and
(42:37):
start at verse ten. He's speaking to his sinful people.
Here hear the word of the Lord. Your rulers of Sodom,
give ear to the teaching of our God, you people
of Gomorrah. That's what he calls them, Sodom and good.
By the way, Sodom and Gomora are toast. At this time,
(42:58):
he's talking about the sinful to the people of God.
What to me is the multi the multitude of your sacrifices,
says the Lord. I've had enough of burnt offerings of
rams and a fat of well fed cattle. Or excuse me,
I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the
(43:20):
fat of well fed beasts. I do not delight in
the blood of bulls or lambs, or of goats. When
you come to appear before me, who is required of you?
This trampling of my courts, bring no more vain offerings.
Incense is an abomination to me. New Moon and Sabbath
and the calling of convocations. I cannot endure iniquity in
the solemn assembly, your new moons and your appointed feast.
(43:43):
My soul hates he's talking about the worship that the
people are offering. His soul hates. They have become a
burden to me. I'm weary of burying them. When you
spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean.
(44:04):
Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes.
Cease to do evil, learn to do good, Seek justice,
correct depression, Bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow's cause.
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though
your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall
(44:27):
become like woo don't come before me with your worthless worship.
You must be made clean first. And the good news
(44:54):
is we come before the one who loved us and
freed us from our sins by his blood, and he
has made us a kingdom of priests.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Who can indeed offer worship.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
That is acceptable in the sight of Almighty God. So
Christ is worthy of our worship. He's worthy of our
worship because he's God. He's worthy because of who he is.
He's worthy because of what he's done, And because of
(45:38):
what he's done, he has made us worthy to offer
him worship.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
That is worthy.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Let's pray, Gracious God, Heavenly Father, the one who was
and who is and who is to come, the God
(46:16):
and Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
God.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
We bow before you, acknowledging that Christ is indeed worthy
of our worship, the worship we offer with our lips,
and the worship we offer with our lives. Grant by
your grace that we might make much of Christ. Grant
(46:44):
by your grace that we might see the magnitude of
his worth. Grant by your grace that we might see
the magnitude of our sins that have been forgiven the
magnitude of the grace that has been extended to us,
and the magnitude of the privilege that is ours to
(47:07):
be deemed worthy to worship the Lamb
Well, it is good to be here. In fact, it's
good to be anywhere right now. I'm so grateful to
(00:21):
all of you, those of you.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Who have come up to me to let me know.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
That you prayed for me and for my family over
the last several months. It means more than you could
possibly imagine. The encouragement from the people of God during
our darkest days was absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Some people have come and.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Commented on how well I seem to be doing, and
I am. Some have even wondered whether or not all
of this was really as bad as it seemed.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I got a scar I can show you.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
But no, the Lord has been good and we're grateful.
We're grateful for that. I'm going to be preaching tonight
from the Book of Revelation, and the Book of Revelation
is an incredibly meaningful book to me, always has been,
but is especially meaningful to me during these days. It
(01:32):
absolutely breaks my heart that although the Book of Revelation
was written with the intention of being the most encouraging
book to the believer and arguably the most practical book
to the believer, it's been interpreted in such a way
(01:55):
in recent history that instead of us finding it encourage
and practical. We find it mysterious and frightening. Most Christians
believe that you can't really understand the Book of Revelation,
and that the only time that the Book of Revelation
is important is if you think that maybe that might
(02:15):
be the Antichrist on the horizon. So let's go look
at the Book of Revelation and see if we can
figure out. That's not why this book was written. It
was written as an encouragement to believers and as an
incredibly practical book, not for believers at some time in
(02:39):
the future, but for believers in every generation. This is also,
by the way, the most christ exalting book in the Bible.
The Book of Revelation exalts Christ like nobody's business. And
(03:01):
it is therefore even more unfortunate that we don't run
to this book.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Now, one of the.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Reasons we don't run to this book is because we
do have a hard time in the Book of Revelation.
