Before the Throne Pt 2

Hello, everyone. Let's open with prayer, shall we? Dear Jesus, thank you so much for allowing us the privilege of gathering together tonight to learn about you and to worship you. It is so easy in this country that we live in to take this time for granted and to let other things come between us and you and to let the thoughts get into our heads and to not be able to focus on what's really important.

But that's not the way that it is for a lot of people in the world. And I pray that tonight we will just be able to let our minds go and to let all the thoughts of, you know, the week that we've had so far go. And that we'll just be able to focus on you and to worship you and to learn what Pastor Ryan has to teach us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. If you guys want to go ahead and stand with me. Every couple of months I lead

worship for the kids rotation. We decided to pull out some of the good old songs. So this is one that we pulled out. Just love the words to worship you the lesson for this evening. I pray that as we finish out the rest of this week, that Pastor Ryan teaches us tonight and the worship that we've had here. We'll keep our hearts and our minds focused on you and not to let us get distracted by things of this world, but instead to keep

our minds focused on you and not to let us get distracted by things of this world, but to let us keep our minds focused on you and not to let us get distracted by things of this world, but to keep our minds focused on you and not to let us get distracted by things of this world. I pray in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you would open up your Bibles to the book of Revelation Chapter five, Revelation Chapter five, Jesus in speaking to the disciples when they asked him about the signs of the times.

One of the things that he spoke about that would be coming with greater intensity was earthquakes and oh my goodness, did we see a powerful one this week? I don't know that in my lifetime, I've seen a natural disaster with the death toll that this one has brought with it. I'm sure that there have been, but to know that the death toll of this is over 12,000 is just, it's all inspiring to me and I can't help it. I find myself checking every day to see kind of what's going on with that situation, but it is just such a reminder to us that this is only the beginning. This is only the beginning of God's judgment that will come. These are the

beginnings of birth pains. And to know what the world is going to have to go through should cause us to have a deeper desire to make sure that we are making disciples. Our study in Revelation should not be to satisfy curiosity. Our study in Revelation should not be to biblically conjecture all the things that take place and try to solve all of the riddles that should do two things for us. Number one, paint the picture of Jesus, but number two, create in us an

urgency, an urgency to make sure that we share the gospel with the people that are around us, because brothers and sisters, the business that we saw take place over in Turkey on the border of Syria this week, it's only the beginning. And that's an awe-inspiring thought. It should cause a shock to hit you. In the very pit of your gut. And so it's not this morning or this afternoon. Those are different

times when I talk to people. This evening, we won't get into the judgment portion, but we will see Jesus high and lifted up, just like we sang about tonight. Because as we come to Revelation chapter five, we come to the second part of our series before the throne. When last we left John, he was in heaven. He had been, called up to heaven by a voice that sounded just like a loud trumpet. And that loud trumpet called

him up to heaven. And there was an open door and he went through the open door. And as he went through the open door, there was a throne. And he began to describe the throne for us. He began to describe the colors and the scene that he saw. And he described everything that he saw around the throne, the 24 elders, the four living creatures, and the awe-inspiring scene that's

given to us around the throne. But as we mentioned last week, I was much less concerned, with giving an exact identity to who those elders or those four living creatures were. And I was much more concerned because it seems like John was much more concerned with what they had to say. And what they were doing is they were praising God. They were praising him in particular because of his great work of creation.

Well, today, what we're going to take a look at, yes, the throne, but specifically the book that the one seated on the throne is holding in his right hand. And the only one that is worthy that book. And so as we come to Revelation chapter five, there's four things that we'll see. We'll see the scroll, we'll see the search, we'll see the savior, and we'll see the song.

I absolutely stole that outline from Charles Rybery, but it was so good that I could not use it. I tried to use every ounce of creativity that I could to come up with something better. And I was like, nope, that's as good as it gets right there. So we pick up in chapter five, verse one. It says, I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a book written inside and on the back

sealed up with seven seals. He describes this scene for us again, as it continues on. He just heard the elders and the four living creatures falling down at the feet of the throne, praising God. And the first thing that he really takes note of is the one that is seated on the throne is holding something in his right hand. And he's like, nope, that's as good as it gets right there.

