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Alright, we're here in Revelation chapter 5, and before I get started, I just want to quickly mention that this is not a particularly long sermon because it's kind of a short chapter and kind of next week we'll start to get to the meat and potatoes of things of the end times. I'm planning after we're done with the final song, we'll shut off the, actually we'll keep the live stream on, I'll just kind of pray about the coronavirus for like 5 minutes on behalf of the church. And we'll probably try to start doing that every Wednesday as long as this is a big situation because regardless of what anyone's opinion is, it obviously affects us as a church and also people that are out of work and things such as that. So I think it's something we should be praying about. And so, basically as we've done this series, we had an introductory sermon, and then chapter 1 focused on the things in the past tense, which we saw. Chapters 2 and 3 were with those 7 churches during that time period around 2000 years ago, or 1950 years ago. Then it said at the beginning of Revelation 4, after. And so we're going to the things that are after that now. And Revelation 4 and 5 are kind of introductory, and then Revelation 6 is when we start to get to all of the seals. But next week, we're preaching Revelation 5.5, so we won't quite be there in Revelation 6. You'll have to be here to figure out what that's about. But the theme kind of Revelation 4 and 5 is just the fact that the Lord is worthy. And the name of the sermon is, Worthy is the Lamb. Notice what it says in verse number 1, Revelation 5, verse 1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. Now when it comes to the person sitting on the throne, this is God the Father. This is going to become important because later on, the Lord will take the book from God the Father. So you need to realize when you're really thinking about this, it's God the Father on the throne. It's important to understand the distinction there because in the book of Revelation, people that believe in this oneness doctrine and reject the Trinity, they go to various verses in Revelation, but we're going to see very clearly it's God the Father that's on the throne here. That's what we see in verse 1. But let me say this, that when it comes to this topic, the pre-trib rapture people, they're going to use a couple arguments here in Revelation 5 to try to prove their point. Now they have a lot of weird arguments and we're not necessarily covering every single one as we go through this series because a lot of them are really dumb, but we're going to kind of focus on some of these things here tonight as we go through this. And so one thing they say is this, they say, well, who wrote this book? And you'll say, well, God wrote this book. And then they'll say, well, we agree with that. But here's the thing, in Revelation chapter 6 is basically all of the seals. And so if we believe in a pre-wrath rapture, we're basically saying that God's responsible for the tribulation coming upon us as believers in Revelation chapter 6, because they say the book was written by God. And so everything there, Revelation 6 to the forward is basically God's doing, which means, you know, that would be God putting us through tribulation. Okay. Now I don't agree with that. And go to 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 Thessalonians 5. Now I want you to understand something, whenever you're forming doctrines, you form it off very clear verses, okay? You don't form it on obscure arguments that you can't prove. You form it on very clear arguments, okay? And I don't have the time to go into it to show you that tribulation and wrath are different. But let me just show you very clearly what it says in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 9, 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 9. It says, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that those that go to hell, it says, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Which means forever, okay? So we're not appointed unto wrath, and we agree with that. But preacher people will point to this verse, and then they'll try to prove their argument. Look, it doesn't say you're not appointed to tribulation. It says you're appointed, you're not appointed to wrath. And you need to understand when you're reading the book of Revelation, tribulation and wrath are different. You can look up tribulation throughout the entire Bible, and what you're going to find 90 plus percent of the time is it's God's people being persecuted by the devil or wicked people on behalf of the devil, okay? That is what tribulation is, okay? So God has not appointed us to wrath. That doesn't mean we're not going to go through tribulation. And look, you're never going to find a verse that's going to say very clearly that, you know, hey, tribulation and wrath are the same thing. The Bible never teaches that, okay? The Bible's very clear that we do go through tribulation, but we don't go through wrath. Turn back to Revelation. Revelation chapter 6, though. Revelation 6. And so that kind of leads into a couple of different opinions here about this book. And look, I don't think necessarily any of this stuff is super important, because it doesn't change the timing of the rapture at all, because we have clear verses which we're going to see through this series that prove we're going to go through tribulation, but not God's wrath. But there's a couple of different opinions about this book. When it comes to these seals, one opinion, which is the most popular opinion, that is with these seven seals, when one seal is basically released, you're able to read part of the book, okay? Now, I personally don't believe that, okay? They believe when one seal's basically released, you can read part of it. The second seal, you can read a little bit more. The third seal, you can read a little bit more, and eventually you can read everything. What I believe is all the seals are there, and you have to release every single seal before you can read. And once you release every single seal, it's kind of like a package that's got a lot of tape on it, right? You have those packages that have like 50 pieces of tape, and you rip one off and you're trying to open up the box and you still can't. You have to get every single one off, okay? Now it's up to you to form your opinion, but let me show you basically the argument for saying, when you release one seal, then you're able to read part of the book. That's what it says in Revelation 6, verse 1. Revelation 6, verse 1, And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given on to him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. So