And again I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, this is important. Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, If there is any virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard of and saw in me, these do. And the God of peace will be with you. Amen? I think this is one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible that the church today is forgetting. We don't need to always talk about mayhem and death and destruction and the horrible things that are going on. We need to encourage one another with things that are noble, just, pure, lovely, good, report, virtue, praiseworthy. Amen? Amen. So let's kind of brighten up and get on the sunny side of the street. How about that? This song is from 1858. Made famous by the Carter family. There's a dark and troubled side of life There's a bright and sunny side too Though we meet with darkness and strife The sunny side we all will meet Keep on sunny side, always on sunny side Keep on sunny side of life It will help us every day It will brighten all the way If we'll keep on sunny side of life Though the storm and its fury break today Crushing the hopes that we cherish so dear. Storm and cloud will in time pass away. Sun will shine again, bright and clear. Keep on sunny side, always on sunny side. Keep on sunny side of life. It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way, if we'll keep on sunny side of life. Won't you feel better? There's a dark and a troubled side in life There's a bright and a sunny side too Though we meet with darkness and strife That sunny side will also make you young Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side, keep on the sunny side of life. It will help us every day, it will brighten our way, if we keep on the sunny side of life. Crushing holes that we cherish so dear. Storm and cloud will in time pass away, And the sun again will shine bright and clear. Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side Keep on the sunny side of life It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way If we'll keep on the sunny side of life each day. Though the morns be cloudy and bare, let us trust in our Savior away. He will keep us, everyone, in His care. Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side. Keep on the sunny side of life. It will help us every day. It will brighten all the way. If we'll keep on the sunny side of life. Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side. Keep on the sunny side of life. It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way, if we'll keep on the sunny side of life. It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way, if we'll keep on the sunny side of life. Amen. This will be a diversion from bluegrass. We're going to do some gypsy jazz here. Let's see if you can keep up with him. This is the song we did at the barbecue last week. And by the way, the barbecue has been going good. Thank you. Sometimes a few people, sometimes a lot. But boy, special thanks to Rodney and John and Billy and everybody who helps. Gabriel, what a blessing. And some people who come. Jeffrey will keep doing it for the next three weeks while we're gone. Well, Vern and Jeffrey. Anyway, this is a song that we did last week at the barbecue and kind of a ditty, I guess. I was sitting at my desk a while back reading the Gospel of Matthew and I saw these verses and I go, wow, that'd make a good song. So here it is. Jesus walking by the sea, By the sea of Galilee, Two brothers he did see, Leave those nets, boys, and follow me. Fishers of men, fishers of men, I will make you fishers of men Fishers of men, fishers of men I will make you fishers of men Two more brothers he did see In a boat with Zebedee Drop those nets, boys, and follow me And leave the fishin' to Zebedee Fishers of men, oh, fishers of men I will make you free Fishers of men, fishers of men, I will make you fishers of men. Well, fishing will feed you for a day, But the souls of men are here to stay. Preach the good news and show God's love, and you'll have treasures up above. Fishers of men, fishers of men, I will make you fishers of men. Fishers of men, fishers of men, I will make you fishers of men. By the sea of Galilee Two brothers he did see Leave those nets, boys, and follow me Fishers of men, fishers of men I will make you fishers of men Fishers of men, fishers of men I will make you fishers of men Two more brothers he did see In a boat with Zebedee Drop those nets, boys, and follow me Leave the fishin' to Zebedee Fishers of men, oh, fishers of men I will make you fishers of men Fishers of men, fishers of men I will make you fishers of men Fishing will feed you for a day But the souls of men are here to stay Good news and show God's love You'll have treasures up above Fishers of men, fishers of men I will make you fishers of men Fishers of men, fishers of men I will make you fishers of men Fishers of men, fishers of men I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men. Amen. That's us. Amen. All right. We're all, we're fishers of men. Preach the good news and show God's love. Oh story, how a Savior came from glory, How He gave His life on Calvary, And saved a wretch like me. Well I heard about His groaning, And His precious blood atoning, Then I repented of my sin, And won the victory. Victory in Jesus, my Saviour forever He sought me and He bought me with His easy ride And He loved me there, I knew Him and all my love is due Him He punched me to victory beneath the cleansing flood Well, I heard about his healing And his cleansing power revealing And I made the way to walk again And he caused the blind to see And then I cried, dear Jesus Come and heal my broken spirit And somehow Jesus came and brought To me the victory, victory He taught me and He bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me and I knew Him and all my love is to Him. Well, I heard about a mansion that's built for thee in glory And I heard about the streets of old beyond the crystal sea About the angels singing and the old redemption story Till some sweet day I'll sing again a song of thee He was my Savior forever He sought me and He bought me in His redeeming blood Well He loved me and I knew Him and all my love is to Him He guides me to victory with the cleansing flood He guides me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. Because somebody was a fisher of men with you. You might as well stay standing. You'll want to stand anyway. I just got back from Alabama. With a banjo on his knee. OK. Anyway. There's a song in there somewhere. OK, now we're going to need some good steady clapping. Let's not. OK. I'll help you. What a fellowship, what a joy divine Leaning on the everlasting arms What a blessedness, what a peace of mind Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarm Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarm. