Experiencing Jesus

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Transcript

We’re going to be tonight, collectively looking at the whole book. We’re just going to pull the whole thing together. We’re going to read a little bit from every book or every chapter of Revelation. We’re going to pick out all the facets of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have studied over all these months together. And we’re going to seek. And I was so blessed, I met someone as I was coming in tonight and they said, I’ve been getting ready all day. I want to experience the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. And I said, isn’t that exciting? They focused on that this afternoon. They came here expectant and ready. And that’s what we’re supposed to do. And so, I hope that tonight you won’t just spectate, but that through the scriptures, through the book of Revelation, all the different verses that we look at, that you will from your heart experience and offer… remember, worship is giving that you will from the innermost well of your heart. Give adoration to the Lord. Give worship. Give worth ship. He’s worthy of our attention. And that’s our goal tonight as we experience the Lord Jesus Christ.

This evening, God invites us to the greatest event of all. The ultimate communication from God has arrived. It is a beautiful work of art, a picture of vivid color and radiance. It is a full color portrait of His Son, the Lord Jesus. God has presented this photograph as a gift to us. We can do with it what we want, but He promises that there is an unusual blessing to all those who take time to look at this picture.

What is the picture? It is the unveiled Jesus of Revelation. It is the uncovered glory of the image of God in Jesus. It is a gift from God for us to share this evening. Have you experienced the irresistible attraction, the incomparable satisfaction of experiencing God? Our Lord proposes to all that will try that. Experiencing His Son, Jesus, is the highest pleasure and the greatest treasure to be found. What do you think? God and His Word have fallen on hard times in our world. There are far more exciting pleasures and captivating treasures than Him, to our world, aren’t there? Worshiping God is the highest calling we can have as his. Creation. We are created to worship God. And yet I find more resistance in my life to worship, than anything else. When we try to worship, distractions pour in, doubts arise, and the constant downward tug of our world, the flesh and the devil all make it hard for us to focus on Him.

On the positive side, we can all agree that the most precious moments in our life are those few that we know were spent standing consciously in the very presence of God. Tonight, may I ask you to rise to this moment. This is a worship service. We have come to worship the sacrificial death of Christ in our place. We have come to worship God the Father’s plan as we lay aside all of our plans, our imaginations, the distracting thoughts of other things, and give the gift of our total attention to God. And as we follow along in the scriptures, in a spirit of continual prayerfulness, may we ask the Lord to open our hearts more and more to Him. It is the hardest and yet the most rewarding exercise that I can think of.

As our text tonight, I’m going to read one verse from every chapter of Revelation. So, if you’d stand with me, this last time in the Book of Revelation, and just listen. If you want to be turning pages, I’m going to go from 1:1 to 22:21 but if you just want to listen that’s okay too. And I want you to listen to the picture of Jesus Christ, that these 22 verses collectively give us.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants. The things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, to the angel of the church of Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And after these things, I looked and behold a door was standing open in Heaven and the first voice, which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me saying, come up here and I will show you the things which must take place after this. And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll. Written inside and on the back and sealed with seven seals.

And now I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, with a voice like thunder, come and see. And after these things, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the Earth, holding the four winds of the Earth, that the wind should not blow on the Earth, on the sea, or on any tree. And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour. And then the fifth angels sounded, and I saw a star fallen from Heaven to the Earth and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And I saw still another mighty angel coming down from Heaven clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, his feet like pillars of fire. And then I was given a reed like a measuring rod and the angel stood saying, rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who stand and worship there.

And now a great sign appeared in Heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head of garland of 12 stars. And then, I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea having seven heads and 10 horns. And on his horns, 10 crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.

And then, I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion. And with Him 144,000 having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. And then, I saw another sign in Heaven, great and marvelous. Seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. And then, I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, go pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the Earth. And then, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me saying, come I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters. And after these things, I saw another angel coming down from Heaven, having great authority, and the Earth was illuminated with his glory.

And after these things, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in Heaven saying, Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. And then. I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And now, I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth had passed away and there was no more sea. And he showed me a pure river of water, of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God, and of the Lamb. And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

The book of Revelation.