some people would say, you release one seal and you're able to read part of the book. But I don't believe in verse number 2 that's the contents of the book. I believe that's the contents of the seal, okay? Because the seal, seal 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, that's the tribulation, okay? This is the devil. The rider on the white horse is the antichrist. Now I've heard some people say the rider on the white horse is Jesus Christ, and I'm like, Whoa. We got someone impersonating Jesus Christ. He's pretending to be like Jesus Christ, but look, that is not Jesus Christ. That's the antichrist, okay? And so some people would say, Well, you open up one seal, you can read part of the book. I actually believe you have to open up every single seal to read the contents of the book, and basically as you're opening up the various seals, what you're seeing is the tribulation that the antichrist is putting you through, okay? Now go to Revelation chapter 8, Revelation 8. I'll show you basically why I believe this, okay? And this is not really that big of a point, you know, it doesn't really make a difference in terms of the timing of the rapture, but I want you to notice when the seventh seal is opened, which is the final seal, and I believe at that time, you're basically able to open the book, and then you're able to see everything. Revelation 8 verse 1, and when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour, okay? When the seventh seal is opened, all of a sudden there's silence for half an hour. There's many reasons for this, but I believe basically everything's happening at this point. The rapture happens just like that. When the seventh seal is opened, the rapture, God's about to pour out his wrath, and I believe then the contents of the book are opened, and everything's available to be seen by John. Before that, you're basically seeing what the antichrist is doing, and then in Revelation 8 verse 1, the final seal's gone, and then everything is revealed. Turn to Isaiah 29, Isaiah 29, Isaiah chapter 29. Now I first heard this theory from a friend of mine several years ago, and you know, I think it makes a lot of sense. I believe that basically all the seals have to be opened, and then you can read the entire contents, okay? Isaiah 29 verse 11, Isaiah 29 verse 11, let me say this though, people that are pre-trib, if you're hanging your doctrine on an obscure verse about whether or not you have to open up all the seals before you, I mean that's ridiculous, okay? We have immediately after the tribulation, and you're trying to find obscure verses that people haven't really thought about to try to prove your point, okay? You base what you believe on very clear verses, and there are many clear verses that say we go through tribulation. It's very obvious in the Bible. Isaiah 29 verse 11, Isaiah 29 verse 11, and the vision of all has become onto you as the words of a book that is sealed, okay? Words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that has learned, saying, read this, I pray thee, and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. In order to read this book in Isaiah 29, and I'm not saying this is the same book as in the book of Revelation, but in order to read this book, it must be unsealed, okay? Unless it's unsealed, you're not going to be able to read it. So basically what I believe the Bible is teaching in Revelation, to read the contents of this book, it all must be unsealed. What are the contents of this book? The wrath of God. That's what the contents are. It's not partially basically the tribulation, the antichrist is going to put us, and then the wrath of God. The contents of this book are the wrath of God. And you're seeing when one seal gets released, you're seeing what the antichrist is doing, but you're not going to be able to read the contents of this book because it's sealed. You must break all seven seals, and then everything's revealed. Then you see Revelation 8, Revelation 9, Revelation 10, okay? Turn back in your Bible to the book of Revelation. Actually turn to Ephesians 1, Ephesians 1, Ephesians chapter 1. Now like I said, that's not the biggest deal in the world. I mean, you're welcome to believe whatever you want. It doesn't change the timing of the rapture, but that is one argument pre-trib people will say. Well, they'll say, well, the contents of this book are the seals in Revelation chapter 6, and you say this is the antichrist, so obviously then Jesus would be responsible for that. Okay? Now I think that's a dumb argument anyway, but I don't believe the contents of the book are Revelation 6. I believe the contents of the book are actually the wrath of God, okay? Now when it comes to something being sealed, what does that mean? Ephesians 1 verse 13, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, after ye put your faith in Jesus Christ, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. When we believe on Jesus Christ, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, okay? God's promise is eternal life. We know we're going to heaven. We have the Spirit of truth inside of us forever because it's eternal life. It's everlasting life. See, when something is sealed, it's shut extremely tightly. What it's saying is you're not going to be able to break this. It's like the book of Esther when it talks about sealing it with the king's seal, and once that king seals on it, it's not going to be undone. It's not going to be broken, okay? And so it says that when we get saved, we're sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Think about, for example, when, I don't know, for me, like my wife's in the kitchen trying to open up a jar or a container, and she's not able to do it because it's sealed really tight. She's like, honey, can you open this up? And you know, I'll try and do my best. If I can't, eventually I'll get it open because it's a little bit too tight for her sometimes, right? Sometimes you have a jar that's just sealed a little bit too tight. And look, when God is sealing you with the Holy Spirit of promise, it's completely shut forever. You're not going to break that seal, okay? Now go back to Revelation chapter five, Revelation five. This book is sealed completely. You're not going to be able to undo it, okay? It's sealed. It's like something that's basically shut really tight, and you're trying to loose it, and you can't do it. And once you get it loose, then you can just open it completely, okay? But that's what it's going to be like with this book. Now I want you to notice Revelation five verse two, Revelation five verse two. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice. I saw a strong angel, okay? Notice this is not a weak angel. This is a strong angel. That goes back to the example of, you know, when you're married and your wife can't open up a container, she's going to give it to you because you're a little bit stronger than your wife. At least I hope, right? And so give it to you hoping you can open it, okay? And look, if I can't open it, then for it to be open, we need somebody stronger than me, right? If you can't break this, you give it to someone who's a little bit stronger, okay? The Bible makes mention, it's a strong angel, okay? But this angel's not able to break that seal. Because when God has it sealed, it's sealed. Nobody's going to be strong enough. That's the reason why he's saying it's strong. So apparently some angels are stronger than others. I don't know. But there's a reason why he says a strong angel. And what the strong angel says is, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? Now notice, he doesn't say who's strong enough to open the book. Because it's not about your physical strength. It's not about how much you can bench press. It's not about how many clapping pushups you can do, you know, before you stop. About how many times you can carry those five gallon jugs of water. No, it's not about that, okay? It's who's worthy, okay? Look, I have no doubt that Jesus was a man's man and he was a strong man. But he wasn't the strongest physically man in the world, okay? There's no way he's the strongest man in the world. I believe he's a tough guy and a hard worker. He wasn't the physically strongest man, but he was the most worthy, though. He's the only one who's worthy. And see, this strong angel realizes it's not about how strong you are to open this seal. No, it's who is worthy. And isn't that the way it is in the Christian life? It's not about your natural ability. You say, Brother Stuckey, you know, I'm a shy person. I can't go soul winning. Look, I said the same thing. Like, literally, I consider myself a shy person, you know, before I was saved, you know, after I got saved, I told my friend, man, I'm not the sort of person that can go up to random people and tell them how to get to heaven. But see, it's not about your natural ability, okay? It's not about your physical gifts. Obviously, God gives you various gifts that you can use. But quite honestly, if you want to be greatly used by God, who is worthy to be used? Not who has this special speaking ability, not who's just outgoing or this or that. It's who's worthy. Okay? Now, when it comes to opening this book, though, no one's worthy, he says, who is worthy to open the book and to lose the seals thereof? Now turn to Matthew 28, Matthew 28. And this is the theme. That's why we said worthy is the lamb, that the lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the one who's worthy. Matthew 28, Matthew chapter 28. And in Matthew chapter 28, this is after the resurrection. And what you notice at the end of all the gospels and in Acts chapter 1, what Jesus leaves them with is the push to go soul winning, okay? In various different ways. And he says this multiple times. It's not the same event. But he's just kind of leading them and telling them, you know, you need to go soul winning. And what it says in Matthew 28 verse 18, and Jesus came and spake unto them saying, all power, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. See, Jesus came the first time as a lamb. And what you see mentioned in Revelation 5, it mentions the lamb and it mentions the lion of the tribe of Judah. When Jesus came the first time, he came as a lamb. He didn't come as a conquering king, okay? But after he's risen again, all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. And when he comes back to rapture his children, he will pour out his wrath as the lion of the tribe of Judah. The first time he came as a lamb, he's coming back as the lion. And we see that in Revelation chapter 5. But realize a strong angel saying, who's worthy? And I want you to realize as Jesus rose again, all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. Turn back to Revelation 5, Revelation 5. And so when it comes to opening this book, here's what we need to realize. God will determine when it's gotten so bad that he's going to release these seals and he's going to come back, okay? Because the first seal, when it gets released, that's the beginning of the seven-year time period, okay? God is going to be the one to determine it's time to start releasing those seals. And he's going to release one seal, two seals, three seals, four seals. Now we're not talking about in the ocean, okay? We're not talking about seals in the ocean that are captive. No. One seal, two seals, three seals, four seals. Then all of a sudden, you've got the abomination of desolation. That's when the Antichrist is going to reveal himself or claim to be God. And then we have 75 days of tribulation. And in Revelation 5, they're crying out, how long, O Lord? Holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Why? Because the abomination of desolation has taken place, which we're going to see here in a couple of weeks. And basically in the fifth seal, all of a sudden, if you weren't willing to bow down and worship the Antichrist as God and worship that image, you will be killed. You will be slaughtered. Say, well, how do you get spared? You get spared by doing a lot of soul winning and God will keep you alive. That's what I believe. Okay? I believe that you can't be martyred. Obviously, a lot of good people are, but I believe God's going to keep some people into the fight. Because the Bible says the Gospel during that time is going to spread to all the world. And so the only way it's going to spread is if people that are bona fide soul winners are doing it. Because here's the thing. Someone who's an IFB that's never gone soul winning before, look, if somebody dropped in front of them now and said, what must I do to be saved, they'd be like, just believe. But they wouldn't use any verses. That's not going to get somebody saved. You have to actually know how to do it. I really believe that over half of saved people in this world, if somebody came to them and said, what must I do to be saved, they would screw it up. And that's sad, but it's reality. And here's why I know it's reality. Because when I first started preaching the Gospel to people, I screwed up. I didn't know what verses to turn to. I was all over the place. Right? All of us were like that. When you start, and let me tell you something, during the end, I believe the people that God is going to let live through the great tribulation are those that are soul winning. Okay? Now I don't believe we're anywhere near the end times. I don't believe this coronavirus