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Have I to fear leaning on the everlasting arms? I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Well, I'm leaning on Jesus Christ, my Savior, Safe and secure from all alarm. Leaning on Jesus Christ, my Savior, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Well, I'm leaning on Jesus Christ, my Savior, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning on Jesus Christ, my Savior, leaning on the everlasting arm. Well, I'm leaning on the everlasting arm, leaning on the everlasting arm. Till the answer comes, you gotta keep praying. Keep prayin', keep prayin' till the answer comes. You gotta keep prayin', keep prayin' till the answer comes. If you knock one time and there's no answer, don't walk away from the door. You've got to knock again until you've been let in. Sometimes it only takes once more. Until the answer comes, you've got to keep praying, keep praying, keep praying. Until the answer comes, you gotta keep prayin'. Keep prayin' till the answer comes. Sometimes you might be on your knees for hours. Till the light comes breakin' through the dark. But if you truly believe in His power to breathe life into any troubled heart. Till the answer comes, you gotta keep prayin'. Keep prayin'. Keep prayin' till the answer comes. You gotta keep prayin'. Keep prayin' till the answer comes. Till the answer comes. You gotta keep prayin'. Keep prayin'. Don't give up. Keep prayin'. Until the answer comes, you gotta keep prayin'. Keep prayin' till the answer comes. Keep prayin' till the answer comes. Keep prayin' till the answer comes. Keep prayin' till the answer comes. Keep prayin' till the answer comes. Amen. Ready. Have a seat, please. Have a seat. Alright, well good morning everybody. I hope most of you are planning on going to the softball game. We have a little game to play. Not that I'm competitive. Not competitive at all. But I'm taking roll to make sure you're all there. Because we're gonna... We're going to mix it up in the softball game. We're going to make it like real baseball. Instead of 25 to 9, it'll be 9 on 9. So we have a really good chance this year of being the hogs that actually can play the game the way it's supposed to be played. And not only that, it's really more about our missions trip. We're going overseas. We're going to Hungary this summer. We're going over to camps with kids. Man, I can't think of anything more important than preaching the gospel to these kids in Hungary that, I'm telling you, there's no other way they'll hear. They come because they think they're going to learn English, and oh, they're going to learn it. but they learn it through the Bible. It's an amazing ministry. We've been a part of it for many, many years. I just want to encourage you to come out and support Chris and Jenna and the team that's going. You get to meet the team that's going from Hope. We just want to show our support by going over and having lunch. Food will be provided for you. If you're bringing a dish, bring it. Just set it out on the table. There's plenty of hot dogs and food, so don't think about eating before you go. Go over there and eat. OK? If you need directions, see me. If you need a ride, see me. We'll try to hook you up with somebody to get you right over there and back. But it's just over in Menifee, just down. You can go down Simpson Road if you want. Or you can go down to Omonogone Parkway and get on the Lindenburger and just head to the north. And you'll run right into it. So it's not hard to find. And immediately after church, like I said, don't stop. Don't delay. Show up today. You got your gloves and your hats and all that good stuff packed up and ready to go. At least I do because I'm not going home. I'm going straight over. So I'm excited. I'm excited. Let me pray and we'll get started. God, we just come before you and we ask that you'd help us to see and to understand why that you have written this letter of revelation to the church. Why you gave it to Pastor John. Why you spoke these things so many years ago and then you told him to compile all this information That is sometimes hard to understand, yet there's a specific reason I believe that you've given it to the church. Father, I pray that you'd help us through the power of the Holy Spirit to take heed to that today, because that is what I feel is the most important thing, that we understand why you wrote it. So God, I pray that you'd bless us today in Jesus' name. Amen. As I have spent some time now in studying Revelation, I don't know if you've ever tried to read the book or even tried to make sense of the book by reading it and studying it and trying to put all the pieces together. One of the things that, one of my conclusions has come to me is like, why did you write this? Why so much about so many variable things that are really hard for us to understand and explain? And I tell you, the more commentary I read, the more I see really intelligent men trying to explain things of the divine nature. God will do what he's going to do, regardless of whether we think so or not, right? And God can do anything. We don't have to have a perfect explanation of how he's going to do something, because he's God. We don't have to know, how are you going to flood the whole... I don't think Noah ever asked the question. It's never rained, God, so how are you going to flood the entire world? He never raises the question of how, he just obeyed and did, right? And so Noah is the guy that I want us to look at more than anything. And I'll probably repeat this many, many times. Because as a church, I want you to focus on Noah. Noah, the guy that built the boat. The guy that survived God's judgment. I want to remind you of Genesis chapter 6. When Noah built this ark, remember the hearts and the thoughts and the mind of man was wicked continually on the earth. All he thought about was evil and doing evil. and doing things against God. They didn't even have the law then. But there was a rebellion at that time against God. And it was something that they thought of and did continually. How do I rebel against God? And basically now we have names for sin, lying, cheating, stealing, adultery and all that kind of stuff. But still the basic root problem is we're rebelling against God. We rebel against Him and the thoughts and the intents of man today are no different than the days of Noah. We're constantly, whether you're Christian or not, believe it or not, Christians are still trying to get away from what God has actually said. We don't want to use the word repentant church anymore because, well, it makes us feel bad. We don't want to call people sinners anymore because we make them feel bad. It's not culturally relevant. It doesn't make people feel good. So we try to skirt the issue. We don't want to talk about blood because it's gross. We don't want to talk about the resurrection because it doesn't quite compute with our mind. We can't fathom the resurrection because we can't explain how Jesus rose from the dead. We won't talk about it. So we have to be very careful. There was a warning given to Noah. One of my favorite verses in the Bible in Genesis chapter 6 was going through all this stuff that man was doing. The thoughts and intent of his heart was evil continually. And God said, I'm sorry that I made man on the earth and I will destroy this evil. And all of a sudden, if you're reading along, you just start to shake a little bit. Like, oh, man, God can do that. But the verse I love the most was Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Don't you love that? Don't you love that part when you come to that point, you're reading and you're just reading about the destruction and sin and stuff. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So all of a sudden, it just gives us the flood of hope. And when I look at the book of Revelation, and I think of what Jesus told us in Matthew 24, 36 and following, and I read it to you last week, and I kind of wanted to keep it in the forefront of your mind, because when Jesus looks to the future of what's going to happen, He says, I want to remind you to look back. The days of Noah are very much the way it's going to happen in the end. So He says this, He says, But of the days and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. So we know that as in the days of Noah, it's going to be the same in the coming of the Son of Man, these last days. For as the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also the coming of the Son of Man will be. Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken, one will be left. Two men will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken, and the other left. Verse 42. Watch. Watch. Now see, that's the word that caught my attention, and it's just so highlighted in my Bible, I can barely see it. Watch, therefore, for you do not know the hour of the Lord is coming. Watch, because you don't know. And so, as we get into Revelation, we're starting to see that God is telling us about something that's going to happen. One of the things that God wants you to know is what he's planning to do about sin. I don't know if you live in the same world I do, but sin is pretty rampant in our world today. When I look across this nation and people and the things and the events that are happening globally, I see that sin seems to be on the rise. From when I was a child, I don't know if it's just my old age. I don't know if it's just me gaining in age. You know, every culture is the same. The older you get, you look back, you know, the days were better back then. The good old days, right? And it seems like the days in which you live are really bad. And I don't really know if that's necessarily true because I see the increase of sin like I've never seen before. And I've actually kind of gone back and studied a little bit of history. We haven't seen the kind of overt sin that we see today since the Roman Empire. As Rome went, so we're going the same way. And the end of Rome was absolute destruction because of the way they were going. And we're heading in that same road. So I encourage you to watch. Now, 2 Peter 2.5 tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. For 120 years, he was a preacher of righteousness. He was telling people to get right with God. He was constantly preaching this God of love, this God of grace, and all the things he knew about God. Because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Remember, Noah was not perfect. Finding grace in the eyes of the Lord doesn't mean that Noah was a perfect man, but he was a preacher of righteousness. He told people about God. Hebrews I want you to look at the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 it tells us a little bit more about This in the hall of faith, and I love what it says about Noah how he prepared himself We're thinking about watching and and in verse 7 Hebrews 11 7 says by faith Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen moved with godly fear prepared an ark to save Israel to the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness which is according to faith." So Noah was divinely warned of this judgment to come and there were things not seen. The thing about faith with Noah was he didn't know what a flood was. He didn't even know what rain was. He didn't live near the ocean. He was out in the middle of just a big old piece of land, I would say desert, but it wasn't desolate in those days because there was a canopy of water that watered the earth. But as far as a big ocean, he was nowhere near it. And to think of somehow flooding the entire earth, it was just totally not in the wheelhouse of his thought. But because he was divinely warned, because God spoke something to him, he believed it by faith. Now, one thing I know is from Thessalonians, one of my favorite verses, it says that those who are in Christ, and I'm paraphrasing here a little bit, those who are in Christ, those who are Christ's children, the bride of Christ, you, me, those who believe in God, believe in the saving faith in Jesus Christ, we are not appointed to wrath. So if we're not appointed to wrath, that means wrath is coming. wrath against all ungodliness and the sinful nature of man." You know, the same judgment that happened in the days of Noah is about to come upon this world. Do you know that? Like I said, when I see sin running rampant and I see the world just coming more and more dark, I know that God is a God of righteousness and sin does not go unpunished before Him. Like I told you last week, as we look at chapter 6, we see that the first plague that's starting to happen to mankind is not so much God's judgment, Man's own sin starts to consume him. Man's own sin is going to be the first judgment that comes upon him. His own sin will devour him. Do you know that sin will kill you? Every sin will kill you. Any pet sin that you keep in your pocket, any little sin will come back and destroy you. I find that just, I just want to rid myself of all sin. all the time. I want to be very cognizant of the things of God so that I don't sin. Not so much that I fear God's judgment, but the wages of sin is death. Now if you take that and understand that verse, the wages of sin is death, you'll understand that death is not necessarily the physical dying. The wages of sin is death is simply that separation from God. That's one of the deaths that I don't like. I know that when there's sin in my life, I'm not close to God. I mean, He hasn't moved, but I have. And where the Holy Spirit's being poured out into my life, it's no longer being poured out. And I don't feel the presence of the Holy Ghost, so I can't understand the Scriptures. I can't have grace. I can't have mercy. I can't have forgiveness. All of a sudden, I become very vindictive and mean and nasty. Do you understand? That's the wages of sin is death. My separation from God, that sin begins to consume me and kill me. I tell you, don't mess with sin. It's got a nasty bite. It's got a nasty bite. So