Revelation
A New Vision of Reality

Revelation is a book that shows us a different way of understanding the world. It tells us that things are not always what they seem. Jesus, who is both powerful like a lion and sacrificial like a lamb, is the one who can save the world. By focusing on Jesus and His sacrificial love, we can find hope, purpose, and power in our lives.

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 One key idea of Revelation that will help us understand this book as a whole is Revelation, invites us into a new vision and version of reality. Okay, so now this has given a lot of people. A lot of license to come up with really weird visions and versions of reality based off revelation. We’ve talked about this in the past couple weeks of studying GK Chesterton this week, and he has this funny quote, he says, the, the only beasts that are stranger than what John saw in Revelation are some of what the commentators have put together in their interpretations.

Cuz it is crazy. If you grew up in the church like me, you kind of know there’s some weird fear-mongering, some strange stuff in the book of Revelation. I am doing my best not to mention them because mockery is not a fruit of the spirit. Okay? And so we’re just gonna go through that. If you have questions about after maybe, Hey, what is, I have this kind of taught, I would love to kinda work through that with you.

Um, but again, if you grew up in the church, you likely heard some of them and maybe they gave you nightmares like they gave to me. Now again, revelation invites us into this new version of reality. Not too long ago, our unbelieving friends and neighbors weren’t really looking for a new vision or version of reality.

Right. People weren’t as divided as they were, even like as a decade ago. Our advancements in medicine and technology really kind of got us encouraged, right? I know me growing up the best really was yet to come. And so as Christians, we had this unique situation. We, we had to meet people where they’re at, living a what they felt like is a really satisfying and happy life.

And then we would go along them and say things like, Hey, you know that, that God-shaped hole in your heart? You, you need to feel it. Fill it with Jesus. And, and it was really a hard sell because a lot of my friends would be like, I don’t have a God-shaped hole. I’m, I’m feeling actually pretty good about how things are going.

And so with that, with just success after success, things start going terribly wrong for too long, right? The Common American kind of atheism made more sense than, than Christianity because life again seemed, I would argue life seemed to be headed in the right direction. And we kind of, life kind of made sense, but then.

A lot of stuff has happened in the past decade or two, or even three that has really got a lot of people questioning. Again, you have things like school shootings happening more and more and more. You have maybe what set it off for some folks was nine 11 or 2008 recession or the, all the elections that we’ve had the last few cycles.

Um, unending violence in the streets, right? C O v I d, the nightmare of that, our gender identity crises. I was on a phone with a pastor yesterday and he had a question about something pastoral ministry. I’m just a few years ahead of him in the church planning journey, and he said, Trey, wouldn’t it just be amazing if like, we planted our church like 30 years ago?

Like, yeah, like those were the days, you know, it’s what it seems like, like people wanted to come to church. There wasn’t as much craziness, but the reality is, is we weren’t there. I wasn’t there 32 years ago and, and we are where we’re at now, but here’s what’s really amazing about our current moment.

Almost everyone today desires a new vision of reality. Because our current version of it is just not working. And so things like revelation are like really, really helpful in this moment. If you’ll notice the people growing the biggest following online, they’re saying things like, things are not as they seem, don’t believe what they tell you.

Get outta the matrix, take the red pill, right? All these things and they, this is a growing movement. How come? Because all of us are starting to realize maybe this isn’t true reality. Maybe there’s something else that is more real than what we have been taught. Now, I’m not pedaling whatever those guys online say.

I don’t watch it enough to know what they do say. However, I think Revelation would agree that things are not as they seem. And that’s a huge theme we have in Revelation chapter four and five. So if you haven’t shown there yet, go to Revelation four and five. I think this is the best passage to explain what is actually going on.

Things are not as they seem, and here’s what they really are. And so last week our prayer was that God would give us ears to hear. Today our prayer as we look through this is that he would give us eyes to see. Let’s pray. Father, son, and Holy Spirit, thank you for this passage. Thank you for Revelation four and five.

God, I feel so ill-equipped to paint the picture of what we see in this text. And so God, we submit ourselves to the scriptures. We’re gonna read it. But Holy Spirit, we need you to, to bring forth the life from it. We need you to spark our imagination, to show us how things really are. God, would you be so kind to us to meet us here today, in this hour?

