WEBVTT 00:01.414 --> 00:02.221 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. 00:39.488 --> 00:42.474 [UNKNOWN]: Good morning church family, how you doing? 00:50.794 --> 00:52.355 [SPEAKER_00]: Good, good to see all of you here. 00:52.495 --> 00:56.116 [SPEAKER_00]: Good to hear all of your wonderful voices singing out this morning. 00:56.797 --> 01:00.018 [SPEAKER_00]: As you know, we are making our way through the book of revelations. 01:00.158 --> 01:04.740 [SPEAKER_00]: So if this is your first Sunday, you joined us at a great and interesting time. 01:05.180 --> 01:07.241 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going through some really fun stuff. 01:07.261 --> 01:13.744 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we get into that today, I want to let you know that there is something we're calling a vision workshop coming up on September 27th. 01:14.904 --> 01:18.847 [SPEAKER_00]: This is where we're talking about the future of our church for the next couple of years. 01:19.128 --> 01:30.477 [SPEAKER_00]: What we want to focus on, where we want to go, we have opportunities to be able to be a light into our community in some new ways to make some changes to how we impact families and generations here in our church. 01:30.997 --> 01:34.100 [SPEAKER_00]: and some opportunities to raise up future leaders for God's Kingdom. 01:34.160 --> 01:37.782 [SPEAKER_00]: So some really neat things that we want to be a part of would love for you to be a part of. 01:38.223 --> 01:44.547 [SPEAKER_00]: You can scan the QR code in front of you in the seats if you want to register and sign up for that food and child care are provided. 01:44.567 --> 01:46.729 [SPEAKER_00]: So make sure you let us know if you want to come. 01:46.749 --> 01:49.191 [SPEAKER_00]: But would love to have you on September 27th. 01:50.906 --> 01:55.551 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, as I said, we are in the book of Revelation and today we're going to be in Revelation chapter 6. 01:55.611 --> 02:00.036 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd love for you to turn there in your Bible so that you are ready to follow along with us. 02:00.736 --> 02:06.502 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want to remind you that what distinguishes the way our church approaches Revelation from a lot of other churches. 02:07.749 --> 02:12.155 [SPEAKER_00]: is our overall philosophy toward primary and secondary beliefs. 02:12.736 --> 02:17.182 [SPEAKER_00]: You can learn all about that on our website if you look for the undivided series on our assurments. 02:17.562 --> 02:25.012 [SPEAKER_00]: You will see how we approach primary and secondary issues, how we decide what is major and what is minor, but we believe, 02:25.573 --> 02:30.076 [SPEAKER_00]: that all the different theories about how God will fulfill revelation prophecy. 02:30.096 --> 02:32.458 [SPEAKER_00]: And we absolutely believe he will fulfill his prophecies. 02:32.538 --> 02:33.238 [SPEAKER_00]: No question about it. 02:33.638 --> 02:37.721 [SPEAKER_00]: But the theories about how are up for debate. 02:37.741 --> 02:39.282 [SPEAKER_00]: They are secondary issues. 02:39.322 --> 02:40.783 [SPEAKER_00]: We do not divide over those. 02:40.843 --> 02:44.726 [SPEAKER_00]: So we don't divide over pre-millennialism or omelennialism. 02:45.146 --> 02:48.728 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't divide over pre-mid or post-tribulation rapture. 02:48.748 --> 02:51.250 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't even know what those words mean, that's okay. 02:51.550 --> 02:53.852 [SPEAKER_00]: We will talk about them throughout this series. 02:54.652 --> 03:03.034 [SPEAKER_00]: Those are theories about how God will or has fulfilled his prophecies, but we're on the welcoming committee, not the planning committee. 03:03.694 --> 03:08.176 [SPEAKER_00]: So we don't need to know exactly the how, what's more important to us is the who. 03:08.276 --> 03:16.978 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't have enough detail to know with certainty, a lot of the house of future prophecy, and we don't believe we should divide over those different opinions. 03:17.018 --> 03:20.099 [SPEAKER_00]: We believe God will fulfill them, but he gets to decide how, 03:20.599 --> 03:21.940 [SPEAKER_00]: and when it will happen. 03:21.980 --> 03:32.347 [SPEAKER_00]: So, we read Revelation primarily as a discipleship compass or a discipleship guide not as a crystal ball trying to predict things for the future. 03:32.367 --> 03:35.109 [SPEAKER_00]: And today's chapter is a perfect example of that approach. 03:35.916 --> 03:40.218 [SPEAKER_00]: When most churches approach a book like Revelation, I've seen two different approaches. 03:40.278 --> 03:41.199 [SPEAKER_00]: Actually, this is all I've seen. 03:41.619 --> 03:48.722 [SPEAKER_00]: I've either seen churches that approach it because they have a settled view and they're pushing that view or I've seen churches that just don't talk about Revelation at all. 03:49.403 --> 03:56.406 [SPEAKER_00]: And we are in a unique position as a church that does not take a settled position on this nor does our association, the evangelical free church of America. 03:56.746 --> 04:03.350 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we've even moved further away from that because we recognize that there are multiple possible interpretations that are valid, 04:03.890 --> 04:05.972 [SPEAKER_00]: of biblical interpretations that can happen. 04:05.992 --> 04:08.155 [SPEAKER_00]: We have different views in our church here, and that's fine. 04:08.775 --> 04:17.445 [SPEAKER_00]: But we also want to make sure we study everything in the Word of God and get the lessons that God has for us out of it even if we don't understand all of the details. 04:18.005 --> 04:20.188 [SPEAKER_00]: And today and Revelation chapter six. 04:20.728 --> 04:41.754 [SPEAKER_00]: We are going to see the scroll that we talked about last week in chapter five, and we're going to see six different seals mentioned that are specific enough for us to know that God has an intentional plan for what he is doing in this world, but vague enough for us to not know with 100% certainty what those seals refer to. 04:41.834 --> 04:45.115 [SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to understand this chapter and the possible interpretations. 04:45.595 --> 04:51.897 [SPEAKER_00]: But more than that, I want you to walk away with some lessons about God and about what he wants for us. 04:51.917 --> 04:54.558 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to try to accomplish both of those things today. 04:54.918 --> 05:02.340 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you can, taking some notes today is really going to help you to follow along, because at times it is going to feel a little bit like an academic lesson. 05:02.420 --> 05:04.021 [SPEAKER_00]: Just a little bit, just a little bit. 05:04.361 --> 05:08.442 [SPEAKER_00]: But I do want to let you know before you pull out your cameras and take pictures of the slides. 05:08.802 --> 05:12.964 [SPEAKER_00]: They've already been loaded onto the QR code in the seats in front of you. 05:13.304 --> 05:16.585 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you scan that QR code, you'll get the charts from today. 05:16.605 --> 05:19.386 [SPEAKER_00]: You will not need to take grainy pictures from your seats. 05:19.826 --> 05:21.567 [SPEAKER_00]: So that is a little bonus for today. 05:22.247 --> 05:29.810 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, before we go any further, I would love to talk to the author of this book and ask him for his wisdom and insight as we study it. 05:29.830 --> 05:31.231 [SPEAKER_00]: So would you bow your heads with me and pray? 05:31.811 --> 05:37.333 [SPEAKER_00]: Heavenly Father, we approach your word this morning with a sense of reverence and a sense of humility. 05:38.067 --> 05:41.669 [SPEAKER_00]: Understanding that your ways are higher than our ways, your thoughts are higher than your thoughts. 05:41.729 --> 05:43.870 [SPEAKER_00]: You get to decide how you do these things. 05:44.671 --> 05:47.032 [SPEAKER_00]: And we may not always understand them or always predict them. 05:47.052 --> 06:00.840 [SPEAKER_00]: And while they are fun to think about and fascinating to study and theorize what may be, God more importantly than that, we want to be closely connected to you and learn what we can about you from this passage today. 06:01.620 --> 06:13.028 [SPEAKER_00]: So we pray for wisdom and insight as we read it and study it, God, we pray that the things we talk about today would not just come in one ear and out the other, but make a difference in how we live all week long. 06:13.708 --> 06:15.129 [SPEAKER_00]: And in Jesus' name, we pray. 06:15.610 --> 06:15.910 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 06:17.815 --> 06:23.100 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, remember as it John is writing this, as he's imprisoned on the island of Patmos. 06:23.160 --> 06:31.589 [SPEAKER_00]: He has a vision that he sees, and in this vision, he sees a throne room where God is worshiped with incredible worship. 06:32.069 --> 06:38.215 [SPEAKER_00]: He sees a scroll that is presented by the one on the throne, kind of like this. 06:39.116 --> 06:49.499 [SPEAKER_00]: And there is a universe-wide search to find someone who can open the seals on the scroll, but no one is found in the entire universe who can open it. 06:49.559 --> 06:52.459 [SPEAKER_00]: And so John weeps bitterly. 06:53.179 --> 07:03.642 [SPEAKER_00]: But then an elder tells him that the lion of Judah, the heir to David's throne, royalty, of Victoria's conquer, can open the seals on the scroll. 07:03.862 --> 07:06.182 [SPEAKER_00]: And so John looks and what he sees instead 07:08.655 --> 07:12.760 [SPEAKER_00]: A lamb that looks like it had been slaughtered but is still alive. 