we find ourselves in chapter 6 where we know from chapter 5, he who sat on the throne, he had a scroll. And on the scroll were seven seals. And this is the history and the whole understanding of man's salvation, the culmination of all that God has planned for this earth. And the question in chapter 5 was asked, who is worthy to open the scroll, to loose its seals? John wept because no one was found worthy. You got to remember that word worthy. Worthy. A lot of men are willing, but not many worthy. And so as he wept, the angel said, don't we behold the lion of the tribe of Judah is able. And then he said, I turned and I looked and I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain. A lamb standing means it was alive, but it had the marks of a sacrifice. It's blood was let and it had this blood stain. And the Lamb of God was the one who was worthy to loose its seals and to look at it. And so in chapter 6 we start to see that the Lamb opened one of the seals. And He says, And I heard one of the four living creatures say with a loud voice like thunder, He said, Come and see. Now, I like the understanding of this more, what he's seeing here is he's seeing come and see, and the horse is going. This is what's happening. So, what you have to understand where we are in chapter six, the church in chapter four has been raptured. Remember the outline of the book of Revelation? Chapter one is the things that John has seen, his eyewitness accounts of Jesus resurrected from the dead. Then he says to write the things that are, and we went through chapters two and three, the seven churches, the dispensation of all church history. It's the time in which we find ourselves. Last week I said if I had a timeline to draw you, and this is the rapture of the church, where are we? We're right in that corner. I don't know what the date of that is, but we're so close because of all of the things that are starting to unravel before us. So come and see. He's going to send the source. So as soon as the church is raptured, as soon as the church is taken from the earth, now remember, you're not appointed to wrath, so God is going to take the church out before he judges sin. And we have all kinds of biblical proofs to that. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Before God judged the earth, what did he do? He built a boat. Noah went in the boat and then judgment came. He didn't have to swim and build a boat while he was in the water and all of a sudden he built this raft and he made it, right? No, he built the boat before the judgment came. Over and over and over and over and over again, biblical consistency, you will find that God delivers his people before the wrath comes. Righteous lot. I question him sometimes. Lot was delivered out of Sodom and Gomorrah before the angels could destroy it. Correct? So I want you to understand unequivocally, before the judgment of God comes against a Christ-rejecting, sinful world, the bride of Christ is going to be taken off the earth. That's the only way he can judge sin. Because he's certainly not going to punish his people. So he said, come. And I looked and behold, a white horse. And he sat on it, had a bow and a crown was given to him. And he went out conquering and to conquer. Now, we talked a little bit about this last week, so I'll brief it for you a little bit. But this white horse is a very much a duplication, if you would, or a copycat of Revelation 1911, which I read to you last week when Jesus comes riding on a white horse. And he had this this on his thigh. King of kings, the Lord of lords and a sword come out of his mouth and bright and brilliant. And we really recognize that as Jesus. But this guy, similar but not quite the same, he has this white horse and he sat on it and he had a bow and he had a crown and he went out to conquer and to conquer. It's the Antichrist. We know that as soon as the church is taken off the earth, he who restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way. So we restrain evil right now. The church itself is the restraining factor because the Holy Spirit dwells within you. You know, every time that you make a stand, and you're flipping the channels on your TV set, and the shows are getting more overtly evil? If you watch the same TV I am, I can't even watch TV anymore. If it wasn't for sports, I wouldn't have it. Tour de France is coming up. Tour of California just passed. I mean, I'm just saying. But, you know, the only reason I have it is because I'm a sports fanatic. And even some of the commercials are starting to turn me off, man. I can't even hardly watch, anyway. You know what I'm talking about, right? So as we see this constant increase of evil coming on, the church is taken out, this white horse, this antichrist comes on the scene. Now if you look at the political climate around us, do you know of any really great leaders leading the world today? In any country? Anybody that you go, wow, that guy's a great leader. Either they're ruling with an iron fist killing people, or they haven't got a clue on how to do anything. And we're wondering what's going to happen. And so this guy is going to come on the scene, that restraining factor, that Holy Spirit within us that's holding back this evil when it's taken out. Then this man of deception is going to come on the scene. He's going to come on the scene. The Antichrist is going to come and he's going to have a bow. He's going to have the symbol of peace. How many know that the rainbow has been hijacked as a symbol of equality and peace and acceptance? The rainbow has been hijacked, right? And it's been used for evil. But it was meant for good. And so this guy's got this bow, and I don't know what kind of bow he has, but it's not a bow and arrow. It's a bow of peace. And Daniel chapter 9 verse 27 tells us very distinctly how this is going to happen. It says, Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. You understand the dream and the vision that he had in Daniel chapter 9. But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wings of abomination he shall be one that makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolation. So, what Daniel's vision was, is this anti-crisis is going to come and he's going to set up a peace treaty with Israel. And Israel is going to be allowed to go back in and build their temple and offer sacrifice. And once you make peace with Israel, and Israel is at peace, guess what? The whole world is at peace. Because right now, the powder keg in all of the world, let alone the Middle East, is Israel. And I've been there. It's an awesome place. Because, I'll tell you, when you walk around Israel, they're cocky. They are not afraid of anybody. I mean, it's a tiny little spot of a nation, and they're standing with their shoulders back, and their M-16s on their shoulder, they hitchhike all over the place, and everywhere you go there's kids with machine guns. And everywhere you see the propaganda, there's