Good morning everyone! to be here with you all this morning. Welcome especially to our visitors. It's a wonderful thing to gather as a people of God in this place in order to worship Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. And again, I welcome you. In worship we shall. First, let me just point you to your bulletin for a few announcements. And let me thank you all for your prayers. There really is no place like home. So to see you all, it's just an excellent thing. And Will did a good job while I was out of town. I appreciate him for doing that. And the session, the deacons, everybody, for holding down the fort. So thank you. Now, as far as announcements go, elders and deacons, don't forget, today at 4 PM, Providence Hall, we're going to be having our meeting. So today at 4. Also, ladies, if you want to attend and you have not RSVP'd Please do so. Talk to Amanda, talk to Carrie. There's a number in the bulletin that's listed down there. In summer, y'all it's hard to believe, July is almost over. So that means things are getting back to normal with our schedule. Youth Year of the Little Lambs is on at normal time. There's some announcements in the bulletin about upcoming events. Starting in August, in just a couple of weeks, I'll be back in action, so plan accordingly. And speaking of planning, pay attention to that save the date little section on there about stuff like homecoming and special services that is coming in September. And September is going to be here before we know it. Also, you'll find financial statements in your bulletin as well this morning. Now, there are other things going on, but I want to let you know. I'll be shaking hands under the portico right out there after the service is over with. So, that God fulfills, but we need not forget that he is always the king of the universe over all things. It's in Psalm 47 that we read, clap your hands, all you peoples, shout to God with a jubilant cry, for the Lord, the most high, is awe-inspiring, a great king over the whole earth. He subdues people under us. going out to conquer, as we talked about a couple of weeks ago, with that first rider of the apocalypse, we'll continue on with the other verse of the day, but Psalm 47 says, when he chooses for us our inheritance, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves, God ascends among shouts of joy, the Lord with the sound of a ram's horn. Sing praise to God, sing praise, sing praise to our King, sing praise, sing a song of glory, God is seated on His holy throne. The nobles of the peoples have assembled with the people of the God of Abraham, for the leaders of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted. My friends, this refers to what has been, what is, and what will always be. This shows us who our God is that has called us here to worship today. And let us remember these things as we come to Him, singing songs of praise, as we come to Him in prayer, and certainly as we go to this one. Let's go to him in prayer now, after which I pray for us, we'll pray the Lord's Prayer and confess the Apostles' Creed together. Well, let's go to them now. Our God and our Father, we thank you that you are indeed the king over the whole earth, the king of the universe, and you have chosen us to be your people, to reign with you, to conquer with you, and we thank you that the gospel of Jesus Christ his church that the gates of hell itself shall not prevail against it. We have so many reasons to come together now to worship you, but the fact that you have called us here, oh, it just shows you love, Father. It shows your provision. So give us grateful hearts. Let us remember you now as we come together to sing songs of praise, as we pray, as we go to your Word. And all of these things, we need your Holy Spirit to guide us so that this time will be pleasing to you. So please, now work in our hearts by your Holy Spirit in this time. We pray these things in Christ's name, and we also praise you, God, by saying, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, but deliver us from evil for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And now as we say the Apostles' Creed together, let me ask you, Christian, what is it that you believe in? I believe in the God of the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. And the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body. Now, let's take our hymns and turn to number 26. I always tell you is to really pay attention to the words as we sing together. Oh, worship the King all glorious above. Number 26 in the red. All glorious above, O gratefully sing His power and His love. Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days, O give them its splendor and her vivid praise. ♪ Each held of his might, O sing of his praise ♪ ♪ Whose glow is the light, whose canopies raise ♪ ♪ His chariots of wrath, the deep thunder bouts o'er ♪ ♪ And hark, is his wrath on the wings of the storm ♪ soar, the wonders untold, Almighty God proud. ♪ Enriched it fast by a changeless decree ♪ ♪ And round it hath passed like a mantle of steel ♪ ♪ A mountain full there, what tongue can recite ♪ It breathes in the air, it shines in the light, It streams from the hills in descents to the plain, And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain. and ego has trailed in need to be trust, for thy need to fail. Thy mercies, how tender, how firm to the end, our remainder, defender, redeemer, and friend. May it be seated, children. Good morning, guys. How are we doing today? Good. Do you guys know the Lord's Prayer? Yeah? When do we say the Lord's Prayer here? That's right. We just say it after we pray, like we have to pray this morning. That's right. But why that prayer? What makes that so important? It comes directly from Jesus himself. you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray at the synagogues and in the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is because the Pharisees would stand in the synagogues and pray loudly, prayers that would be heard by the people, not for the purposes of the people to follow. So, Jesus gives them the Lord's Prayer after this, and tells them that that's how they should pray. As an example, And when you pray, do not keep up empty phrases that the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard, or they will work for their many words alone. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." So what's important to remember about the Lord's Prayer is that it's a model prayer. Let's pray. God bless. Lord, I thank you for this day, this wonderful Sunday that's been set apart for us to be advocates for people who worship you here on earth. I want to thank you for the Lord's prayer and the stuff that you sent, his wisdom. I ask these children and all of us to remember that we are not meant to pray to our former one after all. We're meant to worship you, to pray for ourselves and pray for others. know, for us as well. We have our hearts to children of the church. The son is named my prayer. Amen. Yes. Thank you. Well, that's everything to dismiss. Let's take this time to go to the inside of the prayers. We'll just talk about the Lord has taught us how to pray and the Lord looks at the heart. So we have this opportunity to go to him and sign the prayer right now and then I'll lead us Eternal God and Heavenly Father, we come to you now with grateful hearts, praising you for all the things that you have done, for all the things that you are doing, and for all those things that you have promised you will do. Because Father, we know that you are good to your word. It's evident in so many things around us. The natural world points to your glory and your magnificence. seasons, the lengthening of days, even the heat of the summer cooled off by rain, the growth of crops. Father, we see your work around us in the physical world, but Father, we know that you work not just in the physical world, you work in our hearts. You work in our minds and you provide for us not only in the temporal things. Ultimately, you provide for us spiritually speaking, for our eternity you provide. We think of the words of your son when he promised to go and prepare a place for us. And if he prepares a place, he's gonna bring us to be with him there. And so Father, whether it's by you calling us on first or whether it's your son's return, we're so grateful that your love is comprehensive, that there isn't a single area of our life that you don't know that you don't understand. Again, in the physical realm, absolutely, you know what we need, but also in the emotional realm, in the relationship realm, and certainly in the spiritual realm, you provide. Father, as we think about the challenges that we face in life, we know they fall into these categories. Sometimes we struggle based on things going on on the inside. We can struggle with things like forgiveness. We can struggle with things like the truth. We can struggle over the past. We can struggle over the question marks that come up over the future. So I pray that you would work in our hearts and in our minds. Refresh us and renew us. Help us to remember that because of you, we'll never, ever be alone. But instead, by your Holy Spirit, you have chosen to make your dwelling in and amongst your people. And we're so grateful for that, Father. But please, bring refreshment and encouragement and spur us on towards righteousness. Yet, Father, at the same time, we pray that you would help us with the physical side of things, too. There are many in our midst that are struggling, medically speaking. Some of them have new conditions that have recently developed. Some of them are dealing with aches and pains and hurts and sicknesses and things that they've been dealing with for quite some time. You know these situations. Where healing is needed, please bring it. Father, where correction is needed, in your mercy, please correct us. And Father, we pray all of these things not just because of us, but we wanna be what you want us to be. We want to do what you want us to do. So Father, in all of these things, make us sensitive to your Holy Spirit, to the guidance that you give us in your word. It's made real to us by your Holy Spirit, and the ways that you call us on a daily basis, and the opportunities that you give us. And Father, in light of all of these things, we come confessing. Confessing that we have missed opportunities. Confessing that we have sought our own way instead of your way so often. Confessing that we need healing. We need to trust you better. So please work in