speaking to me like a trumpet said come up here and I will show you at once what must take place after this and at once I was in the spirit and behold a throne in heaven with one seated on the throne. Let us pray. Father I pray this morning you would you would increase our vision, you would give us a grand and glorious vision of Jesus I pray that you would open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the death I pray that you would make those who are mute to sing for joy. I pray for myself that you'd be in my head and in my thinking and in my heart and in my understanding and in my mouth and in my speaking. May we become more like Jesus as a result of what we hear and see even today. In Jesus name we pray these things amen and amen. You know I became a Christian right before I went into the army in 1988. Went into the army for four years and then after I went to a small school in the southeast called Florida State and one thing I loved about being at Florida State is one of the reasons I got out of the army is I wanted I thought I need to learn how to tell people about Jesus and so I went to Florida State and did everything I could to learn that but one of the things that I had the most fun with at a big school like Florida State is when you go to the student union when people come and try to tell you about Jesus and other people would come up to me and say would you would you like to talk about Jesus with me today and I would always go sure I wouldn't tell him I was a Christian but they sure and I would come on to see what they were going to do and the thing that I remember years ago the thing I'd never forget my head around is someone one time showed me like a pamphlet and it had an empty chair on it and the guy said who's sitting on the throne of your life and I said I don't know who should be and he said well it's either Jesus or to you that's a really and we can't converse and then finally he said would you like Jesus to sit on the throne of your life and I said I would and he was so happy I said I of course I made that decision like four years ago and he was for this point that he wasted his time so to speak with me but at that always bothered me because you know as we looked at last weeks text we looked at Revelation 4 that's sort of the wrong question you see the question isn't who's on the throne of your life is it Jesus or is it you as we looked at chapter 4 of the book of Revelation there's no question that Jesus God himself is on the throne the question is whether or not you are going to acknowledge that in other words it's not whether he's there or you're there he is always there that's what we looked at last week that John had had these three letters dictated to him by Jesus to these churches and Franklis probably a little bit depressing and at the end to encourage him to encourage us Jesus has come up here I want basically I want you to see something and what is John see he says I will game in the spirit and I appeared in heaven and appear before me a throne and one sitting on it so what we learned last week is that there is one who sits on the throne always and what our job is to do is not to to to either sit there or not sit there or let him or not the question is are we going to acknowledge the fact that he always sits there it's just a fact and so as we come to this week Revelation you see Revelation this has been a hard week a couple weeks because Revelation 4 and 5 go together I mean they're sort of like peanut butter and jelly and they're hard to separate and when you separate them it makes more difficult to teach and so I either had to separate them or we had to do like about 80 minute sermon and then any of you wanted that so we split I split up chapter 4 from 5 and this week I realized I had to split chapter 5 even and so this morning we're going to only look at half of chapter 5 but before we do there's a couple things we need to do and basically that's to define some terms because as you get into the book of Revelation there are two terms that really are important especially in chapters 4 and 5 the first term is this term called sovereignty or sovereign you'll hear someone say that God is sovereign or God is the sovereign or God is a sovereign on one hand people tend to use that word synonymously with a providence right what is God's providence it's God's governing all his creatures and all their actions sovereignty is actually more personal sovereignty has to do with the kingship or being the Lord if you ever hear someone in church say the Lord said this the Lord said that what they're saying is that the king said this and so when you say that God is sovereign what you're saying is that he is king of everything and that has to do with his rule and when I say rule I mean rule he makes the rules but he doesn't just make the rules he has the authority to make the rules that's what it means for him to be sovereign but even more than that he not only makes the rules he not only has the authority to make the rules but he actually has the power to enforce the rules and not just the rules in 10 command but I mean the rules of everything the laws of nature the laws of physics everything that is he is behind and governing at all times God is sovereign overall things and that is not just a detached theological term it really has to do with his kingship and so when you see God on a throne what we saw last week is that God is sovereign over all things and the other term that's important to know in the book of Revelation it's important the whole Bible both of these are but it's the term redemption what do we mean when we talk about redemption basically redemption has to do with deliverance deliverance from sin and the Old Testament might have been deliverance from the land of Egypt deliverance from the land of Babylon it also has to do with atonement with the forgiveness of sins with someone paying your bill it's used in that sense and it's also used to with