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Let us read from the book of the Revelation and chapter four. The book of the Revelation, chapter four and verse one. After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter. Straightway I was in the spirit, and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting thereon. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon. And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones. And upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments, and on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, as it were a glassy sea, like unto crystal. And in the midst of the throne and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and within. And they have no rest day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the God Almighty, which was and which is and which is to come. And when the living creatures shall give glory and honor and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created. God calls us in our hearts to hear those heavenly voices. On our first occasion a fortnight ago, we began to consider the topic of worship, its nature, and its practice. And we decided to consider worship in its particular sense of the adoration of God the Father and of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. We observed, therefore, that adoration is something beyond even gratitude for God's gifts. It is the heart and spirit's response to some revelation of the character and of the glory of the divine persons. I repeat what I then said. In thus describing adoration, I have no wish to depreciate gratitude, and certainly none to inhibit its expression, whether private or public. For very often it is gratitude to the Lord for his gifts to us that forms the springboard of our deeper adoration. And yet, for all that, adoration does go beyond our gratitude for God's gifts. And last occasion, we took some examples of adoration. We remembered Abraham's servant in the middle of his duties, when suddenly there opened to him, so to speak, a door into the unseen world, and he caught a glips, a glimpse of the magnificent timings of the providences of God, and of the superlative faithfulness of God, who operates those providences on our behalf, loyally and faithfully, whether we can see him doing it or not. So that it was more than the gift of a bride for his master's son that moved him. Starting from that lovely gift, Abram's servant rose to see something of the eternal character of God. The gift would come and go. The character of God that it revealed would remain eternally. And we followed Abraham and his son up the mountain of Moriah to watch them engage in their worship of God. Not now the giving of thanks for gifts received, for on this day Abraham would not be receiving, but rather be giving, and giving all he had, his present and his future. But as he gave it, he gave it in no sense of duty's mere obligation. He gave it with a deliberate heart and a deliberate logic, an expression of his worship in response to the faithfulness and loyalty of God. And on that occasion, we read other scriptures that reminded us that thus it was with men when they discovered the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord. There was the famous occasion on the Stormtoss Lake when Peter, taking faith in both hands, got out of the ship and walked towards the Lord Jesus, and in the process took fright and began to sink, and the Lord saved him. Doubtless, when they got back into the boat, hearts would be beating full of gratitude, Peter's heart, if not the other hearts, that Peter had been saved such from such a possible terrible fate in the deep of that lake. But when all were back in the boat, the predominant atmosphere was not one so much of gratitude for Peter's salvation, for in the dark of that night, they had caught a glimpse of who Jesus Christ was. No, soon the clouds of human limitation closed in again, and they forthwith forgot and failed to work out its implication. In that moment, they had caught a glimpse, like a sun ray coming through the cloud, that this Jesus of Nazareth was no mere carpenter's son. Catching sight of who he was, they kneeled in that boat in the swamp of the bilge water. They had discovered a bit of eternity and God manifest in flesh, and they bowed their hearts in worship. Thus it was, says Luke, at the time of the ascension. The apostles had spent some hours from time to time in the forty days with Jesus Christ our Lord, and by God's wisdom had begun to grow accustomed to the realities of that other world in which Jesus Christ already stood. Had begun to grow accustomed to a way of living that lives with both feet on this earth, yet has discovered that that other world is real. But presently, as on the last day, he raised his hands in blessing and was parted from them, and a cloud received him out of their sight. It dawned on them as never before. The exceeding majesty of Jesus Christ, our Lord, as they saw him rise to sit himself at the right hand of God on high. The revelation of his majesty bowed their hearts in worship. As it was with the blind man, whose story John tells us in his chapter nine. Born blind without the faculty of sight, he had been given sight by the creative activity of Jesus Christ our Lord. Who stooped again as once divine fingers had taken of the dust of the ground and molded a human body therefrom and breathed into it life, so yet again the Creator incarnate stooped and took of the very dust of the ground and made for that man the faculty of sight. When some days later Jesus Christ found him, of course, gratitude flooded the man's heart for this superlative gift. Nor was our Lord slow in prompting his memory and thus prompting the gratitude. Do you believe on the Son of God, said he. Said the man, who is he, Lord, that I might believe? Said Jesus Christ, thou hast both seen him. And he it is that talketh with thee. Enough to set open the floodgates of the man's gratitude to Christ. Thou hast both seen him a month ago, and he couldn't have seen anybody. Once he was blind, yet now he could see. But in that moment, profound gratitude was overtaken by a deeper