Worthy Is The Lamb

Lord, how great is your love and your mercy toward us. There's nothing that is beyond your awareness, your knowledge, your concern and care for us. Lord, I pray that you bring deliverance to Brooke. God, you're the one who can deliver us from all of our fears. You're the only one that can bring peace where fear and terror is threatening just the very well-being of this young girl. Lord, I pray that there would be a surrender to you, a seeking you out, a responding to you, so that she would have a cross story, a God story, as we have heard here this morning. Lord, do a work in her life, do a work in her family, that they would come to surrender their lives to you, to entrust their lives into your hands. Lord, we pray that you would be with Joyce as she travels. You give her alertness and safety every inch of that road until she gets to her destination and arrives safely. Lord, for ongoing needs that are represented here this morning, those that are here and others that are not for whatever reason, Lord, I pray that you would bring health and healing, you bring wholeness. Let your name be glorified, Lord, I pray, as we trust in you. Lord, we wait upon you today as you would lead us in your word for the time that remains this morning. I pray that you would direct us. Lord, I pray that you'd give us wisdom in this hour where fear is gripping our society. People don't know where to turn. They're looking to masks and mandates and vaccines and absence of viruses and chaos in the world, but even if all of those things were gone, they would still be the matter of the heart. Lord, I pray that you would help us to shine the gospel of Jesus Christ brightly, to be that salt and light, and that many people would come to faith in you. May we see Jesus in your word, I pray. Amen. Will you take your Bibles and turn as you remain standing just for a moment as we read this together in 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. Lord, do your best to come to me soon. This is Paul speaking to Timothy. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. This is the very word of God. You may be seated. The title of my message this morning is Worthy is the Lamb. Paul is enumerating a number of things that he has experienced over recent weeks even, recent months. So this isn't a long time ago for Paul. This is very recent experience for him where people have deserted him, people have opposed him. He was abandoned, so to speak, when he was standing before the tribunal and he's giving his defense, but there's no one else standing alongside of him to bring encouragement or to say, Paul, we're with you. We're praying for you. So as far as Paul was concerned, he was alone. There was no other person that was alongside of him. Now, Timothy is not indicted in this because when he's writing to Timothy, they are distanced by a great many miles. And so he's speaking about those that were in the same city as he was in Rome. Well, he has a proper perspective here when he acknowledges that although everybody had deserted him, the only one that was still with him was Luke. So that was something. But his focus isn't to detail who was with and who wasn't with as much as it is for him to say, although there was nobody else with me except for Luke, I didn't need them because Jesus was with me. See, Paul has the proper perspective here when he says in verse 17, but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me. Notice what he says in the latter part of this verse. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. See, he's been telling Timothy and encouraging him about the truthfulness, the authority, the validity, the truth of the Word of God, that it stands firm and it will not fail. It will not fade away. He was telling Timothy, I'm aware that my life is almost at an end. He knew that he was about to be executed. So he's just a short amount of time, weeks, months at most before his life has come to an end by the executioner. But he says back in verse 7, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. And so Paul's focus, his perspective, and even as we read about his different letters to the church in Thessalonica, as he had mentioned about some have been in where Demas, he's gone and deserted and gone to Thessalonica. Well, Paul administered there, and Paul had written two letters to the church in Thessalonica. And of course, in his first letter, he's telling them about the hope that we have knowing that Jesus Christ is coming to take his church to be with him. Paul doesn't say it in a sense where it's, this is your hope. He says, this is the hope that we have. This is what I taught you when I was with you. And since he had been with the church in Thessalonica up until he had written that letter, he had received news from them. They were concerned because some of their number had since died. So they're concerned. What does that mean now for our dead brother or sister? You know that you said the Lord is going to come back for us, but now they're dead. Have they missed it? And Paul gives them encouraging words that those who have fallen asleep in Christ, those who have died in Christ have not missed it. As a matter of fact, that they will be the first to be raised. And then we who are alive and remain at that command of the Lord and the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, when that sounds, we will all be taken to be with him. This was Paul's conviction. This is the way he lived his life. It was with an eye and an anticipation for the return of Jesus to rapture, to take his church to be with himself. He wrote the same