That song was written by John
Newton. Excellent words. Excellent words. Let's go to Revelation chapter
6 again this morning. Revelation chapter 6. And just to sort of bring you
up to speed, so to speak, bring you up to date, John has seen
the Lord Jesus take the book out of the hand of Adam who was
seated upon the throne. That book was sealed with seven
seals within that book. It was written everything that
would ever happen, all the events, all the things that would happen
to people, places, things. And the book was all sealed up. And our Lord Jesus, upon the
basis of having prevailed over all of the enemies of God, over
all of the enemies of God's people, He prevailed by His substitutionary
death. He took the book out of the right
hand of Him that sat upon the throne. And then all of the heaven
broke out in worship to the Lamb of God who was slaughtered for
us. We get to chapter number 6. And
here we see the Lamb of God beginning to open the seals. We read in
the first two verses, and I saw when the Lamb opened one of the
seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder. One of
the four beasts, that first beast set forth back in chapter 4,
was like a lion. And that beast said to John,
come and see. And I saw, and behold, a white
horse. A white horse, white purity,
holiness. What does a white horse symbolize
or was it signified? The gospel of God's grace. The
gospel of justice satisfied. The gospel of righteousness has
been brought in by our Lord Jesus through His death on the cross.
He sat, He rode upon a white horse. And then it says, he that
sat on him had a bow. What is this bow? It's the bow
of his grace. From the bow of his grace he
shoots forth arrows of conviction, arrows of salvation into the
hearts of those who are his own, those that he has redeemed. And
then he says, there was given him a crown. It was given to
Him. This is the victor's crown. This
is not the diadem. He already had the diadem. He's already the King of kings
and the Lord of lords because He is the everlasting Son of
God. Rather, this is the victor's wreath because He won the victory
against all of our foes by His death on the cross. Our Lord
Jesus, therefore, on the basis of having Successfully ruined
all the designs of the enemy. He's been given this wreath. The wreath, the victor's wreath.
And he went forth therefore conquering and conquered. I draw your attention
to the fact that this crown was given to him. It was given to
him. Already said, the diadem was
already His. It's been forever His because
He's the Son of God. But this is something that He
merited. This is something that was given
to Him. And this indeed matches the language
of our Lord Jesus. He said back in Matthew chapter
28 to His disciples just before His ascension, He spoke to the
eleven, He said, all authority, all power is given unto Me. And we say, but Lord, you've
always had all power. You've always had all dominion.
And as God, He did. But this is as the God-man. This
is as our mediator. This is as our Savior. So He
says to His 11 apostles, He says, all dominion, all power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore into all the
world and preach the gospel. And I have great encouragement
in preaching the gospel of God's grace this morning because our
Savior has all authority, He has all power that's been given
to Him. He wears the victor's wreath
because He conquered all of our foes. It's also consistent with
the Savior's words over in John chapter 17. The Lord Jesus lift
up His voice and He prayed to the Father. And referring to
Himself, He said, All power has been given to Me. Power has been
given to Me over all flesh that I should give everlasting life
to as many as Thou hast given Him. So this is our Lord Jesus. He's the rider on the white horse.
If I could kind of to give you a statement of what this rider
on the white horse, what does this signify? It signifies the
absolute success of the gospel. The success of our Lord Jesus.
I'm not on a fool's errand. The gospel is successful. It's
always successful. It's always going to do exactly
what God intends for it to do. We can't fail. We can't fail.
We can't be unsuccessful. Whatever God has purposed to
be done today in your heart, in my heart, in the hearts of
those who are watching, that will be done. That will be done. God said, my word will not return
unto me void in the gospel that goes forth. Our Lord Jesus riding
on the white horse. He rides on the gospel. He rides
on the gospel of substitution. Where the gospel of substitution
and satisfaction isn't set forth, where the substitution of the
great Lamb of God isn't declared, the Son of God's not there because
He only rides on the white horse. You've got to remember it. He
only rides on the white horse. You say, well, such and such
a preacher, he says a lot of good things. Well, does he preach
the gospel? Well, he doesn't exactly preach the gospel, but
he says a lot of good things. The Lord Jesus doesn't ride on
such a horse. He rides on the white horse.
He rides on the gospel, the gospel of free grace, the gospel of
sovereign mercy, the gospel of salvation fully accomplished
by His death upon the cross of Calvary. He rides on this white
horse. And so, during this gospel age,
Between our Lord's first advent and our Lord's second advent,
what's our Lord Jesus doing? He's riding on His white horse.
