So in verse one here of chapter
six, John said, I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals
and I heard as it were the noise of thunder. When the Lord Jesus Christ opened
that first seal, the first thing that John perceived was a sound. Now he saw the lamb open the
book But then first, he heard this noise. He heard a sound,
loud thunder. And that's an attention getter,
isn't it? If anything will get your attention,
it's really loud thunder. I've had thunder rattle my bones
it was so loud. I was out fishing one time in
the surf in Galveston. And of course, it was one of
those thunderstorms that blows through there just about every
afternoon in the Houston area. in the summertime, and the problem
was I was catching fish. I knew it was dangerous. There
I am with a lightning rod in my hand out in the middle of
the surf at the beach there in Galveston, but I was catching
speckled trout. But I'll tell you what, and perception
is tricky in that type of situation, but it looked like a bolt of
lightning came down right in front of me, and it looked like
it was about maybe 50 yards from me. I'm always lightening, you
know, as these little thin, you know, this lightening was thick.
It was close. I know it was close and immediately
a crack of thunder that just shook my whole body. And I let
my little shrimps go and went to the car. And that was the
end of it. It got my attention and it will,
won't it? And often in the scripture at
Sinai, there were thunderings went there that scared everybody
to death. They said, we don't want to talk
to him. You go talk to him for us, Moses, and then tell us what
he said. And so this is the voice of the God. It's the voice of
God. Now, it was the beast that was speaking. We see that and
we know that those beasts represented God's preachers, his spokesmen,
the prophets, his apostles, his preachers, his teachers. Throughout
all ages, we saw that. That was pretty clear that the
way that those beasts were presented and described in spiritual language
but But the the noise was thunder it was God speaking it was God
speaking And he said he didn't say I heard thunder. He said
I heard a noise as it were the sound of thunder It was the gospel. It was God speaking What John
heard was the gospel. That's God's message to sinners. This book is the gospel. What
God has to say to sinners is good news. It's good news. God's speaking to sinners, and
this is how God has chosen to reveal and fulfill all of his
purpose, what's contained in the book. If any of the seals
of the book are gonna be open to you, then all of them will.
And you're gonna hear a noise, aren't you? You're gonna hear
the voice of God in the preaching of the gospel. That's what he
heard first. It's Christ that opens the seal,
but you're not gonna know what is in it, what's in the book,
and you're not gonna have any part in it, unless you hear the
thunder now. You've got to hear the voice
of God through the preaching of a man. The Ethiopian eunuch
said, how can I understand anything I'm reading except some man should
guide me? That's God's way. A man that
God has called to proclaim the truth of Christ, the lamb who
opens the seals. You see there that it was one
of the four beasts or living creatures. We picture things
in our mind, and I do. I don't know if you do, but I'm
sure you're about like me. You picture these beasts, these
animals or something. The word living there is the
same word that's used to describe the living water. Christ is the
living water. And the word creatures is just
being, a being. So it just means somebody that
was alive. We talked about that. We don't
know what life is yet, but when we're there, we do. But that
picture's God's spokesman, as I said, his prophets, his preachers,
all of his witnesses, anybody that speaks for God to anybody.
And they said this, come and see. Come and see. Oh, man. Well, that's the gospel
message, isn't it? What did Christ say everywhere
he went? Come to me, come. Come and see, come and live,
come and drink, come and eat. Come and be saved. Remember what
Philip said to Nathanael? Let me read you John 1.45. Philip
findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, we found him. Used to see
those bumper stickers that said, I found it. I don't know what
you found. But boy, we need to find him, don't we?
By his grace, I believe we found him. We found him, of whom Moses
and the law and the prophets did write. All of the scriptures
concern him. Jesus of Nazareth is the one,
it's him, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him,
unto Philip, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Do
you remember what Philip said to him? Come and see. You're
going to have to see for yourself, aren't you? By faith. In 1 Corinthians
121, for after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And what is saving them
that believe but the fulfillment of God's purpose of grace towards
sinners? It's what's in the book. It's
what's in that book of his eternal will and purpose, his perfect
will, and it's what's in this book. And that's exactly what we see
when that first seal is open. What is thundered forth is that
Christ Jesus, the Lord, is the conquering, successful savior
of his elect. Verse two, and I saw and behold
a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown
was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. Remember first that what John
saw was a spiritual vision. The Lord doesn't literally ride
around heaven on a horse. That's not what we're to get
from this. You've heard of the four horsemen
of the apocalypse. And people that talk about that
don't even mention that they're Christ. All of them are Christ.
