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We remember that from last week, correct?

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And what's interesting is if you look at the end

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of Revelation chapter four,

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do you remember one of the main things

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that it was focusing on?

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It said that God was worthy to receive glory

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and honor and power because of what?

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Because he created all things and by his will

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all things existed and were created.

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So as the vision in Revelation chapter four ends,

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it's focuses on creation.

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And what's interesting is in many ways,

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the vision of Revelation chapter five,

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its focus becomes on recreation, new creation,

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and redemption.

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And it's basically getting us to ask this question

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of what the fate of the world would be

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if there was no savior?

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What humanity's fate would be if there was no savior?

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And as I was studying it, it kind of reminded me,

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I don't know if y'all have seen,

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around Christmas time they show a bunch

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of the old classic Christmas movies.

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Have y'all seen the one, the year without a Santa Claus?

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Oh, it's an old, I mean it's from like this,

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I was gonna say it's an old one,

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but then I was gonna say a year.

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I don't want anyone to think I'm being offensive

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by that year, but it was made in the 20th century.

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So it was, you know, it's back there,

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I was born in the 20th century, so I'm not saying anything,

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but like 1960s is one of those stop motion,

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like claymation type pictures,

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but basically the premise of the movie was,

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Santa Claus is sick and he doesn't know

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if he's gonna be able to do what he has to do,

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he sees his doctor and his doctor basically says,

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well listen, no one even believes in Santa Claus anyways,

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so you need to just take the year off,

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have yourself a holiday and don't go deliver presents.

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So that's the plan and basically some elves

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are trying to get him to do, you know,

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go deliver presents and everything.

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But what's interesting is at one point,

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a little girl writes a letter to Santa

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and it's got a picture of her on the front,

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colored in crayon and she's crying

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and it says, I'll have a blue Christmas without you.

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And of course, she starts singing the famous song,

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I'll have a blue Christmas without you

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and it's supposed to pull on your heartstrings

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and everything and it's forcing you,

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or forcing Santa at least to consider

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how people feel about him being absent,

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what the lack of his presence would mean come Christmas time.

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And the whole point was to say,

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well what would Christmas be without Santa Claus?

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And Revelation five is asking us,

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well what would the world be without a savior?

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What would humanity be without Jesus?

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How sad would this world be?

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How miserable would we be?

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How hopeless and depressed would we be without Jesus?

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What would our fate be?

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I mean, if we didn't have Jesus,

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we'd be left in our sin, correct?

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We'd be destined to pay the price for our own sin.

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We would be forced to stand before God on judgment day

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without a mediator, with no protection whatsoever.

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We would literally have to stand before him

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and we would have to endure his wrath

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and it would be a just punishment, would it not?

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If there was no one to pay the price for our sin

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and so if we did not have Jesus sorrow, would be endless.

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And so as we read this section in Revelation five,

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the point is to show us that we need Jesus

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but it also shows us how Jesus actually wins the victory

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for us.

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And so you look at verse one with me.

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The Bible says, then I saw in the right hand of him

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who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within

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and on the back and sealed with seven seals.

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Now we see a number of different scrolls

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all throughout scripture

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and especially ones in relation to apocalyptic literature

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and things like that.

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Oh, we found the microphone, sweet.

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So one of the first ones is in Ezekiel.

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So if you wanna write down the reference is Ezekiel chapter

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two and I believe it's verses nine through 10.

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Yes, Ezekiel chapter two versus nine through 10.

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God hands Ezekiel a scroll and it has writing

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on both sides of the scroll.

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And what's interesting is in the beginning of chapter three

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of Ezekiel, he says, eat this scroll.

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And he says it tasted like honey.

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And there's a whole nother message there

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but we're not gonna get into that tonight.

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But there's another one that we read about.

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It's not so much a scroll as it is a book

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and it relates to this.

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And that's in Daniel chapter 12 and verse four.

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And that book, that book that Daniel had,

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it had writing all over it.

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And the Lord tells Daniel to shut the book

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and seal it up until when?

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Until the end.

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That's right, until the end.

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And so this scroll here that we read about in Revelation five,

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it might be an illusion to the sealed book of Daniel

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where God said to seal up this book until the end.

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And so you get the sense that, well,

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maybe this is the end if we're finally gonna have

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the unsealing of this book.

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And what is in the scroll?

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It's God's entire plan of redemption.

