Our Lord said, I didn't come
to send peace but a sword. And you can be certain of this,
whenever the rider on the white horse goes forth and he conquers
a sinner, right behind him, right behind him is going to be the
rider on the red horse. He's going to try to cause division.
He's going to try to cause trouble. I promise you. He'll try to cause
trouble. He'll try to divide. And if it's
God's purpose, He will divide. And I thought about this. You
know, God has blessed us. We're going to have baptismal
service tonight. Richard, forgive me for calling you by name. We're
just rejoicing God's goodness to you, God's grace to you. It's
such a blessing. God has blessed His congregation
throughout the years as He brings out of the wilderness, finds
His lost sheep, and many of us have been brought into the fold
of salvation. That's a great time of rejoicing.
As a rider on the white horse, He goes forth conquering and
to conquer. Watch out! Watch out for that rider on the
red horse, because he's going to try to cause division. He's
going to try to cause trouble. And I don't know what the purpose
of God is, but I do know our responsibility is to, as best
we can, maintain the peace of the congregation. Because I'll tell you what, the
rider on the wife, the rider on the red horse, he will try
to take something that's insignificant and divide a congregation, divide
friends, even divide families. So you watch out. Watch out. It's just like I brought out
in the Sun School lesson this morning. Our Lord Jesus had just
been baptized in a wonderful, wonderful, precious event. What's the next saying? Let out
in the wilderness, be tempted of the devil. And when you have,
when God blesses and there's a spiritual refreshment, be on
guard. Satan's not going to take that.
He's not going to take a whipping, setting down. When he gets licked
again, he gets whipped again, he gets up and he goes on the
offensive again. He's on the attack, so be careful.
Be careful. Over in 2 Corinthians chapter
11, the Apostle Paul said, he said, there was that time when
I got caught up, I caught up to the third heaven. He said,
I saw glorious, just too beautiful for me to even speak about. What a spiritual time of refreshment
for that man. And in the next few verses said,
there was sent to me a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Immediately
after that happened. So watch out. Watch out. Let's do what we can to keep
divisions from happening. But of course, when the gospel
divides, that just has to be. That just has to be because we're
not going to back up on that. The mystery of iniquity, even
as it says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, continues to work,
continues to oppose the gospel. And I will say to Richard, and
I'll say to every believer, you take a stand for the gospel,
you go into the waters of baptism, and some people when they find
out about it, They are going to divide with you. You are not
serious. You are not serious about this
argument. And then they see that you are. Division happens. That is the way it is. The rider
on the red horse. He causes division. Then thirdly,
here is the third seal. This is in verse 5. This is the
rider on the black horse. This is not a literal famine,
but a spiritual famine. I'll tell you one of the greatest
blessings, maybe the second greatest blessing that God can give to
somebody. The greatest blessing being salvation
through Christ Jesus. But the next greatest blessing
that God can give to a nation, to a city, to a church, or to
an individual. is to send to them the Word of
God. Send the Gospel of His grace.
What a blessing. What a blessing for God to send
us the Gospel. For God to establish this work
right here and through these last decades. Have His Gospel
here. What a blessing. What a blessing. And I'll tell you the greatest
judgment God can bring upon a nation or a city or a congregation or
an individual in this world is to bring a spiritual famine to
take the Word of God away. And usually it happens because
you're indifferent towards God. You're indifferent, you just
kind of trifle with the things of the Lord. Well, He'd just
take it away. I had you look at Amos back a couple of weeks
ago. Look at Amos chapter 8 again. I never did get to the two verses
that I actually wanted to get to, and I'm going to get to them
right now. The Lord has issued through Amos
statements of judgment to the people of Israel. They were a
people who Though they were warned over and over and time and time
again, they were at ease, they weren't disturbed, they weren't
concerned about the gospel, weren't concerned about their relationship
with God, weren't concerned about their depravity, their own guilt. These things didn't bother them.
The issues of death and judgment and everlasting, what's going
to happen out there in eternity, that was of no consequence to
them. Their religion was just a pretense,
just an outward performance of ceremonial duties. And as a result,
God said, I'm going to deal with you in a judgmental way. Look
at Amos chapter 8 and verse 11. Behold, the days come. The book of Amos. The little
book of Amos. Chapter 8, verse 11. Behold, be astounded. Be amazed. God said, this is
what I'm going to do. God said, I will send a famine
in the land. But this is not a famine of bread. It's not a thirst for water.
