Is He Worthy?

It's good to, good to be back. I can't believe it's that time of year again. we always look forward to coming and visiting. I'm here with my wife and two out of three of our kids.

Our oldest just turned 18 a couple of weeks ago. Can you believe it? I think the first time we came here was in '07 and he was a baby. So it's like, where has time gone?

he's doing sound at our church today and couldn't get out of the schedule, which is great. I, it's, I respect that, that we miss him. But my mom is here in his place, so that's wonderful to have her here, this morning and. I do bring greetings from my fellow pastors and all the members at the Reformed Baptist Church in Riverside, just just down the road, a little bit further than we used to be when we were right almost across the street from each other, but nevertheless, we're thankful for your congregation, for your pastors, your elders, and your faithfulness to God's word and seeking to to live for the glory of God.

I tell you I was so blessed singing worship this morning. I thought let's just keep singing. and in some ways we're gonna keep singing. You can turn to Revelation chapter 5, which is one of the most glorious sections in all of scripture.

I know it's all God's word, it all has value. It's all been inspired by the Holy Spirit, but there's certain passages just resonate and in Revelation 4 and 5, we're given this moment, this, this insight, this vision of heaven. I was reading a while ago, you may know the name Sinclair Ferguson, a great, pastor from Scotland and an expositor and a writer, and he said that he tries to every Lord's Day, open up to Revelation 4 and 5 and read it to remind himself of what is happening right now.

Like we, one of the hymns we were singing was talking about, I think it was just the last one we're singing, turn our eyes to Jesus, turn, turn it away from this world and.

the world, we can get really discouraged. We look at the headlines, we see the things happening in our culture, the changes, the darkness at times that are coming in and We can get overwhelmed with it, and what we need to do, like Sinclair Ferguson was saying is turn our eyes to heaven, turn our eyes and see what is happening right now. God is on his throne, Christ is being worshiped, the Holy Spirit is moving, and worship is happening, and that has never ceased to exist with our triune God.

all of eternity past, all of eternity present, all of eternity future, the worship of God and His triune.

nature, it will never cease, and that is a glorious thing. It's glorious because we get to be a part of it. And like I said, we are going to, even as we're preaching, get to continue singing the worship of Christ and see why he is so worthy of it. Last year when I was here, we looked at Revelation chapter one.

I've been teaching through Revelation at our church, and it's just, it is so resonated with my heart the last couple of years. Because you, when this book was originally written, when it says that the very first words, the revelation of Jesus Christ is, is given to John. It's given, particularly at the beginning to 7 specific churches, those churches, the churches of Asia as we will call them, the Churches of Revelation, and all of these churches were dealing with very real struggles and triumphs, just like us.

They were trudging for.

They were, dealing with blatant idolatry like the church in Ephesus where Artemus Diana is being worshiped in this massive temple with all these temple prostitutes. The entire commerce of the city revolves around idolatry worship, and there's a church of Jesus Christ in the midst of that. And of course, Christ warns them, you, you, you're doing everything right, but you forgot your first love. and then he moves on to all these different churches, some of them like, Smyrna and Philadelphia facing persecution, immediate persecution.

We know at this time, the emperors began to ramp up persecution against Christianity, and so there were great struggles even there. All around, there were Hardship that these churches were facing. 2 of them received encouragement from Christ. 4 of them received both encouragement and rebukes, lest you change this, like, unless you come back to your first love, and unless you get that Jezebel spirit out of your church, I'm going to send judgment.

One of them, Laodicea, that's the church you don't wanna be a, they had only rebuke, and yet I was just looking at it just this morning. Jesus says, to those whom I love, I reprove. And it's a great reminder that even in Laodicea, there was still perhaps a handful that were faithful and that Christ is like, change, repent, turn your eyes back to Jesus, Turn your eyes back to me. All of these churches ended with these great words.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And I pray that this morning, as we turn and read God's word, would we have ears that our Holy Spirit opened to hear what the Lord Jesus has to say to us here at Cornerstone. It's very important, as I said, cause we live in a world where there is a lot of fear, there is a lot of trouble all around, and yet Jesus, just as he spoke to that church in the first century, he's speaking to us today. And I find it amazing that at the end of all of these addresses to these seven churches, we get this moment where God turns our eyes back heavenwards.

