Leonard Ravenhill emphasizes the profound significance of worship in his sermon 'The Spirit of Worship.' He reflects on personal experiences that led him to understand that worship is the highest form of communion with God, transcending mere prayer and praise. Ravenhill argues that true worship involves deep adoration and contemplation of God's holiness, urging believers to prioritize worship over service. He illustrates this through biblical examples, particularly the woman who anointed Jesus, highlighting that genuine worship is sacrificial and intimate. Ultimately, he calls for a rediscovery of worship as a vital aspect of the Christian life, encouraging believers to engage with God in spirit and truth.

This cassette tape is brought to you by the Maranatha Tape Ministry at 140 Highland Boulevard, Paducah, Kentucky 42001. For a copy of this tape you may write us at that address and we will gladly send you one. Our guest today is Leonard Ravenhill and he's speaking to us at the June 78th session of the Maranatha Leadership Training School. And now I present my brother in Christ, Leonard Ravenhill. He used just one chapter in this book which has 31 verses. But when he wanted to tell us how he made the tabernacle or ordered the tabernacle, he used seven chapters and there are 243 verses describing the making of the tabernacle. I would have preferred the Lord had taken seven chapters to tell us how he made the world and one chapter about the tabernacle. But I gave up years ago trying to get God to see things my way. You ever tried that? Somebody nods their head, well there are two of us foolish enough anyhow. And he won't see things my way, I have to see things his way. Lots of things I wish the Lord had done my way. One of them particularly, the resurrection morning, I wish that immediately Jesus had risen from the dead, he'd gone into the bedroom of Pontius Pilate and tapped him on the cheek and said, now what? And then I wish he'd gone down the street and gone into the home of the high priest and done the same thing and said, now what are you going to do? But he didn't do it that way. And so again, God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Now I don't have that much time this morning but I want to deal with a subject, not with a text. And it's a subject of worship. Because I believe it's the least understood and the least practised of all the holy exercises that God gives us the opportunity to do. I'll tell you how this started, it was 1951, I was lying in a hospital in Chicago. I jumped out of a burning building and I broke my back, my legs, my feet, seven major breaks. Being strict till I didn't go beyond the perfect number. Just what I'm saying of them. And as I lay there in hospital, one night particularly was rough and I reached for my New Testament and it opened at this, Thou gavest me no water, Thou gavest me no oil, Thou gavest me no kiss. And I suddenly realised that there on that hospital bed, while my body was shattered, my program of going round the world to preach was shattered. But there was one thing that I could do just as well lying on my back as I could do anywhere else. And that was worship God. The second occasion which was really the third, but I'll make it the second. I was preaching at a conference of preachers and I mentioned worship. And a very fine pastor of one of the great churches in Florida, invited Martha and I to dinner. And over dinner he said there's raising hell. I read the Bible in Hebrew, I read Greek, I have all kinds of diplomas, I have degrees, doctorates. But I don't know a thing about worship. And so I can't teach what I don't know. The third and most astounding thing was going into Dr. Tozer's office one day. And he said the usual thing, lock the door, let your hair down. And then he pointed to a rug. You know you've seen these rugs from India, you know about 6 feet long and 30 inches wide and they cost about $6,000. Well this is a very precious rug, it cost 69 cents in Kresge's. Well that's what he told me. And he pointed to that rug and said this astounding thing. I think one of the most amazing utterances I've ever heard in my life. He said Len I often come in my office at 8 o'clock in the morning bowed down not with a burden of the problems of the church or the world. But bowed down with adoration and worship. And so I call my secretary in the other office and say you may go home today. No dictation, no letters, no interviews, put a notice on the office door. And he said I get down on that rug at 8 o'clock in the morning. And I'm there till 11, 12, 1 o'clock, in other words 3, 4, 5 hours. And I never say a word of prayer. And I don't say a word of praise, I worship. You see prayer really is preoccupation with our needs. Praise is preoccupation with our blessings. Worship is preoccupation with God himself. There's a beautiful hymn where the hymn writer says my goal is God himself. Not joy, not peace, not even blessing. But be my God. I remember Dr. Tolles writing this. He said Len, let others do as they like. You and I will worship God face downward. You see we stand to sing and we kneel to pray and we prostrate ourselves to worship. You'll have to go through the scriptures and discover how often this was done. And he said I get there and you see now we've got a meditation of this. The devil's take off is again this religion which is religion. There are two thousand gurus in America today. They are evangelistic for their evil cause as we are for our godly cause. And they are getting people who are tired of turmoil and pressure and everything to relax and leave their minds open which is very dangerous. So worship is adoration and contemplation and concentration. And we are told to worship God in spirit and in truth and in the very beauty of holiness. There is a beautiful book. I don't see it on your bookstore. If you get it, it will stay with you all your life. It was not composed, it was put together by Dr. Tolles. He had gathered the cream out of all the great hymns. You know hymnology is something we need to