Do Not Weep – The Lion Has Prevailed

Revelation five, 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. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and loose its seals. In other words, who is worthy to allow the judgment of God to fall upon the earth? Who is worthy to loose those seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. So we find here first the question, who is worthy to judge? That's what's happening. There's a judgment coming on the earth and you can see the bold judgments are poured out and these things are going to happen in the book of Revelation, depending of course what your eschatology is, that's a whole other subject. But we see here that they're looking for someone who is worthy to judge. And I love that quote by A.W. Tozer, I might have told you this before, but he said, I love Jesus Christ because he is my savior, but I fear him because he is my judge. And that's very true. A lot of people forget that. They like Jesus the lamb, but not as a lion. And he's coming back to judge. That's one thing scripture is crystal clear on. So John, and John is speaking here, John is writing here, so I wept much, it means there was lamentation, he wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll. And this is a good reminder that Jesus is not a created being. No created being can judge us. No created being can die for the sins of the world. Only the son of God, only the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. But not, but one of the elders came to me and remember he was sad and the elder came to him and said, 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. And God reminds us here not to look at our current situation. That's what I wanted to encourage you tonight. That's why the stadium messages are a little bit different because in these dire times, we need to be encouraged. We need to be built up. We need to be strengthened because throughout the week, unless it's just me, you're being, your faith is being challenged, is it not? You're being, you're being bombarded with things that bring in a tremendous amount of anxiety and depression. And that's why God reminds us, look up for your redemption draws nigh. No matter what is going on, do not look at your current situation. Do not weep because in the end, Jesus has prevailed. So I want to tell you tonight, whatever saddens you, whatever frustration you're dealing with or sadness or disappointment or failure, whatever you're going through, do not weep. Do not let become discouraged because the enemy loves to work in discouragement. He loves to get you so discouraged that you do nothing for God. And when you're discouraged, when you're really discouraged, you don't want to read the Bible. Do you as much? You don't want to worship. You don't want to come to church and the enemy knocks you off the track by discouragement and frustration and failure. So when I go through these things and trust me, as a pastor, I go through these things often that you get discouraged and you look at the results or you look at the disappointments and you begin to begin to judge things and even judge God based on this God. Why me? Has anyone ever said that? Why? Why is this happening to me? God, you could stop it and frustration and failure come in. But I love this verse. I often remember, remind myself of it often. Do not weep. Do not get discouraged because the end of the book tells me that the line of the tribe of Judah will prevail. He will not be defeated. And the verse is you need to live in God's Word right now. You need to live in God's Word more than social media. You need to live in God's Word more than Facebook. And I look to the Psalms and I'm reminded, I look to the hills and where does my help come from? This is a good imagery here. We look to the hills all around us. Where does my help come from? And in battle in Israel's time, when the Psalm was written, they would face armies on the plains and on the battlefields. And sometimes there would be not enough of them to defeat these great armies. So what would they do? Often sometimes you would see another army coming over the hills, coming to help you. And that's why they would say, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord Almighty. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't slumber. It comes from God and God alone. If God is for us, who can be against? Let's just saturate our mind in some scriptures for a minute. If God is for us, who can be against us? Think about that nugget of truth for a minute. If God is for you, who can be against you? Who is going to stop the church of Jesus Christ in America? Shane, the governor is. No, he's not. I'll tell you when it gets bad. That's when the real Christians come out. Thank God for some of this that's happening right now because the sheep and the goats are being divided. You're saying who is really going to walk and live for Jesus Christ and who is just paying lip service? That's what's happening right now. God is dividing that and showing us who is true followers and who are not. If God is for you, who is going to be against you? Listen, we've been thrown into some difficult seasons. So have you. And you plus God is the majority. I actually gave a message on that if you've been coming for a while. I