Intro / Review:
- The first seal: PEACE (Rev 6:1-2)
- The second seal: WAR. (Rev 6:3-4)
- The third seal: FAMINE (Rev 6:5-6)
- The fourth seal: DEATH. (Rev 6:7-8)
- The fifth seal: PRAYERS (Rev 6:9-11)
- The sixth seal: FEAR. (Rev 6:12-17)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:03-01:05
Open up your Bibles to Revelation 6.
01:06-01:12
We are back in our series called "Coming Soon." We're going verse by verse through the book of Revelation.
01:13-01:25
To get us all caught up from where we left off back in December, in Revelation 1, we see that John was exiled on the island of Patmos, sort of like prison, because of preaching the gospel.
01:26-01:33
And while he was there, Jesus Christ showed up in all His majestic glory and said, "John, I want you to write some things down." That's chapter 1.
01:33-01:37
Chapters 2 and 3, 7 letters to 7 churches.
01:37-01:41
And really, 7 letters to all churches for all time.
01:41-01:44
But 7 letters to 7 specific churches in Asia Minor.
01:45-01:48
Jesus was addressing some issues that were going on in the churches.
01:48-01:58
Then we get to Revelation chapter 4, and the Apostle John is taken forward in time and up to heaven to see what's coming next.
01:58-02:01
And in chapter 4, in heaven, John saw the throne.
02:02-02:05
What's going on on the throne and around the throne and towards the throne.
02:05-02:11
And everything in chapter 4 is about God on the throne, the worship of the one on the throne.
02:11-02:14
Then our last message in Revelation was chapter 5.
02:15-02:18
On the throne, God had the title deed to the earth.
02:18-02:25
And the question was posed, who is worthy to open that scroll and to break its seals?
02:26-02:34
In other words, who is able to reclaim the earth back from Satan, back from sin, back from evil?
02:34-02:37
Who is able to reclaim the earth?
02:37-02:44
Well, the Lamb, Jesus Christ, steps forward, and He takes the scroll, and thunderous worship results.
02:45-02:54
Recall when He breaks the seals, every time a seal is broken on this scroll, it manifests an act of judgment from the Lamb.
02:54-03:02
Now, when he's opening the scroll, it's not like these seals breaking are seconds apart or minutes apart.
03:02-03:13
We're going to see that these judgments that are manifested every time a seal is broken, these judgments encompass the entire seven-year period of the tribulation leading up to his return.
03:14-03:16
We'll get to in chapter 19, spoiler alert.
03:16-03:18
But there are seven seals.
03:18-03:22
This is important to get down because you're going to see this throughout Revelation.
03:23-03:29
There are seven seals, but the seventh seal contains seven more judgments.
03:29-03:31
Those are the trumpet judgments.
03:32-03:37
And then the seventh trumpet judgment contains seven bowl judgments.
03:38-03:40
We're going to see that as we go through Revelation.
03:40-03:44
The first four seals take place during the first half of the Tribulation.
03:45-03:46
It's seven years, so half of that is.
03:47-03:48
Three and a half years, thank you, seeing who's listening.
03:49-04:06
The fifth seal broken stretches from the first half of the Tribulation to the second, and the sixth and seventh seal, including the trumpets and the bowls, take place during the Great Tribulation, which is the second half of the seven-year period, which is another... how long? Three and a half years.
04:06-04:07
All right, mathematicians!
04:08-04:14
So the Lamb takes the scroll, He breaks the seals, and He ushers in the end.
04:15-04:21
Now, our last couple of messages in Revelation, we've been in heaven, and the scene is going to shift back to the earth.
04:21-04:24
And as we're looking through this, I'm going to go through this quickly.
04:24-04:26
We're going to be doing all of chapter six today.
04:26-04:35
And I want to remind you that the message is available online if you'd like to give it another listen, because I'm going to be giving some Old Testament verses to help us understand what's going on here.
04:35-04:37
But we're going to be going through it quickly.
04:37-04:47
But as we go through this, I also want to remind you that in Revelation, John doesn't explain what's happening as much as he is describing what's happening.
04:47-04:48
Does that make sense?
04:49-04:56
John's not sitting there writing it down saying, this is a complete exhaustive explanation of what I see.