Maybe walk away. Not just understanding what Revelation four and five mean, but actually living it out. In Jesus name I pray, everybody says Amen. Amen. Okay, so Revelation four and chapter five are supposed to be read together, so that’s what we’re gonna be doing this morning. Now, one way to kind of figure out what four and five are all about is you will see five different worship songs.

Embedded in chapters four and five. So if you have those kind of Bibles, that indent, uh, you’ll see those indentations there and it’s gonna be these five different songs. Revelation four has two songs, and when you, if you were to summarize those two songs, it’s really about God as creator. And so a lot of commentators really say Revelation four is a good summary of the Old Testament, uses a lot of imagery that Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, all of them used about God and his throne and how he’s our creator and he is worthy of worship.

And so Revelation four again is kind of like, Here’s Old Testament, revelation five, then transitions to what many would say is a beautiful summary of the New Testament. You have two more songs about Christ as our Lamb who redeems us. And then the last song is really cool because it combines creator God that we see in Revelation four and lamb redeemer that we see in Revelation five.

So that’s actually how the chapter wraps up, kind of combining both of those elements together. Really cool. Now this passage, maybe you’ve heard some crazy stuff, so we’re gonna go line by line and we’re gonna talk about some of these phrases, what some of these images mean, and I’m very excited. You with me?

Thanks, deacon Dave. Now chapter four, verse one. After this, John is speaking, I looked and there in heaven was an open door. Now this is so poetic, a couple things. One, this is apocalyptic literature from here on out. And so he’s talking about these visions. We have to remember, it’s not necessarily, this is what happens next.

In the span of the world. But this is just what John sees next. But he sees this open door. And if we had time, we’re gonna look, we, we looked at this a little bit last week. Lay AIA ends in this imagery where Jesus says, I am standing at the door and knocking. Will you open it so I can dine with you? It’s a beautiful invitation of intimacy and hospitality.

And then, so this whole idea, will you open the door? And then the next phrase after this, I look, and there in heaven was a open door. So we’re about to see what happens when you open that door. What is the kind of vision you get? It’s a really, really cool vision. Okay, so let’s keep reading. Uh, the first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here.

And I will show you what must take place after this. Remember, John is on an island called Patmos. He has exiled, and yet despite him being exiled in the middle of nowhere, he’s now being ushered into the presence of God. We actually believe you and I can do this today as well, right? The real reality is that God is ruling and reigning, and as people of the way of Jesus, we are able to have these sorts of visions.

Verse two, immediately I was in the Spirit and there was a throne in heaven. And someone was seated on it. This is such great just literature here. We’re about to find out who it is, but what we need to know right away is there is a throne which simulates somebody’s in charge and he’s saying, don’t worry, you’re not sitting on it.

But also don’t worry, that’s not vacant. There is someone on the throne. This word throne probably appears more than any other word in the book of Revelation. It’s a very dominant image. It appears 43 times from here on out, 19 times alone in chapters four and five. But let’s keep reading. The one seated there had the appearance of Jasper and cornelian stone, a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne.

This is just talking. This is like imagery of dazzling. This is just greater than you could ever think or imagine. Verse four, around the throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones sat 24 elders dressed in white clothes, which emphasized as purity. With Golden crowns, which emphasizes victory on their heads.

Now, for years, I’ve always wondered who are these 24 elders and why are they significant for you and significant for me? Most people believe, and I think it’s a very proper reading of the text, the 24 elders equals the 12 tribes of Israel, which really represents the Old Testament. And then the other 12 represent the 12 apostles that we have in the New Testament.

So it’s almost this beautiful picture of God using Israel throughout the Old Testament and God using the church and the new, and it’s, it’s really representing all of God’s activity. This represents the faith of God’s people. So all of the people are represented essentially in these 24 elders, the people who are people of the way, who worship God and God alone.

So it’s a powerful imagery of his people looking at the true throne. Let’s verse six. It says four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back. Were around the throne on each side. The first living creature was like a lion. The second living creature was like an ox. The third living creature, like uh, had a face like a man and the fourth living creature was flying like a flying eagle.