think it was last year that you plus God is the majority. No matter what you're trying to accomplish, no matter what's going on with your kids, with your family, with your marriage, you plus God is a majority. And the enemy will remind you often that that's not true. That who can come against this great army? Who can defeat this great? Look at what's going on in our culture. I mean, everybody's against God's word right now, correct? Everybody, most in the media, all of Hollywood, George Soros. Uh-oh, I guess I can't say that, right? Antifa, everything is against God. Google, did you know, is against God. If Facebook heard this message right now and upper executive, we'd be shut off that quick. YouTube, why all these are against God and it doesn't matter. Sometimes God says, I'll rip all these apart to show you I am the true and living God, you plus me is a majority. My word will not return void. I will fire up a whole generation of young adults who will seek after me with all of their heart and we will storm the gates of hell. John Wesley said, give me 100 men, I don't care if they're clergy or laity. But if we fear God and turn from our sin, we will storm the gates of hell. God's not looking for a majority. We sure are. Oh, the numbers, we could just get more and more and more and more and more. But God often likes to show off with a minority, with a small amount. Why is that? So He gets all the credit. Another scripture we need to saturate our minds on often. Do not be afraid of them, the Lord your God Himself will fight for you. The Lord Himself will fight for you. Now, here's how this works. I've learned this in ministry. I think God called me to be a pastor more for me than for people. What I mean by that is chipping away the pride, chipping away and humbling you and going through situations and growing through this. And I'm often reminded of this because this is how we fight our battles. God does call you to fight in the sense of spiritual warfare. God says, I'm going to fight with you if you raise up holy hands and you worship me and you make prayer a priority again. And you begin to look to the word and actually obey the word and go in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's how God fights His battles through men and women surrendered to Jesus Christ filled with the Holy Spirit. The enemy cannot defeat that person. He who began a good work and you will, no, I'm sorry. He who began a work and you might carry it out. Anybody paying attention? He who began a work and you sometimes carries it out. He who began a good work, in other words, if he began the work, if he's working in you through the Holy Spirit and God's got a call upon your life and you're God's child. He who began that good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Why? Because it's his work. He doesn't fail at his work. All he says is son and daughter. You walk on the path that I've given you. You make the choices that I've given you to make. You devote your life to me. You fully surrender everything and I will complete that work in you. And it's ironic here. Many people know this if you've read through the whole Bible. But the lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah is actually a fulfilled prophecy. And I'm talking about that tomorrow at church. Actually, the message tomorrow is on the inerrancy of scripture. That's a foundational belief, an essential of the Christian faith, the inerrancy. What does that mean? Without error, the scriptures, God breathed the word of God and is without error. It is inerrant, it's good for living, it's good for doctrine, it's good for reproof and correction because it is without error. Well, Shane, what about some of the scriptures contradict each other? And well, you have to come on Sundays. Told you these are different services, different translations of the Bible, different things I want to touch on tomorrow. But my whole point right now was the fulfillment of prophecy. If you look at all the prophetic words or the prophecies that were given, even in the Old Testament, and how they came to pass. And they know for certain that the prophets wrote, many of them 700 years before Jesus was there. They have from the Dead Sea Scrolls and different things. 700 years before Jesus was even born. Yet he talked about no bones being broken and they will cast lots for my clothing. And all these different things in the prophetic fulfillment. But in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Jacob said, he tells Judah, the tribe of Judah. Remember how Jacob had 12 tribes? And he told Judah, you are a lion's cub. And in the future, the scepter, which means it's a ruler's staff of authority and kingdom, will not depart from Judah. So in the book of Genesis, God said the lion of the tribe of Judah, who will rule and reign, will come from Jacob, yes you, but ultimately the tribe of Judah. And it's amazing to watch these things be fulfilled. And my point on that was this, when God says it, nothing can stop His plans. When God says something, nothing can stop His plans. We are our worst enemy. Did you know that? I'm not as worried about the enemy out there. I'm more worried about the enemy in here, called the old man, the old nature that wants to bring you back into bondage and