He's going forth with the gospel through His preachers by His
Spirit. He's going forth and He's conquering
and He conquers. And many of us here today, we've
been conquered by His grace, haven't we? Many of us know by
experience He has shot forth the air of conviction into our
very innermost beings, and we were made to know our loathsomeness. We were made to know our wretchedness
before God. This God who is absolutely holy
and righteous in all of His ways, and then we were made to see
the Lord Jesus. and His satisfaction of divine
justice for poor sinners like us. And we've rested in Him. We believe Him. We've come to
Christ Jesus. He is seeking and saving that
which was lost. That's what He's doing during
this era. Now, this morning we want to
look at the second horse and its rider, verses 3 and 4. And when he had opened the second
seal, I heard the second beast saying, who's the second beast? The second beast was a calf,
which speaks of service. And this second beast faithfully
says to John, come and see. And there went out another horse,
and this horse was red. And authority, or power, was
given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth. He's going to take peace away
from the earth. That they should kill one another. And there was given unto him
a great sword. Here's the rider on the red horse. He goes forth. Authority has
been given to him to take peace from the earth. And that results
in death. He has a great sword. Now that
which is very obvious from this passage of Scripture is that
the breaking open of this seal means disagreements, separations,
schisms, wars, great division. Now the rider on the white horse
symbolizes or signifies the Savior going forth in grace, conquering
a people. The rider on the red horse, it
symbolizes or signifies division, strife, bloodshed, red, bloodshed,
discord, a disruption of unity, a disruption of peace, and therefore
war and death. Certainly, there has been and
there continues to be wars all over this world. There are lots
of wars going on throughout this world right now that are resulting
in death. Now, I will tell you, and I've
read most all the commentaries that are reputable. Anyway, here's
the general interpretation of the rider on the red horse. And that is that this speaks
of real, literal, physical warfare that is broken out in this age. And indeed there are wars that
are broken out and there shall continue to be wars fought in
this world. But I don't think that's right.
I don't think that's a correct interpretation of this passage
of Scripture. And the reason that I say I don't
think this is literal bloodshed I don't think this is literal
warfare. And this is my reason is because of what is said in
verses 7 and 8. Because the fourth seal, this
is the rider on the pale horse. I looked, and behold, a pale
horse. The name of him that sat on him
was death, and hell followed with him, and power was given
to them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the
sword." That's war. And with hunger and with death,
that is, the word death there is pestilence, and with the beasts
of the earth. That's the general interpretation
of the rider on the red horse that this is about a literal
war. But I don't think that's correct. What then does the rider
on the red horse with the sword in his hand, this one who disrupts
peace, what does this represent? What is symbolized in the opening
of the second seal? Now remember, this is symbolism.
This is symbolism. Just like our Lord Jesus, He
doesn't literally ride on a white horse, and surely there's nobody
in here this morning, and I would say to you children who are in
the congregation, we're not talking about the Savior literally actually
riding on a white horse. It's what this signifies. He
goes forth in awesome power and authority with His gospel, conquering
lost sinners, and bring them to a saving knowledge of Himself.
That's the rider on the white horse. But right after the rider
on the white horse, right after that is the red horse. The red
horse always follows on the heels of the white horse. Because the
gospel, the gospel of God's grace, it always brings division, A
separation. A disruption of unity. Here's
a family that's in peace. They're doing very well. And
then God sends the Gospel. The rider on the white horse
visits one within the family. And He takes and He puts an air
of conviction in His bow of grace of one in the family. And with almighty omnipotence,
He pulls back the string and He lets the air of conviction
go into the heart of the sinner. The heart is smitten. The sinner
is brought to see his neediness before God. He flees for refuge
to Jesus Christ. And all of a sudden, his message
is no longer works and doing the best that you can do. His
message now is grace and mercy and the doing and the dying of
the Lord Jesus. That's his message now. And you
know what happens in the family? There's a disruption of unity.
Because there's one person now, they don't want to go with the
family to hear about work salvation. They don't want to go hear about
man's will. They don't want to go and hear
the gospel of God's grace butchered. Oh no, they only want to hear
the pure gospel. And all of a sudden, there's
a disruption of unity and peace in the family. There's a separation. The white horse has gone through
in triumphant power. This rider on the white horse.