04:57-04:59
He's communicating what he sees.
04:59-05:00
And you're going to see that throughout.
05:00-05:01
We've already seen it.
05:02-05:07
It's like this, and it looked like this, and had the appearance of that.
05:08-05:11
John's just taking it in, and he's describing what's happening.
05:11-05:18
And our understanding of what's happening comes from many Old Testament passages describing these very events.
05:18-05:22
You see, you go through the Old Testament prophets, this stuff in Revelation is not new.
05:23-05:30
These things were prophesied long before and now it's just all coming together and being played out. Does that make sense?
05:30-05:34
They're coming soon. Judgment, phase one, the seals. Let's look at the seals.
05:34-05:36
The first seal, number one, the first seal was peace.
05:36-05:39
And I would say, parenthetically, false peace.
05:40-05:49
Again, when the Lamb opens the scroll and breaks the seals, Every time a seal is broken, it manifests judgment or some sort of a force on the earth.
05:49-05:54
And the first force that's associated with the seal is peace.
05:54-05:57
Look at Revelation 6, verses 1 through 2.
05:57-06:31
Now John says, "Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, 'Come!' And I looked, and behold, a white horse and its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer." The question is, "Okay, who's on the horse?" Well, some commentators, theologians, scholars, some say, "Well, that's the Antichrist." Because the Antichrist is this world leader who is yet coming.
06:32-06:34
He might be on the earth now, for all we know.
06:34-06:39
but he's going to be a major player in these events in Revelation.
06:40-06:43
He's sort of Satan's answer to Jesus Christ.
06:43-06:58
Well, some say, "Well, he is... this rider on the horse is the Antichrist." And some others would say, "Well, no, no, no. The rider on the horse is obviously Jesus Christ because he's on a white horse and has a crown and conquering." So who's on the horse here? The answer is it's neither of those.
06:58-07:01
It's not the Antichrist and it's not Jesus Christ.
07:01-07:04
And there's two reasons that I don't believe it's either one of them.
07:04-07:13
and number one, both the Antichrist and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb, both of them are explicitly identified when they're mentioned in Revelation.
07:13-07:34
When they come up in the text, John very clearly identifies them, which this character here is not so explicitly identified. But the second reason that I don't believe it's either Jesus Christ or the Antichrist is because you're going to see here in a second when we get to seal number two, seal number three, See seal number four.
07:35-07:44
There are other horsemen, there are other horses, other riders, and those other ones are not connected to representing another player in Revelation.
07:45-07:51
It's like this horseman is Jesus, and this horseman is the Antichrist, and this horseman is the false prophet, and this horseman is...
07:52-07:53
You don't see that at all.
07:54-07:57
All four of these horsemen represent an aspect of judgment.
07:57-08:08
As far as I can see from the text, John saw the horsemen, but there's no evidence that the people earth who were experiencing the judgment and the wrath that they were bringing.
08:08-08:13
There's no evidence that they actually saw the horsemen, only the judgment that they brought.
08:13-08:17
So this rider, the text says he had a bow, but he didn't have any arrows.
08:18-08:20
He had an instrument of war, but there was no fighting.
08:21-08:26
And it says that the crown, which in the Greek is the victor's crown, it was just given to him.
08:26-08:29
Again, here's a guy that conquered, but there was no bloodshed.
08:29-08:36
And what this is talking about here, we'll see clearly in a second, this is peace on earth.
08:36-08:38
You're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hang on, hang on.
08:38-08:44
I thought Revelation was about, like, dark, scary judgment from God." And you're like, "This is what He's leading with?
08:45-08:47
This is what God's leading with? Peace on earth?
08:48-08:54
This is temporary, and it's false." But you see, the world desperately desires peace.
08:55-09:02
And the Antichrist is going to use that desire, And the Antichrist is going to convince the world, "I can give you peace. I can bring it.
09:03-09:05
You want peace on earth? You want peace in the Middle East?
09:05-09:10
You want the end of fighting? I can deliver that." The Antichrist is going to deceive Israel.
09:11-09:12
Daniel 9.27, jot that down.
09:13-09:15
And eventually betray Israel.
09:15-09:18
Jesus talked about that in Matthew 24, I believe.