Right hand. The thing that he's holding in his right hand in the new American standard is translated a book. It could also be translated a scroll and probably more properly translated a scroll because that's exactly what it is. It is a scroll that's rolled up. We're given a couple of pictures of what this scroll looks like. A couple of descriptions of the scroll. The first

thing that we see is that the scroll is written on both inside and on the back. That would have meant something to John. No, it doesn't to you and I, because I don't know about you, but I've never actually read a scroll personally. That doesn't mean very much to you and I, but to John, that was something that really stood out to him because usually scrolls didn't have writing on the back. There was something

very different, very interesting about this scroll. This scroll was in the right hand of him who sat on the throne and had this writing on both the inside and the back of the scroll. But the second thing that he took note of is that this scroll was sealed. You see, just like we would have to write on the back of the scroll, but the second thing that he took note of is that this scroll was sealed. You see, just like we would have to write on the back of the scroll, but the

second thing that he took note of is that this scroll was sealed. You see, just like we would have to have chapters of a book, a scroll would have different layers, and each layer would be wrapped, tied with a string, and then a wax seal would be put upon it. And so picture, if you will, a cylinder that has strings in seven different locations. In each of those locations where the string is, there's a seal holding that particular portion of the scroll closed. And so he says, this is what he

sees. Someone is holding this scroll, and it's sealed up. With seven seals. Now, you probably have the same question everybody else has. What's the scroll, right? Everybody wants to know, and I always love what everybody has to say about these things. There's about seven different opinions that are given. I'm just going to tell you my opinion on it, because I think it's the most simple opinion. Chuck Smith, his philosophy

always was, the most simple is usually probably the most accurate, because God is usually simple in the way that he presents things to us. I believe that what the scroll is, is a record of the judgment that is to come. And I think that for two reasons. Number one, because as each of the seven seals is opened, what's revealed to us? The judgment that is to come. But we're going to find out in just a moment

that only one person is fit to open this seal, and that's none other than Jesus Christ himself. And I'm reminded of the words of John chapter 5, verse 22, when Jesus says, all judgment has been committed to the Son. In other words, the Father has given all judgment over to the Son. Therefore, he's the only one that's going to be worthy to open this scroll. And so, as John looks, that's who's there. He sees the one sitting on the throne, and in his right

hand, he's holding a scroll. And this scroll must be very important, because notice what happens next, because next there is a search. In verse 2, it says, and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. It says, and then I began to weep, verse 4, greatly,

because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it. One of the elders said to me, stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, of the root of David, he has overcome, so as to open the book and its seven seals.

After John takes a look and sees this scroll, it simply says that there was a strong angel who was walking around. Again, I love commentators, because they're like, and of course we know this strong angel was. And again, there's about three different opinions on that. But you know what the Bible says this strong angel was? It says it right there, a strong angel.

We really don't know who it was, right? Because the Bible doesn't tell us that. So to say, and we all know that this is, well, no, we don't, because it just says a strong angel. The strong angel was proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? You can imagine, if you will, that this angel is walking all over the place

around the throne room of God going, who's going to open this? Who is able to open this? Undoubtedly, just so that John can hear it. But he's proclaiming this everywhere. He's asking this question, who's going to be able to open up this book? I want you to notice that the search was vast. It says there was, first of all, no one found in heaven. In other words, nobody else in

heaven besides this one is going to be found that's worthy to open the seals so that they could see what was in the scroll. Nobody was found on earth. There was no man. There's no angel. There's no man that is fit to open the scrolls. And nobody that's under the earth, right? You just picture the strong angel picking up the earth going, nope, not there either. No one was found

that was worthy. Now you can imagine John at this point in time, sort of waiting with bated breath, right? Going, no, no, okay, nope, no one's here. And according to him, no one's on the earth. He just lifted up the earth and no one's under there either. No one's able to open the scroll. No one's able to reveal to me what is said in this scroll. It feels like the whole reason I came up

here was to see what's in this scroll. And no one can open this up for me. And I want you to notice what happens. It says, and I began to weep greatly. Literally what that means is he kept on weeping audibly and profusely. Anne Fry always called this boohooing, right? Like that's the kind of, it was ugly crying by this point in time. Because that's what he's doing is he's just, he's wailing. And I asked myself the question, why?