Friends, it’s like this verse is why I was like, I will never preach revelation. I remember saying this like a decade ago. There’s 65 other books I will not preach. Revelation. There’s too much to go through and welcome everybody to church. This is our third week in the book of Revelation, and so this is actually really difficult to understand.

I wanna acknowledge that me as somebody who’s like has gone through theological education, has really wrestled with this. Lemme read verse eight. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and they were recovered with eyes around it inside day and night. They never stopped saying, here’s a worship song.

Holy, holy, holy Lord God the Almighty. Who was, who is, and who is to come. Now remember, if you remember week one we talked about the importance of knowing apo Apocalyptic literature is a lot like political cartoons. So if you were to see an elephant or see a donkey, you know, that doesn’t actually represent an elephant or a donkey as much as it represents something else entirely, right?

Here, you, you have to kind of bring that same understanding into the text. Now, are there four living creatures that very, they very much could be, but they’re also representing something else, and we have to see what that representation means. These four living creatures, again, are like, they not are, they’re like a lion, like an ox, like a man, and like a flying eagle.

And this wiz here is kind of what most people understand this is, and I say this to say, you know, I’m not saying all of this is perfect. I could be wrong, but I think I’m right here. This represents all of creation and all of creation. Is recognizing that it is God and God alone who was on the throne and he’s in charge Now.

Why a lion and ox a man? An eagle, a lion is the noblest of all creatures. So even the noblest of all creatures are surrendered to God. The ox is the strongest of all creatures. So even the strongest submits and sees the true God, who is strong man is the wisest. I know it doesn’t feel that way most times, but at least more wise than any other creature.

At least I believe that. You know, some of you dog owners, I don’t know, but man is the wisest, but even the wisest go, no, no, no. He is the one. He has understanding. He’s in charge. And then the eagle is the swiftest, this beauty, right? And even those beautiful things that are swift that are just, we can’t even really describe their, their movements.

Even those say, no, no, no, no, no. It’s all about God on his throne. He alone is worthy of all of our praise. He is not like, Us. That’s the takeaway. All of creation is looking to God and bowing before him, and the question we have to ask ourselves. If all of creation is doing that, then how come I’m not, if I’m not right?

Everyone admits he is the one. Why? Why? Why have I not done that yet? Let’s jump down to verse 11 and we’ll really sit in chapter five, verse 11, our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power because you have created all things and by your will, they exist and were created. Again.

This is about worship and, and I believe this passage is talking about a worship service that is currently happening now. Right? John saw it. There was a moment where he saw it. And friends, you and I, and and I would love to have testimony, time to share. Maybe you have a glimpse, the throne as well, but that kind of worship is happening in the here and the now.

And this reality is that when we worship, we are most attuned to what’s really real. Eugene Peterson says, worship quote is an act of attention to the living God. So you and I worship when we sing, but also you can worship when you walk, when you talk, when you think, when you’re lying down, when you wake up, when you work.

All of these things can be okay. God, you were the one. You are good. I am so grateful for you. You rule and reign. It is all about you. And if you hear that and think how sad or how dull, you haven’t got a vision because when you get that kind of vision, you really do see he is worthy of that kind of worship.

Now, that’s kind of the crux of today. Will you and I have that understanding, that vision of what’s, who’s really in charge and who really deserves all our attention? But let’s slow down now and look in chapter five. So elevation four, old Testament, right? God is creator. He’s ruling and reigning over all creation and all of his people, chapter five takes a bit of a churn because then he says, then I saw, so it’s a new part of the vision.

Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, which is kind of funny, right? Because most scrolls are just on one. I don’t know why that’s, I can’t give you an an example why, but both sides sealed with seven seals. Seven is meaning perfection. Verse two, I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals.

But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it. Now, what is a scroll? Okay, when you’re studying the scriptures here can be like, oh, cool, there’s a scroll in his hand. We have to know what in the world is the scroll and why is the such a big deal that nobody can open it.

Now a scroll, the quickest way to describe it is the plan and purpose of the world, but it’s also the plan and purpose of your life, right? So a lot of us get real anxious when we feel like, is there a plan, right? Do the people in government, do they know what they’re doing? Right? Do do, do my leaders and my as kids, does my dad know what he’s doing?