know. I noticed the preacher said not long ago in one of the great churches of this country, charismatic church. The Lord has told us not to sing any more choruses. That was an astounding thing. And go back to the old hymns. And he startled me by saying he had just discovered a hymn that says Oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace. All of the world might taste and see the riches of his grace. The arms of love that compass me would all mankind embrace. And he said we suddenly discovered the majesty. You know if you don't know those old hymns, well you have an awful lot to learn. Find an old Methodist hymn book. You discover some of the great treasures of the church there. Dr. Tolles had put together in the Christian's book of, what is it, Christian's book of mystical verse. All the wonderful poems of Madame Delamont Gayon. The thing he loved the most, the writer he loved the most, F.W. Faber. And he said Len I just gazed upon the King and his beauty. I express it like this, how beautiful, how beautiful the sight of thee must be. Thine endless wisdom, awesome power and awful purity. Oh Jesus, Jesus dearest Lord, forgive me if I say for very love thy sacred name a thousand times a day. Burn, burn within me love of God. Burn fiercely night and day till all the drops of earthly love is burned and burned away. He said I gazed upon his holiness, his faithfulness, his majesty. Until at times I don't know whether I am in the body or out of the body. Could you, could I stay in his presence an hour without prayer, without prayings, gazing on his holiness. In the old economy, a man in his youth was allowed to be a soldier when he was twenty years of age. Because then and now you don't need brains to kill anybody. So you could be a soldier when you were twenty, you could not be a priest until you were twenty five. You could not be a high priest until you were thirty. Moses did not minister until he was forty. His life is divided very beautifully into three quarters. The first forty he went to the universities of Egypt, read the seventh of Acts. He was brilliant, knowledgeable, a powerful statesman, he wasn't an auditor. But he made laws before he had the ten commandments. In the first forty years he was a majestic Moses, he learned a lot. The second forty years he learned a lot more, lived with his mother-in-law. And then when he was eighty years of age he took over the leadership of the nation. But he did not come to authority until he was forty. Jesus did not minister until he was more than thirty. Neither did John Baptist, neither did Joshua. Neither did any, I don't know why. And so a man could be a soldier at twenty, he could not be a priest until he was twenty five, he could not be a high priest until he was thirty. Now, there was an outer court, and then there was the holy place, and then there was the holy of holies. The minister in the outer court had daylight. The minister in the inner court had candlelight. The minister in the holy place had no light. It was total darkness until the glory of God came. But she can and glory in God. We quote it often don't we? God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Can you imagine that place? You see the first thing that God said about that tabernacle, the first dimensions that he made, that he gave to Moses were these. That they should build, they should make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits should be the length of it, and a cubit thereof and the breadth. And verse twenty two of Exodus twenty five says, And there will I meet with thee. The first thing God desires in your life is not that you work yourself to death serving him. You get out of balance, you become ragged. The secret of all Christian life is worship. It is more important than prayer. Because you can pray without worshiping, but you will never worship without praying. You can get overburdened with anxieties, become almost neurotic. But oh when we worship him and we see God in the beauty of his holiness, in the majesty of his glory. Isn't it wonderful that after the church was persecuted and they tried to beat those men up in the acts of the apostles, even the wolves said they took notice that they had been with Jesus. I don't have time to explore this all, but let me remind you that there were certain oils that were made for the lights in the sanctuary. And then in the thirtieth chapter of Exodus you have some oil made just for the sanctification of the vessels that were in the tabernacle. And then there is a special oil that gives you all the ingredients even. They are fascinating if you take them separately. There was an oil that was used for inanimate things. Then there was an oil that was used for the priests. And that priestly oil, thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them that they may minister to me. Now you can rescue the perishing and care for the dying and that's great and wonderful. But don't fail to give God his ministry because that's ministry to people still. We must worship him, we must adore him, we must magnify him. The holy oil that was to be put upon the priest, it says verse 32 of the thirtieth chapter of Exodus, upon man's flesh shall it not be poured. You remember that in the psalmist he says that the brethren dwell together in unity and it's like the holy oil that was put upon the head of the priest and ran down his face, no no it didn't. It ran down his beard, it ran onto his garments, it rang from his garments onto the floor. It never touched the flesh, why? Because God never sanctifies flesh, that's why. He wants a man's flesh. I hear people say that man has a wonderful personality and he's such a colossal man and he has a marvellous vocabulary. If God could only get hold of that and use it. Oh brother he doesn't do that. He takes the opposite, he takes the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are. We hate humility as much as we talk about it. What's that hymn that they've just altered in a modern hymn book? Alas! and did my Saviour bleed and did my Sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? A worm in double knits? A worm evangelist in alligator shoes and his hair teased? And nine diamonds on his finger? And a gold watch to show you? A worm? Oh that's offensive and so we've changed it, they've changed it. Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? It's not nice. And yet Psalm 22 speaks of Jesus as a worm and not man. And God changed the total personality of a man by the name of Jacob but in the 41st of Isaiah he not only calls him a prince he says fear not my worm Jacob. So next time you write brother Bob write dear Bob worm weiner. Such a strange thing isn't it? Fear not my worm Jacob. And the context says thou shalt thresh a mountain. Well is there anything more silly in your whole world than a worm threshing a mountain? You think an elephant might kick it over? But listen a worm is the only thing that can go in one side of a mountain and come out of the other side. So God wasn't wrong anyhow. And when the worm has made a hole right through the mountain then the wind goes through and drives the soil and the other wind comes and blows it away. And that's exactly what God says. Fear not my worm Jacob because the wind will come. You thresh the mountains then the wind will come and the wind will scatter the mountain. But you've got to be a worm. The holy oil was put upon the head of the priest. There is no substitute for it. God says if you make a substitute I'll curse you. And very often listen very often we try and work up atmosphere. Now you don't have to work up atmosphere if you've prayed it through. We can work people up soullessly and it's very dangerous. Because if you get worked up soullessly immediately get out you collapse. Down you go there's no atmosphere no supporting atmosphere. God if it's worship if it's something in the spirit we're to worship God in spirit and in truth. You know we're very heavy on the spirit today but very light on the truth in many areas. The truth needs to be balanced and it must be in the spirit. And so the priest has to be anointed with the holy oil and it shall be put upon him and there is no substitute for it and there is no limitation. So the priest must go into the holy place, oh it's an elaborate sermon and he ought to put it in and take the whole weekend talking about it. Before he goes into that holy place somebody has to wash him. And you know it doesn't matter how good you are of virtuous. I was a perfect Methodist before I was saved. I was a marvellous guy. But anyhow, you know I had to come to the place where I needed salvation and I couldn't wash myself. Somebody else had to wash me and that was Jesus. And then they put a garment upon him and then they put a crown upon his head. And do you know what the crown was? It was a crown of holiness. There's going to be a day in the millennium when you ride down the street on your horse. God's going to clear up all this dirty automobile business. We're all going to be kicked in the ocean, we're all going to ride horses. And they're going to have that lovely panoply on them, lovely skirts round them. You know like you see them sometimes in medieval English. And there's going to be a sign on the side of the horses, holiness unto the Lord. And the ladies are going to work in the kitchen and the pots and pans are going to have holiness on them. Wouldn't that be tremendous? It would look miserable but anyhow it will. So the priest has to be washed and then he has to be anointed. And then he goes, can you imagine him, listen, listen, listen to the amazing thing. That one man went once a year for one nation into the holy place. And people stood and watched him in terror, lest God should not accept the sacrifice. And he goes stumbling into that dark place, no sunshine, no candlesticks. He goes feeling his way in the darkness and suddenly the glory of God fills the temple. And only one man did that once a year for one nation. And now you can do it every hour in the day if you want to do it. Enter into his holy presence without shedding blood, without building an altar, without seeking a priest. Because once in the end of the age somebody by the name of Jesus appeared to put away his sin by the sacrifice of himself. The unblemished lamb of God. And through him we have right of access. And he has made us kings and priests unto God. The next thing I want to take here leaping over into the New Testament is a story that is told four times by each of the evangelists of the woman. That brought an alabaster box of ointments. Well this man had got the prize of the year. He had got this distinguished miracle working prophet to come and eat in his house. And I think he made a list of people he wanted and crossed them out and put them in and finally got everybody he wanted. He got the right folk there. And then he got the right food there. And he got the flowers and he got a nice aesthetic atmosphere. And everything was ready for the banquet. I think he woke up that morning saying this is going to be the greatest day of my life. It's going to be a day I shall never want to forget. And it became a day he never wanted to remember. Did you ever have a day like that? When everything went wrong and all he did was say oh I'll be glad when this day is over. As though the day brought the disaster. Everything went wrong. He said people are going to come to this banquet and they are going to go away talking about, well talking about my extravagance. Instead of that they left it talking about not his generosity but his stupidity. He was busy welcoming somebody at the door, one of the millionaires or the mayor of the city or a manufacturer, some famous man. And then one of his servants said, the boss comes in and says what's this about? He said sir you know that certain woman, if that woman comes near here turn the dogs on her. Well sir she is already here, she is in the kitchen. I don't think Jesus went in at the front door, I think he went at the back door. A servant's form he wore. And in his body brought our dreadful curse on Calvary. Don't