Revelation 5:9
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Good evening, church. This evening, our study is focused, as Brandon said, on Revelation chapter 5 and verses 9. Please turn your Bibles to chapter 5, verse 9, as I read. And they sang a new song, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open the seals. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. What a glorious verse. My prayer tonight is that the Lord helps us see its richness and power.
Last month, my devotion was on Revelation 5.5. So let me read that again to give context to our verse tonight. 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. Here we learn the one able to take and open the scroll is Jesus Christ himself. If we continue to backpedal in chapter 5, we find ourselves in the most unbelievable scene.
We are seeing the throne room of God, where the heavens are his seat and the earth is his footstool. Let me read. 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, this is John, 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 this tragic state of affairs that he was witnessing. If nothing in God's creation could open the scroll, what would happen to mankind? An elder then states, there is one that can open the scroll and its seven seals. Between the throne, the four living creatures and elders, there was a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes standing as though he had been slain.
This picture shows the Father, Son, and quite possibly the Holy Spirit all in the magnificent throne room. The lamb went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb while each of them were holding a harp, a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang a new song, our verse tonight, that says, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open the seals. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. What a scene. John moves from weeping and despair to worship and wonder. That's what the gospel always does. It turns our tears of hopelessness into songs of praise.
So in these verses we are witnesses to the throne room of God with the triune God present and we are not only seeing but hearing both voice and instrument from heaven. The proclamation that Christ is worthy to take the scroll. why because in their proclamation that was sung in praise and with harps stated because he was slain and by his blood you ransomed people for god from every tribe and language and people and nation i want to make a point here that this claims the lamb was slain but this verse also shows he has risen the lamb after being slain is standing right there in the presence of the throne room. While John described what he saw happening, I'm quite certain as a man trying to describe what he saw, John fell well short of the glory of God in this scene. I had the pleasure of
attending the dedication concert of the rebuilt magnificent pipe organ in the chapel on the campus of the Southern Baptist Seminary a few weeks ago. It was odd that before this concert it happened, I was given a verse, verse 9, to preach from. I told Mike Carnicella I probably need a new verse because I just did a devotional on parts of chapter 5 a month ago. So keep that as a guide. Anyway, a master organist was there to play this organ to a full house. I also know Dr. Moeller wanted to hear this grand instrument played to its maximum volume in an effort to shake the house down. But the organist was rightly concerned that he would round out the voice of the saints in the hymns that we sang. Well, the master played it to the max. As the organ filled the chapel, the voices of the people rose to match it. A glimpse, I thought, of the heavenly scene
in Revelation 5, the sound of creation and the song of the redeemed blending in praise to the lamb. It reminded me, God gives us glimpses of his glory even now in this fallen world. If you've not guessed by now, I texted Mike the next day and said, this verse will work. Let's keep it. So Christ is worthy to take and open the scroll because of his crucifixion and because he has risen as our triumphal king by this act he purchased his elect from every ethnic background and language for those that believe in him and place their faith in him jesus takes our sins away john 129 says behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world because we have been ransomed by the blood of christ our lives now belong to him so how do we
live in this fallen world we live as people whose treasures are not here but in heaven so my two points to this lesson are because we are saved how should we live in this fallen world And because we are saved, how should we worship in this fallen world? So point one, because we are saved, how should we live in this fallen world? We read this morning in Timothy, 2 Timothy 8, a starting point.
If I may summarize, we should pray, lift holy hands without anger, do not quarrel, be respectable, have modesty, be self-controlled, and profess godliness. I have a photo I want you guys to take a look at. You can see it. By looking at this photo, the only thing that you can tell is that it's an old photo of two young people. If I show this same photo to my sons, more than likely they would say the same thing. To add a little color to this picture, this is a picture, a family photo of my grandparents, Josephine and Price Jordan, when they were married in 1935. My grandmother was born in 1916 and raised in Louisville. My grandfather was born in 1915 and raised in Panther, Kentucky. He moved to Louisville on his own when he
was 18. They eloped, and my great-grandparents did not know they were married for over a week until the justice of the peace filled my great-grandfather in. My grandparents raised five children, and from that starting point, they had 12 grandchildren and a lot of great-grandchildren. My grandfather worked at tube turns in the factory, and he was also a farmer. I loved him very much. I was always with him at the farm. I rode the tractor with him, walked the farm with him, shot guns with him, and ate peaches under the peach tree in the summertime.
And I listened to his stories. He was a great storyteller. He had the smell of a farm and the smell of chewing tobacco. And I can still remember that smell today. My grandmother was very busy raising kids and grandkids, and she was a great country cook. She was a generous soul to everyone she knew, and especially to her grandkids.
She always had hidden money, and we knew right where she hid the money. She could peel out bills at a moment's notice when we asked. While she was a great cook, she was not much of a housekeeper. At the farm in the summer, we all went barefoot for most of the day, but I have to tell you, when I went back into the house, I would always put my shoes on. Keeping house was not on her main priority list. They belonged to a small country Baptist church, and when the grandkids came to stay on the farm for the weekend, six little boys, my cousins, and my aunt, our age, would climb to the back of that Galaxy 500 with Maumau and Pawpaw in the front. Off we went to church. We would sing children's hymns led by my grandmother while my grandfather drove fast over the country hills so our stomachs would drop. I could go on and on because at this point in my life, I was probably about 10 years
old. But I will stop here. I think you get the point of my grandparents. They lived a full life and we lived it with them. They loved the church and they loved the Lord. Their faith and trust was in their Savior and their treasure was and is in heaven. Their treasure being the ones they witnessed to in their lives. The ones they are seeing now and the ones that will come after them. well they eventually grew old and as we all do they have passed on to glory i still think about them all the time but as time has passed their memory has faded and now at this point their great grandchildren know little about them and it is certain my grandchildren will not even know their names all we do blows away like dust except for one thing sorry
and that's our eternal salvation in Christ and the treasures that we store in heaven in times our names and stories will fade one day someone will look at a photo of you or me and know only that these were my great grandparents but our eternal story the one written by the lamb who was slain will never fade that is why we store our treasures in heaven let me start by saying as people there are so many things in our lives and in this world that are valued and treasured and they should be we love our families our wives husbands parents grandparents children brothers and sisters these should be our most important treasures here on earth, and you know our friends and church family fit right in with that.