But it's a famine and thirst for hearing the words of the
Lord. In other words, it's a spiritual famine. They shall wander from
sea to sea, from north even to the east. They shall run to and
fro to seek the word of the Lord. Can't find it. Can't find it. It's like today, we have churches
everywhere. But you know the gospel of our
Lord Jesus? It's found almost nowhere. That
is sad. That is a spiritual famine. We
are in the midst of a spiritual famine. There are churches all
over this city. While we are right here in the
Bible Belt, in the buckle of the Bible Belt, some people say.
If we are not in the buckle, we are pretty close to it. Churches
everywhere on every corner, practically. Where is the Gospel though? Who is it that's honoring God?
Where are those voices that magnify God? Magnify God's sovereign
grace, God's electing grace. Where are those voices that magnify
our Lord Jesus, His redeeming effectual work on the cross?
Where are those voices that speak of the blood? The blood that
was shed successfully to save His people from their sins. He
said, this is the blood of the New Testament which is shed for
many for the remission of sins. His name is Jesus because He
shall save His people from their sins. Where are the voices that
announce and proclaim the successful Savior who died for His people
and put their sins away and brought in for them everlasting righteousness? Where are those voices today?
Few and far between. No wonder Elihu stated in the
book of Job He stated there's one among a thousand. One among
a thousand. Maybe there's that many today.
One among a thousand voices, if that many. They shall wander, it says, from
sea to sea, from the north even to the east. They shall run to
and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not find it."
What an awful judgment this is upon the land of Israel. When God removes His Word, when
God takes away His candlestick, when He takes away His candlestick,
mark it down, there is nothing but darkness. if God takes the
light away. Oh, God don't take the light
away. You see, we're in darkness by
nature. God's given us some light, spiritual
light. Lord, don't take the light away. Don't take the lamp stand away.
Don't take the candlestick away. What a terrible judgment. When
God removes His Word, when God removes His Gospel, when God
removes His witness, when He takes away the truth, because
when He does that, all hope is gone. Now that's for certain. All hope is gone. You see, this Word, the preached
Word to Israel, this blessing of listening to the Word of God,
the ten tribes, they just wouldn't pay any attention. And now God
takes it away. He deprives them of hearing the
Word. The Jews, upon their rejection
of our Lord Jesus Christ, they had the Kingdom of God and the
Gospel of the Kingdom and the Word of God and the ordinances
of God. He had them taken away from them.
And it remains so pretty much even until this day. The seven churches of Asia to
whom this letter in the book of Revelation, to whom this letter
was written, their candlesticks have been removed out of their
places for many years. The famine still goes on there. It still goes on. And yet, look
at verse 14. Well, verse 13, In that day shall
the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. In other words,
people who live good lives, they're still going to die. They that
swear by the sin of Samarians say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth,
and the manner of Beersheba liveth, even they shall fall and never
rise up again. What's this saying? Even though
God takes His Word away, they're still religious. They're still
worshiping their idols. They're still going through the
motions. They don't even know He's gone! They don't even realize
He's taken the light away! They've just been going through
the motions for all these years and God says, I'm done with you.
I'm taking the light away. They don't even know it's gone.
Don't even recognize it. Still religious. Ah, the black
horse of spiritual famine, which the Lord sins. He usually, usually
sins it, because men have neglected His Word and refused the message
of His servants. Go back to Revelation chapter
6. Well then, in the case of a natural famine,
a natural famine, What is going to follow? Death, right? Natural famine, that which follows
is death. Let me talk to you for a few
minutes about the rider on the pale horse. This is the fourth
seal. Verse 7, 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, yellowish green, Somebody said the color of death. His
name that sat on him was death and the hell followed with him.
Power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth
to kill with the sword, with a hunger, with death, that word
death is pestilence or disease. Disease. And with the beasts
of the earth. The rider on the pale horse. This is what I gather, first
of all. It certainly sets forth the reality
of physical death. Physical death. The rider on
the pale horse, he is going to come sooner or later for you
and for me. That's just beyond question. Only two people in the Bible
have left this world without dying a natural death. Two sinful
men, Enoch and Elijah. I know that when our Lord Jesus
comes back, those who are alive and remain until His coming,
we will avoid death. But unless the Lord comes back
Pretty soon, next few years, this rider on the pale horse,
he's going to ride up to us and he's going to say, it's time
for you. And it's not only death, but it's what follows is hell.