thing, same message to the church in Corinth in chapter 15. We will not all sleep. We will not all die, he says. But at the last trump, the trump of God and the twinkling of an eye, the dead in Christ will rise and we will be changed. So the dead will be raised and we who are alive will be changed. This was Paul's hope. And he's encouraging Timothy to have this same focus, this same attention. Why? Because Jesus is worthy. No matter the difficulties, the persecutions, the sufferings, Paul says that we will be persecuted. In verse 12 of chapter 3, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So we know that it's not something that is strange or new. In verse 5 of chapter 4, it's for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, realizing that this life isn't all there is. There is far more to life than the 40 or 50 or 80 or 90 or, for some, 100 years before they die. But even if somebody reaches 100 years of age, we have a dear lady who's in the manor and she's 101 years of age and loves Jesus. We have others that are in their mid to late 90s that are waiting for Jesus to come for them or to take them home, one way or the other, by death or by rapture. And they're not concerned, really, which way it's going to be because they know either way they're going to be in the presence of God. But rapture, to be desired by far, over death. But we know that either way that we'll be in the presence of Christ. But even at 100 years of age, 101 years of age, it's such a small blip on the scale of eternity. Well, Paul says that my life is poured out like a drink offering. My time of departure has come. So he realizes, you know what, the closer I'm getting to the day of my execution, the day of my martyrdom, gives me the recognition that I'm likely not going to be part of the number that's going to be caught up. I'm going to be part of the number that will be the dead in Christ rising first. But he has not lost hope. He is still a great confidence in Jesus. And that's why he says here in verse 17, but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me. Even even those that opposed him and those that deserted him, especially for the one who opposed him, he says, may it not be charged against them. For those that opposed and those who had deserted, may it not be held in their account. Because he knows that Jesus is the one that can bring redemption. He's the one who judges rightly, judges justly. Amen. So he says in the last part, the last sentence of verse 17, I was rescued from the lion's mouth. We don't know exactly what Paul meant by that. There are some that speculate that he even stood a sentence in the arena where he survived lions. That was not unheard of during Paul's day. It's possible whether or not that was what took place, or perhaps they had tossed around sentencing him to lions at that point, and he avoided that. Or perhaps it was just the attack of the enemy coming against him. It doesn't really matter which was the effect. He was saying that those that were out to destroy me, the Lord has delivered me from the lion's mouth. It reminds me as though Paul was encouraging himself. What does he ask for? Remember, he's in a dungeon right now. So he's not just sitting back, kicking up his feet, sipping his coffee or tea or whatever it is that would be his preferred beverage of choice as he just is in retirement. He's not in retirement. He's in imprisonment. And what does he ask for? The scrolls, the parchments, and the books. Referring to the Old Testament, the books and the parchments would be referring to the New Testament letters or the Gospels that by this point are now in circulation. He wants to build himself up in his most holy faith as he refreshes his memory and his attention and his focus upon the Word of God, the faithfulness of God, the character of God. And I can't help but wonder if he's thinking about Daniel at this point, where he has rescued me from the lion's mouth in Daniel chapter 6. And of course, we know that in that situation that Daniel was a righteous man and he had done nothing wrong except for serving the Lord God faithfully. And there were those that were jealous of him and they wanted to bring him down. And so they convinced the king, King Darius, to make a god except for himself for 30 days. Anyone that breaks that decree, they'll be thrown into a den of lions. We know the account that Daniel, he refused to back down and he refused to go in silence or in secret to pray to God. Because he could have prayed in secret, is that right? He could have kept his windows shuttered and prayed to God. Would he have still been praying to God? Yes. But he would not have been faithful in his praying to God in that it was his practice to pray with his windows open toward Jerusalem and to pray to the God of heaven so that anybody walking around or could see in from whatever distance they might be, they would be able to see and or hear that Daniel was praying to the God of Israel. Well, he wasn't about to shutter his windows and to do it in secret, thereby saying, well, I acknowledge the decree of Darius that I am not, I'm not going to pray except to him. That's what he would have been acknowledging in this instance. Well, he continued to pray and those that were his enemies brought this news to Darius and Darius is distressed. He's dismayed because he thought a great deal of Daniel. Well, he couldn't change the law, so he had to carry it out and he had Daniel thrown into this den of lions. But what did God do? What should have been the case was that these, the lions were, they were fed a little, but they were fed not enough