In Scott Brown's sermon titled 'The Sealed Book,' he explores Revelation Chapter 5, emphasizing the significance of the sealed scroll held by God as a representation of divine history and plans. It reveals that only Jesus, depicted as both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb that was slain, is worthy to open the scroll. This dual imagery underscores Jesus' authority, power, and the sacrificial nature of his mission. The sermon highlights the heavenly worship of Jesus by angels and elders, emphasizing the doctrines of sanctification and justification. Sanctification involves growing in grace and confidence in God's control, while justification centers on the redemptive power of Jesus' sacrifice. Brown stresses the importance of prayer as a precious, preserved act of worship that ascends to God like incense. The sermon challenges listeners to consider their own lives in light of God's control and the worthiness of Jesus, urging them to find comfort and purpose in the divine plan.

Please open your Bibles to Revelation chapter five. We'll be reading verses one through 14. This is the inerrant, sufficient, life-giving word of truth for us today. Verse one. And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? And no one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the scroll or to look at it. So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, Do not weep, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. And I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God and We shall reign on the earth then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne the living creatures and the elders And the number of them was 10, 000 times 10, 000 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing 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 I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.

Then the four living creatures said, Amen, and the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever. Let's pray. Oh Lord, you've thrown before us words to take us to worship your son Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, to see everything the way that you see it. Lord, we pray that you would give that gift to every person in this room today, that we would see Jesus Christ as he really is and for his plans for the world. Amen.

Please be seated. So here we are in chapter five of Revelation. Chapters four and five are pivotal to give an understanding of what is happening in heaven and on earth. And this chapter really opens with some of the most encouraging words in the whole Bible. And they're these words, And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals and what's so encouraging about this moment is that it really it tells us that there's there is a flow of history there's a scroll There's a book that contains everything that will happen in the world everything that will happen in your life everything that has happened in my life There's a scroll everything that nations are doing.

It's all recorded in this scroll to me This is one of the most encouraging things that could be read And so these two chapters here chapters four and five they they show us really the the backdrop of history Jesus pulls back the curtain To show us what is happening in heaven as history rolls on These are the perpetual activities that take place in heaven while everything else is going on in your life, in my life, and in all the nations. And this vision that we see in chapters four and five precedes the rest of the chapters in Revelation which detailed the trials and tribulations, the death, the famine, the inflation, the calamity, the hatred, all the ugly things that take place in the world are set really in this backdrop of the throne of God. And we see many things here. We see these waves of praise that roll throughout heaven. And there are just 25 verses here in these two chapters and there are five rolling you know thunderous praises toward God that roll through this section and there's singing I've said that there are at least 12 songs in Revelation.

Some of the songs are right here. I heard somebody say if you're ever gonna sing up there, you'll have to start singing down there as well, down here. So there's much singing here in this passage of scripture. And these chapters are critical for understanding the book of Revelation. When you get to chapter six and on, and when you get to look around this world, you look around what's happening in our nation and the nations of the world, it looks like the devil is winning.

But is he? No, he's not winning. Then this scene in heaven, this throne, this governing authority of God and his son, Jesus Christ, and the power of the Spirit is the ruling factor even though on earth it may not look that way. We look at things that are unseen so says the Word of God. All of these things really point to the worthiness of Jesus Christ.

He's worthy. He's really the only one that's worthy. And the question that I want us to ponder among many that really are resident in this text is when you look back on your life, what will you see? You see what John sees here. In fact, the whole outline of this section, if you have an outline in front of you, you'll see that I built it off of the words I saw.

There are four incidences of I saw, but that's what John saw. But when you look back in the history of your life, you know, what will you see? What will you ask? You know, will you say, Was it worth it? Was he worthy?

Did I take the right turn? Was he worth it? And we see what the angels of heaven and all the beings in the world say that are in heaven? But what will you say? For example, you know what?