regard to repurchasing something that was once lost another you own something and then you sold it and and then you had to buy it back or you lost it and you had to buy it back and so what's interesting in chapter 4 basically you see the sovereignty of God on the throne and in chapter 5 what we're going to look at is the redemption of God around the throne in other words in chapter 1 a different way to slice in chapter 4 you see the sovereignty of God in creation remember everything there was about sort of what happened in the Old Testament and in the chapter 5 what we're going to see is the sovereignty of God in redemption or in the New Testament so that's another way to split it and so as we jump in today there's basically three things we're going to look at we're going to look at I'm going to go through verse by verse but you could split this up and do basically three points the liturgical question is one number two is a tearful response and number three is a surprising vision so a liturgical question a tearful response and a surprising vision if you were here at the very beginning when when I did the first introductory sermon so first two you remember I told you that this chapter what we're going to look at today is the center of the whole book of Revelation so I hope that becomes clear as we go along so the first thing we say is a liturgical question and a verse one John says then he's he's already in heaven then I saw in the right hand of him who is seated on the throne of scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals so on one hand what's going on here is an apocalyptic literature what would happen is the the prophet would get a scroll and it would be dictated to him by God and it would be sealed up and whenever the seals were broken that's when you knew things were going to start happening and so a part of that is what's going on here so this scroll is in the right hand of him who sits on the throne that's God the Father and scrolls in those days would have been about 10 meters long probably written on one side and yet this one is written on both sides for some reason and so the question is one question is what what's in the scroll if you've ever read the book of Revelation you ever asked that was lots of opinions of course I'm going to give you the right one today a lot of folks think it's the old testament that what God is doing is basically handing over to Jesus as the new covenant is being inaugurated that Jesus is getting ready to put everything into action God's basically handing him the old covenant and saying you fulfilled this it's yours get moving that's one way to look at it and Jesus is by the way the fulfiller of the law and the prophet so there is some truth to that so is that it I don't think only that the other thing is it could be it looks on awful lot like what the Roman Empire would use for a will or a contract in other words a will would often be recorded on a scroll and sealed with seven seals and it would be written on the back with the summary of what was in that will and the only person who could open the will was the executor of the will the person who was able to make it happen and so who's the will for well some people think it's it's basically is a record of all the promises made to the people of God that it's their inheritance if you will because of the death and resurrection of Jesus also it could be a contract Romans did the same thing with contracts and it might be a contract but would that has the covenant of redemption where the father and the son and the Holy Spirit agreed to deliver God's people I think it's actually simpler than that especially if you read it from the the rest of the text basically I think at the end of the day it's what the best answer is that it's God's plan of redemption past present and future if you remember the theme of the book of Revelation is that God Jesus has one Jesus is winning and Jesus will win and so basically what happens is remember when John came up I'm getting a lot of echo by the way when Jesus came and let me reboot that so if God's plan of redemption basically when Jesus has one is winning and will win in the future that when we look at the book of Revelation what we see is the completed work of Jesus on one hand on the other hand we see the work of Jesus that will be completed and the fact that he is winning now and what is in the scroll probably is the things that are to come that's what the angel told him come and I must show you the things that are to come and immediately after this in chapter 6 the seals are breaking and literally all hell and heaven begins to break loose okay so what is in the scroll I think personally it's the plan of redemption what's more important I think is the question that comes next John says and I saw mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals now this question is two things I think it we know for sure it's a question of execution but it's also a question of liturgy now why do I say it's a question of execution because when the angel stands up and he says who is worthy to open the scroll and to look into it and break the seals what he's asking is not only who's able to open it what's implicit in that question is who's willing to open it because the person who opens it is also willing to execute the plan that's found within so the question isn't just who can read this who can open the seals the question is who can open it ultimately and execute the plan that's found within who is able to do that and it's also a liturgical question I think what do I mean by that that when we talk about liturgy liturgy is a form of worship and we looked at last week that whenever we join together's worship we join a service that's already in progress and I think what's going on here is that John has happened into a heavenly worship service did you notice that angel didn't ask a question really it doesn't say and I saw mighty angel asking with a loud voice who