And always that which follows the white horse is the red horse
of separation and division. And I think the very best commentary
on this is Matthew chapter 10. Look with me in Matthew chapter
10. And I'll give you the context. Matthew chapter 10. Our Lord
has sent forth His disciples. He says, you go and preach the
gospel. He has commissioned them in the first part of Matthew
chapter 10, their name. He gave them unusual authority,
unusual abilities, unusual powers, which verified that they were
sent of God. Look in Matthew chapter 10 and
verse 1. Here is their mission. Matthew
chapter 10 verse 1, And when he had called unto him his twelve
disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast
them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of
disease. First of all, let me just point
this out to you, there is a spiritual deliverance and then a physical
deliverance. See, all of us by nature are
demon possessed. We have the demon of unbelief,
The demon of defiance against God? The demon of rebellion? This has got to be overcome. It's got to be conquered. It's
got to be conquered. And then having conquered that,
then they would have healed all manner of diseases and all manner
of sicknesses. This is their mission. But now
drop down to verse 12. He says, when you come into a
house, I want you to salute it. And if the house be worthy, let
your peace come upon it. What does that mean, worthy?
Worthy. In other words, if they welcome
you, you want something to eat, you need a place to stay, well,
then you go on in. Let your peace be upon it. May
the blessings of God be upon you. But if it be not worthy,
if they don't welcome you, let your peace return unto you, and
whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when you
depart out of your house or city, shake the dust off your feet.
This is what our Lord Jesus said. I know none are worthy to hear
the Gospel. None are worthy to listen to
the glad tidings of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through His doing and through His dying. But this means if
they don't welcome you, then don't stay. Don't stay. And then it goes on to say this,
look at verse 16, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst
of wolves. Be ye therefore as wise as serpents,
and as harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will
deliver you up to the councils, they will scourge you in their
synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for
my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when
they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall
speak, for it shall be given to you in that same hour what
you shall speak. For it is not ye that speak,
but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the
brother shall deliver up the brother to death." Now watch
it. Remember, this is the rider on the red horse. It causes division. It causes separation. And surely
you're beginning to kind of grasp what's going on here. Here's
somebody in the family, as it were, here's the rider on the
white horse, has come through in great grace. And this grace
is always distinguishing grace. It's always sovereign grace. Sovereign grace. It's very rare
that the Lord saves an entire family. It's wonderful when that
happens. It's wonderful like the Philippian jailer and all
of his household. But most of the time it's one
or two, maybe three in a family and that's about it. And here's a brother who's been
saved. Here's one in the family, a man in the family who's been
saved. But his brother hasn't been. And as soon as the rider
on the white horse has convicted and convinced and saved this
one by His mighty grace, He's conquered him with His bow and
arrow of conviction and mercy and salvation. He has absolutely
conquered him. Here comes the red horse behind
him. Because the gospel always leads to divisions. And you know
that yourself. Within your family. within your
friendships. So our Lord says in verse 21,
the brother shall deliver up the brother to death. The father,
the child. Here's a father, a father. Here's one of his little ones,
one of his children. He's grown up and God has shown
him grace. And then all of a sudden the
father says, I can't believe it. This is not the way we brought
you up. We brought you up to believe
in free will. We brought you up to believe
you're the one who's the captain of your own destiny. And now
you're saying it's the will of God? Now you're saying salvation
is all of grace? Now you're saying that our works
have absolutely nothing to do with it? And you know, lots of
times in the New Testament, people were excommunicated from their
families on account of the Gospel. Because what does the Gospel
do? It divides. Oh, it gathers God's people together. But it divides us from others. He says, the children shall rise
up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.
He says, you'll be hated of all men for My name's sake, but he
that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. But when
they persecute you in this city, go to another city. For at very
last sin you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel to
the Son of Man become. The disciple is not above his
master. The servant is not above his
Lord. Listen, when our Lord Jesus,
He is the rider on the white horse. He is the one who came
and saved His people from their sins by His death upon the cross
of Calvary. The cross of shame and suffering. Was He welcomed? Did the world
embrace Him with open arms? Did the world say, we've waited
for You so long? Oh no! Oh no! His coming immediately
set forth a division! A breaking up of the unity! He says in verse 25, it is enough
for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as
his Lord. They call the master of the house
Beelzebub. How much more shall they call
them of his household?" This happens over and over again.