Right? And there there’s this anxiety like maybe nobody knows what anybody’s doing, right? That’s called adulthood, right? Like, oh, everyone was winging it. Got it. Right? And so the scroll is this idea, it’s every religion tries to say they have the scroll. Every job force, every idol says, I got the scroll watch.

This is the plan. This is the secret. And so look at it that way. So there’s this scroll, but this idea that nobody can open it, nobody can know it and enact it. People on earth, under the earth, nobody seems to have the power to know what’s really going on. What’s the answer to life? What’s the answer to death?

Do you and I live forever? Can we get rid of death and disease? We have these questions, and as a beautiful metaphor, the scroll is to show the meaning of all of history. Is the world really heading somewhere and does my life actually have a script? And then John is so caught up in this vision. Remember, he’s a disciple of Jesus.

He knows that there’s an answer. And yet verse four, he says, I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or even to look in it. Right, even to get a peak, like maybe if I had this much of the answer, the rest of life will make sense. But he wept because nobody had the power. In a very real way.

This is our cultural moment where there is a sense of despair. One pastor actually said, sharing the gospel, this next decade used to be like an age of skepticism. He says, now maybe how we define our moment is we are now in the age of despair. That is the worst part Most of us have, like this underlying depression that’s just so common now.

But in this despair, maybe we feel that despair because we feel like there isn’t a scroll, there isn’t an answer, there’s nothing satisfying, there’s nothing fulfilling. So as a result, we get in like this moment of panic, of weeping like John is here now. I, I was thinking through this. What are some of the scrolls?

Cuz if you don’t have the scroll, what mankind does is we make substitutes, right? We make fake versions. We act like, okay, we found the scroll, but really we didn’t. I think there’s really two different scrolls or plans or scripts that really consume us. Uh, an ancient church, father Tertullian, he once said quote, just as Jesus was crucified between two thieves.

So the gospel is ever crucified between these two errors. Okay? So some call this legalism verse Antinomianism, others call it religion verse irreligion, which I don’t find always helpful, so I wanna describe it today. The two scrolls that are failing us the most are moralism and modernism. Allow me to define each, but this idea.

Most of us in a world of America today, we think we have a version of a scroll and it is moralism or modernism. And most of us are depressed because we are realizing that that is not the right scroll. And that is not the plan to live a happy and abundant life. What does moralism say? Moralism scroll says, you must behave to be saved, right?

This is a prison a lot of us grew up in. If you were kind of grew up in a religion, right, you’re never sure when you’re in moralism, you’re never sure if you did enough, right? It’s always terrifying. You’re always trying to prove to God your worth and, and often moralism goes undetected. You can come to church your whole life and really kind of think that you’re like this gospel person because you’re a good person who goes to church, but the gospel is much more than that.

But here’s kind of, if you know, if moralism is kind of a life script that maybe you have adopted yourself, is you find joy looking down on others, that you’re better than another sign that moralism has really kind of influenced your view on life is you are depressed, you are in despair when you learn of people who are better than you.

Right. And this, this road is really difficult because it’s all about being good enough and you know, deep down you’re not, and so moralism, this is a lot of religions, it kind of leads down one of two roads. It leads either to pride or to despair, pride, kinda like that. Pharisee in the book of Luke that says, God, I thank you that I’m not like that tax collector.

Right? So your whole significant, your whole meaning is that you’re just better than other people around you. That leads to pride. And the scripture says, pride comes before fall. Pride is is empty inside, or it leads to despair. You’re not saying the prayer, God, thank you. I’m not like that tax collector.

You’re saying, God, oh no, I’m not like that Pharisee, or I’m not like that Christian. I haven’t done enough. I’m not enough. I know I can’t do it. Right? Moralism is a breeding ground for depression, a breeding ground. For brokenness to where you and I at the end of our lives, if this was our script, we would weep and weep modernism.

What does modernism say again, I want you to see this image. There’s people who are claiming, I have the scroll. I know who can open it, and this is the Plan to life. Modernism. Scroll says, God loves and accepts everyone just as they are. Now, I think this is a half truth. God loves you where you’re at, but he loves you too much to leave you there, right?