We should pour ourselves into these relationships, mentor them, show a great example of work ethic, provide a loving home, and share the gospel with them. As humans, we have many titles that come along with our families, mother, father, brother, sister, grandparent, fulfill your duties well. Parents and grandparents, your duties should never end until the end. While we might be retired, we have not been called into retirement in our Christian duties. In fact, I have tried in vain to find the word retirement in the Bible, and I just can't find it.
Christians, Matthew 5, 14 through 16 states, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Brothers and sisters, shine your light of Christ so the people you come in touch with want what you have.
But let me give a warning. As you know, when you rub shoulders with the unbelieving, there is a temptation to fall into their ways. So try to walk in holiness as you work in this world. Romans 12, 2 says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Something else that is worthy of our full attention is work. People who work diligently show the world we are simply doing what God made man to do.
Work is not the result of the fall of man. It is part of God's wonderful design when He created man. Thank the Lord that God did not call everyone into the mission field or to being a pastor. While they are very important, he also made people to cook, to be engineers, to be farmers, builders, doctors, and all the rest. In our work as Christians, we are showing the glory of God to others. Work hard, be honest, and full of integrity.
Colossians 3.23 says, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not men. When you work, you please God when it is done in a worthy manner. Just remember, whatever assignment the Lord gives you here on earth, don't forget who the Lord is. That job was sent by the Creator to you, so it is very important to Him. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber.
Faithful Christians are working Christians. Otherwise, you're like a bad vending machine. You're out of order. There are so many things that I could talk about tonight on how we should live in a fallen world. But I want to touch on one last thing before going to our second point. cling to the church. In this fallen world, Christians need each other, and that is not by having a Christian friend you see on occasion. It's about belonging to a local church, a congregation that are full of true followers of Jesus Christ. We need to sing together. We need to worship together, pray together, and comfort one another. This is our refuge in a world that has fallen. This gives us strength to fight the good fight, and this is scriptural.
I want to give you a real-life example of how we should live in a fallen world. I was at a UK football game a couple of years ago with two other Christian friends, one of whom I never had met. Yes, UK fans have Christians. They were talking to each other about the old National Bank shooting that took place in 2023. As they talked, the man that I had never met mentioned a guy who stood out to him as a real Christian who worked at the bank.
This banker was at one time the private banker of one of these men. We talked about the terrible shooting and the lives not only lost, but crushed. They mentioned this banker was retired and called back into service to help out the bank. They said he was not hired back to help the bank regroup or to reorganize, but was hired back to be a medic for the hurting souls there. They mentioned his name, and it was Jeff Norton. I was astounded, not because they mentioned Jeff by name, but because of what they said.
He was a medic for souls. I knew Jeff and I've known him for years, but a blessing was that for me to hear. This is an example of how we are to live in this fallen world. Why? Because our lives here on earth are nothing but a vapor, soon to pass and lost to history. so we put our treasures and things unseen we diligently work for these heavenly treasures because we are saved and have put our faith and trust in jesus who lives forever all else washes away but the people we know in christ what a joy it will be when we are all joined together once more this brings me to my second point because we are saved how should we worship in this fallen world. When I bring it this point, I want to say we worship God in our daily lives by prayer, just lifting up our hands to him in praise and thanksgiving, reading his word, and doing his
work along with many other things. But my point here tonight is to specifically talk about our worship right here at 3rd in our Sunday morning services. We worship by clearly explaining the gospel, the good news as we gather as a congregation. Our worship is centered on Christ. Our worship is grounded in God's word. It is not entertainment driven, but driven by God's word that is totally sufficient for us. We do this by faithful expository preaching. I love this about our church. We look at the text and by God's grace and help, see what the central point is and trust that this message is what our hearts need.
We sing and worship by hymns that apply to our scriptural lessons being preached on that morning. We sing hymns that have real meaning and not just invoke a feeling. And we pray with thanksgiving, petition, praise, and confession. Our worship on earth should echo the worship in heaven. In Revelation 5, the assembly centered their entire praise on the Lamb. So our worship, too, must be centered on Christ, grounded in His Word, filled with His truth, reverent and joyful.
Hebrews 12, 28, 29 says, Let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. We do this. We worship God in this fallen world because he laid down his life for us as a man and was resurrected on the third day, proving his claims and validating his authority, being worthy to take the scroll. And then they sang a new song, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open the seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus is victorious. 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 this very day. And my final plea to all of you is to reach out to those in darkness because they could be your treasure. We live in worship as those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb proclaiming to a dark world that Jesus is worthy.
Everything else will fade, but the people of God, purchased by His blood, will sing forever. O church, arise and put your armor on. Hear the call of Christ, our captain, for now the weak can say that we are strong and the strength that God has given. With shield of faith and belt of truth, we'll stand against the devil's lies, an army bold whose battle cry is love, reaching out to those in darkness.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus Christ whose death and resurrection allows those who have been saved to be your treasure and we can stand righteous before you. We pray that we live worthy lives for you in this fallen world and we pray our worship to you is both reverent and joyful. Lord, may this congregation always center our worship on Jesus Christ and keep our teachings completely grounded in your word.
Give us boldness to reach out to those that live in darkness. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.