Was it worth it for Moses to deal with all the sin of Israel and they wanted to kill him? Was it worth it for Jeremiah who obeyed God and nobody listened to him. Was it worth it for Isaiah who spoke the word of God to kings and he was son in two, was it worth it to Peter who was martyred upside down? Was it worth it to John who ended up being imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos probably after he'd been boiling oil and survived it. You know, was it worth it?

Because the whole matter of worth is central on the table of this section of scripture, so I think we should consider that. And there there's lots of kind of backdrop theology in this section as well. You know, I think that there are always two questions that I want us to consider, and that is, what does it mean? What's the theology? What's the doctrine that's here?

But the other part is critical and that is how will it move us? What does it really mean? Is it just an intellectual exercise that we're going through to understand the book of Revelation? Well no, the doctrine is meant to be applied and I think there are two great doctrines here that we should look for in this section. And let's talk about sanctification.

The doctrine of sanctification is in this text or it's implied here. And really as a pastor in this church, my particular prayer for all of us in terms of our sanctification, in terms of our growth in grace, I want all of us to grow in grace from this. How? I want us to grow in the grace of the knowledge of the control of God that we would have more confidence in God than ever. I just pray that this helps us have more confidence in God, less confidence in ourselves.

Not too many people have that much confidence in their governments, but at least you can have confidence in God. The media might not inspire lots of confidence in you, but you can have confidence in God. And that's really where all of our rest, our hope ought to rest. And so what kind of growth, what kind of personal growth, what kind of sanctification are we talking about? And it's the kind of progressive bent toward holiness so that our whole mental processes, the way that we think about the world and our emotional reactions to what happened in the world are altered, that we're altered by this vision of heaven, that we have more confidence in God, our emotions are more directed by the truth of God rather than what's going on around us because we are looking at things that are unseen that are true and real.

And then there's also the doctor of justification You find that here and it's just so prominent. We have before us a picture of the power of the Lamb of God to forgive you of your sins and to wipe away your sins. He died to wipe away your sins. He died to set you free from the law of sin and death. He died to save your soul.

That's justification. And there's so many words in here that just point to justification. He was slain, And there's much more here. But you see the efficacy of the cross. You see the cleansing power of the lamb who was slain.

You see the reason for the forgiveness that is granted those who love God and who follow him. And you see that he's the only one that could perform the work that we could never do. We could never do enough to save our souls. We could never pat ourselves on the back enough to say I'm a child of God. The problem with our corrupt souls and our spirits and our whole thinking is that we think we can justify ourselves before God.

That's why wherever you go Around here in America, if you say, are you saved? You'll say, well, I'm a good person. God would never send somebody like me to hell. But the cross completely contradicts that. The cross says, no, no, no, no, no.

You're bound for hell without the slaying of the Son of God. So you have both the doctrine of sanctification that's very much on my own mind as we go through this section and but also the doctrine of of just the justification that is by faith and that is by faith alone and so so here we have this picture of heaven. In heaven it's unbroken praise, it's unceasing joy, it's unbridled optimism. Because there's a lamb, there's someone to open the scroll of history. And all of this really has to do with what is happening in your life.

And I want all of us to ask, Lord, have you redeemed me? Lord, have you purchased me by your blood? Or that you would say, Lord, I'm so thankful that you redeemed me. I'm so thankful that you purchased me, that your blood was shed for me. So when we encounter this passage, we're encountering the power of the blood of Jesus Christ.

And I read something from a book just last week. Here's what it said, if you have not the blood of Christ at the root of your profession, then your profession will wither and rove only to be a cheap decorative suit to wear as you enter into hell. This matter of the blood of Christ is central to this section of scripture. And so I pray that we can get it. Now, if you have an outline in front of you, you can see what I have broken this set of verses into four sections based on the words he saw or I saw.

And first of all, he saw a sealed book telling of the future of the world that's in verse one. Secondly he saw a strong angel ask a question that's in verses two through five. Thirdly he saw a lamb who was slain that's in verses six through ten and then fourth he saw multitudes around the throne that's verses 11 through 14 All of these sections are tripped by the term I saw. So let's begin with the first one. He saw a sealed book in the hand of God telling the future of the world.