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It is God's entire plan of redemption.

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And the fact that it has writing all over it

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is an indication of the thoroughness of God's plan.

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That not a single detail has been left out of this plan.

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It is a comprehensive plan of redemption.

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And so redemption didn't just happen by accident,

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in other words.

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God didn't just happen to look out at Adam and Eve

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and say, oh no, they sinned, what am I gonna do now?

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And he didn't just continue to watch mankind fall deeper

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and deeper and deeper into sin and then say,

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what am I gonna do about this big problem?

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The Bible says in Ephesians chapter one,

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before God created anything, he had planned redemption.

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And you have this sealed scroll with writing all around it

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which is meant to say that this plan is comprehensive

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and thorough and every detail is written down.

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And the scroll is sealed with seven seals.

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And here's the problem.

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We read about the problem in verses two through four.

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This is what it says.

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And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice,

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who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals.

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And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth

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was able to open the scroll or to look into it.

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And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy

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to open the scroll or to look into it.

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And so the vision slowly gets to the reality

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of this bad situation that John is beholding

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where he says no one is able to open the scroll

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and the reason they're not able to open the scroll

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is because no one is found to be worthy to open the scroll.

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It's not, when you're thinking about the scroll,

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don't think about if you got some paper

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and you just kind of put some tape over it to seal it up.

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Because remember, we are reading apocalyptic literature here

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so it's not that simple.

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Because what we're gonna see in the next few chapters

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of Revelation are the actual unsealing,

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the pulling back of those seals.

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And each one, it's not just a little tape

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keeping the scroll down, each one has to do with events

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that are gonna take place in human history.

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So it's not, why can no one come

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and just pull the tape back on the scroll?

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Why can't someone do it?

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Why would you have to be worthy to do that?

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It's because the events that are gonna take place

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require a certain person to oversee those events.

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When you begin to see the war that's gonna come

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and all that's gonna take place with the horsemen

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that we're gonna read about in Revelation 6

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and all these things to follow,

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you have to have a certain person

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who is going to be able to oversee all the events

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that are gonna come with the unsealing of the scroll.

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And they said, no one is found to be worthy to do that.

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There's no one in heaven,

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meaning there's no angelic being or cherubim or seraphim

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or anything like that who can do it.

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There's certainly no one on earth, that's us,

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we're not worthy to do it.

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There's no one under the earth, he says.

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No one in the realm of the dead

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who is able to come and open this scroll.

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And notice what the Bible says.

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John's not just upset about this,

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it says that he began to weep loudly.

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And what's interesting about that phrase,

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weep loudly, in the Greek,

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it's typically only used to describe people

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who are mourning the loss of a loved one.

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So if you can think about that,

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and I mean, many of us have lost loved ones,

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I mean, I can think of some in our church recently.

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If you think about the sorrow and the agony

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and the heartbreak that comes with losing a spouse,

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or losing a brother, a sister, a mother, a father,

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and the pain and the agony that comes out there

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and how much wailing and weeping there is,

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that's the phrase that's used in the Greek here

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to describe how John reacts when he realizes

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there is no one who is worthy to open this scroll.

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Now here's my question to you, why is it such a big deal?

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See, we don't want to read through scripture too quickly

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and just go by this and go, okay, well John was upset,

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no one's found to open the scroll,

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we all know Jesus is gonna come and do it.

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The question I want you to think about,

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would you have cried?

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Would you have mourned?

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Would you be weeping?

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Do you understand why it's so significant

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that this or crucial that this scroll be opened?

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What's the big deal behind it?

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Why must this scroll be opened and why is John so upset

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that no one is found worthy to open the scroll?

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You think John knows what's in it?

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No.

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All right, that's right.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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That's right.

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Yeah, that's, I mean, a different way of saying the same thing, basically, is, is,

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genes on the right track there where John understands that in order to move forward

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with redemptive history, certain things have to happen.

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And the things that have to happen are contained in the scroll and the scroll

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was never going to be unsealed unless someone's found to be worthy

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to open that scroll and open those seals.

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And if those things don't happen, then God's plan doesn't move forward.

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So Jesus at this point, he's already died on the cross, right?

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Sins are paid for.

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Praise God. He's already resurrected. He's ascended. Praise God for that.

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The problem is salvation doesn't end there. And if the scroll remain closed,

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then we would all die and the plan doesn't move forward.

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There is no eternal rest for the saints at that point.