Why is John so upset that no one is found to open up this scroll? And I wrote down a handful of reasons why I think that he was weeping over this. Number one, he'd come this far and he wanted to know. I mean, this was an intense vision he had up to this point in time, right? He just has seen some incredible things. And Jesus, it told him, write down the things which you have seen, the things which are, the things which

take place after these things. Well, that scroll seems to be really imperative, really important about the things that are going to take place after this thing. And yet he can't figure out what's in the scroll. So he can't write it down. And he's very upset about it. He's come this far and he wants to know. I think the second reason why is because he's asking, so does this mean

that the earth is just going to continue in its sin? That the world is just going to keep going the way that it is? And he's going to continue to continue to continue to continue to continue to right now. Can you imagine that? I'd start weeping right now if I thought that the world was just going to keep going the way that it is right now, because I watched the state of the onion address

last night, which by the way, I learned, I can say anything I want to and say, I can prove it whether I can or not. And I can claim it as truth. I learned that last night. I can say anything I want to and just call it truth. And everybody has to believe me. And so if I think that that's the way the world's always going to go, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to

go. I'd be weeping too. Number three, I think he's weeping because he's wondering, is God ever going to avenge the death of the saints? And then number four, I think he's weeping because he's asking, does that mean that the God of this world is always going to rule and reign? Because you know, the God of this world right now, it's not the God of creation. The God of this world is none

other than Satan himself. And so John finds himself absolutely broken down, weeping, because listen, no one was found worthy. Luckily, there was a very wise elder who came up to John and said, stop weeping. My revelation teacher in Bible college was a guy by the name of Dave Shirley. And Dave Shirley was from North Carolina and had a great little North Carolina accent. And he said, what he really meant

was, stop it. Right? He said, literally in the Greek, what he said is, stop it. Because that's how that's put. He says, stop weeping. But he doesn't just tell him to stop weeping. Once you notice the next thing he says, stop weeping. Why? Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals. He says, you can stop

weeping. Why? Because behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Is that not a powerful name? Right? Is that not just the most powerful name you've ever heard? The lion of the tribe of Judah? You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of the book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Because the lion Aslan and the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe is just

such a fantastic character, right? And that's such a fantastic movie, whether it's theologically accurate or not throughout the whole thing, who knows? But there's an amazing scene at the end of the movie. If you've never seen the movie, I apologize. I'm going to give away the ending for you. At the end of the movie, Aslan lays dying on this slab because the winter witch has killed him.

BT dubs, can we just point out the fact that C.S. Lewis referred to winter as evil? I'm just saying. Anyway, the winter witch had killed him, and there was Aslan as he lay dying. But pretty soon, you see a little bit of breath come into Aslan's lungs, and he begins to breathe, and he lives again. Aslan is on the move. Isn't that great? That's just such an intense line in that movie because it sort of just puts a chill

down your spine because you're like, that's right. The lion of the tribe of Judah is on the move because that's exactly who Jesus is. He is the lion, the king, the deity, the power. He says, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah. And then he calls him the root of David. I love that he calls him the root of David because who is the kingly line? The kingly line is David. And yet, though

Jesus is in the kingly line, he is the root. What does that mean? That means that he is the foundation and the substance of the very kingly line himself. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the author and the finisher of the kingly line of David. He says, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. And then you notice the next phrase he uses, has overcome, has won the victory. And because he's overcome, he is worthy to open

the seals. Now, before I move on to the next section, I think something begs to be said here. And that's that many times we find ourselves just like John. We find ourselves in a place where we're weeping because all we know is no one's worthy, including myself. Whatever circumstances happened in your life has caused you to be broken because all you know is everything's falling apart. Nothing seems to be working right. And you have found yourself just

like John, weeping. Profusely, maybe not out loud, maybe not where everybody can hear you, but on the inside, there is a brokenness just like there is in John right now. And it feels hopeless because that's what John felt as the one who sat on the throne was holding that scroll in his right hand. And it was found that no one was worthy to open it. John felt absolutely completely and totally

hopeless here. He was in heaven. There shouldn't be hopelessness. And yet he feels that way because no one has found this worthy. And all he knows to do is weep over it. And I love what the elder tells him because it's the exact same thing we need to tell ourselves. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Behold, Jesus. He's overcome. There's a great old hymn. It goes like this. Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim and the light of his glory and grace. Brothers and sisters, many of us need to stop and consider because that's what that word behold means. We need to stop and consider Jesus and put Jesus into our circumstance. Put Jesus into the thing that feels overwhelming. Put Jesus into the thing that feels

hopeless because I promise you he has overcome. And because he's overcome, he is worthy. And so we now look at the Savior. Notice what it says. And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders, a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he came and he took the

book out of the right hand of him. And he took the book out of the right hand of him. And he took the book out of the right hand of him. And he took the book out of the right hand of him. And he took the book out of the right hand of him. And he took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. He said, stop and consider behold. So what did he do? He did exactly that. And what does

John see? Well, he looks and standing there with something that perhaps he hadn't noticed before. Either because this lamp emerged from the midst of the throne in a way that he hadn't seen before or because he was there the whole time, but he just didn't see him. I tend to think it was the second one. He says, and I saw a lamb as if it had been slain. Now, that's pretty interesting because how did the elder just describe Jesus?