That's in verse one. And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals. Now what's in the scroll? Well we've already talked about it. It's a book that contains the detailed plans of God.

They are God's decrees this scroll tells of the conditions of the redemption of mankind The destruction of the devil and the rescue of God's chosen people, moving them on to his heavenly throne. That's really it in summary. And I want you to notice two things. It says that it's written on both sides, indicating that the book is all filled up, You can't get any more in it. It's unerasable.

You know, you might want to try to erase something that happened in your life, but you're not going to erase God's plan for your life. Here's the reality. Whatever's happened in your life has been God's plan. You're exactly where God wants you. It Doesn't matter what mistakes you've made in the past.

There's a Redeemer, and He is there. Secondly, it's a sealed book with seven seals. Seven, of course, the number of perfection, meaning it is perfectly, it is impenetrably sealed and it contains the perfect and eternal plan of God and it is what it is. It will be what it will be and everything that has ever happened including everything that has you've ever done, every place you've ever been, is recorded in this book. Everything is recorded.

You thought Google and the big phone companies, the phone systems were tracking your progress through the world. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not like God. This book tells the story of everyone's life and it is what theologians would call God's decretive will for the history of the world. These are the plans of God which will be executed along the trend lines of history.

And so I think what's so helpful about this first verse and this scroll is that it unveils the conflicts that are coming upon the world. You know, why crime? Why war? Why persecution? Why does evil have such sway in the world?

Why? What is the answer to those questions that we ask all the time? Why is the world the way it is? And who is behind it? Why are people so ugly?

Why are, who will solve these problems? And how will they be solved? It's all answered in this book. So just stop for a moment, give thanks to God. He's got the whole world in his hands.

The word of God says, your times are in his hands. All of your times, from the beginning into the end of your life, your times are in his hands. What a blessing it is to know that. You know David spoke of it in Psalm 139, your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed, and in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. In other words, before you were born, God had all your days planned out.

He had this day planned out. And all the days in the past and all the days in the future when yet there was none of them. This is God. And I'm just so comforted by this fact of the Word of God. Now, the scroll continues to be unrolled.

It's not completely unrolled until chapter 10. We'll get there. It'll take some time to get there. But the truth is there's no way that man can change what God has written in the book. God is executing his plan, and his plan is to sum up all things in Jesus Christ.

So I hope this gives us some confidence. And we're trying to grapple with who's charting the course of history. Is it some cabal? Is it some conspirators? But this has been asked in every generation.

Was it Nebuchadnezzar? Was it Alexander the Great? Was it Genghis Khan? Was it Napoleon? Was it Nikita Khrushchev?

Was it Vladimir Putin? Is it Bill Gates? Who is it? Who's controlling the world? Well, now you know.

There's a God in heaven. And then he saw, he not only saw a squirrel, he also saw a strong angel asking a question. A strong angel. Get dialed in on this. You know, I told you at the beginning you're gonna get an education in angel ology But here we have a strong angel One of the commentators Adam Clarke says he is one of the chief of the angelic hosts Albert Barnes says an angel endowed with great strength as if such strength was necessary to enable him to give utterance to the loud voice of the inquiry and hence an angel is introduced so mighty that his voice could be heard in all those distant worlds.

So he's strong and he's got a strong voice and when you get to chapter 6 you'll hear these angels and their loud voices announcing the judgments and the trials and tribulations that come upon the world but they're strong angels do you got that you know in Psalm 103 we learned that some some angels Major in strength and they carry God carry out God's plans Psalm 103 20 bless the Lord you his angels who excel in strength Who do his word? Heeding the voice of his word there are strong Angels mighty angels and they are executing God's Word in the world. In Revelation chapter 10 verse 1, you've got another strong angel and he's standing with one foot on the land and another foot in the ocean and he's roaring there in chapter 10 verse 1. In chapter 18 of Revelation a strong angel announces the fall of Babylon. Babylon is fallen, is fallen.