07:13.521 --> 07:15.143 [SPEAKER_00]: And now that was in Revelation 5. 07:15.203 --> 07:21.210 [SPEAKER_00]: Now in Revelation chapter 6, the lamb is going to open the seals on the scroll. 07:22.111 --> 07:26.236 [SPEAKER_00]: Seven seals on a scroll meant this was a very important document. 07:27.174 --> 07:29.916 [SPEAKER_00]: The seals functioned kind of like a notary. 07:30.376 --> 07:31.237 [SPEAKER_00]: They were a witness. 07:31.817 --> 07:42.625 [SPEAKER_00]: And every person of any importance would have a seal or a signet ring that they would use to seal documents, to put their stamp on it, to let you know this was verified and witnessed. 07:42.665 --> 07:49.971 [SPEAKER_00]: If it had seven seals, that meant it was a very important will or deed or contract or something like that, because there'd be seven different people 07:50.491 --> 08:00.513 [SPEAKER_00]: who would eat witness the contents of the document, the people who were agreeing to whatever's in the document, and then stamping their seal into either wax or soft clay that would then harden. 08:01.073 --> 08:11.936 [SPEAKER_00]: The way it worked, and I wanted to experiment with this week, so I got some papyrus, and I wrapped it around with cord like they would do, and then they would not the cord, and they would put the wax or the clay right onto it. 08:12.316 --> 08:17.017 [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought to myself, wouldn't it be fun if as we go through the seals, I start peeling them off. 08:17.477 --> 08:20.298 [SPEAKER_00]: and we go through each of the seals as we work our way through. 08:20.578 --> 08:24.060 [SPEAKER_00]: And then I realized after putting this together, that's actually going to be really hard to do. 08:25.140 --> 08:31.363 [SPEAKER_00]: Because when you put this seal on here of hot wax and you start trying to peel it off, you basically start ruining the document. 08:32.023 --> 08:34.064 [SPEAKER_00]: This was meant to be really, really well sealed. 08:34.084 --> 08:42.167 [SPEAKER_00]: And there is no way you could open this up and read what is inside of this scroll without basically destroying the edge of it right here. 08:42.367 --> 08:43.068 [SPEAKER_00]: That was the whole point. 08:43.905 --> 08:46.007 [SPEAKER_00]: you had to show that it was tamper proof. 08:46.247 --> 08:48.469 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a child proof opening here. 08:48.769 --> 08:49.790 [SPEAKER_00]: Tamper is this to an opening. 08:50.350 --> 08:55.094 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's you can't get into this thing, which means no one could open it up and change some of the character. 08:55.114 --> 08:58.397 [SPEAKER_00]: No one could add some zeros on the inside of this thing. 08:59.017 --> 09:03.141 [SPEAKER_00]: without damaging the scroll and showing that it's no longer a valid legal document. 09:03.522 --> 09:04.363 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's the scroll. 09:05.103 --> 09:08.927 [SPEAKER_00]: And this scroll is offered in John's vision as a visual aid. 09:08.947 --> 09:11.630 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean that there's actually a scroll in heaven like this. 09:11.750 --> 09:13.772 [SPEAKER_00]: It's part of a vision, a pochalyptic vision. 09:14.333 --> 09:24.045 [SPEAKER_00]: that is a visual aid so that it can walk through for John the sequence of events or the things that are going to be revealed to him so that he can then share with us. 09:24.805 --> 09:30.492 [SPEAKER_00]: So I want to talk a little bit before we dive in about the structure of Revelation, because this will be useful for you to know. 09:30.512 --> 09:32.595 [SPEAKER_00]: There are lots of 7s in Revelation. 09:32.615 --> 09:33.376 [SPEAKER_00]: There's 54 sets of 7. 09:34.697 --> 09:39.301 [SPEAKER_00]: And of all those different sevens, four are the most important that give us the structure of the book. 09:39.741 --> 09:42.764 [SPEAKER_00]: There are seven churches, which we've already talked about. 09:43.124 --> 09:45.947 [SPEAKER_00]: Then there are seven seals, which we're going to get into today. 09:46.387 --> 09:49.750 [SPEAKER_00]: There are seven trumpets, and there are seven bulls. 09:50.070 --> 09:51.732 [SPEAKER_00]: So go ahead and put that graphic on the screen. 09:51.792 --> 09:55.895 [SPEAKER_00]: Seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bulls. 09:55.915 --> 09:59.058 [SPEAKER_00]: And this makes up the basic structure of the book of Revelation. 09:59.098 --> 10:01.200 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, some Christians think, 10:01.860 --> 10:08.544 [SPEAKER_00]: that the seals, trumpets, and bowls all provide a chronological order of events. 10:09.285 --> 10:12.607 [SPEAKER_00]: When that happens differs, but some people think they happen sequentially. 10:12.647 --> 10:13.768 [SPEAKER_00]: So here's what that looks like. 10:14.654 --> 10:18.336 [SPEAKER_00]: In the seven seals, you have a number of things that happen. 10:18.356 --> 10:19.457 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to memorize all this. 10:19.477 --> 10:20.398 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll walk through all of it. 10:20.658 --> 10:24.541 [SPEAKER_00]: But the very last seal opens up to the seven trumpets. 10:25.141 --> 10:26.502 [SPEAKER_00]: And then the trumpets go through some things. 10:26.522 --> 10:29.104 [SPEAKER_00]: And the very last trumpet opens up to the seven bowls. 10:29.124 --> 10:32.766 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you have this order that happens, this sequential order that takes place. 10:33.066 --> 10:34.127 [SPEAKER_00]: And they all follow this sequence. 10:35.206 --> 10:44.950 [SPEAKER_00]: There are other Christians that believe these three sets of seven actually refer to the same types of things but from a different perspective, a different angle. 10:45.330 --> 10:47.851 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the parallel view of these events. 10:48.011 --> 10:51.453 [SPEAKER_00]: Each three of these, the seals, the trumpets and the bowls, 10:51.873 --> 10:55.538 [SPEAKER_00]: seems to end with the conclusion of God's plan in some ways. 10:55.778 --> 11:05.750 [SPEAKER_00]: And so some people look at that not as a cycle of things happening over and over again, which is a sequential view, but actually three different views of the same types of things that are happening. 11:06.310 --> 11:09.594 [SPEAKER_00]: The good news for you and I is we don't have to pick a site. 11:10.375 --> 11:15.457 [SPEAKER_00]: So, you don't have to conclude today what you think that is, even throughout this entire serious series. 11:15.477 --> 11:17.738 [SPEAKER_00]: That is totally fine. 11:17.998 --> 11:24.340 [SPEAKER_00]: The thing is, the fact is, we can learn a lot from God's prophecies without knowing exactly how they all fit together. 11:24.941 --> 11:25.421 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen to this. 11:25.821 --> 11:38.786 [SPEAKER_00]: Peter said in his letter to the churches, that the Old Testament prophets, who prophesied about the Messiah, long to understand how those things would be accomplished. 11:39.840 --> 11:48.522 [SPEAKER_00]: The people who God gave the prophecies to about Jesus didn't know how they were going to be fulfilled and they wanted to know. 11:49.622 --> 11:56.284 [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't think it's too crazy for us to look at these prophecies and say, man, I wanna know who the anti-Christ is. 11:56.784 --> 11:59.204 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanna know who the horns represent. 11:59.224 --> 12:00.845 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanna know the nations, I wanna know all those things. 12:01.085 --> 12:01.925 [SPEAKER_00]: That's totally fine. 12:02.205 --> 12:07.246 [SPEAKER_00]: I also don't think it's crazy for us to say, maybe God kept those things veiled for a reason. 12:08.075 --> 12:12.556 [SPEAKER_00]: and just like the profits in the old testament, maybe we won't know, even though we long to know. 12:12.776 --> 12:19.998 [SPEAKER_00]: So we need to hold onto those things loosely and be careful about getting overly dogmatic about revelation predictions. 12:20.678 --> 12:23.339 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to know what the different possibilities are. 12:23.399 --> 12:25.460 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna cover this at a very high level. 12:25.560 --> 12:27.220 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is an over simplification. 12:27.760 --> 12:33.142 [SPEAKER_00]: But here are the four major categories of thought when it comes to revelation interpretation. 12:33.802 --> 12:35.003 [SPEAKER_00]: There are four main categories. 12:35.563 --> 12:39.686 [SPEAKER_00]: Prederist, historicist, futurist, and idealists. 12:40.266 --> 12:45.170 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so now that you've got those, let's move on to rev, and I'm just kidding, we're gonna go through one by one. 12:46.010 --> 12:48.212 [SPEAKER_00]: The Prederist looks back. 12:48.832 --> 12:50.233 [SPEAKER_00]: The Prederist looks back. 12:50.413 --> 12:53.135 [SPEAKER_00]: Prederist comes from the Latin for the past. 12:53.635 --> 13:03.202 [SPEAKER_00]: The Prederist believes that the prophecy and revelation were mostly fulfilled in the first century A.D. in the context of the seven churches to whom they were originally written. 13:03.622 --> 13:08.385 [SPEAKER_00]: Many tie it into Nero as an anti-Christ figure to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. 13:09.746 --> 13:18.853 [SPEAKER_00]: full-preterists, that's a phrase, full-preterists believe that all of the prophecies of revelation took place back in the first century, including things like the second coming of Jesus. 13:18.873 --> 13:24.898 [SPEAKER_00]: So full-preterists deny a future coming of Christ, which is why full-preterism is not really a view held. 13:25.754 --> 13:27.715 [SPEAKER_00]: and evangelical churches today. 