This is just different visions of the Lord and what he's doing. what he's done and what he is
doing and will do. The Lord Jesus doesn't literally
do that. And the spiritual victory won
for him and us at Calvary wasn't won with a bow. All of these things are symbolic
of him and his work, what he accomplished for us. And also, just to dispel the,
the fallacies of religion and talking about, I've seen like
people go to the trouble of drawing these horses and somebody on
the horse with fire coming out of their eyes and things like
that on a chronological chart. They had a big old thing up behind
the preacher. He would point to stuff. This
is when this is gonna happen. It's not that complicated. It's
exalting the son of God in every word. And the message to you
is you need him. You want to be on his side in
this battle. You want him on your side. Moses
said, who's on the Lord's side? And he drew a line in the sand.
And everybody that was so vile that they refused to bow to God
was killed that day of the people of Israel. But by his grace, there are some
of us on his side, by his grace. But what he saw now is not a
literal riding of a horse with a bow in his hand. He doesn't
need that. It's just a picture. We'll talk
about that. But also, this is not a vision of some future war
or battle, the Battle of Armageddon. This is like the end of the world
and things like that. This is what has always happened.
Christ has been conquering a long time. He's always done as he
pleases in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
this earth. He's won every conflict he's ever engaged in. This has always been happening,
conquering and to conquer. Present tense, always present
tense. If you read that 3000 years ago, or whenever this was written,
but what he's revealed in the Old Testament, five, 6,000 years
ago, you see him victorious. And then when this was written
a couple of thousand years ago, I guess, if you'd read that then,
he was conquering then too, wasn't he? It's present tense all the
time. And from now on, he always wins
and he always will. That's not some future thing,
he came to conquer. He didn't come to do all he could
do. He didn't come to give it a shot. He didn't come to fight
even, he came to win. And that's what he's done and
will do. He came to win the victory over
every enemy of his and ours. We can't lose because he's already
won. Well, if that won't comfort you,
it's already won. The warfare is over. Tell my people the warfare is
over. Comfort their souls with the
truth of the champion of sinners, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He came to win, and that's what
he did. This is God's will and purpose.
The seals of that book are open, and the first one that's opened
is this. Christ cannot fail. He is the mighty conqueror. We
used to sing a song. I'll have to look that up, and
we'll We'll learn it, Linda, if you haven't heard it. I have
never heard it sung anywhere else except in Texas where we
were. Lo, he is the mighty conqueror,
since he rent the veil in two. And he is, and he always has
been, and always will be. That's God's will and purpose.
And this is what Christ accomplished. He sent him to conquer, and he
did. Either the Lord Jesus Christ will conquer your heart by his
grace and love, or he'll crush you under his feet and make you
his footstool, but either way, he wins. Now, him winning may
be a win for you too, who's on the Lord's side, who
trusts him. Matthew 21, 44, whosoever shall
fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall,
it will ground him to powder. Everybody gets broken one way
or the other. Everybody gets conquered one way or the other. Everybody winds up at his feet
one way or the other, bowing there or underneath him. Hmm. He was given a crown, wasn't
he? By his father because he accomplished
all that the father gave him to do. Wherefore God hath also
highly exalted him. That crown is the symbol of his
name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow and every tongue should confess. The white horse,
white always signifies in the scriptures holiness, righteousness,
and the salvation of sinners, which is the purpose revealed
here, Christ being the conqueror who accomplished salvation for
his people. Salvation is a matter of righteousness. It's a question
of righteousness. If you're not saved, it's because
you don't have a righteousness. If you are, it's because you
do. Christ, our righteousness. wrote in Romans 10, one, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. How's that gonna happen? Well,
I bear them record, they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. Why do they need to be saved,
Paul? For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness, they haven't submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. How can we have the righteousness
of God? For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. What does a horse do? Well, it
raises you up, doesn't it? It's a matter of stature, isn't
it? If you're on a horse, you know, you're above everybody
else, head and shoulders or more. It raises you up and it takes
you where you wanna go. Christ was once raised up on
a cross by the will and purpose of God in the saving of his people.