He called him the lion of the tribe of Judah. And yet the very antithesis of a lion is standing right there in front of him. It was a lamb. As a matter of fact, for emphasis sake, in the Greek, the word lamb actually means little lamb. It's one of only about three times that that phrase is, that word is used in the New Testament. This is one of them. Here's the lion of the tribe of Judah, but the lion of the tribe of Judah is also the little lamb.

And what does this little lamb look like? It looks like it's just been slain. Matter of fact, that's exactly what it says. I saw standing there, interestingly enough, because the phrase standing indicates that it's living. But this lamb that was standing there as if it had been slain. The idea is that it was a freshly slain lamb. Isn't that kind of interesting?

At the very end of time, at the very end of everything, how will we still see Jesus as the lamb who has been slain? That tells us something. That tells us that the death of Jesus Christ, though it took place historically 2,000 years ago, is as fresh today as it ever has been. The man. The man. The man. The man. The message of the cross of Jesus Christ is as fresh today as it was 2,000 years ago when it happened.

And Jesus, for eternity, will bear the marks of his work of redemption for us. He says, I saw a lamb as if it had been slain. But he goes on to describe this lamb. This lamb has some interesting marks to it, some interesting characteristics to it. He said, on top of the lamb's head, there were seven horns. Horns always speak of power. Therefore, these seven horns speak of the omnipotence of the lamb, the all-powerful nature of the lamb.

Isn't that great that Jesus is the all-powerful one? Now, that should strike a great deal of comfort in our hearts. It should strike comfort in our hearts because right now, the world feels out of control. But the only one who's worthy, the only one who's worthy to handle all of the things that are coming in the future, the one who judgment has been entrusted to, is the all-powerful one.

The all-powerful God, the omnipotent one, Jesus Christ himself. And then he says the second thing about it. He says he had seven eyes. Can we just take a moment and think about how odd this would be to see? Picture a lamb, put seven horns on its head, seven eyes all over its face, and the fact that it looks like it had just been slain, potentially fresh-looking blood that's on this lamb.

That's the thing nightmares are made of, right? And yet, this is Jesus. The seven eyes speak of the omniscience or the all-knowing ability of Jesus. Isn't that great that he knows everything? Isn't it great that he's the all-knowing God? But then it speaks of another thing. It says, and he had the seven spirits, which are the seven spirits, the seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that are sent out into all the earth.

The seven spirits of God speak of the fullness of the God. And I'm reminded of what we're told in Colossians, that in him, meaning in Jesus, dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Though he is the lamb that was slain, he is still 100% God. And notice these seven spirits are sent throughout all of the earth, which speaks of his omnipresence, that he is everywhere all the time.

And this vision that John just saw of the lion of the tribe of Judah. He saw the redemptive. He saw the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. He saw his omnipotence, his omniscience, the fullness of the Godhead bodily and the omnipresence of God. All in this little lamb. And isn't that just how Jesus is with us? He's more than our mind can comprehend and yet gentle enough for us to approach.

Gentle enough for us to come to because he is the approachable God. He goes on from there to say, And he came and he took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. So we've seen the scroll. We've seen the search. And we've seen the Savior. But what he spends the most of this chapter talking about is the song. Verse eight. When he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb.

Each one 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 book and to break its seals. For you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God. And they will reign upon the earth.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, living creatures and elders. And the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And every created thing, which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

And on the sea and all things in them. I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped him. Okay. First thing is that do the elders ever stand up? They must because they keep falling down. But these guys, these guys.

These guys have got to be worn out, right? Like they are just falling down constantly. But, but the lamb takes the scroll. It has the lamb takes the scroll and prepares to open the seals. Hasn't even opened the seals yet. Spontaneous praise breaks out. And you may have noticed that there's three different groups that praise. Number one, you see the living creatures in the elders.

It says in verse eight, when he taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. And when they fell down before the lamb, he mentions two objects that are in their hands. One is a harp. Of course, a harp is an instrument of worship. A harp should immediately take you back to King David, who was known for his heart playing,

but his heart playing was always to worship the father. So we know that these are instruments of worship. But the second thing that we see in the hands of these 24 elders are bowls of incense. And John is so good to declare to us exactly what these bowls of incense are. They are the prayers of the saints. Okay. David Hawking and his commentary says that this is the collection of the prayers of the saints over the years,

praying thy kingdom come. But from this, we learned something very interesting, something that we talked about all the way back in our study in Leviticus with the tabernacle. Do you remember what they were always burning in the tabernacle before the Lord? There was that altar of, you remember, altar of incense. Why was there an altar of incense? Because it was a picture of the continual prayers made unto God.

