Intro / Review:
Who is Worthy?
- The Worthy One is Sought one. (Rev 5:2-4)
1 John 5:19 - We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
2 Corinthians 4:4 – In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- The Worthy One is Found. (Rev 5:5-7)
- The Worthy One is Worshipped. (Rev 5:8-14)
Review: Ps 148:7-10 | Ps 150:6 | Psalm 68:1-4
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Revelation 5.
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The title of today's message is "Coming Soon in Heaven, the Worthy One." While you're turning there, I'm going to give you a pop quiz.
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You ready? You ready?
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One question. Here it is.
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You're going to tell me what these three events have in common.
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1517, Martin Luther posted a document on a door at Wittenberg.
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1871, Patrick and Catherine O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern.
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1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo.
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Those three events, what do they have in common?
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You're like, "Um, I had nothing to do with any of those?" Here's what they had in common.
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One event kicked off a huge series of events, right?
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In 1517, when Martin Luther posted that document on the door at Wittenberg, that changed church history forever.
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That cow, Catherine O'Leary's cow, that kicked over a lantern, started the Chicago Fire that burned down 2,112 acres and 17,500 buildings.
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And the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand brought the entire world to war.
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That's what we're going to look at in this text.
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That's why this is one of the most important passages in the entire book of Revelation, because what you're going to see here is one little event that takes place in this passage.
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One event is going to have the largest implication of any event that has ever occurred, or ever will occur, in the history of the earth, and that is not an exaggeration.
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This one event in this passage will ultimately be the biggest event in history.
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We're going through Revelation verse by verse, and last week we saw after Jesus gave John these messages for the churches, Jesus invited John to heaven.
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And not just to heaven, but also forward in time to heaven.
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Jesus said, "I'm going to show you what's going to take place after this." And in Revelation 4, John, again taken forward in time to heaven to see what's coming, he saw the throne in heaven.
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He saw the One who was seated on the throne.
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He saw what was going on and who was around the throne in heaven, and He saw the worship that was being directed towards the One that was seated on the throne in heaven.
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Revelation 5, look at verse 1, "Then I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne a scroll, written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
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God Himself, seated on the throne, is holding in His right hand, the Bible says, a scroll, or a deed.
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Now inside there was writing, outside there was writing, On one of these deeds, inside would have all the details of the deed, and the outside would have the summary of what was on the inside.
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This is important, you can't miss this, because this is the beginning of the end here, folks.
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This deed is the title deed of the earth.
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You know how you have a title to your car, right?
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It's a piece of paper that says, "This car belongs to me." Maybe the bank has it, but you know what I mean.
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It belongs to me.
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Or maybe you have a deed to your home.
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It's a document that says, "This property belongs to me." Well that's what this document is.
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It is a title deed to the entire earth.
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Who owns the earth?
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It says that this document was sealed seven times on the edge.
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And just to sort of give you an illustration, it would be like if it was rolled, and then a seal was put here.
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Then it's rolled again, and a seal is put here.
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And it's rolled again, and a seal is put here.
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That way, when you unrolled it, you had to break one of those seals every time you unrolled it.
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And this one was sealed seven times after each portion of text.
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We're going to get to that in a second, the significance of that.
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But there's a question that comes up that has to be answered.
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Look at verse 2.
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John says, "And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?'" That's the question. That's your outline today. Who is worthy?
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Who's worthy to open this?" Understanding that opening this meant more than just unrolling a piece of paper.
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The question is, who is worthy to reclaim the earth?
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Who's worthy to cash it in?
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You see, that completed the transaction, is when you showed up on your property with the deed and unrolled it, and said, "Look, this is mine." The question is, who's worthy to do that for the earth?
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So write this down. Number one, the worthy one is sought.
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The worthy one is sought.
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Again, verse 2, this strong angel.
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I imagine they're all probably pretty strong compared to me.
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I'm proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" Who is worthy to take the scroll and therefore take the earth back from the enemy?
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Who is able to defeat Satan once and for all and reclaim the earth from him?
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The question is, who has the right to do such a thing?
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Who has the character? Who has the power?
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Who has the authority to take the earth back from Satan?" You're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.
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It sounds like you said it a couple times, and I just want to be clear.
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It sounds like what you're saying is Satan is in possession of the earth.
