And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him that sat there on it, taking things from the earth, and that they should kill one another. And there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And on the hill below the black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and sing thou heard not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him. And Hell skidded unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beast of the earth. And when he had opened the big seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who were 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, that Thou wilt judge and avenge our blood and them that dwell on the earth. And white robes were given unto every one of them. And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow Germans, also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. And on the hill, breaking open the sixth hill, and low, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth and hair, and the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as victory passed with her on the final days, when she was taken of the mighty wind. And the heavens parted, and the scroll went with wrong together. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the cheap catchings, and the mighty men, and every bronze man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens between the rocks of the mountains. And he said to the mountains, and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sittheth on the throne, and from the rock of the land. In a great day a big rock is coming, and who shall be able to stand? I'd like you to turn with me once again in your Bibles to the 6th chapter of the book of the Revelation. Last Thursday evening you'll remember we were looking at the 5th chapter And we saw there that the vision that began in chapter 4 continued. The vision of the throne room in heaven. But we noticed there was one essential difference. Whereas in chapter 4 the central focus was upon God the Father and upon his glorious throne. We noted in chapter 5 that the whole focus was upon God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As John was looking up at that throne and the one sitting upon it he suddenly saw something in his right hand and it was a seven sealed scroll. And then John heard a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice so that all the universe could hear. Who is worthy to come and take the scroll and loose it's seven seals. But there was complete silence. There was no one able to take up the challenge. No one not in heaven above or on the earth or even under the earth was able to answer the challenge. John you remember began to weep and then suddenly one of the 24 elders said to him, do not weep John for there is one who is worthy. There is one who is able to take up the challenge. The lion of the tribe of Judah of the root of David has prevailed to take the scroll and to loose its seven seals. And as John looked he saw not a lion but he saw a lamb. A lamb as it had been slain standing in the midst of the throne having seven horns and seven eyes. And John watched as the lamb went and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when John saw this wonderful picture of the Lamb taking the scroll, all heaven broke out into exuberant praise and adoration and worship. The four living creatures began to worship. The 24 elders fell down prostrate before the Lamb, casting their crowns before him. All the angels in heaven, the creatures on the earth began to unite in that glorious chorus saying worthy is the land who has been slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing. And we read that every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them I heard saying blessing and honour and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. What a tremendous, what a glorious vision. And we saw that the meaning is this, that the seven sealed scroll in the right hand of the father on the throne represents that book containing God's eternal decrees, God's great purposes in history and particularly those purposes that are centred on Jesus Christ and which ultimately lead to the establishing and the ushering in of his glorious kingdom. And the wonderful picture of the visions of chapter 4 and 5 is that the whole universe is governed and rules by the throne, through the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, the reigning son, the one whom God has exalted at his own right hands and given him to be the head over all things to the church. God has given to him all authority in heaven and on earth. God has established, he has installed his king on his holy hill of Zarah. And there he reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. From that glorious vision we now come to chapter 6. And you will notice that the vision continues in that now we behold the Lamb opening those seals one by one. Before we proceed to look at the opening of the seals, it's important that we should notice one or two things by way of introduction and by way of interpretation. Because as we come to these next chapters in the book of the Revelation, we find not only a vision of seven seals, But we find this is followed by the vision of seven trumpets and then followed by the vision of seven bowls. And these visions of three groups of seven really take up a big chunk of the book of the Revelation. And it's vitally important that we should understand what these visions are all about and what exactly is going on. And the first thing that we need to be clear about is that The vision of the seals, trumpets and bowls is not setting forth a chronological sequence of events as they will unfold in human history. These things are not going to take place one after the other in this logical chronological sequence as we find them in the book. And yet there are many people who read the book of Revelation like that. they think that there is simply on the progression through the book. You start at chapter 1 and everything continues to unfold as John saw these things in the vision until we get to chapter 22, the ushering in of the eternal state, the new Jerusalem, heaven itself. But of course if we read the book like that we are going to go hopelessly astray. as we have said that the history in this book is not linear, it's not just a straight line leading upward to heaven, but what we find is cyclical history, seven cycles of history, things that are occurring and will continue to reoccur until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the second thing