He was taken by wicked hands and was subject to their evil
will. Even though it was the fulfillment of his perfect will,
they did what his hand and counsel determined before to be done.
But he submitted himself to the will of wicked men, into the
hands of wicked men, to do with him what they wanted to do. They
wanted him gone. Now, because of Christ's holiness,
he's riding high on a horse, swift and powerful. Not a cross
anymore. And the reins are in his hand.
And he conquers from that horse. And that's what was happening
while they crucified him. Don't get me wrong here. Don't
get the idea that the enemy was winning for a while, you know.
and then Christ made a comeback. No, when he was at his lowest,
when he was humiliated and weak according to the flesh and crucified,
and by all human account, a failure, he was winning the victory for
us then. There's never been any question
as to his conquering victory. Horses are swift and powerful
in battle. And that's how he's pictured
here. The gospel of Christ's righteousness and sinless blood
is always victorious. The gospel, wherever it's preached,
Paul said, thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph
in Christ. We always win because he has
conquered. We triumph in him and maketh
manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place, God does.
He always causes us, before we are unto God, a sweet savor of
Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. Whatever
happens, it is a triumph when the gospel is preached. And that's that thunder, the
voice of God going forth. And he has a bow in his hand,
and his arrows always hit whatever he targets, whether in grace
or in vengeance. We see this in the scripture
in Acts 2.37. Now, when those that Simon preached
to, it says, when they heard what the gospel that he was preaching,
they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? That
word pricked means pierced. They were stabbed in their heart.
We think of a pinprick, of being pricked, as just being, you know,
ooh, I pricked my finger, you know. No big deal. That's not what
that word means. It means transfixed, pierced. That's one of his arrows that
did that. And he saved thousands that day. Spiritual arrows. The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal. But listen, God also said this
now. He stabs the heart of the sinner
in mercy and grace, pierces the heart, but also he said in Deuteronomy
32, 42, I will make mine arrows drunk with blood and my sword
shall devour flesh and that with the blood of the slain and of
the captives from the beginning of the revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his
people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants and will
render vengeance to his adversaries and will be merciful unto his
land and to his people." So his arrows go both ways. They go
everywhere he sends one. It hits right where he sent it. And every time you hear thunder
now, thinking about verse two here, verse one, every time you
hear thunder, think of God's voice in this world. It'll get
your attention, won't it, if you ever hear it? If you ever
hear it, it will. Accomplishing his perfect eternal
will. And think about this when you
hear thunder clapping overhead soon. He will vanquish the heart
of the last sinner that will ever be saved. And then we'll all go be with
Him. That'll be all right. And every time you see a white
horse, every once in a while, you know, on the side of the
road, you see a white horse. Think about the holy, spotless
Son of God going forth, conquering them to conquer by the preaching
of righteousness for sinners, righteousness without the law,
righteousness in Christ alone. When you see a bow and arrow,
remember that his arrows always hit their mark and praise him
for the grace wherewith he pierced your heart one day with his love. He pierced your heart, not with
death, but with life. And every time you fail, remember
that he don't. He is the mighty conqueror. He's
conquering right now, always has. And he always will. He giveth us the victory over
sin, over death, over hell and every enemy. We win, not because
he's gonna win, but because he's won. He giveth us the victory. It's already won. He's already
given it to us. Because he conquered, conquers
and shall conquer. And then verse three, let's think
about this second seal for a little while tonight. When he had opened
the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. That's what preachers say. Don't
come to me, don't come to the front, don't come to the so-called
altar. Come and see him. Come see what
he's doing, what he did, what he's gonna do. See who he is,
see what he said. And there went out another horse
that was red, color of blood, and that's appropriate also.
The gospel's the gospel of righteousness, but this horse has to do with
Death and power was given to him that sat there on to take
peace from the earth and that they should kill one another.
Why do people kill one another? Because of him, because of him. And there was given unto him
a great sword Now this also reveals God's purpose in this earth.