has anything to do with the end times personally. And you know, obviously I mentioned that on Sunday, but let me tell you something. When it gets really bad, I believe the people God is going to spare are the people that are really dedicated to him. Why? Because he needs us. He needs us. That's the truth. Nobody's going to get saved without us. Now nobody gets saved without the Lord Jesus Christ, but nobody gets saved without us. And people think that's a blasphemous statement. That's a biblical statement because of the fact we're soul winners. He that winneth souls, he and she that winneth souls, and nobody will ever get saved except with people. Why? He's given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That's what the Bible says. Turn back to Revelation five. Revelation five. So it's going to be God's determination. When are those seals going to be released? And obviously people like to guess and everything like maybe this is leading towards it, but quite honestly, we're really not going to know for sure until the abomination of desolation. Now there's a lot of, right now, honestly, it's not possible for the abomination of desolation to happen because the temple hasn't been rebuilt. They're not doing sacrifices. So quite honestly, you know, the abomination of desolation can't come tomorrow. Okay. There's a lot of things that need to take place. Okay. So we're not at that point, but let me tell you something. Even if a lot of those things start to get fulfilled, even if tomorrow they start making sacrifices, that doesn't mean the end is here in a couple of years. It's going to be God's determination when things are so bad that he's going to come. And quite honestly, the world is not that bad yet. It's bad, but this is not like Genesis chapter six. I don't think. I think it's going to get a lot worse than that. And it's going to be tough as a Christian because here's the thing. When I was a kid, things were a lot different than they are now. It's progressively getting worse. But I think the reality is 25 years from now, we're still going to be around and it's going to be getting worse and worse and worse. But that's why next week we're going to talk about Revelation 5.5, because things still need to be fulfilled before we even get to that time period. So I don't believe we're honestly really that close to this point. They can progress in the next 5, 10 years, but things still need to take place. And quite honestly, even though the whole world lies in wickedness, not every single country in the world are there just a ton of sodomites dressed up as women out there. Not every country is just obscenely wicked to the point where God would come back. It's not Sodom and Gomorrah everywhere. Even here, it's going to get a lot worse. The amount of sodomites are going to increase and things are going to get worse and worse and worse. And then God will determine is it time for basically the seals to be released. Revelation chapter five, verse three. Go back to verse two real quickly. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to lose the seals thereof. So he's proclaimed with a loud voice, who is it that's worthy? Verse three, and no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. When it says no man in heaven, that's obviously referring to anyone up in heaven. Nor in earth are those that are alive in earth, nor in earth are those that are alive in heaven. Neither are those that are alive in earth, neither under the earth. Well, what's underneath the earth? What's in the heart of the earth? Okay. It's referring to those that are in hell. So nobody in hell is going to be able to open up the book either. So no one in heaven, no one on earth, and no one in hell is going to be able to open up the book. No man, no man was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. Because until the book is open, which I believe is all the seals, you can't look thereon. Okay. So I think basically all the seals must be broken. And once the book is open, all the seals are gone, then you can look at the contents of the book. I believe that's what it's teaching there. Verse number four. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. Now, you know, we should really stop and think about verse four and just the heart of John where he wept much because he wants to know what's in the book. What are God's words? We have Christians today that there's nothing stopping them from opening their Bible. They don't have any seals on it, but they don't. They've never read the book of Zephaniah. They've never read the book of Ezekiel or Haggai or Obadiah. They don't know anything about it. They've never read the contents of the book. And if they do read it, it's about five minutes every single day. It's like there's no seal stopping us. And yet most Christians, they don't spend any time reading the Bible. It's like there's nothing stopping us. Why wouldn't we read the word of God? John wept much because no one's found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. That's the attitude we should have. Verse five, and one of the elders saith unto me, weep not, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. And so it mentions the lion of the tribe of Judah. And what you're going to see here in this chapter is it talks about the lamb and the lion of the tribe of Judah, both referring to Jesus Christ. He's prevailed to open the book. Go to, actually, let me show you one thing here. Notice how it says the root of David, the root of David, the roots referring to basically the beginning point, like the love of money is the root of all evil. And he's the root of David in the fact that all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. That kind of goes back to the fact that Jesus was here at the beginning. He's the root of David. He created all things. All things were made by him without him was not anything made that was made. Verse number six, verse five, so it says, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. Now when it says prevail, the word prevail basically is saying that there's obstacles to overcome if you prevail. If you're in a fight with someone and it's a really tough fight, when you win, it's going to say you prevail, which means it was a back and forth battle, but eventually you overcame. And so when it says the line of the tribe of Judah prevailed to open the book, it's referring to the fact that Jesus lived a perfect life and he died on the cross and he paid for our sins. And after he died for three days and three nights, his soul was in the heart of the earth in hell and his body was in the ground. He prevailed to open the book because then he rose again, his body and his soul. And then here he is. So he