Rehearsing for Heaven

Each Lord's Day, the people of God get together and worship. We do this because it's commanded in the Bible. We do it because it pleases our Father in Heaven.

He is seeking worshippers to worship Him. We do it because we need each other and we certainly need the Lord as we face another week. But there's another reason why we gather together to worship Lord's Day by Lord's Day.

You may never have thought of this, but think about it. We are rehearsing for Heaven. Some believer here this morning says, well, I find worship service kind of boring.

You're going to be bored in Heaven then. Well, you say, things will be different. No, you're going to go to Heaven with the spiritual life you have right now.

You aren't going to be another Charles Spurgeon or John Calvin. If I don't enjoy worship down here, God's going to have to put me through some kind of celestial decompression chamber to get me to enjoy worship up there. We're going to spend eternity worshiping God, and this is our rehearsal.

You say, I don't believe it. Well, turn to Revelation chapter 5. The book of Revelation is a book of worship. Forty percent of this book is about either worship in Heaven or worship on Earth that is wrong.

The Apostle John has been caught up to Heaven. What an experience. And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? And no one in Heaven or on Earth or under the Earth was able to open the book or to look into it. And then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, stop weeping.

Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals. And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the Earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

When he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the Earth.

And then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb, the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and every created thing which is in heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, amen, and the elders fell down and worshipped. Is your heart saying amen to that? People say, oh, I want to go to heaven.

I want to see mother and daddy again. We all do. I want to see that little baby that died and has grown up in heaven.

Yeah. I want to meet Peter and Paul. I want to see Jesus.

Yeah. But I hope that someplace in our hearts, there's a throbbing desire for heavenly worship. Because none of us worships the way he or she really wants to.

You notice that heaven is a place of worship. If my life is not a life of worship, I'll be uncomfortable in heaven. Heaven is a place of worship, and the focus of that worship is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Why do we worship Jesus? Well, we worship him, according to this chapter, because of who he is. Did you notice the images that were used about Jesus? The lion of the tribe of Judah. That's a great image.

The root of David. That's a tough image. The lamb.

We worship Jesus because of who he is. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. That takes you back to Genesis 49.

Old Jacob is dying, and he gathers his sons around him, and he tells what's going to happen down through history. And he says, Judah, Judah, your brothers are going to praise you. Judah means praise.

Judah, you're a lion's wealth. Judah, you're a lion. That means sovereignty, the king of the jungle.

That means courage. The lion of the tribe of Judah. That's Jesus.

The root of David. Strange picture. That takes you back to Isaiah 11, where Isaiah says, a little sprig is going to come out of the root of David.

Talking about Jesus. Then later on in verse 10, he says that he is the root. Now, how can Jesus be the root and the spring, the sprig? How can he, as in Revelation 22.10, be both the root of David and the offspring of David? Because Jesus is God and man.

As God, he is the root of David. He brought David into existence. As man, he came through the line of David, the root and the offspring of David, the king.

But most of all, he's the lamb. It's interesting to go through the book of Revelation and count the words that are repeated over and over again. 28 times in the book of the Revelation, you find the lamb, the lamb, the lamb.

The city, the city of the lamb. The bride, the bride of the lamb. They wash their robes in the blood of the lamb.

Over and over again, it's the lamb, the lamb. We worship him because of who he is. Strange-looking lamb.

Now, this is imagery. Don't take this literally. An image is a picture behind which is a truth.

Seven horns. Perfect power. Seven eyes.

Perfect knowledge. The seven spirits of God sent into all the earth. Perfect presence.

He is omnipresent. He is omniscient. He is omnipotent.

He's God. And we worship him. This lamb looked as though it was slain.

That's a nice word, slain. When you translate Scripture, you've got to be careful because if you say it literally, some folks may not like it. I'll say it literally, butchered.

We worship him because of who he is. The son of God, the lamb of God, the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root and the offspring of David.

We worship him because of where he is. Where is Jesus in this particular passage? Well, it's rather obvious. He's in heaven.

He's in heaven. May I remind you, he is not on the cross. As you come to this lovely facility God has given to you and you look up and you see a cross.

No one hanging on it. He is not on the cross. He's in heaven.

And he's not in the tomb. Tomb is empty. He's in heaven.

Lifted up was he to die. It is finished was his cry. Now in heaven exalted high.

Hallelujah. What a Savior. He's in heaven.

They crucified him. He was buried. He rose again.

And he ascended far above all principalities and all powers and every name that is named. And he's seated in heaven. We worship him because of where he is.

He's not in the manger at Bethlehem. He's not walking the dusty lanes of Galilee. No, no, no.

He's not asleep in the boat. He's in heaven. But notice that he is in heaven in the midst.

Because John saw the throne of God. And around that throne four living creatures that constantly sang and prayed, Holy, holy, holy. And around the throne in another concentric circle, the 24 elders symbolizing the saved people of the Old Testament and the New Testament and today.

And in the midst of that, Jesus. I would remind you that Jesus must always be in the midst. He's central.