13:28.135 --> 13:30.215 [SPEAKER_00]: That would be a view we would say is unbiblical. 13:30.255 --> 13:32.736 [SPEAKER_00]: We absolutely believe there is a future coming of Christ. 13:32.756 --> 13:35.877 [SPEAKER_00]: We think that is clear from scripture that's something that we adhere to. 13:35.937 --> 13:39.218 [SPEAKER_00]: However, there are partial credits today. 13:39.758 --> 13:42.199 [SPEAKER_00]: And partial credits say some or a lot. 13:42.599 --> 13:46.562 [SPEAKER_00]: of what is in Revelation took place in the first century AD. 13:46.962 --> 13:49.884 [SPEAKER_00]: And there are many partial predators today in a variety of churches. 13:50.284 --> 13:52.185 [SPEAKER_00]: A name you might recognize is our sea scroll. 13:52.225 --> 13:53.266 [SPEAKER_00]: He wrote a whole book about this. 13:53.586 --> 13:54.766 [SPEAKER_00]: He is a partial predatorist. 13:55.207 --> 13:57.388 [SPEAKER_00]: Another name you might recognize is NT Wright. 13:57.688 --> 14:01.951 [SPEAKER_00]: He does not call himself a partial predatorist, but that is what he teaches in his views. 14:02.011 --> 14:03.752 [SPEAKER_00]: He has a different term he likes to use for it. 14:04.352 --> 14:05.632 [SPEAKER_00]: Then there's the historicists. 14:06.072 --> 14:07.893 [SPEAKER_00]: Historicists look along. 14:08.293 --> 14:11.073 [SPEAKER_00]: So, progress, look back, historicists look along. 14:11.093 --> 14:14.414 [SPEAKER_00]: Basey revelation has a road map throughout church history. 14:14.694 --> 14:21.855 [SPEAKER_00]: And they identify key figures in church history among the pope, among world leaders, as mentioned in revelation. 14:21.895 --> 14:24.636 [SPEAKER_00]: They see connections to different things in revelation. 14:24.656 --> 14:30.657 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, even when you see things about sun and moon and stars and things like that, they say, well, that was this pope and this world leader and this world leader. 14:31.077 --> 14:33.018 [SPEAKER_00]: and they actually tie those things together. 14:33.659 --> 14:36.601 [SPEAKER_00]: This was the view of most of the reformers. 14:37.241 --> 14:45.307 [SPEAKER_00]: They were historicists, and they saw different characters in church and world history as being represented throughout Revelation. 14:45.327 --> 14:49.290 [SPEAKER_00]: This view is actually very rare today, but Martin Luther, John Wickliffe, 14:49.910 --> 14:54.115 [SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Edwards, they had a historicist view of revelation. 14:54.175 --> 15:01.744 [SPEAKER_00]: Today, there's really only one group that holds on to this view as far as I know, and that's the seventh day Adventists, but it's not really held by many else. 15:02.610 --> 15:04.231 [SPEAKER_00]: Then there's the futurist view. 15:04.751 --> 15:06.272 [SPEAKER_00]: The futurist looks ahead. 15:06.893 --> 15:12.096 [SPEAKER_00]: They believe that most of Revelation after the seven churches refers to future events. 15:12.196 --> 15:16.678 [SPEAKER_00]: Most futurists believe in a literal millennial kingdom in the future, not all. 15:17.199 --> 15:25.284 [SPEAKER_00]: They have many different nuances on what they see as literal and symbolic, especially when it comes to the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls. 15:25.944 --> 15:33.431 [SPEAKER_00]: Futurists include names like Darby, Scofield, Wolverd, Ryrie LaHay, Lindsay, Bach, many, many others. 15:33.471 --> 15:35.052 [SPEAKER_00]: You may recognize some of those, maybe not. 15:35.492 --> 15:42.519 [SPEAKER_00]: But the Futurists view became really dominant in the 20th century in North America, not other parts of the world. 15:42.559 --> 15:47.363 [SPEAKER_00]: It is not a view that spread very far outside of North America in particular the United States. 15:47.783 --> 15:59.794 [SPEAKER_00]: But it became the very dominant view here largely because of a couple of key authors who wrote books that spread and a lot of people have read those or watched the movies and that's their understanding of the interpretation of revelation. 15:59.834 --> 16:11.646 [SPEAKER_00]: So much so that many people just assume that's what the Bible says, even though a lot of license and liberty is taken with the interpretation of what the Bible says to create various futurist views. 16:12.246 --> 16:21.210 [SPEAKER_00]: The futures views have often been overstated, sometimes to the extreme of claiming that we can predict exactly who this individual will be or when this event will happen. 16:21.790 --> 16:26.732 [SPEAKER_00]: One of our elders was telling me that he went to a church for a long time that said, obviously we're going to heaven in 77. 16:27.632 --> 16:28.693 [SPEAKER_00]: And you can see how that worked out. 16:30.319 --> 16:47.659 [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody was supposed to they was supposed to all happen in 77 and throughout the years There have always been these predictions that would happen in the futures camp Say why I think this is gonna happen and even recently you see and event happened in the Middle East and suddenly There's people pop up with all sorts of theories about well this connects to that part of Revelation and that part of Revelation And here's the thing they are theories 16:48.700 --> 16:50.081 [SPEAKER_00]: Could there be some connections there? 16:50.242 --> 16:53.704 [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely could, but those are theories in the futurist camp. 16:54.045 --> 17:05.954 [SPEAKER_00]: And lately in the last 10, 15 years, there's been a lot of movement away from the futurist camp, not entirely, but more of a measured or cautious approach to some of those futurist predictions. 17:05.974 --> 17:11.819 [SPEAKER_00]: It started with seminaries and Bible scholars, and now has become far more popular in churches and among pastors. 17:12.560 --> 17:14.661 [SPEAKER_00]: Finally, there is the idealist perspective. 17:14.781 --> 17:16.283 [SPEAKER_00]: Idealists look above. 17:16.863 --> 17:22.445 [SPEAKER_00]: So the prerest looks back, the historicist looks along, the futurist looks ahead, and the idealist looks above. 17:22.465 --> 17:24.206 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not arguing for this perspective. 17:24.226 --> 17:25.246 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just telling you what it is. 17:25.886 --> 17:39.571 [SPEAKER_00]: The idealist sees John's vision as a symbolic portrayal of the ongoing cosmic conflict between God and the forces of evil, rather than a sequence of events that either happen or is to come. 17:40.151 --> 17:53.624 [SPEAKER_00]: The main purpose of revelation to the idealist is to show that God is sovereign over evil and that he cares for his people and will not abandon them and all of the challenges and struggles that are happening in the world. 17:53.984 --> 18:00.009 [SPEAKER_00]: Historically, people like origin, Tyconius, and Augustine would be more in this camp, more recent names would 18:01.831 --> 18:05.436 [SPEAKER_00]: to mackey if you're familiar with the Bible project is more of an idealist. 18:05.917 --> 18:08.080 [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of these people don't call themselves idealists. 18:08.100 --> 18:15.470 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a label that I'm applying generically to them because a lot of Bible scholars don't like to have labels applied to them. 18:16.010 --> 18:17.372 [SPEAKER_00]: They're kind of allergic to labels. 18:18.173 --> 18:21.814 [SPEAKER_00]: So they're going to say, no, I wouldn't say I'm on a deal with, because I've got some things I pull from here. 18:22.074 --> 18:27.776 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, like, 1% treaderist, and I'm like 49% futurist, and I'm 50% deals. 18:27.996 --> 18:28.816 [SPEAKER_00]: They take these different things. 18:29.056 --> 18:35.218 [SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of the Bible scholars out there, if you pin them down on their view, they will use this word to describe their perspectives. 18:36.038 --> 18:36.698 [SPEAKER_00]: Eclectic. 18:38.124 --> 18:40.825 [SPEAKER_00]: You see that word a lot in the research. 18:41.426 --> 18:45.207 [SPEAKER_00]: They have an eclectic view because we just don't know. 18:45.387 --> 18:51.570 [SPEAKER_00]: And the point of all of this is that there isn't just one right perspective that Christians have to follow. 18:51.770 --> 18:58.714 [SPEAKER_00]: And the thing is, most churches that I know of, if they preach on Revelation, they've picked a point of view and they're gonna share that view with you. 18:58.934 --> 19:01.175 [SPEAKER_00]: And for us, it's a little bit more challenging than that. 19:01.715 --> 19:04.738 [SPEAKER_00]: Because I want you to be aware of the point of views, but we do not pick a point of view. 19:04.758 --> 19:07.001 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, I'm not even sure if that's a good thing for us to do. 19:07.602 --> 19:10.265 [SPEAKER_00]: And to say, thus, say if the Lord, this is what's going to happen. 19:11.132 --> 19:18.098 [SPEAKER_00]: So I think a much better approach is to approach the word with a tremendous amount of humility and say, God, your ways are higher than mine, your thoughts are higher than mine. 19:18.339 --> 19:21.702 [SPEAKER_00]: It's great to explore the possibilities, but what do you want me to get out of this? 19:22.242 --> 19:26.026 [SPEAKER_00]: Not just how do you want me to think you're going to accomplish this in the future. 19:26.826 --> 19:31.791 [SPEAKER_00]: What's more important than the how of revelation is the who. 19:33.132 --> 19:35.735 [SPEAKER_00]: And I promise you that was the original intent of this letter. 19:36.433 --> 19:44.757 [SPEAKER_00]: It was not so that Christians in Purgumum who were facing persecution and were being killed because of their faith could predict who in a few thousand years would be the Antichrist. 