First Baptist Church of Tampa Sermons

S1 E9: Is He Worthy? | Resurrection Sunday

• First Baptist Church of Tampa • Season 1 • Episode 9

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Sermon Overview

Series: Resurrection Sunday

Title: Is He Worthy?

Text: Revelation 5:1-14

Date: April 5th, 2026

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Our Mission: To Connect People to a Thriving Life in Christ. What is a thriving life in Christ? Scripture says that Jesus Christ came “that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Our mission in the city of Tampa is to make disciples who follow the pattern of the believer in Psalm 1 and desire God’s glory above all things.

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SPEAKER_00

Hey, as you're being seated, if you would take out your copy of God's word, open up your Bible, however you brought it with you, turn it on, open it up. Join me in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation this morning. Revelation chapter 5. If you don't have a Bible, there are some in the pew back there in front of you. We're going to be on page 1113 in that Bible. And if you don't own a Bible, that's our gift to you this morning. We want you to have a Bible so that you can read it. So take that one with you. Revelation chapter 5. I know that's a strange text you might be thinking for a resurrection Sunday, but I want to talk to you this morning about this topic. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. In about a month's time, 30 of our church members, along with Darlene and I will be standing on an island just off the western coast of Turkey. 2,000 years ago, the apostle John was exiled on this same island called Patmos. He had been arrested for his faith. He had been arrested for proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and for refusing to bow down to the Emperor of Rome. While John is there, he is feeling lonely. He is feeling helpless. He has spent the better part of his adult life planting churches, discipling churches, training people in righteousness. And now he is on an island separated from them, and he has watched as persecution has come and wreaked havoc on the early church in the first century. Just 60 years after Jesus' resurrection, persecution is broken out. The churches are struggling. The churches are suffering. There are churches who are compromising their testimony and compromising their faith in order to not be persecuted. There are other churches that are allowing false teachers to come in and move them away from the gospel. And John is sitting on that island, incapable of doing anything. Now, John is a man of conviction. He understood who Jesus was. John was one of closest friends that Jesus had. He was one of the inner circle of disciples. He was the one that came to be known as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And John was under the conviction that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. He was who he claimed to be. He was the Son of God who came to earth and took on flesh. John had no doubts about that. John did not doubt that Jesus died on a cross. In matter of fact, he was the only disciple who stood at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die. John knew who Jesus was. John also knew that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. Three days after his crucifixion, John was there when Jesus appeared to the disciples. He saw Jesus tell Thomas, If you don't believe, here are my hands, touch them, here is my side, touch them. He watched Jesus eat fish with them. He watched him walk around with them for over 40 days. John had no doubt in his mind who Jesus was. He had no doubt in his mind that God had made great promises and that one day everything would be made right. But John's circumstances were blurring his convictions. John's circumstances made it hard for his convictions to come forward. Perhaps you've been there. Perhaps you too believe that God is good and God is gracious. Perhaps you too believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and that one day he's going to make all things right. But sometimes life can be oppressing. Sometimes the circumstances of our lives cause us to blur our convictions. Sometimes when the world presses in, we feel all alone. Sometimes when the circumstances of life get bitter, we feel small. We feel insignificant. And even though we want to stand in our convictions, sometimes those convictions get blurred by the circumstances of our lives. John needed something special from God. And God provided a revelation for him. Something new that he had not seen before. Something that he is recorded in scripture that we're going to refer to today, but you and I don't need new revelation. We don't need something new from God. We just need to be reminded of something from God. And that simple truth this morning that I want you to hold on to is this Jesus wins. In the end, he is going to make all things right. In the end, he is going to fulfill all of his promises. Do you know what a doxology is? Now, not the song, the doxology, but a doxology. It's a fancy word, it's a compound word. In the original language, it means doxa means glory, logos means word, doxology, glory word. It just means a word of praise. It's a statement of praise. If you're my age or older and you grew up in the church, you are probably familiar with the doxology, a 26-word song that we would sing every single time we collected the offering. Every single time we collected the offering. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Amen. Very nice. Thank you. They didn't help me in the first service. I appreciate the effort. I appreciate that very much. A doxology is just a word of praise. I agree with Danny Aiken, who is the president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, when he says that the church today is suffering from a doxology deficiency. A doxology deficiency. What Danny means, and what I agree with, is not that we need to sing the doxology more often, although that would be okay occasionally. Where'd he go? Is he back there? There you are. I'm not talking about singing the doxology. What I mean is this the church needs to spend more time just glorifying God. Unfortunately, I believe we have taken worship and we have taken the local church and we have taken Christianity and we have made it man-centric instead of God-centric. We have taken all of that and we have turned the attention onto ourselves in such that when we talk about Christianity, people can define it any way they want to, not the way Scripture defines it. And when we come into worship services, we make it about ourselves. And instead of coming and desiring to follow God's commands, we want God to simply condone our life. And what we need is to turn that around. We need to begin to worship God once again. In the book of Exodus, God gave very specific instructions to the children that would be following him that this is how you worship me, this is how you live for me, this is how you serve me. One particular area of that ministry was to build an altar where they could bring offerings to God. And God's specific instruction was when you build this altar, do not use any cut stones. Just simply use earth and just use rocks and pile them up together and then bring your offering to me there. And the reason for this was that God did not want people worshiping the creativity of the person who created the altar, the skill of the laborers who cut the stone and forget why they came to the altar in the first place. Dotting Europe and major cities are ornate, elaborate cathedrals, gorgeous buildings that were designed for worship and intended to make people stand in awe of God. Today, most of those cathedrals are not filled with congregations worshiping a risen Savior, they are filled with tourists amazed at the craftsmanship of the people who built the building. And if we're not careful, the church, instead of worshiping God, can turn our attention inward. And what we need is a dose of doxology. I've had us turn to revelation today, and some of you, if you're seasoned Easter church attenders, you're probably thinking that's an interesting place to go for a resurrection message. Why aren't we in the gospels? Why aren't we in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 today? That's the one you usually preach on this Sunday. But I want you to know this revelation is simply a doxology. Revelation is a word of praise to God. And what John needed in that time while he was on the island of Patmos, while his circumstances were blurring his convictions, was he needed a doxology. He needed a time of seeing what God was doing. And so God did something unique for John. He literally opened up a door into heaven and brought John into heaven so that he might see what was taking place. The book of Revelation scares us sometimes. We think it's so difficult we can't understand it. And yet the word literally means an unveiling. God's not trying to hide anything from us, he's trying to reveal something to us. And a simple outline of the book is chapter one is the things which have been. Chapters two and three, where Jesus writes letters to the churches of Asia Minor, are the things which are. And then chapter four through chapter 22 are all prophetic. They are the things which are going to take place. And John hears a voice in chapter one. He says, Come up here. Write down what you see. And in chapter 4, God opens this door to the throne room of heaven. And John walks in and sees what heaven is like. And his attention is immediately drawn to this throne. There is grandeur all about him, but his eyes go straight to the throne. And on the throne sits God the Father. And John, in his human way, tries to describe the God the Father. He describes him as emeralds and jasper and these majestic stones. And there seated on the throne is God the Father. And around the throne, John describes a rainbow, an emerald rainbow. When we think of rainbows, we we probably think of the story of Noah, where God judged the world by a flood. And then he promised that he would never do it again. And then he gave the sign of his promise of the rainbow. God is a faithful God who completes his promises. And around his throne is a rainbow reminding us of his faithfulness. Surrounding that throne, John also saw 24 smaller thrones. There were 24 elders around the throne of God. I believe those elders represent all redeemed people of all time. These are the people who have trusted in Christ for their salvation, and they sit around the throne of God, bringing praises to him. In verse 5 and chapter 4, we see that there is out of the throne comes peals of lightning and thunder. A storm is taking place. This is showing God's power. You may remember when Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments from God. God said, Make sure the people don't touch the mountain. I am