Revelation is an answer to a problem. And it's difficult to appreciate the answer if you don't appreciate the problem. And so to appreciate the last book of the Bible, you need to appreciate the first book of the Bible. And you remember in the first book of the Bible, it starts out with God creating the heavens and the earth. And things are not bad, but they're not good yet. The earth is formless and void. You remember that phrase? It's translated in various ways. But then out of that sort of disorder, not necessarily bad order, but disorder, God creates order. And he brings order into the world by bringing life through vegetation, animals, then man to rule both. Right? Then, of course, Man sins, falls, and here's where we're introduced to the problem. The problem in the world is death. Not just death as an abstract concept or a future thing, but now that even while you're alive, you're under sort of the suffocating weight of death. Let me explain. You remember that God promised you will die, right? If you eat the fruit, you will die, and then they ate the fruit. They didn't die right away. Now, they spiritually died, but physical death was still a ways off, way ways off by today's standards, right? But you do push through further into the text, and you see the sort of boring parts where we're like, this guy lived this many years, and this guy lived this many years. Remember that when you signed up to read through the Bible in a year? It didn't get long before it got boring, because you're like, this many years and this many years. Why do I care how many? Notice, take a step back and notice how the length of time that they lived keep shrinking, right? So it went from like 1,000 years, where are we today, like 70? So what I mean is, you see in Genesis that death is suppressing the world so that it's hard to have life. It's hard to have longevity. They seem like random curses when God said, here's what the problem's gonna look like for the man, here's what the problem's gonna look like for the woman, but they're not random. As the woman gives birth to life, that's gonna be really, really difficult to do. Your labor pains will be much, right? As she is bringing life into the world, it's hard to bring life into this world. Some moms have even given up their lives right there in the hospital room to bring life. You see, death is suffocating the bringing of life. The man's role to go out there and handle the vegetation, the crops, it's going to be difficult. Now you've got thorns to deal with, right? It's difficult to produce life. And those of you who have tried to just keep a plant alive in your office, recognize death is just there ready to kill your plant and suffocate life in your garden. So with regard to the sustaining of life in the world, death is this overshadowing, suffocating presence. And then of course, there's all the actual death. that comes about through man's sin. The first egregious act of sin that we see is Cain toward his brother Abel, and it's murder. It's murder. And so it doesn't take long as you're reading Genesis to go, okay, this is explaining why we live in the world in which we live. Sometimes we're fascinated by it and it's interesting to me that as you scroll like through Netflix and you hit documentaries, maybe like a third of them are World War II, full of death. Maybe like another third or more is like serial killer documentaries. I'm like, why do I want to study this guy's life? It's like, oh yeah, I'm gonna go pop the popcorn and watch how this guy just brutally murdered all these women or all these people. And it's just documentary after documentary. Why? Because that's what people binge watch. It's almost fascinating for us to go, wow, look how dark somebody can get. So it doesn't take a lot of work for us to realize we live in a dark world where death suppresses life, death is doled out, and not just by murders. You remember when Jesus said when we hate someone in our hearts, we're murdering in our hearts. Why? Because one has to do with the other. Anger, impatience, hatred, bigotry, partiality, all stems from a sort of murderous heart. What is murder? The taking of life. So the suppression of life on the earth seeps even into our own hearts. And this is what we need rescue from. Now the book of Revelation has an answer to that. The book of Revelation is burgeoning with this answer that God is not just up there going, well, too bad. Right? We longingly look for an answer. What is the answer? More police? Defund the police? That politician? This politician? Better schools? Homeschool? What is the answer to this suppression of life that began in Genesis? As we enter this scene in Revelation chapter 4 and 5, John is having a vision. And in this vision, he's seeing a courtroom scene, and the verdict is about to be read, okay? A verdict is about to be read in this courtroom scene, and that verdict is how God is going to deal with the rampant wickedness in this world. And so we join him in the scene. And we join John in his excitement to see the verdict read. You remember back in chapter 4, we see this otherworldly vision of these 24 thrones surrounding the throne that God is seated on. You see the 24 elders, I think, representing the church throughout all of history, God's