19:45.338 --> 19:47.419 [SPEAKER_00]: That is not why they received this letter. 19:47.479 --> 20:01.526 [SPEAKER_00]: It was to show them what God was up to and to show them what Jesus Christ was up to and to remind them they had a God and heaven who cared about them, who wasn't done with them, who had a plan for all of this to reassure them and give them hope in the middle of a very difficult situation. 20:02.550 --> 20:07.955 [SPEAKER_00]: So as we're talking about the who of Revelation, chapter six takes us right to him. 20:08.015 --> 20:09.477 [SPEAKER_00]: So look at chapter six, first one. 20:10.297 --> 20:14.622 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're gonna walk through six of the seven seals today and Revelation, chapter six. 20:15.302 --> 20:21.528 [SPEAKER_00]: John says, as I watched, the lamb broke the first of the seven seals on the scroll. 20:22.229 --> 20:26.853 [SPEAKER_00]: Then I heard as one of the four living beings said with a voice like thunder come. 20:27.686 --> 20:30.131 [SPEAKER_00]: I looked up and saw a white horse standing there. 20:30.551 --> 20:34.478 [SPEAKER_00]: It's Ryder, carried a boat, and a crown was placed on his head. 20:35.019 --> 20:39.467 [SPEAKER_00]: He rode out to win many battles, and gained the victory. 20:40.363 --> 20:42.124 [SPEAKER_00]: Who is this writer? 20:42.724 --> 20:49.447 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a wide range of views, some connect him with the Roman General of Espaisian from the first century. 20:50.127 --> 20:56.090 [SPEAKER_00]: Others think that it was the Parthians an enemy of Rome that rode white horses into battle and carried bows. 20:56.630 --> 20:59.771 [SPEAKER_00]: For some, they see an anti-Christ figure like Neuro. 21:00.092 --> 21:02.733 [SPEAKER_00]: Others see it as a future anti-Christ yet to come. 21:03.393 --> 21:13.763 [SPEAKER_00]: Some see a picture of any leader symbolically who presents themselves as almost a savior figure who's going to fix everything for people and then turns out to be leading them astray. 21:14.243 --> 21:16.525 [SPEAKER_00]: And history has plenty of examples of that. 21:17.126 --> 21:18.928 [SPEAKER_00]: Eight-off Hitler is a great example of this. 21:19.328 --> 21:26.415 [SPEAKER_00]: When eight-off Hitler was rising to power, there were a lot of people who thought he was going to bring incredible peace in the world. 21:27.100 --> 21:33.744 [SPEAKER_00]: Other world leaders wrote about him as someone who is going to be a tremendous leader for peace and of course we all know how that turned out. 21:34.424 --> 21:38.726 [SPEAKER_00]: But most of the views of this seal are negative. 21:39.547 --> 21:42.348 [SPEAKER_00]: Most of the views of seal one are negative. 21:42.368 --> 21:44.650 [SPEAKER_00]: So go ahead and put the first slide of the seals up there. 21:45.290 --> 21:46.250 [SPEAKER_00]: Most of us are negative. 21:46.270 --> 21:52.494 [SPEAKER_00]: It's all about false peace, deceptive ideology, human arrogance, a desire for control. 21:53.807 --> 21:54.868 [SPEAKER_00]: most of them are negative. 21:55.308 --> 21:58.411 [SPEAKER_00]: But some Christians think that the writer is Jesus. 21:59.612 --> 22:02.195 [SPEAKER_00]: So maybe the writer on the white horse is actually Jesus. 22:02.375 --> 22:05.438 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the gospel of Jesus going out and bringing the victory. 22:05.598 --> 22:06.979 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's not even a fringe view. 22:07.039 --> 22:14.686 [SPEAKER_00]: Aaron, they have thought this, Matthew, Henry, Charles, Spurgeon, Zain Hodges, W.A., Chris, well some major people thought, well actually this is Jesus. 22:14.746 --> 22:16.588 [SPEAKER_00]: So what do I think? 22:17.378 --> 22:22.022 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, at the risk of diving into personal opinions here, I'm gonna share my thoughts with you, but you don't have to agree with me. 22:22.783 --> 22:24.724 [SPEAKER_00]: I land on the other side of this for two reasons. 22:24.764 --> 22:32.871 [SPEAKER_00]: Number one, the lamb is Jesus Christ, and the lamb is opening the seal, and then one of the living beans calls forth the rider on the white horse. 22:32.891 --> 22:34.693 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't make sense to me that that's also the lamb. 22:35.417 --> 22:36.758 [SPEAKER_00]: We've already been introduced to the Lamb. 22:37.138 --> 22:44.063 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that then the writer on the White Horse is also Jesus, summoned by the living being after the Lamb opens the scroll. 22:44.724 --> 22:46.085 [SPEAKER_00]: But secondly, there's the pat. 22:46.605 --> 22:50.648 [SPEAKER_00]: Because the three horses that follow this are a rough time for the earth. 22:51.069 --> 22:53.310 [SPEAKER_00]: They're all a bad experience. 22:53.350 --> 22:56.293 [SPEAKER_00]: They bring calamity and destruction and death and decay. 22:57.033 --> 23:03.979 [SPEAKER_00]: and so it makes sense to me that all four of these horses are actually doing the same type of thing and they do it in sequence and so it gets worse and worse and worse. 23:04.019 --> 23:16.910 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a downward spiral that goes from the white horse to the red horse to the black horse to the pale green horse and they get worse and worse and so probably what I think is happening here is that the rider on the white horse is supposed to represent a counterfeit savior figure. 23:17.530 --> 23:31.135 [SPEAKER_00]: So like an anti-Christ, I don't know for sure if it's referring to a future anti-Christ or symbolically to lots of leaders in the world that show up that God has allowed to happen where they show up and they promise things that they can't deliver on and they lead people as straight. 23:31.275 --> 23:32.196 [SPEAKER_00]: You see this in politics. 23:32.616 --> 23:35.857 [SPEAKER_00]: People that claim that they're going to fix everything and then do they ever fix everything? 23:35.917 --> 23:36.978 [SPEAKER_00]: No, not even close. 23:37.398 --> 23:42.720 [SPEAKER_00]: You see this with financial people that say, well, we're going to make you wealthy and we're going to give you business success. 23:43.480 --> 23:44.380 [SPEAKER_00]: And that doesn't always work. 23:44.420 --> 23:48.742 [SPEAKER_00]: We see this in relationships with people who claim that they're going to make everything better. 23:48.762 --> 23:49.422 [SPEAKER_00]: And then they don't do that. 23:49.442 --> 23:53.403 [SPEAKER_00]: They're all sorts of figures in the world that show up as a writer on a white horse. 23:53.903 --> 23:57.864 [SPEAKER_00]: And they turn out not to be who you thought they were and they lead to calamity. 23:57.964 --> 24:02.666 [SPEAKER_00]: I suspect that's what's going on here because of what comes next. 24:03.086 --> 24:08.569 [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, the lesson here for us is we need to be careful not to put our trust in the wrong rider on the white horse. 24:08.649 --> 24:16.434 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus shows up later in Revelation as a rider on a white horse with a little bit of a different set up than this, not with the bow and the type of crown that's shown here. 24:17.215 --> 24:23.718 [SPEAKER_00]: But we need to put our trust in Jesus, not in anything that comes along in promises salvation or hope to us. 24:24.019 --> 24:26.220 [SPEAKER_00]: Only the lamb can actually save us. 24:33.340 --> 24:34.722 [SPEAKER_00]: than another horse appeared. 24:35.183 --> 24:45.560 [SPEAKER_00]: A red one, its rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace from the earth and there was war and slaughter everywhere. 24:46.499 --> 24:48.981 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, there are many theories about this writer, too. 24:49.542 --> 24:53.826 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe this represents historic violence in Roman times. 24:54.166 --> 24:57.970 [SPEAKER_00]: The original audience would have definitely felt that they experienced the violence all around them. 24:58.570 --> 25:03.595 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe this refers generically to violence that got allows to happen on the earth. 25:03.955 --> 25:09.260 [SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe this is a reference to a future period of time when there will be extreme violence that will happen. 25:09.320 --> 25:09.961 [SPEAKER_00]: Some people think 25:10.201 --> 25:13.383 [SPEAKER_00]: The futures camp thinks that this refers to a future world war. 25:13.803 --> 25:16.345 [SPEAKER_00]: And there are some language here that lens towards that. 25:16.365 --> 25:20.968 [SPEAKER_00]: There's also some language here that actually indicates that's maybe not what is communicated here. 25:21.168 --> 25:23.370 [SPEAKER_00]: But some people think this refers to a future world war. 25:23.730 --> 25:30.634 [SPEAKER_00]: After the white horse comes and brings what people think is peace, it then leads to destruction and war and violence. 25:31.215 --> 25:34.757 [SPEAKER_00]: Some people actually see this as the persecution of the church throughout history. 25:34.777 --> 25:38.960 [SPEAKER_00]: But again, far more important than the how of this is the who. 25:39.959 --> 25:44.182 [SPEAKER_00]: What I want to draw your attention to is who is in charge of this? 25:44.763 --> 25:46.024 [SPEAKER_00]: Who allows it to happen? 25:46.064 --> 25:47.205 [SPEAKER_00]: Who is the ultimate authority? 25:47.465 --> 25:49.346 [SPEAKER_00]: Is it the writer that has the authority? 25:50.227 --> 25:50.407 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 25:51.108 --> 25:54.110 [SPEAKER_00]: Is it the people committing the violence after pieces removed? 25:54.290 --> 25:55.531 [SPEAKER_00]: Do the people have authority? 