sin. And God's word says, though, nothing can stop my plans. If you will obey me, and that's a big word right now. The people don't like to really get their hands around, but it's so freeing. How many of you have obeyed God and fully surrendered? Is that the most freeing life you've ever had? Because you obey, okay, God, my finances are yours. My family is yours. When your teenager heads out the door at eight o'clock at night, well, God, they're yours. I'm just a steward. I'm just a steward of what you've given me. If God says something in your life, if He says, I will restore your marriage, the enemy cannot stop that, but you can thwart your own plans. God says, I will build you up. I will build this business. I will give you this ministry. Nothing can stop what God will do. If He speaks it, it will come to pass. And what I love about the lion, especially back then, it symbolized, and it still does, power and fierceness and majesty. We have this view of a lion, the king of the jungle. They wouldn't say that for just no reason. He was fierce. He was powerful. He was majestic. And it reminds me of the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And I wish I could repeat this every Sunday. If it was up to me, I would, but I know people might get bored. But I asked this last week as well. What power can overcome Jesus Christ? What force can discourage Him? What agenda can stop Him and what army can defeat Him? Nothing. Nothing can defeat Jesus Christ. Isn't that good to know? No nuclear warhead from Russia or North Korea can defeat God Almighty. No army can rise up against Him. He sits high on the throne, sitting at the right hand of the Father, symbolizing power and authority. And I think it was Leonard Ravenhill that said this, and I've always loved this. Back in the Old Testament, Israel was waiting for the conquering king for a lion, and instead they got a lamb. Today, my concern is we're waiting for a lamb and we're going to get a lion. Jesus is clear when He came in the New Testament. I didn't come to condemn the world. I didn't come to judge the world. I came to save the world. But when I come again, I'm not coming to save, I'm coming to judge. This is a very important topic. We are waiting. We are waiting for a lion. Make no mistake about it, Jesus is coming to judge. And I love where John said, actually in this book of Revelation, fast-forwarding, he said he saw heaven open. And if you look up that in the Greek and you study that, what it means is, I saw the heavens ripped open. I saw the heavens ripped open. And behold, he said, I saw a white horse. I saw a white horse. And he who sat on that horse was called faithful and true and in righteousness. He judges and makes war. He was as docile as a little lamb. No, he said, his eyes were flames of fire and on his head were many crowns. And no one knew his name except himself. And his name was the Word of God. And the armies followed after him, all on white horses, all white and clean, representing holiness, that out of his mouth goes a sword that he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule the nations with a rod of iron. And he himself will tread the winepress and wrath of Almighty God. And he will have a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And they will worship him. They will bow down. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord, the conquering Savior coming to judge again. And then verse 8, now when he had taken the scroll, you know what? I want to just stop for a minute. God's really putting this on my heart for tonight. Some of you need to make a decision tonight. Stop playing games with God. Stop acting one way on Sunday and a different way on Monday. Stop trying to please your Christian friends, but also love your worldly friends. You cannot serve two masters. When Jesus comes, he's not coming for a divided heart. He's coming for a bride that is ready and waiting. Like the ten virgins that were waiting. Five of them were prepared, five of them were not. And there's an urgency in our nation today. There's an urgency that many of us can just taste it in the air. There's an urgency. Make a decision for Jesus Christ tonight and follow him wholeheartedly. Full surrender. The old saints used to talk about full surrender. Or going all the way in with Jesus. Or no turning back. No turning back. There's a heart cry that says, God, all of you and none of me. I cannot follow two masters anymore. I cannot love God and then try to love this world because I'll end up rejecting God. And like Elijah calling down from Mount Carmel, How long will you waver? Another translation says, How long will you falter between two opinions? How long? If God be God, follow him. But if Baal be God, In other words, if you want to go after the false gospels, Then go after the false gods out there. Jesus said, be hot or cold. If you're lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth. He rebuked five of the seven churches. It's a wake up call. He even called out the legalistic, arrogant Pharisees. He said, oh, I see your works. Congratulations. But your hearts are cold and hard. Come back to your first love. Oh, the first love. Do you remember the first love? You could not stop thinking about that person. Calling that