Worthy Is the Lamb - Part 1 — Joshua Daniel

The Worthiness of the Lamb and Deliverance from Darkness

Revelation, fifth chapter, ninth verse. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.

They sung a new song, You are worthy, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God, purchased us back from the power of Satan. You know, the scripture puts it this way, that the dear Lord has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

Generational Bondage and the Design of the Family

Now, just think of the two kingdoms, the power of darkness. Some people don't even seem to understand that they are moving and are subjugated and others are totally subservient to the powers of darkness.

Now that's a terrible thing, do you know? Some families, it runs in some families. You know, I sometimes come across people who say, my grandfather was a runaway, a runoff, and so did my dad, and I did the same thing, or my grandmother had a teenage abortion, and then it was my mother, then it was me.

Oh, you know, my grandmother did this, and then it was my mother, and then it was me. Worse and worse and worse. The powers of darkness running in families are subjugating and controlling. Think of all the wonderful potential in a family.

When a family works together as a team, how wonderful that would be, that is designed to be. Father and mother of one heart, the devil doesn't want it. So you can see many a husband who will say, my wife has a mind of her own.

All right, let her have a good mind. That's no tragedy. But however highly educated the wife might be, must she usurp authority over the man? I see this to be one of the modern ways of family disintegration and disharmony.

As heirs together, says the Bible, you have only one heir for a throne, and second in line, third in line, and so on. But there's only one heir. But the Bible speaks of heirs together, of the gift of life.

Yes, it's such a gift, isn't it? Oh, I feel so sad for children who say, my mother died early, or my I grew up without a father, and others who say, I don't know where my father is. He's supposed to be somewhere.

You know, we see more and more such dismembered people and sad families. But you know, the design of God for the home is that the whole family should be plucked asunder from the power of darkness. And this, the devil fights tooth and nail to prevent.

Spiritual Authority over Unclean Spirits

He does not want a family to be lifted high above the powers of darkness. As a matter of fact, it is a tragedy when a preacher does not know how to deal with the powers of darkness. My father used to say, on one occasion, he was invited to preach to a Lutheran congregation, which was a rowdy congregation in that place, meaning they would do anything, you see.

Nothing was out of bounds for them. Utterly ungodly people, you know, baptized, brought into the church, nominal Christians. And God said to my father, you're going to this place, but turn to Matthew 10 chapter and the first verse, you will meet this promise as you go to this place.

So my father said, as he looked at the 12th, 10th chapter and the first verse of Matthew, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Now, gave them power against unclean spirits. So my father, who had been brought up in a very godly church, my grandfather would have no nonsense in his church. Having come out of heathenism, heart of heathenism, my grandfather was an austere man who had renounced immense wealth, and if he caught anybody sleeping in the congregation, he would pause and say, hey, you there, did you come to the church to sleep?

And you can imagine, no sleepers and such sort was permitted. And then my grandfather used to go to the platform, to the pulpit, and pray for the conversion of my father. And so his friends would tell him, hey, your dad prays for you from the pulpit.

And of course, no teenager likes that. However, you know, in that church, my father had not encountered demon powers, because my grandfather focused so much on the blood of Jesus. He preached the blood, and the Holy Communion was a marvelous time to him.

And his heart would be so lifted up in gratitude to God. So my dear friends, my father was unacquainted with some of these demon powers. I mean, manifesting themselves in ugly manner, in an ugly manner.

Deliverance from Demonic Possession

So when he went there, suddenly a woman was seized by this evil spirit. And it appears she was a teacher or something. And it appears when she was under this possession, when this spirit came upon her, she would beat up her husband.

So this woman came up that way against dad. Dad held her hand, made her sit down, and said to someone, please read Matthew 10, first verse. According to this scripture, I command you to leave this woman.

She was free. And that woman wept and said, for years I have been under this evil spirit, who would overcome me. And I didn't know where to go, but I came here hoping that I would be made free. You see, my dear friends, we live in a world today where there is satanism.

