Christ is Worthy

Why good evening Providence Baptist Church I'm excited to be able to stand behind the pulpit and say that I am just as excited as you are

But as I come to you tonight is I do want to thank your pastors For allowing me the opportunity and the privilege to come to stand behind their pulpit

Especially brother Allen brother Allen. I probably know better than brother Joseph, but he brother

Allen is he He's very gracious with me or Jacob, sorry He's very gracious with me

Allen is and just like he is whatever I stick my foot in my mouth through text message or whatever

Else that may be happening so thank you man for allowing me to come tonight and to worship with y 'all and Church, if you would

I want to preach from the book of Revelation if you were turned to John's Revelation The fifth chapter with me this evening and I struggled a little bit on what to preach brother

Allen They asked me to come in to preach about a month ago I think it was and I was having a hard time with it

I have been kind of accustomed to when being asked to preach as a pastor will say well you cover this or you cover that Or here's you a topic or I'm in this book and this will be your text and I asked

I said What do you want me to preach on and he said? Well, whatever you want to and with that is I am

NOT a stranger to the history that since I have known Perry or Providence badness, excuse me of what you've been going through So I got to praying and thinking about what do

I want to come in to preach tonight tonight? I I'm gonna be honest with you I'm not gonna dig down into scripture and bring you any doctrine or teach you anything tonight

In fact what I want to do Providence badness is to encourage the church the

Providence badness the members of the church here this evening you see as I One thing that I know when

I come and or I think it or ponder upon the church here at Perryville is there's two Sayings that I often hear in fact

Every time I've heard Alan preaches He will stand behind a pulpit and I would almost bet you a month's pay that somewhere in his sermon is the words

Christ is King will come out of his mouth. I'm sure y 'all are familiar with that as well But as I watch him on social media as we talk together

There's another saying that I hear come out of your pastor's mouth and that is what I want to preach on tonight

Not your pastor's words But what we find in scripture and I will show you or if I was sitting in the truck waiting to come in thinking gunner

Maybe practicing or whatever but 23 hours ago is your pastor posted this in short

The SPC has a convention drift problem because it is a local church drift problem

Picture rose preach the gospel teach the necessity of the new birth. Christ is worthy of healthy churches no matter the cost

So when we go to our text this evening, I do not care to preach to you about the SPC But I'm going to preach a title this evening entitled

Christ is worthy Because churches I look at you and I have seen you as you have gone through some high times

But yet you have gone through some low times and be encouraged tonight Is that as we tread through those low times as a church or as an individual is know that Christ is

Worthy if you've ever doubted that as I want to show it to you from scripture this evening I do not want to get into eschatology tonight, even though I'm preaching from the book of Revelation But if you would go with the

Revelation tap chapter 5 in John's Revelation the fifth chapter I'm gonna actually start at verse 9

I think I told you verse 6 in verse 9 is we read this and they sung a new song

Saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals there

Thereof for thou what slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people in nation and has made us unto our

God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and The elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and Every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard

I saying Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb forever and ever

And the four beasts said amen and the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever

Would you pray with me? Father I come to you this evening Lord. I thank you for this privilege that you have given me

I thank you for this church Lord and the members who make her up. I thank you for her elders Lord this evening.

I do ask that you would be with us father I ask that for the hearers of the sermon Lord is that you would use your word to comfort them father

If need be I ask that you would use it to convict them and father I do ask that if there's any person here

Tonight or any person who may hear the sermon preached that does not know you as I beg of you Father to draw them to you for salvation

Lord, I ask tonight is that you would work amongst us by your spirit according to your will I ask Lord that you would help me tonight as I attempt to preach this message father

I love you and I thank you for the high calling which you have placed upon my life and father I ask that I would do nothing other tonight than to bring honor and glory to you

And ask all these things the name of my Lord Christ Amen Now as we begin looking at our text in verse 9

I chose to start there even though you go back I believe and start a little bit earlier in the Chapter here in John's Revelation is

I wanted to see we go on and we see and they sung a new song saying what thou art

Worthy now here they are. They're proclaiming the worthiness of Christ here in the ninth verse already

We're gonna see him proclaim it again, but in a different way later in our text, but here as we see thou art

Worthy they tell Christ to do what to take the book and to open the seals thereof

Now church as we look at this we think about this is the question is is why is Christ worthy?