is worthy the angel proclaims with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals in other words I think the angel is leading worship to some extent and he's just saying who is worthy the angels know all of heaven knows the answer to that question but in this moment the angel says who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and John happens to be there and in this particular moment heaven is not particularly outwardly faced they don't explain what's going on and John I guess thinks that he needs to answer that question and so he sets about to answer it who is worthy to open the scroll and to break the seals and what he finds disturbs him you see his tearful response in verse three he says in no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it so if this is the plan of redemption or even if this is a contract or a will that unravels the promises of God John says I look everywhere in heaven on earth under the earth and that's that threefold of way of saying things is on one hand it's a way of saying all of creation but on the other hand when you start breaking it down when John looked around in heaven who is in heaven at this point the four living creatures the 24 elders myriad upon myriad of angels all of these things are around him and John looks at all the great and mighty heavenly creatures and which of them is worthy to execute God's plan of redemption not one zero how about on the earth those who are live right now either during John's time or even now is Caesar the emperor able to execute God's plan of redemption is the best of all humanity able to execute God's plan of redemption who among us is worthy to execute God's plan of redemption who among us is worthy to stand up and say I'm the one I can do it I am perfect and I am sinless not one living person maybe the most even disturbing thing to John those under the ground those under the earth as a euphemism it's a way to say those who have died and who do John know that has died think about the whole Old Testament and just ask the question who is worthy Adam not how about Noah Noah was a good man wasn't he he found favor with God but he wasn't worthy how about Moses Moses maybe nope have anyone besides Moses Gideon Samson one of the judges know how about David no Samuel no Elijah no Elijah no Isaiah no Daniel no Jeremiah no no no no no no not one is worthy and if you're John and you think I've got to find from among this pool all of heaven on earth and under the earth find one who is worthy he looks around he can't find any and if that's where you find yourself it leads only to one place and that's what happens with John next first four he says I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it and the place that it leads is despair in other words if you're feeling in need of redemption if you're feeling in need of someone who can take away the guilt of your sins if you're feeling in need of understanding how it is that God is in control of your life from first to last and you try and find that person in heaven or under the earth or on the earth you will fail every time and it will ultimately lead to despair have you ever despaired I have I do all the time and almost every time it's because I'm making the same mistake that John is making here and that ought to give you a little bit of hope because if anyone should have known the answer it would have been John he wrote a gospel he wrote three letters and he's being dictated to and when the question is asked who is worthy and that moment where he is caught up and he looks around and he sees no one he weeps loudly because no one is worthy and the problem is that John is looking in every place but the only place that can do him any good and that's to the throne because at the throne it's not just God but there's someone else there and all the problems that you and I have if you despair you feel like down you feel like you can't pull yourself out ask yourself am I looking in the wrong place for the answers am I looking to other people am I looking to sort of self-help literature am I looking to myself I can pull myself up by the bootstraps if that's where you are you ultimately be found find yourself in despair what happens next and verse five one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the word there literally look with an explanation point weep no more look the lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and it seven seals this is another little piece of evidence I think that leads at least me to believe that this is a worship service John is weeping someone's leading worship he doesn't know what's going on and one of the elders everything doesn't stop because John doesn't know what's going on one of the elders leans down I imagine it's just look you're looking in the wrong place look right over there now before he looks he gets a description and that's something you need to get to when you're going to see over and over again in the book of Revelation that John often hears one thing and sees another like later on he's going to say I heard 144,000 people and I looked and saw an infinite number well here he's going to hear lion of Judah and when he looks he's going to actually see something different but it's that what he hears that sets his expectation by the way I didn't I don't put pictures a lot of times here because what we're supposed to do is we're supposed to use our imaginations to grapple with John's description of things so the first thing he says as I saw line from the tribe of Judah and that comes from Genesis chapter 49 that's when the Jacob is telling all the different his sons what what role they will play in the future of Israel and verse 8 of chapter 49 he says Judah your brother shall praise you your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies and your father's son shall bow down before you Judah is a lion's cub from the prey my son you have gone up he stooped down he crouched as a lion as a lion