Rank satanism. People are sacrificed, their vital organs cut out and sacrificed, baby's blood is drunk. Can you imagine this barbarity and return to total savagery of prehistoric days? I don't think prehistoric days also had any such barbarity.

But this is something deliberate, done at the behest of satan. And so we are going to see more and more of it. Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.

Entering and Enjoying the Kingdom of God

Oh, what a marvel. Oh, what a marvel. The kingdom of his dear son. We ought to be enjoying the kingdom. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The kingdom, you don't have a kingdom without a king.

A kingdom includes and involves the presence of a king. So, you and I are brought into a kingdom and are made possessors of that kingdom. The king is with us. We can't live like beggars. That is not God's way.

That's not our heritage. That is not the legacy that we receive from the cross. But look at the tragedy of it. We live on the very periphery of these things. And we trap see and trip along on the periphery of these things.

We don't have even that honesty and earnestness to say, hey, I must enjoy the kingdom. Yes, my savior brought to me his kingdom. I must enjoy its powers. I must utilize them and employ them. No, how sad, how sad.

Worshiping the Worthy Lamb

I tell you, if there is mourning in heaven, heaven should be in mourning for the condition of Christians. That means you and me. Oh, my dear people. But look at this song of heaven. Worthy is the lamb for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.

And thou has made us unto our God, kings and priests that we shall reign on the earth. Twelve and 13 verses with a loved voice. Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

Is he receiving this? He is worthy, but I presume we deem him unworthy. Do we? Dare we? Is he receiving all these things from us? Do people look at our lives and say, truly, this power is from the lamb?

Truly, this wisdom is from the lamb. Truly, this blessing for all upon this man, upon this girl, upon this person is from the lamb because he is worthy. These people are blessed in this fashion. Yes, my dear friends, but never forget to be able to enter into this great song and into this scene of worship.

Recognizing Unworthiness through the Prodigal Son

There should be in us first a deep sense of unworthiness. If you look at Luke 15 chapter and the meditations of this boy amidst the pigs, this was his meditation. Why do I perish here with hunger? I do not know, my dear people, if some of you get hungry for this and that.

You know, the devil puts all kinds of lusts and passions and misdirected desires. They are misdirected desires. Into us, and if we pursue them, we are lost. But that hunger for anything apart from Christ only arises when you are in the midst of pigs.

Your thoughts, you're keeping company with pigs, and so you begin to hunger after those things which do not belong to the kingdom of God. You be careful, friends, you be careful, and I shall be careful because suddenly we sink into the midst of the company of pigs, and we get into the company of pigs, then we begin to hunger for this and that.

You know, you can sing with Charles Wesley, plenteous grace with thee is found, grace to pardon all my sin, plenteous grace. You know, folks, here this young man says, 19th verse, I am no more worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired servants.

This is what I'll tell my dad. I renounce all my rights, hereditary legal rights. I renounce them. I am so unworthy. You know, some of these children who have been protected from much evil, they feel, you see, I have not done any serious crimes.

I have not done any awful sins. So it's okay. I'll carry on like this for some more time in limbo. You know, some people live in spiritual limbo. They're hanging up there, floating somewhere. They don't know their location.

You know, you can't find a ship which will not be able to tell you exactly on which longitude and latitude it is. They know where they are and they know where they are headed. But some people live in spiritual limbo.

Prayer for Deeper Worship and Consecration

You don't seem to be able to do anything with such people. Let us pray. Oh, loving Father, I do come with a sense of my unworthiness. I wish I could feel it more and more and more. I wish I could see my Savior's, my sinless Savior's worthiness and join in that worship around the throne of God while still here.

I want to join in that worship. We want to echo that song of heaven. Yes, we want to sing that song of heaven. Worthy is the land. Worthy is the land that was slain to receive power and glory and riches and wisdom.

Worthy is the land. Hear our prayer in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Amen.