I know, you know that Christ is worthy But let us bring be reminded of the reason of why

Christ is worthy. We see it in our text tonight He goes on and we see if you have a

King James. I'm sorry. That's what I'm not. Sorry. That's what I'm preaching That's what I'm preaching from but what you'd find is a for here

You would read in the text And to open the seals thereof for we find the reason coming after why

Christ was worthy or is worthy The first one they says the text says that was slain

You were slain they say so that he is worthy because he is slain and has redeemed us to God Dear church.

Let us be reminded this evening that Christ is worthy of everything Just for this simple fact

But he is worthy because of the work of redemption which he has completed

Think about it for a second You see students as you go back into school and you're looked at as a weirdo because you're a disciple of Christ is know that Christ is worthy

Church, no matter what the government brings down in the future We are called to keep the the foregoing motion that we have is that it should be done at whatever cost because of why?

Because Christ is worthy because he has redeemed us The thought upon upon this the work of the redemption of Christ How long has it been since you have just said and thought about what the redemption which

Christ has gained for you? What is what it didn't tell I? Believe one of the places we can see this is in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah In the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, and that's where I'm gonna go tonight now.

We'll come back to Revelation but in the third verses we read he is despised and rejected of men a

Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him He was despised and we esteemed him not

Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows Yeah, we did not esteem him or we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted

But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities As I have read that my ponderings upon the the the the salvation the redemption which

Christ has brought and I read through Isaiah 53 and I heard and I read these words bruised for our iniquities

You know so often y 'all don't know me very well But I spent ten years on the fire department with the city of North Little Rock And I've got an opportunity.

I think it was two folks to pull out of a home But nothing drastic But you see

I remember one time we were sitting at the station it was Dallas, Texas They had a hotel which was they were building still in construction phase and guess what happened it caught on fire

And they did a great save there in Dallas, Texas is they brought the ladder truck in they swung it over the construction workers on the side he's not getting down and the the the ladder the

Ladder they swing the ladder over and they get the guy off the side of this building You know what the guy was doing within there's a matter of a few hours.

He was on the news He was proclaiming what this man had done for him. These firemen had done

As I think about what Christ has done for me as I become convicted and here's why because there are men who are willing to get on a national level a national platform and Openly proclaim what

Christ has done and or what a fireman has done When all the firemen ever did was prolong something that's coming to an end

When I think of myself And the work which Christ has done on my behalf As I'm gonna be honest with you every time that I have walked with Christ that's he has saved me

I have not been willing to proclaim him in the same way But Christian let me tell you tonight is let us be reminded for what

Christ is and he was bruised for our iniquities Not his own

But for mine You see hung up on that tree and he took the wrath of the Father which

I am deserving of Christian he hung up on the tree and he groaned in agony

He took the full cup of wrath drinking it to its very dregs of the wrath which you deserved

He took it It's bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was something and with his stripes we are healed and We like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the

Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us All he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet.

He opened not his mouth He's brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is done. So he opened not his mouth

He was taken from prison and from judgment who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living

For the transgressions of my people. He was stricken and He made his grave with the wicked and the rich in his death

Because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth yet what it pleased the Lord to bruise him

He hath put him to grief it thou shall make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see

See his seed. He shall prolong his days in the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand

He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge My shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities

When we think of what Christ has done for us Church Providence Baptist It's the first and foremost thing that we should know is that because of the work which he has done for our redemption

Is that Christ is worthy of everything that we have? You see what does that mean what does that look like You see the church our pastor has been through much of what y 'all have been through There have been times when there's more people there and Then we get into and we begin preaching the word and studying the word and we see that some things need to change and we go through these changes

But not everybody's so happy about them You see people want to get mad and they want to leave they want to do this and they want to do that and there's

A hardship in the life of the church, but church. I want you to understand It's just I have seen it at Bloomer Baptist and Alan did not know

I was preaching this but Christ is worthy to walk through those hardships Christ is worthy of everything

But it's not just his work of redemption we look down in verse 10 and He has made us unto our

God Kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth And I'm gonna be honest with you if you disagree with what

I'm about to say then come and talk to me afterwards But when I look at this old Bible here, it says it has made us

When I think of the us when I read the us there is if you look at this These are the elders that are beginning to sing the song here, but he goes us