as who dares rouse him the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples and then Isaiah 11 is where you hear about the stump of Jesse and he says there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse a branch from his root shall bear fruit and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him and the spirit of wisdom and understanding and counsel and might of knowledge and fear of the Lord the verse 12 says he will raise a signal for the nations and he will assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah and from before corners of the earth and so what's the point here the elders think the lion from the tribe of Judah has conquered what what what would John expect to see the image is militaristic the stump from the root of Jesse that of course was is David and remember we've looked at the book of Samuel that what Israel needs what we need is a king like David who can come and conquer our sins and he says that king like David he is there and the lion from the tribe of Judah is there and the image is one of a king who has conquered and the image is one of a lion who has not just conquered but has crushed his prey and there's blood on his mouth that is who the elder says the lion from the tribe of Judah is there look at him and so John what does he do what would you do he looks he looks to see the lion who has conquered and what instead does he see a surprising vision verse six he says in between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain so he looks around expecting to see the lion from the tribe of Judah who has conquered and instead what he sees is a lamb as if it had been slain well the first thing he sees when he sees that lamb he actually sees the biggest paradox of the gospel but he also sees the way the lamb conquered or the way the lion conquered in other words the lion conquers by becoming a lamb the lion conquers by becoming a lamb but the shepherd laid down his life for his sheep the others why why did the lion become a lamb in order to conquer three things I put down here there's a saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain for one the the lion became a lamb because of us it was because of this thing called sin someone had to pay for it and because of our sin the lion becomes a lamb and this imagery by the way is both from Exodus remember the book of Exodus when Passover happened they said kill the lamb and put the blood over the doorposts and whenever I see the blood I will pass over but also from Isaiah 53 when it talks about Messiah it says what it says that he was led like a lamb to this slaughter it's a why did the lamb came before he came because of us he also came for us he came to purchase us he came to redeem us but the most important one the biggest one at least in my mind is that the lamb was slain instead of us and other which remember I have constantly drilling it into our head corporate head that Jesus lived the life we should have lived and then he died the death we should have died in other words he was our substitute and so the reason the lamb was slain was he was slain instead of us that you and I deserve to be slain what we needed was a savior not who would just come like a mighty lion and start slashing everyone who deserved justice because if he did that you and I would not survive instead what we needed was a lamb who became one of us and died instead of us and that is what Jesus has done and so the central paradox of the gospel how does Jesus conquer how does he win Jesus wins by losing how does he gain our lives he gains our lives by dying now the irony is is that paradox is what up turned the world the evil world around him it undid the plan of Satan and it undoes the plan of evil right now if you've ever seen the lion the witch in the wardrobe or read it remember how happy the forces of evil are when an assulence on the stone table they just think they've won everything they shave him and they mock him and they kill him but how how surprised they are when he comes back from the dead and here John sees this lamb who had been slain and did you notice how he's described it says he has seven horns and seven eyes which are the spirits of God sent out into all the earth horns have to do with power eyes have to do with seeing things either wisdom or omniscience and so this lamb on one hand and they're both seven which is means complete this lamb although he is one who is slain he's also completely powerful in other words he didn't go to the cross because he was weak he went to the cross because he was willing to give up his power and he didn't go to the cross because he was foolish he went to the cross because he was wise there's no way that we could be safe unless he went instead of us and so John sees that vision what's the response to that vision well as the the power is assumed it says in verse 7 they went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne and then verse 8 it says and when he had taken the scroll the 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 God saints so the natural response of all of creation to seeing the lamb not just as if he were slain but actually receiving and assuming the throne from God is worship it's worship and it's really hard not to go into the rest of the text because the rest of the text talks about how they were worshiping what they sing they sing a new song but in this one spot I want to just focus on a couple things is I want you to notice what the elders have in their hands he says the four elders fell down before the lamb noticed maybe maybe it'd be easier to to make the point to say what they're not holding in their hands he doesn't say the elders fell down before the lamb each holding an organ or each holding a piano or each holding even drums you see it's interesting to me how when people talk about music in church I mean we've had people leave the church frankly because there's we don't do a hundred percent organ and yet here