coming down. They cannot be in my presence. And there is a great lightning storm that was taking place that day. This the storm just represents for us God's power, his strength. Before the throne, John says there were seven lamps. Seven is the number of perfection. The lamps is light. It's representing the Holy Spirit of God who sees all and knows all. There's also a sea separating the throne from everybody else. It's a sea of crystal. God is holy, and there has to be a separation. There are four living creatures who are flying around the throne at all times. One looks like an ox, one looks like a lion, one has the face of a man, and one looks like an eagle, and they have these wings, and they're flying around, and they have eyes all around them, and they are crying out day and night: holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy, who is the one who is and was and is to come. It is them standing guard over God's holiness so that no one just walks into his presence. They have to understand that they are coming into the presence of a holy God. While they're crying out, holy, holy, holy, those elders that are surrounding it take their crowns off of their heads. They fall on their knees before God and they throw their crowns at his feet and they begin to sing, Worthy, worthy, worthy. Worthy is the one who sits on the throne. John is seeing this. And all of chapter 4 just sets the scene for what I want us to read in chapter 5 this morning. Chapter 4 is all about the Father seated on the throne. Chapter 5 is about the Lamb who is worthy to be praised. If you're willing and able, would you stand with me as we read from God's Word? Revelation chapter 5. Worthy is the Lamb. I saw on the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, Stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome, so as to open the book and its seven seals. And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And he came and he took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth. Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing, and every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sun and on the sea and all the things in them, I heard saying, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshipped. Father, open our minds as we open your word today. Father, as you gave new revelation to John to ease his spirit to show him that you win. Lord, help us to see we don't need new revelation. We just need to be reminded that Jesus wins. Thank you that we have the lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, the lamb standing as if slain to serve as our Savior. Lord, thank you for the resurrection, which gives us hope and peace. Lord, help us to pattern our lives after the truth of the gospel, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Do your circumstances ever cloud your convictions? Do the things going on in your life ever cause you to doubt what you believe? Do you ever feel small or insignificant? Do you ever wonder, is it worth it? Is serving Jesus worth it? I think that's where John was as he sat on the island of Patmos. He's in his 90s now. He's planted churches throughout Turkey. He's trained up pastors. Now he's watched those churches be decimated by persecution. He's watched some of those churches turn from the truth of the gospel. He's watched some of those churches who have compromised their testimony because they want to get along in order to make a living in the world. And he's helpless. He's convicted that Jesus is who he claimed to be. He's convicted that Jesus will do what he can't claim to do. But now he's he's hurting. And so God does something for him that John needed desperately. He gives him a picture of what's going to happen in the future. And he says, Come, write this down. And he sees God seated on his throne, and he sees these elders surrounding it, and he sees these winged creatures crying out, holy, holy, holy. And then in chapter 5, he notes that God is holding something in his right hand. He says, God has a scroll in his hand. And on that scroll there is writing both on the outside and on the inside, and it has seven seals on it. Scrolls were the books of the day. They didn't have books like we had. They wrote on papyrus or on animal skin, and then they would roll them up, and then they would seal them. On the inside, they would write whatever the information they needed. Whether it was a deed or a will or a contract, they would write all the information on the inside of it, then they would roll it up, and on the outside, they would summarize what was on the inside so that they didn't have to completely unscroll it to find out. Much like the binding on a book on the outside of the book. It tells you what's on the inside of the book. That's the same thing. Then they would take some wax and they would melt the wax and they would take a seal. They would take a coat of arms and they would seal it shut, showing who had authority to open it. This particular scroll had writing on it, then they would roll it up, and then they would put a seal on it, they would write some more, roll it up some more, put another seal on it, write some more, roll it up, put another seal on it, so that there were seven seals on this scroll in the hand of God. And John heard the voice of a very strong angel say, Who is worthy to take the scroll from the hand of God? Who here is worthy to walk up and take that scroll out of the hand of Almighty God? Who here is worthy to