I do not believe it's just saying the elders, but he's talking about every Christian here that God has yet done something else here

The point I have here is first off was his work of redemption, but his work of coronation His work of coronation if you have an

NASB or ESB is what it says It has made us unto our God something as kingdoms and priests

It says and we shall reign on the earth And I think and I ponder on that of another reason why

Christ is worthy Not only has he redeemed us But look what else he has done with his brother

He's taken a creature of the dirt who has rebelled against him who has had no desire towards him

He's not only redeemed them, but he has lifted them up as we look at our text. He has made them a kingdom

We're kings. He has made them priests who will one day rule with him. I Do not know about you, but how much more blessing can

Christ bestow upon his people? Not only has he redeemed them but he does this to where they these who who have rebelled against him whom he has created is that they now have a royal heritage

I Believe we can read about this also in first Peter 2 9

But you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people That ye should show forth the praises of him who had called you out of darkness into his marvelous light

So Michael are you about through yet cuz you're about to sweat all over the pulpit no We look at this in verse 11 and this new songs not over with but in verse 11

John begins to to give us some detail of what he's seen He says then I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne

And the beasts and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands

I do not know how big that number is But it's a large one. It's a lot as we would say in Bloomer And so we go on with this and now look where we go into verse 12 saying with what kind of voice a loud voice

And what are they saying worthy is the lamb? Worthy is the lamb

Now I do not know about you But I would imagine for myself or I don't imagine imagine these here who are before the throne

I imagine myself when I think of What God has done for me and is doing for me.

I cannot help but to shout of the worthiness of the Lamb of God But what exactly is he worthy of say well everything everything

Well, we also see another reason of why he is worthy in our text this evening in verse 12 it says saying with the loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and Riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing

Now we begin looking at this is what we see first off is that there are many hosts who join in on this new song

It's not just a few of them And y 'all church. I'm gonna be honest with y 'all sing out That's good

But these folks here they're singing They're singing But what we see in verse 12 is there's a sevenfold tribute given here

This sevenfold tribute the power the riches the wisdom the strength the honor the glory the blessing they all do something

They attest to the deity of Christ You see Christ is worthy not only because he has redeemed not only because of the the the coronation the work of his coronation but because of Who he is?

He's God He is the son of God Now when we think about this

Is it I don't know about you. Maybe this is a very elementary for you But when I ponder upon this

And I think of who Christ is we see that his the deity ascribed to him in this text

Is it floors me? Why? Because I can go to a passage such as John chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 in the beginning was the word

We know that's Christ and the word was with God and the word was God The same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made

When I think of the first chapter of John the first three verses of the first chapter of the Gospel of John And what

I see here in verse 12 is it floors me the reason being is because Christ as God He's Creator He's sustainer

When I think about that is guess whoever rebelled against We're Christ Alan But yet what has he done is he has shown me great grace and great mercy at the trying

God before the foundations of the world Said my I am going to save Michael Sanchez some hillbilly from Logan County, Arkansas Because in some way or another it's going to glorify him

See Christ is worthy for who he is And I'll stop right there. And this is not my notes you get this one for free

If you're here and you do not know Christ is know that Christ is worthy of your worship

Because of who he is. He is your creator He is your sustainer and he will be your judge if you die in your sin

And if you are without Christ Beg of you to repent of your sin and place your faith and then the person and in his work alone and nothing else

What is he worthy of? One commentator said when we look at this, it's very simple That when it says that they're claiming that he is worthy as the lamb that was slain to receive

We find out what he's worthy of power riches wisdom strength honor glory and blessing

And thank the Lord I do not really agree with the commentator Because Christ already has these things

He has all power. He does not need Michael Sanchez or Bloomer Baptist He has all power if Michael Sanchez will not proclaim him

He'll cause the dumpster across the street to roll over here and pull the fill the pulpit on a Sunday evening Riches Lord does not need riches

You see for he owns the cattle on a thousand hills The Lord does not need wisdom for he has all wisdom and all strength and all honor, but I do believe

That I should give him glory with everything I do I Do believe I should give him honor and everything

I do in blessing as I think about this As I know that a lot of times it's a whole lot easier to say

Christ is worthy of everything than it is to actually Do it You see because what that means

Christ is worthy of As I agree with brother

Allen that Christ is worthy of healthy churches He's worthy of a healthy church in Perryville Several in Conway several in Little Rock a few in Bloomer.