Revelation 4 and 5 give us a very big view of God. It's a vision that is supposed to fill us with awe and wonder once again. They needed to be reminded of who God was. They needed to remember that he was in control, that he was worthy of their worship.

And that goes for us today. The better view of who God is, a, a greater reminder of how sovereign he is, about how glorious he is. Well, it will help lessen the attraction of the world around us. It will help weaken the pull of the flesh in our own bodies.

It will comfort our anxious hearts when we see those headlines that we go, what's going on in this world? And I know that it will fill us with more joy and peace, the more we see God in all of his glory. So this morning, we're gonna work through chapter 5. I'm gonna break it up into 3 sections.

I think you already have those in your notes there. The 1st 4 verses, we see that there is a global problem, a worldwide problem. verses 5 through 7, we see that there is a worthy solution to this problem. And then finally, verses 8 through 14, the last part of chapter 5, we'll see a new song of worship being sung unto Christ.

And so let's read verses 1 through 4 together. Revelation chapter 5. This is flowing out of chapter 4. If I had time, I would have just preached 4 and 5, but it's just too much goodness there.

So we're just gonna chew a little bit on this part of the steak. But flowing out of this beautiful picture of of of of heaven and all these glorious things, 24 elders and and angels and lightning and. God Himself, the angel singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, and worthy are you, oh Lord and God. John writes that in chapter 51, 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.

And I saw a mighty angel proclaimed with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. That's the word of God there, the 1st 4 verses of chapter 5.

Let's just go to the Lord one more time and ask him for help. Heavenly Fathers, we've just read a portion of your word to us today. We pray that through the power of your Holy Spirit, you would give us those ears to hear you and eyes to see Jesus, Lord. We know within and of ourselves we are not worthy.

And so we need the worthy one to come and to mediate on our behalf, and the Holy Spirit to present Christ to us. And so would you do that for your glory sake, Lord? Bless the preaching and the reading of your word today for your glory sake, in Jesus' name, Amen. So we begin with a mighty question here.

There is a global problem that has been revealed to us. Who is worthy to open this scroll that is sealed and is in the hand of God? Who's worthy to do this? In some ways, it's a little difficult to discern exactly what the scroll is.

You meet, you read really good men, great scholars, and there's different debates on what is a scroll. We do know that one translation might say a book, but we know back ancient literature, it more than likely very similar to a scroll that's been rolled up, and there's writing on the outside and there's writing on the backside. And, like those wax seals that a king would put their ring into heart, and it's broken, or sorry, it's not broken, it's sealed shut until somebody who has the authority to open it up and read it.

And there's, there's actually 7 seals on this scroll.

We do know that it represents this right hand. It's God's authority. we know that with the writing on the inside and outside, more than likely it's talking about, something that is complete and full. Some scholars would say that perhaps this represents all of human history.

Others would say, oh, it's definitely, between the, first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ, the redemptive history in that in that time period. We know back at chapter 4, John was told, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. So this is after he's talked to the seven churches and, and the, and then he goes into this doors open for him to go and to see into heaven. If the Old Testament looks forward to Christ, the New Testament reveals Christ in many ways, revelation shines a light forward.

What is Christ doing? He is building his kingdom. So it seems that this scroll, this book reflects God's plan of redemption, his decree for his kingdom to expand, and also we know judgment as well. If you sneak a little bit ahead in chapter 10.

The lamb is worshiped as worthy because his blood has ransomed people from all over the world. We're gonna get to this in a moment. And it made them a kingdom and a priesthood. So it's what some would call the already and the not yet, or in chapter one in Revelation, it says, what is now and what is to come.

Christ's kingdom is here now. Cornerstone, you're a part of his kingdom, a physical representation of a local body of the kingdom of God. And every faithful church of Christ around the world is part of that kingdom. But we also know Christ's kingdom is coming in full glory, and the end of Revelation, when you look forward to it, you see it, it's spectacular.

I can't wait for it to come, come quickly, Lord Jesus, John says, and, and we say amen. In some ways though, this scroll is representative of that, and a mighty angel asks, with a very loud voice, who is worthy? Who is able to bring about God's decree, who's able to bring about redemption? Who is able to expand the kingdom of God?