Let’s bow together. Father, I thank you for letting us traverse every one of these wonderful verses that you have given as a gift to us. Thank you, that tonight we can very appropriately… and our journey through this unveiling of Jesus at His table, thank you that the Lord’s table, Your table is the invitation You give us as often as we meet around this table to have supper with You. We can think of no higher honor, no greater privilege, no more solemn responsibility, than to come before Your presence. Tonight, we come humbly, we ask You to clothe us with humility. We come reverently. We ask You to cleanse and purge us, from many of the leaven of sin that always seeks to attach itself to us. We ask for Your cleansing. We come rejoicing for the blood of Jesus Christ. Unmerited by us, is your favor upon us, and we thank you for His cleansing. We come worshipfully asking that You would accept the upraised hearts that we offer to You tonight. And we come overflowing with joy for we know that we are redeemed. And we know, and are persuaded, that You, our Redeemer, can keep us unto that day when we sit at Your table in Heaven. And so, we pray that every part of our last glimpse through this book and this time tonight around Your table will have Your favor upon it. Meet with us in an unusual way. I pray that You would meet individually, in such a very special and transforming and glorifying way, in each life. That we will know that surely, we have been with Jesus tonight, in whose name we ask this. Amen.

You may be seated. And as we worship Jesus together tonight, we discover what it means to experience Jesus. We experience Him for He is wonderful. He is glorious. He is our beloved bridegroom, for whom is all of our desire. As we start in the process of worshiping Him, we first of all sit still before Him. In His awesome majesty, Psalm 46:10 tells us that we, when we worship the Lord, must be still as we come before Him, to know that He is God and He will be exalted among the nations and be exalted in the Earth. But as Habakkuk told us, the Lord when He is in His holy temple wants all the Earth to be silent before Him. So, we start our worship just silently before the majesty of our Lord on High.

Then, as we comprehend even a fraction of who He is and how utterly magnificent He is, we stop again in awe with wondrous reverence and sheer delight. And we think of the magnitude of His power and might as we’ve learned of it in this book. And His infinitude. And we agree with the psalmist when he says, let all the Earth fear the Lord and all of us, His people of the world, may we revere Him. Honoring the Lord for who He is. For how greatly to be praised, how infinitely above all that is mundane, and yet He condescends to us of low degree and meets with us tonight.

And then, as we linger in the globe of His presence, we find how we lack holiness and its painfully revealed to us. As Isaiah said, for this is what the High and Lofty one says, He who lives forever, whose name is holy. I live in a high and a holy place, but also, I am with those who are contrite and lowly in spirit. I will revive the spirit of the lowly. I will revive the heart of the contrite. And as we ponder that, it hits a ping of hunger. We want to know Him. We want to love Him. We want to adore Him. Our hearts begin to fill up with wonder, with gratitude, for even the chance we have this moment. And then our hearts echo the psalmist, as he said, O God, You are my God. Earnestly, I seek You. My soul thirsts for You. My body longs for You in a dry and a weary land where there is no water. I have seen You. And then, as the wonder of the Lord washes over us, we worship Him as we feel the sheer delight of the hope we have. As joy begins to flood our souls with His response of bearing away the deadening load of our sin, as we feel our burden lifted, as we know our stains are removed, as He takes the coldness and warms and fills the emptiness of our souls, we are experiencing God. Again, this is what David said, one thing I ask of the Lord, and this is what I will seek. After that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in His temple.

The book that we’ve studied, Revelation gives us that temple in which we can worship the Lord. Starting in chapter 1, we learned that we worship the Lord for His majesty. And I hope that when you come to the Lord’s Table tonight, that you are experiencing how majestic He is. And I’m going to remind you of each of the facets of His majesty. And as we’re captivated by His majesty, then we can listen to His message. And His message is that He wants us to change the way we live from day to day to reflect Him. And as we listen to His message, He draws us into the mystery of who He is. And this book we see starting in chapter 4, all the way through chapter 19, unfurls the mystery of Christ, the mystery of how to worship Him in chapter 4 and 5, the mystery of how he will conquer back the Earth in chapter 6 and 7, and 8 and 9, and then the mystery of His worship in 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. And then, back to His conquest in 16. And as we see the mystery of Christ, we see that He has everything in control. He has everything as a part of His plan. And then He explains to us in that mystery that He has a true bride, that’s chapter 17. He warns us that the world is going to collapse around us in chapter 18, so we shouldn’t put stock in it. But rather we should be chapter 20, 21, and 22 looking for the mansions that He’s preparing for us.