so that they would be kept hungry so that when the need of them devouring whoever was being sentenced was necessary, they wouldn't have full tummies and that they would be ferocious predators. Well, we get a picture of how ferocious they are after Daniel has been saved from these lions because an angel of the Lord came and shut the lion's mouths so that they became as tame as the tamest house cat. And when Daniel was retrieved the next day after having been thrown to the lions, Darius says, has the Lord your God been able to save you? And he anticipates that probably so because he's calling out for hoping Daniel will answer. And he does, and he tells them what has happened. And then those who were his enemies and had accused him, they were thrown into that same den of lions. And what happens? The lions began to devour them before their bodies even hit the floor of that den. I can't help but that Paul is thinking about Daniel at this point. He has delivered me from the mouth of the lions, even to the point that different things that Daniel had experienced begin flooding his mind in that consideration. Because back in chapter 2 of Daniel, we read about the fact that Nebuchadnezzar was the king. He had a dream, and the dream was of a statue of different elements of metals, a head of gold, and a chest of silver, and the thigh and belly of bronze, legs and feet of iron, and then the feet and toes of clay mixed with iron in that as it represented four various kingdoms or empires that would come throughout earth's history from that point onwards. But then there is a declaration in the picture, and that image, it wasn't complete without having seen a rock that was taken, cut from a mountain, but not with hands. And that rock came and smashed that image, and it was destroyed. And Daniel gives the interpretation so that Nebuchadnezzar would be aware that these are the kingdoms that have been decreed throughout history from this point on. But there is one kingdom that is coming that shall not be destroyed, and it will destroy all these other kingdoms, even to the point that the book of Revelation will say, the kingdoms of our Lord have become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. This is what Daniel was interpreting for Nebuchadnezzar. And then we see in chapter 7 of Daniel, you might say, well, Daniel 7 comes after Daniel 6, after he'd been in the lion's den chronologically, 6 and then 7. But you read that Darius was the king of Persia in chapter 6, but in chapter 7, in the first year of Belshazzar, I, Daniel, had a vision. So he's bringing us back to a time earlier before Darius was the king. Do you understand that? So what happens in chapter 7 actually occurs as a reminiscent event prior to chapter 6. And so in that, he has an image, a vision of four beasts, but there's one who comes, the Son of Man who comes, and His kingdom will not be destroyed, and His dominion is an everlasting dominion. And so Daniel is having these images and presentations and pictures of the Most High God, and this is his hope, that God is going to rule and reign forever and ever. Well, Daniel didn't have a concept of the rapture. It was a mystery that wasn't revealed until the New Testament, revealed to us by Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, and I can't help but see that Paul was considering Psalm chapter 22. There's quite a display of power out there, isn't there, with that rain and surge of electricity. Psalm 22, will you turn with me there just for a moment? This is a messianic psalm, a psalm about Jesus, right from the very beginning to the very end. I want to look at two verses here, we'll do three verses, in verse 19 to 21. Tonight we'll be looking at the latter portion of this psalm, along with other passages as we gather for it's time to pray, and we look at the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. But in verse 19, But you, O Lord, do not be far off. O you, my help, come quickly to my aid. Deliver. All right, now pay attention to that word deliver, because in the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word deliver in verse 20 is the same word that Paul uses in 2nd Timothy 4, in verse 17. So I was rescued, same word delivered, I was delivered, I was rescued, all right? So deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog, and then look what he says, it's the exact same wording as we read in verse 21. Save me from the mouth of the lion. It's the exact same wording, the exact same order that Paul uses in his letter to Timothy. You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. See, Paul, he's so full of the word, and he's looking at Jesus, and even in this he's seeing that the risen Christ, the one who confronted him when he was bent on destroying the church, the followers of the way, back in Acts chapter 9. And he has an encounter with the resurrected Jesus. We read in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 that he was taken up to the third heaven, meaning the very dwelling place of God. But he doesn't boast about it, and he doesn't tell us really anything about that visit except that he had gone, something for us to be aware of. Paul, who was taken to the third heaven, was forbidden to speak about it because there are things that are just too great and wonderful, yet we've got people that are going to heaven like it's a weekly carpool, and they're coming back with their explanations or their experiences of heaven, and they all contradict one another. I speak that just to remind us in the context of what Paul is writing here, that we are to be aware of those who will come as false