And now as we look at the tabernacle, the actual tabernacle in heaven, the throne room of God, what do we see that these elders are holding? They're holding the bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. This should tell us something about our prayer lives. Our prayer lives are very important. Why are our prayer lives very important? Because in God's eyes, they are bowls of sweet smelling incense.

I don't know if Glenn looked over. She got the call really late to do worship for tonight because there was some sickness going on with some people. I don't know if she looked over what we were doing, although I can't imagine that she had time to do that, having three kids at home and trying to get three songs together. But I thought for somebody who probably really didn't know where we were in Scripture, she chose three really perfect songs.

Three really perfect songs that exactly pictured where we are in the book of Revelation. Because I love that song. Take it to the Lord in prayer. It's such a simple phrase that sometimes we can run right past it and forget that that truly is the key to our lives. That truly is the secret, right? The secret to our walk with Jesus Christ, the secret to our strength,

the secret to our fellowship comes in our life of prayer. And man, is it sweet smelling incense unto the Lord. And then they begin to praise God. And I love this. It says, And they sang a new song. Now, the word new here is not new in that it had never been written before. It's new in that it is new in quality. In other words, there was a freshness to the song that they were singing at this point in time.

They didn't sing it in a stale old way. They sang it in a fresh new way. And what do they sing in a fresh new way? A song that basically can be summed up in three ways. Number one, a song that speaks of God. Number two, a song that speaks of being worthy. Have you noticed, and perhaps we should have been underlining these every time we saw it, but have you noticed how many times the word worthy is used just up to this point in time

in our discussion on the throne room? And really, there's only one who is worthy, and that's none other than God himself. Worthy is the one who sits on the throne and the lamb. It's a word that is used often in the praise in heaven. And so it makes me think it's a word. We should probably be considering ourselves for how we praise the Lord because he really is the only one who is worthy.

He's the only one that has the value that's worth being praised. And so they praise him for being worthy. But do you know what the main theme of the song is? That he redeemed man. He says, you were slain. You purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue. The theme of the song is redeemed. The theme of the song is redemption. Interesting because in chapter four, the theme of the song was creation.

And what happened to creation? Creation fell through sin. And so if God's shining work was creation, then God's great glory is redemption. Because redeeming mankind is God's greatest work. And so they sing about the redemption that Jesus has won for us. And because of that redemption, he is worthy. And then the third thing that it points out is that he did not just redeem us.

He now has made us a kingdom of priests. And they will reign upon the earth. Well, while the four living creatures in the elders are falling down with their harps and their bowls of incense singing this, there's more voices that are added. I want you to picture, if you will, a chorus where another part of the chorus, this keeps getting added. Perhaps it starts off with a quartet and then a little bit more people get added as it goes.

And then the third one, you'll see even more people. So imagine the swelling sound of voices. I don't know if you've ever seen a concert that kind of works like that. I've gone to a lot of choir concerts in my day. And I always appreciate songs like that where it starts off sort of quiet with an amazing song. And then other people get added to it. And by the time other people are added to it, it is this swelling song that takes up the entire room.

Picture that, if you will, with this song. It says, It was impossible to count. That's how many voices were around the throne. Now, this time, I want you to take note of the verb that's used. Because the verb that's used is, the verb singing is not used here. I want you to take note of that. What verb is used? The verb saying is used here. So this was not a song that they sang.

This was a song that they spoke. And this was the words that they spoke. And take note of how they spoke it with a loud voice. It says, There it is again. To receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. This time, as they sing, they once again sing of the fact that the Lamb is worthy. And why is he worthy? Because he was slain.

How was the Lamb pictured when John first saw him? As the Lamb standing there, that had been slain. Are you noticing a theme in this? That Jesus did everything he could to earn our redemption. Therefore, the judgment that comes, we have only ourselves to blame. It says, He's worthy as the Lamb that was slain. And what's he worthy of? He's worthy to receive power.

Power, all of my best ability. Riches, all of the best of my wealth. And wisdom and might, all of the best of me. And honor and glory and blessing. They just keep saying this. Picture it over and over and over again. Well, it started with the four creatures, the 24 elders. And then we added the myriads of angels that were in heaven. Only creation wasn't done yet.