He's shouting it out and I assume everyone in heaven and earth can hear it. And So there are strong angels. You know, God has created angels for different purposes. One of the purposes is that they would render help to those who would inherit salvation. He renders help to those who are saved.

And there are strong angels. Here's the reality of your life. You have a lot more help than you think you do. You have a lot more strength working in your behalf than you have. Isn't that wonderful?

A strong angel. And then we come to the big tension point in this text in verse 2. Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. So John is expressing his sorrow and he says, so I wept much.

That's in verse four. Because no one was found worthy to open number one or number two to read the scroll or three to look at it. So John is weeping, why? Who's going to control the future? There's an unknown future and he's weeping about it because there is no one to open the scroll.

I think he's weeping over the state of mankind, perhaps over the fear that history is out of control. And who is worthy? Who's worthy to unfold this plan? And the truth is no one is capable. That's why there's silence.

There's just, who's worthy? Dead silence. Now, it's very important that the church understands a particular matter of historiography. And that is this, history is not out of control. We should stop saying things are out of control.

They're not out of control at all. If history is out of control, if history is subject to the whims of governments, If history is subject to institutions and the mega companies, then you should weep. You have a reason to weep. If it's out of control, you should weep. So I've been so thankful to be in this church I don't find a lot of people weeping for everything I think they really do believe that God is in control But it but if it is out of control, you should have a panic attack Right now have it, you know, it would be reasonable.

It'd be logical for you to do such a thing but God and only God is sovereign only God and only God will execute the progress of history So that's why there's no need to weep and John and that's made very clear to John no no no there's no need to weep don't weep do not weep I'm in control says the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? I serve there's there's Do you believe that? I, I, sir, there's, there's such consolation in knowing that. So then he sees something else.

He sees a lion and this lion, who's also a lamb, will open the scroll, Verse 5. Jesus is the only one can do it. So one of the elders in verse 5 instructs John and But one of the elders said to me, do not weep, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. Now the word prevail there is the word Nikeb, Conquer. We'll find that word again in the next chapter.

You know, reading this you should ask, why a lion? Why a root? Why a lamb? And the Old Testament explains all those things. Why?

Who is worthy? It is the root of David. This language might sound strange to worldlings, but it's not strange to John. John knew his Old Testament. And he understood what the root of David was, what the lion was.

It was very familiar. This is the language of the prophecies of the Messiah, of the one who's opening the scroll. It's really very simple. And so interesting commentators make this point. I'll make it.

The elder answers the question and what does he do? He goes back to the Bible. That's what he does. But by the way, that's what elders are supposed to do. They're always to point you back to the Bible.

Not your emotions, not whatever, but back to the Bible. And that's what he does. And he identifies who's worthy, and he speaks of him as a lion and the root of David. Lions are pictures of authority. Well, they're not just pictures of authority, they actually have authority.

They will tear you from limb to limb. They strike terror in you, they're muscular. You can hear their roar five miles away. They are very protective of their territory. They are fearless.

They are ready to fight. They are hunters. They have terrific night vision, and they stay close to their families. And this is the imagery that we're given. It's to sort of teach us something about this savior, this one who's opening the scroll.

And the language comes out of the Old Testament. Genesis 49, we've turned there already. Thank you, thank you Mike for doing that already. You've helped me tremendously. In Genesis 49, verses eight through 12 is a prophecy of the Messiah.

Judah is a lion's whelp. By the way whelp means a young one. You know some of you are whelps. You know you have some kids here. Are you here you a whelp?

You're young a young lion, and we'll get to a little bit more elaboration on this in a minute, but Judah is a lion's whelp from the prey my son you have gone up He bows down he lies down as a lion and as a lion who shall rouse him, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. This whole section is really about the authority of this lion. I mean, he is gonna put his foot on your neck. He's gonna be in control. He's gonna rove around and he's gonna do what he needs to do.