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There is no final judgment at that point.

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There is no righting the wrongs of the earth at that point.

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There is no sending people to their eternal punishment.

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There is no welcoming people into glory.

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There is no new heavens and new earth resetting the earth and the

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world to the way that God intended in the first place.

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You are stuck in essential limbo in this situation where nothing moves forward

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ever because the plan can't move forward because it's written in the scroll.

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The scroll has to be open.

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That's why John is weeping. Wow, because he realizes every single Christian,

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even though our sins are paid for, our eternities are in the balance because the

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things that must take place, which God said earlier in Revelation,

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the things that must take place are written in the scroll and no one is

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found worthy to open the scroll.

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We're all in a world of trouble if that scroll was not open.

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And so John is longing for the scroll to be opened and he is in despair at the

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fact that no one is found worthy.

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I want you to notice what happens next in verses five through seven.

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We'll have to do this part quickly or at least pick up next week.

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But the Bible says, and one of the elders said to me, weep no more.

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Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so

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that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.

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And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders,

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I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns.

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It was seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the

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earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him,

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who was seated on the throne.

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Now, as you can see here, there are a couple of titles used for Jesus to show

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that Jesus is the Messiah.

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And the first one that you see here is that he's the lion of the tribe of Judah.

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Now, this is a messianic reference.

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Does anybody know where it comes from?

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With his reference by, with his reference by, if you had said Genesis,

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I would have given you the probes, but nine through 10.

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After our two year study in Genesis, Michael of course knew that, of course.

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Of course. So Genesis 49, 9 through 10.

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This is the blessing upon the sons of Jacob.

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And the Bible says, Judah is a lion's cub.

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From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

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He stooped down.

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He crouches a lion and as a lioness, who dares rouse him.

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The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler staff from between his

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feet until tribute comes to him.

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And to him shall be the obedience of the people.

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And the Bible is saying here that Jesus is that lion of the tribe of Judah,

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which means that he alone has the right to rule and reign over God's kingdom.

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He has the dominion because the Bible says here, the scepter shall never depart from him.

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And so this is a way of showing Jesus is worthy because he is descended

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from the tribe of Judah. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah.

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He is worthy because he alone has the right to rule and reign over God's kingdom.

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But then you get a second title, which is the root of David.

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What does that mean?

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The root of David.

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Well, it's a fulfillment of God's promise to David that we find in Second Samuel,

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Chapter seven, where God specifically promised David that there that he was going

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to have an heir and that that heir would be the king over a kingdom that would be eternal

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and that this king would sit on the throne of that kingdom forever and ever and ever.

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And he would never be dethroned and the kingdom would go on forever.

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This type of language is also used in Isaiah, Chapter 11.

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And Isaiah, Chapter 11, verse one, the Bible says, there shall come forth a shoot from the

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stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

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So that's Isaiah 11 one.

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And then you go down in Isaiah 11 10.

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And this is what the Bible says there.

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In that day, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples of him,

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shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious.

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And so what's interesting too, if you read Isaiah, Chapter 11 and read the whole chapter,

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it actually speaks of the new creation that this root of Jesse is going to bring about.

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And so this is the Bible saying that Jesus is the fulfillment of that as well,

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because Jesse obviously fathered David and Jesus is descended from David.

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And so he is the root of David.

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So the Bible is saying here, Jesus is worthy because he is the lion of the tribe of Judah,

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who has the right to rule and reign over God's kingdom.

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But he's also worthy because as the root of David, he is going to be the one who brings

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about God's new creation.

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It's not enough for him to just be king.

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He is going to be the one who is bringing salvation to the people of God and new creation

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for the people of God, which we're ultimately going to see at the end of Revelation.

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And now here's the really interesting thing.

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You might have noticed it before, but I want you to notice again what the one of the 24

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elders says to John in verse five.

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So John's crying and one of the 24 elders comes to him and he says, weep no more.

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Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah.

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So, behold, someone's here.

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Hey, your crying is no one's worthy, but behold, it's a lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah,

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the root of David, and he is conquered so that he can open the scroll and it's seven seals.

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But what's interesting about that?

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That's right.

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That's right.

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So originally I was titled in this message here in a lion and seeing a lamb because in

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verse five, he hears about this lion and so he turns around and what's he looking for?

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A lion.

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But what does he see when he turns around?