And there's literally silence. There's no answer. In some ways, what we're seeing here is what some would call a a theatrical, heavenly production, or as John MacArthur, he, he referred to it as an oratorio, kinda like Handel's Messiah, where John is not literally seeing God cause he would die if he saw God, but this vision is being presented to him in such a spectacular way that as he writes it, we are to be filled with wonder. It's filled with imagery, it's a apocalyptic imagery.

And this presentation, this holy production. Something disturbing happens. No one on heaven, no one on earth, no one is able to take this scroll and open it. There's a worldwide search and not one candidate is put forward.

Just a moment ago in chapter 4. Heaven was worshiping God because he had created all things. That's what they were worshiping them in that chapter. Worthy of you, oh Lord, and God, for You created all things.

But here, we now head into a lament, a moment of lament, and John says he was weeping because no one was worthy to take the scroll to bring about God's redemption and and recreation of mankind. And the big question is, who is worthy? There's that great song that Andrew Peterson did. Is he worthy?

Right now, we could say, is he worthy? And notice, it's not who is strong enough to do this, who is smart enough to do this? Who is mighty enough? Who is wise enough?

Who is most educated, the most powerful enough? The question is about character. Who is worthy? because there was no army that could go and take this from God.

There was no amount of wealth that a man could possess to say I will buy my way into this role. No, no one of creation, no one from humanity is able to. There's just silence. And it's a stunning reminder.

Of humanity's need for a savior. No religious or philosophical system can bring peace between man and God. No amount of good works or self-righteousness could fulfill God's plan and rid us of sin. And so John's response.

It's weeping, it's, it's lamenting. It is what we would call the human condition. When we have looked too much at the news and we have things happening in our lives and our families are falling apart and we, we see, homelessness and drug addicts, and we're like, what is going on? Is there any solution?

Is there, is there any way that this can be fixed? John is just overwhelmed with sadness. As the King James put it. I wept much.

He's caught up in this moment. Like I said, it's a presentation. Of what human, the human experience, and we, we ourselves can feel this lament, can we not? Like Andrew Peterson's song, Do you feel the world is broken?

We can all reply right now, we do. Do you feel the shadows deepened? We do. Do you look around and see blatant sin being celebrated everywhere?

We do. Do you see protests and riots in the streets and cities? Do you hear of the wars and rumors of wars everywhere? We do.

And on top of that, do you feel that pull in your own flesh? You love Jesus, he saved you, and yet you still feel that pull, the sin. We do, we see darkness all around us and we see it still within us. And so we can be honest, can't we?

Like John, even though he knows God is on his throne, even though he knows Christ is savior, he's overwhelmed. It makes us move to tears, can it not? How do we live without fear and sadness in a world full of fear and sadness? That's what by there's a global problem, and we can all say amen.

Oh, praise God. This is why we are Christians, so. There is a solution. In fact, it is a worthy solution, and I can't wait to read it.

Let's read it, verse 5, verses 5 through 7. So here's John, he is weeping. And then one of the elders said to me, Weep no more. 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.

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 7 horns and with 7 eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into the earth. And he went and he took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. Wow. What does John see?

I love first and foremost that we have a great example of one of these elders in heaven. John's weeping, he's lamenting, he sees that there's nobody amongst humanity who's worthy to do this. And what does the elder do? Just what we sang a moment ago.

Turn your eyes to Jesus. Turn away and look to Jesus. And what does he see? He actually sees two metaphorical images of Christ.

First, a lion. And secondly, a lamb. So first, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. Yes, kids who are here listening, I'm talking about a lion.

What do we call the lion? The king of the jungle, right? And here's this lion of the tribe of Judah. This goes way back into Genesis.

Genesis chapter 49, where Jacob pronounces a blessing on the tribe of Judah. Calling them, they will be a lion that will come from them. He calls them Shiloh, it's this early promise of a Messiah. And I love that Jesus is compared to a lion.

Oh my goodness, you ever watch those National Geographic shows? Those lions, we know why they're called the king of the beast, the king of the jungle. Those big sharp teeth and those big claws, and especially the male lions with the big manes and. Nobody can roar like a lion in the jungle.

You hear them all over. And at this time when this would have written, there would have been lions in the Middle East. I've looked it up. There were lions, there's still lions in India, there's lions in Africa.