response. For there comes a point when even sight must be unconscious of herself. And not the fact that I can see predominate in my heart, but what I can see. And he could now see. And the gift of sight he had received proclaimed the one who stood before him as the creator incarnate. And he worshipped him. It is ever thus. It would seem that adoration of the divine persons proceeds not merely from his gifts, but from those revelations that come from time to time to our spirits when we perceive something about the divine persons. This morning we shall notice from our reading of one of the scenes of worship in heaven that John has recorded, that when in the Bible we read of people worshiping, they are generally worshiping as a response to some specific glory of God. They are not merely content to say that God is glorious, we all know that. It is some special feature about God that has gripped their heart and is promoting their worship. One of the reasons why our worship is sometimes weak, and yet who am I to criticize? I criticize myself. But sometimes one of the reasons why our worship is weak is because we are content with generalisms. Oh, how wonderful God is. Well, we knew that. Wonderful, what were you meaning when you said wonderful? Wonderful in what respect? You would help us to worship more if you specified what it is. If I may for a moment again descend from high levels to low. Could happen, couldn't it, that after this meeting I go home and I remark to my friends, did you see Mr. Ponsambi's car this morning? No. Oh, you should have seen Mr. Ponsombi's car. He has a new car, you know. I- it's marvelous car. And my friends say, yes, it's marvelous car. Well, what about it? What was marvelous? Well, it was, uh, it was, uh, well, it was wonderful. Yes, yes, yes, yes, it was wonderful. Yes. What was it, what was there about the car that was wonderful? Well, I say, uh, well, it was, uh, marvelous, I mean to say it, it, it, it had four wheels, and uh, then it got a steering wheel, and it was wonderful. That doesn't get you very far, does it? Why, the ladies, if I might say so, would do better than that. The ladies would say it was a wonderful car. You should have seen the color tones. Oh, it was a delightful powder blue, and the seats were to match, and they weren't that old Rexine stuff, they were real suede, and there were carpets on the floor this deep. Now they're telling you something about the car, aren't they? Why it is wonderful. And the sixteen-year-old gentleman would have done better than I would. They wouldn't have said it had four wheels. They would have said it was VHF and fuel injection, and it went from nought to sixty in minus ten seconds, and its rating was this. Why couldn't I say all those things and could only manage it was wonderful? Because I don't know much about cars, that's the answer. Cars, oh, I just know them as things going along the street. I don't know much about them. Why is it that sometimes I can't manage more than to say God is wonderful? Could it be that I don't live quite near enough to see any more detail? And with those thoughts in our minds, we come to this scene in Revelation four, where, so John tells us, he was permitted to hear the very worship of heaven, and the living creatures beneath the throne of God, and the twenty four elders that surround that throne, engaging in their superlative worship of God. Why do they worship? You say because God is wonderful. Of course, sir, he's wonderful. What in particular is it that moves them to worship him? And if you ask them, it is the superb character of his government. For on this occasion, as they worship, their attention is caught by him who sits upon the throne. And it is the wonderful character of God as the moral governor of the universe that is drawing forth their worship. So John tells us there was a throne in heaven, and one sat upon it. A veritable gospel for a confused world like ours, that there is a throne and it isn't vacant. One sits there on. But pray, what is he like? A question you might ask with some insistence, because this book of the Revelation is about to tell you that from that throne there shall presently proceed judgments dark and terrible. Say what kind of a throne is it that will allow and issue such judgments as suffering under them men shall gnaw their tongues for very pain. Say what kind of a character is he that sits on that throne? It is to be noticed that before those judgments descend, the highest intelligences in the universe are found, bowing down in worship, in admiration of the character of him who sits on that throne. Indeed, it is the wrath of God, among other things, that when it is rightly understood, will move our worship. John helps us to see the nature of that throne and its government and the character of him that sits on it. By a geometrical description, he says that round about in full circle of the throne there went a rainbow green in color. I presume the circle went vertically, that the rainbow was like we see them on earth, only full circle right round the throne. And then round about the throne, and this time presumably horizontally going round. There were twenty four other thrones, likewise occupied with elders clothed in linen and golden crowns upon their head. Can you visualize it? A throne occupied and two circles, the one going vertically all the way round and the other going horizontally all the way round it. So that if we continue to think geometrically, as we're meant to do, then it becomes true that everything that goes out of that throne, every command that is issued, every act of judgment that proceeds from that throne must go through and past those two circles. What are those two circles? The first is a rainbow, the rainbow indeed. With its mention, we are back to the story of Noah and the flood. How God, at one stage in history, because of the exceeding great wickedness and violence of men. Drowned our whole world in a flood. But after that judgment promised that he would never destroy the world again with water. God in his mercy setting a limit to his judgments. And I bid you ponder it a moment. And read therein something of the heart of