people. You've got all creatures represented there. They're proclaiming that God is holy, God is almighty. He's worthy of honor and power. He created all things. So there's the flashback to Genesis. When you flashback to Genesis, you're like, yeah, he created all things, but then we made a mess of it. What about the mess? What about the problem? What about death suppressing all life in the world? Well, chapter five opens up, and John is like, then I saw something about to happen, to answer that. Look, just the first few verses here. John says, 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 proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy, 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 look into it. Now do you see how we abuse Revelation where we're like, what is the scroll and what is the seals and the seven seals? Are we in the third seal or is the fourth seal next week? Hold on a second. Have you wept yet? John isn't interested in the scroll because he wants to know what's Russia up to. John's not like, oh, I'm watching Ukraine. I don't think that's why he's weeping for a specific answer. He's not looking for a Bible code. This isn't the Da Vinci code or whatever that thing was, right? Why is John weeping? Because God is worthy to be praised for creating all things, verse 11, but creation is messed up. And he needs a verdict. What is God going to do about this? Imagine the anticipation you felt as a little child where you got into it with your sibling and then you brought your issue with your sibling before your parents and you're waiting for the verdict. And what are you hoping for? Your brother gets in trouble and you get a prize. Your brother gets sent to his room and you get a pat on the head. Good job. or something similar, right? That's what you're hoping for. Magnify that times a million. This is the world scale problem that is unsolvable. And he's waiting for the verdict. What's the verdict? And they're like, we're about to announce the verdict, but there's a problem. It's sealed up. Okay, so if in ancient times I were to write something on a scroll, roll it up, give it to a messenger, and the messenger's gonna bring it to you, how do you know the messenger didn't write some extra things in there? How do you know the messenger didn't tear out a piece that I included in there? So I would put a dabble, dabble, whatever, a droplet, what do you call that? A dollop, I don't know, a bead of wax, whatever. I don't live in ancient times, I'm just trying to explain it. and the wax seals the thing closed and then my special ring or some tool that would show that that's mine and no one else has that and I would imprint that in the seal so that when you got it and the seal is untouched you know that what's inside the scroll is what I wrote. So you've got a scroll which announces what God is going to do about Messed up creation, what God is going to do to answer the problem that we saw rolled out in Genesis, and between Genesis and Revelation, all the messed up stuff, right? Everything we experience in this life. He wants to hear the verdict read. What is God going to do about this? And then the problem is, nobody has the authority to read this. Nobody has the authority to roll this out. Nobody has the authority to break that seal. And so he weeps. Why does he weep? It's not, aw shucks, I really wanted to see what was inside. He knows what's inside. That's why he's weeping. Do you weep over something and you have no idea what it was? A blank envelope and then it blows away in the wind and you start crying because you wanted to see what was inside the blank envelope? No. If it was an envelope that contained your year's bonus, you may not know the exact amount, but you know your bonus is in there. Then the wind blew it away, then maybe you cry. John knows what's in there. Even if he doesn't know the exact contents, he knows what this is about. This is a judgment scene. Parallel with this text, and you don't have to turn to it now, but you can look later, we've talked about it before, is Ezekiel 2 and Daniel chapter 7. Ezekiel 2 and Daniel chapter 7. Now Ezekiel Ezekiel's given a scroll. He's told to eat it. John's not told to eat it till chapter 10, but he's told to eat it. Why? He's going to ingest the message and then deliver it to the house of Israel. And what is that message he's delivering to the house of Israel? Judgment. In Daniel chapter 7, it's a courtroom scene. And in that courtroom scene, scrolls, and that scene, it's plural, scrolls are opened for what reason? To deliver judgment. So now he sees a very similar scene. He's a student of Old Testament scripture. He knows this is Ezekiel two playing into it. He knows this is Daniel seven playing into it, and he sees this very similar scene and we're about to open the scroll. God is about to do what? Roll out judgment to say what he's going to do about the wickedness in this world. And he wants to hear that verdict, but no one can open it. We need to join John in his weeping. You will not appreciate revelation unless you appreciate the gravity of evil in this world. And not just the gravity of evil in this world, but the fact that it is completely natural and right for you to want God to do something about it. Some of us, we grew