If you want to start with me in chapter 1 verses 1 through 3, I want to just underline in your minds what we’ve learned over the past five months. And I want to experience with you the worship as we worship every facet of Jesus Christ. In verses 1 through 3, Jesus said, that He was sending this, at the end of verse 1, this message to His servant John. And we worship the ministry of Jesus because Jesus wants to reveal Himself to all of His servants that will pay attention. And as I’ve told you many times, the scriptures say that the eyes of the Lord Jesus run to and fro throughout the Earth. He is always looking for those whose hearts will be focused on Him. And He will reveal Himself to them. As Jesus said to Moses, as the Spirit of Christ speaking to the servant of the Lord, Moses, said: that you will seek Me and find Me when you seek with all of your heart. And so, the majesty of Jesus, we worship His ministry of revealing Himself.

In verse 4, we learned about the peace of Jesus. Grace to you, in chapter 1 verse 4, peace. And we worship the peace of Jesus as He reveals to us the rest He wants us to have in Him. In verse 5, we worship the blood of Jesus as He reveals that He gave His life for us, and what more can we do than to give our lives back to Him? And then in verses 7 through 8, as we worship Jesus for His plan. As He says in verse 7, I’m coming. Verse 8, I’m the Alpha, the Omega. I’m the one who began, and I’m going to finish all things. And My plan, Jesus said, is to reveal to you My heart, that I have got a plan I’m working out in this world, and it’s not spinning out of control. I know what I’m doing. I want you to worship My plan. I want you to trust in Me. And then in verse 14 of chapter 1, we worship the eyes of Jesus. At the end of verse 14 it says His eyes were as a flame of fire. He reveals His all seeing omniscience. As He looks into our life, He sees what no one else can see. He sees what we don’t want anybody else to see. When He sees that He removes it, as we ask him to. He sees the fears. He sees the deepest needs of our heart. We worship the eyes of Jesus. In verse 15, He speaks. And the sound of His voice, the hymn writer says, is so sweet. It’s the sound of many waters. And the voice of Jesus reveals His omnipotence. That He is the one who sees all things, has the power to accomplish all things in our lives as we yield to Him. And then in verses 16, 17, and 18, we worship the touch of Jesus, especially in verse 17. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead, but He laid His right hand on me. The touch of Jesus revealing His love, His humanity, His identification with us, His ability to meet us where we are.

And then all the way from 9 through 20, every facet as He’s showing Himself in His risen glory. We worship the glory of Jesus as He reveals His character. We saw, starting in verse 9 when John was on Patmos and when he heard the sound in verse 10 of the spirits raising him up and opening his mind to God, and that trumpet sound. And when he turns in verse 11, and hearing this voice he looks and he sees this man in verse 12, standing there. We see Jesus revealing Himself in verse 13 as the Son of Man. And there He’s showing Himself as the Perfect Man who identifies with us. In Hebrews, He says, I was tempted in all points like you are and I can come to your aid. And it says in verse 15 of chapter 4, He was without sin. So, as a Perfect Man in His divinity He comes to us, and then He’s coming clothed with a garment down to His feet. He comes as the Perfect Priest sacrificing for us. He’s girded around His breast it says, with… in verse 13 at the end, with this golden band. And He comes as a Perfect Judge. He’s girded with the symbol of restrained emotions. He judges rightly. He is sinless. He’s full of love and wisdom.

And then, it says in verse 14, His head and His hair were white like wool. He is the Perfect Image of God. He is like the Ancient of Days from all the Old Testament passages. He is the one, as Hebrews says, who is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of God’s person? And then those eyes of fire, the Perfect Truth that sees us. And those feet, as it says, that are like burnish bronze, it says that His feet are glowing, in verse 15, refined in the fire. He is the one who is able to trample His foes as our Perfect Defender.

And His voice is the Perfect Communicator to us. In chapter 2 we saw in these letters that as He’s revealed as the Infinite One, He begins giving His message and He says this, if you look at chapter 2 verse 7: that true believers will have an abundant life. To him that overcomes, verse 7 says, I will give to eat of the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God. I will give you an abundant life. I will give you, as Jesus promised, that if You believe in Me out of you will flow streams of living water. I will give you an abundant life.

Look at verse 11. His message also said that true believers, if we have an ear we will hear what the Spirit says and we will overcome and not be hurt by the second death. We also have an indestructible life. That we will not be hurt by anything Satan can throw at us because we are indestructible. We live as the writer of Hebrews says, after the power of an endless life. Jesus says, I give to you eternal life and you will never perish. So, true believers have an indestructible life.

Verse 17 of chapter 2. He also said, I came to give you an inexhaustible supply. He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To those who overcome I will give to eat of hidden manna and I will give him a white stone. On the stone is a new name, which no one knows. You have an inexhaustible supply. I will nourish you. I will intimately reveal Myself to you. I will give you all things. He tells us if we just come to Him, His supply will never run out.