person. Writing that person. Thinking about that first love. They were your all-consuming passion. They were everything. That's where your motivation was. That's where your focus was. That's where your loyalty was. And Jesus says the same thing. You're a worker, but you're not a worshiper. You're a worker, but you're not a worshiper. You love the Word more than you love Me. And He rebukes that church. And He says, return to Me. Oh, church, return to Me and fall in love with Me again. Get on your face and repent and turn your life over to Me again. No half-hearted approaches. No lukewarm Christianity. As a matter of fact, that's a dangerous place to live. I look back on my life and I say, God, thank God You didn't take me when I was lukewarm. You cannot live your life with a question mark here. I don't care if you're a young adult, teenager, or I don't care if you're 88 years old. All of us can drift. You might not even know why you came tonight. Something compelled you. Listen, the brevity of life. We are not guaranteed another day, are we? There's no guarantee. So many people say, Shane, I know. I'll get my life together later. I'll follow God later. And I shared with some of you, I think, the day my mom passed away, we were texting in the morning and she said, I'm not feeling well. And a couple hours later, I think I'm going to the hospital. And that was it. That was it. The brevity of life. We don't know when that day will be here. We have to live in expectation of meeting our Savior. Now that I've got that off my chest, I can continue. Verse 8, Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, and they sang a new song saying, You are worthy to take the scroll. You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seal. You have redeemed us to God by the shedding of Your blood. And that word there, worthy, in the Greek language, it's worthy of all of our praise, all of our honor. And that's why sometimes I wish we could praise God more with all of our heart because Jesus, You are worthy to be worshipped. You are worthy to be honored. You are worthy of our lives. Lord, You gave Your life for me. All I can do is but a humble servant, give my life back to You, Lord. If that means laying my life down for the gospel someday, if it means being shot someday, if it means just following You and not having financial success and all these things, God, if I can't have all of God, I don't want to have anything to do with religion. I want to experience the power and presence of God in my life. Oh God, You are worthy. We lift You up tonight. You can't just fabricate that. Either He is worthy of your praise or He's not. That's why I love the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit. Why is that? Because the Holy Spirit in you is crying, Abba, Father. Abba, Father. Abba, Father. Father. You know what your flesh is saying? That's why so many people are distant from God. They're not allowing the Holy Spirit to fill them. And out of that outflow comes ministry. If you're struggling big time with anger tonight, or addiction, or impatience, or fear, or anxiety, if that's what's flowing out of you, I guarantee you need to change what's flowing into you. You need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life. So they're saying here, You're worthy. You've redeemed us by Your blood. And so it begs the question, we're in Revelation. When did He triumph? What are they talking about? They're going back to the cross. Oh, that old rugged cross. Don't you love some of those hymns? We used to have hymn nights on Wednesday nights. We're going to do that again. That old rugged cross where our Savior was taken. He was stripped naked. And they called that place the place of the skull, Golgotha. And He would take that old wooden cross, and they would crucify Him on that cross. And that shed blood, because we learn from the Old Testament that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. There is no removal of sin. So they had to use the blood of bulls and goats to temporarily cover the sins of the people. And the high priest would walk in every year, and he would take that shed blood, and he would make atonement for the sins of the people temporarily awaiting the fulfillment of Christ. Now we look back on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And that's what they're saying here. You're worthy because you shed that blood. And then we fast forward to Revelation 20. Then I saw a great white throne. Now you're not going to hear this. This verse is not politically correct. You're not going to hear this preached for many pulpits because it doesn't tickle the ear. It challenges the heart. Then I saw a great white throne. You can picture this white throne out there that is as far as the eye can see representing the magnificent power and strength of God. And He was seated on it. And from His presence, from the very presence of Jesus Christ, the earth and the sky fled away. It shook in His presence. Can you imagine the entire earth? I don't know if it's exactly literal here in this case, but can you imagine the earth and the sky fleeing away from the voice of Jesus Christ? When God speaks, mountains cannot even stand in His presence. Even the breath of His nostrils will destroy kingdoms and wipe out mountains