He's a lion. And this is just a prophecy of the authority of the Messiah. He has a scepter. In other words, he has authority. And he will conquer and he will go out conquering and he will devour his Pray and when the world looks like it's falling apart.

It's not there's a lion roving around and The prophet Jeremiah speaks of the same thing in Jeremiah 23. He's rebuking the unfaithful shepherds of Israel, but he promises that there's a good shepherd that's coming in chapter 23, verses five and six. And he says, a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. Now this is his name he is called the Lord our righteousness but this one is a Branch he is the branch so Isaiah prophesies of the same thing in Isaiah chapter 11 again it's another passage that speaks of the authority of the Son of God and we read there in Isaiah 11 verse 1 and there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of its roots.

Bingo there's what it is He that's what he's talking about and the spirit of the Lord will rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of the knowledge and the fear of the Lord and then in verse 10 and In that day there should be a root of Jesse who shall stand as a banner to the people for the Gentiles shall seek him and his resting place shall be glorious. All of this Old Testament imagery that's brought forth in Revelation is the imagery of the authority of the Son of God. He's a lion and he will tear all of his enemies to pieces and he will protect his family. That's what he's gonna do So the world looks like it's falling apart, but that really it's not there's a lion there's a lion roving about You know I when I read this I couldn't help but think of that verse, if the Lord was not on our side, all our enemies would have swallowed us alive. There's just so much here about the authority of God because the authority of God is the reason for our protection.

And he is a lion. And you're always protected. Not only do you have the strong angel, you have a lion who's roving about and you know is he worth, is he worth much to you and when you when you get to the end of your life, or even now, are you saying, is it worth it? Are you saying, it is worth it? It was worth it that I turned to the Lord.

And then he saw, again, he saw the lamb who was slain, verses 6 through 10. And I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain." Isn't that strange? There's a lamb who has been slain but he's standing. What is that all about? Usually slain lambs don't stand.

This one is standing. Having seven horns, well that's not like every other lamb you've ever seen, and seven eyes, neither is that, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. This is the one who came. It's the lion, it's the lamb, It's the one with the seven horns and the seven eyes.

He takes the scroll. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the word lamb here is a different word for lamb than it is in the whole Bible. This word lamb appears 29 times in Revelation and it does not occur anywhere else in the Bible. The word for lamb in the Gospels and other places is a different it's a different term.

It's the word for little lamb, little lamb, kind of like the lion's, the little lion, the lion's whelp. When John said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In John 1, 29, he wasn't using this word. He was using the word of a big lamb. This is the word for a little lamb, and it's used all throughout Revelation.

Except for one time in Revelation 22, it uses this different word. But this is the word for the little lamb. By the way, one little fact to it, you'll notice it when we go through. When this word is used, it's almost always in the context of praising God and this unceasing, unbroken heart of thanksgiving that the people around the throne have. But here he is a little lamb.

He's not only a ruler, he's not only a lion, he's not only redeemer and a deliverer and a conqueror, he is a little lamb. And he has the marks of slaughter. There's blood flowing out of his neck and he's standing. In Revelation, this little lamb is a victorious warrior. He's not the gentle lamb that you think of when you call up images of lambs.

He is a terrifying lamb to the wicked particularly and what we find here is that is the one that looks the most harmless is the most terrifying in Revelation. Now I don't know If you're unconverted and the idea that Jesus is the lamb of God terrifies you, but let me tell you why you should be terrified in Chapter 6 verses 15 through 7 the 17 the lamb is so terrifying, this little lamb is so terrifying that the kings of the earth and the rich people and everybody wants to hide under rocks because of him. They say fall on us, hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb, that little lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand. In chapter 7 verses 9 through 17, this little lamb has the entire universe praising him.