25:55.591 --> 25:55.812 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 25:56.312 --> 25:58.874 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the lamb that has the authority. 25:59.314 --> 26:04.298 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the lamb that opens the seal and allows for this to happen. 26:04.939 --> 26:06.020 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is actually, 26:06.680 --> 26:08.763 [SPEAKER_00]: a really comforting thought. 26:09.563 --> 26:23.840 [SPEAKER_00]: It might seem like there's this struggle in the world between God and evil and they're going back and forth and they're doing battle and there's just this struggle that's happening where God's trying to fight the forces of evil and the evil forces are fighting back and they're going back and forth and what this tells us is it's no struggle. 26:25.001 --> 26:25.882 [SPEAKER_00]: This is not a struggle. 26:26.827 --> 26:29.268 [SPEAKER_00]: God is thoroughly and convincingly in charge. 26:29.469 --> 26:30.749 [SPEAKER_00]: He is absolutely sovereign. 26:30.929 --> 26:40.635 [SPEAKER_00]: And the only reason this rider is even able to go out and take peace from the world, the only reason that there is war and violence in the world is because God has allowed it to happen. 26:41.676 --> 26:44.498 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not that God is too weak to get rid of it. 26:45.098 --> 26:48.160 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not that something has overpowered him and he's fighting back. 26:49.140 --> 26:55.384 [SPEAKER_00]: This kind of violence is only possible because God allows it to be possible. 26:56.558 --> 26:57.259 [SPEAKER_00]: And why does he do that? 26:58.361 --> 26:59.804 [SPEAKER_00]: He does that because he has chosen. 27:00.594 --> 27:03.275 [SPEAKER_00]: to give people a choice and who to serve. 27:03.975 --> 27:09.756 [SPEAKER_00]: He does not force people to follow him by removing the seal and unleashing the rider on the red horse. 27:09.776 --> 27:12.277 [SPEAKER_00]: You could say that God is taking the guardrails off. 27:12.637 --> 27:16.838 [SPEAKER_00]: He's removing his peace from the world and showing what happens when people reject him. 27:17.438 --> 27:21.419 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, that applies whether this is happening now or happening the pastor will happen in the future either way. 27:21.679 --> 27:26.500 [SPEAKER_00]: What you see is God is removing peace from the world and allowing this rider to remove that peace. 27:27.412 --> 27:33.076 [SPEAKER_00]: So that you see what happens when God's guardrails are taken away, and people are left to their own devices. 27:34.057 --> 27:39.320 [SPEAKER_00]: When people reject God and can do whatever they want, they often choose violence. 27:39.360 --> 27:48.547 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a way of showing that we need God in our lives, because otherwise people collapse into war, and violence in chaos, which we see today. 27:49.430 --> 27:59.841 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe this refers to a future time, maybe it refers to how the world is working right now, but to those early Christians, I suspect that this brought some comfort, because they were suffering. 28:00.433 --> 28:01.633 [SPEAKER_00]: They were being persecuted. 28:02.013 --> 28:03.854 [SPEAKER_00]: Their leaders were being killed for their faith. 28:04.094 --> 28:06.795 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet, John is telling them, God is in control. 28:07.475 --> 28:11.676 [SPEAKER_00]: The only reason this is even happening is because God allows it to happen. 28:11.696 --> 28:20.279 [SPEAKER_00]: The very Jesus that some of them were dying for opens the seal that allows for the violence that people see on the earth. 28:20.539 --> 28:23.660 [SPEAKER_00]: And it points to our need for Him. 28:24.800 --> 28:27.241 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the same thing can be said for the suffering in our life. 28:28.375 --> 28:29.975 [SPEAKER_00]: The difficulties that we experience. 28:30.795 --> 28:35.916 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't face the same kind of persecution they did, thankfully, but some of our brothers and sisters and Christ around the world do. 28:36.676 --> 28:43.638 [SPEAKER_00]: But we do have trials, and we do have struggles, and we do have things that God allows in our life, and we have to remember in those moments, God has allowed this for a reason. 28:44.618 --> 28:49.459 [SPEAKER_00]: He has opened the seal on this thing that is going on for me, and so I can trust Him. 28:49.939 --> 28:55.159 [SPEAKER_00]: I can trust that He has a purpose for this, even if it doesn't feel good, even if I don't like what I'm going through in the moment, 28:59.492 --> 29:00.273 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the third seal. 29:01.053 --> 29:03.635 [SPEAKER_00]: When the lamb broke, the third seal. 29:04.575 --> 29:06.417 [SPEAKER_00]: I heard the third living being say, come. 29:07.157 --> 29:12.301 [SPEAKER_00]: I looked up and saw a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 29:12.801 --> 29:22.507 [SPEAKER_00]: And I heard a voice from among the four living beings say, a loaf of wheat bread, or three loaves of barley, will cost a day's pay. 29:23.228 --> 29:26.490 [SPEAKER_00]: And don't waste the olive oil and wine. 29:27.548 --> 29:30.874 [SPEAKER_00]: A little confusing to understand what's going on there so let's break this down. 29:31.655 --> 29:35.702 [SPEAKER_00]: A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day's wage. 29:36.062 --> 29:39.809 [SPEAKER_00]: A day's wage should have bought 10 to 15 times that amount. 29:40.788 --> 29:49.993 [SPEAKER_00]: So what's happening here is incredible inflation, really bad inflation, and it hits the poor, the hardest, because these are the bare essentials that they need. 29:50.593 --> 29:52.174 [SPEAKER_00]: Weet was typically fed to your family. 29:52.534 --> 30:02.699 [SPEAKER_00]: Barley was typically fed to your animals, and so basically you didn't have enough to provide for your family or your animals, and just living in general was incredibly expensive is what's happening in this passage. 30:03.139 --> 30:10.063 [SPEAKER_00]: But don't waste or don't harm the oil and the wine means that the rich people can still get their luxuries. 30:11.065 --> 30:20.907 [SPEAKER_00]: So what you have here is a picture of incredible income inequality, where there are very wealthy people to have, who can get access to whatever they want and have really good stuff. 30:21.147 --> 30:29.109 [SPEAKER_00]: And you have the not so wealthy people, the poor and everybody struggles to get by because they're not able to afford the basics of life. 30:29.349 --> 30:30.990 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the different perspectives see this differently. 30:31.430 --> 30:35.431 [SPEAKER_00]: Cretarists see this as an actual famine that happened in the first century. 30:35.871 --> 30:40.892 [SPEAKER_00]: Historicists see this as economic decline in Rome in the third and fourth centuries. 30:41.312 --> 30:54.435 [SPEAKER_00]: Futurists see this as a coming economic collapse that will happen after the World War of Rider II after the Antichrist of Rider I. Idealists see this as the constant struggle in this world. 30:55.095 --> 30:57.737 [SPEAKER_00]: between the halves and the half knots. 30:58.057 --> 31:10.507 [SPEAKER_00]: The idea being that God has taken the guardrails off with that seal and allowed for there to be people running them up with their resources and somehow having a lot and somehow having a little however you interpret this. 31:11.728 --> 31:21.195 [SPEAKER_00]: What is clear is that God is allowing things to happen in the world that do not go along with His ideal plan because He's taken the guardrails off. 31:22.022 --> 31:25.403 [SPEAKER_00]: He's allowing this tremendous inequality to happen. 31:25.743 --> 31:37.725 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember that God told the Israelites back in the Old Testament through Jeremiah to pray for the prosperity of the city that they were in that they had been exiled in because its prosperity would determine their prosperity. 31:38.445 --> 31:42.986 [SPEAKER_00]: God's a pray for this city because its prosperity will determine your prosperity. 31:43.866 --> 31:49.427 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is what happens right here in Revelation when God's prosperity is removed. 31:50.355 --> 31:54.582 [SPEAKER_00]: and you see such horrible inequality that people struggled to even have enough food to eat. 31:55.163 --> 31:56.285 [SPEAKER_00]: So what should this do for us? 31:57.066 --> 32:02.174 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, as Christians, this should cause us to do exactly what God told the Israelites to do, pray for His prosperity. 32:03.126 --> 32:04.808 [SPEAKER_00]: pray that God would bless the city that we're in. 32:04.848 --> 32:06.529 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray that God would bless the people around us. 32:06.589 --> 32:10.893 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray that we wouldn't have such a difficult time and many people struggling to make ends meet. 32:11.154 --> 32:12.135 [SPEAKER_00]: We can pray for those things. 32:12.435 --> 32:18.120 [SPEAKER_00]: It should also cause us to be mindful of people who do not have much, who struggle to make ends meet. 32:18.340 --> 32:22.364 [SPEAKER_00]: Who you might not even realize it, because they're walk on the same streets and they're driving on the same roads. 32:23.245 --> 32:27.049 [SPEAKER_00]: And they're sitting around us, and we may not even understand the struggle that they have. 32:27.719 --> 32:36.102 [SPEAKER_00]: It's something we can pray about, but also I would say our benevolence team here at this church is a wonderful job, caring for people who have those needs, who you may not even know about. 