And then in verse 26 of chapter 2, He told us that true believers have an inexpressible future. He says, if you are an overcomer, if you keep My works to the end, to you I’ll give power over the nations. God will overwhelm us with unbelievable pleasures. He says, I will give you a future. I heard tonight, on the way in, that someone was preaching at the jail this weekend. And they were preaching and going on and on about come to Jesus and you can go to Heaven. And one of the prisoners says, what is Heaven? What is that? Don’t know anything about it. Why would I want to even go there? And that’s why we need to be expressing the glories of God. And it says, Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 12:4, I was caught up to paradise. I heard unspeakable words, it’s not lawful for me to even utter them. It was so wonderful. God overwhelmed him with the unbelievable pleasures of Heaven. And the more we experience Christ here on Earth, the more that we talk about the unbelievable glory of God seen in the face of Jesus Christ, and how we long for that place that He has promised to us. And true believers have an inexpressible future.

Then chapter 3 verse 5, we have incredible coverage, here on Earth. The message of Jesus to us is that if we overcome, verse 5, we will be clothed in white raiment. White, that speaks of holiness. White, that speaks of joyous occasion. White, that speaks of honor. And he says, you’ll be clothed in white raiment. I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His Angels. And therefore, Jesus said He would be our garment. He will be our advocate. He is the one who promised to us that He will be what we wear forever. Romans 13:14, put you on the Lord Jesus Christ. And Hebrews chapter 7, Jesus continues ever in an unchangeable priesthood. He is able to save us to the uttermost. When we come to God, He’s our advocate.

And then look at verse 12 of chapter 3. He says to him that overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of My God. He said we will no more go out and He will write on us the name of our God, the name of the city of our God, which is New Jerusalem, that comes down from Heaven from God. I will write on him My new name. He said, we’ll be a pillar. We’re secure. We will never have to fear for our future. He writes on us His name because we are His very own. And so, we have an inescapable destination.

And then finally, in verse 21 of chapter 3, as an overcomer, as a true believer we have intimacy with God and we worship Him who said I will grant you to sit with Me on My throne, as I overcame and sat down on My Father’s throne. And intimacy is a promise. He promised us that we can intimately relate to Him forever. Intimacy is a person that says in John 17:3, in this is eternal life, that we know You. Intimacy is knowing the only true God through Jesus, who He sent. And finally, intimacy is permanent. It says He who overcomes will inherit all things and I’ll be his God and he shall be My son. And God has told us we have an endless relationship with Him, intimate, face-to-face relationship.

Starting in chapter 4, after seeing Christ’s Majesty in chapter 1, after listening to His message in 2 and 3, starting in chapter 4, we discover His mission. In chapter 4 He leads us in, we went through this chapter and we know so well verse 11 in this chapter, Thou art worthy O Lord. It’s a chorus. We’ll even sing it tonight. We worship the loveliness of Jesus as He is the center, the focus, of the universe as we worship Him. In chapter 5, again, we come across verses that we know so well. In verse 12, worthy as the Lamb who was slain. And there we worship the sacrifice of Christ as He stands at the throne of the universe representing us as the Lamb of God who took away our sins. In chapter 6, we worship Him for the justice of His wrath as He unleashes these seals and displays His holy wrath against our, the sin of our world. And then, we worship in chapter 7, the love of Jesus as He, in the midst of the destruction of this planet, sends out His witnesses, as He sends His rescue team out to the lost and helpless sinners giving them the Gospel message. And then, in chapter 8, we worship Jesus for His patience as He holds back His wrath and waits as He listens and responds to prayer, as He waits for His perfect timing. And all the time He waits, He patiently offers salvation. And then, in chapter 9 as we looked at the demon hordes and the monsters out of the pit, we worship Jesus for His judgment as He judges hardened and unrepentant sinners. And in Chapter 10, we worship the mystery of Jesus as He reveals to us the little book in verse 2, as He reveals to us in verse 7 that the mystery of His plan will be finished as He declared it in His Word, through His servants, the prophets.

And then, in chapter 11, we worship the witness of Jesus as He sends out His two witnesses. As his two witnesses declare, that by trusting in His Word, that all things that God has promised will be fulfilled and that we can also be trusting in His Word, that He has a plan, a future for Israel. That He has a plan for this world and that he will accomplish that.