And a lot of times actually, we only experience that love when we recognize where we have sinned and where we’ve gone wrong. But here’s what’s so hard about modernism, is you don’t really have to please God. Instead, you’re under the crushing weight of pleasing yourself. And that sounds easier, but it’s way worse under the crushing weight of modernism.

You’re trying to please yourself. And what’s so hard is the finish line always moves. What we define as good and not good always changes. And so we never know how we measure up, cuz we can never even measure up to our own expectations. In modernism, you’re a slave to every thought, every desire, every impulse, right?

I saw someone the other day on YouTube say, oh no, I had this one really weird thought and now I wonder if that’s what I should do. I know it’s bad, but I thought it so maybe I should try it. That’s modernism saying, no, you can just be whoever you want to be. And this kind of leads down two different roads as well, and I’ll do this quickly, is relativism or nihilism.

So relativism, you get to the point the modernist actually leads you to where you can’t call evil evil. And you can’t call good, good, right? Relativism leads where there’s no right, there’s no wrong. And it leads us to allowing teenagers to forever alter their bodies because who? Who are we to say what’s right?

Who are we to say what’s wrong? Everything’s relative and it leads to heartache and depression. Or modernism leads to nihilism. This is actually, you see a lot in movies today. Nihilism is just this idea. Ask Caleb after he’ll explain it better. But it’s this idea that there’s like no meaning or purpose in life, right?

So just have fun, enjoy it, because literally none of it matters. Anybody see that? Arnold Schwarzenegger uh, uh, interview? I actually think there was like an old school one, and then there’s a new one where somebody asked him like, Hey, what happens after death? And he goes, dude, there’s nothing. We just die.

We’re in the dirt. And he’s like, and I’m mad about that, right? He’s like, cuz I love this life, but it’s about to end, right? That’s nihilism. That is not fun. That if you’re really honest, that will make you weep and weep and weep. And so Revelation wants us to open our eyes and, and, and flood us with tears, honestly, because it shows these scrolls are not the answer.

So the question we have to ask ourselves after verse four, okay? Is there anybody who can open the scroll? What does the scroll, the actual scroll that leads to life and life and abundance? What does it actually say? And then if they not only know it, who can enact it? And that’s what verse five through 10 say.

Then one of the elders said to me, do not weep. Look the lion from the tribe of Judah, which you see that phrase in Genesis 49, 9, and all throughout the scriptures pointing to Jesus, um, the root of David, you see this in Isaiah 11, one through 10, right? This is pointing to, to David’s offspring, eventually leading to a king who would save us being Jesus.

So the lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he’s able to open the scroll and it’s seven seals. So then I saw one, like a slaughtered lamb standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures, and among the elders, he had seven horns. And seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God into all the earth.

This is where we lose each other again, right? Like, what is this saying? I was with you root of David, and now you’re going, we are with these seven eyes and stuff. Okay, here, stay with me. You have this incredible imagery. This again, this is apocalyptic literature. We’re getting nerdy again today. You have this lion, and so he says, there is a lion who is conquered.

So you and I know a lion, strong, noble, he’s in charge. If the lion, if Aslan is on my side, we’re gonna win Narnia, okay? Right? And so we got a lion, but what’s crazy about, and we miss this, so we think the rest of the time, man, we gotta li Jesus gotta bite you. You know that. That’s kinda kinda how we think.

But then he says, okay, there is it. It it looked like a lion. Or sorry, it sounded like a lion, but then it looked like a lamb. This same lion now looks like a lamb. In the next verse. Then I saw, so I heard a lion. I heard that there’s a lion saving us, but then I saw a slaughtered lamb. Now Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, right?

You know that song? He’s in invitees snow. I don’t know that song, but so when we think of little lamb, you don’t think of lion, right? You’re like, oh, cute. Right? Lion, strong, noble lamb. You kill it, right? You slaughter it. It’s a sacrifice. It brings us innocence. And the beauty of the gospel here is he’s saying, no, no, the lion is only the lion because he’s a lamb.