And I think this word, hell, by this is mentioned the place
of the dead, where the dead go. Some of the dead go to be with
the Lord. So the word hell here has two
different meanings. Sometimes it is the place of
the damned, the regions where God punishes people. But basically
the original meaning, first meaning is it's a place of where the
dead are. In other words, you're going
somewhere. When you die, when the rider
on the pale horse, he comes to visit you, you will die. But death doesn't end it. Scripture
says it is appointed unto men once to die. But, after this,
the judgment, you're going somewhere. The Bible says, God says, all
souls are mine. Ecclesiastes chapter 12. When
we die, the soul goes back to God. He's going to do something
with it. If you die in Christ Jesus, you die washed in His
blood, you die in His righteousness, robed in His righteousness, made
the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has been
made by the Spirit of God to be all of your hope and all of
your salvation. The rider on the pale horse,
He's still going to come to you. You're still going to die. Your
soul is going to be separated from your body. Your soul is
going back to God. and the Lord will receive you
for Christ's sake. You die in Christ Jesus. To be
absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. Our Lord
said to that thief who believed Him, today you'll be with me
in paradise. Today. I tell you, the rider
on the pale horse paid a visit to that believing thief and he
died a death, a violent death, a very agonizing death. And you're going to die. You
may die a peaceful death in your sleep. You may never know what
that heart attack feels like. You may just go just like that.
Or you may die in agony. I don't know. Nobody knows. Nobody
knows what it's going to be like when the rider on the pale horse
pays a visit to us. But I do know this, when you
breathe your last breath out of this body, and this body just
drops. That which gives life to this
body, that which is the very life of the body, your spirit
or your soul is leaving. It's leaving. It's a mysterious
thing, isn't it? Have you ever been with anybody
who's died? They're breathing, and you're
right with them, and all of a sudden, And there's nobody there anymore.
Oh, there's the tabernacle, there's the body that they lived in.
But the real person is gone. And they've gone somewhere. I
tell you what, they've gone to God. They've gone back to God. And if this is a believer, is
this someone who died in Christ Jesus? The Lord says, welcome. Welcome. You'll be with me forever. But now listen. If you die in
your sins, Christ said, where I am, you can't come. It's just
impossible. The Lord said in Revelation chapter
22, He said, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. If you
die unjustified, you'll be unjustified forever. You die in your sin,
you'll be in your sin forever. Your soul goes back to God and
God sees you in your filthy rags of self-righteousness. There
is the awful stench of death about you. Spiritual death. The
stench of your own self-righteousness. Oh, I tried to be good. I did
this. I did that. And God said, it's
a stench in my nose. He ain't going to put you in
hell. He's going to put you in the
place of punishment. You going somewhere? Because
you see, wherever the rider on the pale horse goes, where death
goes, there is for sure hell that follows right behind him.
In other words, a place of the abode of the dead. You're going
somewhere. You're going somewhere. You've
got to die. The wages of sin is death. You've
got to die. You've got to die. God said to
Adam, in the day you eat of this fruit that I forbid you to eat
of, in the day you eat thereof, You'll die. You'll surely die.
And you know, 100 years went by, he didn't die. 200, 300,
400, 500 years went by, 600 years, 700 years, 800 years, he celebrated his
900th birthday, his 929th birthday, and 930 years later, he died.
He lived 930 years. And you read there in the book
of Genesis 5, it says, and Adam lived 930 years. And the same thing is said about
all those men down through there. And he died. And he died. That rider on the pale horse
come after him. And there's Methuselah. He lived
969 years. He lived 39 years more than Adam
did. And he died. He died. We must die. And if you die in
your sins, Christ said, you can't come to me because God will not
at all acquit the wicked. And let me say this, and I can't
explain all the mysteries of God. And I wouldn't get up here
and pretend that I can explain all of this. The Bible is a mysterious book
which we receive by faith. When I read this, it says, The
latter part of verse 8, power was given unto them to death
and hell over a fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword
the hunger with death and with the beasts of the earth. When
I read that a fourth part, here's what I thought about. This is
how I took it. God said you kill a bunch of
them but don't kill them all. It is absolutely for certain
that everybody on the face of God's earth deserves to die and
to die right now. Isn't that true? That's a fact. We have all of us. We've defied
God. We've rebelled against God. We've
wasted His mercies that He's given to us. All of these daily
mercies, we just take them for granted. Nobody deserves to live. Nobody. When Adam, as our representative,
when he sinned against God, he deserved to drop dead right then.
