A Revelation of Jesus Christ

I want to take a moment to praise God for the work of Sermon Index over all these years. I've been to a lot of these conferences, and I can't recall a time when the worship was ever sweeter than it was just now. You know, most of the time, if you look in church history, the people that were involved in the cutting edge of what was about to take place didn't really know what was happening. They were seeking Him, and things began to happen that far eclipsed everything that asker thought, whether it's the history of revival, whether it's in the book of Acts, people gathered. And I wonder if tonight could be such a moment for some people in this room. Just the worship together, the strategic time the Lord has that so many times we tend to walk right by powerful moments and never recognize them. I just want to say my expectation is from the Lord tonight. Listen to this verse. In Psalm 34, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make her boast in the Lord. The humble will hear about this and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and He delivered me from all of my fears. They looked unto Him, the people who sought the Lord, they looked unto Him, and they were became radiant, it means in Hebrew, they became radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. When they looked at Him and they saw Him, the radiance of His person took up residence and radiance in them. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. Well, I wonder what the Lord has for you at this point in history. Everyone's talking about the nation they live in. I've had the privilege of being in 65 nations and seeing cultures and races and different things, and I can tell you that everything seems important, but it's all the same. And tonight, if you think of the big picture, that's what the Lord wants us to see, the big picture. How would you start off a conference like we're having? What does God want to say to us like a heavenly flash of light, like a photograph that leaves a spot on your retina? When you look at everything, you see a spot, and it affects everything. Wherever you look, you see that spot, and God wants us to see something about Himself. You know, what comes into your mind when you think of that word God is the most important thing about you. Who you think He is, who you perceive Him to be, and that's the question tonight, is whom do you perceive the Lord to be? There's some things He writes in the Scriptures that are meant to arrest us and to totally capture our hearts for absolute ever. But your concept and my concept of God, even if you've met Him, what you supply from the Scriptures and what you put together, what the Holy Spirit shows you, that is the most important thing about you. It affects everything you do, and it means whether or not you and I will really worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. One of my worst fears is to get in some side pool with some people that are chasing their own ideas, whether it be in a denomination or whether it be—it can happen anywhere. And we end up making God after our image, and He becomes an idol, but it's not Him. You worship a God, but of your own design, He says to people. You worship not me, but you worship another Jesus. So it's important that we see tonight, I think, at the beginning, who He really is, and have a true concept and knowledge. A great dread in every heart in this room should be that we would invent something for our own convenience or some undealt-with selfishness or pride or self-image problem that we use God to meet our own needs rather than really let Him show us who He is. The earth is the Lord, and the fullness thereof, and all they that dwell therein. So may that be so tonight. Now, I want to pray with you, too. I told Edgar, I said, why can't I pray for—I want to pray, so I'm going to pray with you. Bow with me, will you? Father, we have no hope on this planet but You. Vain is the help of man. It's not in any government. It's not in any plans. It's not in the laws that we pass. Our expectation is from You. And so we pray for that which is timeless and supernatural and from beyond that You will grip our hearts so that we lose sleep over what we see, so that we are moved in the bone level of fire burning that affects us to where we are burdened with the burdens of God and rejoice with the joys of God. Teach us Your way, O Lord. Lead us in that great way. A little knowledge that's real about You is worth years in man's schools about You. Teach us Your ways and show us who You are and magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. And so, Father, thank You for Your Word tonight. Use these scriptures. Use Your Word. And autograph Your presence so that our enemies and our friends and our co-workers and those who don't even know can sense these people are full of Jesus. May it be so for the glory of Your name. We pray that for Your glory and honor. Lord, have mercy on us. Have mercy. In Jesus' name, amen. Worship Him in spirit and truth. And to do that, you must see Him as He is. And it's not what someone else tells you, what you've learned. You think of the disciples, how they've been with Jesus for three and a half years. They were clean through the Word that He had spoken. They had been given authority over serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy. They had been given to know the mysteries of God. Their names were written in heaven, it says. They were men that He had chosen to be with Him forever. But yet, at the end of three and a half years of the best teaching, the best example, serving in a way that we could never do. At the end of that time, the actual physical cross totally eclipsed their understanding so that they were hiding. They were still sentimentally toward the Lord and they loved Him. They were sorrowful even after He told them that it must be this way, that He would go this way. He appeared to them, and it says, He rebuked them for their hardness of heart and slowness to believe what the scriptures, the prophets and the writings and the others tell about who He is. And even after women came and told the disciples, He's risen, we've seen Him. And they laughed Him to scorn, it says, and their words seemed as idle tales. Now, I don't know about you, but for you to have the same amount of time and me to have the same amount of time exposed to the things of Jesus like they were, that's 30,500 hours they spent with Him. For you to have that kind of exposure to truth, you have to go to your church services or small group meetings or prayer meetings for the next 58 years for 10 hours a week. Do the math. Is it possible that some of us have let the visible dawn, who He's trying to tell us He really is to us? Is it possible that we could be like them? And tonight, when He appeared to them in the scriptures, He came to them, and it says, He opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. And their eyes were opened and their ears were opened, and He took the book. Lo, I'm coming in the volume of the whole book that is written of me. I'm coming to do Thy will. Oh, my God, Your law is within my heart, says that Messianic Psalm 40. And you look, He showed them the tabernacle. He showed them the feasts. He showed them the offerings. He showed them all the things in the writings concerning Him. He expounded to them, it says. And Luke writes the same thing about Paul at the end of Acts. His message was Jesus. His message was the timeless Christ, not just the historic one. Who He is beyond the cloud, beyond the sacred page. That's what we need to see tonight, who He is. You see, God gives us some truths in the scriptures that open up to us, from His Spirit to us, a new understanding of His character. This is life eternal that we might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you've sent. So many people are looking back sentimentally at Calvary, and they should look back at this and be moved by what He did. Yes, the Lamb of God suffered. You read about it, and we see by the Word of God what He did. And our hearts are melted, so we do our best now to do our best living for Him. Instead of seeing beyond, letting the scriptures open up to see. Look, that's just part of the story. That when He was received up and He disappeared into that cloud, what went on on the other side of that cloud was everything. And this is the great message of the Book of Acts. It wasn't just walking on water or multiplying bread or sentimental things. It was that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's risen from the dead, and He's not just a faceless God. He has a character and heart. He wants you to worship Him. He's on conquest seeking to save and seeking to find worshipers in spirit and truth. So these truths tonight are