And the reason we have a hard time in the
Book of Revelation is because we don't know the Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
If you can't say amen.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You ought to say out. The Book of Revelation quotes
the Old Testament cites the Old Testament more than any
other book in the New Testament. In fact, outside of Ruth, Ecclesiastes,
and Hegey, it cites or quotes every book in the
(03:43):
Old Testament, every book in the Old Testament. And so
if you're not familiar with the Old Testament, you will
find yourself a bit tripped up in Revelation.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And I did that.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
I shared during the Q and A that I didn't
grow up in the church. I came to faith late,
never heard the Gospel un till I got to college.
What I didn't share was that the first book that
I ever read as a new believer was Revelation. I
don't recommend it. I did not love it then like
(04:21):
I love it now. But in order to understand this book,
there are a few things that will that will help you.
This book is filled with symbols and with numbers, and
our text today is filled with some important numbers. And
when you when you get a hold of these numbers,
(04:41):
it really helps to understand and interpret the Book of Revelation.
And by the way, it also helps to memorize the
Book of Revelation.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
But I'll share that with you.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Some of the numbers that are important in the Book
of Revelation. The number three is important. It's important for
a couple of reasons. One of them is it's the
number of God, obviously, right, the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit. But it's also an important number
because it is the number of what I like to
(05:13):
refer to as the rhythm of revelation. We'll get to
that in the moment. The number four is important because
the number four is the number of creation. And so
we read about the four angels on the four winds,
and the four corners of the earth, but also a
people from every tribe, nation, tongue, kindred, What does that mean?
(05:37):
A people from all over creation? And that number four.
When you see that number either expressed numerically or something
repeated four times, or something said in four different ways
like tribe, nation, kindred tongue, understand that that's the number
(05:57):
of creation. There is also the number seven, which is
a number of perfection, a number of perfect completion, if
you will, And that number is important throughout the Book
of Revelation, not least of which because the Book of
Revelation is really organized around.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Seven parallel narratives.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But also they are the seven churches, the seven spirits,
the seven golden lap stands, the seven stars, seven seals,
seven horns, seven eyes, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven thunders,
seven crowns, seven heads, seven plagues, seven bowls, seven hills,
seven kings.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And then when you get tired.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Of seven, you get multiples of seven, like seven thousand
who die because of the earthquake. The seven beatitudes that
we find in Revelation, one of them will look at
in chapter one. Then there's the number ten, this number
of completion, the number twelve, which is the number of
(06:56):
the people of God. So you have twelve tribes, twelve uscles,
twelve stars above the woman's head. New Jerusalem has twelve
foundations on which are the names of the twelve apostles.
The tree at the end in chapter twenty two bears
twelve kinds of fruit for the healing of the nations.
(07:19):
And then you have multiples of twelve. The twenty four
elders around the throne. That's twelve representatives of the people
of God in the Old Testament and twelve representatives of
the people of God in the New Testament. Twelve tribes,
twelve apostles. Then you have multiples of twelve. In chapter seven.
(07:39):
We have this mysterious, debatable number of one hundred and
forty four thousand, which is what twelve times twelve times
one thousand, people of God times, the people of God times,
a number that represents hugeness the official theological terms for
(08:00):
one thousand.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
In revelation, it represents hugeness.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So these numbers are incredibly important if we're going to
understand this book. But as I said, the other number
that's important, the number that's doubly important, is the number three.
It's the rhythm of revelation. It's a lot like to
call it that revelation waltz that one two three, one
two three. It's interesting. We talked about this backstage with
(08:29):
the worship team, and then they came out and they
did one song with three four times and another with
six eight times. Y'all didn't know. I knew that it's
the rhythm of revelation. So you have threes. By the way,
that's why people tend to find this book easy to memorize,
because of the triads that you find all over the book.
(08:51):
So our text starts in verse four, but let's start
at verse one because it'll help us when we get
to our text and verse one the revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave him.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
So that's one.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
God gave this revelation to him to show his servants
the things that must soon take place. And then he
made it known by sending his angel. So God give
it to him. He made it known by saying his
angel to his servant John. And then what does John do?
John bore witness. John bore witness, So that's one, two three.
(09:30):
Father gave it to the son, Son given to his angel,
and then Andrew gave it to John, who bore witness one,
two three. What did John bear witness to? He bore
witness to the word of God. One, he bore witness
to the testimony of Jesus Christ. Two and to all
that he saw. Three. So now we have one, two three,
one two three. Might we have another, Yes we do.