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And I want you to understand there is a sense in which he absolutely is in possession of the earth." Look at a couple of verses here with me. 1 John 5:19, John wrote this earlier.
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He says the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
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In that sense, the earth is Satan's.
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In that sense.
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Again, 2 Corinthians 4.
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Look at what Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls the enemy, the devil.
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He says in their case, "the God of this world." He's talking about Satan.
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Satan is called the God of this world.
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Little g God, but he's called the God of this world.
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Why?
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This is going to be an easy sell.
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He's called the God of this world because sin is so pervasive and destructive.
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Do I need to convince anyone here?
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Sin is pervasive and destruction, and that's exactly how Satan wants it.
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Because it undermines God, it attacks what God loves.
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How did Jesus describe Satan in John 10.10?
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He says He does three things. He steals, He kills, and He destroys.
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Does that sound familiar?
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Have you turned on the news lately?
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Do you see what man is doing unto man?
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Stealing, killing, and destroying.
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Why?
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Because Satan is the God of this world, because of the dominance of sin.
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"Steal, kill, and destroy." That's a perfect summary of what we see.
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Like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, though.
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This is God's earth, isn't it?
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I thought the earth is the Lord and the fullness therein, Psalm 24, 1.
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It is. But it's sort of like this.
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It's sort of like a man owns a piece of property, and he has the deed.
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He bought the property, he has the deed, he has the ownership, and he goes away for a while.
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And while he's gone, a pack of criminals are squatting on his property.
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And then he comes back to claim his property, and he sees all these criminals there, and he's like, "This ain't gonna work.
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They have no right to be here, because this belongs to me." And you see, that's sort of the scene that's happening here in Revelation.
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This is God's earth, He created it, but Satan and his dominion, every Christ-rejecter, every spiritual criminal, so to speak, is squatting, claiming ownership to what belongs to God.
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So who's worthy to take it back?
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Who is worthy to take this back from Satan?
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Notice he says, "Who's worthy to break the seals?" This is important. Just put this in the back of your memory here.
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We're going to talk about this next time we get back to Revelation.
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But every time a seal is broken on this scroll - we're going to see this in Revelation 6 - every time a seal is broken as the scroll is unrolled, each broken seal brings a manifestation of God's judgment upon the earth.
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In other words, as the scroll is unrolled, Each time one of the seven seals are broken, an act of judgment from God comes on the earth.
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Again, you'll see that in chapter 6.
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Look at verse 3.
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John says, "So the question is, who's worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" That's the question on the table, right? Who's worthy?
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Who's worthy to do this? Who's worthy to take it back?
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Who's worthy?
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Verse 3, "And no one in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it." No one was found worthy anywhere.
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Don't we have somebody in heaven that can take this back?
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No one was found. How about the earth?
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John says no one was found there.
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How about under the earth? Did you look under the earth?
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Did you look under the earth?
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You might find somebody there." And John says, "No, there wasn't even found somebody under the earth." No angel, no Old Testament hero, no Moses, no Abraham, no Noah, no New Testament apostle, no famous church leader, no one.
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Who is worthy to take the earth back from Satan?
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John says, "We looked." No one.
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Look at verse 4.
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John says, "And I began to weep loudly." Because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
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Why did John weep?
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By the way, this is the only passage in the entire Bible that says there's weeping in heaven, and it happened one time here.
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But when John was in heaven, why was he weeping?
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In the Spirit, I believe John saw in a deeper way the devastation the curse of sin has had on the earth.
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It has had on everyone.
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I mean, we see it.
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We turn on the news, get on the internet, you can see the destruction that sin has caused on the earth.
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And I believe John, from his perspective in heaven here, I think he saw the whole picture of how ravaged the earth was with sin.
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The way evil has destroyed everything beautiful God has created.
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I think John saw that.
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Satan's having his way.
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Sin has ruined everything. Sin continues to ruin everything.
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And sin is always going to ruin everything as long as sin is around.
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And now this scroll, this deed is presented.
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It's in the right hand of the one on the throne.
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And John knew exactly what that meant.
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Who can reclaim it?
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And no one was found.
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So, John wept.
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And I believe that He wept for us all.
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He wanted to see sin and sin and death ultimately destroyed, don't you?
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Don't you?
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Think of all that sin has caused on the earth, can you?