t-shirts, don't worry USA, we got your back. They're going to defend us, we're not going to defend them. They're not looking for the US to defend them. They're telling us, we'll defend you, you big old gnarly nation, chickens. We got your back. And so that's the propaganda in Israel. And everybody's afraid of them. You've got five nations surrounding Israel with the capability of blowing them off the planet. Why don't they do it? Want me to tell you why? They're scared to death of them. There's a fear of those people that is unparalleled. And so when Antichrist comes, he's going to make peace. He's going to have a bow. He's going to make peace. He's going to have a crown. He's going to rule. Daniel's prophecy in the three and a half years into that, and remember chapter six is more of an overview of the tribulation period than it is a specific. In the middle of three and a half years, he's going to go into the temple that they rebuilt. He's going to set himself up as God. The abomination is going to cause desolation. That's when all of God's wrath is going to be poured out. But until that time, the first three and a half years, what we're going to see is man's own sin destroying him. So this white horse, he goes out to conquer Conquering and to conquer and he will subdue all nations and all people will buy into it And I believe at first it's going to be a peaceful thing Everybody's gonna say hail the chief. You know, he's the guy whoever he is and Nations are gonna buy into his whatever he's saying. I don't think this is our guy, but there's a problem that happens when The church is no longer restraining evil. Do you know that in the thought and the intent of man's heart is evil? Have you ever got alone with yourself? Maybe you know what I'm talking about. Sometimes I get alone with myself and I think of the thoughts that I think. How about when you drive down the floor and somebody pulls out in front of you? My first thought isn't, praise the Lord, brother, thanks a lot. My first thought is, give me a bumper guard, I'm pushing this guy off the road. Road rage, right? I mean, the thoughts, the intent of my heart at you cross me and I just seem to have this anger. I don't even want to talk about it, okay? So let me move on. So I think what we're going to see is in the next one here, it says, When I opened the second seal, I heard a second living creature say, Come and see, or go. And another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to that one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, that the people should kill one another. And there was given to him a great sword. I don't need to say a whole lot about this red horse. Red is the color of blood. And when this Antichrist comes and make peace, you know, there's a lot of Differences in the way people will view things right? But the kicker in this whole thing is this horse doesn't go out. He doesn't kill anybody But he takes something from the earth Takes peace You know that peace is given to us by God the you know The WL line that runs down the middle of the highway that keeps one car going this way the other car coming this way That's kind of a peace deal Can you imagine when peace is taken off? It says this red horse, he's taking peace from the earth. In Isaiah 57 21, it says this, there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. There will be no peace. When this red horse comes and he takes peace off the earth, men start to kill each other. Murder is in our heart. And when there's no peace and peace is taken off, there's only something that comes. Anger, bitterness, and strife. I don't know about you, but I think I watch the news and I see more killing going on on a daily basis than I ever have in my life. Men really want to kill each other for no apparent reason. You came in my neighborhood, so I shot you in the head. Well, that's a great reason to kill somebody. You're from the wrong side of the tracks. I want your car. Bang! Let me have the keys. If you want my card, you don't have to shoot me, I'll give it to you, I don't really care. But there's so much going on here when people, it says he just took peace from the earth, and people, it says people should kill one another. You think murder's bad now? When the Holy Spirit's gone and peace is removed from the earth, man is going to kill one another. And it says, given to him a great sword. That sword is just mixing up the anger and bitterness, the propaganda that's going to go on to cause hatred. I see this in my mind's eye. As Antichrist comes to make peace and everybody all hail him or whatever, there's still going to be factions of people that are going to be haters of everything around them. I think of ISIS today, how they just operate with terror and fear. They're not going to cave in to anybody. It's going to create this, well that goes right on to the next horse. It's going to create these wars and this difficulty and the third seal is open. And when I opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come and see, or go. And I looked, and behold, a black horse. And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say, a quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine. You see, after there's great murder, and war, and death, and killing, and all that stuff, there's going to come a famine. You see, what is going to control people? And everything that we know about life today. Now this is why I say Noah is so important for us to understand. Because the reason God wrote all this to us is a warning. You don't want to be there. But understand the time in which you live, see? Because all this stuff is setting up before your eyes. When I see this, the scales were in his hand, and it talks about a scarcity of food. That food is going to be weighed out for a certain price. And it's like a day's wages for enough to buy a loaf of bread. And we think to ourselves, oh, what kind of famine could that be? Let me tell you what it is and how it sets up. In our own day, when I look at it, it doesn't have to be this, but it sure looks like it to me. As far as what we see, we see that The seed today is being patented, possessed by bigger companies. They're owning the food. You can't plant a wheat seed and if it grows up and they take that wheat seed and they see it has the same genetic structure as their seed, they'll tear your field down and say, we own that field. That's ours, it's patented, you can't have it. We control the food and therefore your food will be scarce because it'll be controlled by an entity. Control the food? Control the people. How do you bring peace and an end to all the killing and war that's going on with the Red Horse? You control the food supply. You make food scarce. You make men starve. You make men beg. We also know that Antichrist will present a mark that nobody can buy or sell unless he has the mark of the beast. So this black horse, he brings in this dread and this famine and this horrible thing