There were lions in the Middle East. So, like when David was fighting lions, he was fighting lions. Not just little, mountain lions like we have, I'm kidding, I don't ever want to be a mountain lion. We got a little kitten and a man, he's tearing me up right now.

I can't imagine what a a lion with his claws are. Make no mistake, this comparison of Christ to a lion is to be, he is mighty. He's the king of the beast comparison, you get it? And Jacob says that out of this line of Judah, a line would come, and he says he's the root of David.

We know King David is from the, the line of Judah, the line of Judah and the and the line of Judah comes from him. Isaiah 11 prophesized that the Messiah would come from a shoot of the stump of Jesse. Jesse is David's dad. As revelation does often, it takes Old Testament references and it freshens them up and makes it new.

This Jesus is from the root of David, not the root of Jesse, though it would be from the same line. And nevertheless, this mighty lion of Judah, this descendant of King David. What has he done? Well, the elder says he has conquered like we would expect a lion to do.

He has prevailed like we would expect a lion to do. There's all these weird things on the internet and memes like, one lion versus 100 midgets or, one lion versus, 1000 men. there's no comparison. This lion.

The lion of Judah, of King David, he has conquered, he has prevailed, he has triumphed. And he is seated on the throne of David. Chapter one says that this lion of Judah is the ruler of the kings of the earth. That's one thing that a lot of kings of this earth don't like to hear.

Chapter 19 says that this lion is going to come back, and he will conquer Satan. And how does he do this? Well, he's wearing a white robe and tattooed on his side, not little, I don't know if it's little or not, but it says King of kings and Lord of Lords, lest you forget. Christ has defeated and conquered sin and death, our greatest enemy, greater than if we met that mountain lion out of Southern California, highway.

That or that if that lion got us on the hiking path, we know we'd be with Christ. But our greatest enemy is sin and death. And one day Christ is coming to vanquish all evil. This is once again that already and not yet.

It has happened. Those of us who are in Christ today, he is our mighty one who conquered our greatest enemy. And yet we still have this flesh that remains that we're we're yearning like Paul, we're yearning like like John groaning, oh, come quickly, I cannot wait to be rid of this remaining sin. But I love what we see next.

we all love a great image of a lion. They're fascinating. But almost as if you're watching some high-tech TV show, this lion morphs into a lamb. That's like the exact opposite.

Lambs are sheep, baby sheep, and sheep are often compared in the Bible to stupid animals that go astray and, and walk away, but this lamb is different. This lamb is very different. Because as John said, he appears as if he had been slain. How did the lion of Judah conquer?

How did he triumph? Did this lion go into Caesar's palace in Rome and say, it's my throne rightfully, and I demand it and I'm taking it. That didn't happen. Did this mighty lion of Judah.

Set up his kingdom in Jerusalem and call to himself a mighty army, and march from one kingdom to the next conquering all of the world. He could have. Jesus himself said, If my people were to fight for me, they would, but my kingdom is not of this world. No, Jesus conquered sin and death.

The mighty lion of Judah. Lay down like a lamb. He was slaughtered like that Passover lamb in Exodus 12. Blood gushing out.

He's the one that Isaiah proclaimed, and Isaiah 53, that was led like a lamb to slaughter, and a sheep before shears was silent, didn't open his mouth. Isaiah would prophetically proclaim how the mighty lion laid himself down like a lamb. Surely he took our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. This is how Jesus conquered, by making himself the perfect sacrifice. Jesus is no doubt the lion of Judah, but he is still very much the lamb who was slain, Majestic, meek, God, human, and he was building his kingdom there in the first century in a way that confounded the world. The so-called whys of the day.

The word of the cross was absolute foolishness to both the Greek and the Jew. Remember Paul said this to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter one. to the Jew, it was shameful to even hint at divinity on the cross. God and sin do not mix, that, that's ridiculous.

And to the Greek it was shameful, it was ridiculous. Because the world only knows power, right? The world only respects a man who can build an army and, and take over a territory. The world only respects men who build wealth and can control people.

So to the Greek, to the Roman, to say the king of all the universe died and, and, and came down and became a or he came down and became a man and died, that's foolish. Mighty God wouldn't do that. That's why Paul says there in First Corinthians, where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?

Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made the foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. See, brothers, sisters, those first century churches.

Needed to be reminded of this truth of who Jesus was. They saw the power of Rome all around them. Soldiers marching through the street, keeping order, the Pax Romana, and in many ways Rome did bring order. As long as you submit it to them.

They felt the pressure of syncretism of, of blending the false religion with now this new religion and, and they saw the temptation to drift into blatant immorality. They felt those struggles. But Jesus, the, the lion and the lamb, the worthy one was building his kingdom. One convert at a time.

Gathering them into local bodies, brothers and sisters, rescued from the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of light. Of Christ Jesus. They had seen his infinite value. That he was worthy of worship.

You see, brothers and sisters, Jesus is the one who was able to deal with the global problem. And he is the one who was and is worthy to fulfill God's plan. To build his kingdom. And this is awesome.

Because of this, all of heaven breaks out in worship. In fact, let's read verses 8 through 14. And when he had taken the scroll, the 4 living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood, you ransom people for God.

From every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders of the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads, some translators say 10,000s upon 10,000, and saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive glory and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing, 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.

And the four living creatures said, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped.

It's marvelous, it's marvelous. A deep lament. And then we discover a worthy solution. And now we're moved to worship.

It's a new song. The chapter before is worshiping God as Creator. This chapter is worshiping Christ as the re-creator, the redeemer, the savior. How did he do this?

It says right there, he redeemed his people with his blood. Something is similar said about Jesus back in chapter 1, verses 5 and 6. It says to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom. Priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. Christ's blood atones for our sins. It's, it frees us from the power of sin and it brings us into the kingdom of God. Now, I think you would admit with me, if that was all we got to do, that that's all the benefits that were given to us, we'd be like, thank you Lord for all of eternity.

But Revelation 1 and 5, as well as other passages in scripture tell us that we are actually made part of his priesthood. Peter calls it a royal priesthood. Chosen people, a, a holy nation for Christ's possession. Think about that, we are his priests.

The imagery is there in the Old Testament of going into the holy of holies and could God strike down this high priest today because of his anger for Israel's sin and and and all that the worship that was led in the temple and All of that now has changed, and Christ people are now the ones leading in the worship of God. This is mind blowing. This is why Paul says to those Corinthians are falling into sin. Like, do you guys not realize you, you are now the temple of God.

He abides in you, and now you're going and being with prostitutes and committing these sins. It doesn't make any sense. You're in a temple, keep it clean. You're a priest.

Enjoy the worship of God. That's what you were made to do. What a blessing. What a beautiful truth.

And we are given insight into how large, how expansive this priesthood is. In verse 9. We read about people worshiping God, and is it just the Jews? Is it only those in Europe they get to worship God?

No, we have this wonderful four words here, these wonderful four words, every tribe, language, people, and nation. This is a further fleshing out of the great commission. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. We don't have to debate about it much, right?

We don't have to say, oh no, it's only Canada, China, and Chad that gets to be part of this. What about places like Kenya? I've had the, the blessing of being over there and preaching and ministering in Kenya. They're a nation that's made up of a lot of different tribes.

And it was so fascinating as I got to know brothers over there, they have the national language, which is English. But then there's a local regional language, mostly Eastern Africans speak Swahili, which is a, a hybrid language of like Portuguese and Arabic and a couple of other languages mixed together. And they all speak that. But then each tribe has their own language, or as they would call it their heart language, the language that they grew up speaking at home first.

And so they at least speak three languages, most Kenyans. When Jesus addresses this, is he saying, well, as long as the gospel has gone to Nairobi, Kenya, that's all I care about. No? What is Jesus' criteria here?

Every tribe, every people, every nation, every language. This is to go out beyond further than We realized. The calls to go over the hills, across the seas to every island, every mountain top with the good news. How blessed are the feet of those who bring good news.

Revelation 5 and a little bit later in Revelation 7, we're given really, really encouraging news. Different people group, different ethnicities, different, languages, different skin colors and traditions and foods. From empanadas to sticky rice balls. It doesn't matter what you eat.

Christ can save you. And this means, it almost feels silly to say it this day and age, but this means In the kingdom of God, there is no racism. In the kingdom of God, there is no partiality. In the kingdom of God, there's not this division of like your people can worship God over there and your people can worship God over there.