God. That the transcendent Lord, who need not give account to anybody and does according to his will in the army of heaven, that he should himself put a limit to his judgment. Oh, what volumes of his mercy does it speak? Tormented and grieved and provoked by man's sin and continuing violence and stupidity. That God himself should put a limit to his judgment. A limit first of mercy. We have this morning surrounded a table whereon there was bread and wine. Wine. And remembered how men took God's incarnate Son and pulled the beard from his cheeks and nailed him hand and foot, and mocked him in his misery. And the transcendent Lord of time and space stood by. And the earth continued. And men went on living. And the heart that has begun to know itself will presently forget other men and wonder how the Almighty puts up with me. There is a rainbow round his throne, who would not any should perish, but that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Yes, and the great transcendent Lord of time and space. Why is it that he will allow an eternal lake of fire? Because his judgment is limited. He could s- save men by removing their free will. But that would be to turn them from men into cabbages. The God who has given us free will respects our personalities so much that never and never would he override our free will. When we've made our final choice, he will honor it to all eternity. Oh, how much he loves you. How could it be that infinite, limitless power could be so gentle and restrained with my personality? It is not merely that. Not only is God's authority by his own ordinance and decree limited by the rainbow of his mercy around the throne. There is another encircling group of thrones, and they who sit on them. What shall that tell us? Ah, you say, I see a quickening in your face. Yes, ha, ha. We were doing it in the Bible reading the other night, you say. Now, what will this new preacher tell us? Who, please, are those twenty four elders? I would willingly tell you, had the Holy Spirit told us first. Seeing the Holy Spirit hasn't told us who they are, how do you expect me to tell you? Isn't it curious how dogmatic we can be over things that the Holy Spirit hasn't told us? And so sure that our deductions are right. Uh, uh, and that isn't to deny that your deduction might be right, my good sir. It probably is. But more important than your deduction or mine is, is what the Holy Spirit has actually told us. He has not told us who they are, he's told us what they are and what they are doing. He has intimated to us this stupendous fact, that though the transcendent Lord is self-sufficient, he has been pleased to invite creatures to join him in the government. Let us pause to consider it. These are elders, they are human beings, therefore, or they are creatures, therefore. God is never spoken of in comparative terms. He is the ancient of days. These are elders. It marks them out as creatures. And herein lies a stupendous fact. Will God, the almighty moral governor of the universe, invite creatures to join him in the government? He will indeed. I'll have you know that God is no dictator. Though he and he only had the right to govern simply by the fiat of his own will. Yet he invites us not merely to be his subjects, but members of his cabinet. Tell me about those men on those thrones. What is your opinion of them? Or be they angels, or be they who they be. Tell me about those creatures on those twenty four thrones. Are they a collection of yes men? Or have they real power? Is this a charade? Is this a game? Is this a pretense that the Almighty has given them power, but only so far as they say yes unthinkingly to everything he says? You would scarce worship a God like that, would you? Look at their crowns, they are golden. The chapter tells us that when finally they take the crowns of their government and willingly give them back to God, it is under no forceful compulsion, because they can't say anything else but yes. It is that given a free will and a perfect personal character of splendid linen and government of the highest principles, which are crowns of gold, as they consider the glories of him that sits upon that throne. And willingly they fall and give back their crowns. And why they do so, we must consider on another occasion. But this morning, let us gather up our thoughts. You caught something of the wonder of the governor of the universe, in his mercy and his patience, even in his judgments, that will respect your personality eternally and never invade it except with your permission. That is patient, not willing that any should perish, but that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, that even in the terrors of eternal judgment will never remove your free will. Then if you've caught something of his patience, catch something of his great-heartedness that invites even you, not merely to be his loyal subject, but to join him in the government. You parents here already, at the level of his creatures, have known God delegate to you authority. He doesn't come and make your child. He delegates that authority to you. He doesn't educate your child, he delegates that authority to you. And to that child, you stand in the very place of God. God helped you to perform the task, aright. A right. But if it be true that in nature God has delegated government to us as creatures, how much truer and more wonderfully so in grace. Know you not that the church shall judge the very world? Know you not that one day it is your destiny to judge angels? Know you not that God calls you in Jesus Christ to share the very throne of Christ and sit with him on his throne as he also overcame and sat down on his father's throne? Say at least the answer to the devil's lie, young man, that God wants to keep you down and God wants to be a tyrant over you. He wants no such thing. Not his only, he is not only patient with your sins until you come and find the Savior, if you'll let him. He will so train you that you may safely be entrusted along with Christ in the government of his universe. Which all tells us surely something about the wonder of God, which this morning ought to bow our hearts in worship.