And then, in chapter 12, we worship the victory of Jesus as He shows His people the ultimate triumph in that marvelous 11th verse of chapter 12 that says, that they overcame him…. that is the devil, by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death. And truly, we worship the victory of Jesus as He shows us that we live in ultimate triumph.

In chapter 13, we worship the genuineness of Jesus as Jesus exposes the lies of the counterfeit christ, as He shows the Anti-christ is a very poor representation of the infinite, eternal Lord Jesus, as we see him exposed as all the Earth follows after him. And it says in verse 12, the Earth and those who dwell on it worship The Beast as they have a false worship in a false christ because their hearts were never drawn to the genuineness of Jesus.

Then, in chapter 14, as the Earth is falling apart, we see and we worship the compassion of Jesus as He sends out an angel. And it says in verse 6, I saw another angel, in chapter 14, flying in the midst of Heaven. And as it were, the Earth is crumbling and the nations are under the wrath of God. And this angel flies in the midst of Heaven and having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the Earth. Verse 7, saying with a loud voice: fear God, give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the Creator, Him who made Heaven and Earth, the sea and the springs of water. And so, we worship the compassion of Jesus as He sends out His everlasting Gospel.

And then in chapter 15, we worship the beauty of Jesus. As we see, in verse 3, the redeemed singing the song of Moses, the Servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb. As they worship His works, as they worship the Lord God Almighty in His power, they worship the just and true one, His ways, His plan. And so, we see the beauty of Jesus as we worship Him for the wonder of His redeeming love. And then, in chapter 16, we worship the power of Jesus as He judges the horrors of locked hearts as He sends these bowls of wrath showing people the horror of their sin, the sores that show their sinfulness, the sea turning to blood, the death that they face, the waters turning to blood, as they’ll never be satisfied apart from Christ. And then in chapter 17, we worship the true bride of Christ as Jesus unmask the apostasy and reveals His own saints. And we worship with that true bride. And we worship as the bride that will sit at the feet of Jesus. And we see in chapter 17 that He is the true bridegroom and we are His bride.

And then, in chapter 18, we worship Christ’s authority. He judges materialism. He sets about true values and He shows us what will last and what will not last. And in verse 14 of chapter 18. He keys into humanity’s great lack and it says, the fruit your soul longs for has gone from you. And He says, everything that you desire apart from Me will be taken away from you, but if you grasp Me, you’ll have and inherit all things. And we worship the one who has the authority to be the last word on everything. Then in chapter 19, the first 10 verses, we worship Jesus at His marriage supper as He celebrates His union with us, His bride, and with the saints of all the ages. And as we join in the hallelujah, verse 1, for His salvation and glory. In verse 3, for the judgment of the lost and the wicked. And verse 4, because God sits on the throne. And verse 6, because He is omnipotent and reigns. And we join in with verse 10, that we are God’s servants and we have the testimony of Jesus and we worship God. And we see the testimony of Jesus through the Spirit of Prophecy in every part of this book.

And then, starting in verse 11, we worship Jesus as He reenters this Earth, as He conquers the rebellion. As verse 11 of chapter 19 says, that the heavens open and he who is called Faithful and True in Righteousness, He judges and makes war. Verse 16, His name is written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then, verse 21, as the supper of God’s wrath comes and the rest are killed, and the birds are filled with their flesh.

And then, in verse 20, we enter into the final section of the Book of Revelation as we worship the Lord Jesus as we discover His mansions. In chapter 20, He triumphs. In the first 10 verses, He vanquishes the Devil. It says that He takes him and puts him into the Bottomless Pit, binding him. And Jesus, we worship His triumph vanquishing the Devil and renewing the Earth. And then in verses 11 onward in chapter 20, we worship the Lord Jesus who has the last word. He said in His earthly ministry that He has been committed all judgment. And in John 5 He says, the day is coming when everyone in the Grave will hear My voice and will come forward to the judgment. Either to life or the eternal judgment to death. And we see His last word as He damns those who rebelled against Him. And they, in verse 15, whose names are not found written in His Book of Life, are cast bodily, forever living in eternal death, into the Lake of Fire.

And then, in chapter 21 we worship Jesus as He unveils paradise for us, His bride, and as He leads us on His honeymoon as it says in verse 2, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And we are forever united with the Lord Jesus to dwell with Him in paradise, forever. Starting in verse 9, we worship the wonders of Jesus as He systematically, as we saw there, shows us all the beauty. In verse 10, were carried away, in the Spirit, to a great and high mountain and we’re showed all the beauty of the holy Jerusalem that descends out of Heaven from God, having the glory of God… to think of something that is material that just radiates the glory of God. And we worship the wonder of Jesus as He reveals paradise to us, His bride.