(09:54):
Verse three. Blessed is the one.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. That's one.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
And blessed are those who here that's two, and who
keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
So right there in that first paragraph we have one
two three, one two three, one two three. We've got
three threes. So John is saying to you three is important. Amen,
it's important. Now let's come to our text, and immediately
(10:24):
we see seven. John to the seven churches that are
in Asia. How many of you know there were more
than seven churches in Asia. There were there were more
than seven churches in Asia. But John writes to these
seven churches in Asia because that's an important number, this
(10:47):
number of perfect completion, these seven churches that were in
a circular postal route. This message is not just for
those seven churches. But this is a perfect message from
a perfect God that is perfect for his people. And
(11:11):
in the first part of this we understand why Christ
is worthy of worship. This book is all about exalting Jesus,
but upfront John wants us to know why Jesus is
worthy of the exaltation that he is about to receive.
(11:32):
Why is Christ worthy of worship? Why do we do?
What we do is the people of God. We worship
the Lord Jesus Christ. When we gather, we worship Jesus.
People know us as Christians, followers of Christ. But what
makes Christ worthy of our worship? I'm glad you asked.
(11:57):
Grace to you and peace. Get a bunch of threes
here from Him who is and who was, and who
is to come. Now there's a three, Him who is
and who was, and who is to come.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You're wondering who that is.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Go to Revelation one eight and we read I am
the Alpha, and the Omega says the Lord God, who
is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
So John says, grace to you and peace from God
the Almighty, the one who is and was and is
(12:35):
to come. Here's that number three again, this number of God,
number of God. God is the one who is and
who was, and who is to come. Then it gets
a little mysterious if you don't know what you're looking for.
And from the seven spirits who are before his throne? WHOA,
(12:55):
what's that? The seven spirits who are before or his throne.
Before we go get all crazy looking for seven different
spirits before his throne, Let's wait a minute and ask
ourselves a question. If John says, after giving us one
(13:18):
two three one two three one two three in the
first paragraph, grace do you in peace from Him who
was and is and is to come? There's a three,
And from the seventh spirits who are before his throne.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Two. There's probably a three coming.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Along with that, and that might give us a hint
as to what or who the seventh spirits refers to.
So he says, from Him who was and who is
and is to come, from the seventh spirits who are
before his throne, put a pen in that, and from
Jesus Christ. Now do we know of a three part
(13:53):
formulation that has God the Father Almighty, and Jesus and
another somebody in the formulation, Yes, we do that perfect Spirit,
seven spirits, seven number of perfection. So we have here
(14:14):
this trinitarian formulation. But it's a trinitarian formulation that's not
in order. And the reason this Trinitarian formulation is not
in order is because John is getting ready to go
off about the second person of the Trinity. So he
puts the second person of the Trinity last so that
he can communicate to us why the second person of
(14:34):
the Trinity is worthy of worship.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
But he's already answered the question.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Christ is worthy of worship because he's God. And we
see that because of the formulation. Grace and peace to you.
We see that because of the formulation of the three
right from the one who is and who wasn't, wisdo
that's the Father. From the seventh spirits before ste that's
(15:03):
the Spirit. And from Jesus Christ that's the Son God,
the Father God, the Son God, the Spirit. But even
beyond that, he says, grace to you and peace from
who are you gonna get grace and peace from? Besides God?
(15:24):
Grace to you and peace from God and fred No
grace and peace come to you from God and God alone.
So we see here through this trying reference that John
is communicating to us that Jesus is worthy of worship
(15:46):
because he's God, and that in and of itself is enough.