meant to possess us, and I hope they do keep you awake tonight. I do. I hope you lose sleep over it. I hope you have to get out beside your bed and just say, My Lord and my God, You are awesome, and I just can't believe what I've seen from your heart to mine tonight. So these are meant to shake you and overwhelm you, and so I want to just consider with you for a moment. When Jesus was being introduced as the Son of God, He'd been for 30 years in obscurity, and nobody really knew who He was, and He chose His disciples, but He was being introduced at Beth-Abraham. All of Israel had come out to be baptized by John the Baptist, and He did it down at Beth-Abraham. You know what Beth-Abraham means? It was His house of the passage. It had been 430 years in Egypt, and they came out. They had done their figuring. Israel, He's preaching. It's 430 years that Rome had been there, and since Malachi, and 430 years of that. They knew something's happening, so they all came out to the same place where Joshua led them across the river into the promises of God, the four promises at Beth-Abraham. And there it was that they came to John and said, Who are you? He says, I'm not the one you're looking for. I'm just a voice. And so that next day in John chapter 1 verse 29, that's our first text tonight. He looks in verse 29, the next day John sees Jesus coming to him at the very place where they crossed into the Holy Land, into Israel in Joshua's day. He sees Jesus coming, and he says, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. This is the one that I spoke of, which was coming after me as a man who was before me. I mean, John was older, but yet he said, He was before me. He was giving his timelessness. And so verse 33, I knew him not, but except he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining on him. This same one is the one that baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And verse 36, looking upon Jesus the next day as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. Right where Joshua had led the people into a whole new beginning, Jesus, 430 years later, comes to that same spot, and he is baptized to fulfill all righteousness, to lead a whole new beginning, and bring the people of God into a whole new understanding, and God introduces his Son. Now, you would think that he could be introduced. Why did John say, Behold the Lamb of God? Why didn't he say, Behold the Son of David? Why didn't he say, Behold the Messiah? Why didn't he say, The Word made flesh? Why did he call him the Lamb of God? Well, that's what's so important tonight. He's introducing the Son of God, and this is how he wants to be known. God, the most amazing characteristic through all the Scriptures, consistent from start alpha to the omega end, is that he is the Lamb of God. All from the beginning right on through, but here he comes and he says, Behold the Lamb of God. God is introducing his Son. Now, Hebrews says that all through the Old Testament, there are shadows and types. Shadows and types are to lead you to the things that are casting the shadow. In the book of Colossians it says, Look, don't let anybody judge you in respect of meats and drinks and all these other things and what you do, because all these things are a shadow. They're to lead you to the feet of one who's casting the shadow. It's like you go to a drama in a play, and you're sitting there waiting for this very famous drama to begin. And you're sitting there where you're sitting, and up on the stage there's an empty stage, and lights are coming in from the side, and you see suddenly a shadow begins to make its way, and onto the stage you say, He's coming! He's coming! The main character's coming! And you see this cape, and you say, Oh, he's wearing a cape? When he comes, he'll have on a cape. And you see a hat. Oh, and his sword. This character we're waiting on, he's going to have a sword, and a cape, and a hat. And all of a sudden the main character comes out, and you say, He's more than we ever thought. And now who keeps watching his shadow? He steps out of the wings of history, from all through the Old Testament, Jesus cast his shadow back from the book of Genesis right on through. And you learn about him through the offerings of the priests and the tabernacle, and the priesthood. You learn in the wanderings, and you learn all these things, for those who have eyes to see, and ears to hear what the Spirit would say. And you learn, He's coming! He's coming! He's coming! But they didn't really understand it, but it says in the volume of the whole book it's written of me, I'm coming to do thy will, Father. And so when he stepped out into history, and Father God says, Behold, the Lamb of God, this is who the Lord is showing us. I've spoken by the prophets, and multiplied visions, and similitudes, and all, all the Old Testament is about the Lord Jesus. So this is what he wants us to understand, when he says, There He is. It's God cast a shadow back through the Old Testament from His Son's feet, right in history, when He made His appearing, and all the way back from the beginning. You see, this Old Testament is like the root of the flower, and the flower in the New Testament is the fruit of it, and the beauty of it, and God plicks it, and puts it in His throne room in Heaven. And there today, He is there with power and might. So, in John chapter 1, the Jews are expecting a Messiah. They are. They come out to be baptized. They're expecting for a new beginning. But they're expecting a mighty deliverer on a white horse to come in, and kick the rear ends of the Romans out of the land, and take over the place, like He did in the days of Canaan. And so, they're expecting this, save from the enemies. But they were looking for a king and a prophet, in that mighty sense, rather than a savior and a priest. So, it's like those mountain ranges. You can't tell how far apart they are. When He came, not as they expected, John the Baptist could say, There stands one among you whom you know not. It's a blinded priesthood. And Jesus could say to many, many churches, There's one in your midst who's longing for you, who you don't really know. You see, the Pharisees had a wrong concept of who Jesus really is. So that consequently, when He showed up, they didn't recognize Him. Let me tell you, a lot of people have a wrong idea about what even revival really is. So that when revival really comes, we don't recognize it. Some of us have been studying revival for a long, long time, but I'm telling you, everyone's creative. Just like the animal kingdom, they're so vastly different. God, when He sends revival, it's all about Jesus, and it's all about what He does, and it's always glorious. So, He's announced as, not as the root of David, not as the Word of God, not as the Lion of Judah, but the Lamb of God. And John is answering a question. Behold the Lamb of God. There He is. See, the Pharisees would welcome a Messiah on the mighty white horse, but that's not how they needed Him. Why did He introduce Him as the Lamb? Because that's where we need Him, first of all. We sang about it. The Fatherless, the down-and-out, the needy. You see, that's where I need Him, a Lamb on the altar. So, what I want to do is trace the shadow. I want to trace it. I want you to write these things down. Write the scriptures. Search the scriptures later, and see if these things be so. You see. And you see, when you begin to see they are so, it's going to break out into a chorus of hallelujah in your heart. Because it'll be fresh, no matter how much you know these things, if you'll do this and go through them. I want to go back in your mind and heart. You don't have to turn with me, but I'm going to take you through it to the first thing. When the Lamb of God was typified, way back in the book of Genesis. It starts off in like Genesis chapter 4. And you know that it says there that Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. And Cain and Abel were in the garden. And it came time that they came, in the Hebrew, to a specific place for a specific sacrifice to God. And there they came, each one to worship the way that they understood. Well, Cain came by the best of his hard work. But it says that Abel brought the firstling of the flock, a lamb. And so here's a contrast. You see, here's a beautiful horn of plenty with all the apples and bananas and fruits over here offered to God. The best of the fruit of the ground, which God has cursed. And a sacrificed lamb, which is ugly and rude and obtrusive. See, it says in the New Testament, Hebrews 11, 4. By faith, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. And faith comes by hearing. Where did he hear this? Adam had told his sons because he himself, when he was in his sin, God sought him out and said, listen, there's coming