when you look at the great grand scheme of heaven what is it that the elders are carrying with them it's a harp which in the Old Testament would have been the liar now is the organ an appropriate instrument for church absolutely is the piano I wouldn't want to have church without one what's the point here is that the the instrument that they are holding is the instrument that would have been used in the temple in order to praise God and it would have been lively and it would have been joyful in other words the worship of the lamb is a joyful experience you know over the since we've been doing the series I they video the the screen as I'm preaching and before that we often either so they sweep the crowd or they sweep the choir and you know what Presbyterians don't smile very much when they sing that struck me part of it is just who we are part of it those I wonder if we really get it because the closer you are to the throne the more you are you are understanding the gospel how could you not be excited I mean I think I've told you this this story before I was having a meeting when when I was on staff it was about 20 years ago maybe 15 years ago with a group of charismatic pastors who had come to understand reform theology what we believe and they were meeting with bunch of Presbyterian pastors and the subject of dancing came up and one of the Presbyterian pastors said you guys you guys let people dance in worship and I'll never forget the guys in the Danny he says given what you know how could you not how could you not how could you be so downcast all the time and partly I think it's because we don't really have a vision of Jesus and what he's done for us we don't really understand the gospel we don't really understand that Jesus went to the cross because of us and for us but mainly he went instead of us and because he did that and ascended to the throne what else do I have to do in life but worship and be thankful and instead we get so caught up in every other issue of our life you see the point here is not what the appropriate instrument is the point here is how worship should be and you know some churches might sing only Psalms but the question is is it coming from your heart and is it driven by joy you need to ask yourself that the next thing you see he said there's golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of God's saints you know as much as I can tell the both the this comes as an image from the old testament where people would offer incense to the Lord but there never really is is any kind of salvation attached to the incense that I can see the reason the incense is offered is because pleasing to the Lord it's a smell that he enjoys and what we find in the book of Revelation he says the Lord still enjoys incense but what the elders holds golden bowls full of incense in the incense is the prayers of the saints the question is if the incense if the smell of incense is what pleases God and the prayers of the saints now is what pleases God I don't mean please him in order to be saved I mean just make him sort of put a smile on his face how happy is God you know my family will tell you I think it's a gift I'm sure they they think it's a curse I have a number of things that some people labeled disorders I again I think they're superpowers all of them have to do it with sensory perception most of them and one of the things that I'm able to do that most people aren't is smelled just about anything any place anytime in any condition which is great if the trustees can't find a gas leak go get Tommy but what that means for my family is almost every single bit of lotion shampoo soap they bring to me and say dad is this okay which I have all girls on top of that by the way don't be fooled when something says it's unscented really they just put a mask over the real scent I can smell the scent underneath it and so constantly I'm stuck dead in my tribe who put lotion on I can smell anything you know what it was beautiful is they you know who's got a better super sniffer than I do is God does because God's is gracious you know I'm almost trying to avoid smells God on the other hand it seems it's always trying to find them so what does that mean what does it take for you to actually bring a smile to God's face pray you feel like you're overwhelmed by by your your sins and your guilt pray say God help me that is what pleases and people are constantly asking what you know what do we need to do to please the Lord don't need to be more obedient do I need to be this don't need to be that you know you should be all those things but if you genuinely want to just put a smile on your father's face depend on him you know those of you who've raised kids those of you who have kids the older your kids get the more special it is at least to me when they come and actually ask you for something because as they get older they sort of wean away wean away wean away but when they come do you see that I need your help with this man I can't wait how much more God how much more God at the Father does he long for us to just to just burn some incense if you will to pray damn to to offer up not not just praise but our needs you see because what we see here is the prayers of God's people in chapter six these aren't just praises these are also petitions in chapter six the prayers of God's people sound something like this how long until you bring justice about on the earth those are pleasing to God as well think about that let's pray Father I pray that as we continue in this text it feels a little bit abrupt but I pray also you prepare hearts now and through the week to see the culmination of this vision a culmination of this worship service I pray that you would make us worshipers because of our vision of the cross I pray that you would make us prayers because of our vision of the cross I pray that you would open our eyes to the gospel more and more every day in Christ's name we pray this thing they man and amen