09:19-09:20
This is a false peace.
09:21-09:30
And all throughout the Old Testament, the Bible gives warnings for people that are declaring and proclaiming peace when there's no peace. New Testament as well, 1 Thessalonians 5.3.
09:31-09:35
So this wicked world leader is going to come on the scene and he's going to promise peace.
09:35-09:39
And for a time it almost seems like he's delivering what he promised.
09:39-09:55
You're like, "Wait a second, this seems a little far-fetched, Pastor Jeff. Can that really happen?" Can that really happen? I would say, "Read your history books." Remember Hitler? Hitler didn't show up and say, "Hey everybody, I'm going to try to exterminate an entire race of people." He didn't do that.
09:55-09:58
He showed up promising what? Peace!
09:58-10:01
And that's sort of a prelude to the Antichrist.
10:01-10:03
He's going to show up promising peace.
10:04-10:08
And that's going to set the stage for the devastation that comes, because look at the second one.
10:08-10:11
The second seal is war, verses 3 and 4.
10:12-10:21
"And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature..." These living creatures, remember, these are the angels that John sort of reintroduced us to back in chapter 4.
10:21-10:29
"When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" And out came another horse, bright red.
10:30-10:38
Its rider was permitted to, see this, "Take peace from the earth, so the people should slay one another." And he was given a great sword.
10:39-10:44
So this rider had a sword, and he took away the false peace that had come on the earth.
10:45-10:52
War and violence are going to break out in a way that we are only scratching the surface of in our day.
10:52-10:56
Now, war, I believe this is so much more than just international war.
10:56-11:01
This is more than just Russia's fighting with whoever, like nation versus...
11:01-11:04
I believe it's more than that. I believe it's that, but I believe it's more than that.
11:05-11:06
I believe this is also racial strife.
11:07-11:09
Seen a lot of that in our day, haven't we? It's going to get worse.
11:09-11:20
This is more than just war. It's racial strife, it's organized crime, it's murdering police, and it's murdering police, it's civil war.
11:20-11:26
all of these things are going to get exponentially worse, and in the last days, that's going to be the norm.
11:27-11:33
Right now, we hear about it on the news, and get snippets of it happening here, happening there.
11:34-11:37
And these days, it's going to constantly, 24/7.
11:38-11:41
There's fighting and war and bloodshed.
11:41-11:42
That's the second seal.
11:42-11:43
Third seal is famine.
11:44-11:45
Look at verse 5.
11:45-11:58
"When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.
11:59-12:00
This rider had a pair of scales.
12:00-12:03
He had power over trade and commerce.
12:04-12:05
That's what that is identifying.
12:06-12:14
With all of this war and fighting and bloodshed that is happening, one of the natural results of war is famine.
12:14-12:27
And this ultimate war is going to result and the ultimate famine, and the scales represent the rationing and the inflation that is going to take place during these days.
12:28-12:30
That's made so clear. Look at verse 6.
12:30-12:38
"And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures..." Whose voice do you think that is? That's God's voice, right?
12:39-12:52
"...in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, 'A quart of wheat for Daenerys, and three quarts of barley for Daenerys, and do not harm the oil and wine." Like, what's that quote all about?
12:52-12:54
To just sum it up, these are famine conditions.
12:55-12:57
A denarius was about a day's wage.
12:58-13:04
And the point here is, without doing all the math and explaining all the measurements and all this stuff, you can look all this up, but the point of this is this.
13:05-13:12
Resources are going to be so scarce that it's an entire day's wage just to feed one person, which is rough if you're just one person, right?
13:12-13:16
'Cause you got other bills, you got other things, but what if you have a spouse?
13:17-13:19
What if you are caring for another family member in your home?
13:20-13:21
What if you have children?
13:21-13:22
These are famine conditions.
13:23-13:26
A day's wage for one person's food, it's getting worse.
13:26-13:29
Look at the fourth seal, death, verses 7 and 8.
13:29-13:41
"When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, 'Come!' And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death.
13:41-13:57
and Hades followed him, and they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and by wild beasts of the earth." First of all, it says this is a pale horse.
13:57-14:05
That word for "pale" in the Greek is where we get the word "chlorophyll." It's green, a sickly green, like zombie flesh green.