prevailed to open the book. Verse six, and I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. So notice now it mentions the lamb, okay? Before it mentioned the lion of the tribe of Judah, and it also mentions the lamb. This is the same. This is Jesus Christ. But when Jesus came the first time, did he come as the lion of the tribe of Judah? No, he came as the lamb. He came and he died and paid for our sins. When he comes back the next time, he comes as the lion of the tribe of Judah. And look, if you look at this throughout the Bible, what you're going to see basically talked about is that to us, he comes as the lamb, but to the wicked world, he comes as the lion of the tribe of Judah, okay? Those that love God's word, he's going to come as a lamb to us. But those that are wicked, he's coming as the lion of the tribe of Judah because we're not going to be here when he comes back. We're going to be raptured up to heaven. We go to heaven and we see him as a lamb. And look, the people that are left on earth are saying, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. And he's coming not just as this kind lamb that died and paid for our sins, but the wrath of the lamb, it says. He's coming as the lion of the tribe of Judah. Verse number seven, and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. So in verse number seven, notice it says he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. Who's sitting upon the throne? God the Father. Now, I don't understand because I've heard oneness people explain this verse. I actually looked up, it was a couple of weeks ago, I didn't write down what he said, but this was like a famous oneness Pentecostal who answers all the objections to the oneness doctrine. And he was trying to explain this verse and I was so confused. I was like, there's two of them. There's one taking the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. Unless you're saying he was sitting on the throne and he used his left hand to take it out of the right hand. I mean, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. He comes and takes the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. So who's on the throne? God the Father. Who's taking it out of his hand? It's Jesus Christ. It's the lamb or the lion of the tribe of Judah. It's not that complicated. Verse number eight, and when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And so here basically they see Jesus as the lamb. Notice a few things. Notice it mentions harps, okay? Now one thing you're going to see mentioned in the New Testament is that when it mentions in the New Testament, you will not see them using instruments when they're singing hymns. You'll see them sing a hymn, but you don't see it mentioning them having instruments. And so some people say, well, after Jesus rose again, we should have no instruments in music. There's a lot of religions that believe that. I don't remember all of them offhand. I believe the Amish and the Mennonites, I believe. I don't think they have any instruments. The Seventh-day Adventists, at least. I can't remember all the Church of Christ. I know not the one here, but the one in America. Maybe not Seventh-day Adventists, but a lot of them, it's just all a cappella. And the reason why is because they believe it's a sin to play instruments during the music. Their whole argument is the fact, well, we don't see them having instruments. Now it's true that you don't see them having instruments in the New Testament when they're singing, but I want you to understand something. If we said that we sang the song Wonderful Grace of Jesus tonight, does that mean that if we sang the song Wonderful Grace of Jesus that there were no instruments? Just because we say we sung the hymn, that doesn't mean that there weren't instruments also playing. If you say we sung this hymn Wonderful Grace of Jesus, saved by grace, that doesn't mean that there weren't any instruments. It would be a true statement to say we sung number 62 in our hymnal, right? We sung song number 210 in our hymnal. Those are true statements. It doesn't change the fact that there were still instruments being played. Just because we say we sung a hymn, that doesn't mean that there were no instruments. But whether or not there were instruments or not, throughout the Old Testament, you see that they were using instruments. When Jesus rose again, some things changed. Things that basically were a picture of Jesus Christ, the cleanliness laws, the Sabbath and things such as that. Look, music has nothing to do with Jesus rising again. That didn't symbolize Jesus rising again. There would be no reason not to have instruments today. Nothing would change. But here, this is in the New Testament. Up in heaven, notice it says that they have harps, okay? So notice there's instruments. Let me say this, though, that when they're out soul winning in the Bible, it's probably not that easy to bring all these instruments with you, okay? When we go soul winning, we don't bring guitars and harps and pianos and keyboards. Say why? Because that's difficult. Those are big instruments, okay? Maybe we bring a flute or something small like that, but you're not going to bring big instruments. So look, it's not surprising that when you see them out and having a prayer session in the middle of the wilderness, it doesn't mention them having instruments. They probably didn't have instruments. Say why? Because that's kind of a burden to bring an instrument like that. When you're meeting at one specific location, you can have instruments in the audience. It's not a problem because you don't have to bring them all the time, okay? So look, I think it's a pretty poor argument to say we shouldn't have instruments today because you do see it in the New Testament right here with harps. And you're never going to find a verse that says it's sin or it's wrong to have an instrument. But you find throughout, David played instruments in the Bible. So playing instruments, there's nothing wrong with that. Then it mentions having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors. Golden vials. Now obviously gold is a precious thing. It's a very expensive thing. And it mentions vials. You say, what is that? You think of medicine or liquids that are often in what's called a vial, okay? That's where they're kept. That's where they're protected. And it says a golden vial. So basically this is very valuable. And what it says this is filled with is full of odors which are the prayers of saints. And so what it's indicating is that when we're praying to God, basically those are being kept in a golden vial. They're being kept for safety purposes, okay? Now I don't know if this is every single prayer you