us in those ways as well. And we pray this not only for ourselves here in Old Providence, we pray for your church in rehearsal. This church that your son has promised to build and indeed is building. This church that you've given the responsibility, yes, but also the grand privilege of being salt and light in the world around us, appointing others to you and the hope that is available only in and through Jesus Christ. So Father, spur us on towards righteousness, yes, but also make us sensitive to your spirit as we seek your face, that we would take the opportunities that you give us. all for our good and for your glory. And we know that these two perfectly coincide together, our good and your glory. Father, we pray for ourselves, we pray for your church, and we pray for the world around us. A world that is struggling, struggling with deception, struggling with false pretense, Father, we know that there are many things wrong in the world around us, but we hold to that promise that your son has made, that he is making all things new. As we wait, oh, Father, let us be found among the faithful. We pray all of these things. Now let's continue our time of worship together by taking that green Bible song book, and it's the 91st song, but it's Bible song number 188. So please stand with me as we sing under His wings, number 188. He is my refuge, the Lord is my fortress, Him I am trusting when trouble is nigh. in the refuge I keep. Trusting in truth and faithfulness, no evil can betide thee. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Under his wings, safe in the refuge I'll be. Trusting in truth and faithfulness, no evil can betide me. ♪ Unto Jehovah for refuge now fly ♪ ♪ There shall no evil befall him or me ♪ ♪ Unto God the kingdom which shall come now ♪ ♪ Under his wings, under his wings ♪ The seed is true. deliver. He will exalt thee and answer thy prayer. He will be with thee to honor and give thee life without ending, salvation How little can we thank Thee? We pray it all in Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. Amen. Amen. If God before us, who can be against us? Who can be against us? If God before us, who can be against us? You can separate us from the world of God. You can separate us from the world of God. If God is all of us, who will be against us? Who will be against us? If God is all of us, who will be against us? In our wings, in our wings, we are more than conquerors. Freedom, love of freedom, we are more than conquerors. We will be there when we return, when we return from the storm. Tell me a story of a river, river, river so clear. If not before us, who could be against us? Who could be against us? If not before us, who could be against us? Who can separate us from the cause of Christ? Who can separate us from the cause of Christ? Yes, now you are sure to be a Christmas. Thank you very much for our wonderful appropriate anthem, that is, especially given where we are today. In the book of Revelation, some of those words will be coming back in a few minutes in the service here. Take it from Romans chapter 8, where the Apostle Paul was pondering, who can lay any charge against us? the same Lord and Savior who died for all those that have called out to His name and loves with a perfect love from all eternity. So it's a rhetorical question. God can be against us, He can be against us. The answer, of course, is no one. So thank you for that, choir. Well, as I said, it's good to be back with y'all after being out of town, especially picking up where we left off. Do you remember where we were? I'm going to go ahead and turn the air immediately. and the four beasts are gathered around it after casting aside their golden crowns to worship. And not only are they there, they're surrounded by thousands upon thousands, the heavenly hosts singing about the Lamb, Jesus, who was worthy alone. He alone was worthy to approach the throne, to take the scroll, the scrolls seven times over, which of course represents this book that we're reading right now. Book of Revelation, along with the end of all things, but also the beginning of all things. How history unfolds, how life turns out, how existence continues for all eternity. It represents the kingdom of God coming in all of its when Jesus comes back and wipes away every tear and says, that's my favorite verse in the Bible, Revelation 21, he says, behold, I'm making all things new. When there's nothing wrong left that he won't make right. That's what this scroll represents that Jesus is opening. Where we left off was with Jesus opening the first of the seven seals on the scroll, where the Apostle John, who received this revelation, hence the name of the book, right? The book's title. The Apostle John said, then I saw, he said, then I saw. That's such beautiful words. Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, come! I looked. There was a white horse, its rider held a bow. A crown was given to him and he went out as a conqueror in order to conquer. And it is that first rider of the white horse that we focused on the last time that I was with you, that's where we left off, the rider that carried the bow and wore the crown and went out as a conqueror in order to conquer. Now, as I've said since the beginning of this series, very, very important, y'all, the grand majority of the numbers and images we find in the book of Revelation are symbolic, okay? And so, what, who does this white rider symbolize? Some major military power? some foreign country. As I have often been asked, is this the United States of America represented? Well, I hope you saw this the last time, but you know, in the Bible, there's really only one group that Jesus promises will be conquerors. Brings me back to the choir's anthem this morning. The Apostle Paul talks about it in Romans chapter eight. There's only one group that's called conquerors, and it's us. Not just us here at El Prophecy, Yes, it is the church. That first rider, first horseman of the apocalypse represents the church triumphant. And the last time we were together, we talked about why the first rider represents the church and all the ways that Christ has promised that we will have victory in the end. This is the first thing on the paper, if you're filling out the bulleted survey. Go, Jesus wins. And his people win with him. Yes, show him the respect of capitalizing the ages there for his and him if you're filling in the blanks. That's the story of God's word. Did Jesus not make that promise to build his church so that the gates of hell wouldn't even prevail against it? Yes, it's the church that will rise triumphantly, the church that will conquer and the Lord of the harvest will return to his field of wheat. Yes, as we talked about, there are weeds, there's tears that need to be separated But the laborers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. You and I have that great responsibility to pray for and to be laborers. And it's a responsibility, but it is such a privilege, too. As Will talked about last week, and again, good job, Lovett. But when Jesus said, you're the salt of the earth, and salty against no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. Let me tell y'all something, we have such a higher calling than this. We're called to be salt, to be light. What a privilege. And it is that first rider on the white horse that represents the church triumphant. But that's only the first one, we got three more to go. So what do these other three riders represent? Our God and our Father, would you be with us now and would you guide us? There's so much misunderstanding. Misunderstanding of balance around what we're about to read. It has been made hate of in so many ways by hucksters and false prophets and people trying to not exegete but practice eisegesis and not get things out of your word but put things into it. And Father, we want you to cut through all on our same thing. We may gain a little bit of academic knowledge, but it's not gonna be real. And we want you to learn to be real to us. So please, by your Holy Spirit, work in our hearts and in our minds now. And we pray it all in Christ's name, amen. So Revelation chapter six, beginning in verse one, hear now the word of the Lord. It says, then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, And I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, come. I looked, and there was a white horse. Its rider held a bow. A crown was given to him, and he went out as a conqueror in order to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come. Then another horse went out, a firing red one. And its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth, so that the people would slaughter one another. And a large sword was given to him. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come. And I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider held a set of scales in his hand. Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, a court, a court of wheat for a denarius. and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not farm the oil and the wine. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, come. And I looked. There was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death. Hades was following after him. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill by the sword. We'll stop reading right there for the moment. God, would you please bless the reading of your holy and inerrant and infallible word. Amen and amen. All right, y'all, we've read it. Let's do what we've been doing the past few Sundays together and just take a deep breath, try to process that which we have just read. Y'all attend. Now again, we know that these images are symbolic. The fact that there are four of them, even, I believe it points back to Zechariah's prophecy of the four horsemen and the fact that the number four represents completion in God's word. I didn't even get to this the last time we were together, but nevertheless, we talked about the first of the four horsemen. Now, that right on the white horse represents the church triumphant, and that's important. That whole idea of Jesus winning and how we win with him. As I said the last time I was with you, don't you dare conclude it. And it's faulty theology and just a disastrous reading of God's word to conclude that the world is just gonna continue to devolve and things are just gonna get worse and worse and one day Jesus just has to come limping back. That is not the story of the scripture. The story of the scripture is that he's gonna build his church and even