Worship Christ because he's God. He's not like God, he's
not close to God, he's not almost God. Jesus Christ
is God, and that is why we worship him. By
the way, if we worship Jesus and he is anything
(16:06):
other than God, then we are guilty of idolatry, because
God is the only one who's worthy of worship, which
is why Christ allows his apostles to fall and worship
at his feet.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Worship is reserved for God and for God alone.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
And so we worship the Lord Jesus Christ because he's God,
because he's the creator of the world, because he's the
sustainer of the universe. He is inherently worthy of our worship,
(16:54):
and he is the only one who is inherently worthy
of our worship. Worship the Lord Jesus Christ, because he's
God often told the story of a plane ride. A
plane ride I'll never forget. I'm writing the next door
a woman who's reading a book, and she's reading a
New Age book about Jesus. If the title of the
(17:17):
book didn't give it away, the cover gave it away
that this was a New Age book about Jesus. And
it was one of those times I was tired, you know,
I just you know, I know you'd probably love to
think that. You know that us, you know, preachers, when
we go somewhere and we preach and we do all
that we have to do, we get on the plane
and we.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Just can't wait for the Lord to give us somebody
to witness to. No.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
No, when we threw it, y'all, we want to get
on the plane and go to sleep. And that's what
I wanted to do, but not this day. I'm getting
on the plane and I just want to go to sleep.
Get on the plane and I sit down and I'm
like my row is empty. And it's one of those
(18:05):
days where I just felt, Lord, if you love me,
give me this row. God, just give me this row.
And this woman sits down. That's fine, she's Lisa. Wasn't
a big old burly man right like me. There's nothing
like two big old burly men sitting next to each
(18:25):
other on the plane. Right again, whose elbow is going
to be up on the No, So it's a it's
a woman. Okay, Lord, thank you, I appreciate that. I
was ungrateful. So now I can sleep because it's not
a big burly man. And she opens up a book
about Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Not gonna happen, is it?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And so we have a conversation about this book about Jesus,
that she's reading this book about Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Who's you know?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
And I asked her, you know, if she knows my
Jesus and she says yes, And I said, well, who
is my Jesus? Then he's you know, it's a good man,
good prophet and a good teacher. And that was all
(19:13):
that was all, And so I just had to ask.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I said, okay, well do you believe that he's Do
you believe he's God?
Speaker 1 (19:21):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
No, I don't believe that he's God. I believe he was.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
You know, a man who was close to God, and
he was this and that and the other. And you
don't believe his God. Do you believe that he's the
only way to God. No, I don't believe he's the
only way to God. You know there are many roads
to God. Do you believe he died and rose again
on the third day? No, no, I don't believe he
died in rose on the third day. So then you
don't believe that he ascended to the right hand of
(19:45):
the Father and he's coming again to judge the living
and the dead.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
No, no, I don't believe that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I said, well, ma'am, I don't know you very well,
but I feel obligated to tell you. You got issues.
Why is that well, because you believe that Jesus is
a good man. But this man said, I and the
Father are one. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
You say you don't believe he's God, but he said
(20:11):
that he was God. A man who says that he's
God is not a good man if he's not God.
You also say you believe he's good prophet, but you
don't believe that he died and rose again, ascended to
the right hand of the Father, and that he's going
to come again to judge the living and the dead.
But Jesus prophesied that he would go and prepare a
(20:33):
place for us, and that if he went to prepare
a place for us, he would come again and receive
us to himself. If he's not going to do that,
then he's not a good prophet. He's a false prophet.
You also said that you don't believe that he's the
only way to God, and he said, I am the Way,
the Truth, the Life, and no one comes.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
To the Father but by me.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
How can he be a good teacher If he taught
that he's the only way to God when he's not,
that would make him.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
A false teacher.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
You see, if Christ is not the God man, if
he's not everything that the Bible says that he is,
then he's not worthy of our worship, because he's a
liar and a false prophet and a terrible man. But
(21:26):
the good news is she was wrong. He is God,
and so we worship him. He is God, which means
that we're obligated to worship him. We are commended to
worship him. You don't have to want to worship God.
(21:47):
It doesn't matter if you want to worship God. You
are the creature. He is the creator. You were created
to worship God. And in fact, if you don't worship God,
you are guilty for not worshiping God. And you stand
condemned for not worshiping God. Yeah, but I don't believe
in God. Who cares. He's God?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And so we worship Jesus because he's God. But wait,
there's more. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, because
he's God.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That's enough. We worship Jesus because he's God. But not
only is he God, but he is the faithful Witness. Now,
when a witness comes to the stand, we ask him
if he swears to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help him God, this
witness is God. And this witness not only tells the truth,
(22:52):
but this witness is the truth. Jesus is the faithful Witness.
He's not a faithful witness. He is the faith witness.