Hold onto that verse six. He starts to describe this slaughtered lamb. And if you understood what horn’s, eyes, and spirit means, you’re like, oh, this is a different kind of lamb. You wanna know what those mean? Okay. Seven. Again, perfection. Completion. Okay. What does it mean to have seven horns? He’s saying this little lamb is full of power and strength.

Horn represents empires. In the Old Testament, it represents kings. It represents power and authority. We actually looked at that when we were in Daniel a couple years ago. Eyes, what do eyes represent? Eyes represent wisdom, knowledge, discernment. We typically think a lamb is dumb. You just walk right into the slaughter.

No, but this Jesus, it’s not like any other lamb. He is a lamb because he sacrificed himself, but he did it full of strength and power and wisdom and knowledge with the seven spirits. Seven again is completion. Spirits is representing the Holy Spirit, the anointing, the working, the moving. This lamb is the reason He’s a lion.

What? There is no lion without the lamb and there’s no lamb without the lion through his sacrifice, we are all made new. Let’s keep reading verse seven. He went and took the scroll out of the right hand of the one seated on the throne when he took the scroll, the four living creatures and 24 elders face fell down before the lamb.

This is Jesus. Each one had a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are prayers of the saints, and they sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slaughtered and you purchased people for God by your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You see how this is different from the Old Testament, the Old Testament, it was to save that tribes of Israel. Now this lamb is so powerful. He saves every tribe in the world. You made them a kingdom and priest who our God, and they will reign on the earth. Okay, hear me out. What is this telling us?

Ultimate reality comes from gospel centrality. That’s the next slide. I want you to see this. Ultimate reality comes from gospel centrality. There is a huge sigh of relief. They’re not weeping. John’s not weeping anymore because there’s a lion who’s a lamb. And because of that, they sing in freedom. Every other scroll, every other answer to life, leads to death, leads to failure, cuz of focus is on us.

The gospel takes the focus of us, us, and puts it on to him. Here’s the reality. We can’t love ourselves out of pain, but the lamb can, right? We can’t fight ourselves into heaven, but the lamb can. We can’t be good enough to get rid of our guilt, but the lamb can. And so it’s when we come to the end of ourselves that we find ourselves, and this is what we call worship.

This is what’s happening here in Revelation five. Eugene Peterson, quote for the win. Hear this out. He says, failure to worship confines us to a life of spasms and jerks at the mercy of every advertisement. Every seduction, every siren. Without worship, we live manipulated and manipulating lives. We move in either frightened panic or diluted lethargy as we are in turn alarmed by spectras and soothe by placebos.

And you’re like, fifth grade level, please. What did that mean? Right? Hear me out. Alarm by spectras. I’m not gonna lie, I had to Google what that meant. It means ghost. Okay? Like it means like terrified. There’s a, you know, ghost in every corner. Alarm by spectras and soothed by placebos. Does this not describe our moment?

Right? In this worship, fear is gone in this understanding. The lion, who is the lamb? There’s no longer need for numbing. What is our moment right now? We have spectras everywhere, government, corruption, fraud, bad leadership. And some of that’s true, right? But what it does, we’re so terrified by it. That it’s keeping our eyes off of the throne and it’s consuming us, right?

Every siren, every whim, we are terrified. If you are that today, you don’t have to be put your eyes on the throne soothed by placebos. I think what’s interesting about our cultural moment is we have more placebos than ever before. Again, if you don’t know what a placebo is, it is a pill that acts like it’ll save you, but there’s literally, it’s a fake pill.

We have a lot of placebos today, placebos with social media, pornography substances keeps our attention off the one who could actually save us, and we just numb the pain to survive. Another day with the gospel here is saying there is a way to freedom. There is a scroll that actually has the answer, and you don’t need placebos.

You don’t need spectras, modernism and moralism will fail you, but the gospel has an answer to life and life and abundance. But this vision of a lion who is a lamb, Yeah, that’s what takes our eyes off of those placebos and spec. It’s when we see God for who he really is. And the question we have to ask ourselves is, do we have the vision to see it?

Stay with me guys. Let’s go back to those two scrolls, moralism, and modernism. How do those keep us away from the gospel? Okay, write this down. Moralism fails to see the lamb who was slaughtered instead of us. What does moralism focus? It focuses on your own deeds you’re spending your life trying to prove you are worthy.