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In verse six, he sees a lamb standing as though it's been slain.

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I mean, it's like pulling the wool over your eyes there, right?

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The elder says, hey, no need to cry.

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Behold a lion.

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And John turns around and he says, it's a lamb.

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And there's nothing really impressive about this lamb, is there?

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It's a lamb that has clearly been slain and yet it's standing.

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And it's important to note there too, when the Bible says as though it had been slain,

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it's not saying that Jesus merely had the appearance of one who had been slain, but

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wasn't actually, that's not what it's saying.

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It's saying the impressive thing is this lamb has clearly been slain.

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It's been slaughtered.

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And yet somehow this lamb is standing.

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And so it's actually a reference to Jesus's resurrection.

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The fact that he is standing tall, even though he has clearly been slain and

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slaughtered, it's a reference to his resurrection.

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He is our Passover lamb who was slain for our sins, but he rose from the grave

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by the power of God and he defeated sin, death and Satan.

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And that is how he won the victory thing.

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So that's what the important thing to note here and understand is that the

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lion actually conquers as a lamb, not a lion.

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He is the lion of the tribe of Judah, but he doesn't conquer as a lion.

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I mean, that's what people wanted him to do all throughout his ministry, right?

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Just do away with Rome.

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Just go and be our king.

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You can lead us.

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You can deliver us.

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And yet Jesus did not deliver people through destruction and through

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conquest and things like that.

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He delivered through death.

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By sacrificing himself by laying himself down as a substitute for us.

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And so the triumph comes through death, not destruction.

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And the lamb that John sees here is not like any lamb you've ever seen.

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Is it not only is it clearly slaughtered and yet standing?

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This lamb, as it appears here, has seven horns.

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What's that about?

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What's that about?

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Seven horns.

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He's using that reference Bible again.

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Yes, so a horn would symbolize strength or power and seven.

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This one's the easy part.

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Perfect.

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Yeah, that's right.

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Seven symbolizes perfection.

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And so the interesting thing about the fact that you have this slain lamb that

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has seven horns is it's the Bible's apocalyptic way of saying, even though

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this lamb has been slain, he is alive and he has perfect and complete power and strength.

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No one took his life from him.

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In other words, the one who possesses perfect power and strength laid down his

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life as a sacrifice.

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And not only does he have seven horns, but we also see seven eyes.

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Right.

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So seven horns and seven eyes.

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This one's real easy.

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What are the eyes?

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Yeah, that's a good thought.

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00:23:02,100 --> 00:23:04,260
And that actually could be part of it for sure.

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What else?

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What else?

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But that's right.

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There you go.

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So the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.

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Now this one should be an easy one for everybody who's been with us from the

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get go in revelation.

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What does the Bible mean when it says the seven spirits of God?

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Yes, the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

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Right.

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So when the Bible says seven spirits of God is referring to the fullness of the

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presence of the Holy Spirit.

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And so notice this when you have a risen lamb, one who is standing yet those

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slain, you have the seven spirits of God going out to all the earth or the

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fullness, the presence of the Holy Spirit going out into all the earth.

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And that's exactly what Jesus said was going to happen.

402
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Right.

403
00:24:03,140 --> 00:24:07,340
And in John 16, 17, he said, nevertheless, I tell you the truth.

404
00:24:07,340 --> 00:24:12,100
It is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away, the helper will

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not come to you.

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But if I go, I will send him to you.

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And then in Acts chapter one, verses eight through nine, the Bible says, but you

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will receive spirit or receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

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And you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the

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end of the year.

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And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up

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and the cloud took him out of their sight.

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And so the Holy Spirit has gone out into all the world only because the lamb

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was slain and resurrected and ascended and is now standing in heaven victorious

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with all power.

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And so the Holy Spirit goes into all the earth.

417
00:24:56,780 --> 00:25:00,820
And so we see this lamb go and look at just the authority that lamb has.

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You and I cannot do this.

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Please understand that.

420
00:25:03,700 --> 00:25:09,620
He walks right up to the throne of God, to the father himself and grabs the

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scroll out of the right hand of God.

422
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Who else in all of creation could do something like that?

423
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The Bible says we can't even look at God and live, let alone approach him and

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live, and yet this lamb who was slain walks right up and grabs the scroll.

425
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It proves that he is worthy.

426
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Only he can take the scroll and open it seals.