a seed. And he talked to him about the seed that would crush the serpent's head. You know the story. In Genesis 3, and it says, and God made for them coats of skin. Coats, two coats out of one skin. First death in the Bible. And God covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve. And that principle of atonement and a life laid down was seen to them. And Adam and Eve told their sons it had to, because by faith, Abel couldn't have done it any other way. And so he came and he offered a blood sacrifice. And we learn it's necessity. Abel's the teacher that the Lamb of God is typified. But see, God takes it further, because that would have been enough to tell us that God made coats, coverings for nakedness through sin. But God takes it further, because later in the book of Genesis, you see the Lamb of God prophesied. When, after centuries go by, and God speaks to Abraham after he had Isaac, and after he had, excuse me, two sons. Same thing, two sons. And God says in Genesis 22 to Abraham at the end, toward the end of his life. He said, take now your son, your only son, the only one God recognized at that moment was Isaac. Take your only son Isaac to a mountain that I will show you. And there you offer him up for a burnt offering. And if you know your Israeli geography, you will know that Mount Moriah, where he took him, is right in the city of Jerusalem today. And it's the place that we would call Jehovah-Jireh, which God will, in the mount of the Lord, it will be provided and sent. So there they went to Mount Moriah. And in this chapter 22, it's the first time love is ever mentioned in the Bible. Did you know that? It's the first time worship is ever mentioned in the Bible. Did you know that? And first mentions show what God's trying to get across, is the whole meaning of the word. Take your son whom you love, your only son. And it's shown the giving of an only son is a sacrifice. And I and my son are going yonder to worship, Abraham says, to show that worship is not just me raising my hands and feeling goosebumps when I sing, but it's rather giving back to God that which is precious, most precious to me that he's given to me. And I give it back, all that I am, all that I ever hoped to be, I give it all to thee. That's what worship consists of. So they come to this mountain, and Abraham puts wood on Isaac's back. The same mountain, Mount Calvary. And Isaac, the son, walks up the mountain with the wood on his back. And the father, who you don't see in that picture, is watching. And they come to that top, the place where God is chosen, where God will provide. And as they're going up, Isaac looks at his father in chapter 22, verse 8, and he says this question. He says, My father, here is the wood, and here is the fire. Where is the lamb? And Abraham says these words, My son, God, will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. He prophesied the word of God, giving the lamb. Now, this was in the mountain, where God will provide. And Abraham looked, and he saw a ram. Now, a ram is not a lamb. Just ask any of you. They'll tell you. It's not the same. But see, he looked up, it says, and he saw the place afar off. Oh, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he did see it, and he was glad. How can you say that? You're not even 50 years old yet. Oh, I tell you, Abraham saw. Galatians says the gospel was preached to Abraham. He understood, the same way that we can understand. That it's the lamb who will die as a substitute for that which is most precious to me. It will be provided by God, and only God can show me. My son, who is God, will provide himself a lamb. And the both of them went together. It says, together, together, together, in Genesis 22. They went up the mountain together, father and the son. That's what happened on Calvary. Father and son together, in the suffering of that moment. But see, it goes further than the lamb typified with Cain and Abel. And the lamb prophesied with Abraham. It goes, you see, in the book of Exodus, God expands it. You see, it's called progressive revelation in the scripture. God gives a seed. Genesis is called the seed plot. It grows, and he shows a picture there, as in Exodus. It's the Passover. They've been in Egypt all these years. And God says, do you believe in false gods? So he comes, and every plague is an attack on the false gods of Egypt in that day. And they don't listen. And so God says, well, I'm going to get their attention. So he says to Moses, take a lamb. Every household, take a lamb. Your household won't be too small, but if your household is too small, join the houses together. Because this lamb that God provides is enough. You take a lamb on the tenth day of this month. It's the seventh month, but it's going to be such a special time. You're going to begin your calendar all over. This is going to be your new year. That's when Passover begins. It begins their year. All things become new. You take this lamb into your house, and for three days, I want you to examine this lamb. Make sure it doesn't have any blemish or spot. You take this in. Nobody loves lambs more than little kids. Here's your firstborn son, six years old. Loves this lamb. After three days, after four days, the fourteenth day in the evening, here's what you do. You take this lamb outside your front door. The father puts his knees around the head of that lamb and takes a knife and pulls it across the throne of that lamb. The blood spurts in what they call a vase. It's a salt. It's an Egyptian Hebrew word. It's a salt. They take this little bitter herb that they use to symbolize bitterness and repentance. They dip it in that blood, and they splash it on the top of that door and on the two sides. And when you look at it from God's perspective, it's the door that's a perfect cross. Blood at the top where the crown of thorns were, blood on the side, and blood spilled and poured out at the foot. And God said, this night, I'm coming through on this evening, and when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will protect you against all comers. I will pass over you, which means to set a guard over, not just to go by and don't look. It means I will protect you against all comers. So you see, it shows for the family. First, it's Cain and Abel for the individual. Then it's Abraham, a family. Then now it's a whole nation family in the book of Exodus. Here's the family that blood covers from the death stroke when it comes. But you see, it's not enough just to take the lamb. It's the same day that Jesus entered in Jerusalem. It's the tenth day of that same month when he entered in on four legs to the sheep gate in Jerusalem. And for three days they examined him, and never a man spake like this. And on the fourteenth day in the evening, he died. His blood's pooling at the bottom of the cross. And for those who have eyes to see, they can see this is the lamb of God, you see. But it's not enough just to see the blood shed. It has to be applied. You have to come with a heart that's been sympathetic to what God's saying to you, and take that bitter herb of repentance and apply it to the doorposts of your heart. Today, this doesn't mean much to people, but in the early centuries, it meant putting the blood over the doorway of life, out of the heart of the issues of life. That's what it used to mean. Doesn't mean that now. But it used to mean that. Blood over the heart. The blood of the lamb. The blood applied. It has to be. But then it goes further. In Leviticus, the book about the offerings and the feasts, and that the lamb of God is exemplified by Israel because, you see, over and over, over twenty times in the book of Leviticus, it says, This lamb shall be without blemish and without spot. It has to be a pure lamb. So you learn that to exemplify, twenty times this offering must be perfect to be accepted. It's character. You see the character of the lamb of God. But then you come to that mighty chapter in Isaiah. We've got Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah sees the Lord, and he's high and lifted up, and he becomes undone. And you see his whole book change. People say there's two Isaiahs. You're right. There were. Before and after. When he saw the Lord as he is. And so in chapter 57, he says, Thus saith the Lord, the high and lofty one, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him, that is of a broken and contrite heart, to revive the spirit and the heart of the contrite ones. And so you learn the brokenness and what happens when you see him. Who was it that Isaiah saw? Well, in John 12, quotes from that very chapter, verse 8, and from Isaiah 53, when it says, To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? To whom will he make known himself? John chapter 12, verse, in the 40s, and they're looking there, it