up in church and we're like, love neighbor, love neighbor, and love neighbor. And we think that means God is up there just like, I'm just gonna let everything just go away. Right? He's not interested in justice. He's not interested in taking care of problems. He's not interested in evil. He knows there's serial killers and there's rapists, but whatever, you know, what are you supposed to do? Because he's just love. Have you ever considered that as a parent, you see marks on your child? and your instinct is indignation and anger, and you want to find out who produced those marks, and you want to do something about it, is that evil? Or is evil actually going, sorry, we just live in a messed up world. Love your abuser, whoever that might be. Go back to school. No, that's evil. That's evil. God is a good God and God doesn't ignore evil. And so John is waiting like he's going to do something about it. I know the character of God. He doesn't just let things go. He's going to do something about it. No one can open the scroll. That's the problem. So as we answer the problem with John, we may not be openly weeping, but everything in this life that you experience that makes you weep. Maybe your own trauma, your own abuse, your own experiences of evil, if that drives you to weep, you can join John in the weeping. Because really what you're weeping for is for God to do something about it. And the book of Revelation gets us amped up for this opening of the scroll. God's going to roll something out important here, and we can't get to it. We have no access to it. We have no right to it. We have no authority to open it. And so he weeps loudly. He weeps loudly because we need hope. And if that scroll doesn't open up, we don't get any. So as he begins to weep out loud in front of the angels and the elders. He's looking for someone with the authorization or the authority to give hope to mankind, to secure hope for this world. He's looking for someone with the authorization to build up faith in churches that are getting pressed, crushed, harassed, canceled, arrested, even killed. We've seen this is the theme of Revelation, churches that are getting pressed. He's looking for someone who has the authorization to exact true judgment on wickedness, true judgment on nations that rage against the Lord. He's looking for someone who has the authorization to defeat the father of lies, to answer that problem in the garden. Eve didn't just eat the fruit on her own, she was incited and provoked to it by the devil. What about that? What about him? He's looking for someone that has the authorization to break the chains of slavery to sin. and to change our master to somebody else, to rescue captives, to set captives free from slavery to sin. That's exactly what God told Cain, didn't he? Sin wants to master you, you have to master it. Guess what? Cain can't master it. He can't because Cain doesn't have a solution. John isn't just waiting for words. He is waiting for the word of God, the good news, the whole good news from front to back, which is centered on one name. And there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved. And you know that name, our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one. He's the answer. He's not a side thing in your life. He is it. And so he weeps loudly because there is no solution. And then we see quickly in the scene, there is a solution that God provides. Look at verse five, one of the elders, one of those 24 elders we saw in the previous chapter, the opening of the vision, the scene, 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. Now you may be disappointed, we're not today going to get into the opening of those seals or the opening of the scroll, that's next Sunday. It gets wild. But right now what we're seeing is the problem, no one has the authority to roll out God's judgment and deal with the wickedness of this world except the line of the tribe of Judah. the root of David. Those titles are chosen very carefully. If you go back to when Jacob was blessing his sons, he told Judah that he would be a lion, the scepter will never leave him, that is a symbol of ruling authority, or the root of David. David was a great king, a good king, messed up big time, but stayed with the Lord. And it's like that tree got chopped, right? Right after David, it just starts going downhill. What happened to the David tree? There's still a root sticking out. And that root grows and becomes something new and big, not just for the house of Israel, but for all peoples. Okay, so that's what's being channeled with these titles. Both of them speak to his kingship and his rule and his reign. Authority. Someone does have the authority to take over this world. Someone does have the authority to deal with this world, and that is the one who holds the scepter of Judah, that is the one who continues the line of David's kingdom. That's Jesus Christ himself. And he has conquered, verse five, he has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. So here you have one who has the authority and achieved that authority in a certain way. He had to conquer to have the authority to open up that scroll and roll out. And let's be clear, it's not just about reading the contents of the scroll, it's about executing the