Now, we know the Gospel is a Gospel of peace. It is a Gospel of peace. In fact, our Lord Jesus is said
to be the very Prince of Peace. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. The Gospel is said to be the good tidings of good. It is the peace of God upon sinners. When Simon Peter preached to
Cornelius, he said, the Word of God sent unto the children
of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He's Lord of all. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. However, we know from our Lord's
words that the immediate effect of the gospel is division. The immediate effect of the gospel
is a separation even among family members. Some of you, many of
you know this. Since God has saved you, since
the rider on the white horse has come your way, and showed
you sovereign mercies. You can get with your family,
you can fellowship with them about everything else except
for the issue. The issue. And that issue of
the Gospel divides you. It has disrupted the peace. What
has happened? That's the rider on the red horse.
He always does that. He always does it. But I want
to remind you this. This is what is written in the
book. This is still the book of God.
This is still the book of God's decrees. These divisions, these
separations, awful attitudes that people have,
though they're due to their own sinfulness and their own wickedness,
this ultimate persecution by words and by actions, by innuendos,
by kind of cutting you off, by leaving you out. These things
are written in the Book of God and it's the Lamb of God who's
bringing it all to pass. We've got to remember that. This
is the same book of God that included the lamb going forth,
riding upon the white horse with the gospel of free grace, conquering
sinners. It's in the same book that as
a result of that gospel going forth, we're going to suffer
persecution. There's going to be some difficulties. It's the immediate effect. There
is malice and hatred. I remember when I learned the
gospel of God's grace. I was so excited. I was so thrilled. And you know what? In my being
naive, I thought everybody is going to want to hear this good
news. This is going to be absolutely thrilling to everybody in my
family. And I just can't wait to tell
them. So we leave Winston-Salem, we go home and start sharing
with my family. And wow, it wasn't at all like
I thought it would be. You believe what? You weren't
raised that way. That's not what you've been taught.
What is that? Oh, the rider on the white horse
had conquered the heart. But just as surely as the rider
on the white horse came my way, the rider on the red horse, he
was right on his heels. Now, mind you, it's always the
rider on the white horse that comes first. He has the preeminence. The Gospel has the preeminence.
The Gospel of God's redeeming grace in Jesus Christ, it goes
forth triumphantly. But as it goes forth, and as
it conquers more sinners, That which is sure to follow is division, wrath, anger, malice,
hatred. Because you see, darkness can't
abide the light. The friends of free will are
not going to be the friends of free grace. Just won't be. It can't be. It can't be. Light
and darkness cannot abide each other. And then in this passage
of Scripture in Matthew chapter 10, our Lord really hits the
nail on the head. In verse 34, in Matthew chapter
10, and let me remind you of our text, and I'll read it to
you again. There went out another horse that was red, power was
given unto him to take peace from the earth, that they should
kill one another. There was given unto him a great
sword. Now, let me read Matthew chapter 10, verse 34. Think not
that I am come to send peace on earth. Now, He did send peace
on earth to His people. He did establish peace by the
blood of His cross. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. But He said, I'm not coming to
send peace by the sword. You know what a sword does? It
divides. It divides. In Hebrews chapter
4, it talks about the Word of God being a sword. Dividing asunder. That's what a sword does. It
divides. And the sword of the Gospel, it divides families,
it divides friendships, it divides households. Some of you have
got friends, you had friends that you kind of hung around
with, you were close to. And then the Gospel of God's
grace. came to you. The rider on the
white horse, He visited you in great glory and in grace. And then, surely as He visited
you, so did the rider on the red horse. And that precious
friendship that you thought nothing can ever tear this apart, you know what tore it apart?
The truth. the truth. And you may still have a friendship,
but not on the same level that you had. Because you see, those that don't
see, can't perceive the grace of God, the satisfaction of Jesus
Christ by His death, salvation all in Christ, Christ is all. What a sweet message. Christ
is all. I can't see that message. And
your soul just flooded with joy and happiness in Christ Jesus. And I said, I can't believe you
believe this now. You know what happens to the
peace that you had? It goes away. Or maybe on some
level you still have peace. but not on the only level that
matters concerning spiritual things. When our Lord Jesus goes
forth conquering by the Gospel message, and the Gospel does
conquer, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, it is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. While many are conquered,
others are angered. You see, the gospel will either
make you glad or it will make you mad. That's right. It will either make you glad
or mad. And if you're just kind of, it doesn't matter to me,
then you're not even hearing what's been said. If you could say, well, I can
take it or leave it, it hadn't come to you in any kind of power.