says, It was him, him, him, the disciples did. Though they did so many miracles, the Pharisees believed not on him. These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory, and saw him, and wrote of him. It's Jesus is who he saw. The one that John saw, and fell at his feet as a dead man. He fell, he saw the Lord Jesus as he is, but Isaiah comes and he says in chapter 53, that great chapter, so you see, he's not just typified and set forth. He comes and he says in chapter 53, listen to what he says in verse 5. He says, He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, with his stripes we are all healed, we are all like sheep having gone astray, we've turned everyone to our own wayness. That's what sin is, our own way. It's not robbing banks and spitting on people, and murdering, that's just the effect of sin. My own way, independence from God. And so the Lord laid on him, this lamb, the iniquity of us all. I love the way Isaiah says us, ours, we's. It's all us. He was oppressed, afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, he's brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he opened not his mouth. Then it goes to eternity. He was taken from judgment, and he talks about what happened after that. But you see, the point about Isaiah making this is, the lamb of God is going to be a person. He's typified, he's prophesied, his blood will have to be applied, this blood, this lamb, he's got to be perfect. And Isaiah says, it's going to be a man. This man's going to be the Messiah, and on him is going to be laid all the iniquity of us all. In case you wonder that it wasn't Jesus, that's what the Ethiopian was reading in Acts chapter 8, when he's riding on his chariot, and he's reading this very passage, and Philip hears him read and says, do you understand what you're reading? How can I, except somebody guide me? And Philip joined himself, and he began to preach to him, it's all about Jesus. In case you wonder, it's all about Jesus. So when you come to John chapter 1, verse 29, behold, the lamb of God, this is the one that's been casting the shadow, this is the one, he will completely remove and bear away sins, he's standing along you, but you don't recognize him as he is. You've got your own ideas about when God comes, what it'll be like, but he comes as a lamb, first of all, as he reveals himself. But then you go further and say, in Peter, when it says in 1 Peter chapter 1, that for as much as you know, you weren't redeemed from your vain way of life, from your sin, by your empty way of life, but you were redeemed with the blood of the lamb, as of a lamb with Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world just for you, but was revealed in these last times. And to you who believe, he'll be more than you ever thought. That's what Peter's saying. So you learn, it's clarified, you see, Peter not only looks forward to the future, that God takes him to glory and sets him down, but he looks back and saying, this is enough to cover everything, a forward and a backward look. He talks about this lamb will be raised from the dead. So when you get to that chapter, that's the other chapter that we're looking at in this night, chapter 5 of Revelation, you can turn there, chapter 4 and 5, you see the lamb of God magnified, magnified by all the hosts of heaven and what an occupation is heaven involved in right now. If you could hear it to heaven, what are they singing? What are they saying? They're singing, recorded in the book of Revelation, about the blood of the lamb. They're singing the song of Moses, translated and brought into eternity, about the lamb that brought them out of Egypt, but brought us out of this world's bondage. They're glorifying the lamb of God. This is God's choice, this is not just chance. I am the lamb of God, he's saying, Jesus is saying, and by all the heavenly hosts, he's magnified, the center of worship in heaven. But then you go further, by all of history and all of time, he goes into Revelation, chapter 21 and 22, and you see he's absolutely glorified by the Father. The lamb's face is going to be the light in the new city of Jerusalem when it's made. We're the bride of the lamb, the goal has been reached, there's no more tears, curse, sin, and there's a new Jerusalem, and you see his authority and his power with the Father on the throne forever and ever. And we see his face, as I prayed earlier. If we really saw that, we'd be on our chairs, swinging our coats around our head, we would be fired up, and then we'd fall on our face with the recollection of what it really means. We would be absolutely blown away. You see, Revelation also says, this is the lamb whose blood was shed before the foundation of the world. He has a book, and he has a will, and it's known, it's not an emergency rescue plan. Sin was anticipated and provided for before it ever happened. God knew all about my weakness before he ever messed with me the first time. When I came to him, it's not like, well, you better not mess up, no. He knew the worst about you, what you don't even know about yourself. He knows our pride, he knows our fears, he knows everything, and he's not intimidated because, you see, in the book of Genesis, you see the scope of the blood. Oh, for one person, it's able. God sheds his blood for one person in this picture that we set forth. It's able for the individual. But in Exodus, it's blood for the family. In Leviticus, it's blood for the nation. And then you see in Isaiah 52, when he says, with his blood, I mean, his face was marred more than any man. His body was marred. And it says, and he will sprinkle many nations with his blood. So, you see, it's not just one nation. It's many nations. And so, it's not just many nations. John 1, we just read, says it's for the whole world. And then Peter says it's for all of history. And Revelation says it's for all the universe. Colossians says he'll cleanse the heavens with his blood, the effect of the fall. And so, you see, in Revelation 21 and 2, it's for all eternity. So, what makes you so worried about your sin? Do you think he can't handle it? He can handle it. And so, you see, he came. You see, he wants us to see it. Behold the Lamb of God. At his birth, he's born where lambs are born. In a stable. He was a Passover lamb. He was born. If you go to the place just outside Bethlehem, you'll see that place where they birth lambs. It was a priestly place where they birth lambs. And that's why the shepherds knew where to look. Within the precinct of Jerusalem. He was the lamb born to die. And they came at his birth in the stable. Shepherds worshipped him, first of all. And at his baptism, he's introduced as the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb. At Beth-Abra, of all places. Of all the places. At his triumphant entry, he comes in on the very day that all the lambs come in for that final Passover. And he comes in on four legs. Four legs! And they cry out, Hosanna! Which means, save us, save us. You'll see it in the book of Revelation. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Save us, O God. And before his accusers, he's there. As a sheep led to the slaughter. You see him satisfying that scripture. And you see there were 1,200 legal sacrifices every year. For over 1,900 years. Plus the hundreds of thousands that Solomon and everybody, individuals offered. And all of those oceans of blood. All of those oceans of blood are not worth one drop of his blood. One drop. Incorruptible blood. Precious blood. Holy blood. Precious blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. But you see, all of those things in the Old Testament all pointed to him. This is why when the disciples saw it by the Spirit of God, they were turned into soldiers. They were still fallible. They still had things they had going on. But I'm telling you what, nothing else mattered but to honor and glorify the Lamb of God. They didn't preach about walking on water. They didn't preach about multiplied bread. They preached about the resurrected Lord Jesus on the throne. Whom they knew. And who was Lord. The word Savior is only in the New Testament 24 times. Eight of those times it's talking about the Father being Savior. All but one of them is talking about his relationship to a group of people. He's our Savior. Only once is it in the singular, and that's Mary. And she says, My Spirit rejoicing in God. My Savior. Who can say that except a sinner who's saved by grace? The word Lord is used over 600 times. And every time we're told to come to him or worship him, it is as Lord. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord. But they won't enter heaven because, you see, they didn't do the will of the Father. Which is that in all things he would be Lord and have preeminence. So for the final part of what we're doing tonight, I want to take you at last, finally. All the oceans of crimson come to the book of Revelation. Now, in the book of Revelation. Let me get a breath here. Somebody says, Do you breathe? And I say, Well, I forget to. I can't have a breath. I'm sorry. I have to stop and get a little breath here. You see, in the book of Revelation there are three big key words. You go through and you count them. Get your concordance out. Do it. Study the word of God. Search the scriptures and see if I'm telling you the truth tonight. You see, it's the book about worship. 28 times in the book of Revelation the word worship is in fact at the end it says, Blessed are those who keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. The last chapter. That's what he's after. Real worship for who he is. And in his purposes to be part of it. Like Abraham was in being part of that whole big picture. So, it's the book about worship. Because it's 24 times more than all the rest of the New Testament put together. It's in Revelation. Put right there. But the second big word and bigger than worship is the word Lamb. It's the word. Well, in the rest of the New Testament there's a word called Arnos. Amnos, excuse me. It's the word for lamb. And it's the one in John. Behold Arnos of God. It's a tender lamb. And it's one that's used primarily for sacrifice. But you see, John who wrote John's gospel also in the book of Revelation has a unique word for the lamb of God. Guess what it is? Arnos. Now, that doesn't mean much to you except it's in the diminutive. Which means it's the smallest, most gentle, weakest lamb of all. Tender. Helpless. This is the Arnos of God. You see the righteousness of God backing this lamb, you see. But see, that's the second word. The third word is the word throne. And it's used 46 times. Throne. So, you see, you put those together and it's worship the lamb on the throne. The other word that's used more than the rest of the New Testament put together is wrath. Because that's the alternative. And that's what John sees. You see him in that first chapter. He's paid the price, man. We heard talk yesterday about he had probably been dropped in a pot of oil. And it hadn't killed him. And the Romans feared him more dead than alive. So, they put him on Patmos. And while he was on Patmos, he was praying like any good believer would do in the Lord's day. And he hears this noise behind him. And he turns around and he sees the high priest on the throne. Sixteen years after the resurrection. Jesus is there. And he sees him with his face shining like the noonday sun. Hair white like the biggest cumulus cloud. Like clouds. And he spoke with the sound of many waters. And John, who put his ear on Jesus' chest at the Last Supper and said, I'm the disciple whom Jesus loved. When he saw Jesus, you know what he did? He ran up and slapped him on the back with his living Bible and said, Good to see you, my bro. Is that what he did? Of course not. You know, I'm just messing with you. He fell at his feet. Everything drained out of him. As a dead man. Fear not. I am he that liveth. I was dead, but now I'm alive forevermore. And he then gives him a word about what's really on his heart for today. The seven churches, which he holds in his right hand. You look at the word at the right hand of God. And you see the word sit down. Sit down in glory. See it from Psalm 110 going all the way through. How he sat down expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. But how will they be made? By you and me, his body. We recognize what happened in Genesis 3. We put our feet on the neck of the devil like Joshua did. Those kings of Ammon. And we dare to stand with him. So we see the Lord Jesus in this second and third chapter. Giving a word to the seven churches. And you see him seven times. He says, let him who has an ear to hear. Hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches. And he's saying that today too. Did you know that? Let the church that has an ear to hear. To listen, to hear, to heed. Take heed to thyself. Take heed what you hear. Take heed how you hear. He said that in the gospels. But let the one who has ears to hear. Listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches. And I hope you're hearing what he's saying to the churches in our day. So God says, come up here. I'm going to show you what will be here after. But before he takes him into those awesome chapter six through the end of the book. Until you get to the final consummation when Babylon is judged. You see the seven seals and the seven bowls and the seven thunders. They don't even know about them. But you see God giving a revelation of the final consummation of the things on the earth. And can you hear? Can you hear Gabriel licking his lips right now? It's like he's getting ready to start. Really coming to being any day. I just feel like these things are at the doors. Lift up your head. Your redemption. Draws nigh. Before the undoing revelation of chapter six through the end. God takes him up in chapter four and five of Revelation. By the way, it's not the book of Revelations. Come on, look in the book of Revelations. If they said that, you know they hadn't read it. It's the Revelation singular. And you know what the Revelation's of? It's what we're going to look at right now. It's what you see in the first chapter. It's who he is. And he shows who he is. It's not what he's going to do only. It's who he is. Because you see that's what he shows him. Before he gives him the plan for redemption of the earth. He catches him up. And there's two things. I mean, Andrew and I are sitting today. And a fellow writes me. He knows that I'm covering this tonight. And he wrote me this about behold. That word behold. And he says it must make God extremely grieved in his heart. That his church has been shown so many times God's faithfulness and his love and power. And yet when the next trial comes along we doubt him. He wants us to behold. And he says in Isaiah 49. Behold, I've etched you in the palms of my hand. Can a mother forget her sucking child? The answer is she can. Look around. Can a bride forget her wedding ornaments and her things that mean she was married? It's like the things that mean the most. Yes, she can. But can I forget you? No, it's real. I've etched you on the palms, which means right here, of my hands. And I cannot give you up, he says in Hosea. I cannot. I love you. And so God is grieved. We don't hear him, you see. But he says I want you to behold. And so you see here he catches up John. And in chapter 4 there's one thing he beholds. And it staggers him. It should stagger us. And in chapter 5 there's another. Behold! Things that when I think of that word at Calvary, it says when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, it says they stood beholding him. The crowd is. Beholding him! What a word to look at, gaze, and meditate upon. Selah. In the spiritual sense. So you see, in chapter 4, are you there? You need to read this with me if you've got your Bible. Turn to chapter 4. I don't know what time I even started here. I guess I've got another little bit of time. If you need to leave, you can go. If you need to excuse yourself, it doesn't bother me. If you want to take a nap, lay down. Help yourself. I'm serious. It does not bother me. It does not bother me. You see, in that Revelation chapter 4, we didn't read that today, but we came close to it. These chapters set a tone for the whole book. It's like God says, before you start beholding the things coming to pass on the earth, and losing your heart for fear from looking, I want to show you what's really going on in the throne room of God. I want to show you what's going on in heaven. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's his order. Heaven first, earth second. That's what his priority is. It's the heavens. So you see the tone and the beholding. So here's what he beholds. Chapter 4, verse 1. After this, after hearing the word about listening to what the Spirit's saying, after this, I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice was that which I heard, were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, Come up here, and I'm going to show you things which must be hereafter. And so immediately I was in the Spirit. And behold, a throne. That's that big word in Revelation. Forty-six times. Behold, a throne. And so it says, And one sat on the throne, and he that sat upon the throne was to look upon like a jasper, that's glowing, and a sardine stone, that's deep red. And there was a rainbow and a circle around the throne and in the sight like unto an emerald. Who can imagine this? That circular 360-degree always covenant throughout eternity. And around the throne there were four and 20 seats, and upon the seats I saw four and 20 elders, sitting clothed in fine little raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And so you see this amazing picture. And then so, verse 7, the angels, the cherubim and seraphim are worshipping him, and the four different faces of the cherubim, and the living creatures full of eyes, mysterious like Ezekiel sees. And verse 9, And when those living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the four and 20 elders, they fall down before him. Count the number of times they fall before him. They fall down on their faces, there's seven of them. And I want to know why we're so quiet. They worship him who lives forever and ever, and they cast their crowns down before the throne, and they sing or say, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you have created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. So here you see in chapter 4, the sovereign rule of God. He's created all things. The earth is the Lord's. It's all for his glory, awesome holiness, all creation worships, and the atmosphere around the throne of God is worshipped for his sovereign majesty and holiness, and who he is. And so when they see him on their throne, they fall off their throne. When they see him on his throne, they fall off their throne. That's what will happen to me and you too, you know. When you see him on the throne, really see him, like Isaiah. It won't just be woe is me. You'll fall down, and you'll say, and he'll ask you a question. You want to get involved in my purposes? You're going to have to be clean. You're going to have to be right. You're going to have to be oneness with me. He who's joined to the Lord is one spirit, Isaiah says. Be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. Holiness becometh thy house forever and ever, O Lord. Let all that are gathered around you bring gifts and come in holiness. Thy people will be willing sacrifices in the day of thy power. So you see the awesome holiness, and inherently in this with the rainbow around the throne, this is a covenant keeping God that's on this throne from the first in Genesis 9, the rainbow all the way to the end. The rainbow, the covenant of God. Don't let anybody else steal it. And so awesome holiness, a rainbow of grace and mercy and love, and so we learn inherently what sin is. What is sin for a created being except being away from that throne? It's just being away from the throne. It's not all the things we call different degrees and that it is independence from God, acting like we have a right to ourselves, and God, you don't have a right to me. You don't have a right to have my body. And so tears without bowing at the throne might just be selfishness, disappointed. It might just become mockery if we allow it to continue in our own heart, you see. But so you see here, you see the holiness and the majesty of God, and he has a right to reign over all his creation, and there's a ruckus in heaven that's awesome, so big that John can't even capture it. But then you see another behold in chapter 5. This is before God shows him the end of the earth, as we know it in the judgments. Verse 1, And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside as well, and it was sealed with seven seals. Now, if you know about the Goel scroll, the kinsman redeemer in the Old Testament, you know that they would take two scrolls. One would be with the priest, and one would be with the kinsman redeemer, and it was written on the front and back, and there'd be seven seals, concentric, one and then another on top, then another, and they'd be unrolled, and you'd do the next one and the next one, so you had to work your way in, and they had to match, written on the inside and on the outside. This is God's scroll that you see over the nations when he judges them to bring in everlasting righteousness. This is the kinsman redeemer scroll for the whole earth, if you know the Old Testament, which we don't today. We've not studied about that, the Goel, the kinsman redeemer, and the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the offerings, so our New Testament is a shell to us, but once you begin to see these things, your heart begins to burn, and so you see here in chapter 5, you see suddenly he sees this throne, and he sees this strong angel, verse 2, proclaiming with a loud voice, a challenge to the universe, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. Who's the one that can bring in everlasting righteousness and an everlasting kingdom, and who's worthy to bring the judgments on the earth and to finalize God's redemptive plan, and no man in heaven, nor in earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or even look at it. Couldn't even look at it. That's how holy and amazing this book is. And I wept much, John says, because you know why? He loved righteousness. He wanted to see God's eternal reign come in, like we want revival. Because no man was found worthy to open the book and read it, neither to look upon it. So one of the elders comes and says to me, Weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. So you see, we have these ideas. The lion of Judah, the root of David, and I'm sure he turns around expecting to see, Yes, mighty God. But when he turns, and he looks, and I beheld, there's that behold. And lo, in the midst of the throne, and the four living creatures, in the midst of the elders, stood an Arneas, the tenderest, gentlest, most helpless lamb, as it had been slain. This lamb had marks of death, a sacrificial lamb. But this lamb had seven horns. That's all power. That's omnipotence. And seven eyes. That's omniscience, seeing all things. And that seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and he took the book. He took it, he took it. He came and he said, I'll take that. That's mine. He's the next of kin. He's the son of man. Son of God and son of man. We sang it tonight. The Lamb of God. And so he says, he took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb. There they go again. Having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints in Fredericton. And Lincoln, you're included in that. He saves them. Every drop, every tear he keeps in his bottle. It says in Psalm 56, verse 8. And he knows everything we ever mention, everything we ever think, every thought, all at once, of all the people, of all of history. It's all before him. He's not confused or tired. He's God. And when he had taken the book, the four and twenty elders fall down. And you see them falling on their faces. And they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for you were slain. And there's different translations. Some say you've redeemed them, but it's still angels saying this, but it says whatever. And he's talking about you. You have redeemed us to God, us or them, by your blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And you have made us or them to our God, kings and priests, authority and intercession, kings and priests. And we shall reign on the earth. That's an eternal present. And I beheld the voice of many angels rounded out the throne. Our brother read this so well today, so beautifully. I cried when he read it. And the living elders and the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was ten myriads or myriads times myriads and thousands of thousands. Not just, you can't count this. It's vast, the saints. And they were saying in unison with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Listen to this. To receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. That's the heartbeat around the throne of God. Worthy is the Lamb to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and all in the sea I heard saying, Blessing and honor and power be unto him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the four twenty elders fall down there and go again worshiping God. Him who lives on the throne forever and ever. So these two chapters show you the throne room. It's a vision of the throne room of God. It's the same one Isaiah had. Maybe a different thing. God let him see. But the overarching from first to finish is the Lamb on the throne. So you see in chapter four, get this contrast. Chapter four says, Behold a throne. Chapter five says, Behold a Lamb. Chapter four we see the dominion of the throne. He's over all creation. He's sovereign God. But you see, and then in chapter five you see the disposition of the one who's on the throne. You see the character of the one who has all authority and all power. And you see the power in chapter four but the person in chapter five. You can just bring the phone to me and I'll answer it if you need me to. You see God's holiness in chapter four. But you see his love in chapter five. You see chapter four is full of praise but in chapter four they're praising God as creator. But the praise