contents of the scroll. It's not just knowing what's inside the scroll, it's rolling it out, making sure it happens. It doesn't matter if somebody reads a verdict, guilty, you will spend this long in prison if no one has the authority to put that person in prison and make sure they carry out the sentence. It's not just the reading of the verdict, it's the execution of the verdict. One person has the authority to do that, and that is the one who is conquered in order that he is able to open the scroll by opening those seven seals. Now, we might wonder, well, how did he conquer so that he can get that? It's not what you expect. It's the reverse of what we would expect. He does it by dying, actually. Remember, the theme is death is suffocating everything, so what does he do? He takes death. The world deserves death. He doesn't deserve death. So he takes it undeservingly so that he can lift it off those who deserve it. That is the substitution. Jesus standing in front of the freight train so we don't get hit by it. It's what we call substitutionary atonement. That's channeled in the next verse when it says, and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb. So the angel tells him, hey look, there's a lion. There's a king. Oh yeah, where is he? And when he looks, he sees a lamb. a slain lamb, not slain anymore, but one that was slain. I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain. And, you know, it says as though it had been slain, just as slain is a perfectly fine translation. Okay. It's two words in the Greek as slain, as though makes it sound like it looks like he was slain, but it really wasn't. No, he was. And you understand, those of you who've been around church long enough, that the Lamb is channeling that Old Testament theme of the substitute, the Passover Lamb. Death passes over the house, and so you have life instead of death. Why? Because the Lamb took it for you, and you put that Lamb's blood close on the door. I'm not gonna preach Exodus to you, but for those of you who remember that scene, that's what it's channeling. Remember John the baptizer, when he sees Jesus come on the scene, what does he call him? Behold, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. So it's no confusion who the Lamb is and what it means that the Lamb had been slain. That is how Jesus conquers death, by taking death, even though He doesn't deserve it, so that He can get it off of those who do deserve it. That is the gospel message. That's why the Lamb is able to secure it for the world. Look at the description that is used to describe his power and his might, seven horns and with seven eyes. This is the issue with people who take revelation literally. Have you ever seen a lamb with seven horns? Are we supposed to look through an encyclopedia, Wikipedia, what is, lambs with horns, seven horns? Symbols. Don't have to even try to draw it. It's just communicating. This lamb looks hurt, it looks weak, It's the opposite of weak. This lamb is powerful. Horns represent power and weight and majesty. And seven, as we've talked about before, represents completion. Does he have kind of power? A little bit of power? Halfway power? Complete power. Complete power this lamb has. So seven horns, seven eyes. You can go back to Zechariah. We've talked about that as well, Zechariah four. Representing the spirit of God, both Paul and Peter. I don't know if you're aware, called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. So he is not detached from the Trinity. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Those seven eyes representing his everywhere presence, his reign that touches everywhere and sees everything. No one can escape his oversight. which are the seven spirits of God. We've talked about that, not literally seven different spirits, but you could translate a seven-fold spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God sent out into all the earth. There it is. Channeling Zechariah again. So here you have this lamb, not weak, but powerful, strong. He has the scepter of Judah. He is the king in the line of David. He conquered by dying, but through dying, he conquered. And so he's got the power. He's got the horns. He's got the fullness of the spirit of God working with him and in front of him. And then verse seven. Here he is, ready to do what only he can do. And he took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. Again, I just want to, just to help you all out, can a lamb grab a scroll? I don't know. Do they have digits? just pressing it way too hard. We press the text too hard and we're just like, oh, it has to be these exact details. It's not exact details. It's layering of symbols, not to give you an exact photograph of the scene, but to explain concepts that no one's able to take it, but he's able to take it. That's all you need right there. The lamb gets up and takes the scroll that no one else can take to open the scroll that no one else can open and to deliver the content that no one else can deliver. The only hope that this world has that God is going to deal with wickedness is in the hands of this Lamb, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And I tell you, outside of Jesus Christ, there is no hope for this world. There is no hope, there is no level