that's going on. And it says, do not harm the oil in the wine. And I really haven't found a definitive explanation for that. Kind of like McGee. And on this factor, he's just talking about the rich will still have theirs. They'll still have the luxury items. And in the Middle East, oil is very expensive and it's not crude oil. It's like oil that they use for their skin because it's such a dry, arid climate. That oil is a very rich thing that they put on their skin to preserve themselves. It's like a cosmetic, if you would. And the wine is also something that's very luxurious and only the rich will have what they have. it'll be that class division between the poor and the rich. And that could be an explanation of it. It could be. And both those things are also things of fellowship. And I read one weird commentary that was talking about those things that are being preserved because Jesus said, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until I drink it anew in my kingdom. And at the end of everything, he's going to make wine from, I don't know. So I'll leave it up to you to decide what the wine and the oil is. But I look at it as something far different than what we think. Then we see this fourth seal and there was just death and widespread famine and death on the earth. And it says, when he opened the fourth seal, I heard a voice of the fourth living creature say, come and see or again, I mean, go. This horse is sent to go. And I looked, behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to him over a fourth of the earth, to kill with a sword, with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." Now this guy, this 4th seal, his name, his name is Death and Hades. And the first thing that I see is his name is rather strange. And this pale horse is not necessarily like a gray or white, it's kind of a greenish, yellowish, may I say to you, pussy color? Speaking of the things that will transpire in this scene, and his name was, and none of the other horses really have a name, but his name is Death. Death in Hades. And I really like J. Vernon McGee on this when he talked about the threefold natures of death. There's the physical death, there's the spiritual separation, we're dead in our trespasses and sin, and then there's the internal death. And I think of how the Bible's been so consistent on these three things. For example, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they took the fruit that God said, do not eat of this thing. The day that you do, you'll surely die. We know the story very well. If you don't, Sunday school's back there. You can learn it all over again. But Eve took the fruit and she ate of it. And she gave it to her husband. He ate of it. Guess what? They didn't die. They lived to be 900 years old. So what death did they experience? Well, I'll tell you, they were naked and ashamed. All of a sudden, they did not have the fellowship with God anymore. Something died that day. Something died. Do you know, one of the things that I read and studied in psychology that I thought was really a fascinating thing, the day that they died was the day that they became ugly. And since that day, this whole fashion deal, trying to look better, trying to preserve age, cover up the wrinkles, tuck in the blubber parts or whatever. You know, all of this. You know, I talk to people all the time. I just talked to this one lady, I won't even mention her name, but she said, I can't come to this thing because I'm too ugly. My question is, who told you you were ugly? That was the death. Now, let me tell you something. Every single one of you sees you. God sees you. It's beautiful. I got to tell you, when God looks down from heaven, not one of you God goes, well, there's a mistake. That one's good, but not that one. What was I thinking that day? God looks down at you, and I got to tell you, if you want to see yourself as God sees you, look in the mirror and go, man, I'm beautiful. I was created in the image of God. Do you know that I was knitted in my mother's womb by the hand of God? Now, we've got to start seeing ourselves the way God sees us. Every time you look in the mirror and say, man, I'm ugly, you know what? You're agreeing with Satan on a lie. I just got to preach that. That's a little side note for you. This pale horse, this death, you see, the point of that is, that's that death, that separation from God's understanding. Every depression, everything that we feel in our life today that causes stress and anxiety, you know where that comes from? A bit of hell. God's given us the spirit of love and a sound mind. He didn't give us the spirit of fear. He gave us power over those things because of who He is and who we are in Christ. So this guy, this horse, as he rides, he just gives man everything that they deserve when they don't have Christ. They have this first, they have this death, this departure from God. They have no good thing in their mind because they don't have God. The second death that Bernie McGee talked about was the physical death. We're all going to die. I don't know if you know that, but 100 out of 100 people always die. I mean, nobody lives forever, right? So there is a physical death. And the last death, this Hades, or hell, if you would, is the final death, this final separation from God. Like I said, the biggest thing about hell is not the fire, not the loneliness, not all of those things. They don't scare me that much. I saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego dancing in a fire and they didn't burn. And God was in the fire with them. So if God's in the fire with me, I fear nothing. What I fear is no God. See, hell is this place. This eternal death is no God. It's the only place where the omnipresent God will never be is in hell. That's the fear factor of hell. The fact is that there's no God. And so his name was Death and Hades. And he went out and he just went out to kill and destroy. His power was given to him. Over a fourth of the earth died with the sword, with hunger and death, and with the beasts of the earth and these plagues. You know, it's interesting to me that God is always kind of judged with these things. The sword, pestilence, and famine. I think back that God has used this in 2 Samuel 24, 13, where David was taking a sense that he sinned against God and Gad came to him, this prophet, and he said, okay, now you've got to choose between three things. Either you're going to allow hunger to come into the nation of Israel, you're going to have famine for three years, or you're going to have your enemy pursue you with a sword, or you're going to have pestilence. And David says, I don't know what to choose. I just want to fall in the hands of a gracious God. And so God has used these over and over and over again to bring judgment. I also want you to look at to notice what kills here with this horse. It says it kills with a sword. And I think of the sword as a symbol of war. So we know that there's