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Can you think of all of the devastation that sin has brought?
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I want you to think about sin that man commits to man.
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And when I say "human kind," think of sin that we do as people to each other.
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Think of all of the results of the curse.
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The fact that the whole world is under the curse of sin.
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Think of all the results of that.
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Think of every abused child.
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Think of every murdered baby.
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Think of every sexual assault.
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Think of everyone who has suffered and died with cancer.
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Think of every family that's had to deal with autism.
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Every bit of pain, every bit of heartbreak, every bit of disappointment.
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And John in heaven taking all this in.
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Who's worthy to open this scroll when no one was found?
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and at this point John's weeping. He's saying, "Can't anybody fix this?
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Can't anybody take the earth back from the one who's destroying it?
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Is this it? This is it? This is the way it's always going to be?
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Nothing but pain and abuse and death? This is how it's going to be?" And he wept. "How can it end like this?" No one found worthy means that this is an absolutely hopeless situation.
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It looks like evil won. And that's that.
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Your love.
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Now, but number two, write this down, "The worthy one is found." "The worthy one is found." Verse 5, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more!
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Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'" Notice it was an elder that speaks to John, not an angel.
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This elder would have known what all of this meant.
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He also knew who was stepping up.
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The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.
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Those are two very specific Old Testament terms referring to the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
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And this elder says, "Hey, hey. The lion? He conquered.
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He conquered, so he can reclaim." And at this point, I'm just trying to put myself in John's shoes here, that this elder's like, "The lion? The lion can do it." Yes! Send out the lion!
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I want to see the lion come out.
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Bring out the lion.
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I mean, who has a chance against the lion?
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Right? Really, who has a chance?
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The answer is nobody.
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Who has a chance? Bring out the lion.
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Right? Let's get the lion.
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Let's get the lion. Look at verse 6.
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"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth." Instead of a lion, John saw a lamb.
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Interestingly, in the Greek, it's not just any lamb.
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The Greek is very specific.
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It's little lamb.
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He saw a little lamb.
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So not only that, we're expecting the fiercest creature on the planet, and instead we get the meekest.
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A little lamb. And not just a little lamb.
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You see, John said that he was standing as though it had been slain.
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His scars must have been visible in some way.
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He had death wounds, but he was very much alive.
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I was going to say I wasn't expecting that.
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I thought you were letting the lion out.
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But understand what's going on here.
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You see, this conquering king first became the suffering serpent.
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Don't miss this, because this is...
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Here's the significance, and it's huge.
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It was Jesus, as the Lamb of God, He paid our redemption.
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So it is Jesus as the Lamb of God that must reclaim the scroll.
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It says He had seven horns.
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Horns, that's used throughout the Old Testament.
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It's a symbol of power.
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An animal's horns is the animal's power.
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Think of a bull or think of a ram.
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Power. He had seven.
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Seven is the number of perfection.
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We see that throughout Revelation.
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What this is saying is this lamb had perfect power.
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Oh, he was a little lamb, and he looked like he was slain, but his power was perfect.
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He had seven eyes.
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We've talked about that a couple times already.
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A seven perfection.
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Specifically, this is the Holy Spirit.
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He was perfectly indwelt by God's Holy Spirit.
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And this is actually a direct reference to Zechariah 3 and 4.
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I'm not going to go there today, but it's a fulfillment of some of the language used there.
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Verse 7, this is the big moment.
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Verse 7 is the document on the door at Wittenberg, Cal kicking the lantern, assassination of the archduke.
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This is that moment right here, verse 7.
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"And he went..." the lamb.
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He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne.
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This is the act that ends it all.
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This is the beginning of the end.
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This is the kick-off to a completely one-sided game.
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Yes, yes, yes. Christ is exalted. He has the name that is above all names.
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Absolutely true. Jesus Christ is reigning on the earth through His people.
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But not yet. Obviously not yet.
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Is Jesus Christ reigning over all of the earth? Right?
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Otherwise there would be no sin.
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Reigning through His people, but not over all the earth.
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with this act right here, the moment the Lamb takes the scroll from the one seated on the throne, this is the beginning of the end.
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This is going to usher in when He truly rules over all of His creation.
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The victory of the cross of Jesus Christ cannot be overstated.
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When we talk about victory in Jesus, I want you to understand that it's bigger than we can understand.