and make them into valleys because of the awesomeness of God. And that's why we see here there was no place found for the sky and for the earth. They fled away from the awesomeness of God. And He said, I saw the dead. I saw the great. And I saw the small standing before the throne. And the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. There was nowhere to hide. There was nowhere to flee. Even elsewhere in Revelation, it's very interesting because it says, men sought death. They were trying to find death, and they could not die. The terrible, awesome judgment and power of God. Shane, but why do we have to talk about this? I don't know. In Revelation at the beginning it says, blessed are those who read every single word in this book and preach every single word in this book and adhere to every single word in this book. Cursed is the man who removes and adds to this book. It's very important. This is what the Word of God wants to say. And I think that's why we're in trouble in America today. Because you give a pastor with a degree in psychology who just wants to tickle the ears, and he's going to take a marketing survey and a demographic survey and find out what people want to hear instead of taking time broken before God, humble and filled with the Spirit of God, and saying, Lord, what do you want to say when God says, I find that vessel, I'll speak boldly through that person. You'll see hearts being changed. You'll see marriages being restored. You'll see the prodigal son running home. You'll see the wayward daughter calling home and saying, Mommy and Daddy, can I come home? Why? Because you let the Holy Spirit of God through the preaching of the Word, let it loose and let it accomplish its purpose. But we find there is nowhere to hide. And that's what concerns me. I've talked to friends recently. They gave me condolences about my mom. I reminded them about the brevity of life. I know, Shane, I know. I'll get my life together someday. Someday. Sadly, that day never comes for many people. How can you get your life together before a heart attack that you never expected? It's actually what even happened to my dad in 1994. About eight miles from here on a construction site. Just gone that day. Others, car accidents, head-on. Motorcycle. There's nothing. There's no time. There's the brevity of life. Why is the Gospel always urgent? Always urgent. I looked this week for verses that talk about complacency or waiting. It's today, today, today when you hear His voice, hearken not your hearts. In other words, don't turn your hearts away. Today is the voice. There might not be another chance. And I've also learned from people that have been sensitive, they're hearing the call of God and the more they push that call away, they develop something called a hardness of heart. And it falls on deaf ears. That's why Jesus would say, he who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit of God is saying tonight. Is He talking about physical ears? Of course not. Can you imagine, how would Jesus preach this message? Would He sit down in a chair and just be, hey guys, I can just see the Son of God proclaiming the good news? The Bible would talk about it. And He spoke. They tried to arrest Him and they said, no man ever spoke like this man with such great authority and great power. And Jesus would always say, today, make that decision now. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And I'll hopefully talk about that more tomorrow on theology with faith and works. But as we know, we are saved by faith alone, through Christ alone. And that's a great reformation cry through faith alone. But we also know that your works reflect your faith. That's why James said, show me your faith by your works. If you have no works, you have no faith. Because genuine faith has to produce fruit. It's like telling a baby don't cry. They have to. My wife is much better at that. If I hear her crying for like one minute, I want to go get her out of the crib. She's like, no, she'll be fine. Let her stay in there. I've got to get stuff done. And they were judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Listen, if I had to choose, I would have not chose this topic. But God began working on my heart. Because the days of the direction of America are going to get interesting. Don't be surprised if you don't see a lot of civil unrest, including people killing each other in the streets. All hell is breaking loose. There's a spiritual upheaval. And people need to know, it is appointed, man wants to die. But then after that, the judgment. And that's the second death. See, the first death is when we die physically. The second death is when there's judgment and you die spiritually, distant and away from God for eternity. The second death. But hold on, be encouraged. Remember the title of the message. What was it? Do not weep. Do not weep for the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. My question to you tonight is, what are you going to do with His victory? He has prevailed. The King has prevailed. It's like He's welcoming, come to me, all who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Call unto Me and I will save you. Oh, if you believe on Me, as the Scriptures say, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. I