Revelation 5:5
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Good evening, church. This evening, our study will be focused on the book of Revelation, chapter 5, verse 5. Please turn your Bibles to that text as we study tonight, and let me read it to you right now. Revelation 5, 5. And 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 it's seven seals. John is found here in this verse, weeping in a situation I would describe as hopeless until the elder speaks. If we read chapter five, verses one through four, we can see why John is weeping and feeling hopeless. So I'm going to read those verses to you as well. 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 to open the scroll and break its seals. And no one in heaven or on earth or under 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. John was weeping and feeling hopeless due to the tragic state of affairs that he was witnessing. If nothing in God's creation could open the scroll, what would happen to mankind? Have you ever been put in a situation where you felt complete hopelessness, where anxiety and fear grabs you like a vice? I have been put into that situation several times and usually it was brought on by my own doing. I used to love to hunt big game
in North America. I have hunted and been an outdoorsman for 40 years. And at the peak of my game, my two brothers and a good friend decided to do a big hunt in Alaska in the Arctic Circle. Our goal was wolf, moose, and caribou. We felt that we were very seasoned in our skills, So we decided to do this trip on our own, meaning no guides. We flew up to Fort Yukon, hopped on a tundra plane to the Brooks Mountain Range, and then we were dropped off at the base of a glacier at the headwaters of the Coleen River.
We were ready. We had two rafts, camping equipment, guns, fishing tackle, and enough food for five days of a 10-day hunt. That means that we did have to catch some food if we wanted to eat. The pilot gave us GPS coordinates, and he told us to meet him on that spot in 10 days. We had about a 100-mile float trip. We had a GPS, and additionally, we knew when we were in the right pickup spot because there would be a red flag hanging in the tree.
I asked him if we would really see grizzly bears like the outfitter said we would. His response was, oh, you will see plenty of them close up. he flew off and there we were the four of us all alone in the arctic circle stranded for 10 days the anxiety started a little fear set in and a bit of hopelessness came along with that you might be surprised but i actually don't like living in a grizzly bear's home i don't have time to go into the details of this hunt but the hunt was successful we packed about a thousand pounds of meat on our rafts in bear country which is a really smart thing to do and we quickly noticed on our second day when we woke up that there were bear tracks all around our camp and very close to our tent just a few feet away for 10 days no one ever got
out of the tent in the evening to use the bathroom we slept with our pistols under our pillows and our rifles by our sides all pointing in the direction of the front door of the tent being smart if you can call us smart we decided on day two to sleep at different angles with our guns pointed in all different directions because we i don't think a bear would be polite enough to unzip the door and walk in anyway the trip continued and every morning we had grizzly bear tracks around the tent, but we never actually saw a bear. My anxiety levels up along with the fear factor, and if we did encounter a bear, it could just turn into a story of weeping. Just to give you a bit more color to the story, we were never unarmed. Our pistols and rifles were always within reach, and you did the buddy system when you went to the bathroom. Finally, it did happen. I was sitting in the front of the raft, and my friend was oaring in the back.
My two brothers were in their own raft in front of us. We came around a bend in the river, which was about 50 feet wide, and there was a nine-foot grizzly bear on all fours, on the bank, waiting for us, looking right at us. He then stood. My two cowardly brothers hit the oars full speed and left the scene, and my friend got us stuck on a rock. It was the bear and me, 30 feet apart. My good friend was behind me. I was petrified.
If you could smell fear, you would have smelled me a mile away. I was screaming at the bear and my oarsman, who was taking a video safely from the back of the boat. I can't tell you the words that I was screaming, but I sounded like a sailor and not a Christian. We finally got unlodged and started down the stream. We came around another corner, and there he was again walking down the bank at the same pace as our boat, just looking us over.
He stood up again and looked right at us. I pulled out my pistol. I fired two warning shots, and the bear just stood there. Hopelessness had set in. Finally, the wind changed direction, and he caught percent. He turned and ran off in the woods, more scared of us than us and him. That was it. We felt he was gone. The fear was not over. The anxiety was not over. But we were out of the woods, so to speak. We shot down the river for about three miles to get out of the bear's territory, set up camp, and that was that.
We never saw another bear on that truck, but we saw lots of footprints every morning. On day 10, we were at the GPS coordinates that were given to us. We heard the plane engine in the distance. Our savior, the pilot, showed up in that Tundra plane and took us to safety. While we had fun on that trip, we were never so glad to see him in his plane. We were saved. My anxiety, fears, and the feelings of hopelessness were gone at that moment.
So let me read this text again, Revelation 5, 5. And 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. My two points to our lesson are, number one, Christ is victorious. And number two, because Christ is victorious, we do not have to weep.
Let's jump into point one. Christ is victorious. Hang on just a second. 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. So we are in a scene with God sitting on his throne with a scroll in his right hand. Quite possibly the scroll at least contains God's plan of salvation, his redemptive work through Christ.
We then see an angel proclaiming in a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals. We find no one is able. This stresses the point that mankind is helpless to do anything without Christ. we are doomed and we have no hope. There is no solution in sight, but an elder proclaims, weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so he can open the scroll and its seven seals.
As we know, the lion of the tribe of Judah and the root of David is Jesus Christ. Christ alone has fulfilled all prophecy. He has conquered. He has triumphed. In this verse, he has claimed to be the king, the Messiah, and the ruler of Israel promised to David. In Revelation 22, 16, it states, this is Jesus speaking. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.
I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. By his victory, we have victory in him. Because of him, we have eternal salvation if we just simply put our faith and trust in him. Christ conquered and is victorious because of his death and resurrection. If we read on in verse 9, the living creatures and the 24 elders 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, and they shall reign on earth. And then later on in verse 12, the elders, creatures, and thousands upon thousands of angels spoke in 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.