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Look at verse 5 again.
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Very specifically, it says, "The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered..." He's talking about Jesus' death and resurrection.
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Look at this phrase though, "so that he can open the scroll." Don't miss the significance of this.
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In other words, because God became a man, which we'll be celebrating next week, spoiler alert.
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Because God became a man, because that man, Jesus Christ, died on the cross, and because Jesus Christ rose from the dead victorious.
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The Bible says, first of all, we are forgiven.
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And that's awesome.
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For anybody who would receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, if you haven't done that today, today's the day.
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I don't know what you're waiting for.
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Today's the day.
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I don't know if you have another plan, but there isn't one.
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Today's the day.
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But because Jesus Christ conquered, if you receive Him, your sins are forgiven.
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God will completely wipe your record clean.
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You are forgiven. I will remember your sins no more.
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Totally cleansed. That is awesome, but that's not all.
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Because Jesus Christ conquered, He gives us also the gift of eternal life.
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He doesn't just say, "I'm not going to punish you." He says, "I'm going to give you eternal life.
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You will live with Me eternally." That's awesomer.
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And I'm sure that's not a word.
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That's awesomer.
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But that's not all.
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Because Jesus Christ conquered, not only are we forgiven, not only do we have eternal life, He transforms us.
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I'm not the person that I used to be.
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He's completely changed me.
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And when you receive Christ, we were talking to a man this morning about this very thing, when you receive Christ, He changes you.
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And that is awesome-er!
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But that's not all.
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Sounds like a really bad infomercial, but this is all true.
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But that's not all.
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Because Jesus Christ conquered this salvation, this forgiveness, this eternal life, this transformation is available for any and all who would believe.
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It doesn't matter who you are.
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It doesn't matter what you've done.
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It doesn't matter how bad you've been or how good you think you've been, but you haven't.
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It doesn't matter what you have or what you don't have.
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It's available to everyone.
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And that is awesome-er.
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But that's not all.
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Because, listen to this, this is where it gets real.
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Because Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead and conquered that victory, made him worthy to redeem the entire earth back from Satan.
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And that is awesomest.
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So where do we go from here?
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Number three, the worthy one is worshipped.
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You totally saw that coming!
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As soon as Jesus takes the scroll, it's over!
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It's over! Satan is as good as defeated.
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The curse is as good as reversed.
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It's over!
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And all of heaven knows it!
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It's over!
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So it's time to worship.
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Look at verse 8.
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"And when He had taken the scroll, four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." Four angels, 24 elders, we saw them last week.
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They once again, they fall down, boom, on their face in awe and worship of the lamb.
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Musical instruments are involved now.
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We got harps involved.
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It also says that they have bowls of incense.
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These represent the prayers of the saints.
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Psalm 141. Luke 1. 9-10.
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Don't gloss over this.
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In these bowls, the prayers of the saints, every so far unanswered prayer.
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I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand because I promise you every person in this room would put their hand up.
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How many of us have prayed and prayed and prayed about something and felt like God didn't hear?
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Or felt like God didn't care?
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Or felt like maybe He forgot?
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We all have these prayers, don't we?
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Maybe you've been praying for healing for someone.
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Maybe you've been praying for strength and encouragement.
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Maybe you've been praying for provision.
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Maybe you've been praying for God's presence in a deeper way in your life.
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Maybe you've just been praying, "God, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." And I want you to know, every single prayer that has been lifted up in Jesus' name, not one of them has been for God.
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And I want to encourage you, keep crying out to God with your prayers because they are securely stored.
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They're in these bowls.
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He's holding on to them.
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And one day, even if it's not on the earth, one day, every prayer in Jesus' name is going to be answered.
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One day.
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You might not see it here, but you'll see it there.
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Look at verse 9, it says, "And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open the seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." They sang a new song.
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Why is this a new song?
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Because there's never been a song like this song.
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There has never been a song like this song.
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Like, what do you mean?
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I was trying to think of a way to illustrate this, and I really think this will resonate with if not all of most of us. I'm a big Penguins fan and if you are then you're like me. When the Penguins win a regular season game you cheer don't you? Yeah.
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What about when the Penguins win a playoff game? Don't you just cheer a little bit more? Well do you remember when they won the Stanley Cup like all all those times they won the Stanley Cup.