wars, but these are not tactical wars necessarily. These are all kinds of wars and killings. Think of the gang wars and terrorism wars and cyber wars and biological war and all that kind of stuff. These wars will be killing with all kinds of things. War always brings about starvation and hunger, so it kills with famine and lack of food. The last thing it says, the beast of the earth. Well, so many commentators think that the lions and tigers and bears are coming out to get us. Like in the Wizard of Oz, oh no. I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to get strep throat. And I need an antibiotic to kill it. If I don't get an antibiotic, I just get sicker and sicker. I go to the doctor, and you know what? They don't want to give me an antibiotic anymore. I used to go to the doctor, Dr. Miller. Anybody have Dr. Miller besides me? He was a great doctor. I'd go in and go, oh, doc, my stinger. Pull down your pants. Bam. Give me a shot. I feel better in 24 hours. Penicillin. Just like that, I was better. Today, they won't do that. Why? Ask the doctor, why won't you give me the penicillin I need? Well, you don't understand. There are so many bugs out there that are immune to penicillin. We've got to be careful that they don't give me. There's so many of these kind of viruses and MRSA and all kinds of infections in our world today that are killing people. It's not the beast that we have to fear. It's germ warfare that we better fear. So when we see these beasts of the earth, we're thinking big lions, tigers, and bears. Let me draw your attention to something much smaller, microscopic. It's going to kill you in this day and age. I don't think they're big things. I think they're little things. And we see that on the rise today. We have so many things that are killing us. It's unbelievable. OK, I'm doing all right. OK, we're still on time for the baseball game. Fifth seal. It kind of changes the whole thing as we see the four riders of the apocalypse or what's going to come. Remember this is all future. Nothing of this can correlate to anything today. There's a lot of people that take a historical view of Revelation. They try to tag a lot of these horses on to all kinds of things in the past. But John is specifically saying, I'm writing about the things that are happening after this. After what? After the church age. Once the church is raptured, all these things start to unfold. Now, in verse 9 it says, And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was complete. Now, there's a lot of different thoughts on this that were really kind of difficult. But there's a lot of people that are going to be slain during this tribulation period. For example, back in the 1800s, there was a bubonic plague that broke out. One of every four people died of this plague. People were dying like crazy because the plague and the disease was so bad, they didn't have any way of curing it. And people were dying. There was only one group of people that didn't die. Any guesses? Yep, the Jews. The Jews weren't dying of the bubonic plague, and so everybody at that time thought the Jews were cursing everybody. And so they started to kill the Jews, because they thought the Jews were cursing them. Do you know why the Jews weren't dying? They were practicing Levitical law, hygiene. And they weren't dying. And so, in this particular time, again, after the church is taken out, and people who are going to come to faith in the Tribulation period, And this is why I'm so adamant about Noah. Okay. I'm just going to side note the little rabbit trail here just for you just for me to understand the purpose and the reason the book of Revelation was written is it's such a warning to me as a Christian to me and I'm going to take it personally as a follower of Jesus Christ. I claim him as my Lord and Savior. Okay. I believe he rose from the dead. I believe the word of God is in Aaron. I believe he's coming back again. The book of Revelation is written to me and it tells me, don't mess around. Don't become complacent. Don't think you can let down your guard. Don't give in to sin. Don't think you can just hang out and the grace will cover all sin and just live any way you want. Don't. No, no, no, no. The Bible is telling me to stay in the ark. Stay in the ark. Stay where you're safe. I'm telling you, you know what the ark today is? You're sitting in it. You're sitting in it. Not this building, but those people next to you, filled with the Holy Spirit, they're to love you like no one else loves you. See, Jesus said, by this all men will know that you're my disciples by how big your Bible is, by how much you look like Jesus. Anybody know what he looked like? I don't know what he looked like. I think he had a blue jacket on though. No, Jesus said, all men will know that you're my disciples by your love for one another. Now, see, if I love you, I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm going to warn you of things to come. I'm going to tell you, watch. You don't know the day or the hour the Lord is coming. You don't know if the rapture of the church is tomorrow. I just want you to be ready. And again, I told you many, many times that he's coming for a bride. A bride is always ready for a wedding. She's got her dress on, she's got her hair done, the makeup's in place. I've been practicing with makeup, see how I look. Just kidding. But they're ready. And so I just feel and understand from the Holy Spirit that the book of Revelation is written to you and I to be ready. Because after the church is gone, the way of salvation is the sword. The way of salvation is no longer grace. It's death. You'll die for what you believe. And you will believe because what's been told to you today. You will believe because the gospel has gone out into the whole world and Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit is crying out in every church all over this country, all over this world to be saved, to be safe, to be in the body of Christ, to be in Jesus, to be in church. Remember, I read to you last week about Hebrews. It says, do not forsake the assembling together as in the matter of some. But spur one another on towards love and good deeds. And I think I have it a little backwards, but the thrust is, do this because you see the day approaching. What day is that? This day of tribulation. This day that's coming. The very next event on the calendar of God is this rapture of the church. So be ready. So these saints, I see them as tribulation saints. McGee sees them as martyred saints from the Old Testament. The only problem I have with that is the Ephesians. Chapter 4 verse 8 tells us he first ascended descended lowest parts of the earth. He set captivity free So I know that when Jesus died he went to the lowest parts of the earth and all those who were in Abraham's bosom Guess what? They got out They got set free. They were in the presence of the Lord. So I really don't think they're Old Testament Saints But in the