Psalms 98, one through three states, oh, sing to the Lord a new song for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation. He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Let me read two stanzas from the song In Christ Alone because I think it wraps up nicely and poetically the plan of our salvation. In Christ alone who took on flesh, fullness of God and helpless babe, this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save till on that cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin on him was laid here in the death of Christ I live here in the ground his body lay light of the world that darkness slain then bursting forth in glorious day up from the grave he rose again and he stands in victory since cursed has lost its grip on me for I am his and he is mine bought with the precious blood of Christ. Brothers and sisters, Jesus is victorious.
He is able to read and open the scroll. He is our king and Lord, the righteous one who has conquered sin and death. Please, if you have not done so, I ask that you put your faith and trust in him as your king and savior. If you have questions about that or about this, please reach out. We would love to discuss this gospel, this good news with you. In our own lives, we have many scrolls that are not opened. Situations where it seems no answer can be found.
No justice will come, no healing is possible, marriages are broken, and money is a major issue. These things can be overwhelming, discouraging, and bring us to a point of fear, anxiety, hopelessness, and even weeping, which brings me to my second point. that second point is because christ is victorious we do not have to weep let me start off by saying what i don't mean by this point i am not saying because christ is victorious you will have a prosperous happy wonderful life with all your dreams coming true that's heresy we understand by scripture and jesus's own life example that we will have trials and hardships like everybody else we are sinful and we live in a world full of sin that affects everything in our lives
why do you think i made a partial list above of all the things in our lives that bring us anxiety fear and hopelessness let me also say we should weep there are seasons in our lives where weeping is called for and needed so that we can heal but we weep as christians with the hope of christ in our lives. In all of our life experiences, triumphs, and defeats, I want you to remember that these are all temporary. I hate to say this, but everything in your life will come to an end.
Life itself, work, your marriage, it all comes to an end. And we will all have trials to the end of this life, no one is special. Unhappiness, paralyzing fear, anxiety and weeping affect all of us, so put yourself under Christ's grace, which is our eternal future. I was just reading the other day about people between the age of 20 and 60, and that the average time per day thinking about money is four hours per day that is a full-time part-time job I understand that we all need money and I can safely tell the people in this age group which is about 90 percent of the people in this room almost every one of you are struggling with finances it is not just you you are starting off in life getting married trying to buy a house furniture and have children
what would you expect this is the stage of life that you are in run your finances well be careful on what you spend your money on be on a budget be wise and i would recommend tithing but don't make money a focal point of your day don't let it bring you into despair remember all you have comes from christ so be thankful and not resentful of his gifts i also want you to know i'm retired and i still worry about my finances all the time so i'm preaching to myself tonight okay when i was in seventh grade my parents moved from hikes point to jaytown i had to go to a new school meet new friends and connect in my new neighborhood i went from knowing everyone at school to being the new kid in class with no friends there or in my neighborhood. I was very lonely. Loneliness is a hard, empty feeling, and I have to say I hated the hoe or gel. I dreaded
school and my anxiety grew from loneliness to a point where I found myself going into my basement and simply uncontrollably crying every day. I would work myself into a frenzy. This went on for several weeks. I had no solutions. I could not sort it out, and I thought I had nowhere to turn. I finally turned to my mother for counsel. I can't actually remember what she told me, but in her kind motherly way and with lots of wisdom, we sorted it out. I was fine, and life went on. You know, we all have lonely times in our lives. Our friends move away or get divorced. We move away.
The people we love most in our lives pass away. Loneliness creeps into our lives. Can I urge those of you where loneliness grows to a level of anxiety or hopelessness that you don't keep it to yourself. You have friends who love you in this congregation that have great ears and we have been blessed to have a counseling group at 3rd that works so well. Reach out. Seek counsel. That is scriptural.
I believe high pressure work environments can cause all types of anxiety, stress, and health issues as well. It's just plain old meanness when you get home from work. I would encourage you when you step into your house that you leave work at the door if you were like I was when I walked in the house on occasion it was a mess toys were everywhere my wife looked frazzled one of the kids would be standing in the corner for punishment someone else had been fighting with a sibling oh and yep there was homework that had to be done that night you all know what I'm talking about if you experience insists you are not unique when you walk in i would suggest when you walk in look around put a smile on your face and lift your eyes and praise in what god has given you everything in that home is a precious gift from god and you need to remember that and praise him for that
all these things that happen in our lives can actually bring us to a paralyzing fear where we just don't act or move on any decisions. If you find yourself in that situation, I urge you to take counsel. Seek out members of our church and listen to what they have to say. Wise people seek counsel all the time because it can save you from lots of heartaches. Proverbs 15, 22 states, plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed i've only touched the surface of things that can constantly of a few things that constantly take us off track we will have anxiety fear and even situations of hopelessness but remember our king is victorious our faith is in him we have victory because of him Therefore, we don't have to weep like unbelievers because we really do know our eternal future that has been secured by Christ the King.
The night is dark, but I am not forsaken, for by my side, the Savior, he will stay. I labor on in my weakness and rejoicing, for in my need, his power is displayed. To this I hold, my shepherd will defend me. Through the deepest valley, he will lead. On that night, oh, that night has been won, and I shall overcome, yet not I, but Christ in me. Today is a good day to have a good day.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection allows those who have been saved to stand victorious and righteous before you. we thank you for him as our victorious king the king of kings and the lord of lords the root and descendant of david the one who has always been and will be it's in christ's name that i pray amen