of diplomacy, education, changing of infrastructure, changing of policies, politicians and politics. that'll ever get us out of the downward spiral of sin and the suffocating suppression of death outside of Jesus Christ. And so Jesus is able to take that and he takes it as the lamb who was slain. I took you back to Genesis. You remember that after God rolls out the consequences, it's gonna be difficult to produce life. from the ground, it's gonna be difficult to produce life from the womb, it's gonna be difficult to have life, period, and the first thing we see is someone snuffing out life, all of that. In the midst of all of that, God curses the serpent and says, you would strike the heel of the one seed who will come from her womb, who reverses the situation, right? He reverses the situation because he, even though he's struck by the serpent, He conquers the serpent and crushes the serpent's head. Here we go. Here it is. Genesis 3.15, being fulfilled. The world is thrust into the woes of these problems, and there's only one way out, the promise he gave to Eve. That through Eve, a woman who has a woman and just keeps going down the line, and then you get Jesus Christ himself, who through his death makes a way to take that scroll and has the right to roll out God's judgment on this earth and on this world. So as we look at this powerful imagery of how Jesus secured it and who Jesus is to be worthy of opening it, we understand that it can't just be about judgment. Track with me just for a second. Does God the Father himself have the right to just wipe out the world? to just go, you know what, all this sin and stuff, wickedness, not one person is innocent, I'll just wipe it out. Does he have the right to do it? Of course he has the right to do it. So what is the problem? Why do we need a slain lamb to take the scroll? Why is the father going, can anyone take the scroll and roll it out? If it's just pure judgment, this wouldn't be an issue. It's only an issue because within judgment, God also wants to redeem. This is why when you push through Revelation and other apocalyptic texts, we see our landing place is not heaven. Imagine that God goes, look, I created earth, I created paradise, beautiful vegetation, mountains, and streams, and lakes, and all this stuff, and it's so beautiful. Sin entered the picture, ruined it, so I'm just gonna create this floaty place where we all kinda float around in heaven, and we're kinda half-translucent, and we just sing songs and play harps on floating clouds for eternity. and that's better. Didn't Satan kind of win? Right, didn't Satan kind of win if God created this and what did God say when he created it? It was good. And then it got ruined and then God's like, well, I guess scrap it. No, not scrap it, change it, renew it, redeem it. Redeem it. So we'll have these bodies forever. We'll have these bodies forever. We'll have this earth forever, not as it is now, but a redeemed earth. God doesn't lose, he wins. And it will not just be good, it will be better because it's redeemed. And so it's a holistic view and it's more than just judgment. We don't need Jesus to conquer in order for God to just roll out plain judgment. We need Jesus to conquer in order for God to roll out judgment and redemption. That's the good news. Some of us give an incomplete gospel to people when we just tell them the get saved part. We don't tell them the condemnation part. But imagine the reversal where we only tell the condemnation part like Jonah did. We only say the condemnation part and there's no life part. The two go together. There's judgment and rescue from judgment. There's corruption and there's redemption. and both are in the scroll. That's why it takes Jesus to roll it out. It takes Jesus to roll it out for there to be any hope within that judgment. If God destroys the earth, is there an ark that you can get in and come out the other side alive? Yes. And that answer is Jesus Christ. He is the answer. The text doesn't now go into how he deals with specific politicians and how he deals with specific school districts and what he's going to do about the argument about the police and what he's going to do about gun control and what he's going to do about murderers. It's just, I've got it. I've solved it. The answer is in Jesus Christ. Point people to Jesus Christ. Hope in Jesus Christ. If you're going to endure as a church through all the difficulties in this world, you hope and trust in Jesus Christ. Follow Jesus Christ. You obey Jesus Christ. You allow Jesus Christ to change your life. That's the answer. And we're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But what does 666 mean? Did you see? We miss it. Jesus Christ is the answer because he is the one who's conquered death, and through Christ we can have life. And those who do not turn to Christ for life will receive death. And John's excited about that too. Have you ever read some of the Psalms and you're like, this is kind of a nasty Psalm, and you skip to the next one? Because one Psalm was like, God, you're beautiful. The next Psalm was like, they're wicked people, God, kill them. And you're like, ugh. Next. And you're like, that must have been Old Testament. I hate to break it to you, we're only in chapter six. We're