14:06-14:07
It's the color of a decomposing corpse.
14:08-14:12
Death is brought about by four weapons, wielded by death and Hades following.
14:13-14:18
Four weapons, you see it, first of all, sword, secondly, famine, third it says pestilence.
14:18-14:22
Interestingly, in the Greek, the word pestilence is literally just translated death.
14:22-14:33
And I believe that these three things, the sword, the famine, the pestilence, the death, they're encompassing the result of the first three taking their full effect on the earth.
14:33-14:34
But this is interesting.
14:35-14:38
It says, "And by wild beasts of the earth," What are the wild beasts?
14:38-14:39
What are the wild beasts?
14:40-14:40
Could it be rats?
14:41-14:43
Rats are known carriers of disease.
14:43-14:45
Think of the 14th century black death.
14:45-14:46
This was interesting.
14:46-14:52
You know, the word for a wild beast in the Greek translates to the exact same word used in Acts 28.
14:52-14:56
When, remember when Paul was bitten by the snake, the venomous snake, it's the same word.
14:57-15:02
And some would say, maybe there's a plague of venomous snakes that are part of this.
15:02-15:10
I don't know, but I do know wild beasts, along with these other weapons are going to kill 25% of the Earth's population.
15:11-15:13
Wrap your brains around that for a second, if you can.
15:14-15:18
25% of the Earth's population is going to be killed at this point.
15:18-15:20
Do you know how many people there are on the Earth today?
15:20-15:23
7.7 billion on the Earth today.
15:24-15:27
So 25% of that is 1.925 billion.
15:28-15:32
Almost 2 billion people are going to be killed at this point.
15:32-15:34
Can you wrap your brains around that?
15:34-15:35
Let's put it into perspective.
15:36-15:37
Let's put it into perspective.
15:37-15:42
Let's say if you said each name of the person that was killed.
15:42-15:45
You have a list of everybody that's killed, OK?
15:45-15:50
You have this list, everybody's name, and you're just going to say their names out loud.
15:50-15:54
And we're going to be very generous and say it takes you one second for each name because you're a fast talker.
15:55-15:58
And you're just going to say the names out loud, OK?
15:58-15:58
You with me?
15:59-16:00
But you never stop.
16:00-16:03
You do it morning, noon, and night on repeat.
16:03-16:05
You don't sleep, you don't eat, you don't do anything.
16:06-16:13
Let's say that's all you do is you stand and read the names on the list day and night, day and night.
16:13-16:16
Do you know how long it would take you to read this many names?
16:17-16:19
62 years, nonstop.
16:19-16:22
That should give us some perspective of the devastation that's happening here.
16:23-16:24
The fifth seal is prayers.
16:24-16:25
Look at verses nine through 11.
16:26-16:35
When he opened the fifth seal, "I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had borne.
16:35-16:55
They cried out with a loud voice, "Oh, sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" And they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
16:55-17:03
The force at play here, interestingly, big shift here between the fourth and the fifth seal, the force at play here, the prayers of God's people.
17:03-17:10
Specifically, your Bible says the prayers of God's people who were killed, who were murdered during the tribulation.
17:10-17:17
These are people who come to Christ during the tribulation and are killed for it during the first half of the tribulation.
17:18-17:23
And this answers one of the most common questions that I get about Revelation.
17:23-17:30
People ask me all the time, "Will people get saved during the tribulation?" And the answer is absolutely yes.
17:31-17:33
And here's proof right here.
17:33-17:43
The question usually comes from someone thinking, "You know, I have unsaved family and friends that I've been witnessing to, and I want them to come to know Christ, and I've invited them to church, and they just don't seem interested.
17:43-17:50
And is it going to be too late if we're gone and they live through the tribulation?" People will get saved during the tribulation.
17:50-17:57
But looking at this seal again, John says, "He saw under the altar." What altar? Well, he doesn't specify.
17:57-18:08
Some say, "Well, due to the bloodshed of the saints, this is probably the heavenly version of the altar of burnt offering from the Old Testament." That's Leviticus 4, 17 and 18.
18:08-18:13
And some say, "No, no, no. Due to the connection to prayer, it's the altar of burnt offering.