hell itself won't prevail. of scripture is that Jesus went, but again, that's the first horseman. What about these other horses and their riders? Let's just be honest about something. Not exactly the feel-good hit of the summer at first glance, is it? It's pretty dark. Consider what we read. Let's go through them. After the white horse and its rider went out as a conqueror were to conquer, not with but went out to conquer with the gospel of Jesus Christ, as we saw. We just read it, but I'm gonna read it again. Verses three and four say that John said, when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come. Then another horse went out, a fiery red one, and its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another, and a large sword was given to him. Mercy, y'all, that sounds awful, doesn't it? in this firing red horse, red being a symbol of war and judgment, of judgment even. And this rider was sent out to take peace from the earth so that people would kill each other. And he doesn't have a bow and a crown like the earth horse, but he's got a sword. And y'all, this takes us to some real imagery of God's word. You realize, and this is the next thing on your paper, the sword is always a symbol of judgment in God's word. And the sword is given to execute as a matter of judgment. So that's the second horseman. Then verses five and six say, when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come. And I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider held a set of skittles in his hand. Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm the oil and wine. What in the world is that all about? Not a white horse, not a fiery red horse, a black horse. Black, symbolizing darkness, that which is bleak and hopeless, and this writer, There's no crown, there's no sword. This rider simply held a set of scales, indicating weights and measurements. Thought it'd take us back to the riding on the wall, where it was said you had been weighed and found lacking. Weights and measurements, scales also wanting to judge you. Now, we're told these interesting things here, right? And then at first glance, it's like, a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but oil and wine don't harm those, those stay the same. Well, what in the world is this talking about? Well, practically speaking, you've got to understand the language of the day and the custom of the day. Practically speaking, a denarius was considered a day's wage. You work for a day, And according to John's revelation, what this is saying here is it took an entire day's wages to pay for food and nothing else. So what this is pointing to is a time of judgment where you're going to have enough money for food, but that's it. So it didn't matter that the oil and the wine, which by the way, oil and wine always represent joy in God's Word. It didn't matter if they stayed the same price because you couldn't afford them anyway. realize at the time that this was written again, a denarius was your wage for the day and typically one-eighth of a denarius normally paid for all the barley you would need, for all the wheat that you would need for your daily bread. So you have seven-eighths of your day's pay What we're talking about here, no, we're talking about 800% inflation. We're not just talking about the price of fuel going up. We're not just talking about, wow, I remember Lucky Charms used to be $2 at Walmart and now it's $5. No. What this rider represents is a time that is coming, a near economic collapse. It ought to make our minds go to different things in history, right? Like, I don't know if you've ever seen post-World War I. After reparations were handed down, they printed so many Deutschmarks that they were worth virtually nothing. On the left, you see a woman throwing them into a stove because it was cheaper to burn money than it was to buy actual fuel. On the right, you see children playing with stacks of Deutschmarks. There's a fascinating book called Inside the Third Reich. It was by Albert Speer, and he writes about what led to the rise of the Nazi Don't quote me on this, but he talks about going to the cinema prior to World War II, prior to Hitler coming on the scene, right? And he talks about paying something like 40,000 Deutschmarks for a hamburger. Okay? Just unreal amounts of money. Okay, so you go in and you see that a coat is $80 there, right? Well, it's about two bucks, right? So it's not that every, but you get the point. That's what this is talking about. These sales, that a whole day's pay went to a local brand, could you imagine? People look at the current financial state that we're in, and y'all, I'm not saying that it's great, I'm not saying that things They make the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl era look like the Roaring Twenties, okay? That's what this rider brings with him, and we get that. But what does he really represent? But wait, there's a fourth rider, isn't there? Oh, and this one, this one I think is the most terrifying. This one. This one is the pale rider. In verses 7 and 8, it says, When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come. And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following after him. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth to be killed by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth. Now y'all, We're not just told what he has authority over. We're not just told what he does. We're not just told about the horse. We find out that he's got a name, and his name is death itself, and he brings hell with him. Now along with hell, the authority to kill over a fourth of the earth, you realize that there's around eight billion people currently to kill by the sword, by family, by plate, by wild animals of the earth. That means two billion people, my friend. How terrible. Wait a minute, preacher, didn't you tell us when we got started with this series that revelation was given to encourage us? Didn't you say, and this is the next thing on your paper, you've got this pale horse, and it's the next thing on your paper, didn't you say revelation was given to bless and encourage God's people? Yes, I did say that. But realize that's not original to me. It's not just my opinion. It's not about what I say. It's about what God said. Revelation 1-3 says, blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it because the time is near. So how does this idea jive with these four horsemen bringing death, judgment, hardship, famine, pestilence, Let's go ahead and get this out of the way. These horses, they don't represent Russia or ISIS. They don't represent the COVID vaccine or 5G technology and radio waves. There's always some. Because I almost joke about this, and it would be a joke if it wasn't so sad. I've said things like, I remember when I was a kid back in the 80s and Mikhail Gorbachev was supposed to be the Antichrist because he had the birthmark thing on his head, right? And he's dead and gone. And it's always something. I remember when 5G came out, people said, oh, that's the mark of the beast. And then, well, you've got to get a COVID vaccine. And I'm not saying I'm in favor of that or against it. Not everything is political. like the mark of the beast. Listen, let's get past all of that stuff right now. Don't listen to that stuff. It's an empty hole that you'll fall into that you'll never stop falling in. All right. You want to know what these four horsemen represent? The last three horsemen, they represent judgment. OK? But how is that encouraging? How does that match that I'm blessed for reading this and you're blessed for hearing it, if it's so scary? How is that a blessing? Well, my friends, who do you think these four horsemen bring judgment for? Really think about that. Now, the four horsemen are not complicated. It gets complicated if you're trying to put the Soviet Union in there or Iran or something like that. But when you just take it at face value and you see that all three, the last three of the horsemen, they all have the air of judgment to them. Everything about them is about judgment. The one riding on a white horse with a bow in the ground represents the church triumphant. Or you, that represents you as a Christian, trusting in Christ alone for your salvation, all the rest of the church. If the first of the four riders represents God's people triumphing with Jesus, and it does, if the first of the four horsemen represents the church going out to conquer, then that must mean that these other riders, well, they represent judgment for those who are God, for those that are enemies of the church. You know, there's a reason that the fourth horseman brings hell with him, which should do away with the faulty notion that the devil is in charge We get this honestly. I remember Satan's Wake, you know, the Bugs Bunny cartoon. You remember that? Where Yosemite Sam is always trying to get the waspily wabbit and he ends up going to hell and then the devil sends him back to get the Bugs Bunny one more time and bring him instead. There's this idea that the devil is in charge of hell. You know the devil's never been to hell, right? He's awaiting that time when he will go. The devil's here. He's working. He's roving to and fro like that roaring lion. Did you catch what was said about the writer named death? That hell followed with him. It's that he was given authority. You see, the devil can't do anything that God doesn't give him the authority to do. Read the book of Job sometime. Talks about how God had to take the hedge of protection off of Job and to give the devil permission to do what he did. My point in all of this is to do away with the faulty notion that Satan is in charge of hell, that Satan is somehow, some way, you know, maybe he might edge one out of God. And this brings me to one of the most important things you will ever hear me say. I'm going to tell you right now that it's not politically correct. I've said it before. We are surrounded by places that call themselves churches, not all of them, but the majority of places around us who call themselves churches, the people. Listen well, because this is the last thing on your paper. Here's the truth. You wanna know what the four horsemen are all about? It's about the fact that you will either conquer with Christ or be conquered by him. I'll say that again. You will either conquer with Christ or be conquered by him. If you conquer with Christ, that means you know Blink means you belong in it. If you conquer with Christ, yours is eternal life in Him, and that crown that He