in chapter five eclipses and transcends chapter four. You know why? Because in chapter four all he had to do to create was to speak his word. And it stood fast. But in chapter five as redeemer he had to shed his blood. And therefore it eclipses all and they're praising redeemer mighty God singing about his blood. And they're still doing this you see. At this moment here's what I want you to get tonight. At this moment right now God has chosen to represent himself in this vivid I believe it's literal actual picture I don't understand how it intimately works but I know this he said this is how I want you to see me and understand my authority and power and character and that is that the lamb once slain now does reign and he sits on a covenant keeping throne surrounded by rainbow where there's been blood sprinkled on it it's covenant blood he bears covenant marks of Calvary and this same blood that's sprinkled on the throne is sprinkled on you. Now if you're seeing somebody and you start to nod off just nudge them and say hey did you hear that trumpet? And wake them up don't let them go to sleep because we're getting to the crux right here we're getting to the very end. You see who is on the throne makes all the difference as to what that throne requires of you when you finally come back and stop sinning and come to that throne and deal with the lordship of who he is. You see it's just like when a government changes don't worry I'm not going to get into that but it's just like when a government changes presidents or prime ministers or kings they have the same laws but the new king determines how the law will be set forth and brought forth and they can change a lot of things so you see who's on the throne makes all the difference and God has said at this moment in history there's a lamb on the throne and it is the lamb who's to be your lord and my lord. It makes all the difference so let me ask you are you fellowshipping with the lamb? Don't answer me answer yourself. Are you fellowshipping with the lamb? Do you seek to please him? Have you partaken of his divine nature? Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us let us therefore keep the feast not with malice and wickedness but with sincerity and truth to come and eat his flesh and drink his blood he's our Passover lamb and to come and let his nature possess by these exceeding great and precious promises we become partakers of the very nature supernaturally he who's joined to the lord is one spirit and the spirit of God in your spirit becomes the fountain for the rivers that are to fill and flood your brain and give you a new mind and give you a new emotion set on things above where he sits on the right hand of God and a new will not mine but his now and by the way lord my body's yours to do with use me or bruise me whatever you want but I'm yours I'm yours because you're worthy of all of it lord can two walk together except they be agreed Amos 3.3 can they? No they can't how can God bear an unequal yoke when it comes to something that involves the life and death of souls you see active for him is not the same thing as occupied with him are you occupied with him? is he your meat and drink? is he your love and life? you see the world is not walking with the lamb the churches as a religious institution are not walking with the lamb in fact religion hates the lamb because it's exactly the opposite of what so much of it is trying to do today it's not the same the world is not walking with the lamb and to those who've been made to see and hear humility is the majesty grace is what God is after right is might and the low way is the highway so are you walking with the lamb? listen if you like the pharisees imagine like there's a mighty tiger on the throne so if you're fellowshipping with God as a tiger who's your lord then if you make me mad and if there's somebody CEO he's the administrator of the men he's the sovereign architect of the universe mighty administrator so that means that all you care is about making rules you see how you impose upon we impose upon God our views of him there's a there's some macho man up there who's gonna bruise so it's okay for me to give my whole life and strength 100% of everything I do to lifting weights and becoming strong see none of that matters because you see there's not a macho on the throne he's not a macho man he's not a CEO on the throne he's not a serpent on the throne when you make your man bite you back there's a lamb on the throne and we're called into the fellowship of God's dear son y'all follow me I don't know if you do but this this will be revival for you for me and I really let the Holy Spirit make this real to me that there's a lamb on the throne and I cannot be fellowshipping with Jesus unless I'm taking sin that he took seriously and cost of everything seriously if I'm not walking with the lamb I'm not walking with God this is the picture he has chosen so does the reign of the lamb take place inside of you God has two throne rooms one in highest heaven and the other in the lowest heart in fact he says Stephen asked this question when he was being stoned he looked at the temple before the rock started hitting him he says God says where is the house that you will make for me all these things my hands have made they're mine but to this man will I look even to him that has a broken and contrite heart who tremble with my word this is God's house you are the temple of God you are the worship center he wants you to be a walking worship service and he wants to live inside your temple in your spirit make it his abode my father and I will come and make our abode with him and manifest ourselves to them if you abide in me and my words abide in you you can ask what you will because we're going to be in harmony and the Holy Spirit will guide you into all the truth and he'll take what's mine and show it to you it's not just a successful life it's a supernatural life from above life he who has the sun living here reigning here has life and he who doesn't will never see life all he sees is church and so you see him saying to us listen I want to reign in you and there's two throne rooms look if you want to know what to allow in your throne room in here in your life go to the book of Revelation and look and see what kind of music are they listening to what kind of attitude do they have when they see him well then let that become your atmosphere your attitude your action your attitude what do they do they're on their face before him we put mats down here tonight in case somebody wanted to get on their face but you see does is my heart in harmony are these two throne rooms in harmony the king of England used to leave in London from the throne when he went and he'd go down to the south in Cornwall area and he'd take with him another tent it had a royal insignia on it and a throne of ivory that he would sit on but when he went down to Cornwall he would sit on the throne and he would sit there and when he was in residence there it had the same authority because he's on the throne there as it did in London and when God comes to you and to me and he sets up his throne and establishes his kingdom in your heart it has the same authority it has the same grace and power and I must learn to live in that and walk in that and let the lamb reign because you see the covering of the tent doesn't mean much the pharisee's missing so questions to finish all the new testament confirms it we are the lamb's wife we are spotless sacrifices well behold I send you forth as lambs or sheep among wolves as I was sent by the way so send I you our names are written in what book the lambs but I was sent when you go over here to Fredericton where they birth babies and they have a registration how many cows do you find in the people book of life they'll lose their job if they put a cow in there where people are registered as born how many non-lambs do you think are found in the lambs book of life we've been bought with a price redeemed by the blood of the lamb we come to the throne of grace we discover that the same blood that was sprinkled at Calvary for me on the floor he took into heaven and he and the blood there sprinkles me he's slain on the altar he reigns on the throne it's a lamb in both cases we my sheep hear my voice he's the good shepherd we are the sheep of his pasture and fear not little flock I am with you all the way as I was sent so send I you lambs wife so I'm just saying tonight that our spotless head speak to us and call us into a real relationship you see I mean I know we can get up here and we can talk about the lamb of God and we can talk about revival and we need to pray more we need to do all this we need to sit down and really try to make ourselves very very sad we don't have to make ourselves sad