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Let's go ahead and keep your finger there in Galatians 5 and turn over to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians chapter number 2. And the Bible reads in 1 Corinthians chapter number 2 in verse 12, Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Now the Bible is telling us here in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that the doctrines of the Bible, the doctrines that we believe as Christians and that we preach to one another and that we stand on, they're not taught in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, basically in the words that we come up with. But he said they're taught in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. When we talk about spiritual words and spiritual things and man's word versus the words of the Spirit, we're talking about God's word, we're talking about the Bible. See, what we believe is based upon what the Bible says. It's not based upon someone else's explanation of the Bible, someone else's theology or a book or a commentary that they wrote. No, what we believe is based on these exact words, the words of the Bible. We can't rely on what man's wisdom tells us. We can only rely on what God's word tells us, because the Bible says that, you know, we speak the things of God, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Go if you went back where we were in Galatians 5, where we started, and we'll see a statement early on. At the beginning of the chapter in Galatians 5, Paul is warning about people who are adding works to salvation. He's talking about people who believe that you had to be circumcised in order to be saved. And he says if you're trusting in being circumcised and in Christ, he says you're not saved. He says if you're justified by the law, you're fallen from grace. And he says if you're going to be circumcised, look what he says here, I'm just going to point this out, it doesn't have anything to do with my sermon. But he says in verse 3, For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. In verse 2 he said, Behold I Paul say to you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Now that's a strong statement. But he's telling them, look, circumcision can't save you. And if you say, well I'm going to go on and get circumcised just to make sure, because I think I have to be circumcised and believe in Christ, he says you're not saved. You can't be justified by the law. He says you're justified by faith. He says in verse 5, For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. That's where our righteousness comes from, the faith of Christ. Not having my own righteousness which is of the law, as it says in Philippians 3 and 9, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith. Look at verse 6, For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. But look at what he says next, after he's correcting this error that people were trying to bring in, and he's correcting this lie where they were being told that they had to be circumcised. Look what he says, He says you did run well. So he's saying you were doing the right things, you were believing right. Who, and that's the word I want to emphasize here, who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. And what he's saying here is you didn't get this from you the Bible. You didn't get this from me. You didn't get this from God or the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and tell me, who is it that brought in this lie, that brought in this false doctrine? Because he knew that someone had to come in and teach them this, because he knew they weren't getting it from the Bible, he knew they weren't getting it from God, he knew they didn't get it from him or any of his preachers that he was associated with, his followers, and so he said who was it that taught you this? What I want to preach about tonight is the fact that false doctrine always comes from man. It doesn't come from the Bible. It comes from man preaching a false doctrine. And you say, well that sounds simple. No, what do I mean by that? And let me break this down to you and make it clear. Go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. You see, on the surface, tonight's message seems really simple. But if you'll get this down, it'll change the way that you look at the Bible. The Bible says in Romans 10 17, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Our doctrines, our faith, meaning what we believe in, should come from the word of God. Like everything we believe in. And what I mean by that is that every single doctrine that we believe and stand upon, we should be able to have a clear statement in the Bible that states what we believe in. Now false doctrine never has a clear statement in the Bible stating that doctrine. Now you can find a lot of Bible verses to support false doctrine. You know, if you take them out of context, you can take scriptures out of context. You can misuse scripture and use it to prop up or support a false doctrine. But you'll never find a clear statement that just states that false doctrine. And that's why the only way to make sure that you don't believe false doctrine is that everything you believe in the Bible, you have a clear statement that cannot be missed. I mean just a point blank statement. And everything we believe has a statement like that. Let's run through some examples of just clear things that we believe. We believe in the virgin birth of Christ. Because there's a clear statement that says, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted as God with us, or he said to Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And then it says that Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not, till she had brought forth her firstborn son, he called his name Jesus. So look, we believe in the virgin birth because the Bible clearly said, a virgin shall be with child, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son named Jesus. It's clear. No question. We believe in hell. There are plenty of clear scriptures on hell. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. The Bible says the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and hormones and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their heart in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. It says in Revelation 14, the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. They have no rest day or night and worship the beast in his image. Jesus Christ over and over again preached on hell. He said that he'll gather all out of his kingdom, all things that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We believe in the deity of Christ that Jesus Christ is God, because it says in Hebrews 1 8, but unto the son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A sector of righteousness is the sector of Thy kingdom. Because it says in Isaiah 9 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the mighty God, the everlasting Father. I mean we could go down the list of all the verses that explicitly say that Jesus Christ is God. And we could go down the list of why we believe in salvation by faith alone. Because the Bible says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. I mean the Bible clearly says, What must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. I mean every doctrine that we believe, baptism by immersion, he says we're buried with him by baptism into death. The lightest Christ was raised up from the dead, even so we also should walk in the midst of life. Then Jesus when he was baptized, came up straight way out of the water, and the low of the heavens were open unto him. He saw his Spirit of God just sitting like a double lighting upon him. I mean on and on we just have these clear verses to back up what we believe. You know you're not, this isn't a burial, sprinkling, that's not buried with him with baptism. You know you're buried under the water, picturing the death, burial, resurrection of Christ. I mean we can go through all the doctrines of, somebody else call out a doctrine that we stand on, that we believe in. Yeah eternal security of the believer. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Barely, barely I say to you, he that believeth on me has everlasting life. He said in John 11, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. I mean these are just clear statements that cannot be misunderstood. Are you alive? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? You shall never die. I mean if you can lose your salvation, that makes no sense. But you see, false doctrine is never based on a clear explicit scripture. All these clear scriptures that we're giving for what we believe in, false doctrine is not based on that. I mean we believe in the preservation of God's word. Jesus said heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. It's easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one shot or one tittle to pass from the law till all be fulfilled. We believe in creation because it said in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and then the heaven singular and the earth, and it says in Exodus 20-11, for in six days God made the heaven and the earth and all that in the midst. I mean we can't get any clearer than that. He says He made the heaven and the earth and everything in them in six days. Everything that we believe, everything that we stand on and say, I know for sure this is right, I believe this, it's fact, it's the gospel, it should be based on a clear statement from the Bible. I mean doesn't this make sense? So I mean it's biblical. But you see false doctrine is never based on a clear statement from the Bible. Now that doesn't mean that people won't use Bible verses to prop it up and support it, but you'll never find a clear verse to back up. Let me give you an example. Here's this, I got a bunch of examples of false doctrine. I'm going to show you how all these false doctrines, none of them are based on a clear statement from the Bible. They're just propped up by a scripture taken out of the context. Go to 1 Corinthians 15 29, let me show you today. Here's something that the Mormon church does, and of course Mesa, Arizona right near us is the largest population of Mormons outside of Salt Lake City, is the Mormons right here. And look what it says in 1 Corinthians 15 29, else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? Now that's not even a statement, that's a question. Do you see that? It's two questions. And the Mormons will say, see right there, the Bible tells us that we're supposed to get baptized for dead people. Now does that verse say, go get baptized for dead people? Is there any verse in the entire Bible that mentions anything about how we're supposed to get baptized for dead people? No. This verse could be taken to someone who's completely ignorant and just totally doesn't know anything, like you know, and just shown this, see the Bible talks about baptizing for dead people. And somebody who's unlearned and unstable and unstayed is just going to look, oh okay. See you can find Bible verses to prop up whatever false doctrine you want to prop up. But did you get that dog? Do you think the Mormons got that doctrine from the Bible? Do you think that anyone who's reading the Bible would come to the conclusion, we're supposed to be baptizing for dead people? No. Because if you get the context of what he's saying, he's just talking about the fact that people at Corinth did that. God didn't tell them to do it. God never said it was something they were supposed to do. He just said, why are they doing it? Why are they getting baptized for the dead? I mean, and people would take this and build a whole doctrine off of it. When he's just bringing up the fact, oh that's something that they did. Here's another example. Polygamy. Getting married to more than one wife. You know, you could find all kinds of verses in the Bible about men who married more than one wife. Like for example, Abraham. Or for example, David. Or for example, Jacob. Or for example, King Solomon. And they'll show this and say, see, here's all this scriptural support that tells us that polygamy is fine. But not one of those verses say, polygamy is fine. It's okay to marry more than one wife in hell. God never tells us to marry more than one wife. He tells us clearly that at the beginning, God made them male and female and that a man should leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife singular. And they too shall be one flesh. And then we have a clear scripture that says, thou shalt not multiply wives. So we have a verse telling us, don't have multiple wives. But see, if you want to have a false doctrine, you can find verses to support it, but you're never going to have... And listen to me now, if there's something that you