18:14-18:26
I'm sorry, the altar of incense, the altar of incense from Exodus 40 and verse 5." I don't know. John just says, "I saw an altar." I don't know what the altar is, but I do know one thing absolutely crystal clear from this passage.
18:27-18:29
is that God moves in response to their prayers.
18:30-18:34
The Bible says He gave them white robes of righteousness and then invites them to rest for a while.
18:35-18:38
God says it's not yet time because more people need to die.
18:38-18:41
Like, what? What? Did you see that?
18:41-18:51
Verse 11, that God told them to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who are to be killed as they themselves had been.
18:52-18:53
Doesn't that bother you a little bit?
18:53-19:15
Sometimes we see great evil and wickedness and heartache and disaster and tragedy, and we think, "God, why don't you do something about this?" "God, you can. I know you can." But my question is, "Why won't you?" "Why don't you... You obviously see what's going on and you can do something about it, so tell me why you're not doing something about it right now." But do you understand?
19:15-19:18
That was the exact question that they were asking him under the altar.
19:18-19:20
These people that have been killed, did you see that?
19:20-19:21
They're not being irreverent.
19:22-19:24
They're saying, "God, how long are you going to let this continue?
19:24-19:54
You're a God of holiness and righteousness, and your earth is being run by nasty, wicked, sinful people. How much longer are you going to allow this to happen? God, you're holy and you're righteous. How long are you going to let this happen?" See, God knows the number of those who will be killed. And on one hand, yeah, it does seem kind of chilling. But on the other hand, there's a sense of comfort at the level of control in which the Lord operates.
19:55-19:59
Every detail in the universe is under His absolute complete control.
19:59-20:00
You realize that?
20:01-20:05
Every molecule in the universe under His complete control.
20:06-20:13
Every nanosecond that passes, passes under His sovereign control.
20:14-20:24
that has ever happened, everything that's happening right now, and everything that is going to happen, all of it happens for one reason.
20:25-20:26
It's because He allows it.
20:26-20:35
And I want to add, even in your life today, just honestly, there's sometimes I feel, I feel that things are happening in my life.
20:36-20:46
Like, "God, why aren't you doing something about this? Do you know? Do you see?" I mean, "Why haven't you shown up? Why aren't you doing something?" And sometimes we start to wonder, right?
20:46-20:50
This is a great comfort to know, look, yeah, God knows.
20:50-20:54
And he says, "It's part of the plan." And it might not make sense now, but it will someday.
20:55-20:57
God lovingly replies to these people.
20:57-21:01
He says, "You were killed because of your faith." I know.
21:01-21:04
And I knew, he says, "Others are going to be too.
21:04-21:10
Rest, because at the perfect time, I'm going to finish this." Not a second before, and not a second late.
21:10-21:13
And then finally, let's talk about the sixth seal.
21:14-21:15
We're just going to call this one fear.
21:16-21:17
You're going to see it very clearly in the text.
21:17-21:24
This one also is a little different, because in the first five seals, there were other characters involved.
21:24-21:34
Like we saw angels, we saw horsemen, we saw death and Hades, we saw praying saints, we saw other characters involved.
21:34-21:38
But when you get to the sixth seal, It is God Himself.
21:38-21:45
No other person involved, used in any way, it's God Himself.
21:45-21:48
The first five seals have largely been ignored.
21:49-21:58
I'm sure there was some panic, and I'm sure there was a lot of, "We're going to adjust and get through this, and kumbaya," but without acknowledging God.
21:58-22:04
And you're going to see with this seal, finally, sinners have to acknowledge God.
22:05-22:27
you're going to see with this seal, it's so horrific that sinful people said, "What's happening has to be the judgment of God." Look at verse 12. John says, "When he opened the sixth seal, I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth and the full moon became like blood." This is the mother of all earthquakes. This is the first time in history an earthquake shook the entire planet.
22:28-22:56
Joel talks about this in Joel chapter 2, verses 30 and 31. This darkness. How does that happen? The best understanding is that this global earthquake triggers volcanic activity on a global scale and perhaps it is the the ash from all the volcanic activity that blocks the Sun, gives the moon its blood appearance. I don't know. Again, John's describing, he's not explaining.