No, we are united as one people in Christ Jesus. And this unity is beautiful, it is precious. As I look across here, I can see it a little bit already, as I look at our church, it's the same thing. I, I had a man, he's from Central America, he's a member of our church now, mostly Spanish speaking, some English, and as he was going through the membership process, he said, I so love worshiping at our church, and I said, oh, that's wonderful to hear.

He goes, it's like a glimpse into Revelation 5 and 7. And I was like, what? I, I, I, I, cause I, I'll be honest, our church used to be probably well 60% white or so, but I hadn't noticed over the years of how by God's grace mixed we are, and that's not because of some intentional program, that's because we live in Southern California and God is saving people. People from every tribe, nation, tongue, and, and, and, and group of people, we get to almost get to taste it more than other parts of the world.

This man was from, I thought about where he's from in Central America. He only knew his type of people. And so here he is going, wow, this is unbelievable. I love it.

It is such an encouraging message to us. The church universal is broad, it is international, it is diverse and it is united in Christ, and it's not diverse for some liberal woke agenda. It is diverse because Christ has come to liberate humans from sin. And they're called out of fallen kingdoms and they're placed into the eternal kingdom.

And the purpose, brothers and sisters, the purpose. Is that as Christians, we are the facilitators of the worship of God. John Piper put it like this in his book, Let the Nations Be Glad, a wonderful missionary book. Young people pick it up and read it.

I hope it, you read it and you end up being a missionary. He says this, the goal of missions is to bring the nations into the white hot enjoyment of God's glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples and the greatness of God. Let the peoples praise you, oh God, that all the peoples praise you, let the nation be glad and sing for joy.

He, he also says in that book. That missions exist because worship does not. And one day, God will call all of his people together. One day, I don't know how it will work out, I don't know when it will be, but there'll be one elect child gets called in to the kingdom, and it will all end.

And evil will be vanquished, and worship will be as if we've never experienced it before. Missions will end. No more need for those pioneering missions to risk their lives for the kingdom of God. It'll be done and worship will be for all of eternity.

And as Piper puts it, a white hot enjoyment of God's glory. Oh, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Revelation 7 also says, and this should give us some encouragement. As sometimes it seems like the world is dark.

We read a recent Pew poll just came out last week that for the first time in American history, 51% of people say religion is not an important part of their daily lives. That's, that's a massive change that we're seeing. But Revelation 7 says that this diverse group of worshippers is from a multitude that was too large to count. That is glorious.

That should give us hope. The next song that we see being sung in verse 11. So we have a, a, a massive group of people that we can't count worshiping God, human beings rescued from their sins. Verse 11 says that the angels break out into singing.

And as my translation says, the ESV it's myriads upon myriads. Some say 10,000 upon 10,000. That's a massive number. Massive.

I have preached this message a couple of times at our church and another couple of churches, and I always do a multiplication. Times 10,000 by 10,000 on your calculator. what that is? That's 100 million.

That is a number I can't comprehend. There's still a few young people here. Start counting real quick and let's see how long it takes us to get to 100 million, OK? 1234.

All right, Milton, in 3 years I'll come back and we'll wrap that up. The 3.17 years is how long it will take to count to 100 million. That's a long time, right? You'll be in high school by that time probably.

By the way, stop counting. I forgot to do that at our church and a kid came up to me afterwards and said, I got to 1000. I was like, that's exciting, but you stopped listening. The point is that the worship of Christ is massive, and it has exploded into heaven, and they all were singing 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.

That's a lot of words. That all describe a lot of different things. They're very similar to a sung before the God in chapter 4. Make no mistake on that, particularly if you're visiting and you're struggling, like, is Christ really divine?

God does not share his glory with anyone. And these angels are saying that Christ himself deserves the same amount of power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory that God deserves. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, can claim everything because he has made everything. Jesus, the son of man, who faithfully kept the law and was slain on the cross, and who rose again and is seated at his father's right hand son.

Deserves worship. Jesus, the exalted one, deserves everything, power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing. This is to help us see his supreme value, his supreme worthiness, and that it is being boldly proclaimed in all of heaven. It spills out then further into the universe.