you wish he had come the first time like he is coming the next time. People talk about rapture but it also says he is coming with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment. Man when you see him coming down the skies in a chariot the Elijah went to heaven and he steps out in all the blinding glory of his majesty. What a sight. The man looks around the door and he sees the woman there. And he says I made a mess. He is no prophet, if he was he would know what she is. He would diagnose right away the wretched state of the woman. She is a leper, she shouldn't be allowed. And Jesus knew his thoughts and he said Simon I want to tell you something a minute. Listen a certain man had two creditors, one owed him five hundred pence, the other owed him fifty. When they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both, which of them would love him most. And Simon said I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said thou hast rightly judged. See a service woman, I entered into thine house. You were so busy putting your arms and hugging this person and kissing the other and washing the feet of somebody. I entered thine house, thou gavest me no water, thou gavest me no oil, thou gavest me no cares. Does God ever say that about your service or not? You were busy today, you were travelling today, you talked to somebody, you gave them a track, you won a person to Christ. And you left me out of it all together. You gave me no cares, no worship, no adoration. Thou gavest me no water, no oil. But this woman, all that little, do you know what she did? She went to worship. How do I know? Well number one she took a present. Number two she never said a word. Number three she was the antagonist. She had no right to be there, it was a stag party. I can almost see her dress leaving like this. She says well I guess I shouldn't go. But I'm going there. Six days afterwards everybody was standing weeping at the cross. There was only one woman happy at the cross. And that was a woman that said I'm glad I did it last week. Those feet that were bleeding were in my hands. Jesus says to the woman Thou gavest me no water. She said I wouldn't wash those holy feet with water. And so she washed them with the tears. She should have taken a nice towel. She said not those feet. She pulled the pins out of her hair and took his feet. Oh it must have felt lovely those silken, that silken hair drying the feet in the Son of God. She should have anointed his head. She anointed his feet. She should have anointed him with oil. She anointed him with the most costly thing she had. She saved it for a burial. And if she was a sister of Lazarus she didn't love Lazarus enough to pour it on him anyhow. She was saving up for a good funeral. Are you saving up for one? If she was going to have a real good funeral. And she was going to be anointed in death. And instead of doing the cheapest thing she did the most expensive thing. And then what did she do? Well I will tell you what she did. She poured that ointment on his feet. And then a second time she melted his feet and she dried his feet with the hair of her head. Now we say that that ointment was pungent. It was so powerful it filled the whole house with the fragrance. And she poured that fragrance upon his feet. And then she took her hair and wiped his feet with the hair of her head. Therefore the fragrance she poured out on him came back on her. That's why we need to stay meditative. That's why we need to contemplate and concentrate on His holiness and majesty. What I poured out on him will come back on me. Well if you read the four versions of that story they are magnificent. Do you know what happened? She took one pound of ointment and it tells you how much it was worth. Three hundred pence. And a while after that some men were going up the side of a hill and between them they were carrying a hundred pounds of that same ointment worth maybe a million dollars. For what? To pour on Jesus who was dead. They brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh when he was a child, a babe. And he couldn't appreciate that. And they brought it when he was dead. A hundred pounds worth, worth a million dollars maybe. What's the good of bringing a sacrifice to him when he's dead? I hear people say, well I've got some money and when I die I'm going to tie it. My relatives are not going to get it so they can get drunk and do this that and the other. I'm going to leave my money for mission. You know what, if you leave a million dollars to missions God won't give you ten cents for it at the judgment seat. He won't give you ten cents for it. Why not? Well it says the Lord love us what? A what? Alright here's a millionaire, he's a Texan, he's buried in a solid gold casket and he's left ten million dollars to missions. Now just before we drop the lid, we've said everything about his goodness. Just before we drop the lid, I want you to come and have a look at him. Because he's left ten million dollars to missions. I wanted to see him in his casket. The Lord love us what? He doesn't look too cheerful to me. He's given ten million dollars, he doesn't look very cheerful. No, no, no, he didn't give it. He gave it because death smashed it out of his hands. If he was living he'd still have it. So an American wrote this, not Shakespeare. An American wrote this. Do your giving while you're living, then you're knowing where it's going. Not very great poetry, but it's pretty smart. Do your giving while you're living, then you're knowing where it's going. But the point is that she took the treasure thing. A woman's hair is a glory. Most of you have lost it, you ladies. My dear wife has long hair, I still like to see women with long hair. I think it's beautiful. Long skirts too. Not long tongues, but long skirts and long hair. Can you imagine how Jesus felt when that woman washed his feet with tears? Not with water, with tears. Dry his feet, not with a towel, but with a hair of a head. A sign of humility. And even the glory she had she put in his feet. And then pouring