we've never spoken we didn't speak about him the priesthood was all about him Hebrews tells us more than any other Old Testament passages are the very Hebrews which shows it's all about the lamb of God on the throne so tonight I wanna ask you are you in fellowship with the lamb or do you have some other ideas like of your own and God you're making him serve you you know he loves you he's gonna still love you but how much we miss because we don't know him as he is the lamb of God how it should melt our hearts tonight that we can go to our faces and join in literally with our little tiny ears our little tiny incense I was thinking as we were praying over here our little tiny incense merged in with all that glorious incense for the lamb is the light in the city of God all of that will come together all be consummated in him I'll take that book and one by one he opens those seals and establishes that he is the kinsman redeemer of all of men who trust in him so there's a lamb on the throne don't let anybody tell you that you have to become some other way let him change you into his image not his earthly image people say we're being conformed to the image of Christ which image is that you're talking about the first man is of the earth earthly and those that are of the earth hear the words of the earth but the second man is the Lord from heaven and he's making up a body and it's made of pieces of dirt you and me dust and he's forging us together by his breath and making us into a body and we have triumphed in him and the sooner we can try to identify on our terms with that and start realizing he included me then we can start walking together with real authority and humility and power you don't have to make yourself low you just have to acknowledge where you really are before him we are nothing he is everything you don't have to deprecate yourself and try to walk around with your shoulders bent like this oh poor me no no no just get on your face and realize nothing in my hands I bring simply to that cross I cling and the fact that he is alive on the throne tonight his life vivifies and makes effectual all that he did on the earth I'm going to say something now that may shock some of you but do you know that the blood that he shed at Calvary was never meant just to stay on earth he had plans for that precious blood of the lamb any more than the high priest when he shed blood on the outer court was leaving that blood right there on the outer court he took that blood into the holy place and the holiest of all into the mystery realm where man never saw just like Jesus it says in Hebrews by his own blood he came in and he sprinkled his own blood through the heavens onto the mercy seat of God and there that blood there was made the atoning power and he sat down he appeared there he appeals there in prayer and he sat down and today he lives he's our advocate on high and he said into you if you're a believer his advocate within the third person the executive of the Godhead and these two are like this in perpetual covenant and if you'll let him he'll do more than you ever ask because he's a covenant keeping God and his throne tells an endless story about it I'm a covenant keeping God so see what you and I need to do tonight is to believe God that you might know the hope of his calling in Ephesians 1 that means high priest he ever lives to pray for you and let me tell you the father always hears his prayers he said inside of you the riches of his inheritance the Holy Spirit living inside of you he couldn't do that until he took the throne what Peter says in Acts 2 that's what it says in John 7 he could not give the Holy Spirit that way until there was a glorified man who happened to be the son of man on the throne then he can send the greatness of his inheritance in his saints that's you inside now and third the exceeding greatness of his power which works in us who believe according to the working of his power to those who believe you see we always have to be convinced by things that shouldn't have to convince us this should be enough for us and once it starts being enough God will blow you away if tonight we could repent of our unbelief and our slowness to believe all the prophets have spoken and dare to say just as I am without one plea but thou my Lamb of God has died for me I love that song O Lamb of God I come I come the Spirit and the Bride that's you and the Spirit the Bride of Christ they come come, come three times and so our main business why didn't he drown you at baptism if you believe in immersion why didn't why didn't I mean I do why, why why didn't he drown you at baptism I mean to be with Christ would be far better to die is gain just hold him under there and he'll go straight to heaven he left you here for a glorious purpose that only you in his amazing grace can do it may not be to be president or successful on the earth he says it may be to reach one little orphan but it's only what you can do and he left you here to realize that and as you seek his face in the scriptures looking into this like a mirror you find yourself being changed by the spirit into the same thing you see in the bible who he is his image and you say my lord you look in the mirror and you look in your own eyes and you see there's something in there that I've never seen before it's not a what it's a who and you'll begin to weep with what makes him weep and you'll begin to have a wrath with some of the things that have him have a wrath be angry and sin not you can take it too far let me pray with you father tonight I pray there'll be true inward decision that people will forsake some any form of idolatry that we have about who's reigning on the throne of the universe and that we will take your picture that you give to us over and over and over to convince us that there's a lamb on the throne this moment right now you are the high priest of heaven and your character is best represented from first to last by the lamb who gives himself for his people laid upon you the iniquity of us all writes our name in your book you ever live to make intercession for your flock you are the great shepherd the good shepherd gracious shepherd and I pray that our hearts will begin to burn tonight as we consider this and dare to let you be gone anybody here need to repent of maybe putting something else on the throne in your heart instead of the lamb of God or maybe are you willing tonight to say Lord Lord I want to consciously with all my heart be taught from your scripture who you are and I want to get in line with it I surrender all I'm not just making commitments to do things I'm surrendering who I am I want you to start doing things I want you to start being yourself I want you to feel at home in my heart by faith I want you to I want the high priest to have agreement with the spirit of God in my heart praying with groanings that can't be uttered and he sees and he hears and we've asked it in his name and he does it and he gets all the glory teach us how to pray and live and move like that thank you for the patience of these dear ones sitting here tonight it's been a long night I know it has but I pray you'll burn these words into the spiritual retina of every heart that everything we look at will hear your voice and you'll be saying to us there's a lamb on the throne of God and we'll spend time there that we'll get acquainted with the atmosphere of heaven thy will be done on earth now in earth as it is in heaven let the atmosphere of your throne room become the atmosphere and attitude and action of my heart may I may I hear your voice and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart become acceptable in your sight oh my lord my redeemer lamb of God and so as we come to the end I just wanna open up this altar as we come to the end and perhaps a few of you might like to come and just have a moment here we'll wait for a few moments and maybe sister you can play something softly and maybe there's some business you need to transact coming by faith not just to the front here and getting on your knees or face or whatever you wanna do make a chair into an altar but deal with your king deal with the lamb on the throne where your life doesn't match that let him change you let him transform you he'll do it that's why I brought you here tonight he loves you but he doesn't want it to be your victory he wants it to be his victory in you his victory is always total it's never partial it's always now and not later and it's always his and not mine it's glorious it's complete victory in Jesus name so father this altar in the name of Jesus and the chairs and just hear our cries we come before you and listen to what your people surrender and say to you in this next moment in the quietness of their heart in Jesus name just wait before me