words of my dear friend and now passed away Steve Patton used to tell me all the time. He said Troy The Rapture is not going to be that many people And I used to argue with them, why? Why do you think that? I think everybody's going. I used to have this, you know, everybody's going, it's going to be kumbaya, it's going to be great. It's a prepared people, and it's a prepared place, and it's a prepared time. And so the most important thing for me is to tell you to be prepared. Be in your word. Stay away from sin. Stay in the ark. Stay in the ark. And don't get outside of it, because I don't know when it's coming. I don't have a date. I just know we're very near. because of so many things we see. So these saints were saints that come after the tribulation and they're crying out, how long, oh Lord, holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Now those who dwell on the earth are the people that were killing them. They were martyred. I don't know if you noticed, we're living in a day and age where you Christians are hated. by the world. Probably the only called out group by anybody to be hated is the Christian. We're the one that everybody seems to think all our problems revolve around those Christians who won't let us use the same bathrooms and won't let us do this and they tell us no about that. We hate them because they are bigoted and blah blah blah. And they create this real hatred towards us. They want us to compromise our Bibles and say, well, let's just change it to be culturally relevant. Let's just relate. And if we don't do that, imagine when peace is taken off the earth and they can kill you legally. Thousands of thousands of people will die. And so they cry out, when will you, when will you avenge us? And notice in verse 11, it says, then a white robe was given to each of them. It was said to them just to hang out. Time is coming. We're going to see more of these tribulation saints who are dying in chapter seven. They're there again, thousands of them. The number scares me, because it says thousands upon thousands of every tribe, tongue, and nation, and it says they were killed in the tribulation. These guys were killed, why? For the Word of God and the testimony that they held. They held a testimony that Jesus is truly the God of this book, and they held to the Word of God. How did they know the Word of God was something to cling to? I'll tell you how they knew. They sat in church a few times. But they decided that they wanted to mess around. That's what scares me. 10 virgins, all those kind of things. You just keep that in mind. Wait a little while longer, then they'll be complete. He had the sixth seal, and I looked, and he opened the sixth seal. And behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair. And the moon became like blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, and the fig tree drops in its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it was rolled up. and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, great men and rich men, commanders and mighty men, every slave and every free, they hid themselves in caves and in rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come. Who is able to stand? You see, there's a whole lot of things going on here, this great earthquake. One thing I know, we haven't had an earthquake that has moved islands off their pedestal and sunk them and mountains off their ground. Idlewild's still there, thank God. We haven't had a global earthquake. How do I know the events of Revelation haven't already happened? Because these things would be recorded in history, and we have not seen such great catastrophes as earthquakes, and the sun and the moon becoming dark and like blood. And there's so many different explanations, and people say, well, this is a nuclear fallout, or this is volcanic eruption, or... Can I just say to you, God will do whatever He wants to do to get your attention? This is more towards the second half of the three and a half years of tribulation where the Great Tribulation comes and such as never has been before will never be again. The idea is not so much of all these major catastrophes in this sixth seal. The thing that drew my attention more than anything is the fact that these people are hiding in the rocks, in the mountains. They find crevices to hide in and they know where the judgment is coming from. They're not like, oh, what's happening? I don't know, man. No, they know. Their insurance company told them, this is an act of God. This is God's judgment. Massive earthquakes, fire falling from the sky. I don't need to explain it. I remember Sodom and Gomorrah. You know, there's archaeological digs and finds that they don't really know how it was destroyed. But there's like these fire and hot spots, like fire fell from the sky. Fire fell from the sky and consumed Sodom and Gomorrah. They're kind of finding this stuff out right now, today. Documenting it. So how God's going to do it, I don't know, but they know. The most important thing is, they know where it was coming from. It was coming from the wrath of the Lamb. Now a lot of times we think that lambs aren't a very powerful animal, right? We're not very afraid of little lambs. But this lamb, you better fear. Because not that he's a lamb as a gentle little thing, but he is the sacrifice for salvation to all those who would believe. The Christ-rejecting sinful world is going to see the lamb quite different than you and I do. they're gonna see the sacrificial lamb as a force to be reckoned with. And I think to myself, again, my own contemplation on this was, God poured out his wrath on his son on Calvary's cross. Do you remember the scene? Sky became dark and the earth quaked. For a moment in time, the Trinity was ripped in half. Jesus was saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? God was judging all man's sin on that cross that day. All man's sin on that cross that day that whoever whosoever would believe in him would not perish But have everlasting life We live in a time in a day and age this church age where we can freely receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior No, wrath being poured out only grace But after his church, his bride is taken out, there's only wrath and no grace. There's only judgment, because God is a righteous God. He's gonna judge sin. He's just not gonna let sin, people are just not gonna get away with sin. This Christ-rejecting, sinful world is going to be dealt with. So I conclude today by simply telling you, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to get it right with God. And if you have a relationship with Christ, can I just tell you to start fortifying it? Start building on it? Make sure that you're in the right place at the right time. And I don't care if you come to House of Grace. Thank you for coming today. You're so welcome here. But make sure that you go to a church that believes this book. This book is going to tell you the truth.