teachers to lead us astray, and people will draw to themselves or bring to themselves people who will suit their own preferences or their own passions because their ears are itching for something more. A description of heaven for them is not enough. They got to hear it from somebody who has traveled there. Church, the Word of God is what we have, and it's not only all we need, it's what we need. And so Paul is just full of seeing the risen Christ. He had seen him, he had experienced this thing, 2nd Corinthians chapter 12, and he says, but Jesus appeared to him and said, my grace is sufficient for you. So for Paul, his whole focus is Jesus, and he's longing for his appearing. He's longing to be caught up, but he realizes that at this point, the likelihood of that happening before he's martyred is growing less and less likely, and he's not despairing of that. It doesn't mean that it wasn't at that point yet impossible because his life was not yet ended, but he's coming to the realization that my life is about to be complete here on earth. But he says, the Lord will rescue me, verse 18, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed. In other words, those things that are being brought against him, and he will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. Church, whether it's through the rapture or after our death, and then he resurrects us and brings us into his heavenly kingdom, he's going to do it. Why? How? Because of the blood that he shed on the cross. See, Paul is such a high view of the cross of Jesus Christ, where he realizes, where he recognizes, where he teaches and preaches that there is nothing else besides the cross of Jesus Christ. I endeavor to know nothing except for Jesus Christ and him crucified. See, the world has been crucified to me, he says, and I've been made alive to God. All that matters for Paul is Jesus and Jesus and Jesus. Well, John had not written his revelation at this point because it wouldn't happen for a couple more decades. So Paul didn't have the opportunity to read what John had written as a result of Jesus revealing this to him, Revelation chapter 5. But Paul was so keenly aware of what the word of God had spoken about the glorification of Jesus, and he knew by the teaching of Jesus himself, he'd been instructed by Jesus himself. That's what he says in Galatians chapter 1, that I was in Arabia and the Lord taught me. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back, meaning on both sides, but as it's rolled up, you can only see one portion of it, the back side of the rolled up scroll, and where the edge of that scroll was, there were seven seals having sealed it. I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look into it. I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. See, what is indicated here is that there was a search made. Who is worthy to open the scroll, its seven seals? Because it was held in the right hand of him who sits on the throne, speaking about God the Father, who is righteous and holy, dwells in unapproachable light. There was nobody in heaven, meaning no creature in heaven, no creature on the earth, and no creature under the earth. No one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. So he weeps, John is weeping, he's weeping loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it, and then one of the elders said to me, weep no more, and then here's what he says, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. See, this document in the hand of God Almighty, El Shaddai, is the title deed to the earth, and Jesus alone was found worthy to open the scroll so that he can lay claim, once again, as our Goel, our kinsman, redeemer, who has not only purchased us by his blood, purchased us for God, but he's also purchased the earth back into his own ownership, to rightful ownership. So the root of David 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. Over and over again, Jesus chooses to present himself to John as a lamb, some 19 times, if my memory serves correctly, that Jesus refers to himself, or he's referred to as the lamb, the lamb. Why? Because it speaks of the cross. So I saw a lamb, not just a lamb, though I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain. In other words, with all the evidence of having had been slain, but no longer slain, with seven eyes, excuse me, seven horns, and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth, seven horns. Horns, seven speaks of perfection, divine perfection. A horn speaks of strength, so it speaks of omnipotence. And seven eyes speaks of omniscience, knowing all things in cooperation or unity with what is referred to as the seven spirits of God, but that's not that there's seven spirits, it's speaking of the fullness of the spirit of God almighty. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, and when he had taken the scroll, this was just in the taking of the scroll, because in so doing, it was a declaration throughout all of heaven that he alone is worthy, the lamb who was slain, is worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. They fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and a golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Church, this is encouraging, because the prayers of the saints are as though collected in bowls in heaven. They are not shelved, they are not forgotten, they don't hit the ceiling and bounce back down again, even if you feel like that might be the way it is sometimes. Every prayer that has ever been prayed, God hears. And they sang a new song saying, church, these people, these saints, these creatures in heaven, they were not masked, they were singing boldly and strongly and clearly saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. Why? For you were slain and by your blood you ransomed, you purchased 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. See, Paul had this awareness already, even without this particular revelation. He had seen the risen Christ and he knew by the mouth of Jesus and by the scriptures about the kingdom of Jesus. You know, there are more prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures in the Older Testament, the Old Testament you and I would refer to it as, that there are more prophecies concerning the rule and reign of Christ upon the earth than there are of his first coming. And if he came and he fulfilled every single one of those prophecies of his first coming, we can be certain that he's going to return in power and reign upon the earth. Before he does, he's going to take us, his bride, his church, to be with him while those seals are being opened, which begins the tribulation. Praise be to God. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, they shall reign on the earth. And 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. And what that terminology is referring to as, there were more than you could count, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain. Church, if we are going through difficult times, if you experience suffering and persecution, it seems like everybody has abandoned you. And yes, even some who are opposing you know that Jesus has not abandoned us. Even as Paul stood steadfast and he could say, yes, I know that he is with me, the Lord has not left me alone. The Lord is worthy for us to praise him no matter what our circumstances. Why? Because he purchased us with his blood. He's called us to a greater calling, a higher calling in Jesus Christ, because our citizenship is not here. Are you glad for that? See, we need to have a light touch on the earth. There's so much fear running rampant right now and confusion and chaos and division and accusations and finger pointings and so on, especially as we see it with what's taking place even amongst us right now in our own province. But do we realize that Jesus is greater and he's worthy of our praise and our adoration and our worship, even in spite of mandates and impositions and sufferings, whatever they might be, whatever life will bring our way. Jesus is greater. He's got something in store for us that far exceeds. It's a far exceeding weight of glory that this life pales in comparison. See, our sufferings are working in us that greater display of glory that will be ours when we see Jesus face to face. And this was Paul's anticipation. This was his hope, his confidence. He knew that his life wasn't going to be over once he was executed, once he was martyred. 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 on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped. And this is why Paul could state with confidence, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. And what does he say? He enjoins us. He asks us to join with him forever and ever. Amen. And so let our eyes be set on Jesus Christ who is the author and the finisher of our faith. All kinds of things around us. Paul was no stranger to them. And if we think that we're suffering to whatever degree, all we have to do is look at Paul, read his account in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and the various things, the shipwrecks, the times that he went without food and he was naked and he was beaten, 39 lashes from the Romans. How many times was that? Twice or three times he received those lashes. Church over and over again, he was put in prison, he was stoned and left for dead. But he kept on praising Jesus because his eyes were on Jesus. He never took them off of Jesus. We read about it in his letters multiple times. It speaks about it in the book of Philippians where his eyes are on Jesus, the prize set before him. There's a prize before us church. It's not heaven. It's not a harp. It's not a crown. It's not a mansion. It's not streets of gold. All those things we will get to enjoy. But what we're looking for, what our prize is, is not a what but a who. Our prize is Jesus. He is worthy. Worthy is the Lamb. Can we stand to our feet and let's just give praise to him as we conclude our time here this morning. Let's just bless the Lord in spite of our circumstances, in light of our circumstances because every good and perfect gift comes from him. So let's worship him for his goodness. Let's worship him that his goodness does not stop when we experience difficulties or trials because Jesus has overcome the world. Bless you Lord, oh God almighty. We bless your name. We praise you and thank you Lord that you are at work in our lives. There's no one like you. Thank you that you've purchased us for God by your blood and as such we don't belong to ourselves any longer. So Lord we serve at your pleasure. Whatever it is that you would request of us, whatever it is you would require of us, Lord we will say yes. Yes Lord. Do with us as you see fit. Use us for your will. Here am I Lord. Send me. Use me. Lord take away the fear of man and may the fear of God fill my heart, my mind, my mouth. May your word dwell richly within us so that the words of our mouths and the meditation of our heart, they would be pleasing in your sight. Oh Lord our rock and redeemer, worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Give us eyes to see your greatness. In Jesus name we pray and we thank you Lord God almighty. And everybody said amen. Amen. Praise his name.