People kill one another. That's what they do from the
beginning. The first two offspring that are mentioned, one of them
killed the other one. And look at it all through the
scriptures. Armies have risen and fallen throughout the ages
and they still do. People are killing one another
tonight. Without God's restraining grace, we would have all killed
each other a long time ago and the earth would be empty. But now God's people in this
earth, though everybody's killing one another, if you haven't physically
killed somebody, you've killed somebody in your heart. Haven't
you? but his people among the whole
world full of killers and victims. He teaches us to be wise as serpents,
but harmless as a dove, harmless as a dove. And we are, we are
by his grace. And so we, of course, we suffer
persecution. We're in a world full of killers
and we're harmless by God's grace. But this should not be a frightening
truth for God's sheep. He said, I send you forth as
sheep among killers. Wolves, sheep killers. What's
a wolf? A sheep killer. That's what it is. But this shouldn't be a frightening
truth for God's sheep. Not only do we not participate
in the killing by his grace, but we can't be hurt by it. We
can't be killed. In a world full of killing, we
can't die. Not one hair of our head will
fall to the ground without his grace, but more than that, true
death is spiritual. And we can't die because he's
our life. The eternal lamb is our life. Listen to John 11, 25. You remember
what he said to Martha? I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Though somebody kill us in this
world of killers, we're gonna live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. And then, boy, what a question.
Believest thou this? Do you? then why are you always
worried about something? That's a good question for me. Our enemies may kill us physically.
Stephen was stoned. What a horrible way to die. But
the son of God was standing on the right hand of the majesty
on high to welcome him into life. If our enemies kill us somehow
or another, they'll just simply be the instrument of God giving
us true life once and for all. We'll finally live. This is death,
the body of this death. To be released from this is life
for the believer, for those who are in Christ, for those for
whom he shed his precious blood, Listen, 1 Corinthians 15, 54. I should have you, let's turn
over there together and just look at this. This is so beautiful.
1 Corinthians 15, 54. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, does that sound like dying to you? For a mortal to put on immortality,
that doesn't sound like dying. But look, then shall be brought
to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
That's why it doesn't sound like dying, because it isn't dying. Death is swallowed up in what?
Lo, he is the mighty conqueror. It's swallowed up in his victory
over sin and death and hell and the devil and every enemy. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is your victory? We see Christ's victory over
death. The sting of death is sin. It's
the wages of sin that results in death, that is death. And
the strength of sin is the law. That's why there's such thing
as sin, because God has a law. He is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory. Not by our good outweighing our
bad. Not by us being sorry. Yeah,
I've done some bad things, but I'm trying to make up for it,
you know. No, he giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ and what he did. Victory's a person. Salvation's
a person. It's God's Son. Therefore, my
beloved brethren, we shouldn't leave out this last part, be
steadfast. Man, we have every reason, don't
we, to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free. Unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord. We've got a little while here.
Let's redeem the time by his grace for his glory. You know, we just got a little
while to glorify him here. We're gonna glorify him throughout
eternity. We're gonna be changed then, and there ain't gonna be
nothing wrong with that. But in this body of death, the body
of this death, we've got just a little while to glorify Him
even now, even in this world full of blood, even in this body
of wretched sin, and so full of unbelief, so full
of the flesh, and yet by His grace, to come as sinners before
him and adore him. That's a precious thing. And again, this is not some future
apocalypse. People have always killed each
other from the start. And they're gonna keep on killing
each other. That's what we do. The Lord didn't come to send
peace on this earth, not that kind. He did say the announcement at
his birth was peace on earth and goodwill toward men. That's
his people. But as far as this world is concerned,
he said, don't think I'm come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. And he shows us that in this
vision. We see in this revelation that he is given a sword. Nobody
dies without him. Somebody, some sinner may be
the instrument of death. He says, I kill and I make a
life. And think of what spiritual murder
is. We're all guilty. We're all guilty
of it. This world is full of blood.
but we're harmless by his grace. I don't want to kill anybody.
I don't want to do that. I just want to tell people about
him, if I can, by his grave, if he'll enable me to do that.