promised is yours as well. But if you are conquered by Him, then the fourth rider is for you, death and hell are all that await. And that brings us back to what these other horsemen of the Apocalypse represent. Ultimately, they represent judgment for the enemies of God. If the first writer goes out to conquer for the sake of Christ, then those other three writers that bring judgment don't bring it for those that belong to Christ. They bring it for those that are the enemies of Christ. Ultimately, they represent judgment for the enemies of God. And I'm here to tell you today, if you don't know Jesus Christ, Why can we talk about, and we'll talk about, last week from Matthew chapter five, and how Christ calls you to be salt and light. The fact is this, y'all. Humanity's really only divided into one or two groups, right? Either you reflect the light of Christ, or you are a part of that great striving darkness that seeks to extinguish it. John one tells us all about it. And in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and He was with God in the beginning. And then it talks about how in Him was light, and that light was the life of men. John 1, 5 says, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness is not overcome it. You see, here's the reality. In this world, you are either one of God's people who reflects the light of Christ, or you are a part of that striving darkness. that seeks to extinguish the light. It's not going to. It doesn't mean that it doesn't try. What we've read in Revelation 6 is all about the days that are here now and the days that are still coming when the church ultimately triumphs and the enemies of God receive the judgment that awaits them, where Jesus wins and his people win with him. And so the four horsemen of the apocalypse shouldn't make you be worried about if Russia is gonna rise to power or where the United States fits in. There's only one thing that this ought to spur into you, and that is making sure that you belong to Jesus Christ, number one, and number two, making sure that you're sharing the gospel with those that don't. Make sure that you are trusting in him alone for your salvation, if you are, Revelation 2.10, we've read about it already. Be faithful unto death, and I'll give you the crown of life. That's your inheritance if you know Christ. And if that's you, praise Him for it. Wear the crown of life with boldness as you go out, and be the life that Christ has called you to be. And take heart. No matter how crazy the world may seem, everything's going to be okay. But if you do not have the crown of life. My friends, I love you enough to tell you, don't worry about the pale rider that's coming for you. Something that might happen one day. Concern yourself with what is going on today right now. If you know that you don't know Jesus. over to Him today, ask Him to save you, ask Him to be Lord of your life, and you will remember the promise of God's Word. Romans 10, 13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And if you will do that, then you will receive the crown of life. Receive the free offer of the gospel, and if you wanna come and see me, come and grab me, and we will talk after this. My friends, people complicate Revelation 6. They turn these four horsemen into all sorts of things. See them for what they are. The promise that Jesus wins and his people win with him. But in that win, also see the promise of judgment for those who are the enemies of Christ. Make sure that you belong to him. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you for your word. Even the parts that are scared, Your word tells us to work out our salvation with fear and with trembling. We know you don't mean that we gotta work our way to you because you've worked your way to us. Instead, you call us to trust, to believe on the name of Jesus and be saved. Oh, Father, for those of us that know you, spur us on in our faith. Let us be concerned with sharing the truth of Christ with others that don't know you. For those here that do not know you and they know they don't know you, Father, work in their hearts now, and if there's any so foolish here that they don't even realize they don't know you, break their hearts, whether they're here or not. Maybe they'll hear this, maybe not. Maybe somebody here will carry it to them. But work in their hearts that they would see their vast need for you. Break their hearts that they would come to you. And we pray it all in Christ's name. In light of this stern warning, in light of these wonderful promises, we receive another promise from God's word. Again, I just read it from Romans, that all who call the name of Jesus will be saved. So let's close by singing hymn number 503. We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Spend the time in hope for now, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Jesus saved, like a young wolf he died. Jesus saved, Jesus saved, the guilt of sin is far and wide. The earth shall praise, earth shall give, earth will relieve, Jesus saves, Jesus saves! Hear the winds, a mighty voice, Jesus saves, Jesus saves! Let all the nations now rejoice, I love to have that conversation with you. Receive the benediction. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace, both now and forevermore.