And every, verse 13, And every created thing, which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them, I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. It's like all of creation heard the praises being sung in heaven, and they just couldn't hold back. And they joined in too. And I want you to notice the all-encompassing nature of what he says here.

Because he says, And if you don't understand what that means, it means every created thing which is in heaven. We've covered those already. Every created thing that is on the earth. Now, I want you to think about all of creation singing at this point in time, right? I want you to picture the cows and the pigs and the deers and all the... It says every created thing.

The trees were waving their hands, right? As a matter of fact, that's what it says in the book of Isaiah, that trees of the field will clap their hands. I think that's a literal thing that's going to take place. But not only that, it's not just the creatures that are under the earth, but also those that are under the sea, right? The little mermaids down there singing.

All of the fishies are going, Right? Like that's what's happening. All of creation and all of the things that are on the sea. I want you to picture all of creation singing. Singing the praises to God, only they're not singing it. What are they doing? They're saying it because some of us can't sing. And this is what they're saying. To him who sits on the throne and to the lamb,

be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And what'd the lamb do? He picked up a scroll. He picked up the scroll. And this prompted some of the most awe-inspiring, ear-piercing worship you've ever heard. Can you imagine the decibel levels they were hitting at this point in time? Right? It would be amazing.

And they're all doing one thing as they hit these decibels. They're all praising Jesus. Have you noticed the emphasis on praise and worship in chapters four and five? There is so much emphasis around the throne of God on praise and worship. And that should speak, some volumes to us as well. And that's that our hearts should be set on praising our God. I said something Sunday morning and I'm going to say it again.

When's the last time you just broke out into spontaneous praise? Where you just started praising Jesus at the top of your lungs. Now listen, I know when we gather here on a Sunday morning or on a Wednesday evening, people put their client voices on. Although we're getting better about that. We're getting better at using our, our outside voices when we're inside,

right? Uh, there's, there's a lot more of the Holy spirit sort of rolling through some people. And I really appreciate that. One of my favorite things to do that I, I deal with a cough all the time. It's just what I do. I deal with a dry throat. I think I've shared with that with you before. And so a lot of times Sunday mornings, I sit up here and I can't always sing ahead of time because I don't want to

start a coughing fit before I come up here. And so I can't always sing out loud very well. And so what I do is I, I sort of just sit there and I just kind of listen and I love being able to listen. Cause I don't even think the folks up on stage, you can hear it. My favorite thing is when y'all get really geeked up about a song, I can tell when it's one that y'all are real into because when you're into it,

all of a sudden I can't hear these guys as well because I hear you guys better. And that's a great thing. When I hear God's people praise, it is an awe inspiring feeling, but brothers and sisters, as it turns out, we're probably going to be spending a lot of time doing that. You may as well get the old vocal cords warmed up right now. And, breaking out into spontaneous praise doesn't always mean singing.

Sometimes you can say the praises of God. Just speak those things out. Praise God for who he is. Praise God for what he's done. I know that it's going to take me all of eternity to praise God for the redemption that he's brought into my life and the redemption that he continues to show me in my life because I'm so unworthy of what he's done. And yet he chose me anyway,

and you're pretty unworthy of what he's done. And yet he chose you anyway. So they spend all of this time praising. I want you to notice the very last thing that they say. They said all of these things belong to God. How long? For ever and ever. A lot of the folks around the throne respond. The four living creatures kept saying, Amen. Here we are again. And the elders fell down and they worshiped.

The four living creatures, those crazy faces with all the wings in the eyes. Wonder which face was saying it first. All just saying, Amen. The 24 elders just keep falling down before the Lord. Well, that's where we're going to wrap up for tonight. Next week, we'll start talking about the seals, which will get a little bit scary. So we'll end on a real high note tonight.

About praising God. Amen. Would you bow with me?

Lord, truly to you belong blessing and glory and power and honor and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. And Lord, we want to praise you for who you are. Father, it's a statement I make a lot, but I want it to be the cry of my heart. And I want it to be the cry of everyone's heart that's here. Lord, I thank you that you are worthy. Oh, Father, it is so easy. It's so easy to get in my own head and the circumstances of life and forget that you are the one who has overcome.

And so, Lord, as we have said, may this book of Revelation turn our eyes upon you. And Father, as we turn our eyes upon you, may the things of this world truly grow strangely dim. We thank you and we praise you for who you are. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.