And then as we saw this morning, we worship Christ’s extravagance as He offers salvation to all who will come to Him, as He like Boaz of old, has been throwing in front of our path throughout our whole life overflowing handfuls of His blessings. And we are not worthy of such blessing.

Well, all this to say, we worship Jesus. We experience Him as He opens and closes this revelation of Himself. And so, by this overview of this book, may we step into the worship center of the universe. May we, at His table, gaze at the one who is seated on the eternal throne. And as we watch, as we exalt God in our spirit, as the endless praise of all the redeem ascends around His throne, as we are still and know who it is before whom we stand, and then we adore the loveliness of Jesus as He is at the center and focus of our worship. We worship Him who is worthy of all worship and praise. And our duty, our purpose of existence is to worship Him. The Father seeks only one thing, and that is that we might worship Him. And truly to worship Him is to ascribe to Him the honor and the praise and the glory and the majesty that He is worthy of, a true worth ship.

And so, at the Lord’s table, let us stand before the vestibule of God. And if you want to turn into chapter 4, back there, we’re going to celebrate communion in chapter 4 and 5 of Revelation. Let us peer through the door into the chambers of the most high and through the eyes of that faithful and true disciple of love, the Apostle John. The heir of the apostolic band with his pen in hand as he tries to capture what Paul saw and said was inexpressible. As we read the verses and follow the worship of chapter 4, verse 11 and chapter 5, verse 12, we listen to the choirs of Angel as the numberless circles about the glassy sea as they say His worthy praise. We listen to the eternal creatures as they chant holy, holy, holy. And by faith’s eye we see John, as that band which no man could number, and we listen to their songs of adoration and praise. We ask ourselves, do we know Jesus? Do we know Christ the Lord? Do we have such a view of Him that merits all of our praise? He is truly the Worthy Lamb who was slain. He is to be praised by us tonight by we who owe Him our all.

Look at verse 8 of chapter 4. Holy, holy, holy. Lord, God Almighty. Who is and was, and is to come. Verse 11. You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. You created all things by Your will. They exist. Chapter 5, verse 9. You are worthy to take the scroll. It says, You were slain. You have redeemed us to God by Your blood. Verse 10, you’ve made us kings and priests to God. Verse 12, worthy is the Lamb which was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And verse 13, every creature which is in the Heaven and on the Earth, and which is under the Earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them I heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne. And to the Lamb, forever and ever. And then the four living creatures said, amen. And the 24 elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

God invites us to the greatest event of all time. The ultimate communication from God has arrived. It is a beautiful work of art, a picture of vivid color and radiance. It is a full-color portrait of His Son, Jesus. God presents this photograph as a gift to us. We can do with it what we want, but He promises an unusual blessing to all those who take the time to look at this picture.

What is the picture? It is the Unveiled Jesus of Revelation. It is the uncovered glory of the Image of God in Jesus. It is a gift from God for us to share this evening! Have you experienced the irresistible attraction and the incomparable satisfaction of experiencing God? Our Lord proposes to all that will try, that experiencing His Son Jesus is the highest pleasure and greatest treasure to be found. What do you think? God and His Word have fallen on hard times in our world. There are far more exciting pleasures and captivating treasures than Him aren’t there?

Worshipping God is the highest calling we can have as His creation. We were created to worship God. Yet I find more resistance in my life to worship than anything else. Distractions pour in, doubts arise and the constant downward tug of the world, the flesh and the devil all make it hard. On the positive side, we can all agree that the most precious moments in our life are those few that we know were spent standing consciously in the very presence of God. Tonight may I ask you to rise to this moment?

This is a worship service. We have come to worship the sacrificial death of Christ in our place. We have come to worship God the Father”s plan. Would you lay aside all the plans, imaginations and distracting thoughts of other things and give the gift of your total attention to God? Will you follow along in the Scriptures and in a spirit of continual prayerfulness ask the Lord to open your heart more and more to Him? Its the hardest and yet most rewarding exercise I can think of!

Please read Revelation 4:8-11; 5:8-14.