32:36.462 --> 32:54.448 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know about, but every year they help tons of people who are struggling financially and they talk with them and they figure out their needs and they try to find the best way to help them with a hand up, not just to hand out, but they try to help people that are in need because we believe this is an important thing for us to do as a church. 32:55.253 --> 32:56.093 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the fourth seal. 32:56.494 --> 33:02.397 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 7, when the lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living being say, come. 33:03.297 --> 33:07.500 [SPEAKER_00]: I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. 33:07.980 --> 33:12.843 [SPEAKER_00]: Its rider was named death and his companion was the grave. 33:13.723 --> 33:21.968 [SPEAKER_00]: These two were given authority over one fourth of the earth to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals. 33:22.768 --> 33:25.751 [SPEAKER_00]: The idea of the pale green horse is that it's sickly. 33:26.151 --> 33:29.174 [SPEAKER_00]: If you've got a pale green horse, it's just kind of gross looking, it's ugly. 33:29.354 --> 33:31.456 [SPEAKER_00]: And the rider is death, so that gets even worse. 33:31.697 --> 33:35.140 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's companion is the grave, or Hades is another word for that. 33:35.340 --> 33:39.304 [SPEAKER_00]: And they're given permission to kill in four specific ways. 33:39.864 --> 33:45.910 [SPEAKER_00]: Through sword, through famine, through disease, and with wild animals. 33:46.846 --> 34:03.614 [SPEAKER_00]: That's actually a quote from the Old Testament where God tells Ezekiel that he's gonna judge Jerusalem with those four exact judgments and he tells Ezekiel, when you see that people being judged by this and you see there behavior, you will know that they deserved it. 34:04.947 --> 34:08.110 [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, the idea is this doesn't just happen for no reason randomly. 34:08.130 --> 34:13.274 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a judgment that has been given to the earth to the people that actually deserve the punishment that they get. 34:13.955 --> 34:20.600 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, preterists see this as fulfilled in the Roman Jewish war and the fall of Jerusalem in the first century. 34:20.840 --> 34:23.663 [SPEAKER_00]: Historicists point to a later period in the Roman Empire. 34:23.683 --> 34:30.428 [SPEAKER_00]: The futurist puts this in the first half of the coming tribulation after the Antichrist and after the World War. 34:31.129 --> 34:36.971 [SPEAKER_00]: where God allows this incredible destruction and one fourth of the world's population. 34:37.391 --> 34:46.294 [SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of people, you know, a couple billion people and up dying through the sword and famine and disease and wild animals. 34:46.334 --> 34:51.716 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, some futurists will say it is actually what happens is there's so much calamity on the world because of the world war. 34:52.496 --> 35:03.885 [SPEAKER_00]: that there's decay in all of the cities and you actually have a rise of natural predators and animal predators that comes about as a result of that and that's why you have so many animal killings that will occur in the future. 35:03.905 --> 35:04.926 [SPEAKER_00]: That's how the future is season. 35:05.366 --> 35:07.548 [SPEAKER_00]: You can probably guess what the idealist believes. 35:07.949 --> 35:17.316 [SPEAKER_00]: The idealist believes that this represents the reality of living in a fallen world where God has allowed death and decay because of people's sinfulness. 35:17.356 --> 35:17.937 [SPEAKER_00]: But notice 35:19.025 --> 35:23.742 [SPEAKER_00]: that there is a divine boundary that is put on this authority. 35:24.558 --> 35:28.480 [SPEAKER_00]: over the earth is only given up to one fourth of the earth. 35:29.181 --> 35:34.524 [SPEAKER_00]: So whatever this means exactly, whatever it refers to, it tells us that God is not allowing total annihilation. 35:34.764 --> 35:41.188 [SPEAKER_00]: He's placed limits on what death can do, on what they can kill through, even the types of ways they can kill. 35:41.468 --> 35:45.351 [SPEAKER_00]: And in the absolute chaos of this image, and think about John, witnessing this. 35:45.511 --> 35:48.212 [SPEAKER_00]: He watches the writer come forth, he sees what they're allowed to go do. 35:48.433 --> 35:50.594 [SPEAKER_00]: And in all of that horrible reality, 35:51.833 --> 35:54.914 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, God has placed limits even on this. 35:54.994 --> 35:57.295 [SPEAKER_00]: He is still in control. 35:58.256 --> 36:01.677 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, as we move into the fifth seal, we're finally out of horses. 36:02.337 --> 36:03.698 [SPEAKER_00]: And now we're going to see something totally different. 36:04.258 --> 36:13.522 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, when the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of the souls of all who had been martyred for the Word of God and for being faithful in their testimony. 36:14.142 --> 36:16.703 [SPEAKER_00]: They shouted to the Lord and said, oh, sovereign Lord, 36:17.383 --> 36:24.966 [SPEAKER_00]: Holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us. 36:25.006 --> 36:27.847 [SPEAKER_00]: These are people who have died because of their faith in Jesus. 36:28.007 --> 36:32.028 [SPEAKER_00]: They would not reject him, even though they were said, renounced Jesus Christ and you will keep your life. 36:32.048 --> 36:35.490 [SPEAKER_00]: They said, no, I will continue to trust in Him and they were killed for it. 36:35.670 --> 36:41.452 [SPEAKER_00]: And those people are now under this altar crying out and saying, how long Lord before you bring justice to those people who did this to us? 36:42.286 --> 36:44.168 [SPEAKER_00]: because this is horrible if they killed your saints. 36:45.029 --> 36:47.452 [SPEAKER_00]: Then verse 11, a white robe was given to each of them. 36:48.173 --> 36:58.366 [SPEAKER_00]: And they were told to rest a little while longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters, their fellow servants, who were to be martyred, had joined them. 36:59.350 --> 37:06.395 [SPEAKER_00]: This scene shifts us away from the horses to an altar that's there in heaven, a giant one in the vision. 37:07.076 --> 37:17.644 [SPEAKER_00]: And underneath this altar, are the souls of those who've been martyred because the lovitical process for handling and the priestly process for handling the sacrifices is that during the sacrifice who would pour the blood of the sacrifice down to the base of the altar. 37:18.144 --> 37:22.568 [SPEAKER_00]: So it says if these souls have been poured down there at the base of the altar because they were sacrificed. 37:23.048 --> 37:27.209 [SPEAKER_00]: for their faith in Jesus, for the namesake of Jesus on this earth. 37:27.250 --> 37:28.390 [SPEAKER_00]: They gave up their lives. 37:28.890 --> 37:30.251 [SPEAKER_00]: And now they ask for justice. 37:31.231 --> 37:36.273 [SPEAKER_00]: The wicked people who killed God's children, they deserve judgment, but notice they don't get it right away. 37:37.033 --> 37:40.994 [SPEAKER_00]: They have to wait, they have to be patient, wait until more martyrs join them. 37:41.014 --> 37:47.317 [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't think this hits you and I, the way it hit those first century churches. 37:48.377 --> 37:50.678 [SPEAKER_00]: All of them, especially places like Ephesus, 37:51.527 --> 37:54.488 [SPEAKER_00]: and Pergamum, where we know a lot of persecution took place. 37:54.508 --> 37:56.308 [SPEAKER_00]: We know a lot of people were killed because of their faith. 37:56.589 --> 37:59.810 [SPEAKER_00]: One is even mentioned in Revelation chapter two, Antipus, and Pergamum. 38:00.690 --> 38:11.733 [SPEAKER_00]: He was killed because he professed faith in Jesus and see when they got this, the early churches, they didn't picture some generic collection of nameless faceless people under a big altar. 38:12.854 --> 38:13.934 [SPEAKER_00]: They had names. 38:15.405 --> 38:23.908 [SPEAKER_00]: They had family members, they had leaders, they had people, they knew the faces of the people they could visualize when John says, I saw the martyrs. 38:25.128 --> 38:30.010 [SPEAKER_00]: I saw the people who we know died because they professed faith in Jesus. 38:30.050 --> 38:32.410 [SPEAKER_00]: This wasn't hypothetical, this wasn't future tense to them. 38:33.671 --> 38:35.831 [SPEAKER_00]: The martyrs were there now in God's presence. 38:36.152 --> 38:40.713 [SPEAKER_00]: And John's vision told them two things about this number one, this is still part of God's plan. 38:42.051 --> 38:46.072 [SPEAKER_00]: The reason these people that we love were killed for their faith is not because God somehow lost. 38:46.132 --> 38:47.292 [SPEAKER_00]: This is still part of God's plan. 38:47.492 --> 38:49.393 [SPEAKER_00]: And number two, there is more yet to come. 38:50.373 --> 38:50.993 [SPEAKER_00]: Be patient. 38:51.393 --> 38:52.534 [SPEAKER_00]: The suffering isn't over. 38:53.114 --> 38:57.115 [SPEAKER_00]: More people will die because of their faith in Jesus, but they will end up here. 38:57.295 --> 38:59.855 [SPEAKER_00]: And all of those martyrs, they're gonna be honored with white robes. 39:00.116 --> 39:03.216 [SPEAKER_00]: And they'll eventually have justice and they'll get to be with God forever. 39:04.537 --> 39:05.897 [SPEAKER_00]: Now here's the really challenging thought. 