Verse 13, 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. The worship of Christ is universal. Because Christ Himself is divine. And surely the churches that Jesus was addressing originally in this letter, must have been moved by this vision.

All the trials and the persecutions that some of them faced were great. Jesus said, I know some of your people have died and some are going to die. The persecution, or the trials and the temptations that they faced all around them were serious. The powers of Rome and the false religions that were all around them were at times so heavy to face.

Oh, but the one who sits on the throne and the lamb are in control. They are being worshiped right now. Their plan is being It will never be undone. It'll never be ceased.

Christ is worthy and able. He has the authority to undo these seals that will come. Is Jesus worthy? Is he able to break these seals?

Has he conquered the grave? Did he rise again? Is he worthy of all blessing and honor and glory? We could collectively say he is.

And that really is the setup for the rest of the book of Revelation. We all will have different ideas of what do these images mean, what do these things mean, what are the different time periods, how does it all play out? But I wanna give you the 35,000. Foot high view.

If you're on an airplane and flying over the book of Revelation, here's what's to come. Christ is reigning. Christ will conquer Satan. Jesus is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.

He is building his kingdom and the gates of hell will not prevail. Oh, hell is gonna put it up. All the images of the beast, and the prostitute and the false prophet, the, the world that we live in now and, and the world to come are raging against this king. They want nothing to do with this king.

Chapter 6 says that when Christ comes in judgment, they just say, oh, well, the rocks just fall on us so we don't see his face. How horrible. This beautiful one, this worthy one. Just one that we can appreciate.

All of us, a year ago, 5 years ago, 20 years ago, before we knew Christ, we were in that same camp. I don't wanna see his face. I don't wanna have anything to do with him. You did it subtly or you did it blatantly.

The Bible says we all did it. And yet, in his graciousness, here we are 2000 years after this letter has been written. Christ's kingdom is still advancing. We're a part of it.

How is that possible? How can it be? Revelation shows us that Christ's kingdom is greater than Satan's kingdom. And so brothers and sisters, we are to be filled with awe, once again, just like those seven churches needed to be filled with awe.

Some of them to rebuke for thinking less of Christ, for falling away from their first love. Some of them who are facing imminent persecution, trials to be tempted into sin. They needed to see, once again, God in His glorious throne room, on in his, yeah, on his throne, Christ reigning as worthy, that his kingdom is advancing. And I pray that today we just caught a glimpse, it's just a glimpse.

It's just a little appetizer I could present from God's word. I'll tell you this, and I know a lot of you here would agree with me. What I have tasted so far, I say, Lord, give me more. If that means I have to go to jail for you, give me more of Jesus.

Lord, if that means that I have to suffer through cancer or the loss of a loved one, give me more of Jesus through those trials. Lord, if that means that all the world around me crumbles, the nation splits up into seven different sub nations, China takes over, whatever our deepest fears of the political realm we live in, I say, give me Jesus. I wanna live for Jesus. How was Paul singing songs of worship in jail?

It's because of Jesus. How did Peter press on? Because of Jesus? How did John, as an old man, exiled to Patmos away from his precious church in Ephesus, carry on because of Jesus?

And there's another appetizer for us at the end of Revelation. We cling to him because he clings to us. He sees us through these times, he gives us peace and joy in the hardest of times. But we are promised that one day, Revelation 21, he will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Death will be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain or any more, for the former things have passed away. We look forward to that day. If you are not in Christ Jesus today.

I beg you. With all that I could do, I beg you, don't go to hell. I'm not able to give you those ears to hear. But the spirit is, and I pray today that you would cry out, Lord.

Help me believe. Help me to have faith in Christ. Give me faith in Christ. Cause he is so worthy.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. It is such a needed word that we all need to hear today. We feel the.

Struggle in our own flesh, we see the world dark as it is. Oh Lord, help us to pop our heads above the smog of sin and see the glorious light of your throne room. You have never been nudged one inch of your throne. Christ has never been thwarted one step off of his path of redeeming and rescuing sinners from all over this world.

We pray that today, Lord, there be one here who is still lost in their sins, who does not know the joy of worshiping Christ and having their sins forgiven and having the hope of heaven would today be the day of salvation. Would today be the day that they sing a new song, Worthy is the Lamb who died for my sins and whose blood atoned for me. Lord, help us in these things, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.