Not out on the peripheral. In the midst. When he was 12 years old, his parents, his mother, Mary, and his adoptive father, Joseph, lost him.

12 years old. Went back, found him in the temple. You know where he was? All of the scholars were gathered around him.

He was in the midst of those doctors of theology, amazing them with his words. Jesus is always in the midst. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I shall be in the midst.

He's in the midst of the local church. Revelation chapter 1, John saw seven lampstands symbolizing seven churches. And in the midst, Jesus.

In fact, when they crucified him, they crucified him in the midst. To his right, a thief. To his left, a thief.

Jesus in the midst. He's central. That's what Paul meant when he said, for to me, to live is Christ.

He's central. So he's in heaven, he's in the midst, and he's at the throne. He's at the throne.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. He's on the throne. Forty-six times, forty-six times in the book of the Revelation, you find the word throne.

Oh, you find the throne of Satan, you find the throne of the beast, but primarily you find the throne of Jesus. Because he's in control. He takes the scroll because only he has the authority to break those seals and to fulfill God's historic plan for his universe.

That's why we worship him. Because of who he is and because of where he is. The next time the evening news disturbs you, the next time you put your head on the pillow and you can't sleep because of what you hear and what you see, just remember, he's in the midst.

He's in heaven. He is at the throne. And he's got everything under control.

Heaven is a place of worship. And the center of that worship is Jesus. And we worship him because of who he is and because of where he is.

But there's a third reason why we worship Jesus. It's because of what he does. What a wonderful song they sing to him.

Verse 9. And they sang a new song. Some folks don't like new songs. Now, I will confess to you at my age, I like the old songs.

My wife and I have the joy of working with the college students in our church. And when we attend their college worship, we learn new songs. You know why I need new songs? If I'm having new experiences with the Lord and new experiences in life, I have to have new ways of expressing it.

That doesn't mean you abandon the old songs. When you read the book of Revelation, you find that they sang the song of Moses. That's an old song.

That goes back a long way. You young people need to learn the old songs. And we older people need to learn the new songs.

The church is a family. And we need to sing together. Let's listen to this song.

What kind of a song are we going to sing up in heaven? Worthy are you to take the book. Worthy. The word worship comes from worth-ship.

We're going to sing worship songs in heaven. Worship songs. Not talking about ourselves.

Not asking for any particular need to be met. We're going to be singing worship songs. Worthy is the Lamb.

And so if we're going to do that up in heaven, we better start practicing down here. I don't like worship songs. They're not fast enough.

It's all right. You have all eternity. It makes no difference.

We're going to sing worship songs. Oh, we worship him for what he does. It's a worship song.

It's a gospel song. For you were slain. There are churches today that don't want to talk about blood.

They're going to be unhappy in heaven if they get there. You were slain. You were butchered.

You can write, summarize the message of the whole Bible in three statements about the Lamb. Old Testament, Isaac said to his father, Father, where is the Lamb? That's the theme of the Old Testament. All through the Old Testament they're saying, where is the Lamb? Where is the Lamb? Four Gospels, John the Baptist says, behold the Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

That's the theme of the New Testament. You get to the book of Revelation, which introduces us to heaven. Worthy is the Lamb.

That's the church today, the church of heaven in the future. Worthy is the Lamb. Where is the Lamb? Behold the Lamb.

Worthy is the Lamb. That's the theme of the whole Bible. We're going to sing about the cross.

I've read some books about how to be up to date. I think I'm getting too old for some people. Half of what I was born with doesn't work and the other half hurts.

I hope I never get so old that I can't learn a new song. But I hope I don't get so modern I abandon the blood. We're going to sing a gospel song up in heaven.

We're going to sing about the blood of Jesus. You were slain and purchased for God with your blood. Oh, we're going to sing a consecration song up in heaven.

He purchased us. He didn't just die for us. He purchased us.

What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which you have of God? You're not your own. You're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's.

Up in heaven we'll sing a consecration song. He purchased us. Every once in a while I get hog tied into going to some kind of either garage sale or whatever.

Why do people buy that junk? Every time they buy it, the price goes up. I know you can find treasures but nobody buys junk. Jesus did.

I was junk when he bought me. I had nothing to brag about. Oh, a consecration song.

Well, if I'm going to sing a consecration song up in heaven, I better learn how to sing them down here. So there's nothing wrong with singing, Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way.

That's a great song. Purchased us for God with your blood. People from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

We're going to sing a missionary song up in heaven. Well, I don't want to go to that church. I don't like the people sitting next to me.

They're different from me. No, you don't really mean that. When we get to heaven, we're going to sing praises to God that he didn't just save white Anglo-Saxon Americans.

That he saved people from every kindred and tongue and tribe and nation. A deacon said to me one day, I don't care how much money, preacher, you want for missions, just don't make me listen to a missionary speak. That's a nasty thing for a deacon to say or anybody to say.

Say, well, don't talk to me about missions. You're going to sing about it up in heaven. Better get used to it now.

Don't talk about evangelism. Why not? We're going to sing about it up in heaven. Let's start rehearsing now.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God. Oh, what a statement. That when we were saved, God took us and made us a kingdom of priests.