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,  2:1″To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 3:22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ ”  4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.  6:1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.”  7:1 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 8:1

When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 9:1 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 10:1 I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 11:1 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 12:1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 13:1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 14:1 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. 15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. 16:1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.” 17:1

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 18:1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 19:1 After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Worship Jesus with me tonight. Discover what it means to be Experiencing Jesus. He is wonderful, He is glorious and He is our Beloved Bridegroom for Whom is all our desires. As start the process of trying to worship Him as we startledly sit still in  front of His awesome  Majesty:

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (NIV); 

Habakkuk 2:20 But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” (NIV)

Then as we comprehend even a fraction of Who He is and how utterly  magnificent He is we stop again in awe, wondrous reverence and sheer delight at the magnitude of His power, might and infinitude:

Psalm 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. (NIV)

As we linger in the glow of His presence we find our lack of holiness becomes painfully revealed:

Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says — he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (NIV)

Then it hits, a pang of hunger. We want to know Him, love and adore Him. We begin to fill up with wonder and gratitude for even the chance to have this moment.

Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (NIV)

Awash with wonder we feel the sheer delight of a new hope. Joyously He begins to flood our souls with His response of bearing away the deadening load of our sin. We feel the burden lifted, the stains removed, the coldness warmed and the emptiness filled. We are experiencing our God.

Psalm 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (NIV)

We find in His Revelation we can:

Worship Jesus’ Majesty        Revelation 1

Worship Jesus’ Message       Revelation 2-3

Worship Jesus’ Mission         Revelation 4-19

• Opening His Worship 4-5, 1, 19
• Showing His Ending of the World 6-9, 16, 19
• Explaining His Mystery 10-15
• Revealing His True Bride 17
• Warning of the World’s Collapse 18

Worship Jesus’ Mansions      Revelation 20-22

Discover the majesty of Jesus  Revelation 1

• Revelation 1:1-3: Worship the ministry of Jesus Revealing Himself to His Bondservants
• Revelation 1:4: Worship the peace of Jesus Revealing His rest
• Revelation 1:5: Worship the Blood of Jesus Revealing His Life
• Revelation 1:7-8, 19-20: Worship the plan of Jesus Revealing His Heart
• Revelation 1:14: Worship the eyes of Jesus Revealing His omniscience
• Revelation 1:15: Worship the voice of Jesus Revealing His Omnipotence
• Revelation 1:16-18: Worship the touch of Jesus Revealing His Humanity
• Revelation 1:9-20: Worship the glory of Jesus Revealing His character

Imagine hearing a voice like a trumpet and seeing these seven perfections of his DIVINITY:

1. The perfect man: As identified with us, Hebrews 2:18  For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. Hebrews 4:15 but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. NKJV Son of Man: (84 times He calls himself this, no one else does.) He came to seek and save the lost of Adam’s fallen race. One like the Son of Man, THE CONQUEROR OF ADAM’S FALLEN RACE,
2. The perfect sacrifice He is robed to the feet as THE PERFECT PRIEST,: All other priests carried around sacrifices, this priest was the sacrifice, He gave Himself for me Paul says and so should we! As priest:  Robe to Feet, Hebrews pictures Him ever living to intercede for us.
3. The perfect judge: as Judge: Girdedaround breast was ancient symbol of restrained emotions. He judges rightly. He is sinless, He is full of love and wisdom. No one can made decisions perfectly except Him!
4. The perfect image of God He is white haired as THE ANCIENT OF DAYS,: As Ancient of Days, White hair = sign of maturity, absolute holiness;  Ancient of Days –Daniel 7:9 –same description. As Hebrews 1:3  who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, NKJV
5. The perfect truth: With His eyes of fire, THE SEER OF ALL SECRETS, As penetrating scrutinizer: those eyes of fire discover and with consuming light reveal secrets
6. The perfect defender: As trampler of foes, those feet of military bronze will crush His enemies, even those who cry, “Lord, Lord…but He never knew.” With His brazen feet, THE ULTIMATE JUDGE crushing all foes,
7. The perfect communicator:  With a voice, THE VOICE OF GOD as thunderous as the 12 million cubic feet of water crashing at Niagara’s base, commanding all to pay attention, the deaf and the dead can hear it, and so should we!

