Worship is inspired by the very being and creative power of God, as evidenced by the ceaseless praise of celestial beings in heaven. Revelation chapters four and five reveal that the four living creatures and twenty-four elders worship God because He is and because He created all things. However, humanity, despite the clear revelation of God’s eternal power and Godhead in creation, suppresses this truth and turns to idols, leading to God’s judgment. Yet, God’s love pursued humanity through the sending of His Son, Jesus, who, as the slain Lamb, redeemed people through His blood, inspiring a new song of worship that encompasses all nations and creatures. This redemptive act of God’s grace and mercy is the ultimate inspiration for worship, drawing people back to Him and leading to eternal praise.
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My thanks tonight to all those who have contributed through music to this service. You are greatly blessed and Grace and I have enjoyed the music very much. It's also been a privilege to meet some of our friends from Canada. You know that Grace and I are Canadians from British Columbia. Some of them are friends we've known for many years and others are new friends. And a good number of them come from the province of Ontario. For the last two years, Grace and I have spent the month of September in Ontario, and we're going back again this year for that same month. If those of you who have never been to Ontario plan a visit in that area, be sure you go in September.
That's the time when the leaves change color. And you've never seen it, you really have to see it to believe it. Last year we were driving from Toronto up to the city of North Bay for meetings, and I'm driving along the highway, a good highway. It's a marvel we survived because every other minute Grace was saying to me, Jim, look over that way. And there'd be another vast display of beautiful colors as the leaves change in the autumn in Canada. Well, this evening I would like to take this time and talk to you about what inspires worship.
We were not worshiping nature, but we were certainly praising God's handiwork in creation, and that display of colors, the vastness of it, the beauty of it, created within both of us an ode of worship. If there is no inspiration, There is no worship, there is no praise. And there must be a motive, there must be something that touches us and moves us into an attitude of praise and wonder in the presence of God. I would like to take you first of all into heaven and we'll go to the Revelation chapter four.
We don't really know very much about heaven, but we do have little insights into the wonder of this place that we call heaven. Revelation chapter four, write down in verse eight. And the four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night. saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
Now here are great spiritual beings that surround the throne of God in an immediate circle. We don't know very much about them. Some believe they are described in the book of Ezekiel. A lot of symbolism is used. These are mighty beings that surround God's throne, the four living creatures. And endlessly they are worshiping God. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. And here is the motive. Who was and is and is to come.
Most scholars would suggest that that is a paraphrase for that special name of God, which God Himself revealed to the patriarchs. In our King James Version, Jehovah, in most modern translations today, the term is Jabwe. We really don't know how to pronounce the name. The reason for that is in the Old Hebrew in which the Old Testament was written, They never used the vowels, just the consonants. And then, long before the Lord Jesus was born into the world, the Jews stopped pronouncing the name.
They said it is too holy to be pronounced. So they would look for some of the other titles in the Old Testament and use them as substitutes for Jehovah, for Yahweh. So we really don't know how the word was pronounced. But we do know that it's a very special name of God which God revealed in love and mercy to his people so long ago. Scholars tell us that it is linked to the verb to be. And in the Hebrew, as in the English, we have one verb to be. In Spanish, I mentioned this morning the richer language, we have two verbs.
One means reality and the other means presence. And both of those thoughts are involved in this verb to be. And when God spoke to the patriarchs and revealed that name, he was saying to them, I am God and I will be with you, reality and presence. Here in the book of the Revelation, a number of times, That basic thought is expanded. It is the paraphrase, who was and who is and who is to come. And the very fact of God is sufficient to inspire in these mighty celestial beings this endless song of praise to God, night and day.
Without stopping, they praise Him simply because He is. Then there is a wider circle around the throne of God. Here it is referred to as the twenty-four elders. And you read in verse nine, whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him, who sits on the throne and worship him. who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.
Now here's the motive. You created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. Let's in this song that is filled, eternity past, this endless song of praise, there are two basic notes of inspiration that God is and that God is the Creator of all things. Just take for a moment that little phrase, all things. We live in a very modern age, as you look back into history. The development of technology is awesome today.
As you know, we even have telescopes now up in space, penetrating into the far reaches of the cosmos. And yet with all of our knowledge and understanding today, probably most people, Christian and non-Christian, stand in awe of the size of the universe in which we find ourselves. Some scientists think we've reached the edge, but you wonder when they develop greater telescopes, greater means of seeing into space, whether they'll find out they're wrong, and it goes on far further than they imagine today.
In other words, the power that was released in the creation of all things is an enormous, awesome power, and the four living creatures Remembering that God is the Creator of all things. They bow and worship. They cast their crowns before His throne, and they worship Him as Creator. He is, and He is all-powerful. Now, as we leave the portion and come back down to the world in which we live, please bring with you those two beautiful thoughts. God is not a myth.
