For God's Glory Alone

What comes to mind when you think of heaven? As I try to practice as often as possible, we have a subject. I like to Google that subject because that lets me know what most people are thinking about when it comes to a certain term or idea. So I Googled heaven and then I decided I'm going to look at the pictures to see what did people think about heaven? Of course, there were pictures of pearly gates. There were clouds, there was lots of light, there were a number of angels. Something surprising, there were lots of kittens, no dogs. And then the most surprising, there was a pegasus, a flying horse. I'm not sure if that's going to be there. I don't understand why the pegasus was selected, not the unicorn, or better yet, a flying unicorn. But these are things that the culture has painted as they think about heaven. One of the things that really blows my mind as I think about heaven is the concept of eternity. The lack of a time of beginning and end. It'll go on forever. And I used to just be bothered by this. What are we going to do forever? How are we going to fill up all that time? The good news is we're going to be singing that song, Hail the Lamb. The lamb. Hallelujah to the Lord of Lords. The great I am the lamb of God. The great thing about heaven will be busier than we've ever been and more at peace than we've ever experienced. That's the beauty of heaven, because we actively praising the sun and resting in his peace. We doing the same thing over and over and over again and become more and more glorious as we see more and more of the glory of God that shines bright in the face of Jesus Christ. We'll be doing what we were created for. We'll be glorifying God and enjoying him again this morning, we're celebrating Reformation Sunday. There are five soul laws that the Reformation and in the 16th century built upon in Christ alone, by grace alone, by faith alone and scripture alone. In each Reformation Sunday, we have released for the first five, at least I've committed to walking through and doing a theological sermon on each of these. And this morning we're looking at four God's glory alone. Everything is for God, as we read in Romans 11. All things are from Him and to Him and for Him. It is for His glory that we are to live. And the passage I've chosen is Revelation 5. A very dramatic, powerful worship service being played out before us in Revelation 5. If you do not have a Bible, please use the pew Bible in front of you to turn there. As I look at this passage, there are really four stages. There's despair, there's hope, there's assurance, and then there's the proper response. Worship, despair, hope, assurance, and the response. We will first see that God is sitting. He's at peace, he's at rest, and he has a scroll, a very important scroll in his right hand, and a mighty angel cries out in a loud voice, who can open this scroll? And John, who captures the weight of the importance of the scroll and the dilemma that no one created in heaven or the earth can open it. He weeps. He's in despair. And then you hear the words of hope from the elders. Weep no more. Behold, the Lion of Judah. The roots of Jesse. They declare that there is one who has come. He is the King Almighty and he's conquered. And then the surprising twist where there's assurance. That lion, he appears as a lamb who was slain. And that lamb, he takes the scroll. And then all the elders fall down and they respond the only way they can. Worthy. Worthy are you, the lamb who was slain. Let us hear God's word from Revelation chapter five. Then I saw on the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals, and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice 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 look into it. And I began to weep loudly. Because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. One of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, he has conquered. So that he can open the scroll and 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, with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song. saying, Where are you to take the scroll and to open it seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Then I looked, and I heard around the throne of the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads, and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying, To him who sits in the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. The four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. Will you pray with me? Father, we come to gather together to hear your words to seeing of what you've done for us, to seeing of your Son. Lord, without your Spirit, we cannot feel the weight of the scroll and the weight of the power of the Lamb. Lord, lift up our hearts to worship you. Lift up and purify our hearts so we can glorify you. Bring down your glory. So that we can see your face so we can see you more purely and worship you. The lamb who was slain. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. We have four parts, we have four stages, the despair, the hope, the assurance and the response. First, the despair. Who can open the scroll? We have here God sitting on the throne. They saw him sitting there on the throne. He had a scroll written on the front and the back. Now, this is showing that it's a very important document. It's interesting because here's John. He's brought up into heaven to see God. How does he know it's written on the front and the back? It's sealed. No one can open it. That's kind of the main point here in this section. It's like a dream. He's there and he says he's being revealed to God. It's not just what he sees, it's what he understands. So here we see God and he's sitting on the throne, a scroll in his hand, and it's a very important scroll. The first thing is that God's sitting here. As we've read and as I've tried to capture, all of creation is going to be in despair in a few moments and just a few verses. God's sitting. He's at rest. He's at peace. He is the sovereign almighty God. He has written the scroll. He knows how it began. He knows how it will be accomplished. He knows how it will end. He is not in despair. He is not worried. Hope is found in him. All of creation goes into despair because of the problem ahead of them. But God knows salvation and how it will be accomplished. So God is sitting. In his right hand, the most important place, there's a scroll written on both sides. What is this scroll? What is this particular book? Some have said this is the book of the Lamb of Life. This is the names of all the people who have been purchased by the blood of Christ. That is a good possibility, but it's not likely. Because what this scroll is going to contain is not just the promise of salvation, but the promise of judgment. There is blessings and there is judgment in the scroll. It's not just the book, the Lamb's Book of Life. It's something more. Some people have said it's the Old Testament. Again, a good possibility, but it contains things that are still to come, not just what has happened. The best explanation I understand of what the scroll is, it's the eternal plan of God. what he has written from the beginning of time, what he has said, what he has done and what he will still do. It explains how all of creation is going to culminate into his praise and will end with our salvation or with judgment. It's been described as the title deed of the universe. All of creation here is written. What is going to happen to this estate? It points to the culmination of God's great plan of salvation. Now, it has seven seals. Seven is the number of perfection, as we're going to see with the seven horns, the seven eyes and seven spirits. Seven is simply symbolizing that it's perfectly sealed. It requires someone perfect to open it. We have the deed to the title, the deed of the universe, seven seals, right hand of God, a mighty angel ask. Who can open it? As those present look around all of creation, there's no angel, there's no man, there's no creature who could ever possibly open this scroll to bring about the end of all our pain, of all our trials, of all our sin, of our fallen state. All of creation is disqualified. And the evangelist, John, he gets the importance. He weeps. A better way of saying it, there's anguish. He's in despair. So he weeps. If no one can open the seals, if no one can open this book, if no one has the authority, we're left in our sinful state. We're left with all of our fallen world. And remember, in the midst of this despair, God remains seated. After despair, though, there is hope. One of the elders says to John, Weep no more. It reminds me of all the Old Testament prophets when the angel of the Lord or God himself would come. Fear not. Behold, he begins the message that that is the pattern throughout the Old Testament. Fear not. Behold, here the elder, he declares, weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, he has conquered so that he can open the scroll And it's seven seals. Behold, it's the line of the tribe of Judah. It's the king of Israel. It's a ruler of the entire world. This points to the uniqueness of Christ. No creature, no angel, no human being could open the scroll. Only the king. He alone is able to open the scroll and open the seals. He's unique because he's almighty God. He's unique because he's God who became man. He's unique because he is the one who truly exercised God's righteousness. to this world. There are three passages from the Old Testament that will help us capture the line of the tribe of Judah and the root of David. First, I'll be reading from Genesis 49. Then I'll be reading from Jeremiah 23, verses 5 through 6. Then Isaiah 11. I encourage you to listen. You can look at those passages later. Genesis 49, beginning in verse 8. Jeremiah 23, 5 through 6. And Isaiah 11. Genesis 49. Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's son shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down. He crouched to the lion and the lioness who dares rouse him. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples." Here we see at the end of Israel's life, he's blessing Judah. He is the line. The king will come to the tribe of Judah. He will have the scepter. There will be one child born from this tribe who will rule over all the other tribes and over all the peoples. It gets more narrow, because it's not just from the tribe of Judah, it's from the line of David, Jeremiah 23. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch. And he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. Again, speaking of the root of David, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, David's father, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit and the spirit of the Lord's arrest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. Here we see that the culmination, that the declaration of who can open it, it's the lion, it's the king that was always promised. And now we know it's the king who has come because it's Jesus, son of Judah, son of David, the one who has brought about the righteous rule of God. See, the scroll is God's plan of salvation. The scroll is God's promises to man. A man had to open it. The scroll is all of God's promises to all of creation. They're the promises that only a man could open. And Jesus Christ is that unique man because he's God who became man and lived the perfect righteous life. We see here, Jesus is the executor of the estate. He's the one who can open the will. And he's the one who can execute God's will. He's the one who can say this is what God has said. This is how it's going to happen. He's the only one who has the right and the privilege to do and to proclaim what God has decreed and the deed of the universe. What's amazing about the fact that Jesus is the executor of this state, he's not just the executor, he's the heir of the estate. Jesus is the only proper heir to the estate. He's the first born son. He's the first born of all creation. Everything was created by him and for him. In him, every promise is yes and amen. He is the heir of all the promises of God, as God has planned from all from the very beginning. Now, this is where those two things are important to come together. As the heir of the estate, as the executor of the estate, He is to execute God's righteous judgment. If we look to Psalm 2, we know that the king that is to come, he will be given the nations as an inheritance and he will crush them. He will execute God's perfect justice against all who have rebelled against God. But this is why it's so important that he's the heir, because for those who believed in him, he was crushed. for them as the heir. He shares with us the inheritance that God has promised for us. He is the one who shares with us his inheritance so that we are now sons of God. We now have a right standing with God. We now have freedom and forgiveness of our sins. Again, this displays the greatness of Jesus Christ. He stands alone. There's no other leader. Know the religious leader, know the political figure. He alone can bring about God's perfect will. He alone is the king who conquered. How has he conquered? Here we see the assurance. The worthy one appears as the lamb who was slain. Look at verse six. In between the throne, the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing. as though it had been slain, with seven horns, with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent unto all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne." Now, this is the surprising twist. This is where we had despair. We had this dramatic move from despair to hope. They're weeping. Weep no more. There's a promise of a lion. And now, when he appears, he appears as a lamb. And a lamb who was slain. There's two things we need to recognize about this lamb. First, he's divine. This lamb is divine. He appears before the throne. He appears in the midst of them. He identifies himself with God in his very placement before the throne. The second thing is that he's slain. There is a slaughtered lamb. There is a sacrificial lamb. It's a theme that runs throughout the Old Testament. There was a lamb who was found as a substitute for Isaac, as a sacrifice. A lamb was slain for Israel's redemption to remove them from Egypt. There was a lamb sacrificed each year at Passover to remove the sins of Israel. In Isaiah 53, it's a lamb that will be led to the slaughter for the transgressions of the people of God. In John the Baptist, the last prophet declares, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The picture of the Lamb is nothing new. It's something God has put into the entire plan of God from the very beginning to show who the conqueror will be. It's the Lamb who is slain. This great and majestic and mighty King. He comes with meekness as the Lamb. That's how he conquers. That's how he conquers. He allows himself to die for our sin so that he conquers sin. He removes sin and death completely. I was just reading with some young men in a Bible study, Ephesians 2.16. He killed the hostility that existed between God and man. He conquered it by allowing himself to be crushed for our sin. We see this dramatically in the Gospels. He comes in one day in the triumphal infantry being praised, Hosanna, son of David. He's the king. He's coming into Jerusalem. Then he's wrapped in a purple robe and they put a crown of thorns on him and they bow before him and mocking him and spitting upon him. Then he's he's hung on the cross and above his head they put the king of the Jews. These are not believers that declare that this is God sovereignly bringing it all together. The Lamb dying on the cross declared to be the King of the Jews. These two symbols bringing together so that we can see our King conquers by being crushed for our sin. This is the will of the Father. Because our sin is so offensive, it had to be punished. He is a just and holy God. He must punish our sin. And it can only be punished either when he judges us or when he judges the son for our sin. The only way for your sin to be removed from you is to believe in Jesus Christ. The other descriptions here of this lamb, we have to remember, this is apocalyptic literature. We've already seen the symbol of seven, that it points to perfection. There are seven horns. Horns are a symbol of power and of might for a king. The number seven simply points that it's a perfect power to rule. The seven eyes, they demonstrate his omniscience. He knows everything. He sees everything. But then it also describes the seven spirits. Now, how are there seven spirits? What would the seven spirits be referring to? Again, it's a number pointing to perfection. If you go to Isaiah 11, the root of Jesse, Jesus Christ, the King, he will be anointed by the spirit. And that spirit has seven descriptions. Isaiah 11 points to the one who will be anointed with the sevenfold spirit. And I believe the seven spirits are referring to the one spirit. The Holy Spirit, the third person, the Trinity, Isaiah 11 describes the spirit, the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might of knowledge and fear of the Lord. So this lamb who was conquered, who was crushed to conquer, he takes the scroll. He alone is able to execute God's plan. He alone is able to open it and bring about God's will. Jesus alone can accomplish the Father's will. Our fourth section, our only proper response. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every nation, from every tribe and language and people and nation. And ye have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Then I looked, and I heard around the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power, and wealth, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. Now, there are three songs and in those three songs, there are two different patterns. The first thing we need to see is that the first one is more theologically packed. That is the one we're going to work with most. We're going to focus on the most because it's the most theological package. It goes from the praising him for what he's done to praising him for who he is. The second movement is very interesting. The first song is sung by the elders. The second song by myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands of angels. The third song, every single creature. The scope of who's praising God gets bigger and bigger. They sang a new song. This is an important phrase throughout scripture. Now, Interestingly, many people will claim this kind of a new song as a reason to introduce new songs to a church. There's no problem. There's no reason to go to this verse to introduce new songs to a church. That's not even what this is referring to. A new song is declared whenever God has delivered someone from their enemies. When God has revealed something new about his plan or God has delivered somebody from a new enemy, they sing a new song to declare he again is a deliverer. We see a new or we see differently now how God is always faithful. Let's look at what the elders sing. The lamb is worthy to take the scroll, they cry out worthy to take the scroll. Why? Because he was slain. It's because the lamb died. It's his death that makes him worthy. It's what he has bought for us in his substitute. Now, notice he repeats it over and over again. He appears a lamb slain. He's worthy because he was slain. He was worthy because heaven can't get over the fact that God died for us. In heaven, that will be redundant over and over again. It'll be more and more sweet every time we sing it. But notice, heaven can't get over the fact that Jesus, the Lamb, died for us. What it means that he was slain? Our passage gives us more information to help us understand that. By your blood, you ransomed people for God. Now the word here, ransom, this is Exodus language. This is taking us all the way back to when Israel was captive in Egypt, and God provided salvation and freedom. He ransomed them, and the ransom was brought about by a lamb. They covered their doorposts with the blood of the lamb, and that meant the Spirit passed over them, and He conquered Egypt. That lamb was essential to the ransoming of Israel from Egypt. But now we have the true lamb who ransoms us, who purchases us from death and from hell. Acts 20, 28. It is the church, Luke says, that was bought with the blood of God. To ransom us, to purchase us, we had to be bought with the blood of God. Have you ever thought about that currency that it took To save us? The very blood of God, the blood of the Incarnate One, the blood of the Righteous One, the blood of the Holy One. This is the highest price. That's how sinful we are. It took the blood of God to ransom us, to take us out of slavery and death, and to bring us to God. What kind of people did he ransom? Praise God, every kind. From every tribe. and language and people and nation. All of heaven will be full of all different kinds of people. It's not just for Israel, it's for everybody. God's plan was always for every kind of person. Now, that's what heaven is going to look like. The local church is supposed to be a microcosm of heaven. It's supposed to be a little sample, a little taste of what heaven is going to be like. And so I pray over and over again, we would become more and more diverse. I want you to make that your prayer. And I want us to think, is there something culturally we're doing that isn't prescribed in Scripture that keeps other cultures from saying, this is a place I can worship. That's a prayer that I want you to pray with me. I also want to point out that this church has a unique diversity. If you go to other churches, you'll see there's not a generational diversity. I praise God that there is a generational diversity that is a diversity that's being lost in many churches today. And I actually want to point out the older members. I credit you for why we have this diversity, your humility and willing to be led by young elders to sit under a young, naive preacher. That's evidence of grace. And I praise God for you. You are the reason we are able to have this generational diversity. It's humbling, and I praise God for you. He ransomed them, he took them from death, but he transferred them to what? That's what God does in Egypt. He takes them out of slavery, but where does he take them? He takes them to Mount Sinai in the promised land. Verse 10, you've made them a kingdom and priest to our God. This, again, is Exodus language. In Exodus 19, this is the very same thing Moses tells Israel that God will do for them. He says, you will become a kingdom