But we're not only harmless, but we're unable to be harmed spiritually. Hebrews 13, five, let your conduct
be without covetousness and be content with such things as you
have. For he hath said, here's where
contentment comes from. I will never leave you nor forsake
you. That's two different things.
I'll never be out of your presence. I'll never leave your side and
I'll never forsake you. So that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. And think about it, this is bold,
isn't it? We may boldly say what? The Lord's my helper, and this,
I will not fear what man shall do unto me. I will not fear men. If you fear God, you don't need
to fear anybody else. About his grace, well, that is
a bold thing to say, isn't it? And we can't perfectly live up
to that. But boy, that's the desire of
our heart, isn't it? To fear him alone and to boldly declare
that he's my helper. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills, for whence cometh my help, my help cometh. People are going to kill each
other, and they're going to continue to do that. And because of that
purpose of God that's unfolding, of people killing one another,
we shall suffer persecution. We can't help but be persecuted
in a world full of killers. And all murder is against God.
You may be doing somebody wrong, but you're sinning against God.
Against thee and thee only, David said, have I sinned and done
this evil in your sight? And because of that purpose now,
we're going to suffer persecution, but they can't kill us. Not in
the true sense of death, because Christ has tasted death for us
so that we might live. To live is to be in his presence
and to be like him, that's true life. Now this horse is red,
but just as in matters of holiness and righteousness, Christ holds
the reins in his hand. Nothing happens, nobody dies,
nobody's saved, nobody goes to hell, nothing happens anywhere
in his universe without him. He holds the reins of this red
horse in his hand here too. Sinners are swift to shed blood,
but all of it is in the perfect control of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody dies or lives, but by
his will, by his control. Aren't you glad it's not left
to chance? Aren't you glad it's not left to the will of men?
It's not a runaway horse that has a rider. and he holds the
reins. And notice peace is taken away
from this earth by him. That happened in the garden,
didn't it? The only time there's ever been peace on earth was
when there was no sin and there was perfect fellowship with God. That's it. He took peace away
because of our sins. And in the very beginning, Cain
killed his brother Abel. The sinner who hated God and
his son killed the one that loved God and trusted Christ, offered
the more excellent sacrifice by faith in the Lamb. But the
Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace for his people. He takes
peace away from this earth, but not from his people. He said,
my peace I leave with you, Listen to it. Turn with me to this one,
too, and we'll be through. John 14, 25. John 14, 25. We talk about peace now. He took
peace from this earth, but listen to what he says to his sheep.
These things, 14, 25 of John, these things have I spoken unto
you being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach
you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you." You know, I'm sure they remembered things
that happened, experiences that they went through with him. You
couldn't forget that in a single lifetime. But the important thing
is, what did he say? What did he say? The word, he's
exalted his word above all of his name. And we must too. We must count it more than our
necessary food. Remember whatsoever I've said
unto you. Verse 27, peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world give it, give I unto you. When he gives
his peace, here you are right here, let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. You've heard how I said unto
you, I go away and come again unto you. If you loved me, you
would rejoice because I said, I go unto the father, for my
father is greater than I. And now I have told you before
it come to pass that when it is come to pass, you might believe.
We believe because he told us, don't we? No other reason. Hereafter, I will not talk much
with you, for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing
in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father,
and as the Father gave me commandment, Even so I do. The father revealed his will.
He recorded his will in that eternal book of his purpose. And the son came and said, lo,
I've come to do your will. Nobody else ever has or ever
will. I come to do your will. And he
did. He did. Even so I do. And then think
about this. That last little phrase right
there. Isn't that precious? He said, arise and let us go
hence. And I thought about that. My
prayer is that we tonight can arise and go hence with his peace
in our hearts, knowing that he goes with us. He said, let us
go hence. And if it's us, what a precious
promise. If it's us, then let us indeed
go. If it's Him and us, then let's
go. And what a precious promise that
He will never leave us nor forsake us. Let us go knowing that wherever
we go, if it's us, we're gonna be right where we should be. We know that if we go, if it's
us, and if we go hence, He'll let us go hence. then we're gonna
be blessed with his presence and favor everywhere we go. In a world full of blood and
full of sinners whose hands are full of blood, we're under his
precious blood, safe though the worlds may crumble. Let us go
hence.