Just God sent him out into everlasting condemnation. Just be done with
him. But he lived for many years. What about us? You think about, think back over
your life. Years of unthankfulness. Didn't
worship. Oh, then the Lord brought you
to knowledge of the gospel. What about how have things been
since then? Don't you see something still
of the sin that you got? How much you've neglected the
things of God? And if you got what's coming
to you, if I got what's coming to me, if this whole congregation,
if we got what's naturally coming to us, if everybody watching
on the internet or listening to this, if everybody got exactly
what's coming to us, we'd all drop dead right now. God be done
with all of us. But God says to this rider on
the pale horse, He says to death, don't take them all. No, don't
kill them all. Spare a bunch of them. And I'll tell you, you've been
spared. You've come in here this morning to listen to the gospel
of God's free grace. You hear somebody brag on God,
brag on Christ Jesus, tell us we're needy sinners. You've been
spared of God. God's been merciful to you. Don't
waste this now. Don't waste it. We read in Hebrews chapter 2,
here's what the writer of the epistle of the Hebrews says,
don't let these things escape. Let me read it to you. Hebrews
chapter 2. Watch this. Here's what he says. Hebrews chapter 2. How shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation? He says in verse 1,
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to things which
we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. That
word slip means leak out of us like a vessel that's got a hole
in it. Don't let this leak out of you
now. And you see, that's what will happen if God leaves us
to ourselves. It will just leak out. Oh, we've heard the Gospel. We've heard somebody speak of
the Lord and His glories and His honors and our neediness
and Christ Jesus is the only Savior. And you say, I know it's
the truth. I know it's the truth. But you
can leave this building and if God isn't gracious to you, it
will all leak out on the ground as it were. Just like you as
a vessel that had a hole in it. Oh God, don't let this slip by
me. Don't let this slip by me. You've
given me another day. You've given me another sermon.
You've given me another message. You've given me another opportunity
to meet with the people of God. Oh God, speak to my heart like
you said, don't pass me by. Don't pass me by. Oh, the pale
rider. The rider on the pale horse,
he's coming. And I tell you, your everlasting
destiny is behind Him. God has any number of ways to
take us out of this world. The sword, that's wars and battles. Boy, that's taken a bunch of
people out of this world, hasn't it? You know, at any given time,
there are a bunch of wars going on in this world. Lots of skirmishes. Most of them we don't even hear
about. Tribal wars in Africa, other places. Then there's, he
says, hunger. That's famine and starvation.
Death, diseases, sicknesses. That got my dad, that sickness
called cancer. that which got my mother was
a stroke. Disease is everywhere. Well,
I sure hope they find a cure for cancer. Yeah, me too, but
there will always be something else. Isn't that right? There's always going to be something
else. And the beasts, especially true
back in these days, In fact, many of the people of God, they
were thrown to the beasts. Tore them limb from limb. And while those words may be
taken literally, there's a lot of spiritual instruction here.
Die by the sword. What in the Bible, what is the
sword? What does it symbolize? The Word
of God. That's what the sword symbolizes,
the Word of God. And I'm going to tell you something.
You live at God's Word, and you'll die at God's Word too. When God
gives the Word, that's it for you. It doesn't matter how many
doctors are with you. It doesn't matter how many vitamins
you've been taking. How much exercise you've been
getting? How you've been watching? I'm watching my cholesterol.
I'm watching this. Well, that's good. Take reasonable
care of your body. I understand that. But, when
God gives the word, that's when the sword falls. That's when
the rider on the pale horse is going to come to your house,
and he's not going to knock on the door and say, may I come
in? He just comes right in. He comes right into a family
and He takes one. And everybody says, oh, oh Lord,
don't take him. Gone. Gone. The sword is the
Word of God. The Word of God. After all, we
read back and studied back in chapter 1, to the Lord belong
the keys of death and hell. He's got, who's got the keys?
Christ Jesus! You die at His Word. You leave
this world at His Word, at His command. When He says that's
it for you, that is it. Now, it don't matter. We can
all get every church and these churches get all kinds of prayer
chains going. Want every church in the community
praying for so-and-so. If I'm sick, I'll just call for
the elders of the church. You men pray for me. I'm thankful
there's somebody almighty who is praying for me all the time.
That's Christ the Lord. He's the one I want praying for.
And He always does. And His prayers are always answered.
But when He gives the word, the rider on the pale horse, He's
coming for you. And then there's hunger. Here's
that famine, the spiritual famine. You die for lack of the gospel. For lack of the gospel. And those
who die in a spiritual famine, as death finds them, the abode
of the dead will keep them. You can bet your bottom dollar
on that. As death finds you, hell is going
to keep you. The place of the abode of the
dead is going to keep you. Things are not going to change.
Not going to change. And then death or disease, pestilence. We're all diseased. We've got
the leprosy of sin. And sin, when it is finished,
you know what it brings forth. What does the Scripture say?