Discover the message of Jesus

Revelation 2-3

1. True believers have  AN  ABUNDANT LIFE Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (KJV) =  Has infinite life in paradise regained – John 3:16

• An OVERFLOWing life:  John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (NIV)

2. True believers have AN  INDESTRUCTIBLE LIFE Revelation 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. (KJV)

• SECURE FROM ANY PHYSICAL ADVERSARY:  John 10:28-29 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father’s hand. (KJV)

3. JESUS CAME TO GIVE HIS OVERCOMERS AN INEXAUSTIBLE SUPPLY Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth [it]. (KJV)
4. True believers have AN INEXPRESSIBLE  FUTURE Revelation 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: (KJV)

• God will overwhelm us with unbelievable pleasures:  SecondCorinthians 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. (KJV)

5. True believers have INCREDIBLE COVERAGE Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. (KJV)  WE  have Christ as our garment, Advocate and our relative:

• Christ as our garment! Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfill] the lusts [thereof]. (KJV)
• Christ as our Advocate! Hebrews 7:24-25 But this [man], because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (KJV)

6. True believers have AN INESCAPABLE DESTINATION Revelation 3:12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name. (KJV)

• A PILLAR, BECAUSE WE ARE SECURE: John 14:1-3  “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if [it were] not [so,] I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, [there] you may be also. (NKJV)
• A NAME, BECAUSE WE ARE A LOVE GIFT FROM THE FATHER TO THE SON! John 17:24  Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (KJV)

7. True believers have INTIMACY WITH GOD Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (KJV)

• INTIMACY IS A PROMISE: John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (NKJV)
• INTIMACY IS A PERSON: John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (NKJV)
• INTIMACY IS PERMANENT: Revelation 21:7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (NKJV)

Discover the mission of Jesus      Revelation 4-20

• Worship the loveliness of Jesus as He is at the center and focus of my  worship (4)
• Worship the sacrifice of Jesus at the Throne of the Universe as the Lamb of God  (5)
• Worship the wrath of jesus as He displays His Holy Wrath against Sin (6)
• Worship the love of Jesus as He sends His Witnesses to Rescue lost and helpless sinners  (7)
• Worship  the Patience of Jesus as He controls His wrath and waits, Listens and Responds  (8)
• Worship the judgment of Jesus as He Judges hardened and unrepentant sinners (9)
• Worship the mystery of jesus as Judge (10)
• Worship the witness of Jesus by  trusting His Word (11)!
• Worship the VICTORY of Jesus as He shows His people His Ultimate Triumph  (12)
• Worship the GENUINENESS of Jesus as He exposes the LIES of the Counterfeit Christ (13)
• Worship the COMPASSION of Jesus in sending the everlasting gospel (14).
• Worship the beauty of Jesus as we worship Him  in the splendor of His Redeeming Love (15)
• Worship the power of Jesus as He judges the horror of locked hearts (16).
• Worship the true bride of Jesus unmasking the apostasy and revealing His own saints (17)
• Worship the authority of Jesus judging materialism and acclaiming true values (18) .
• Worship the marriage of Jesus  (19:1-10) as He celebrates union with His bride.
• Worship the re-entry of Jesus (19:11-21)  conquering the rebellion (19).

Discover the mansions of Jesus   Revelation  20-22

• Worship the triumph of Jesus vanquishing the devil (20:1-10) and renewing the earth.
• Worship the last word of Jesus damning the rebels (20:11-15).
• Worship the honeymoon of Jesus unveiling Paradise for His Bride (21:1-8).
• Worship the Wonders of Jesus revealing Paradise to His bride. (21:9-27)
• Worship the extravagance of Jesus offering salvation to all who come to Him (22:1-21).
• Worship the Experience of Jesus opening and closing the Revelation of Himself (1-22)

Step with me into the worship center of the universe. Through His Word, gaze at the One who is seated on the Eternal Throne. As we watch, exalt God in your spirit as the endless praise is ascending around His Throne. Let us be still and know who it is before whom we stand. And then Adore the loveliness of Jesus as He is at the center and focus of my worship.

To worship Him Who is worthy of all worship and praise is our duty and purpose of existence.  The Father seeks only one thing, and that is that we might worship Him.  To truly worship Him is to ascribe to Him that honor, praise, glory, and majesty that He is worthy of – a true “worthship.”  This day, join me as we stand in the vestibule and peer through the door into the chambers of the Most High.

Through the eyes of that faithful and true disciple of love who alone remained, heir of the apostolic band-and with his pen, tried to capture that which when Paul saw it, said it was inexpressible.

• Let us listen to the choirs of angels in numberless circles about the glassy sea and its throne as they say His worthy praise.
• Let us listen to those eternal creatures chant “Holy, holy…holy,” and by faith’s eyelet us see with John that band which no man could number and listen to their songs of adoration and praise.  Do you know Him, Christ the Lord, Who merits such praise.
• Let us see Him now—worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to be praised this day by us who owe Him our all!