We've only got about a hundred folk But more so Christian tonight is know that Christ is worthy of a life lived sacrificially

You see a church is not going to be a healthy church until those who make her up or living as we're supposed to as We were called to do

And so often today what I see Amongst the American evangelicals is there are many who profess

Christ? There are many who will fill a pew on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday or Sunday evening, but there's even fewer

Who will live the life which a Christians called to live You see this seems to be a misconception today in America amongst

American evangelicals that once we have a date written in the front of our

Bibles or Once we have shaken a preacher's hand Or when somebody in a church has looked upon us and said all they're a good

Christian persons that that's it that's done But Christian let us not forget is that Christ is worthy of a life that is lived sacrificially

You said well, where do you get that at I believe the Apostle Paul pin something about that and he

Pinned something along the lines of everything is lost so that he may gain Christ I believe that's found in the book of Philippians But we see that Christ is worthy

In the verse 13 we continue on in our text this evening As we see something else and every creature was in heaven

Which is in heaven and on the earth and under the sea and such as are in the sea and all that are in them

Heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb forever and ever

And I look in verse 13 And I look at this I cannot help my attention to be drawn back to the book of Philippians Where Paul says on that day that or one day that every knee shall be what shall bow

Christian I want you to know is that it is hard to live the life which Christ has called us to do Exactly.

What is that life? I believe it can be summed up from the words of our Lord that we would find in Luke 9 23 For if anyone desires to come after me, he must deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me

In the culture that we see growing around us right now Is it is harder and harder to do that without there being some kind of effect upon our daily lives

But Christian when that comes is know that Christ is worthy Know also as you look around you know that Christ is worthy of Lives that are lived sacrificially for him of healthy churches, but also know that we are on the winning team

We're on the winning team Or the one team, how do you want to pronounce that winning one?

Both amen You see when we look at this As we see something in every creature, which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth

And such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I sing Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the

Lamb forever and ever Well, thank you verse 13. I don't think there's much into being thing or any person that's left out of verse 13 if there's any

But all day will come all day it one day all will confess that Christ is Lord And so Christian when we look at our text

I do not know how long I've been up here When we look at our text in verse 14 It says in the four beasts said amen and the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever

So I think about this or as I thought about this looking through this text over the last few weeks pondering over it

It's Christian Let us join These elders in the worship of Christ It's not just a worship that is on a

Sunday morning or Sunday evening or Wednesday night But Christian for us on this side of eternity.

It is us worshiping him every day living a life of worship

No matter that where we are at where we find ourselves that whether it is Mexico Perryville or Bloomer is that we are proclaiming his worthiness that we are walking and living in worship of him living a life that Christ is worthy of that is full of our own self -denial taking up our

Cross and following Christ first and foremost You see a pair of L.

P Perryville needs to see anything. It is Christians who are living this life Who are putting

Christ first and foremost just like the folks that bloom or just like the folks in Van Buren and Conway This is what the world needs to see

Christians who are Christians in word only they're not going to get anywhere But folks need to be able to look upon us who follow

Christ and go, you know what they're kind of weird They're serious about what they proclaim

See and think about it and here at my notes I got a head of myself Because here's where I supposed to mention Philippians But following Christ first and foremost above all things

You see Paul counted all things as a loss for the sake of gaining Christ In Christian as we look at the

Apostle Paul, I love him Not more than Christ But I think oftentimes we have a habit of looking at men such as Paul and going he's an anomaly

Well, he is because he's an apostle He is because he was used to pin much of our

New Testament But he was still a redeemed man And as a redeemed man for a man as for looking at as redeemed men and women looking at Paul I do not think we should see an anomaly, but we should see a

Example for a redeemed person to follow See Paul was willing to do that because he knew the worthiness of Christ In Christian, I know anything.

I told you tonight is not new or under the Sun for you know that Christ is worthy But if you find yourself here tonight

And you are outside of Christ There's no that one day you will bow your knee to Christ You will either bow your knee to Christ on this side of eternity and when you die as you will walk into his presence an eternal partaker of the mercy and the grace of Jesus or you will die in your sins you will enter into an eternity as not as a partaker of the eternal grace and mercy of God but as a partaker of his eternal wrath