You don't have any kind of discernment to understand what the Gospel
is. But those who have some discernment, who really understand... And you know, sometimes people
visit. And I say, boy, that's a good message, that's a good
message. They visit again and visit again. And then all of
a sudden they say, wow, is that what you're really saying? I
don't believe that. It dawns on them. No! No, I can't go this. And the gospel becomes an offense
to them. Well, it's not offensive to me.
Don't call me a sinner! You offend me! Well, you can
go ahead and call me a sinner all you want because Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm cheap. That doesn't
offend me, but you know, some people get offended at that.
Who does he think he is? I'm somebody in the community.
I'm not a sinner. I've made a few mistakes, but
I'm not like that. What's happened? Oh, the rider
on the white horse has visited one, but he hasn't visited another. And therefore, the rider on the
red horse is right behind, causing this division and this separation. We sin. We see illustrations
of this even in the Old Testament. You go all the way back to Genesis
chapter 4, Cain and Abel. And I was thinking about that.
That's really an illustration. There's Abel. Boy, there's an
illustration of the rider on the white horse. He saved Abel
by His grace. Abel understood the basics of
substitution. And somebody said, if you want
to learn the Gospel, learn substitution and satisfaction. Someone visited with us and they
said, I guarantee if you go hear Jim Byrd preach, you'll hear
substitution and satisfaction. I should think so. I hope so. If I don't preach substitution
and satisfaction, if I don't preach how God can be just and
justify the ungodly, I haven't preached the Gospel. Some people
rejoice in this message. It just makes them so happy. They've been conquered. Like Abel was conquered. I know Adam and Eve must have
taught them the doctrine of substitution and satisfaction. The death of
the innocent instead of the guilty. As illustrated at the end of
Genesis chapter 3. But then God burned it into Abel's
heart. Oh, the white horse! And we see
Abel has been conquered! And right behind that white horse,
here comes that red horse. Cain goes out to worship God,
brings of the best of the things that he has grown from earth
that God has cursed. He thought surely God would accept
the best he could present to him. God had no respect to his
offering. Abel brought the firstling of
his flock and God showed respect to Abel's offering. You know
what the Scripture says? Cain was wroth against his brother. Division. All of a sudden that
peace in the family, it was broken up. Cain said, I'm not going
to put up with you. And he actually killed his brother.
Killed his brother. Israel in the wilderness. Remember
when they were thirsty? And God told Moses to smite the
rock and water came out of the rock. That's Christ Jesus smitten. The water of life, the water
of salvation flows freely. And I see the rider on the white
horse in the sweetness of His grace and mercy providing for
these guilty sinners who deserve nothing but everlasting destruction. And yet here comes the water
out. And as soon as that happened,
and everybody is rejoicing in the water, here comes a red horse,
the Amalekites. The Amalekites immediately went
to war. You believe what? You believe
one God? You believe Jehovah is your God? And the Amalekites are descendants
of Esau. Division. Peace was disrupted. And there at the end of Exodus
chapter 17, there's war with Amalekite for generations and
generations. There always will be. There always
will be because the true gospel, it's not going to get along with
the false gospel. And a false gospel can't get
along with the true gospel. There's a disruption of peace.
Look at verse 35 of Matthew chapter 10. I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's
foes shall be those of his own household. That's the kind of
effect the Gospel has. Let me give you another passage.
Look at Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, verse 49. Luke 12 and 49. The Savior says, I am come to send
fire on the earth. What if I, what will I if it
be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I strained to be accomplished? Suppose ye that
I am come to give peace on earth, I tell you nay, no, but rather
Division. Division. From henceforth there
shall be five in one house divided. Three against two. Two against
three. The father shall be divided against
the son. The son against the father. The
mother against the daughter. The daughter against the mother.
The mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law. And the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. Division. In the book of Acts, we really
see the career of the rider on the red horse really getting
started. Read Acts chapter 2. And you
have many times. Don't you see there the rider
on the white horse? Oh, how glorious! My, how many
conversions! Thousands of people brought into
the Kingdom of Grace. not through coercion, not through
some kind of trickery, not through schemes, not through programs,
just through the preaching of the Word by the mighty power
of the Spirit. The Gospel has gone forth. That
man whom you crucified, Jesus of Nazareth, God has made Him
both Lord and Christ forever. Worship Him. Bow down to Him.