will guard your mind with the peace that surpasses all understanding. If you just come and drink of the water that is freely given, come to Me, all who are weak and heavy laden. It's a calling. I've conquered hell, death, sin, and the grave. I sit victorious by the right hand of the Father. Just come to Me and turn your life over to Me. So yes, I'm speaking to the unbeliever, but I'm also speaking to those who name the name of Christ, but there is no fruit. Are you sure you have genuine faith? Do you have saving faith? Well, what does that look like, Shane? Do you love God's Word? Are you broken and humble? Do you love worship and prayer? Is your devotion to Him? Have you repented of your sin? I love what the great Puritan Richard Baxter said, that I preach as a dying man to dying men. And I stand before you tonight saying the same thing. I preach as a dying man. I realize I am dying. I am dying physically. I don't know how many days, weeks, months, years, but I'm dying. And I'm preaching to a dying and lost world as well. If you are fearful tonight, Jesus said, fear not for I have overcome the world. I'm going to have the worship team come up and we're going to go into a very serious time of reflection as they come up and they sing these last few songs. I want to challenge you. Number one, do you truly know the Good Shepherd? Do you truly know Him? Do you have a relationship with Him? Or is it just lip service? I was raised in a Christian home. I've been a Baptist all my life. My family member told me that one time. Well, yeah, Shane, I'm a Christian. I've been a Baptist. Well, what does that mean? Well, I've been this. I'm a Catholic. Or I belong to this. None of that matters. It's what have you done with Jesus Christ? Have you repented? Actually, if we're talking about that tomorrow, a true Christian repents and turns from their sin and they publicly acknowledge Jesus Christ before others. So we're also going to open up the baptismal during closing worship. So those who want to get baptized, I'm going to meet you over there. There's nothing to worry about. There's nothing to say, oh, I don't know. I don't know if I should make that decision. I don't want to get too serious. Listen, it's either all of Christ or none of Christ. You cannot make Him Lord of all. I'm sorry. He's not Lord at all until He is Lord of all, A.W. Tozer would say. We need to get back to that fully surrendered life. Amen? There's so many people on the fence and they're not living that Spirit-filled life. So that's what we're going to do this evening. I want to encourage you. Also, if you need prayer, the prayer tents are going to be available. We've got people praying for healing, praying for deliverance. Do you know the demonic realm is still real? And some of you might have strongholds, demonic strongholds that you just can't break free of. That anger, that addiction takes over. Let the prayer team pray with you, pray over you, and take authority over the demonic realm. That is all biblical. You can call it hyper charismatic, but I call it biblical. Jesus said, You will cast out demons. You will take authority. You will speak truth into the lives of others, and they will be changed. So during closing worship, meet us at the prayer tents. Yes, it takes a little effort. You have to get up and walk. And baptism takes a little more effort because you have to get up, walk, and get wet. And I think the water, we've got a heater on there tonight. But guys, listen, I'm deadly serious. I'm deadly serious. If you've never been baptized, and you're playing games with God, change that tonight. Whether you're recommitting or committing, I don't really use that word because I believe there's a full surrender Christian that's filled with the Spirit of God, and there's unbelievers, and there's obviously those caught in the middle. But I want you to seriously think about your destiny tonight. Think about that. What happens? What happens when I stand before God? I've asked Christians. They're like, well, I hope... Here's what I hear a lot. I hope He sees all the good I've done, and it just breaks my heart. Did you know that God's not going to look at all the good you've done on the judgment day? Maybe for rewards later, but He's going to look at what have you done with Jesus Christ? Have you repented of your sin and believed? So I'll meet you over there by the baptismal. We've got the prayer going. Let's make this a night of full surrender. And I have a feeling that when you guys fully surrender your lives, you're going to see a mighty filling of the Holy Spirit. It was in 2000. I got baptized at a church in Lancaster. God was working on my heart for six months. I'm like, nope, nope, nope. I came back to the Lord. I've been a Christian for a while. I know I strayed, but I'm not getting baptized. That's for new people. I'm not getting baptized. I'm embarrassed. And God said, surrender to Me. And from that moment, I believe that's when God began to fill me mightily with His Spirit and give me a direction for ministry because I was disobedient in that area because I was worried about what people would think. You'd be amazed. The littlest things... When God tells you to do something and you say, no, I don't want to do that, the littlest things...