out that little treasure that she'd had so long. And what she'd poured out, she got back. Frieda Hamby Allen wrote a poem some years ago. It goes like this. Within the veil, that's in the secret place where you're worshipping. When you shut the door, the world is outside, you've no music. And you're still in his holy presence, gazing upon the King Eternal. She wrote this. Within the veil did this beloved I portion. Within the secret of thy Lord to dwell. Beholding him until thy face is glory. Thy life is love. Thy lips is praise foretold. Within the veil, for only as thou gazest upon the matchless beauty of his face. Canst thou become a living revelation of his great heart of love. His untold grace. Within the veil, his fragrance poured upon thee. Without the veil, that fragrance shed aboard. Within the veil, his hand shall tune the music. Which sounds on earth the praises of thy God. Within the veil, thy spirit deeply anchored. Thou walkest calm above a world of strife. Within the veil, thy soul with him united. Shall live on earth the resurrection life. This is an area that needs to be rediscovered by all of us. How to worship him. Not serve him first of all. But worship him and worship him in spirit. And worship him in truth. And worship him in the very beauty of holiness. Gazing upon his beauty. Gazing upon his holiness. Meditating on his power. Oh we very very seldom contemplate the attributes and majesty of God. I think that's why we are so shrunken. I think that's why so often we need soulish stimulants to stir us up to activity. Because there is not that deep passionate love and adoration. Because you see this woman gives us a type. What she did she sacrificed. She risked everybody else's opinion. I think she contemplated it but she didn't imitate anyone else. And she came and she worshipped him in spirit and in truth. Let me leap over to another section here. There wasn't a leap frog this morning. A marvellous chapter. Revelation chapter five. The book of the revelation to me is a book of majesty. And it's a book of mystery. And it's a book of misery. Because I see the final doom of lost men. Revelation five one says this. I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book. Written within and on the back side sealed with seven seals. And I saw some angel proclaiming with a loud voice. He is ready to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. Now listen. And no man in heaven or earth or under the earth is able to open the book thereof. Open the book thereof. Neither to look there. Not even look upon the book. And then he says I worked much. This is not a man weeping because his finger is broken. It's a man weeping because his heart is broken. There's no man in heaven. Call on Moses if you like. Call on Joshua if you like. Call on Jeremiah if you like. Call on the apostle Paul if you want to come down to our day. Or listen to John Calvin, John Wesley. There is no man in heaven. Or on earth. Or under the earth. It's the most awesome moment in eternity. There are billions and billions and billions of saints, martyrs. People who died at the stake. People this morning worshipped God. And all night they have been lying in their own urine there in the Gulag archipelago. And living in a hell hole in China. And maybe God will get more worship out of them today than out of us. We are so busy. We are so feverishly active. We are so programmed. We have got all this tied up. Oh God almighty can't get in some of our lives. We have programmed it for the next year. God takes every great man he is going to use. And if you haven't had it you have got it coming. He takes every man to the university. A lady asked me one day what university I went to. Well I finished school in the 8th grade. I went to a high school. It was on top of a hill. But that's the only high school I went to. And I didn't go to college. I went to a little bible school for a few months. And what I have learned, I have learned on my knees. Dr. Tozer finished in the 8th. That's about the only common ground I have with Tozer. He was a giant and I am not. John says I wept much. This man is not again weeping because his finger is broken and his heart is broken. I say it is the most awesome moment in eternity. It says that there is a book in the right hand of him that sat on the throne. This book is the title deeds of a forfeited inheritance. The title deeds of the universe were lost when Adam sinned. God intended Adam to rule and he gave him authority and he lost the title deeds. And the last thing Jesus is going to do here in this office anyhow is to take the deeds out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne. Nobody else can do it. Joshua can't do it. Moses can't do it. There is not a colossal character in history could ever do it. That's why I say we need to take time and gaze. When did you last think about the judgment seat of Christ? When you as a believer stand on the dais before a thousand billion people and the apostles and saints and martyrs and all the rulers of faith are going to be watching while your little life is replayed on videotape and the tape of every word you ever said since you were redeemed and every penny you ever had in your life is all going to be read out when the great books are opened in eternity. Harnett the philosopher said that Christianity is a very simple but a very sublime thing. To live in time for eternity under the eye of God and by his help. But tell me this, are we eternally conscious people? Do you get up every morning in the light of eternity? Do you live in eternity? Do you pray in eternity? Do you think in eternity? Do you prepare sermons in eternity? We're not eternity conscious. We're position conscious, possession conscious, power conscious, personality conscious. If we're going to move this generation to God we've got to get out of time into eternity, become eternity conscious men. Live and move and have our being in a dimension this world has no thing about and modern theology doesn't know a thing about. We need to face the powers