Rather look, rather than, oh, I’m going to point my attention to the one who is worthy. You see a difference there? Moralism says, I’m gonna keep focusing on me and I’m gonna make myself worthy. And the gospel answer is no. You don’t even have to look at the one who is worthy and you receive life just from that.

This is what moralism does. It keeps your eyes from what Christ has done. Look, Christ died on the cross instead of us. The scripture says, our sins deserve punishment. We deserves the one to be slaughtered. Not him, but he pays the price and he came down to take our sin, to give you and I his righteousness that two Corinthians 5 21, hear me.

Christ was punished on the cross in your place. He doesn’t need you to punish yourself as well. Christ was good in your place. He’s not waiting for you to be good as well, right? This is the beauty of the lamb. This victorious lion is only victorious because of the slaughtered lamb. And so this is an invitation to you and to me.

No, no, no, no. The gospel, the good news is that I deserved death and punishment, and yet the lamb took it in my place, and now I can dwell with the lion. How does modernism. Keep us from seeing the gospel. See, on the flip side, modernism fails to see the lamb who was slaughtered because of us. Moralism forgets that the cross was, instead of us modernism forgets that the cross was because of us.

Right? Modernism, once you and I to think that there isn’t any sin worth dying for because we don’t have sin, right? Every desire is your desire and there’s no consequence to your desire cuz it’s your desire. That’s a lie from the pit of hell. But so modernism doesn’t, doesn’t want you to see why did Jesus have to die?

Because you’re a sinner. I love that song. What’s that? Him? It was my sin that nailed him there, right? This is actually what brings us freedom. See, Christ died on the cross because of us. Romans 6 23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. So it is our sin that put Christ on the cross.

There is freedom and calling evil, evil and good. Good. Even when you see it within yourself. These people can worship around the throne because they receive the good news of grace. How? Because they were able to bear the bad news of God’s judgment. God calls sin, sin, but here’s the good news. He is going to punish sin.

But when you receive the lamb, that punishment is no longer on you. It’s on him. But the gospel isn’t good news. If you don’t think you’ve sinned. If you don’t think those sins deserve punishment. And so this realization is there is a lamb who died for our sins, and sin is anything against the contrary, the, the, the design of God.

And we receive that grace. Modernism says, no, just pick you up on your bootstraps. Don’t you know God loves you? You can just stay as you are. No, no, we don’t dress up our sin. We confess our sin. And in that confession, there’s life and life and abundance. I have to hurry. Verse 11, then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne and also of the living creatures and of the elders.

The number was countless. Thousands plus thousands of thousands. I want you to imagine this imagery. This is a huge stadium. It’s bigger than a stadium. They say with a loud voice. Worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

And here’s what I know. I can preach this all day and you’ll hear it. I know this is supposed to sound cool, but I haven’t seen it. Right? Like, how is this neat? I, I heard every creature in heaven on earth, under the earth, on the sea, everything in them say blessing and honor and glory and power be to the ones seated on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever.

And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. And friends, I’m so scared because I don’t know how to preach this. I don’t, cuz this is cool, but I don’t know how to convince you. It’s cool. You know what I’m saying? I don’t know. I hope you like, like this is, this is amazing.

But words kind of fall short. And so here’s what I want us to see. If you want to see ultimate reality, you must come to the end of yourself. This is ultimate reality. So if this isn’t like wooing you right now, maybe there’s something you haven’t given up. Yesterday we were in the school hallway. We actually we’re so grateful for the school.

They’re giving us another storage room so that we don’t have to pack it up on a trailer. And so we were looking at the new storage room yesterday and I just remember I was with Juve and they opened up the door. And you guys know, like, you know how memory is connected to smell, right? You smell something and like a moment happens and you’re remembering something crazy.

Well, that is what happened to me. I totally forgot that I had, I used to go to that room as if you didn’t know. I used to go here 20 years ago. And so I opened the door and the smell hit me and I was brought back to seventh grade awkward tray. And I said, Jubal, save me. Like get me out of this moment. I’m caught up in a vision.