There are others who've come before him, who have testified
proximately to the truth, but none of them are the truth.
Jesus is the truth. Therefore, he's the faithful witness who
is worthy of our worship because of his faithfulness. But
(23:16):
not only that, not only is he a faithful witness
whose testimony is true, but in fact, all of the
testimony in the scripture that is given by other witnesses
is testimony about him.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
In Luke chapter twenty four, he makes.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
This clear that all of the writings that the law
and the prophets testify of him. So here's the faithful
witness who not only testifies to the truth, but is
the truth. But he's the faithful witness that all other
witnesses point to.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
He's worthy of our worship.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Not only is he the faithful witness, but he's the
first born from the dead, the firstborn from the dead.
And that word firstborn if you remember back to the
passage that was read just a few moments ago in
(24:12):
Colossians chapter one, that idea of him being the firstborn,
him being preeminent, him having first place over all things
in creation. This is about him being pre eminent over
death and pre eminent in his resurrection.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
You can argue all you want.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
That you know Lazarus would have preceded him, and Lazarus
would have been the firstborn from the dead. But listen
to this, Lazarus was not resurrected from the dead. I
hear you, heresy, Nah, not like Jesus, Because if Lazarus
(24:50):
was resurrected like Jesus, he'd be at the conference. Lazarus
had a really bad day. First of all, he died,
(25:15):
bad day. Second of all, he dies and he's gotten
that over with, and he's called back.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Bad day.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Thirdly, he died, he got it over with, he was
called back and he had to do it again. But
even if Lazarus had experienced the resurrection like that of
Christ already, Christ would still be the first born from
(25:52):
the dead because he is pre eminent. He is first,
he is before, he is more than, He is greater
than the last time I checked, and I didn't look today.
I meant to look before coming over. The last time
(26:13):
I checked, the death rate was one per person. All
of us will die and then face the judgment. And
there is only one who has overcome death and hell
and the grave, and that makes him worthy of our worship.
(26:38):
He's God. Worship him, He's the faithful Witness. Worship him.
He's the first born from the dead. Worship him. And
then here's the third one. Remember one two three, one
two three. The third thing. He's the ruler of kings
on earth. Worship him. He's the ruler of kings on earth.
(27:04):
You worship him because of his rank, even because of
his earthly rank, we worship him.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Now.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Now listen to this now, all of us, regardless of
how you feel about the president. And there are times
when an illustration like this carries more weight than at
other times. But regardless of how you feel about the president,
he's the president, amen, somebody, regardless of how you feel
(27:41):
because of the office. You can talk trash all you
want at your house. You can call names all you
want at your house. You can stick your chest out
and be big and bad and talk about this, that
and the other at your house. But when the black
limbo with the flags pulls up and the man gets out,
(28:05):
you can say what you want to under your breath,
But what comes out is, mister President. Americans can go
to the United Kingdom and talk about how we're independent
from those people.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
No king, but.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Jesus, we fought a war so that we didn't have
to be subjects for free men. You're all over here
talking about your subjects of her Majesty's this and that
and the other. If she walked up, you buy your
little head curtsy, do it all wrong, and you would
(28:52):
show respect for the office. But what John says is
that regardless of the office you or anyone else holds,
there is another one who is King.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Of all kings and Lord of all lords.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And while you may respect and genuflect, there's only one
whom you worship, and that's Jesus. And so we worship
him because because he's God. We worship him becase he's
faithful witness. Worship him because he's firstborn from the dead.
(29:35):
We worship him because he's the ruler of kings on earth.
And just when we are about to be overwhelmed and
beaten down, I mean, at this point, you know, it's like, okay, fine,
I get it.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I owe worship to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I will give him worship because I owe it to him.
I will give him worship because he's intrinsically worthy of worship.
Because he's God and I'm commanded to worship God. I
worship him because he he's faithful witness. I worship him
because he's first born from the dead. I worship him
because he's the ruler of kings on the earth. Okay, fine,
I will worship him just before you take a knee.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
John says there's more.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
He's true worship, to borrow a phrase from Bruce Leafblack,
professor at Southwestern Seminary back in the day. True worship
happens when we set our mind's attention and heart's affection
on the Lord, praising him for who he is and
for what he's done.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So far.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
We've seen who he is. Amen, He's God. We worship
him because of who he is as God. He's the
faithful Witness. We worship him because of who he is
as faithful witness. We worship him because who he is
as firstborn from the dead. We worship him because who
he is as ruler of kings on the earth. And
then he says, to him who loves us, that's just good.