God is. He's not a passive, inactive God. He has created all things. With that in mind, let's go back to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one, and there's no doubt about it, we are now back in our world, and it is a sad world. Romans chapter one and down in verse eighteen. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
Now here from heaven comes forth wrath. It is wrath directed against men who are wicked and evil. And the main thing that is said about them is that they suppress the truth. Now, if you wonder what the truth is, that they are hiding or rejecting or suppressing, you find in the following verse these words, because what may be known of God is manifested in them, for God has shown it to them. So there is some message that God gave to men, clear, concise, and powerful.
It is here referred to as the truth. And men, wicked men, they suppressed it. The following verse gives us the message. Verse twenty, for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen. being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." It is worthwhile pausing there for a moment and to try and understand what was the message that God built into creation.
which should have inspired men to worship Him. But this true message was repressed. It was suppressed, rejected. And we find here that man now stands before God without excuse. The message is mentioned in verse twenty towards the end of the verse. Even His eternal power and Godhead. Now the living creatures worship God because He is. That is Godhead. The twenty-four elders that surround the throne of God, they worship Him because He created all things.
That's the eternal power. And those two great motives which should inspire endless worship of God were built right into the creation of which we are still a part today. That was the message of truth. There is a God, a powerful, glorious God. And because He is, and because He is all-powerful, all creatures should bow and worship before Him, as do the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders. But men did not do that. They suppressed the truth.
And in verse twenty-one, You read, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. And then you read, God also gave them up.
In verse twenty-four he gave them up to uncleanness. In verse twenty-six, for this reason God gave them up to vile passions. And down in verse twenty-eight, the middle of the verse, God gave them over to a debased mind. Please notice carefully God did not push them in that direction. Men made the decision, and they rejected the manifestation of the character of God, the fact of God, and instead they picked up stones and trees and rocks, and they made little images.
and they turned their back on the glory of the transcendent God, and they bowed down before images made by their own hands. And by doing that, they said, No to God. We do not accept the truth that God is, and He is all-powerful. We do not accept it. We are going to go another way, and God let them go. But please remember tonight, He never abandoned the human race. He let them go, but He followed them in love.
If you can imagine in your mind tonight any situation in a human setting that would come anywhere near to this, someone who has been greatly blessed, given so many wonderful blessings, and then turns around and says no and goes off in another direction. You have a hard time in human situations finding anyone with the patience or the love or even the desire to go after that person. What inspired heaven to praise never touched the human race.
And so God let us go. but he ran after us. And that's the message of Revelation chapter five. So let's go back to Revelation and chapter five and read some of the verses in this great chapter. Revelation chapter five. John has been called up into heaven, chapter four. He's been called up into heaven to see the things that are going to take place in the history of the world. John is a prisoner on the island of Patmos. He knows what's happening in the great province of Asia. He wonders what's going to happen to the churches, what God's purpose is for the future, and so he's called up into heaven, and he's going to be shown what's going to happen in the future.
I can't put myself in the shoes of John, but I can imagine a great sense of anticipation. He's in God's presence. Now He's going to be told exactly what God is going to do. And the chapter opens chapter five, and I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll or a book written inside. And on the back, I have my New Testament tonight, the New King James Version. You'll notice there's nothing written outside, just a cover. If you even open it like that, there's nothing in the inside covers. All the messages can find to the book inside on the pages.
But God sits on the throne and there's a book in His hand. And the message that God has about men and women is so abundant, so wonderful, so filled with glory that it doesn't fit within the book. It's written inside. it's written outside the whole thing is covered is God opens his heart and begins to show what he wants to do with our human race John knows that in that book is the answer to all his questions what God is going to do in the future of the world and he looks at that hand it's the right hand the hand of priority the hand of urgency which holds the book no one can come near the throne of God to take that book.
No one can even look on the book. And the book is sealed. So the message is not yet known. And John stands there. Most scholars think he's about ninety years of age. He stands there and he openly weeps. In a sense, he loses his dignity and he bursts out crying. There is the message, and there's no one that can take the book and break the seals and tell us what's in the heart of God. And as he weeps, one of the elders comes and says to John, Now John, don't weep. Verse five, Behold the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to lose its seven seals.
Now, you're John. You were born in a Jewish community. You went to the synagogue where you learned to read and write. From your infancy, you heard the Old Testament scriptures. You even memorized portions of that book. You know about the line of the tribe of Judah. You also know that there's someone who stands behind the Messiah, greater than a man here in the world. And so these terms, the line of Judah, the root of David, fills John's heart with thoughts of a great warrior God who's going to come down.