39:06.854 --> 39:09.716 [SPEAKER_00]: For those martyrs, and again, the different camps see them in different ways. 39:09.756 --> 39:12.217 [SPEAKER_00]: Some people see them as happening in the future with the tribulation. 39:12.237 --> 39:15.079 [SPEAKER_00]: Some people see them as all throughout history or just in the first century. 39:15.279 --> 39:18.882 [SPEAKER_00]: But whatever your view is on those, those martyrs, really challenging thought. 39:19.842 --> 39:26.547 [SPEAKER_00]: They are crying out for justice for the wicked people who have killed them and took away their earthly lives. 39:27.768 --> 39:34.432 [SPEAKER_00]: But for some of those martyrs, the justice for that killing would not be paid by their murderer. 39:35.828 --> 39:36.949 [SPEAKER_00]: what by Jesus Christ. 39:38.971 --> 39:39.592 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about that. 39:39.752 --> 39:41.313 [SPEAKER_00]: The justice they're crying out for. 39:42.095 --> 39:51.322 [SPEAKER_00]: and the patience that they have to wait for is also tied to the fact that the Bible says God is not slow concerning His promise put His patient waiting for more people to repent. 39:52.062 --> 39:53.544 [SPEAKER_00]: This is how the grace of Jesus works. 39:53.824 --> 39:57.166 [SPEAKER_00]: You think about Paul who helped in the killing of Stephen. 39:57.787 --> 40:07.354 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul was one of those people who was guilty for the murder of a martyr, one of the saints, and yet Paul then trusts in Jesus and so what happens with Paul's guilt? 40:07.774 --> 40:08.515 [SPEAKER_00]: What happens with the 40:12.628 --> 40:14.590 [SPEAKER_00]: On the cross, Jesus paid the penalty. 40:14.790 --> 40:16.751 [SPEAKER_00]: It's an infinite God dying for humanity. 40:16.771 --> 40:19.173 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's an infinite payment that covers whoever will trust in Him. 40:20.734 --> 40:23.356 [SPEAKER_00]: And the good news for you and me is that it doesn't matter what you've done. 40:24.597 --> 40:28.460 [SPEAKER_00]: How bad you've been, how many bad things you've thought or said or done it doesn't matter. 40:28.500 --> 40:30.382 [SPEAKER_00]: What it is, Jesus paid the penalty for that. 40:30.582 --> 40:34.906 [SPEAKER_00]: And so even some of the people who put those martyrs there will end up right next to them. 40:36.267 --> 40:41.871 [SPEAKER_00]: If they give their life to Jesus and trust in Him because His payment covers all their sin. 40:42.997 --> 40:47.538 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the justice in part that is going to happen as they wait patiently. 40:48.679 --> 40:55.001 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the sixth seal I watched as the lamb broke the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake. 40:55.561 --> 41:01.222 [SPEAKER_00]: The sun became as dark as black cloth and the moon became as red as blood. 41:01.983 --> 41:07.604 [SPEAKER_00]: Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree, shaken by a strong wind. 41:07.624 --> 41:09.885 [SPEAKER_00]: The sky was rolled up like a scroll. 41:10.445 --> 41:14.307 [SPEAKER_00]: and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places. 41:14.788 --> 41:26.235 [SPEAKER_00]: Then, everyone, the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person all hid themselves in the caves, and among the mighty, and among the rocks and the mountains. 41:26.715 --> 41:28.456 [SPEAKER_00]: And they cried to the mountains and the rocks. 41:29.036 --> 41:36.621 [SPEAKER_00]: Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 41:40.898 --> 41:43.780 [SPEAKER_00]: and who is able to survive. 41:45.421 --> 41:52.907 [SPEAKER_00]: Until now, all of the seals involved human destruction and chaos and violence and now the whole cosmos is involved. 41:52.947 --> 42:00.452 [SPEAKER_00]: There's this great earthquake and a black and sun and a blood red moon and stars falling to the earth which sounds like a meteor shower. 42:00.992 --> 42:05.656 [SPEAKER_00]: Such a cataclysmic event that the mountains and the islands are relocated. 42:06.710 --> 42:10.531 [SPEAKER_00]: seven categories of people, flee to the caves and all of this. 42:10.771 --> 42:16.192 [SPEAKER_00]: There's the kings, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, the slaves, and the free people. 42:16.212 --> 42:18.732 [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, no one has spared seven categories. 42:18.752 --> 42:19.552 [SPEAKER_00]: You know what that means. 42:19.572 --> 42:27.614 [SPEAKER_00]: The number means totality, completion, wholeness, everybody is involved in this from the highest level of power to the lowest level of power. 42:27.774 --> 42:30.094 [SPEAKER_00]: They're all running from the wrath. 42:31.974 --> 42:35.195 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is where the different views on the seals differ the most. 42:36.259 --> 42:48.463 [SPEAKER_00]: the Prederists here, apocalyptic language here, deliberately dramatic language here for the destruction of Jerusalem and the disillusion of what was left of the Jewish state. 42:49.123 --> 43:02.548 [SPEAKER_00]: They see the language about the things happening in the cosmos and the earth and all of that destruction as being representative of how traumatic and horrible it was for the Jewish people when Rome conquered them. 43:03.400 --> 43:18.619 [SPEAKER_00]: Historicists see a later event in the fourth century a completely different perspective on this where in their view what is happening when all of these things fall and move around and get shuffled in the earthquake is actually the disillusion of paganism. 43:19.340 --> 43:33.864 [SPEAKER_00]: In the Roman Empire, as Christianity starts to take over, so they actually, the historicists identify the sun, the moon, the stars, and different figures, as characters among the pagan leaders of the world losing their power and Christianity triumphed. 43:34.544 --> 43:35.624 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a very different perspective. 43:36.324 --> 43:47.887 [SPEAKER_00]: The futurists see a literal global catastrophe that happens during the tribulation in the future after the Antichrist, after the World War, after the economic collapse and all of those things. 43:48.713 --> 44:09.284 [SPEAKER_00]: and idealists here because they see the three sets of seven usually as being in parallel and they view the end of the seals as being the end and the end of the trumpets as being the end and the end of the bulls as being the end they see this as a final judgment where this is the climax of the first perspective on God's plan for the world. 44:09.924 --> 44:12.765 [SPEAKER_00]: But what I want to focus on again is the who. 44:14.286 --> 44:17.088 [SPEAKER_00]: Who is issuing the judgment? 44:18.120 --> 44:19.381 [SPEAKER_00]: Who is causing the destruction? 44:19.641 --> 44:22.462 [SPEAKER_00]: Who's wrath is it that the people are running from? 44:22.722 --> 44:23.482 [SPEAKER_00]: The people say it. 44:24.122 --> 44:26.944 [SPEAKER_00]: John hears it from their voices as they are running and hiding this. 44:26.984 --> 44:27.964 [SPEAKER_00]: He sees them in his vision. 44:27.984 --> 44:28.484 [SPEAKER_00]: What did they say? 44:28.884 --> 44:35.947 [SPEAKER_00]: Hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. 44:37.748 --> 44:40.549 [SPEAKER_00]: The wrath of the lamb. 44:41.990 --> 44:44.611 [SPEAKER_00]: If you listen to how pop culture talks about Jesus today, 44:49.082 --> 44:57.804 [SPEAKER_00]: You get a Jesus who is all about love, and he's soft, and he's harmless, and he's gentle, no matter what, Jesus' love gets used like a permission slip. 44:57.844 --> 44:59.304 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is cool with whatever I do. 45:00.104 --> 45:03.085 [SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of how people talk about in media today. 45:03.725 --> 45:08.146 [SPEAKER_00]: If you grew up in church, you probably learned a version of Jesus that says, let the little children come to me. 45:08.726 --> 45:15.528 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's soft and gentle and warm and kind, and there's nothing wrong with that per se, but don't mistake Jesus kindness for weakness. 45:17.078 --> 45:20.299 [SPEAKER_00]: don't mistake His gentleness for passivity. 45:21.520 --> 45:26.441 [SPEAKER_00]: When the world is judged, it's the lamb who is holding the gavel. 45:27.942 --> 45:34.924 [SPEAKER_00]: When people who have rejected it God and get the justice-state deserve it, it's the wrath of Jesus that is actually poured out on them. 45:35.144 --> 45:39.246 [SPEAKER_00]: It's his wrath that they are running from why, because Jesus hates sin. 45:40.450 --> 45:40.990 [SPEAKER_00]: He hates it. 45:41.850 --> 45:44.011 [SPEAKER_00]: He sees what it does to the people that he made. 45:44.191 --> 45:47.072 [SPEAKER_00]: He sees how it affects their lives and affects everything they do. 45:47.292 --> 45:50.774 [SPEAKER_00]: He sees how it turns them against each other and turns families against each other. 45:50.974 --> 45:54.815 [SPEAKER_00]: He hates the lies, he hates the adultery, the stealing, the cruelty, the pride. 45:55.355 --> 46:00.337 [SPEAKER_00]: He hates the way it wrecks marriages and destroys relationships and makes for cold hearts and I guarantee you this. 46:00.537 --> 46:02.558 [SPEAKER_00]: You have never hated anything. 46:03.658 --> 46:05.499 [SPEAKER_00]: As much as Jesus hates sin. 46:07.279 --> 46:08.820 [SPEAKER_00]: You have never hated anything. 46:09.838 --> 46:13.500 [SPEAKER_00]: as much as Jesus hates your sin. 46:15.841 --> 46:27.007 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet with all of that wrath toward evil and sin, he still blood and died for the people who commit those sins. 46:28.468 --> 46:32.470 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus hates your sin, but he loves you. 46:33.660 --> 46:41.363 [SPEAKER_00]: So he gave up his life, his earthly life, as a sacrifice to pay for that sin so that you could be on the other side of the battle. 