is that these visions do not relate simply to the distant future But these are things that are happening throughout the whole Gospel age. The things that we find in these series of seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bells are things that are happening even now. They were things that were happening in John's time. They are things that will continue to happen as a prelude to the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's important I think to consider these visions in the light of what our Lord has taught us in Matthew 24 and in Mark 13. You remember that on our Lord's Olivet Discourse there is a clear parallel with what we find in these chapters in the book of the Revelation. Jesus speaks of the signs of the times and those things that must happen and come to pass before Christ returns. You remember how he speaks of such things as nation rising against nation, wars and rumours of wars. He speaks of the love of many growing cold. He speaks of the persecution of believers. He speaks of false Christs appearing. He speaks of pestilences. He speaks of earthquakes and all these things that are going to come to pass. And these are precisely the things that we find unfolded in the seals and the trumpets and the balls. You see these are the common woes of humanity, the things that will generally happen throughout the whole Gospel age as a necessary prelude to the coming again of Jesus Christ. You remember Jesus referred to these things as the beginnings of sorrows. He says the end is not yet when you see these things coming to pass. The end is not yet. These are the beginnings and he describes them as the birth pangs of a pregnant woman. Now of course when a woman is pregnant the baby doesn't suddenly just appear immediately. No, no. It's preceded by contractions and the contractions of course are not a precise indicator of when the baby is going to arrive. But the contractions show that the birth is near, it's coming, but we don't know when. And sometimes for some women they have to go through a long series of protracted drawn out contractions. The pain goes on for hours, sometimes more than a day. before that birth finally arrives. Thankfully Lisa won't go through this. It's far better to have time and a day set and to go in and have it done straight away and to avoid all this. But these contractions must take place and they begin in a small way and then they continue with increasing intensity until the baby arrives. And these things, our Lord, these signs that must take place are the beginnings of sorrows. They are the contractions of a disintegrating universe. A universe that is coming to an end. God is going to fold up the present heavens and earth ready for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. This world is passing away and we are in the midst of a groaning universe. and we are already beginning to experience the contractions of a disintegrating universe. We see these things taking place before our eyes, we hear these things on the radio and in the newspapers. They were happening in John's time, they are happening in our time and they will continue to happen with increasing intensity until the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so these are the things that are revealed to us, not something that is going to happen in some distant future age just before Christ returns. No, no we are even living now in the period of the last days. It began 2000 years ago and it will continue until Christ returns. Well let's then turn with this in mind to the first 11 verses of this 6th chapter. And here we find the breaking of the first five seals. And you'll notice that seals 1 to 4 contain the vision of four horsemen, the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And seal 5 contains quite a different picture, the cry of the martyrs. You may be thinking but why this imagery of horsemen, horses and their riders. Well again it's important to understand that this is not new imagery, it's borrowed from the Old Testament. And we find this clearly brought out in such places as Zechariah chapter 1. You might like just to turn to that passage. And in verses 8 to 10, I saw by night and behold a man riding on a red horse and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow. and behind him were horses red, sorrow and white. Then I said, my Lord what are these? So the angel who talked with me said to me, I will show you what they are. And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, these are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth. So they answered the angel of the Lord who stood among the myrtle trees and said, we have walked to and fro throughout the earth. And behold all the earth is resting quietly. We have four coloured horses and we find the same thing brought out also in the sixth chapter and in the opening part of that chapter. Now you may say well why horses? Why are horses employed? And of course the horse is a symbol in scripture of strength and of power and of might. The Bible speaks again and again of the strength of the horse and the power of the horse's legs. and of course a horse in scripture and in biblical times was an animal associated with war and with conflict and with battle you remember how in Isaiah 31 verse 1 God warns his people about going down to Egypt and those who rely on horses and upon chariots because of their number and because of their strength and yet they do not rely upon the Lord their God the Holy One of Israel there were people in those times relying on horses because of their strength, because of their ability in conflict. And we have a wonderful passage which graphically reveals the power of a horse in wartime in the book of Job chapter 39. Let me just read those verses to you. Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror. He pours in the valley and rejoices in his strength. He gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear and is not frightened. Nor does he turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and javelin. He devours the distance with fierceness and rage. Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded. At the blast of the trumpet he says, Aha! He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of captains and shouting. What a tremendous graphic picture there of a horse on the battlefield ready for the fight. And so the picture here of horses and riders is a picture of warfare, a picture of conflict. Well with that in mind let us come to the opening of the first seal which we find in the first two verses of chapter 6. Would somebody like to read those two verses? Right so we have the first horse here appearing. It's a white horse and the horse here symbolises conquest. The rider has a bow and he's wearing a crown on his head. And there are many who believe that here we have a reference to the person of our blessed saviour the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And they believe this for several reasons. Firstly they point out that we have virtually an exact parallel to this in Revelation chapter 19. We might like just to turn to those verses. Revelation chapter 19 and from verse 11. John says I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called Faithful and True. and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God. The armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now of course there are some differences but clearly the same vision is seen in heaven, the vision of a white horse one who is bent on conquest and one who is victorious and one who wears a crown or many crowns. And then they also point out that this picture is in harmony with the whole context of the vision. Chapter 5 verse 5, one of the elders said, the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed, he has conquered. and is able to take the book and to loose the 7 seals. And in chapter 17 and verse 14 these will make war with the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And indeed this is the whole theme of the book of the Revelation. It's the triumph of the Lamb. The wonderful picture is the Lamb wins. The Lamb triumphs and treads all his enemies down and brings in his everlasting kingdom. He wins the nations and so they become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ so that he reigns over them forever and ever. And whenever you find the word conquest and conquer in the book of the Revelation it always refers to Christ and to his triumphant people in heaven. And they also show that it's in harmony with The picture in Matthew 24, our Lord's Olivet Discourse. Remember when Jesus speaks of those signs of the times of the terrible things that are going to happen on the earth. He speaks also of the sign of the proclamation of the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as a witness to all the nations. You see the Gospel will never cease to be proclaimed. The Gospel will never cease to work in this world. Even in the midst of great evil and apostasy and persecution. That Gospel will ride on triumphant and will conquer and will win the nations. And then we have a similar picture in Psalm 45 which is another messianic psalm referring to the kingship of Christ. gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one with your glory and your majesty and in your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility and righteousness and your right hand shall teach you awesome things your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies the people's fall under you. Here we have another similar picture of the Lord Jesus Christ reigning as king conquering the peoples by his mighty word. And so for these reasons they say here on this first horse is the glorious Lord Jesus Christ himself. But there are some who would object to this and they do so for a number of reasons. They say well how can this be our Lord Jesus Christ on the white horse when it is our Lord Jesus Christ who opens the seals himself. How can he be the one who opens the seals and the one who is the rider on the first horse? Also they point out that although there is a similar statement in Revelation 19 as we have seen yet the picture is not exact by any means and there are many differences in the details. The crowns are different and so on. And they would also point out that if we personify the first horseman then we have to personify the other three. And that as we shall find out is impossible to do because we are not dealing here with individuals. We are dealing here with principles that are occurring throughout the Gospel age. I for one don't want to come down on either side. I think it is possible that this rider could be our Lord but it's possible that it's not. But I don't think it really matters at the end of the day as long as we see in the opening of this first seal a glorious picture of Christ conquering through the gospel. You see this is the picture that we have here. It's not simply some world dictator bent on conquest. He is riding as if on a white horse. And we always have to bear in mind the symbolism in the book of the Revelation. And when we come across white in the book of the Revelation, it always symbolises purity and truth and righteousness and goodness. Never something that is evil. Certainly not as Schofield suggests, a picture of Antichrist. No, no, what we have here is something glorious, something wonderful. We've seen this picture of conquest and conquering. It's a picture of Christ and his church. And how does our Lord reign at this present time? He's reigning in the world through the Gospel. He's reigning by his word and spirit. He's riding forth victoriously, winning the nations to himself. And that wreath, that victory wreath is a token of the Gospel's sure success. And well might we sing as we have done so this evening, fly abroad thou mighty gospel, win and conquer, never cease. What an encouragement to know that in the midst of this evil day when so many terrible things are coming on the earth that the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is triumphing. We may not be seeing much in our own nation but in many other nations on the earth the gospel is triumphing and advancing with power. and winning the nations. And it will continue to do so until the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And then we come to the second seal and we find this in verses 3 and 4. Would somebody like to read those two verses? And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. And there went out another horse that was red. And Paul was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. And there was given unto him a great sword. The second horse that comes forth is red, a fiery red horse. And it clearly symbolises here bloodshed. It's a picture of slaughter. It's a picture of blood being poured out. It's a picture of death and of strife and conflict stemming from sin and the rejection of the gospel of peace. And this is precisely what is happening. It was happening in John's time. It's happening at the present time. It will continue to happen until the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. In spite of the efforts of men to obtain peace amongst nations. We are living in days where we hear all sorts of peace marches and groups getting together like the United Nations trying to bring peace on the earth and to end war and conflicts. But they are living in a false paradise if they think that they can bring about lasting peace on this earth. There is only one source of peace and that is the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. And unless men kiss the sun and unless they bow the knee and acknowledge him as sovereign and lord and find that reconciliation with God then there will be no reconciliation amongst men. It is the gospel of peace that brings about peace on the earth. It breaks down barriers between Jew and Gentile races and tensions and breaking down every barrier, the barrier of sin bringing us into reconciliation with God and with one another. Men are naturally at enmity with God and naturally they are at enmity with one another. And so until that gospel is embraced there will be no lasting peace on this earth. And these things will continue to occur. That red horse and its rider will continue to stride through the earth. And then we come to the opening of the third seal in verses 5 and 6. And when he opened his third seal, I heard the third priest say, Come and see, that I beheld the mother of the black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of valeties in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a cannon, and three measures of barley for a cannon, and seed down earth of the oil and the wine. Ok here in the third seal we have a black horse and this black horse is a picture of scarcity. What we find here in this is economic hardship and poverty due to injustice. And you'll notice that the rich continue to get rich and the poor continue to remain poor. And of course it's never been the case and it will continue to be until Christ returns. Notice that the rich will continue to luxuriate and to wallow in their luxuries. The wine and the oil will continue to flow on unabated. These things will always be around for those who have the money for them. But on the other hand We notice extreme poverty, we notice that the poor will continue to be downtrodden. The poor will continue to struggle to eke out a living. We have a picture here of a quart of wheat for a denarius. A denarius in those days was the average wage that was given to a manual worker. He's got to work a whole day by the sweat of his brow in order to scratch just a small amount of food. And this economic hardship and poverty due to injustice will continue to prevail. And then we come to the fourth seal, verses 7 and 8. And when he had opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth beast saying, come and see. And I looked and it was all in fables and it's naiveness, that's not a game of death. And the power was given unto him over the full part of the earth to kill the sword, and with hunger and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. Ok, the first thing to notice is that the pale rider here is not sent eastward in his western classic. But it's the horse that represents death. And here we see tremendous amounts of death taking place in the earth as a result of the sword, the famine, pestilence and wild beasts. And we find that these are the four common woes of humanity revealed in scripture in the book of the prophet Ezekiel. It says, for thus says the Lord God, how much more it shall be when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem. the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence to cut off man and beast from it. These are the things that were happening in John's time, they are happening in our time and they will continue to happen until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the four horsemen of the apocalypse but when we come to the opening of the fifth seal we notice a completely different picture in verses 9 to 11. When he 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 completed. No horses mentioned here, no riders, no crying of the four living creatures, Calm. But we do have a cry. And it's the cry of the martyrs. And notice where they're crying from. The picture is of their souls crying out from under the altar. Now why from under the altar? Well you remember in the Old Testament in the book of Leviticus we are told that the blood of those sacrifices that was offered to God on the altar was poured out at the base. Under the altar. And of course the life of the flesh is in the blood. And so here in graphic imagery we have a picture of God's servants pouring out their lives as a sacrificial drink offering in sacrificial worship and service to their Gods. They have been faithful until death. They poured out their own lifeblood as an act of worship and service for the Gospel. and they are crying out. What are they crying? It's a cry we see for vengeance. They are crying and saying how long O Lord holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Now the question that immediately confronts us is how do we harmonise this cry of the martyrs with the prayers of our Lord and of Stephen when they were being put to death. You remember how our Lord prayed for his enemies. You remember how our Lord said, Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. And Stephen said, Lord do not lay this sin to their charge. And yet here we have the martyrs, their souls under the altar crying out that their deaths might be avenged. How do we harmonise the two? Well I think it's important to notice here that the cry of the martyrs here in Revelation 6 is not a cry for vengeance. These people are not angry and their anger is building up every single day and they are only longing for that day when they shall get their own back on their enemies. It's not sinful anger. No, no, it's a cry for justice, for justice to be done. They're longing for that day, they're saying, how long O Lord, holy and true? How long will these people continue to blaspheme your name? How long will they go on breaking your holy laws, disgracing your majesty, killing your servants, threatening your kingdom? How long will this go on? And they're longing for that day when all wrongs will be righted, all injustices will be regressed. They are longing for that day when God's honour and God's people shall be vindicated. And isn't that precisely what we find in the Old Testament in those implicatory Psalms of David where he calls judgement upon his enemies. It's not against sinful anger. It's a longing for that last and great eschatological day when God's judgements will be finally outpoured on all who do not love our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a longing for that day when sin shall be removed from the universe and there shall be ushered in a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. You see David recognises that these people are not just his enemies, they are God's enemies. They are the enemies of the Gospel and of the Kingdom and it's a cry and a longing and it should be our cry and longing too. But that day will come when God will remove all sin and unrighteousness out of the earth and everything that offends and ushering that glorious perfect eternal state. And notice the wonderful thing here is that the number of the martyrs is known to God and it's fixed. Notice that they are told that they must wait and be patient a little longer until the number of their fellow servants, their brethren who will be killed as they were, was completed. What a comfort this must have been to these Christians in the seven churches in Asia. Antipas had already been a faithful martyr Others were about to be martyred such as Polycarp and others too. And they must have wondered what on earth was going on in the midst of this chaos and confusion. And yet John could remind them that the Lamb was upon the throne. It's the Lamb who is opening the seals. He is the one who is in control even of the martyrdom of his saints. And he not only knows about it but their number is unalterably fixed. And there will not be more martyrs that our Lord has declared and there will not be fewer martyrs. What a privilege to lay down one's life for the Master. To follow in the footsteps of our Saviour and to be faithful until death to receive that martyr's crown. Now we've seen then the opening of the first five seals and to summarise what does all this mean for us today. Well I think what it means is this. Here are the news headlines for 2002 and for any other year you might be pleased to mention. There will continue to be reports from different parts of the world of invasions, coup d'etat, wars, fighting and terrorism. Inflation will continue to bite. Broadly speaking the rich will remain rich and the poor will remain poor. Certain areas of the world will be struck by famine. Death will continue to rear its ugly head. Every moment of every day people will die. Christians will continue to be persecuted. But the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to ride on victoriously. And many sinners will be saved. Here are the headlines. You see the Bible is as up to date as tomorrow's newspaper. These things are being fulfilled here and now. They will be fulfilled tomorrow. And these things will continue until the glorious coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. And I think there are three things that we need to take to heart as we close this evening. Three lines of application. First of all, surely it means be informed. Be informed Christian. Read your daily newspaper. Listen to the news. Know what's going on in the world today. Don't just bury your head in the sand. Consider these things but interpret them in the light of God's clear word. This more sure word of prophecy. And don't be like so many Christians today who simply hear the headlines and they have a good old grumble and say I don't know what on earth the world is coming to. We do know what the world is coming to. And we should be alert and ready to give a reason for the hope within us. Secondly, be encouraged. Be encouraged. It's very easy to be discouraged when we see these terrible things happening, natural disasters and we see nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, terrorism and so on. And all the injustices in the world. But Christian, remember that the Lamb is upon the throne. He is the one who is opening the seals. He is in control of all these things. He is bringing human history to a culmination and a climax. Let us look up in these days and let us rejoice that in the midst of it all the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ is coming and extending and filling the earth. And there is coming that day when the full number of his people will be gathered in and not one will be lost, not one will be missing. And then they shall be ushered in that new heavens and a new earth. Let us be encouraged that the Gospel has not lost anything of its power. It is still the dynamite of God to the salvation of those who believe and how we need to renew our confidence continually in the power of the Gospel. Let us rejoice that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not fleshly, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of Satan's strongholds. Christ is reigning through the Gospel, by His Word and by His Spirit. These are our weapons. And let us have confidence in the power of God's Word, sharper than any two-edged sword. And let us proclaim that truth, the boldness in these days until Christ returns. And then finally be challenged. Be challenged by these things. As we consider that fifth seal, As we consider the martyrs of Jesus, let us ask ourselves this evening, how committed am I to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel? Am I willing to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ? None of us know exactly what's going to happen around the corner. We don't know what's going to happen next year. We don't know what's going to come in our lifetime. But terrible things may occur and we may be amongst those living on the earth just prior to our Lord's return. And we may be persecuted. We may be put to the sword. We may have to lay down our life for the Saviour. Are we willing? Do we love Him? with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. Do we love this Gospel? Or are we ashamed of our Lord? Or can we say with Paul, I am not ashamed of the Gospel. As we come to the Lord in prayer tonight, let us pray that we might have that renewed confidence in the Gospel and in the kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ who is reigning even now. Let us pray that at this coming Christmas time that the Gospel may be preached with power and with clarity And let's pray for the opportunities that we have at this time. Let's pray for the calendars as they have gone out and the power of God's word on those calendars to convict and convince of sin and righteousness and judgement. And let's remember those who sit under the gospel here week by week. Let's continue to pray for them and that that day of salvation may come for them.