The word is used, has prevailed. There's been a battle. And this one has come and fought the battle, and he has prevailed. I can just imagine the thoughts flooding through the mind of John. And John turns, he wants to see the warrior king, the line of the tribe of Judah. And when he turns and looks in the other direction towards the throne, verse six, right in the midst of the elders, and in the midst of that throne there stood a lamb as though it had been slain. I don't think John ever expected to see a lamb, and he certainly did not expect to see a lamb with the signs of slaughter, but that's what he saw.
And when he saw the Lamb, he probably had one of the greatest penetrations into the character and the heart of God that he had ever received. For he realized then, perhaps more than ever before, that the great battle was fought not on a battlefield, but when one who came down into our world in lowliness, in humiliation, was born in abject poverty, was brought up in Nazareth, a town of working people. A man, when he was thirty years of age, who spent three years traveling through Judea and Galilee and Samaria, teaching the things about the Kingdom of God, and when only thirty-three years of age, he was taken outside of the city of Jerusalem and crucified by the Romans.
And this is the Lamb. This is the great mystery of God, who came right down into our world to woo us and to win us and to bring us back to God. He didn't do it through majesty. He did not do it through a great display of power. Jesus did not come with legions of angels. He came down into our world as an authentic human being. And despised and rejected, he walked out to Calvary where he gave his life for us.
And there is no other battlefield as great as what happened at Calvary. Paul talks about it in Colossians. It was there through His death on the cross that He made a public display of all those supernatural beings that are opposed to the will of God. And He, as one paraphrase reads, He marched them naked through the streets, defeated through the death of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb at Calvary. But the important thing right now, as we come to the end of our service tonight, when the majesty of God did not touch us, when the power of God did not touch us, when the very fact of God did not touch us, God did not leave us.
He ran after us in the person of His Son, and He came in lowliness, as I've mentioned, in humiliation and in poverty, and at Calvary, Jesus gave His life for us. This is the message of Revelation chapter nine. Here are the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders. And they're looking at the Lamb as it has been slain, walking right out to the center of the divine throne. And so you read down in verse eight. Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang. a new song. I suggest to you that the thought is the song of chapter four is now inadequate. Beautiful as it is, and the motive of inspiration for countless ages of praises in the presence of God, now something has happened that has startled heaven into a new song. It begins with the same four living creatures and the twenty-four elders that sang the old song forever and ever. But now, as they look at the Lamb and they bow down before him, a new motive is added to the worship of God.
And that's the kindness and the tenderness and the love and the grace and the mercy of our God. And as they bow in worship, this is the song they sing, the new song. You are worthy to take the scroll, verse nine, and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood. If you're reading some of the other translations this evening, you'll know that there's a problem there. It's almost inconceivable to imagine that the four living creatures stand in need of redemption. That's why most of the translations today read, you have redeemed men.
And you go on to read, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And you have made them kings and priests who are gone, and they shall reign on the earth. And John hears the new song. And he thinks of those multitudes in his world are coming from Asia. They're coming from Palestine. They're coming from Italy. They're coming from the different nations around the Mediterranean. He probably can see them in his mind as they march up behind the Lamb right into the eternal glory of God. But our vision today is wider than John's. We can think of them coming from Haiti, coming from Cuba, coming from Bosnia, coming from countries in the Middle East, coming from around the world, different nationalities, cultures, languages, they have met the Lord Jesus.
And what broke them was not the power and the majesty of God. It was the loving kindness of God, who sent His Son to die for us. And that brought them to God. But when you come back to God through the Lord Jesus, because of His love and His grace and His mercy, Then you'll find, as John found in verse eleven, he looks around and he heard the voice of many angels around the throne. Back in the book of Daniel, you read that they are thousands and thousands and ten thousands of thousands in our Spanish translation, millions of angels that surround God's throne.
They pick up the new song. And then you come right down to verse thirteen, and every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under 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 we have already, in this beautiful Sunday, we have been singing that same song of worship and praise to God from our first service this morning. And as we end this day of joy and thanksgiving and worship, let us stand once more in the presence of God and remember each one of us that somewhere, ten years ago, fifty years ago, maybe more years ago, you once heard a message about the love of God who sent his Son to die for your sins, and that was the message that broke you.
There could have been tears, deep feelings, as you thought of your own unworthiness and what God in love did to win you back. But now that you've come back and you know Him, you not only praise Him for His love and His grace and His tender mercies, but you go on now and you've learned to praise Him for His majesty and for His power, and you find so many reasons why your heart should be a heart filled with praise to God day by day. We have begun the song, and we're going to sing it forever and ever in the presence of God.
Now, we heard the music tonight. Let's take our hymn book as we close our service and sing hymn number twenty, Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature, O thou of God in man the Son, thee will I cherish, Thy will I honor thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown. We'll stand and sing the four verses of hymn number twenty. Shall we stand? And now to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.