(31:10):
The rest is enough, Amen, the rest is enough. And
he's worthy of our worship because of all of those things.
But if that's the only reason that we come to
(31:31):
him and bow down to him in worship.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
It's insufficient. Because the most majestic aspect.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Of Christ's worthiness is not just who he is, but
what he's done, and the magnitude of what he's done
is more significant because of who he is as the one.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Who did it, and to him who loves us.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Of defining love elsewhere as an act of the will
accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of
its object. The text here is not talking about Jesus
being worthy because of an emotion that he displays toward us. No,
it's more significant than that we worship him because of
(32:25):
the love that he has for us that has been
manifested in his actions. By the way, there's a triad
here as well, to him who loves us and has
freed us from our sins by his blood. God demonstrated
his love for us in this and that, while we
(32:45):
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Christ died for sin once for all, the just, for
the unjust, in order that he might bring us back
to God.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I love the way Asaiah puts it, All of us
had gone astray, each of us had turned to his
own way. But God has laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. He freed us from our sins by
his blood. It's an amazing thing to be freed. But
(33:29):
we weren't just freed. We weren't just liberated. We were
liberated from our sins, which means we were liberated from
something that we deserved. Amen, you are a sinner in
need of a savior. There was a holy and righteous
God who is a judge that you have offended.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
And you deserved his wrath.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
You rightly stood condemned before that holy and righteous God,
and you could not deliver yourself from your sins. Someone
outside of you had to deliver you from your sins.
But not just anyone could deliver you from your sins.
(34:16):
Your mama loves you, but she couldn't deliver you from
your sins.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Your Daddy might love you, but he can't deliver you
from your sins. The best friend you've ever had or
known cannot deliver you from your sins. Your heroes can't
deliver you from your sins. Even your biblical heroes couldn't
deliver you from your sins. Adam, you got us into this,
Get us out. Sorry, I can't I ate Abraham, can
(34:52):
you okay?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
David? You're a man after God's own heart. Oh, Bethsheba,
I got you.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Moses the lawgiver, Certainly you can Oh, you didn't even
get to go into the promised land.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
My bad.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
There's something that is captured in chapter five of Revelation.
Listen to John as he writes in chapter five. Then
I saw in the right hand of him who was
seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on
bat sealed with seven seals.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
There's that number again.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice,
worthy or who is worthy to open the scroll and
break its seals. And no one in heaven, or on
earth or under the earth was able to open the
scroll or to look into it. This is God's judgment
about to come out. And I began to weep loudly
because no one was found worthy to open the scroll
(36:04):
or to look into it. And one of the elders
said to me, stop crying, boy, weep no more. Behold
the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David,
has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and
(36:25):
its seven seals. And between the throne and the four
living creatures, and among the elders, I saw a lamb
standing as though it had been slain, with seven horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent out into the earth, and he went and took
(36:46):
the scroll from the right hand of him who was
seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll,
the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell
down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden
bowles full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you
to take the scroll to open its seals? For you
(37:09):
were slain, and by your blood you ransom to people
for God, from every tribe, language, people, and nation. He's worthy.
