Worship

Pastor Martin brings in a fifth group of witnesses to Christ's deity: the fact that divine worship is directed to Him and received by Him without rebuke. Beginning with the strict monotheism of the Old Testament and Peter's and Paul's refusal to receive worship, he traces how calling on Christ's name, being baptized into His name, looking to Him for grace, and the worship of heaven itself all demonstrate that Christ is truly God. The sermon closes with searching questions: Is this the Christ you worship? And a lament over the cheap, flippant "Jesus" of much modern preaching.

Pastor Martin expounds Revelation 4 as the first half of the great vision of the throne of God and of the Lamb. After the seven letters are dictated, John is beckoned through an opened door in heaven to see a throne set and One seated on it, surrounded by four living creatures and twenty-four elders rendering unceasing praise. He explains that before the church can understand the cycles of conflict to come, she must see the Creator God upon His throne, holy, almighty, and eternal, and hear the elders ascribe to Him worthiness because by His will all things were and are. The vision is a word of instruction and consolation for the struggling church (God is still on His throne, the rainbow of covenant faithfulness still surrounds it) and a word of terror to the impenitent who chafe against a non-negotiable divine sovereignty.

Pastor Martin expounds the second half of the throne-room vision, Revelation 5, in three movements: the problem of the sealed scroll, the answer in the Lion who is the slain Lamb, and the response of all creation in worship. He identifies the seven-sealed scroll as the completeness of God's counsels and purposes for the church and the world from that point to the consummation, and the worthy One as the Lion of Judah who prevails precisely by becoming the slain Lamb. He then draws four abiding messages from the vision: a word of consolation (the Lamb in the midst of the throne is administering every seal for His people's good), a word of instruction (might conquers by meekness), a pattern for imitation (true worship flows from seeing the worthiness of the Lamb), and a frightening warning that the Lamb will yet break the sixth seal in the wrath of the Lamb upon every impenitent sinner.