427
00:25:30,540 --> 00:25:35,500
And only he can begin to put the father's plan into motion and usher all

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things toward eternity.

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And so there's a lot more we can say, a lot more we'll get into next week.

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00:25:41,660 --> 00:25:46,340
But I just a few implications of this just very quickly is that number one,

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we're utterly helpless without a savior.

432
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Are we not?

433
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If we did not have Jesus, not only are we dead in our sins doomed to eternal

434
00:25:55,500 --> 00:26:01,180
wrath and punishment, but if we did not have Jesus to even open the scroll,

435
00:26:01,420 --> 00:26:03,060
God's plan could not move forward.

436
00:26:03,740 --> 00:26:08,860
He is necessary for the continuation of God's plan and the restoration of all

437
00:26:08,860 --> 00:26:09,220
things.

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And so without a savior, we are hopeless.

439
00:26:11,740 --> 00:26:14,620
The other thing I want you to remember about this passage is that God is not

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passively sitting on his throne uninvolved in human affairs.

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When we're tempted to look at our world and say everything's out of control,

442
00:26:22,660 --> 00:26:23,940
where is God in all this?

443
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Why isn't God doing anything?

444
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You need to remember he's got a scroll that's got writing on all sides of it.

445
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He has not overlooked even one detail.

446
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The entire unfolding of redemptive history and everything that's going to

447
00:26:36,940 --> 00:26:40,180
take place in human history is written in that scroll.

448
00:26:40,180 --> 00:26:45,660
Scroll and God is making sure that all things happen according to his will.

449
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His plan will be done.

450
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And so he's not just sitting up there passively watching our world go by.

451
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The other thing to remember is that Jesus alone is worthy.

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00:26:57,460 --> 00:27:00,060
You and I were not worthy to open that scroll.

453
00:27:00,580 --> 00:27:04,820
You and I are not even worthy to redeem ourselves or to save ourselves.

454
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No amount of walking the straight and narrow and just trying to live a good life.

455
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No amount of that is going to be worthy.

456
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Lord, are we recording?

457
00:27:13,660 --> 00:27:14,900
Are we doing anything? Oh, we are recording.

458
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I'll be careful what I say.

459
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I was going to reference an event that happened today, but I've talked with

460
00:27:19,300 --> 00:27:24,860
people at other points in time and throughout my life who have who are

461
00:27:24,860 --> 00:27:30,820
operating under the mindset that to be a Christian means that I am responsible

462
00:27:30,820 --> 00:27:34,620
for my destiny that I profess faith in Jesus.

463
00:27:34,900 --> 00:27:40,100
And as long as I can walk the straight and narrow and just do everything right.

464
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And according to the book, then I can make sure that I'm saved.

465
00:27:43,620 --> 00:27:45,220
Why? Because I'm doing it.

466
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I'm in control of it.

467
00:27:46,620 --> 00:27:48,660
And the Bible is saying here, you're not.

468
00:27:49,340 --> 00:27:50,300
You're not good enough.

469
00:27:50,620 --> 00:27:53,020
You could try to live the best life you possibly could.

470
00:27:53,020 --> 00:27:54,460
And it would still fall short.

471
00:27:54,580 --> 00:27:56,980
You could try to live perfectly from here on out.

472
00:27:57,140 --> 00:27:59,020
That doesn't excuse everything you've already done.

473
00:27:59,020 --> 00:28:02,860
You mess up one time and the Bible says you have transgressed the entire law.

474
00:28:03,100 --> 00:28:06,300
You are not worthy to save yourself.

475
00:28:06,500 --> 00:28:07,540
You cannot do it.

476
00:28:07,540 --> 00:28:10,100
You cannot live that life of perfect righteousness.

477
00:28:10,260 --> 00:28:11,980
You cannot atone for your own sins.

478
00:28:11,980 --> 00:28:14,140
See Psalm 49 for that answer.

479
00:28:14,340 --> 00:28:17,780
No man can offer his life for the redemption of another man because their

480
00:28:17,780 --> 00:28:18,980
life is too costly.

481
00:28:19,540 --> 00:28:20,540
We can't do it.

482
00:28:21,180 --> 00:28:27,060
We are stuck in John's situation where we say who can come and do this for us?

483
00:28:27,060 --> 00:28:32,020
And we see a conquering lion who looks like a slain lamb.

484
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Jesus alone is worthy and we need to remember that.

485
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And we need to remember that.