Death. Sin, when it's finished, brings
forth death. And I know we deserve to die
because the wages of sin is death. and come short of the glory of
God. We've got the cancer of sin. It's spread. It's spread
throughout our innermost being and it often manifests itself
outwardly. But it really isn't so much an
outward problem as it is an inward problem. Sin's in the heart. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We don't even
know how bad off we are, but thankfully He came and healed
us of all our diseases. How did He do that? By the cross
of His death. The great physician heals us.
And then the beasts. God in His purpose to fulfill
His pleasure. He has beasts roaming this world.
Satan is what? A roaring lion. He goes about
seeking whom he may devour. And he has beasts out here. They're
laying in wait for the unsuspicious. Beware false prophets, our Lord
said. They come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly, they're ravening wolves. They're wolves. Beasts. Beasts. They kill multitudes
of people. False prophets. False prophets. Spew out their poison every Sunday. On the radio, on the television. Their poison goes forth. They're
just killing people. That's what they're doing. Beasts. Wild beasts. No wonder the Lord
said, try the spirits, see if they be of God. Here's what the
Apostle Paul said. You don't have to turn to this,
but you're keeping notes if you want to jot this down. 1 Corinthians
15, 32, he said, If after the manner of men I have fought with
beasts at Ephesus. Beasts? What kind of beasts did
he fight with at Ephesus? Wolves in sheep's clothing. And
he said, Beware, after my leaving, There shall arise even among
you wolves, wolves, beasts, beasts. Try them. Try them by the Word
of God. He wrote to the Philippians,
the Apostle Paul did. You know what he said? Beware
of dogs. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. Who are those beasts? They teach
salvation by obedience to the law. He said, they are beasts. They are wild beasts. And our
Lord, to fulfill His purpose, He has unleashed upon this world
many wild beasts. And I say, oh God, protect us
from the beasts. Protect us from that roaring
lion who seeks whom he may devour. Oh God, don't let him devour
me. I flee to Christ Jesus who is the lion of the tribe of Judah. Don't let that other lion devour
me. And don't let any of his wolves,
those wolves that masquerade as sheep, that masquerade as
somebody who cares about you. They come carrying a Bible and
they say, smile, God loves you and I love you too. And if you
could look into their souls, you'd be looking into the very
depths of damnation and hate and heresy. Beasts. Beasts. All over this great country
today, wild beasts have been unleashed upon the unsuspecting. And I'll tell you, these wild
beasts, they come, many of them, carrying a Bible, too. Because
they're real good at quoting the Word of God out of context.
It's just like Satan when he tempted our Lord Jesus. What
do you think he used? He didn't use Reader's Digest
article. He used the Word of God. But
he took it out of context. Made it fit his own scheme. That's what Satan does. And I'll
give you this. Preach too long. Let me just
give you one more thing. Beasts, he says, of the earth. They come from the earth. You
see, God's preachers are sent of God. There was a man from
God whose name was John. God sent him. But these beasts
are of the earth. They come forth from the earth
that is cursed. They're produced in this world.
That's why our Lord said in John 15, He said, if you were of the
world, if you were of the earth, the world would love its own,
but you're not of the world. I've chosen you out of the world. Therefore, the world hateth you.
He said in His high priestly prayer, I've given them, Father,
I've given them Thy Word. The world hated them because
they're not of the world. These preachers that He sent
forth are not of this world. We didn't originate in this world. The Gospel we believe is not
of this world. And the call that's wooed us
and brought us effectually to Christ Jesus, it's not of this
world either. It's of the Spirit of grace.
He said they're not of the world. But these beasts, they would
destroy us. There's no question of what we
all deserve to die. Lord, thank you for not killing
us. Thank you for not just wiping us all out. I mean the whole
mass of mankind. Thank You for mercy that keeps
us alive. Thank You for the breath that
You give us and the way You provide for our needs. Lord, don't let
the beasts, the enemies of our soul, devour us. Oh, give us grace to look to
Christ Jesus and be found in Him. Death is coming. It's coming. I don't know when He'll come
to you, and I don't know when death will come for me, but He's
a coming. I think about the words of old
Simeon in the temple. The Spirit of God said, you won't
see death until you've seen my salvation. And I tell you what,
I don't want to see death until I've seen Christ. I don't want
to see death. I don't want to see the rider
on the pale horse until I've seen Christ Jesus, the only Savior
of sinners. And then seeing Him, I say, well,
alright, rider on the pale horse, if this is the time, I'm ready. Come on. I'm ready. Take me to
my final home. Well, may God bless His Word. Let's sing a song.