of the world to come. And that all is enjoyable. And John says I wept much because no man was found worthy to take those title deeds out of the hand of the one on the throne. I wept. You know that word only occurs once again in the New Testament. It's that awesome experience Jesus had when he had a triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It wasn't a triumphant entry to me it was a tearful exit. He turned his back on the nation and he wept. And he weeps with grief. You poor stupid wicked diabolical people. You've had Jeremiah and Isaiah and the greatest men that ever lived and you won't listen. And he's saying to them and now you've got the greatest being you'll ever see. The son of God himself and you won't accept him. My God have mercy on you. And he turned his back on Jerusalem and they've had no prophets for two thousand years. And unless there's a move of God almighty God will do that to America before long. He'll skew us out of his mouth. And let us go into captivity. Maybe it's the only thing that will straighten us out from greed, courageousness, selfishness, self interest, self glory. I wept much he said. Because no man was found worthy to take the book out of the hand of him that sat among them. No man in heaven or earth or under the earth was found worthy and I wept much. And then one of the elders said unto me weep not. Behold the land of the tribe of Judah the root of David. Has preferred to take the book out of the hands. And lo I beheld in verse six. In the midst of the throne there were four beasts. In the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain having seven eyes. And seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God. Sent forth into all the world and he came and took the book. Wait a minute, wait a minute. It says there was a lamb that had been slain. That word lamb occurs only once in the New Testament. Do you remember what Jesus said to Peter feed my lamb, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep, feed my lambs that's the only time it occurs. Do you remember in the Old Testament economy that before a lamb was taken for sacrifice. They kept it in the house for four days. When we lived in part of an old castle in Ireland and our boys had some lambs. And like Mary's little lamb they used to follow the boys to school. And I had to run after the crazy things and get my fingers in the wool and hold them back and pull them back. And say you're not going to school with the boys come here. And you know in the old economy children would get to love their pet lamb. And that's exactly what the Greek says. That just as that pet lamb was taken and the children would weep and say. Don't take the pet lamb take another lamb. No, no, no, no this lamb has been here in the house we love it. It's our darling little lamb. They fed it maybe they slept with it. And then it was taken out to slaughter. And the same word is used here feed my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my pet lamb. Jesus here this lamb is the pet lamb of God. The only begotten Son of the Father. And he is the one who is taken and by wicked hands is crucified. And remember on the day of Pentecost Peter didn't pull his punches. He says you generation of rascals he almost said. You by your wicked hands crucified him and God raised him up. And exalted him and given him a name and a power above every name and every other power. Well nobody else was able to do the thing. Daniel couldn't take the book, Moses couldn't take the book, Joshua couldn't take the book, Ezekiel, Jeremiah none of the prophets could do it. And he says suddenly there is one who is able to do it. The Lamb of God. What does it say now? He came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when they had taken the book and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb. Every one of them having hearts and golden vows full of orders. Which were the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song saying thou worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof. For thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and nation and people and tongue. Now if you look in the previous chapter it says there was a door opened in heaven. Did you ever open a door? You know you shouldn't have looked through the door. You've all sneaked that way I know that. Don't look so innocent. You've all gone somewhere where somebody said you can't look in and you've gone and just opened the door. A little crack and oh what you saw oh. It's amazing what you can see through a pinhole at times isn't it. A little crack in the door. And this man has the door of heaven open. My I wish I could open it for you this morning. I'll tell you what you'd never backslide again. You'd never have to go to conference after conference to get warmed up and stirred up and moved up. If we saw the lamb there in all his glory and in all his majesty. He has the title deeds of the universe. And it says they began to sing a new song. If you go back into the first chapter of Revelation you'll discover there's a two-fold doxology. If you go down there into the fourth chapter notice that the end of chapter four verse eleven it says Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power. So there you have a four-fold doxology. And then as you go moving up into the chapter you come finally into chapter seven it says that there was a company and they fell on their faces and worshipped him. That's what they did in the previous chapter. That's what the disciples did in the upper room when Jesus came in. They seized him by his feet and they worshipped him. And it says verse twelve of that seventh chapter they were saying Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might belong to him. Go back for a minute before we close here. Who made up this company? The company that are singing that by thy blood you've brought us out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. You've made us unto our God kings and priests. And listen, listen. Are you going to heaven when you die? You say yes. Are you sure? Because this verse here says we're going to reign on the earth. The kingdom, not the kingdoms. The kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. And he's going to reign. And we shall reign on the earth with him it says. And then verse eleven says I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders. And the number of them, listen, listen. This is just the choir. Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. Everything is numbered in the book of the revelation except the number of multitude that praise and magnify him. Ten thousand times ten thousand is a hundred million plus. Now that's quite a choir. I don't think there are any guitars in heaven. But there are lots of harps. That was just for the front row. It says that there's a hundred million plus in the choir and what? A hundred and forty four thousand with harps? Hey when that bunch start praising it's going to be something. A hundred million start magnifying the Lord and all those harps going. And everybody that's redeemed won't have a crack voice like yours. They'll have real good voices. Everybody will be in tune. Man! Those girls will be able to sing better than Gully Gurchie. Bob will be able to sing better than Paul Robinson. Won't that be a miracle? And everybody's going to have a perfect voice and be in perfect harmony. And they're going to spend maybe a million years magnifying him and worshipping him. Don't you think it's time we got a bit of training in right down here? Do you want to go to the kindergarten when you get to heaven because you're not worshipped enough, got enough exercise worshipping? People say sometimes will there be horses in heaven? Well on earth there will be. John Wesley said he expected to see his horse in eternity. Well are we just going to praise God and the angels? Oh no. Oh no. No sirree. God made everything right. Verse 11 of the fourth chapter says, Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things for thy pleasure they were created. That wretched little mosquito that bit me the other night, the little rascal. Why should he annoy me? He was made to praise God. What's he biting me for? Well it says here in this chapter, look, look down here. It says in verse 12, after saying there were 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. It says in verse 12, They were saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing. Now 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 say, Listen they're all talking, the fishes are talking, the mosquitoes are talking. He has a big bass section over here going, That bit the elephants putting their parts in down there. Every mosquito, every animal, one day he's going to praise and magnify God because that's why they were created. They came under the curse, the curse is going to be removed and everything is going into perfect harmony and glory and majesty. And there's going to be a hundred million singing and all the mosquitoes buzzing and all the elephants and all the animals are all going to join in. Brother that's going to be a day. Saying blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sits 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 worshipped him. Every time they fall down in speechless adoration, Captivated, they're going to see now what redemption means. It's the foretaste of glory divine. It's kind of a birthday we're going to celebrate. It's just the initial stage of passing out of time into eternity. And he shall reign forever and ever the king of kings and the lord of lords. There's going to be a day when God's going to pull up the anchors of every nation and every island. And people are going to be terrified. The son of God is not somebody very attractive here. The son of God is there on his throne of majesty. His face is like the sun in its strength. His feet are like burnished brass. His eyes are like the living coals of fire. His tongue is a sharp dredging sword. His voice majestic as the sound of many waters. And he's going to speak a word. You know, today while you're here and driving home. And in the night while you sleep. They'll be doing for somebody what they did for me in hospital. Push a pair of tubes up your nose and pumping oxygen in. And trying to keep somebody alive. And somebody says give all, I don't care what it costs, keep my husband alive. You know we're worth a hundred million dollars. And he's going to die. There's going to be a day the word of God says. When men will seek death and they won't die. They'll shoot themselves and not die. They'll jump from a building and they won't perish. They'll bounce like a ball and still live. There's going to be a day when men are terrified. Why? Because they see the face of the son of God. And they say hide us from the face of the wrath, the wrath of God. And they're not going to die. And the word of God says in Psalm 2. He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh. You've lived all your life for sodom like things. Enjoy them forever in hell. And burn there God says. And when these people see the wrath of God. And the fierce anger on the face of the son of God. They're going to be terrified. And they're going to cry rocks and hills fall on us. And the psalmist says he that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh. God shall have them in delusion. And Mr. Spurgeon says if that's what God does when he laughs. What does he do when he's angry? It says in that chapter that they said hide us from the face. From the wrath of the Lamb. It says in the 22nd chapter. That one of the joys that you and I have in eternity. Will be to see the face of the son of God. And I remember the days endowed by dear brother. In the older days we used to sing it so rapturously. And I shall see him face to face. And tell the story. Saved by grace. You know maybe the greatest hymn writer in America was Tammy Crosby. Somebody sent me a picture quite recently. I'd used this illustration. And somebody sent me a picture of her gravestone. She's buried at Bridgeport Connecticut. And the cemetery is a tourist