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When they won the Cup, that prompts the highest level of cheering, doesn't it?
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Because they hit the ultimate.
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It doesn't get any bigger than this.
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They are the champions.
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And if you'll pardon the analogy, it's like that with praise.
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Because we praise God every time a prayer is answered, don't we?
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We praise God every time a soul is saved, but this praise in Revelation 5 is the Stanley Cup version of praise because Jesus is about to step out and claim the ultimate victory.
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Does that make sense?
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The praise is higher than it's ever been because the fulfillment of the victory is finally here.
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Verse 11, "And I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.'" Now there are five hymns in chapters 4 and 5.
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And what you have to see, if you kind of take a panorama view of it, the praise is building and building and building and building and building.
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In chapter 4, verse 8, we saw this all started with four angels singing.
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It's like a quartet, right?
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Then the 24 elders join in in verse 10.
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Okay, getting a little bigger, got choir now!
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In chapter 5, verse 8, here come the harps.
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Now we're getting the music involved, the musical instruments involved.
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Here, we have myriads upon myriads, thousands upon thousands.
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What he was saying was, "I couldn't count them.
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I couldn't possibly count them.
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I couldn't even ballpark a guess of how many they were.
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There were hundreds of thousands, millions, who knows, but the entire heaven was full of angels lifting up their voices." You're like, "Wow, it doesn't get any bigger than that." Yeah, it does. Look at verse 13.
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And I heard every creature in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and might forever and ever." Every creature everywhere.
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What do you mean "creature"?
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What do you mean creature? I mean, we've seen angels, right?
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And we've seen people worshipping. What do you mean by creature?
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And I'm going to tell you what I believe that means, and you're going to laugh.
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And then I'm going to show you what the Bible says, and you're going to feel bad for laughing.
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And then you're going to apologize and offer to take me to lunch.
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That's how the scenario played out in my mind.
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When it says creatures, I believe he's talking about animals.
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Pastor Jeff hit the eggnog early. No.
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No, look at Psalm 148.
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"Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures in all deeps." Look at the end.
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"Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds." Who's called to praise the Lord?
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What does the Bible say who's called to praise the Lord?
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Doesn't it look like?
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Doesn't it look like the Bible says the animals are going to be praising the Lord?
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And you're like, "What's that sound like or look like, Pastor? I have no idea.
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Neither of my dogs are saved, but the Bible says it's going to happen.
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I don't know what that's like. I can't wait to find out.
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You know the very last verse in Psalms, you know what it is?
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The very last verse, Psalm 150, last verse in Psalms.
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"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." Praise the Lord.
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So when it says creatures, I believe somehow, And those are just a couple examples.
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Because of what the Psalms say, I believe that somehow even the animal kingdom is rising to praise to their Creator too.
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Verse 14, "And the four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshipped." It's time for Jesus to reclaim what is rightfully His.
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You see, the Lion has conquered as the Lamb on the cross.
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Now it's time for the Lamb to conquer as the Lion on the earth.
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He's coming back.
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He's about to take the scroll and right every wrong on the earth.
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He's about to pour out His wrath on His enemies and finally fulfill every promise to God's people.
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I want you to stand as the worship team makes their way forward.
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In just a minute we're going to lift up your voices.
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Did you notice verse 12, it says, "They were saying with a loud voice." It's okay to be loud.
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Because that's how the worship is in heaven.
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But let's stand for a prelude of the heavenly chorus we will someday join.
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Look at Psalm 68 verses 1-4.
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Psalm 68 says, "God shall arise.
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His enemies shall be scattered, and those who hate him shall flee before him as smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God.
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But the righteous shall be glad.
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They shall exult before God.
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They shall be jubilant with joy.
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Sing to God.
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Sing praises to His name.
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Lift up a song to Him who rides through the deserts.
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His name is the Lord.
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Exalt before Him." Are you ready?
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Are you ready?
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Let's do it.
Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 5
GROUP
Explain why John wept (Rev 5:4). Specifically, what evils on earth are YOU wanting to see eliminated?
Why do you think God the Father (on the throne) didn’t just open the scroll? Why did it have to be the Lamb (Jesus)?
What as-of-yet-unanswered prayer of yours will you see - for sure - answered in heaven?
BREAKOUT
Pray for one another!