46:41.603 --> 46:48.585 [SPEAKER_00]: If revelation doesn't do anything else for you, I hope it gives you an appreciation for what Jesus has done for you. 46:49.305 --> 46:50.446 [SPEAKER_00]: It should make you thankful. 46:51.409 --> 46:55.052 [SPEAKER_00]: that he went through such horrible pain and agony and suffering. 46:55.212 --> 46:57.234 [SPEAKER_00]: So you don't have to go through all of this. 46:57.514 --> 47:10.806 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to go through horrible pain and agony and suffering in the way that you deserve as justice for your sins if you've trusted in the payment of Jesus, Paul says in Romans 5, when we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time. 47:11.506 --> 47:12.668 [SPEAKER_00]: and he died for us sinners. 47:13.269 --> 47:26.749 [SPEAKER_00]: Now most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good, but God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 47:27.450 --> 47:35.795 [SPEAKER_00]: And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation, the other word there is wrath. 47:36.155 --> 47:36.935 [SPEAKER_00]: That means wrath. 47:37.276 --> 47:38.696 [SPEAKER_00]: He will save us from God's wrath. 47:38.736 --> 47:42.058 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't have to go through God's wrath because of Jesus' sacrifice for us. 47:42.378 --> 47:46.501 [SPEAKER_00]: For, since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son, 47:47.261 --> 47:48.423 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, we were still His enemies. 47:49.064 --> 47:53.150 [SPEAKER_00]: We will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. 47:53.190 --> 48:01.061 [SPEAKER_00]: So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends with God. 48:02.098 --> 48:12.440 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what Jesus did for you because he hates your sin, but he loves you and what's way more important than predicting what any of these things mean is seeing the one who controls it all. 48:13.181 --> 48:20.482 [SPEAKER_00]: Seeing the one who opens the seals and allows these things to happen to show what does it look like when we reject God and he's not in our lives. 48:20.502 --> 48:31.605 [SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't matter when it happens, what matters is this is the Lamb who is in control, who is in charge, who we need in our lives, who has seen all of this sin and has wrath for it and justly so and needs to punishment and yet says, 48:32.065 --> 48:36.388 [SPEAKER_00]: get on the cross and die for them so that you can be a part of God's family. 48:37.569 --> 48:41.532 [SPEAKER_00]: This is who we need to see in Revelation chapter 6. 48:41.552 --> 48:46.555 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what we need to take away and there are a couple of different application points that I want to give for you. 48:47.556 --> 48:51.158 [SPEAKER_00]: But I honestly want to do this in a setting where you're able to just think and pray. 48:51.819 --> 48:55.161 [SPEAKER_00]: So I want to ask if you just bow your heads and close your eyes for a minute if you're willing to do that. 48:55.922 --> 48:58.884 [SPEAKER_00]: And just spend some time with your Heavenly Father right now. 48:59.284 --> 49:00.125 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what I want you to think 49:01.445 --> 49:12.229 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're a follower of Jesus, have you been living with an attitude and a posture toward Jesus, like he has done this incredible thing for you? 49:13.330 --> 49:15.791 [SPEAKER_00]: Have you been living like the sin that you commit? 49:16.371 --> 49:17.832 [SPEAKER_00]: The sin you committed last week? 49:18.752 --> 49:27.556 [SPEAKER_00]: The sins that you struggle with habitually, like they are hated by Jesus, who died for you, who died on the cross, so that you wouldn't have to pay the penalty for those things that you still do. 49:31.452 --> 49:33.893 [SPEAKER_00]: like your Savior paid an incredible price. 49:34.413 --> 49:39.916 [SPEAKER_00]: So you wouldn't have to experience the wrath that you deserve for some of those things that you still do on a regular basis. 49:40.556 --> 49:46.739 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying we can be perfect, but I'm saying we need to have an appreciation for what he's done for us, for what he has gone through. 49:46.779 --> 49:50.421 [SPEAKER_00]: So we don't have to experience the judgment and the justice that is coming now. 49:50.621 --> 49:54.243 [SPEAKER_00]: For those of you that have not yet given your life to Jesus, here's what I want to say to you. 49:55.344 --> 49:59.846 [SPEAKER_00]: The door is open, Jesus offers to everyone, the opportunity 50:00.750 --> 50:02.731 [SPEAKER_00]: to trust in Him and what He did for you. 50:02.771 --> 50:04.112 [SPEAKER_00]: His sacrifice to believe in Him. 50:04.132 --> 50:05.752 [SPEAKER_00]: His payment was enough for all. 50:06.453 --> 50:09.314 [SPEAKER_00]: But it doesn't automatically go to all because people can reject God. 50:09.334 --> 50:11.655 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you have to accept the gift that He has given. 50:11.975 --> 50:13.036 [SPEAKER_00]: You have to trust in Him. 50:14.176 --> 50:15.037 [SPEAKER_00]: You can do that right now. 50:15.097 --> 50:16.958 [SPEAKER_00]: You can talk to God right now. 50:16.998 --> 50:18.338 [SPEAKER_00]: You can talk to Jesus right now. 50:19.299 --> 50:21.600 [SPEAKER_00]: And you can say, Lord, I know that I am a sinful person. 50:22.560 --> 50:23.801 [SPEAKER_00]: I know that I've done wrong in this life. 50:23.861 --> 50:27.583 [SPEAKER_00]: I know that I deserve judgment for the bad things that I've done that go against you, my creator. 50:28.688 --> 50:32.831 [SPEAKER_00]: But I also know that you died on a cross to pay for those sins, so I wouldn't have to. 50:33.752 --> 50:36.474 [SPEAKER_00]: And so God, I want to accept your salvation. 50:37.415 --> 50:38.376 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to trust in you. 50:39.697 --> 50:42.379 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to pay for all of those for me and thank you for doing that. 50:42.439 --> 50:47.583 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to commit my life to you and live for you and follow you for the rest of my life. 50:47.623 --> 50:54.349 [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible says when you do that, when you confess that Jesus is Lord, part of that includes trusting the sacrifice that He made for you. 50:55.101 --> 51:01.767 [SPEAKER_00]: You believe that God raised him from the dead, Paul said in Romans 5, we read earlier that it's because of his life, that he can represent us before God. 51:01.807 --> 51:04.970 [SPEAKER_00]: We can have new life with God, because he is alive, he is a risen Savior. 51:05.170 --> 51:08.272 [SPEAKER_00]: When you do that, the Bible says, you become a new creation. 51:08.673 --> 51:09.974 [SPEAKER_00]: You become part of God's family. 51:10.434 --> 51:14.958 [SPEAKER_00]: And you are now on the other side of that battle, the winning side, the side you want to be on. 51:14.998 --> 51:18.101 [SPEAKER_00]: If you've never done that, I beg of you to do that today. 51:19.063 --> 51:21.625 [SPEAKER_00]: Give your life to Jesus, place your trust in Him. 51:21.665 --> 51:27.410 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you do that today, if you pray that today to God and you make that commitment, I want you to make sure you tell someone today. 51:28.171 --> 51:34.336 [SPEAKER_00]: Talk to someone, either one of our purtime members up front, someone around the church with a land here, anybody that you see could be the person next to you. 51:34.637 --> 51:38.180 [SPEAKER_00]: This is not, the Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. 51:39.461 --> 51:41.823 [SPEAKER_00]: We have to walk through this journey together. 51:42.972 --> 52:03.458 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord Jesus, you've done such an amazing thing for us by not only dying for us on the cross, paying for our sins, giving us new life in you, making us your children, calling us your friends, but then giving us this roadmap to show us that you are in control and you are doing things in the world that we maybe can't understand and we can't predict them. 52:04.418 --> 52:08.059 [SPEAKER_00]: We can't always know what is happening but we can trust you with the details God. 52:09.060 --> 52:09.480 [SPEAKER_00]: And we do. 52:10.752 --> 52:16.094 [SPEAKER_00]: We trust you to do wonderful things in the future for those who have trusted in you. 52:17.474 --> 52:24.557 [SPEAKER_00]: And God, we can have hope even in the difficult things of life, the suffering that we experience, the trials that we go through, that none of it has wasted. 52:25.257 --> 52:26.317 [SPEAKER_00]: It all has a purpose. 52:27.138 --> 52:37.021 [SPEAKER_00]: The Lamb, who holds the scroll, who opens the seals, who releases the riders, the Lamb, is ultimately in control, and we are friends with that Lamb. 52:38.290 --> 52:39.951 [SPEAKER_00]: So we praise the Lamb. 52:40.011 --> 52:44.393 [SPEAKER_00]: We praise Jesus because you are worthy to open the seals. 52:44.433 --> 52:45.774 [SPEAKER_00]: You are worthy to be follow. 52:45.794 --> 52:47.135 [SPEAKER_00]: You are worthy of all our praise. 52:47.155 --> 52:50.516 [SPEAKER_00]: You are worthy of us stopping the sin that you hate so much. 52:51.417 --> 52:53.998 [SPEAKER_00]: You are worthy of so much more than we can actually give you, God. 52:54.598 --> 52:55.779 [SPEAKER_00]: But we can give you our praise. 52:55.799 --> 52:56.859 [SPEAKER_00]: So we praise you today. 52:57.400 --> 52:58.660 [SPEAKER_00]: And then Jesus name we pray. 52:59.241 --> 52:59.501 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen.