Sermon
Will you follow the Man on the White Horse ?
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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So this this evening, this Bible reading is from no, that's a
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hymn book. You can't get a Bible reading
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out of that. It's open and all here.
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It's Revelation chapter 19. And Matthew knows my testimony.
Revelation 19 chapter mention
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And many of you do hear that I got saved through reading the
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Bible and Revelation just absolutely fascinated me.
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He from the get go. So Revelation 19 and reading
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from verse 11 and it's reading from the Authorised Version, the
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King James Bible. And we'll start Revelation 19,
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verse 11, and give it reference, because it is the Word of God.
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Verse 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a White
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Horse. And he that sat upon him was
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called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and
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make war. His eyes were as a flame of
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fire, and on his head were many crowns.
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And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself.
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And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood.
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And his name was called the Word of God.
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And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white
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horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
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And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he
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should smite the nations, and he should rule them with a rod of
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iron. And he treadeth the wine Press
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of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and he hath on his
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vesture and on his thigh a name written.
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King of kings, and Lord of Lords and men.
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Will end the reading there at verse 16.
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Now this the sermon I have titled, Who will follow the man
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on the White Horse? There's no greater decision that
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you can make tonight and in your life than to follow this man on
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the White Horse. The Book of Revelation was
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written by the Apostle John as he was an exile on the Isle of
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Patmos. Now for John, this was a place
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and time of isolation, suffering and persecution.
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But you may ask why? Why was he there?
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John was a man that stood for Christ and that's why he was
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exiled to the Isle of Patmos. Now this is a futuristic event.
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This hasn't happened yet. The White Horse hasn't came in
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the sky. The heavens haven't opened yet.
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This is a futuristic event written to encourage believers
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as they were going through persecution.
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Now for them it would have been very reassuring under a reminder
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through John's vision that Christ has the victory.
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And even more encouraging than that, the fact that his angels
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are with him and his born born again believers have the victory
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too. And this will be this will be a
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massive battle scene in the end times where Christ will lead on
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the White Horse as of called the word of God.
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The holy angels will be behind him and the born again believers
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will be behind that too. The Old Testament, New Testament
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and those, Satan, the tribulation.
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On the other side you've got Satan, his armies, the fallen
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angels and the unsaved people. And the challenge I want to
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bring is what side of this battle will you be on?
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So you must realise that John saw the heaven open, the sky
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split in two, and our timeline of revelation.
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This is after the rise of the beast.
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It's after the deception of the false prophet.
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It's after the judgement of Babylon, as even after the
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outpouring of God's wrath, which would have been Revelation 16.
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But yet, it's before Satan is cast into the bottomless pit for
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1000 years and simultaneously believers will rule and reign
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with Christ in his millennial Kingdom for a literal 1000
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years. When John said I saw heaven
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open, this is an eyewitness prophetic account.
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And on this day, there'll be no debate, no delay, no denying.
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You see, we're very good to have Stephen Hawking's, Richard
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Dawkins, all these and don't have debate panels.
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There'll be no debate on this day when the sky is opened and
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the man on the White Horse comes through and his armies behind
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him. There'll be no bait debate.
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There'll be no delay. There'll be no denying Who's
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this? Does God exist?
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Their mouths will be silent. And at this point in Revelation
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19, it's too late to get right with God.
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This is a point where he is King of kings and Lord of Lords.
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We may remember in primary school, Matthew alluded to
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primary school and growing up, and it goes very quickly as we'd
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all testify to. But we may have remembered, pray
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in the Lord's Prayer, Thy Kingdom come.
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Well, this is the Lord's Kingdom coming and it's total fulfilment
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over these chapters and this is the Lord Jesus coming for the
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second time. We have not seen the Lord Jesus
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in this fashion before. I remember reading a book by
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Dane Ortland, I maybe butchered the name Gentle and Lowly and it
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goes through this attribute of Christ in Matthew 1128 where
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he's a gentle and lowly Saviour and really like the shepherd of
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the sheep and alluded to Psalm 23 of him leading the believers.
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That is correct in all these things at His first coming and
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we can enjoy that today. But in this we don't see a
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gentle and lowly Saviour, we don't see a babe in a Manger, we
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don't see the the humiliated Saviour of the world.
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But we see the judge of the world here in this passage.
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At this point it's too late to get right with God.
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There's a day born again believers should look forward
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to. This is a day, however, of fear
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and terror for the unsaved. Man, child or woman?
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Man, woman or child? And I want to say is that is
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that you? Tonight by the endless sermon,
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you'll know who the man on the White Horse is.
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You'll know who will face the White Horse, and you'll know who
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will follow the White Horse. And that might even be you this
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evening. And I want to direct that
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challenge to you this evening. My first point is asking the
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question, who is the man on the White Horse?
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Verse 11 says and I saw heaven open and behold a White Horse.
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So for the next few minutes I'm going to focus on this because
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the fact heaven opens shows the fact that something has been
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revealed that before this point was hidden from human sight.
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We see the character of the one on the White Horse.
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What is this judge of Christ? Christ as judge.
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What does this look like? Who is Christ if you're outside
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him tonight? Says he was upon him, was
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faithful and true and in righteousness He doth judge and
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make war. So we see faithfulness, we see
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truth and we see righteous judgement.
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And as one upon the White Horse makes judgement, he's never
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mistaken. We might have people might say,
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oh, the legal system in this country is so corrupt, or they
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might blame this one or that one or politicians and that it's
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always a blame game. And they say, oh, that's corrupt
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or that's not right, or they got the wrong decision.
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But with God, with Christ, there's no corruption, there's
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not a mistake. And this is righteous judgement
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as never seen before. It says his eyes were as flames
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of fire in verse 12. It shows he's all knowing.
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You may be have sins in your life that nobody knows about.
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Be sure your sin will find you out.
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There's no sin that will be hidden from God and his
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omniscience is all knowing. These eyes as flames of fire
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showing that no sin is hidden from Him.
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No sin is unnoticed and He sees everything it says.
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We see on his head were many crowns.
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This shows victory. This shows kingship of Christ at
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this time, Revelation 19. He's a king of kings as verse 16
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says as he is total and ultimate authority.
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What they spend a bit of time explaining verse 13 because it
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talks of the one on the White Horse being clothed where the
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vesture dipped in blood and this through me.
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I have to say as I was as I was going through this.
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I need to do a bit more deeper digging into studying this
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because we know that the Word of God is Christ, the Lord Jesus
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Christ, and we can think of the clothing dipped in the blood and
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we can focus on Christ's blood shed on the cross for our sins.
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But this passage is not talking about that, although that's a
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very important detail for the gospel to go forth.
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Without shedding of blood, there's no remission.
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Christ's blood cleanseth us from all sin.
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How once we put our faith in Christ alone, but in this
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passage, it's too late for people.
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The sides have already been picked and the people in this
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battle against the Lord Jesus Christ.
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It's too late to get right with God by this point, but it's not
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too late tonight. You see verse 15 at lengths he
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should smite the nations he treadeth the wine Press of the
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fierceness and wrath of God. This is a a frightening picture
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when you think of it. These people on the other side
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of the battle will not be even noticeable to the point where
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Christ goes in, He takes a charge and the enemy of God,
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whether it be the fallen angels, whether it be Satan, whether it
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be the unsaved, will end up like trodden grapes to the point
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it'll look like a wine press. There'll be as crushed grapes.
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So please don't let that be you tonight.
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Christ personally carries this out.
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Isaiah 63 verse 3 prophecies. I have trodden the wine press.
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He doesn't say with an army. He doesn't say with other people
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alone. He does it himself.
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Sin cannot and will not go unpunished because Christ is a
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righteous judge. Christ has died for your sin on
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the cross, but you've rejected him.
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I'll get saved sometime. Oh sure.
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Most people live to 8090. I'm afraid that's not the case.
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No man knows what a day may bring forth.
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Today is a day of salvation. It's not just the grave.
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And that's it. You can have a eternity with
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Christ or separated from Christ. If you're separated from Christ,
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you will be as Charlton grapes and a wine press.
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Now with the name of the word of God in verse 13 as I say it
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links it says out of his mouth goeth forth a sharp sword.
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And then John 11 it says in the beginning was a word and the
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word was with God and the word was God.
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And then in verse 14 of John one, it goes on to say, and the
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word became flesh and dwelt among us.
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This is clarification that this word of God, this man on the
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White Horse is the Lord Jesus himself.
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We think of the power of the word of God in the beginning,
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George and I would talk very frequently about creation and
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Genesis 1/3 he spake and it happened.
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That's a that's a God I serve. That's a God many of you serve
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tonight. That's a God.
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That's a saviour. He spoke and it happened.
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Everything in the universe He spake and it happened.
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Let there be light and there was light.
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Genesis 1/3. He spake everything into
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existence by His word as power in the Word of God.
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We must realise the same Lord Jesus came for the first time
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2000 years ago or so. I will be the one coming back on
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the White Horse. But the question comes to you,
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Are you ready? Question also could come to the
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Christian, Are you living for God at this moment?
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You might be saved but you're very luxy days ago.
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Would you be comfortable having a conversation face to face with
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Christ as to how you're living for God?
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Jesus walked right in on your sin, stood, just stood in front
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of you. What are you?
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What are you doing? You're a child of God.
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What are you doing? You've been very, very, very
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uncomfortable, whatever that sin might be.
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So you need a reverence, a holy reverence of God, holy respect
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of God. He's made it my second point.
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Who will face the White Horse? Any battle has two sides we can
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think of, even the N via the South in America in the 1800s.
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I love the the Westerns and all that, but that's a side a side
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note not written here, but I think to myself, you know,
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you've the, you've the Yankees and you've got the, the redneck
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are the sort of war Confederates.
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There's two sides. You can't be on on both sides.
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You pick a side and you battle against the other.
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World War 2, for example, it was Nazi Germany and you'd you'd
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allied forces the the United Kingdom.
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You had America in the end, all these different, but there's a
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side to pick. Verse 19 says, and I saw the
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beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered
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together to make war against him that sat upon the horse.
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So if you're not born again tonight in the house or online,
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you are on this side of the battle.
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You're on the losing side of the battle.
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In fact, John 336 says he that believeth not shall not see
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life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
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But I'm a good person. That's not what it's about.
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The wrath of God abideth on him that does not believe.
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Hasn't there faith in Christ? Is that you tonight?
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Are you? Are you born again?
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Are you, are you an enemy of God?
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You see, it's not by what we do, as Matthew said, but rather he
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that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
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This is a spiritual battle. This this side of the battle is
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a spiritual rebellion. Ephesians 612 says, For you
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wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
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principalities. God's word went out and those on
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this side of the battle on this day, it's safe to say, rejected
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it. This unbelief takes many forms.
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Open rejection, we see. We see it in the street all the
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time. In Edinburgh for example, or
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even in Belfast. I'm not interested.
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You still believe the Bible 2000 years ago?
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Wow, what a dinosaur. I didn't think anybody believed
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that anymore. Every knee will bow, every
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tongue will confess that Christ is Lord.
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You'll do it on this side of eternity, or you'll do it on the
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other side of eternity when it's too late and you're on the wrong
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side of the battle. Secondly, unbelief could be
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religious unbelievers trusting their own works.
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Me before I was saved, I thought my works, my efforts, my prayers
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were kept me to heaven. Sincere.
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Most definitely. But not saved. 3rd.
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Thirdly, those trusting in sacraments or rituals cannot
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save. Praying to statues and idols and
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all these sorts of things. I shall have no other God before
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me. It's idolatry.
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Those who died saying I could save someday, Not yet, no, today
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is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time and I
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want to plead with you to get saved tonight.
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If you're outside Christ, even write a message online if you're
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on the computer or on the phone, but leads me to my third and
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final point and it is who will follow the Lord Jesus Christ on
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the White Horse. Verse 14 of Revelation 19
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answers and says in the armies which were in heaven followed
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him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
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So you remember John seeing the heavens open, I saw heavens
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open. Verse 11 these armies are not
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from earth. It's not a these are not earthly
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battles. This is these from heaven.
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Christ led the charge, the holy angels and the believers came
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after. This includes Old Testament
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believers. Abraham believed God was counted
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to him for righteousness. Abraham will be there.
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The New Testament believers are like Sir Paul.
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It'll be those who are saved today.
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It'll be those that are saved in the tribulation when the Bible
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says Saints are talks of born again believers.
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And I can I can assure you that it's not up to the Roman
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Catholic Church to dictate who is a St and who is not by their
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their way of choosing that whatever way they, they, they
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seem to do that. That is not a biblical St And I
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want to clarify that it's find nowhere in Scripture.
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We see rather in Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians and
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Colossians. Paul is writing to the Saints at
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Ephesus. Paul is writing to the Saints at
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Philip I Paula's writing to the Saints of Colossi Galatia verse
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1, chapter 1 verses one and two if each of those books should be
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able to see that, but we see born again believers are Saints
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in the Old Testament Prophet Zechariah writes and the Lord my
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God shall come and all the Saints with thee as talking of
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this end time battle. The New Testament says First
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Thessalonians 313 at my at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
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with all his Saints. So it's evident born again
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believers will be partaking in the battle of Armageddon, but
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there will be more than believers there following the
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Lord Jesus. Angels are explicitly present.
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They're mentioned and 2nd Thessalonians 17 says the Lord
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Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.
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It's not just a battle of Jesus and and the beast or the saved
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be the unsaved or but it's also holy angels against the fallen
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angels. The holy angels follow Christ
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and are on His side too. So tonight we have 3 realities.
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The one on the White Horse is the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We will come back to judge. Secondly, those who face the
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White Horse, the man on the White Horse are an unbelief.
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And thirdly, those who follow the one on the White Horse are
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the holy angels and the born again believers.
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John 316 says whosoever believeth on him should not
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perish, but have everlasting life.
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So I challenge you tonight, what side the battle will you be on
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Tuesday this day, whom you will serve?