22:57-23:04
Verse 13 says, "And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
23:05-23:10
In the Greek, the word stars refers to any heavenly body other than the sun and the moon.
23:11-23:15
So these are probably asteroids or meteors pummeling the earth.
23:16-23:16
Boom!
23:17-23:17
Boom!
23:17-23:19
Just pounding the earth.
23:20-23:30
Verse 14, "The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place." The sky rolled up like a scroll.
23:31-23:31
What was that like?
23:32-23:34
John's describing, he's not explaining.
23:34-23:47
I have to wonder as I'm sort of imagining this in my head, with all that volcanic ash, maybe there was the wind pushing that and it had this appearance like it was the sky literally rolling up.
23:47-23:47
I don't know.
23:48-23:49
He's describing, not explaining.
23:50-23:53
He does say that every mountain and island was removed from its place.
23:54-23:57
The landscape of the whole earth shifted.
23:58-23:59
The whole earth is shaken.
24:00-24:03
The whole face of the earth is completely rearranged.
24:03-24:17
Verse 15, "Then the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the generals, and the rich, and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free..." Stop there. That's seven categories.
24:17-24:19
Seven comes up a lot in Revelation, doesn't it?
24:19-24:22
Basically, he's saying all of society, everyone.
24:22-24:28
The president, the beggar, the blue-collar guy, the white-collar guy.
24:29-24:59
Whatever, everyone in every station and class of life, everyone, says these, everyone, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, And who can stand with the sixth seal?
25:00-25:01
Everyone seeks refuge.
25:01-25:06
Go in caves, go in the rubble of the rocks from the mountain that just collapsed.
25:06-25:08
Go underground, go anywhere.
25:08-25:09
We've got to get away.
25:09-25:13
Can you even wrap your brain around how horrifying this must be?
25:14-25:20
The Lord parenthetically here is saying, "Do I have your attention now?" There's a lot of astonishing things in Revelation chapter 6.
25:21-25:26
I want you to notice the absolute most astonishing thing was right here at the end.
25:26-25:31
This is the one that's hardest to believe, hardest to think about, hardest to wrap your brain around.
25:31-25:39
The most astonishing thing in Revelation chapter 6 is that despite everything that's happening, people will not repent and turn to God.
25:39-25:40
See that?
25:40-25:41
Oh, they cried out, didn't they?
25:42-25:42
They cried out.
25:42-25:43
Who did they cry out to?
25:43-25:45
The rocks, right?
25:45-25:54
Instead of crying out to God for mercy and forgiveness, they cry out for the rocks to fall on them.
25:55-26:33
you saw here in the text very clearly. You see, in this moment, in this moment, they get it. They get it. They realize that they can't dismiss this as a natural disaster. They can't dismiss this as mere coincidence. In this moment, they realize, you see it very clearly, this is the wrath of God. This is the wrath of the Lamb. And they realize those Bible people, those people that came to Christ during the Tribulation and were telling them, "Hey, I see what's going on I understand now. You need to turn to Christ because all of this stuff is His wrath." And they dismissed them. They killed them.
26:33-26:35
At this point, the lights come on like, "Wait, wait, wait.
26:36-26:39
These people were on to something. This is what's happening.
26:40-26:50
This is the wrath of the Lamb that they were talking about." But again, instead of crying out for mercy and forgiveness, they cry out for the rocks to fall on them.
26:50-26:51
And look at this delusion.
26:52-26:56
It's as if death is going to have them escape the wrath of the Lamb.
26:57-26:57
Death is an escape.
26:58-27:05
That is the same irrational thinking as someone who commits suicide or has seriously considered it.
27:06-27:08
Please hear me, I'm not making light of that.
27:08-27:11
I can't think of anything more serious than that.
27:11-27:16
I'm not trying to downplay it or trivialize it or make it a caricature.
27:17-27:31
But let's be honest, when someone gets to that point, the mindset is, "Death is an escape. Life is hard. I'll escape through death." And that's the same mindset that's happening with these people here.
27:31-27:36
"Death will be escape." And the reality is, death is not an escape.
27:36-27:38
Death is not an escape.
27:39-27:42
But this certainly shows you something about the hearts of these people, doesn't it?