ever do. But it shows, you know, it's something that's very valuable to God, okay? My kids are obviously very young. But I'm sure in a couple years my son will start drawing pictures, okay? I guess he has before with coloring books and things like that. And when your kids draw pictures, you know what you often do? You keep that picture. You say, why? It's very valuable to you. It's not going to be the greatest painting of all time when your four-year-old draws a picture. But it has meaning to it. Or, for example, when our kids one day, you know, let's say they write a poem or say Happy Mother's Day. They just kind of write it out to my wife or whatever like that. It's probably something we're going to keep around because it's something that's valuable. Our prayers are like that to God. And the sad reality is God probably doesn't need that big of a vial to keep all the prayers of saints because people don't really pray a whole lot. That's the reality. But the Bible says that He keeps this why it has value to it. Verse 9, and they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof. For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Now, this verse is often used by people to try to support a pre-tribulation argument. Their argument here is that it says God's redeemed us. It's a new song being sung. And He says we're redeemed from every kindred and tongue and people and nation. So their argument is, well, since there's people redeemed from every kindred and tongue and people and nation and it's a new song, these must be people that were raptured up to heaven. Look, I think that's a really poor argument because in Revelation 7 it mentions a great multitude from every kindred and nation. This doesn't mention a great multitude. And I want you to notice when it says they sung a new song, they is referencing back to something. If it's going to say they, we need to know what that's talking about. Is there any indication of a great multitude in heaven here? Is there anything that would say that? The they is referencing back to verse 8. Who is the they? The four beasts and four and twenty elders. That's who the they is. The they is the four beasts and the four and twenty elders. How do we know that? That's the verse right before. It never says in verse 8 there's this great multitude in heaven or millions of people. The they is referencing the four beasts and four and twenty elders. Now look, it says they're singing. They would reject what I just said and they'll say, well, they're singing because of you've redeemed us from every blood of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And they say, if it's only these 28, why would they be saying all that? Because they weren't from every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Look, it's the same thing as when we sing songs in this hymnal. Not every song in this hymnal directly applies to us. We sing songs about the tribulation. Does that apply to us today in terms of directly we're going through the tribulation? No. When it talks about basically seeing him face to face, I'm not dead yet. I haven't seen the Lord face to face and if I did, I would be dead, right, according to the Bible. I haven't seen him face to face, but could we still sing the song face to face and it has meaning? Absolutely. But it doesn't necessarily mean I've experienced that exact thing. Look, we sing plenty of songs in here that do not directly apply to us. That does not mean that it's wrong for us to sing that. And so when they're singing a new song here, it doesn't mean they have to have experienced this exact thing of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. That would still be fine to say. And so when it says they sung a new song, I believe it's referencing back to the four beasts and four and twenty elders from verse number eight. They're singing this song, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Say how do you know that the rapture hasn't happened if they're saying you've redeemed us from every kindred and tongue and people and nation? Turn to Revelation six one second. Revelation chapter six. Revelation chapter six. Turn there myself. Because it's very obvious at this point the rapture hasn't happened because you can notice Revelation six verse nine. Revelation six verse nine. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. Why do we see a lot of people that are slain? Because after the abomination of desolation, many people are going to be killed. A lot of people are going to be killed. And they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? According to verse 10, has God judged and avenged their blood yet? Not yet. They're saying how long is it going to be until you avenge our blood? So look, if you're going back to Revelation chapter five and say the rapture's already happened, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, okay? Because what they believe is the rapture happens and God pours out his wrath. They just believe that happens at the beginning. But according to Revelation six, verse 10, he hasn't judged and avenged their blood yet. Turn back to Revelation five, Revelation five. I for the life of me, I still don't understand the preacher rapture because look, I've never believed in a preacher rapture. When I got saved, I didn't even know there was a rapture, to be honest. And so the person who led me to the Lord also taught me about the pre-wrath rapture like six months later, pre-wrath poster rapture. So I've never believed in a preacher rapture. So I for the life of me, when I read the Bible, I'm like, I don't get it because it's not in there at all. The only way you're going to believe it is if you're brainwashed. That is the only way. And I'm sure people in this room have believed in the past. The truth is you believe that because you were brainwashed and you were taught that you could not understand the book of Revelation. You were taught that at a young age in your Baptist church. And so every time you read the book of Revelation, you either skipped it or you just read it and said, man, I don't understand anything in this book. Okay. It's not confusing in the Bible though. When it comes to the timing of the rapture, it's obvious in Revelation 5 it hasn't happened because in Revelation 6 verses 9 and 10, you see the people that have been slain after the abomination of desolation and it makes sense why they'd be saying, how long is it going to be? Why? Because of the fact that it's really not that long after the abomination of desolation. They're like, we're waiting for you to return because in what God says is you want more going to be killed just as you were until he comes back. That's what the Bible teaches. Revelation chapter 