That's what he wanted Israel to be, a kingdom of priests. So we're going to sing a song about the church. The church of Jesus Christ in this world is a kingdom of priests.

And when we gather together and sing, we are a group of priests praising God. And when we give our offerings, we are giving sacrifices to our God. And when we present our bodies to him at the beginning of every day, a living sacrifice to God.

Someone says, well, don't talk to me about the church. Remember the 60s? Some of you don't. You were just a glint in somebody's eye.

Remember the 60s? I tell you, I got so tired of hearing it, these youngsters hollering out, the church? No. Jesus? Yes. How do you separate Jesus from the church? We're the body.

He's the head. We're the sheep. He's the shepherd.

The great shepherd of the sheep. We're the army. He's the captain of our salvation.

We're the branches. He's the vine. Don't talk to me about Jesus.

Yes. The church? No. Well, church has got its problems.

Sure. That's why we're here, to work together and pray together and solve some of those problems. Church has got hypocrites.

Well, there's room for one more. Come on. We're going to sing about that glorious kingdom.

That's quite a song. And we worship him because of what he does. And they will reign upon the earth.

We're going to sing about prophecy. Now, some people go way off on prophecy. They know what's between the toes of Daniel's image.

They found that in the footnotes. Are you living, expecting that Jesus could come back today? I know, I know. There's a book in my library called The Last Days Are Here Again.

And I know what he means by that. For 2000 years, we've been waiting. He hasn't come yet.

All right. God's timing is not my timing. I'm not going to worry about it.

But when we get to heaven, we're going to sing about reigning with Jesus. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever.

And praise God. Undeserving as we are, we're going to reign with him. We worship him because of what he does.

And finally, we worship him because of what he has. Everybody joins together in one great chorus. The angels, the living creatures, the elders, thousands upon thousands.

Hollywood would say a cast of thousands. John could have said a cast of millions. Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power.

He has all power. All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to me. When he was here on earth, my Bible says he was crucified through weakness.

He was a weak little baby, grew up, became a man. He knew hunger. He knew thirst.

He knew weariness. But not today. Power.

That's why I'm not afraid. Riches. When he was here on earth, he was poor.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor. But he has all riches. That's why we don't worry.

For my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory. Power and riches and wisdom. They called him a fool.

They called him a drunkard. They called him a friend of publicans and sinners. Wisdom.

Wisdom. He is in himself the sum total of all of God's wisdom. And that's why when I need wisdom, I go to him.

For if any of you lack wisdom, ask of God. He'll give it to you and he won't scold you. Might.

Honor. Glory. Blessing.

Blessing. Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me. When he was on earth, all he got was cursing.

In fact, he became a curse for us. What the law should have done to me, it did to Jesus. Oh, but one day up in heaven, we shall praise him because of what he has.

Power. Riches. Wisdom.

Might. Honor. Glory.

Blessing. And then all of creation joined together to sing his praises. To him who sits on the throne, to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.

And the living creatures just kept on saying, amen, amen, amen. So be it. We agree with it.

Heaven is a place of worship. And the focus of that worship is Jesus. Earth is a place of worship.

A lot of folks are worshiping the devil. The devil's always wanted to be worshiped. That's why he got thrown out of heaven.

I will be like the most high. No, you won't. He said to Jesus, worship me and I'll give you the world.

The devil's always wanted to be worshiped, and he's getting it. He's being worshiped in this world. But wherever God's people are, that is a sanctified, holy portion of heaven as we worship him.

Heaven is a place of worship. The focus of that worship is Jesus. And the focus of our lives and our worship now, in preparation for that great concert in glory, must be Jesus.

Now, some of you can't worship Jesus because you don't know him. You're worshiping something, yourself, your loved one, your money, your boat. You're worshiping something.

Everybody is. You need to know Jesus. He's so wonderful.

And when you know who he is and where he is and what he's done and what he has, when you know how wonderful he is and the fact that he'll save you, you trust him. Just open your heart to him. He'll save you.

And one day you'll be in that great chorus up in heaven. And so I would say to you who don't worship Jesus, don't know Jesus, come and get to know him right now, today. And some of you who have gotten drifting away, you don't think much about heaven.

Your lips don't too often say, worthy is the lamb. Come back and join the song. Come back.

If you want to be a good witness, be a worshiper. If you want to be a good worker, be a worshiper. If you want to be a good warrior, be a worshiper.

And those of you who are having a rough time, you're faithful to Jesus and you're faithful to your church and you're faithful to the word of God. You're having a rough, rough time. Don't quit.

Don't give up. Don't hang up your harp. Just worship him.

Worthy is the lamb that was butchered. Just worship him. For heaven is a place of worship.

Hell is not a place of worship. There's no joy in hell. There's no song in hell.

There's no fellowship in hell. But heaven is a place of worship. And Jesus is the center of that worship.

And he ought to be the center of our lives. Gracious Father, thank you for this glimpse of glory that John wrote for us today. Speak to the hearts of those who need Jesus.

And accomplish your purposes now for Jesus' sake. Amen.