gonna get to some passages in Revelation that invite you to rejoice that God punishes evil because otherwise he'd be the principal that sees the bullying and does nothing about it because the principal's afraid of the parents. The principal's afraid of getting canceled because everyone's supposed to get a trophy. God is not scared of getting canceled. He sees evil, he sees the need for justice, and he does expect justice. Good God. And so as we see the scene, we'll do this quickly, the second half of chapter five, we see the result. What should be our response to this if this is true? And it is, what should be our response? Worship. Worship, the Christian response to this provision of God in Jesus Christ, the good news of God's plan of judgment and redemption is total worship. I'm just gonna read it straight through from 8 through 14 and just make a few brief comments. And when he, the lamb, had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 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 ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God they shall reign and they shall reign on the earth then I looked and And I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. 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. That's true. And the elders fell down and worshiped. Just a few things to point out quickly in this response to God's truth. It's not just that we don't have to weep. It's not just taking us from weeping to not weeping. Sort of a middle place where we're like, eh, not bad, but you know, not great. From weeping to worship. Worship, total worship. Some of us may not have been ready for this this morning. We come in, and it's habit, and that's good. It's better to come to church out of habit than to just go, ah, it's too habitual, and skip church. Come out of habit, please, right? But it takes text like this for us to realize what is it that we're doing when we're singing? What are we doing here? Look at this scene. They worship by prostrating themselves, and so there's a physical posture to it. I don't wanna go too far into this, our physical posture expresses what we're thinking. So when you meet somebody new, you can communicate with your posture that you really don't wanna talk to that person, or you can communicate that you wanna talk. This communicates a barrier, this is a little more open, right? We may not get a degree in physical, nonverbal language, but we understand that your physical posture has something to do with worship. Now, I'm not vying for everybody in here to sway their hands and fall on the floor when we're worshiping. But I think your face communicates things. I don't see y'all, I'm up here in the front, so I'm not judging anybody in particular, if the shoe fits. But if you just worship like, does it really have your heart? Do you really see the weight of the problem and then the solution that God has provided in Jesus Christ? Or is it still like religion to you? They worship by falling down two times until they fall on the floor. They prostrate themselves in this physical posture. They worship through instruments. All of us don't know how to play instruments. Do you know how to play an instrument? Use it. And use it for what? Use your instrument for what? To give God the glory and the honor that he deserves. That's why instruments are made. That's what music is for. Music isn't the world's, music is God's. It's created by Him and for Him. And so if you've got an instrument, you've got the ability to play an instrument, learn it, practice it, get good enough to be up here, good enough so that you're not distracting us by it, talk to Ben, join the team, but use it. Use it for worship. And don't practice really, really hard for the things you want to perform out there and then give church your leftovers. This is the scene. And when God is the overt audience and God's people singing, that should be your best. Not necessarily your best solos, because that can easily enter into a sphere where I'm the attention now. Right? It's like, hey, we're not here for you, man. Right? But we work together to bring our attention on the one who is worthy of us falling flat on our faces. They worship through prayers. They're in this heavenly scene, so they're not their own prayers, but they're carrying the prayers of the saints on earth. So that's a part of worship. They worship through singing. Every single kind of creature is singing in this scene. The four living creatures, the 24 elders in verse eight, the many angels, myriads upon myriads, thousands upon thousands, they're joining in song, verse 11. Every single creature, verse 13. It says they sang a new song. Not new because it's newly published, but new because of this longing expectation of someone to roll out the good news on this earth, and finally it's been revealed. New in that sense. It's gospel-centered songs, not us-centered songs. We're celebrating the one who is worthy by accomplishing this specific task, what Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary and through his resurrection, to judge and to redeem. That is the core and the center of our worship, not our feelings. This is why so many worship songs have been axed. and avoided at this church for so long, even if it's popular on the radio. You