take him? The question we have to ask is, what in the world is that scroll? What's written in there that God is holding it in his all-powerful hand? And what is written that is so important that no one is worthy to go take it out of his hand? Some people claim that this scroll is the book of life, that in this scroll are written all the names of those who have trusted in God. Others claim that it is God's will, that he is bequeathing all of his creation to his son Jesus and to those who are his co-heirs, those who have trusted in him. I believe that what's written in that book is God's plan for redeeming all of creation. I believe that what's in that book starts when Jesus breaks the first. Seal and sets into motion that which is going to take place in the ends of time so that he redeems his people, so that he makes things all right. The scroll is in the hand of God, and the angel says, Who's worthy? And John looks around and nobody's moving. Nobody's walking up, nobody's raising their hand, nobody's uh volunteering, I'll go get it. There's that sea that separates God's throne from everybody else. They're not going up. Nobody's going up. Now imagine who is in the throne room of God. Imagine the people that have gone before us who are who are already there. Imagine the angels that are in that space. Michael, the archangel, is there. He doesn't go get the scroll. Gabriel, the one who brought the message that God is sending his son to the world, he doesn't go get the scroll. Abraham, the father of faith, he doesn't go get the scroll. Moses, the giver of the law, doesn't go get the scroll. Elijah, the great prophet, who did not die but was taken up into heaven, he doesn't go get the scroll. The apostle Paul doesn't go get the scroll. John's brother James, who'd been martyred, he doesn't go get the scroll. Simon Peter, who was willing to do anything, didn't go get the scroll. No one moved. And John's response to that was to weep. He began to cry. He began to mourn. Because he recognized unless that scroll is opened, all the promises won't be fulfilled. John recognized somebody's got to take that scroll out of God's hands and fulfill the promises that are in it. And nobody is worthy to do it. No one can come forward and open it. And then there was an elder. An elder who said to John, John, stop weeping. Stop crying and look. There is one. There is one who is worthy. There is one. And he says, There's a lion from the tribe of Judah. The root of David. He is worthy. There's a lion who is worthy, a ferocious beast who is worthy. It's prophetic language talking about the Messiah. Genesis chapter 49 refers to the Messiah as a great lion who is roaring. He says, there is a lion who is here who is willing and able. And he's from the root of Jesse. He's not only a tribe of Judah, but he is from the line of David. He is the rightful king. And he's bringing the source of blessing. And he says this. N-I-K-E. Some of you are wearing Nikes on your feet, some of you are wearing Nike apparel. I'm not a Nike guy, I'm an Adidas guy, but nonetheless, it's the same word. It means to prevail. It means to be victorious. And he says, the one who is the lion, the one who is of the root of Jesse is worthy because he has prevailed. Prevailed over what? What has this lion prevailed over? What has this one who is worthy prevailed over? What did he do to be worthy? When God created everything, he created it perfectly. He created a perfect world. And then he created man and woman in his image, and they had a perfect relationship with God. And God gave them dominion over all of his creation. But the usurper, the angel who had tried to steal God's glory, an angel by the name of Satan, came and tempted Adam and Eve. Tempted them to doubt God's word, tempted them to doubt God's goodness. And they sinned. And when they sinned, they surrendered that dominion over to the one who took it from them, Satan, who is now called the king of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of this world, the God of this age. You may remember when Jesus was tempted after his baptism, he went out into the wilderness for 40 days, and Satan tempted him. And one of the temptations was look at all the kingdoms of this world. If you will just bow down and worship me, I will give all of them to you. That was not an empty promise. That was not an empty pledge. He has control over all of those things. But when Jesus left heaven and came to earth, and he lived a perfect life, and he fulfilled the law perfectly, and he died upon a cross on Good Friday, and God took the sin of the world and placed it on Jesus' shoulders, and God punished his son in our place, and Jesus died separated from the Father so that we would never have to be. Victorious. He alone is worthy to take the book from the hand of God. And so John begins to look. Where is this lion? Where is this lion that I'm looking for? I want to see the lion go and take the book from the hand of God. But when he looks, he says he looked next to the throne of God and he doesn't see a lion. Instead, he sees what? What does he see? A lamb standing as if slain. Wait, I thought I was looking for a lion. That's a lamb. And that lamb looks in pretty bad shape, but it's alive. I thought I was looking for a lion. Why am I seeing a lamb? The Bible tells us that lambs are a picture of Jesus Christ. We can go all the way back to the story of Abraham and his son Isaac when God says he wants him to sacrifice his son