He's worthy because he freed us from our sins by
his blood. And so we worship him because he's God,
(37:34):
and because he's a faithful witness, him because he's the
firstborn from the dead, because he's a ruler of kings
on earth. We worship him because he loved us. We
worship him because he freed us from our sins by
his blood. But then verse six and made us a
kingdom of priests to his God and Father. It's interesting
(37:57):
if you look back again at Revelation five, where we
left off verse ten. Let's read verse nine again. They
sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take
the scroll and to open its seals? For you were slain,
(38:18):
and by your blood you ransom people for God, from
every tribe in language and people in nation. And you
have made them a kingdom and priest to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
One Peter two, verse four.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
As you come to him a living stone, rejected by men,
but in the sight of God, chosen and precious you, yourselves,
like living stones, are being built up to a spiritual
house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
To God through Jesus Christ. Why is this significant because
we just turned a corner.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Christ is worthy of our worship. First almost because he's God,
and that's enough. He's worthy because he's the faithful Witness,
and because he's a firstborn from the dead, and because
he's the ruler of kings on the earth. So he's
worthy because of who he is. But he's also worthy
because of what he's done. He's worthy because he loved
(39:18):
us and he freed us from our sins by his blood,
by his substitutionary atoning death, through his active and passive obedience,
through his active obedience of keeping the law on our
(39:40):
behalf so that he might impute righteousness to us, and
in this passive obedience, by dying on the cross, the
death that we owe, so that our sinfulness could be
imputed to him, so that through this double imputation we
might be declared righteous. And because of that he makes
us worthy to offer worship. You see, here's what's interesting.
(40:09):
If we read this the right way, John is essentially saying,
worship Jesus because he's God. And if you say, okay,
I worship him because he's God, John says, stop, you're
not worthy to offer him worship. And then he says,
worship him, Worship the faithful, witness, worship the firstborn from
(40:30):
the dead. Worship the ruler of kings of earth. Okay,
I worship him. Stop that you're not worthy to offer
him the worship that he deserves. How do I become
worthy to offer worship that is worthy of the one
(40:52):
who is worthy of worship? To him who loves us
and freed us from our sins by his blood. That's
what made us unworthy and made us a kingdom of
priests to his God and Father. That's what makes us
worthy to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Amen. Christ is worthy of worship because of who he
is and because of what He's done.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
But Christ is also worthy of worship because in his
person and work, he makes us worthy to offer him
worship that is worthy of him. Because apart from the
person and work of Jesus Christ, there is nothing that
we could possibly offer that would be worthy of him.
(42:00):
We cannot lift up clean hands before God. If our
hands are not clean, we can't do it. Turn with
me to the Book of Isaiah Isaiah chapter one, and
(42:37):
start at verse ten. He's speaking to his sinful people.
Here hear the word of the Lord. Your rulers of Sodom,
give ear to the teaching of our God, you people
of Gomorrah. That's what he calls them, Sodom and good.
By the way, Sodom and Gomora are toast. At this time,
(42:58):
he's talking about the sinful to the people of God.
What to me is the multi the multitude of your sacrifices,
says the Lord. I've had enough of burnt offerings of
rams and a fat of well fed cattle. Or excuse me,
I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the
(43:20):
fat of well fed beasts. I do not delight in
the blood of bulls or lambs, or of goats. When
you come to appear before me, who is required of you?
This trampling of my courts, bring no more vain offerings.
Incense is an abomination to me. New Moon and Sabbath
and the calling of convocations. I cannot endure iniquity in
the solemn assembly, your new moons and your appointed feast.
(43:43):
My soul hates he's talking about the worship that the
people are offering. His soul hates. They have become a
burden to me. I'm weary of burying them. When you
spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean.
(44:04):
Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes.
Cease to do evil, learn to do good, Seek justice,
correct depression, Bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow's cause.
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though
your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall
(44:27):
become like woo don't come before me with your worthless worship.
You must be made clean first. And the good news
(44:54):
is we come before the one who loved us and
freed us from our sins by his blood, and he
has made us a kingdom of priests.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Who can indeed offer worship.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
That is acceptable in the sight of Almighty God. So
Christ is worthy of our worship. He's worthy of our
worship because he's God. He's worthy because of who he is.
He's worthy because of what he's done, And because of
(45:38):
what he's done, he has made us worthy to offer
him worship.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
That is worthy.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Let's pray, Gracious God, Heavenly Father, the one who was
and who is and who is to come, the God
(46:16):
and Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
God.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
We bow before you, acknowledging that Christ is indeed worthy
of our worship, the worship we offer with our lips,
and the worship we offer with our lives. Grant by
your grace that we might make much of Christ. Grant
(46:44):
by your grace that we might see the magnitude of
his worth. Grant by your grace that we might see
the magnitude of our sins that have been forgiven the
magnitude of the grace that has been extended to us,
and the magnitude of the privilege that is ours to
(47:07):
be deemed worthy to worship the Lamb
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