And then I saw, right, like revelation was happening. And I remember specifically in that classroom was a teacher who scared the live-in daylights out of me. Here’s some context. I grew up. Terrible eyesight. Horrible. Now, I didn’t know it was bad, cuz I never knew different anybody else, right? It was like, until you’ve seen, it’s like, I don’t know.

I think it’s bad, but I don’t know. It’s that bad. And so like, I had this weird thing cuz I’m a man, so I didn’t wanna admit I needed glasses. And so every year in elementary school when it was the school nurse, I was an amazing liar. This should terrify you as a preacher. But I was so good at lying. I was like, one day I had a tummy ache.

So I just never went into the eye check. Uh, the next year I, I think I told him, I said, Hey, I have a doctor’s appointment next week. Isn’t that weird? Like, weird timing, right? So you don’t need to check my eyes cuz I’m going to the eye doc. And the nurse was like, cool friends, if you’re an, if you’re a school nurse, don’t believe that.

Do the eye check, right? And so I did this all, all the time. Seventh grade came and I’m still living the lie. I’m living a lie. And I was put in the back of the classroom. I thought, well, she’s writing something up there. I have no idea. Right? So that’s fine, whatever. I’m just gonna look at my neighbor and I’m gonna figure this out.

But then she started to share how she was gonna go blind in the next 10 years. And if you know me, that has my attention. If there’s anything Ill illness, I’m like, what? I think this is me. Right? And so I started freaking out and she said, here’s the thing guys, because I put it off, I’m not gonna be able to see my children’s face in 10 years.

I’m like crying right in the back row, like a typical Baptist, right? I’m in the back and I’m like, oh no. And I really remember the, the bell rang for the next period. I ran straight to the school nurse. I said, I can’t see and I might go blind in 10 years. She’s like, what are we, what is happening? I’m like, I need an appointment.

And so my mom picked me up. I I, I got outta school early that day, guys. I was changed. And so we went to Sam’s Club of all play. I thought Sam’s Club, like, I don’t want my amazing moment to be at a Sam’s Club, but we go to a Sam’s Club and they run the eye and they’re like, oh my gosh, like, how does this person even live?

And I’m like, I dunno. You know, they’re like, you are nearly blind. And I’m like, thank you. I’m encouraged. But, you know, and, and so I was thinking through why, you know, I, I was terrified that I did have this bad vision and I kind of knew it. So the doctor confirmed it and then they gave me contacts. And I just remember even, isn’t this so sad?

The first time I saw was in a Sam’s Club. I’m like, I can see the produce aisle, I can see the kayaks. I mean, it was this glorious moment. And I remember being pulled out and I went out into the, the world and I was like, birds have different colors on them. Like trees, like you can see all the leaves. I was, you can ask my mom.

I was like, what? I wound up. I was the seventh grade judge me. I was singing a whole new world, the whole way home, a whole new, uh, you know, I was blown away. And this is the reality. I knew my whole life I probably couldn’t see very well, but I never really did anything about it because I was too afraid to be called for eyes or I don’t know, whatever fear I had that, that I had weaknesses.

But I could finally see when I got to the end of myself and admitted I have a problem. And the good news of Jesus. And this passage, especially, you may have been hearing about this vision, but have you actually seen it for Jesus on this throne who really is ruling and reigning, who really did die for your sins, who really rose again on the third day?

And we have joy and joy in the fool, and there really is a party in heaven. And you and I are invited, like, have you really seen it? And there is a way to dabble around the Christian faith to read revelation, to think, yeah, that must be pretty cool. And yet miss out on the beauty of that vision. And that vision only comes when you and I come to the end of ourselves.

Admit that there was a lamb who had to be slaughtered because of my sin, and there was a lamb who was slaughtered instead of me. And there was a lamb who was slaughtered for me. And when we come to the end of ourselves, friends, this is no longer a Queen Creek junior high cafeteria, it can turn into a vision of the throne of God ruling and reigning as the lion who is the lamb.

And I want my invitation to you to be today. If you haven’t received that vision, plead the Lord for it. Admit what you need to admit. Get clean with what you need to get clean and see what God can do. Let’s pray.