And boy, people were smitten in their hearts. What happened
to them? The rider on the white horse came by and he pulled back
the bow of his grace and he shot arrows in every one of them.
What shall we do, men and brethren? What shall we do? Save yourselves
from this untoward generation. This crooked generation. This
scoliosis generation. This crooked, religious but crooked
generation. Peter said, repent and then acknowledge
you've repented in baptism. And they preached the Word of
God to them. And everybody's rejoicing. Well, all the same people are
rejoicing. But in the city of Jerusalem,
there's not only a white horse riding through, here comes a
red horse. Persecution began to break out
and it got so bad that people had to leave the city. I tell you folks, we're involved
in a warfare. This gospel unites people. It's
united us, right? The gospel has united us. But
it also divides. It separates. It separates families. It separates friends. Now, we
don't want to be the obstacle. And if there's somebody that's
going to separate with me, I don't want it to be over my personality.
I want to be kind and nice to people. But if the truth separates,
then we just have to be separated then, right? That's just the
way it has to be. I'm not going to be mean to people. I'm not going to be cruel to
people. But I am going to take a stand for the Gospel. Because
the Gospel has conquered me. It's broke me. It's broke me. I remind you, these people here
in Revelation, they knew something about persecution. They knew
something about opposition. The Gospel had come their way.
And this is what our Lord Jesus is teaching these people in the
book of Revelation. And He's teaching us too, that
all through the church age, all through this era, From our Lord's
first coming to the second coming, it's always going to be this
way. The truth will go forth and the
truth will accomplish God's purpose, His purpose of salvation, His
purpose of redemption. And those who don't believe the
Gospel, when they see that you do believe the Gospel, they're
going to separate with you. So don't get personally offended. And don't get mad at them. They
just can't abide the truth. And there was a time when you
couldn't either. So what can we do for people
who are opposed to the truth? Ask God to do something for them.
You see, I know you can't do anything for God if there's somebody
here this morning who's opposed to the truth. You can't do anything
for yourself by nature. I know that. I pray God will
do something for you. And if God does something for
you, here's what you'll do. You'll flee to the Lord Jesus
for refuge for your soul. If He does something for you
by His grace. Look at John chapter 7. And I'll
try to wind up here real quick. Look at John chapter 7. You and I both know that sometimes
this Gospel causes great hostility. It causes great hostility. John chapter 7 verse 43, just
one short verse. So there was a division among
the people because of Him. Because of Him. If we must divide,
from family members and friends, let it be because of Him. Only
because of Him, because of who He is and because of what He
did for poor sinners on the cross. This division that exists, it's
always existed, it continues to exist today because of Him. Our Lord Jesus I'll tell you,
he's an example of this. He came into the world to save
sinners by the sacrifice of himself. He is the great peacemaker. His presence in this world brought
a great many people together in opposition against him. The Apostle Paul and Silas I
think about them visiting a prayer meeting there in Philippi, and
God opened the heart of Lydia. You know what happened? The rider
on the white horse, he rode by that prayer meeting. He pulled
an arrow of grace conviction from his quiver, drew the bow
of his grace, and he conquered Lydia. You know what immediately
happened? Here comes the rider on the red
horse. And the city is up in arms against
him. And then they cast out a demon
out of a woman. Oh, here comes the red horse!
They're really furious now! And they beat Paul and Silas
and threw them in jail. It's always the result. Don't
be shocked. This is what happens. There will always be divisions
and separations, but I'll tell you this. Nobody can separate
you from the love of God, Jesus. Through the years, I've lost
some people that I thought were friends. We divided over the gospel. They
went their way and I went my way. But I'm thankful there'll
never be a division. of God's people from Christ Jesus.
We're united in Him forever. These are the things that happen.
They hurt. I'd be lying to you if I'd say
I hadn't been hurt a few times and some of you have been hurt
too. We have to remember this. It's all in the book of God. These things are ordained. Our
brother read to us To begin with, in John chapter 16, the Savior
said, they're going to throw you in prison. Cast you out of
the synagogue, throw you in prison. They'll even kill you and think
they're doing God's service. Because they can't stand the
Gospel. Tell you what, if you love this
message of grace, it's only due to the grace of God to you. Rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Well, let's sing our last hymn.