5 verse 9, notice how it says, and they sung a new song. Now I understand this is not directly applying to this, but let me say this, that when we get saved, the Bible says he's put a new song in our mouth. Before you're saved, a song like this would have no meaning whatsoever. Look, I didn't like the Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs before I got saved. I never sung these songs before I was saved. I never sung songs like Aerosmith and Guns and Roses and all this garbage music and things like that. I didn't sing songs like Nothing But the Blood because I didn't know what that song was really about. Nothing But the Blood because I wasn't saved. When you get saved, God's put a new song in your mouth and the new man likes the new songs. But I still like the old music. That's because that's the old man. Let me give you something that's kind of encouraging though, and obviously there's plenty of people here and we're at different stages of how long we've been saved for. When I first got saved, I was still listening to the wrong music and it basically got preached out of me and I felt guilty for it. And I eventually just one day I was listening to a sermon and this was a long time ago. This was before the new IFB even was a thing. This was like an old IFB pastor, but he's preaching against music and I felt really guilty. And I remember I paused the sermon and I took out my CDs. I had these packs with like 50 CDs. I took one right out one after the other and just threw them all in the trash, bundled it up. I went outside and I threw it into an unclean place without the city as the Bible says. Okay, the symbolism in the Bible. Say why? Because I realized it was wrong what I was doing. Now when I threw them out, though, I still enjoy listening to that music. The reason why I threw them out immediately is because when I was hearing that sermon preached, I realized I am very clear headed right now. I know what I need to do. But if I don't do this now in six hours, I might not feel so clear headed. I might leave it around. And this is why people never get rid of their music, because I preach against worldly music and worldly movies and things like that and against having a television. And you know what? People agree with it when they hear it. But I promise you there's plenty of people at our church that still listen to worldly music and worldly movies because when they hear it preached, they don't apply it immediately. And when you hear the truth and you know what you need to do, the Bible says go to now in James 4, not go to, well, in the morning, because in the morning you're going to change your mind. You've got to do it immediately. But I still enjoy listening to that music, and I'll tell you what, though, I honestly don't enjoy that music at all. I don't have any desire in my flesh to hear that music, because I would still hear that music when I was at the Walmart or grocery stores or wherever. But quite honestly, you know, as time goes by, it starts to kind of fade away. Somebody who quit smoking cigarettes, and I've never smoked a cigarette, but someone who quit smoking cigarettes, the day after they quit, they still want to smoke cigarettes. But do you realize as days go by, they want to smoke a little bit less every single day? That's the way it works. And look, when you get rid of your worldliness, at first you're going to really miss it. Let me tell you something. It slowly is going to become less and less as long as you don't feed that bad habit. If you keep feeding that bad habit, the desire is never going to go away. You must just get rid of it, and then your heart will actually desire what's right. Why? Because first you do the action, and as I always preach, your heart follows the action. That's just the way it works. You start doing it, and you'll start to enjoy it. And so it says they sung a new song in verse number nine, and look, this is something we should apply that when we get saved, we sing a new song. Now let me just briefly mention to you about CCM or Christian contemporary music. Christian rock, so to speak. Because a lot of people feel like, well, we should listen to Christian rock. I'm not really in our church. I'm sure there's some. But throughout this world, people, when they get saved, they feel like, man, I should listen to Christian rock. I thought the same thing. My problem after I got saved was I really hated Christian rock because I thought it was really bad. I thought it was really boring. So I just basically listened to bad music until I got rid of it all. But Christian rock music, just some examples of this are the song Our God is an Awesome God. Now Our God is an Awesome God. Those are pretty much the entire lyrics of the song. Our God is an Awesome God over and over and over again. Another song that was really famous, and I don't know the current popular CCM music, was They Don't Serve Breakfast in Hell by the News Boys. I think that's the name of the sermon. And part of the song, there's this one line where it says Captain Crunch is saying Amen, which is a cereal in the US. It's like, what in the world? Is that supposed to be godly music? Look, when you're seeing this song in verse nine, notice this new song, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Notice it's actually teaching doctrine. See, the new songs we sing should teach about the doctrines we now believe. That's why many songs in our hymnal are there is power in the blood, nothing but the blood, when I see the blood, because that's what we believe. Songs about salvation, songs that actually have meaning, not the old music that we used to listen to. Now look at verse number, actually turn to Revelation 21, Revelation 21. Revelation chapter 21. And let me just, as I forgot to read it, if you want to... Keep your finger in Revelation 21, quickly go back to Revelation chapter five. I forgot to show you one verse, Revelation chapter five, but keep your place in Revelation 21. We'll go back there in a second. And it says in Revelation chapter five, verse 10, Revelation five, verse 10, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Notice how it says we shall reign on the earth. This isn't the only place in the Bible says we're going to reign on the earth because in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five, it talks about the meek shall inherit the earth. I think that's a quote. And so what the Bible teaches is New Jerusalem is going to come down. Heaven's going to come down. Now look, the Jehovah's Witnesses, they are wrong on most everything, but they're not wrong on everything. The Bible says we shall reign on earth. Turn to Revelation 21, Revelation 21, Revelation chapter 21. And so what takes place in Revelation 21 is it's going to talk about a new heaven and a new earth. Notice what it says in Revelation 21, verse one, Revelation 21, verse one. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. Now I don't believe that the old heaven and old earth were just completely gone, and then a new one is here. I believe they're basically changed, and that's a whole other sermon. You can listen. A few years ago, Pastor Anderson preached a sermon about it, but basically that heaven and earth are going to be changed. They say it's new because it's basically destroyed and then it's built up. But a new heaven and a new earth, and it says there's no more sea at the end of verse one. And notice in verse two, and I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. So look, it is accurate, and we'll talk about it more as we go to Revelation 21 to say we're going to reign on the earth. Okay, that's biblical. Turn back to Revelation chapter five, Revelation five. Revelation chapter five. Now in verse number 11, we're going to get to actually a bit of a math problem here, so that's always good. Revelation chapter five verse 11, Revelation five verse 11, and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000. Now 10,000 times 10,000 is 100 million angels. So it's 10,000 times 10,000. That alone is 100 million angels. That's quite a lot. Okay, 100 million angels. That's basically roughly the population of the Philippines is around 100 million. So maybe all those angels are just here. We each have one. I don't know. About 100 million angels. But then notice what it says. It says thousands of thousands. Thousands of thousands. It does not say thousands times thousands. It says thousands of thousands. So you say, how much is thousands of thousands? Okay, well, I'll prove this to you, and this might be confusing at first. The first thousands is plural. The second thousands is singular. Say, but wait a minute. It ends in an S. Okay, well, I'll prove this to you. So let me just show this to you, though. The first thousands is plural because it has an S on the end, but the second thousands is not plural. It's actually singular. It'd be like we said, hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousands would be at least 200,000, right? At least 200 times 1,000, which is 200,000. Not 200 times 2,000 when you say hundreds of thousands. So the thousands, the second one, it's actually singular. It's not plural because hundreds of thousands would be at least 200 times 1,000. Hundreds of thousands. Okay, that'd be 200,000, 300,000, 400,000. So thousands of thousands is at least 2,000 times 1,000, not at least 2,000 times 2,000. I know that's a bit tricky, but just think of hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands. Tens of thousands is at least 20,000, okay? Multiple of 10. At least 20,000, maybe 30,000, but it's 20 times 1,000, not 2,000. So I don't know if this is math or grammar. It's kind of a combination here, okay? But the thousands of thousands is at least 2,000 times 1,000, okay? And so basically 2,000 times 1,000 is 2,000,000 because 1,000 times 1,000 is 1,000,000. So basically we have 100,000,000 and we add it with at least 2,000 times 1,000. So at least 2,000,000. So this is not 4,000,000. This is 2,000,000. So at least 102,000,000 angels is what it's saying, okay? 102,000,000. Now we think about the fact that one-third of the angels basically went with the devil, and that would be basically 51 because two out of the three are with God and one out of the three are with the devil. If this is 102, which it's at least 102, that would leave 51 for the devil, okay? So basically 51 out of 153 would be with the devil because one-third. I don't know if it's exactly one-third down to 33.3333% or whether or not it's just basically around one-third. But basically you're talking about 51,000,000 basically devils. That's a lot, okay? It's not necessarily that surprising where it talks about how people are possessed by many devils, okay? People that are possessed, okay? And so this is in verse number 11, it's 102,000,000 is what it's talking about. Verse 12, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb. Why is the lamb worthy that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing? See, the lamb is worthy because of the fact that Jesus died and paid for our sins and then he rose again. Now other people have been slain with a sword. Other people have been killed. Other people have been murdered, but only the Lord Jesus Christ actually was slain and died for our sins and then rose again, okay? So that is the reason why Jesus is worthy and no one else is worthy, which means Buddha is not worthy to pay for your sins. Muhammad is not worthy to pay for your sins. And so those religions, they don't even make sense because here's the thing, all of sin and come short of the glory of God, at least we have a savior. They don't even claim to have a savior. It's like, why are you following that religion when you don't have a savior that died for you? It doesn't make any sense, but they don't believe. The Muslims don't believe Jesus died and rose again. The other religions, they don't believe that either. The Bible says worthy is the lamb. Why? He died and paid for our sins. He was perfect. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and on the lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, amen, and the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. So Revelation chapter five, you know, it's not necessarily any deep doctrine. It's kind of foundational. Next week, we'll start to kind of get to it with Revelation 5.5. We'll start going to the things that need to take place before we get to the end times. Then we've got three sermons on Revelation chapter six. So we're getting down to the meat and potatoes, because honestly, Revelation 6 is like the meat and potatoes of the end times, and it happens like this. We're going to break it down at the beginning of sorrows to the abomination of desolation and the great tribulation. Okay, let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here tonight and just getting to see your word in Revelation chapter five, and help us to understand that you are worthy. And we're coming up to Easter, and it kind of reminds us of that, that only you are worthy to die and pay for our sins, God. We ask you to continue to bless our church, especially during difficult times, God. Help us to know your book, the book of Revelation. Also read, you know, Daniel and Zechariah and these other books so we can understand the things that are ahead of us, whether or not it happens in our lifetime or the generations to follow, God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.