attraction. Not for Tammy Crosby. Because there's an oversized monument of a man called Mr. Barman. He did a marvellous thing. He invented Barman and Bailey's Circus. Very profound thing. And people go take his picture. He's about ten feet high. And then over the walk there, there's a little man. He's only 27 inches high. By the name of Tom Thumb. He was an actor in that circus. And he made a million dollars. People came to see the little man. And when they've taken pictures of that, they go away. But if you're interested, you go a little further down into the cemetery. And it used to be the stone couldn't be seen. If the grass was wrong, you had to kick it on one side. Now they've put a nice monument up. And it just says this. Here lies Aunty Fanny. And underneath, she hath done what she could. She wrote that song Billy Graham had for years. It's his war cry kind of thing. To God be the glory, great things he hath done. She wrote that better known hymn. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Isn't that wonderful? Can you say that this morning? If you can say that, you're richer than Croesus. You've got more than Rockefeller. Oh, lucky fellows, I will drop off when they bury him anyhow. But you and I have got life forevermore. And she wrote, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. She wrote 3,000 hymns. And she was blind. She lived until she was 84. Somebody said to her one day, Aunty Fanny, you're a very, very lovely Christian. And it seems to me God isn't really fair to handicap you. I'd like to tell you about the sunset. It's very beautiful. But how do you describe the sunset to a blind person? I'd like to tell you about the flowers. They're exquisite. Well, you can feel them, but you can't see the colours. Everything's so beautiful this lovely summer evening. I'd like to describe it, but I don't know how. It's not right that you should be blind for more than 80 years. You've so many disadvantages. She was a little petite lady and she smiled sweetly and said, My dear, you've got it all wrong. You've got it all wrong. I've got no disadvantages. I've got the greatest advantage in the world. In being blind? Yeah, in being blind. Well, what's the advantage? Well, my dear, she said, Don't you realise the first face I ever see will be His face? We used to sing one day, The silver cord will break and I no more as now shall sing. But all the joys when I awake within the palace of the King and I shall see Him face to face. You know, that's why Paul could hang on to a piece of stick there and they tore the flesh off his back 195 times. And I could go through weariness and fastings and perils of the deep and perils of his own countrymen and trials and tribulation and distresses. I don't know. I don't think God would ever have burdened a woman like this, but you know, God took him into heaven and told him never to speak about it. The Lord wouldn't put that on a woman, but He did put it on the apostle Paul. Listen, if you're going to walk with God, let me tell you something. Some days He'll speak something to you and if you ever tell anybody, you'll grieve the Spirit. The secrets of the Lord are with them, but never tell anybody what God tells you. There'll be revelations He won't let you share. Do you know why? They're to inspire you when all hell breaks loose, when the walls go out and the roof comes in. And you know, all the experiences of life do one of two things to us. They leave us either better or bitter. And that's all the rest of it. Won't it be wonderful in that great day when we see Him face to face? Let me quote Matthew Bridges' hymn, a good old English hymn, I love it. Crown Him, He says, with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee, and hail Him as thy merciless King through all eternity. Crown Him the Lord of spheres, the potentate of time, creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee, and hail Him as thy merciless King through all eternity. You know, if you lived to be older than I am, and maybe you will, I don't think you will because Jesus will come before long, I'm sure of that. But if you lived another 80 years or another 90 years, the great inspiration of life is to worship Him and see His face and see His beauty and have a secret in your heart that God has given you and you can face hell or high water. And know this, that God's word is true. There isn't a lie in it. It's a wonderful book, it comforts the disturbed and it disturbs the comfortable. But by the same token, it's all truth. He's going to keep every promise. And God's going to pull the pillars of the earth down to glorify His Son. There'll be no prayer meetings in heaven. There'll be no healing the sick, that'll be hard on some evangelists. And you'll be able to tell the evangelists when you get to heaven, the streets are paved with gold, they'll be digging the streets up. But, it will only be wonderful to get there and no more trials and no more tears, no soul winning, no praying, no healing the sick, no sermons, that we're going to stay in His glorious, unspoiled beauty and majesty. We're going to see the King in His glory and we're not going for the weekend, in case you don't know. We're going to live and reign with Him forever and ever, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Hallelujah. Couldn't we just sing the middle of the Lord's prayer, for Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory? I'm going to steal a little thing I like to do before Brother Bob spoils it, I mean comes up. Let's sing the middle of the Lord's prayer, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Let's really sing it away and make the devil mad and the angels glad right now. For Thine is the kingdom. Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder. Let's do the first and last time. Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the world's plans that make. I see the stars. I hear the morning thunder. I hear the morning thunder. I'll break the walls, I'll break the walls, I'll break the walls, I'll break the walls. Ah...