and he begins to go up the mountain, and the son turns to him and says, Father, I know we're going up to make an offering, and I see the wood and I see the fire, but where is the where's the sacrifice? And Abraham says to his son, God will provide the sacrifice. And just as Abraham is about to sacrifice his son, God holds his hand and says, Stop. And there in the thicket was a ram that God provided. When the nation of Israel was in slavery in Egypt, and God was delivering them, and he sent plague after plague after plague. The last plague was the plague of the firstborn. And God said, Here's what I want you to do: take a lamb, a spotless lamb, a perfect lamb, and I want you to bring it into your home for four days. And at the end of that four days, I want you to sacrifice the lamb, take its blood, and spread it over your doorposts and over your lentils, so that when the death angel comes, I will see the blood of the lamb and I will pass over you. God told the nation of Israel to build a tabernacle. And in that tabernacle they would have an altar where they would sacrifice. And then he had them build a temple, and in that temple they had an altar where they would sacrifice lamb after lamb after lamb after lamb after lamb after lamb. Isaiah chapter 53 describes the Messiah as a suffering servant, a lamb who is led to his slaughter. And when Jesus came upon the scene, a man by the name of John the Baptist pointed to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Hebrews chapter 9 and 10 tells us that we are not saved by the blood of a bull or a ram or a goat or a lamb, but we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who is the once-for-all sacrifice. And John looked and he saw a lamb as if it had been slain because he had been slain, because he had gone to the cross, because he had died taking our sin upon himself, but he said he isn't slain. He's standing as if he had been slain because he has been victorious over the grave. And he is standing there by his father. That's why we celebrate today. That's why every now and then we just need to be reminded. We serve a risen Savior, we serve a Lamb who sacrificed himself on our behalf, and he is alive, and he is worthy to take the scroll from the Father's hand. And verse seven tells us that there is a point in history that is coming that will change all of human history because in some point in the near future, Jesus is gonna go walk up to the Father, and he's gonna take the scroll out of his father's hand. And when he does, he is gonna break the first seal and set into motion all that happens in Revelation chapter 6 through Revelation chapter 22. He is gonna set all of it in place. He is gonna redeem his people, he's gonna judge sin and he is going to give us a new heaven and he's gonna give us a new earth. And when he opens it and he takes it out of their hands, all the saints that are surrounding that throne, they all fall down and they begin to sing a new song. And as they begin to sing a new song, the angels in verses 11 through 12 join in. And after the angels join in, verse 13 says, All of creation joins in. There are concentric circles of praise that after Jesus takes that scroll, we're all going to cry out, Worthy is he to take the scroll. Because he offered himself as a sacrifice and bought with his blood people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people. Philippians chapter 2. Says that Jesus, even though he was God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he emptied himself. And he emptied himself and took on flesh. Taking on flesh, he humbled himself even to the point of death. Death on a cross. Philippians 2 goes on to say this, but because he humbled himself, God has exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow and every tongue would confess of those who were on earth and under earth and in heaven, everyone will claim one day Jesus is Lord. Here's the reminder this morning. Jesus wins. Jesus is worthy. And I don't know, but maybe you might be here today, and your circumstances are causing your convictions to be blurred. And God doesn't give us new revelation. He's given us all the revelation we need in his word and in Jesus Christ. But sometimes he needs to remind us. And every now and then I need to be reminded when I start to get overwhelmed by circumstance to know that Jesus wins. That Jesus wins. Twenty-six words. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If you were counting, that's only 25 words. There's one word left. What is it? Amen. John says that when they began to sing, all the elders around the throne started shouting out, Amen. Amen. Amen. Sometimes, occasionally, very rarely, some of you, heralds here today, brother, I appreciate you, will yell out amen when I'm preaching. Thank you, brother. It very rarely happens, but every now and then the Holy Spirit moves, and there you go. You know what amen means? It simply means that's right. I agree with that. That's right. I agree. And as they shouted out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Holy, holy, holy is the one who is and was and is to come. Holy, holy, holy is he who sacrificed himself to buy a people. The elders began crying out, Amen and Amen. And I pray this morning that as we've considered God's word and as we've looked at Revelation chapter 5, and God has just simply reminded us that Jesus wins, that your soul right now is crying out, Amen. That's right. I believe that. Will you pray with me?