Sermon Tone Analysis

March 20, 2012

By: John Barnett

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Are you admiring the perfect sacrifice of Jesus tonight?

Has the depth of His love and sacrifice filled your soul so full it is overflowing?

There is a place of eternal calm, unleashing tranquility, perfect peace, endless day...

That place is the center of the universe, the throne of God... To that location John transports us from Patmos’ salt mines to heavens highest point...

In 1989 a hurricane swept through New England, for hour after hour the winds increased until trees were snapping.

Then it happened, the calm at the eye of the storm.

A perfect pool of quiet between the storms.

• Rev. 4-5 are a calm between two storms, the perfect peace which always exists in God’s presence

• Rev. 1-3 show the struggling saints

• Rev. 6-20 shows the end of earth

To admire the sacrifice of Jesus we need t remember what He did for us.

PP Bliss well reminds us in his hymn, “Hallelujah What a Savior”.

• ‘Man of sorrows!’ what a name

For the Son of God who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim!

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

• Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood,

Seal’d my pardon with His blood;

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

• Guilty vile, and helpless we,

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full atonement!

can it be?

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

• Lifted up was He to die,

‘It is finished,’ was His cry;

Now in heav’n exalted high,

Hallelujah, What a Savior!

• When He comes, our glorious King,

All His ransomed home to bring,

Then anew this song we’ll sing,

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

As we look into the book of Revelation remember we see that it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

All the Bible is now combined into one majestic picture of the Lamb of God.

He who the prophets foretold, the priest portrayed, and John the Baptist pointed to who stood unknown in the midst of men - is now shown to be the center of the plan of God for this last segment of time before time shall be no more.

We are at the Throne of Judgment for the Universe.

On the Throne is the JUDGE of all.

How can I experience His inexhaustible peace, His eternal calm in the presence of the Ancient of Days, seated on the Judgment Throne of the Universe?

What will happen to me because of all my failures and sins?

Finding peace at the judgment of God by recognizing my unworthiness and guilt before His holy Throne, and recognizing by bowing and worshiping, the utter worthiness of the lamb as my substitute.

Chapter 5 is in two parts:

1. v. 1-5 the unworthiness of mankind

2. v. 6-14 the worthiness of lamb

*OUR DESPERATION: THE UTTER UNWORTHINESS OF MANKIND*

(v.

1-4)

v. 1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

THE BOOK - what is it?

Official document that declares the climax of human history.

• Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

• Ezekiel 2:9-10 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.10

Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.

• Dan.

12:8-9 although I heard, I did not understand.

Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”9

And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

• This scroll before God's Throne represents Christ’s “title deed” to all that the Father promised Him.

Jesus because of His sacrifice on the cross.

“Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen [nations] for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession” (Ps.

2:8).

• It is the deed for the Heir, the One who has the right to take the earth.

In New Testament times Roman law required that a will had to be sealed seven times, to protect it from tampering.

As you rolled it up, you sealed it every turn or so for seven times.

The seals were not to be broken until after the person whose will it was had died.

*ONLY JESUS IS HEIR TO THE TITLE DEED OF THE UNIVERSE!*

v. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?”

JESUS ALONE IS WORTHY TO BE OUR REDEEMER.

v. 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.

• Rom.

3:10 none righteous

• All of Adam’s race is fallen.

No one is worthy among all the Pharoahs, Caesars, Khans, generals, dictators and emperors.

They and all their subjects have failed to measure up to God's standard...

All die and turn to dust...

ALL OF HUMANITY FALLS SHORT OF GOD'S GLORY

v. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it.

OUR REDEMPTION HANGS TOTALLY UPON JESUS,

WE HAVE NO OTHER HOPE!

*HIS PERFECTION: ADMIRING THE PERFECT SACRIFICE OF JESUS*

v. 5-7

1. *THE IDENTIFICATION OF JESUS IS PERFECT:* HE TRIUMPHED OVER SIN, DEATH AND THE DEVIL!

v. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep.

Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

• Lion - Genesis 49:9-10 Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?

10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

• Root of David - Isaiah 11:1-10, Isaiah 61:1

• Overcome - it is finished!

Cross, Jn. 19:30

Jesus Christ is the “Heir of all things” (Heb.

1:2).

He is our beloved “Kinsman-Redeemer” who was willing to give His life to set us free from bondage and to restore our lost inheritance

• Leviticus 25:23-46 25 ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.

In Ruth 1:1-4:22 we find the Kinsman Redeemer had to be: Related closely to the one in need, willing to take the responsibility to redeem and able to pay the price of redemption.

Only Jesus meets all the qualifications:

• Jesus became one of us taking human flesh, so He is our CLOSE KINSMAN REDEEMER.

• Jesus loves us and is willing to lay down His life for us, so He is our WILLING REDEEMER.

• Jesus paid the price of our sin with His own body and blood, so He is our ABUNDANTLY ABLE REDEEMER.

2. *THE LOCATION OF JESUS IS PERFECT: HE IS PERFECTLY POSITIONED*