27:42-27:47
As we close the sermon, I do want to remind you that you're going to face Jesus Christ someday.
27:47-27:49
So really the only question is, how would you like to face Him?
27:50-27:52
Really there's two options you have.
27:52-27:56
You can face the grace of the Lamb, or you can face the wrath of the Lamb.
27:56-28:06
By the way, all of this in Revelation chapter 6, this is the tamest part of God's judgment, believe it or not, because it's about to get a lot worse.
28:06-28:07
Is that what you want to face?
28:08-28:15
Resist the One who is coming in wrath to destroy everyone who's rejected their Creator and Savior.
28:15-28:16
Is that the One you want to face?
28:16-28:21
Or today, you can face the grace of the Lamb.
28:22-28:22
He loves you.
28:23-28:26
Jesus Christ wants to see you saved.
28:26-28:30
He takes no delight in this, these judgments.
28:30-28:32
The Bible says God does not take delight in the death of the wicked.
28:32-28:34
He loves you and He wants to see you saved.
28:35-28:40
He died and rose from the dead so that you can have forgiveness, so that you can have eternal life.
28:41-28:46
He did everything to prove that He loves you and He provided the way to save you.
28:47-28:52
That's the kind of God He is, which you don't have forever, because these events, they're coming.
28:53-28:53
They're coming.
28:53-29:07
Are you going to be one of the ones who reject Christ now, maybe alive during these events, and you become so hard-hearted to this point, you're going to cry out for the rocks to kill you rather than face the wrath of the Lamb.
29:07-29:07
So what's it going to be?
29:08-29:11
You want the grace of the Lamb or do you want the wrath of the Lamb?
29:11-29:12
You don't have forever.
29:12-29:16
Why can't today be the day that you encounter the grace of the Lamb?
29:17-29:17
Why can't that be today?
29:18-29:20
Why can't today be the day that you just say, "You know what?
29:20-29:21
I'm done pretending.
29:21-29:23
I'm done living for myself.
29:23-29:25
I'm done thinking about it.
29:25-29:26
I'm done.
29:26-29:31
Today is the day that I'm going to receive the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ.
29:31-29:35
Will you bow your heads with me please as the worship team makes their way forward.
29:35-29:36
Bow your heads please.
29:37-29:38
Close your eyes.
29:38-29:45
For a minute I want to speak specifically to someone here who has not received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
29:45-29:47
Person that wants to do that today.
29:48-29:51
Your person that maybe doesn't know how that even happened.
29:52-29:56
First of all, you need to pray, acknowledging and confessing your sin before God.
29:56-29:59
To say something like, "God, I realize that I need You.
30:00-30:02
I am a sinful person by nature.
30:03-30:09
I know I'm not what You want me to be, God, and it's my fault." You need to get to that place where you realize you need a Savior.
30:09-30:11
You need to cry out for His mercy.
30:11-30:21
Say, "God, though I'm a sinner, I cry out to You today, God, and I thank You for Your for your love and for your mercy that you've demonstrated in Jesus Christ.
30:22-30:33
You need to receive by faith the gift of eternal life by praying something like, "Jesus, thank You for dying for my sins, for raising so that I can have eternal life.
30:34-30:37
And Father in Heaven, I want to receive the gift of eternal life today.
30:38-30:45
Father in Heaven, I want to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, and I want to allow Him, His rightful place, to be the Lord of my life.
30:45-30:48
Today, Father, I turn from my sin I turn to you.
30:49-30:51
There's somebody here that needs to pray that prayer today.
30:51-30:55
You can face the grace of the Lamb today, or you can face the wrath of the Lamb tomorrow.
30:56-31:01
Father, may Your Holy Spirit grab every heart here, especially the heart here that doesn't know You.
31:02-31:04
Let Your kindness bring them to repentance today.
31:04-31:07
I pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 6
GROUP
What was your big “takeaway” from Revelation 6?
Which of the seals especially stood out to you? Why?
If these lost people (Rev 6:15-17) recognize these events as being the wrath of the Almighty, why will they not repent? What does this say about hard-heartedness?
BREAKOUT
Pray for an unsaved family member / friend / coworker - BY NAME - that they would come to know the “grace of the Lamb”. How can you help share the Gospel with that person?