After these things, verse 9, I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number, all of all nations, tribes, peoples, tongues, standing before the throne and before the lamb. And they're crying out with a loud voice and they're saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. When you get to chapter 12 verse 11, this little lamb is destroying the dragon. The accuser of the brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, this little lamb, and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death. This little lamb was so inspiring and the dragon is destroyed because of the little lamb.

This little lamb is also tormenting the wicked in hell, by the way. People say hell is where God is not. That's not true. In chapter 14 verse 10, We find that the devil and his angels shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ is presiding over Everlasting damnation and suffering We should we should have a biblical picture of Jesus I think we get that here in chapter 17 this little lamb overcomes a united coalition of nations, of kings and the earth.

And it is, it is, they make war with the lamb and the lamb will overcome them. For he is Lord of lords and King of kings and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful. In chapter 21, once you get to chapter 22 this lamb is mentioned seven times. I'll just read two more occurrences of this term, little lamb. In 2122, the little lamb is a light, but I saw no temple in it for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple and the city had no need of the Sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God illuminated it.

The Lamb is its light." And then finally in Revelation 22 verse 1 that there was a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and from the Lamb. And but from the throne of God and of the Lamb, his servant shall serve him. They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

Behold your lamb. Behold the Lamb of God. He takes away the sin of the world. He's a little lamb. He's a big lamb.

He's a lion. He's worthy. And Do you think it's worth it? Do you think he's worthy? Are you looking back on your life and saying, was it worth it?

Do I still want to follow the Lord? Well, he is worthy. He is this conquering, life-giving lamb who fulfills all of his promises. And you have this shocking, shocking imagery of a little lamb who conquers by submitting. He's the sacrificial lamb who saves by dying for sinners.

For sinners. One writer put it this way about the purchase of Christ for sinners. Nothing can be purchased by our actions, our tears and duties, for all workings are excluded. They are of no value in heaven. Your privileges, your obedience, your baptism, your sanctification, your duties, your graces, your tears, your meltings and your humblings are nothing before Christ.

Every day your self-sufficiency must be destroyed. And he's saying, trust in the blood of Jesus Christ. Trust in the lamb who was slain. Not in your own righteousness, not in your own tears, not in your own passion. You're not saved by any of those.

You're only saved by the blood of the lamb who was slain. Now he has seven horns And seven eyes. Seven horns, that means strength, omnipotent strength. Seven meaning perfect strength. These are pictures of power.

And he vanquishes all who stand in his way. And seven eyes, that means he sees everything and he is omniscient, he has perfect knowledge, he sees all and he knows all. That's why Jesus said that he didn't need anybody to tell him about man. He knew what was in man. And he knows what is in this man and every man and woman and child here.

And these are the seven spirits of God. This is the sevenfold perfection of the Holy Spirit, the unstoppable power of the Spirit of God which goes throughout all the earth. The wind blows where it wishes and God will save whomever he desires. And then what happens? The four living creatures and the elders fall down and they sing and they worship the lamb who was slain.

That's verses 8-14. Now when he had taken the scroll, verse 8, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, Which are the prayers of the Saints? What what should I say about this? I'll just say a few things these creatures are indescribably thankful that Christ the Lamb of God is opening the scroll. And each living creature has a harp.

I think it's a guitar. I'm pretty sure the word harp means guitar. But they have a harp. All of them have musical instruments. You know, some people, some Christians think musical instruments are a bad thing.

Well if they are you'll have them in heaven. These beautiful sounds from the strings sounding the harmony. I think enhancing the beauty of it all, of the singing. And then you have the doctrine of prayer here. You have, each living creature has golden bowls of incense.

And this imagery takes us back to Moses in making the tabernacle. And when Moses was commanded by God to make the tabernacle, he was commanded to make the altar of incense. He made an altar of incense. This incense in the bowls, I believe, you can run a straight line right back to the altar of incense. And in the tabernacle there would be a mixture of spices, they would be burned, and it would let out this pleasant fragrance up to the Lord.

It would be a beautiful aroma to the Lord rising up to him. And so that's why in the Bible, if you understand the doctrine of prayer, you'll know that incense symbolizes prayer being lifted up to God. In Psalm 141 verse 2 we get it there. David says, Lord I cry out to you make haste to give ear to my voice when I cry out to you. This is prayer.

Let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." Well, that's why, you know, the Apostle Paul tells the church, he exhorts that supplications and prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men and that the men should stand in the church and pray. That's the command of God for the men in the church. He says I exhort you to do that. That's what the church does. Now you know the church that doesn't dedicate itself to prayer can hardly be called a church.

The church should dedicate time allocated for prayer. And you know Malachi chapter 1, the prophet, in verse 11. He said, from the rising of the sun, even till the time of its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And listen to this, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen says the Lord of hosts in every place there will be incense going up to his name from the Church of Jesus Christ now a few things that are I think are so important here about the Doctrine of Prayer. Prayers are held in bowls, and that means prayers are not ignored.

The angels hold the bowls that contain the prayers. The Lord is keeping your prayers. You know, the Bible says that the Lord keeps your tears in a bottle, and he also says that he keeps your prayers in a bowl. Is it a literal bowl? He keeps them, and they are preserved.

Our prayers are not disregarded and the prayers of the Saints, they don't go up into empty space, They don't fall to the ground. They're not just bellowing air. They are heard. Prayers are captured. Prayers are preserved by God.

You know, this is just, give us a sense of the preciousness of prayer. Is prayer precious to you? They're very precious to God because he preserves them. You know, Sometimes we pray, sometimes I pray, it seems so trivial, so weak, so self-serving, so dispassionate, so unfitting for the moment to be before Almighty God. And sometimes the only thing that you can do is just pray the will of God, pray the things you know are in the will of God.

Praying the word of God to me is one of the biggest help to my poor, insipid prayers, is to pray the things that I know God desires. And God uses those prayers to execute his plans in the earth. Now here's what everybody knows here. I'm just going to state the obvious. Some of you men never pray in our corporate prayer meetings.

Never. Some of you never pray in our corporate prayer meetings. What's that all about? How come you're doing that? These prayers are precious to God.

Would you participate in it? Do you want the preciousness of prayers? Do you want to participate in the preciousness of prayers of the people of God being lifted up as incense before him? Or are you just holding it back? Are you stingily holding them back for some reason?

I don't know what reason. But the apostle Paul commanded the men in the church to pray. So how could, are you, you know who you are. The prayers of the saints are so precious. They're so precious to God that he holds onto them.

So let's not be dismissive of prayer and think it a low priority in the church. And then they sing a new song. They sing a new song. And by the way, there are about 180 songs in the Bible. And in the history of the church, in the history of God rescuing sinners, out of the whole scope of redemptive history, new songs were written to describe the moment and The first song in the Bible is in Exodus 15 It's the song of Moses the deliverance of bondage from Egypt deliverance from Pharaoh from the abuser of your soul And then in Numbers 21 you have the song of the wells.

I love that song. Spring up, oh well. Numbers 21, 17 and 18. And then God At the very end of Moses' life, in the last month of Moses' life, probably, I think it was the last day of Moses' life, Deuteronomy 31 tells us that God commanded Moses to write a song and to teach it to the children of Israel. He wrote the song, taught it to the children of Israel.

It's a beautiful song. And then he walked up Mount Pisgah. He looked over the plains of the promised land. God told him he could never go in there. And he looked over the plains.

And then God took him to heaven. God took him to the promised land. He said, you can't go in there, but I'm taking you to mine in heaven. But there's a song. He wrote that song on the last day of his life.

It's such a beautiful song. You have the song of Deborah, you have the songs of Isaiah, there are many. The song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5, the song of Solomon, Lamentations is a song by the way. So there are many songs, but in this song, here's what they're saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. Remember we talked about the cycle the five cycles of praises that are in four and five well this is the third this is the third cycle of praises for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth." Now dial in on that word redeemed and have redeemed us to God by your blood.