and a priest. And then he gives the Ten Commandments. And the problem with Israel is they fail. They fail to obey God. They fail to follow God. They fail to be the kingdom and priest God makes them. But here we see we have been made kings and priests. Because the king, Jesus Christ, the priest, Jesus Christ, the lamb, he gives us that as our inheritance. We now are to rule the earth, that he shall reign. Same word we get the word king from. We're to reign on this earth, bringing God's glory. Now, here's the most important thing about reigning. In order for us to reign, we must first submit to God. Isn't that just a fantastic spiritual paradox? In order for us to properly reign, as God has told us to reign, as his ambassadors, as kings, we must first submit to God. The problem is we always want to build our own kingdom. We always want to establish our own rule in our own reign. If we're going to reign to worship God, to glorify him, we must first submit to him. We're priests. We get to go into his presence by the power of the spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. We get to constantly go into his presence. There's three things I want us to understand the church from this passage. First, the church's identity is first and foremost what Christ has done for us. We must not be built upon our identity as to what we do. Or what we say or how we live so differently. It's first and foremost what Christ has declared to us. We're ransomed. We're freed. Secondly, the church's mission is bound up in our new vocations of king and priest. The church's mission. Isn't first and foremost to make a better society. The church's mission, first and foremost, is to be God's people. that are redeemed and have that as the basis of our identity. The church's mission is first and foremost to say, I want to think about how I can be the one who glorifies God with other Christians. And then we go and make disciples. We're not simply training people to be better citizens. Society will be better when we train people to be worshipers in the church. Third, the church is God's created and ordained gathering. This is the body. This is a sampling of the body that will praise him forever. This is where God's glory has been settled because the spirit gathers when two or three are gathered. If you're not a Christian this morning, we've been thinking about the fact that there's praise to the sun, there's glory to the sun, there's worship to the sun. I have to tell you, one day you will praise Jesus. Every knee shall bow. Today, you can hear the gospel and you can one day praise him. You can today praise him as a child of mercy. You can praise him because you see that Jesus Christ came and he died for your sins. If you believe in him, you can praise him as your savior. But if you continue to reject him and remain in your sin. You will praise him one day, but you will praise him as the just judge, as you will see him and you will see your sin and you will know you are worthy of judgment and that he is good. You will praise him in the midst of being judged for your sins. Christian. This is a this is what's going to happen. This is what's happening now for all eternity in heaven. There is a great dramatic picture of worship here and the worthiness of the sun. My challenge to you is this. Are you waiting for this worship? Are you longing now to worship Christ as purely as possible? As a body and as individuals, we must not wait for this worship to happen. We should long for it, but we should commit to bringing glory to God now. As Paul says in first Corinthians 1031, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Brothers and sisters, if you're not living for God's glory now, I don't think you'll enjoy God's glory later. What I mean by that is if you do not see the lamb is worthy of your life, your joy and your delight now, you don't know the lamb. If you do not desire to glorify the Lamb with every part of your being, you don't know the Lamb, because if you know the Lamb who has slain, you want to worship Him. You want to change every aspect of your life to glorify Him. Now, I'm not speaking to those who are longing for a more pure worship and are sick because they're continually tainted and corrupted by their sin. That actually, I think, is an assurance that you are, you do know the Lamb. I'm talking about those who you live as if Christ did not die for sinners. You live as if Christ did not rise again. You live as if Christ is being worshipped forever. You say worship's later. No, worship should be happening now if you truly know the Lamb. It changes everything. When we see who the Lamb is, it changes everything. Here's the beauty of this. That scene is happening. There are myriads and myriads of angels praising Jesus Christ, worthy are you the lamb right now. And we're to long for that and we're to join it now. In our lives, in the way we treat others, in the way we live our lives in purity, restraining ourselves and keeping ourselves from the lust of the flesh. We are able to join in that song now. It's our sin that keeps us from enjoying that song. Jesus Christ is worthy of all glory. We were created to glorify him. He has died so that we can bring him glory. We pray with me. We thank you, Father, for this picture of how unique and powerful Jesus Christ is. He is the lion who became a lamb to die for us. Help us to worship. Help us to worship purely and wholeheartedly. Help us to love you with our entire being, because you have first loved us. Help us, Lord, to bring you glory. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Lamb who is worthy, because he was slain, we pray, Amen.