hear a lot of songs like, oh, me, me, my feelings, me, me, my feelings, oh, what a great hook. I don't care about the hook. I have said this many times. As soon as we brought Ben on, I said, hey, if you ever want me to approve a song, send me the text, not the music. I don't care if it, oh, it rips. I don't care about that. Okay, I care about that. Because sometimes a song can just be boring or melodically inferior. But that's not first. What's first is what does it say? So I want to read the plain text without music swells, without a crescendo building and getting me into it, and then I miss the fact that that's kind of a weak line. I want to see what is it saying first, and then can we put good music behind it? Because the content is supposed to be centered on God's glory through judgment and redemption. Real quickly, the content of what they're singing was communicated through imagery. Jesus is the only one who's worthy to open the scroll, so he's communicating this announcement, this good news, this judgment and hope, so those should be prominent themes in our singing and our worship and our praying. Don't leave that one out. And the reason why is because of his substitutionary death, he died to ransom people, they say. That's the payment piece. from every place, verse nine. Doesn't matter where you're from, who you are. He united people from everywhere into one kingdom of priests and rulers on this earth. And what is he worthy to receive? Verse 12, power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, blessing. And he's to receive these, verse 13, forever and ever. Forever and ever he will be worthy. This will never be reversed. We'll never have a Genesis 3 event again. We'll never have a flood event again. It's forever. The four living creatures join and say, this is true, amen, and they fall and they worship. I think when we think about this truth, and here's the core. We worship Jesus with intensity because only Jesus is worthy to announce judgment and redemption to a desperate world. We worship Jesus with fervor and clarity. And that clarity is understanding he is the only one who's worthy to roll out that content of God's judgment and redemption to a world that's desperate for it. And when we do that, we realize we change in how we sing. We don't only worship through singing, but we do worship through songs, especially when we're together at the church. And I wonder if sometimes some of us get more charged up by people's posture at the national anthem in a football game than our posture here in church. I'm not saying don't care about someone's posture when the national anthem's playing. I'm not saying be unconcerned with whether that's disrespect or not, but what I'm saying is here's the United States anthem and the flag. Way up here is this thing right here, right? Worshipping the lamb. Let's get charged up about that. What's our posture? What's our language? What's our energy? And for those of you on the worship team, you're leading us in that. You're leading us in that. So if you're up here and you look like you're checked out, That's not helpful. And we do that too, because we see each other. And so we want to not put on a fake, not put on a fake energy, like, hey, hey, hey, ah, you know, like, ah, like, that's just corny, don't do that. But it does take a discipline, right, to go, okay, why am I here? Are we just gonna bang through these songs, or are we gonna emphasize why we're here? Or maybe at the anthem it's appropriate to stand and put your hand on your heart. You'll have to figure out what that looks like here, but it might be that when the words are weighty, and when the words are talking about the weight and the difficulty of the world, maybe that, if you're smiling during that part, maybe you're not attuned to what we're singing. Conversely, the part that swells, and this is God's answer, this is God's joy, this is awesome, and we still have the depressed look on the face, maybe we're not attuned yet. And we're gonna hit and miss, But this is what we strive for, not a performance, not a performance, but allowing our hearts to align with the truths that we're singing. Finally, we don't only worship through singing, we worship by how we live our lives. This book transforms your life. It looks like prayerfulness, it looks like consistency and fellowship. You remember the author of Hebrews tells us the reason why we shouldn't give up meeting together is because here is where we encourage one another to keep going, to keep striving, It looks like endurance to the end. It looks like having the right perspective on trials. You are either right now coming out of a difficult trial, in the middle of a difficult trial, or about to step into one. Will you endure? True worshipers endure. Why? Because the core of your life and the center of your hope is not how Monday looks. Someone else is in charge of all these things. And as we press through Revelation, we see all the scary horses and punishments and beasts and dragons. We're not scared by it. We know God has got a plan, and he's not up there taking a big nap. He's not celestially checked out. But he rolls out perfect judgment in perfect timing, but in the midst of all of it, hope, so that we can escape that judgment. Let's pray.