Redeemed. Not just helped, not just improved, not just counseled, redeemed. It doesn't simply mean that you have the happiest moment of your life right now. It means that you've been redeemed by God Because when Jesus saves you he buys you When Jesus buys you he's redeemed you when Jesus redeems you he makes you his own and no one can snatch you out of his hand. You are his purchase possession.

You are his forevermore. That's why this song says, and have redeemed us to God by your blood. The whole doctrine of salvation is that Jesus Christ shed his blood, a precious thing, to buy you off the slave market and set you free. Peter speaks of how beautiful it is in 1 Peter 1 19. We are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without fault.

And what does that blood do? It makes a really big family. Every tongue and tribe and nation. It destroys all the ethnic animosities because it brings everybody under one law to treat one another the exactly the same. Pride dies.

You know, red and yellow, black and white are all one family. And Jesus Christ is the one who bought them. There's one master, one savior, one redeemer, the lamb who was slain. And then he sees millions and millions hundreds of millions worshipping the lamb Then I looked there you go verse 11. I said he sees again Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was 10, 000 times 10, 000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice.

Now so John is looking throughout the universe and every creature in heaven and earth and in the sea and everywhere is worshipping the lamb. All of the created intelligences are giving praise to God here. Now look at this with me. They are praised, he is praised in this first section with seven things. Worthy is the lamb who is slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

Seven things. Unbroken happy fellowship by everyone around the throne. That's what heaven is. And then the final cycle verse 13 and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, such as are in the sea, and all that is in them I heard saying. Now, we're gonna go slowly here.

I hope you're in verse 13, look at it. Blessing, that means to speak well of, it's our word for eulogy and honor that means high respect and glory that's lofty radiant splendor and power Kratos it's his supreme unstoppable forces of legal might in his hands. Be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever. And then the four living creatures said, amen. And the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever.

Now, notice the term every creature. I think it means every creature, just like he says, in the sea and the land and heaven everywhere. And every creature will say, it's worth it, you are worth it, you are worthy. You know the Bible has so many amazing things in it about nature. This is why you should study nature and you mamas who are raising your kids help your kids see the beauties of nature.

But in Isaiah 55 12 all the trees clap their hands and in Psalm 96 the fields are exalting. In Isaiah 35 1 these beautiful flowers the crocus flowers are rejoicing and Isaiah 55 12 the mountains are singing. In Psalm 98-8, the rivers are clapping their hands. In 1 Chronicles 16-31, the heavens will be glad. In Psalm 148, the sun and the moon are praising the Lord.

In Psalm 9611 the earth is rejoicing and first Chronicles 1632 the seas roar with praise and in Psalm 98 8 the hills sing for joy. God is very connected to his kingdom, his nature that he's made. We haven't discovered all of what that means, for sure. Can you spend another day unmoved by this reality? Some of you have been asking, am I saved?

Can you spend another day unmoved by this reality of God and His throne and His lamb? Now he ends with amen. What does amen mean? Well, here's what amen doesn't mean. Amen doesn't mean we're done.

Now it's time to get on to the next thing. That's not what amen means. Amen means yes, Lord. You're right. I agree.

Yes, Lord. I affirm the truth. Yes, I believe it. Amen is like saying yes, yes, yes. And that's what all the creatures say.

They say, yes, Lord. Lord, you are worthy. You are worthy. So Has it been worth it? Did you take the right turn?

Would you turn? Do you think it would be worth it? Do you think he's worthy? Well, if you belong to the Lord, you will say, yes, Lord, it was worth it. Revelation 1-3, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it.

Would you pray with me? Lord, you've taken us through this banquet of beautiful terminology and scenes, remarkable, amazing, shocking scenes, Lord. And we thank you that you are the ruler of the kings of the earth, that you're the lamb that was slain, that you're the one. Amen.