believe and you don't have a clear verse from the Bible to tell you that, you're probably wrong on that. If you don't have a clear verse that just states that fact. And when it comes to salvation, it's the same thing. People will use a lot of logic, but they don't have a clear verse. Like for example, a lot of people say that in order to be saved, you have to repent of your sins. Yet nowhere in the Bible does the word or phrase, repent of your sins occur. You can never find a verse that says, repent of your sins. It's not there. Or repent of their sins. It's not there. But yet people will swear by this doctrine, live or die by this doctrine, and they have all kinds of verses to back it up. They'll produce 20 verses to back it up, but none of them comes out and says what they believe. They got a lot of verses that say the word repent or repentance, but then they're filling in the blank. Oh, when he said repentance here, here's what he meant. You have to turn away from yourself. Let me give you an example. Look at Acts chapter 16. And I'm just trying to show you how dangerous this can be when you're believing things because people told it to you or people explained it to you. Even if they're using the Bible to explain it to you. And they might show you a lot of Bible verses to explain stuff to you, but they can never seem to provide a verse that just explicitly says what they're saying. They can never find a clear verse that just tells you what they're saying. They always have to go through all this logic and this big long spiel to get you to see it. They don't just have a point blank. There it is right there. It always needs someone to explain it to you instead of you just being able to read it and just, okay, whosoever believe it. I get it. Simple. See, look at Acts 16. Any normal person who reads this would have no trouble understanding it in Acts 30. Acts 16 30 when he said and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said to leave on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Like anybody who read that wouldn't really have any trouble understanding that if they were just being honest. It just says, what do I have to do to be saved? He told them you just have to believe on Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Pretty simple. But see, man with his logic will take this and start to use logic saying, well, wait a minute. The fact that this guy asked what must I do to be saved that shows that he was willing to do anything. And therefore you have to be willing to do anything. But that's not, it doesn't say you have to be willing to do anything. It says you have to believe, right? But then other people will say this and I've heard this logic used. They'll say this. And there's no Bible verse to support this, of course, but it makes a lot of sense. Here's what they'll say. Well, if you really believed in hell, if somebody really believed in hell, then hell really existed. And if they believed that they were on their way to hell, then they'd be willing to do anything not to go there. Now look, doesn't that make sense? Who thinks that that makes sense? I mean, that makes sense to me, right? I mean, yeah, to me it makes perfect sense. That if I knew that hell is this lake of fire and I'm going to go there, then I would be willing to do anything not to go to that place. And therefore you have to be willing to do anything in order to be saved. Because if you really believed the Bible, then you're willing to do anything, which means you're willing to stop sinning, which means you're willing to change your life around. Do you see how you can just keep following the logic and you can get into all this false doctrine where you tell people, if you're not willing to give up your sins, then you can't be saved. If you're not willing to go to church, if you're not willing to stop this, that, but it didn't. But there's no verse in the Bible that says you have to be willing to give up your sins. It just came from somebody's logic of somebody taking a verse and saying, well, this guy's asking what he has to do. You know, he would have done anything. No, that's not what it says. It just says you have to believe on Christ. And there are people who believe on Christ that are not willing to give up certain sins in their life. In fact, it's probably everybody in this room. And it's probably everybody in the whole world. Because if we were all willing to give up every possible sin in our life, then we'd all be perfect. I mean, think about it. You can sit there and say, well, I'm willing to go to church, but I just never go. Would that make sense? If I told you I'm willing to go to church Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night, and I just never show up, but I'm willing. No, I mean, if you're willing to do something, you're doing it. I mean, if I said, hey, Brother Dave, are you willing to go drive over to the store and pick up something for me? And you said, yeah, I'm willing to do it. Are you going to do it? No. Obviously, he wasn't really willing to do it because he's willing to do it. He's going to do it. So see how you get into all of man's logic. Where, well, you'd be willing to do anything. So that means you would do anything. So that means you have to do all this stuff or you didn't really believe. Because if you really believe, you'd do this and you'd do this and you'd give up this. It's garbage. And it didn't come. You can't find a verse that says, repent of your sins and you will be saved. Show me that verse. What was I to do to be saved? Repent of your sins. You can't find them. But yet there are millions and millions of people who believe that. And they'll use verses to support it. They'll use verses to prop it up. But they don't have one clear verse that will just spell that out. Be willing to turn from those sins in order to be saved. It's a lie. Amen. And it sounds good. I just stood up and made a logical argument for it. But that doesn't make it right. Because the Bible tells us over and over again that to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justified the ungodly is faith discounted for rights. Which shows that you can believe and still not do any works. And you're still saved. That's right. Excuse me, Romans 4 says. And so we can go into so many examples of this. For example, people who believe that Jesus Christ is not God. They can find logical arguments to say that Jesus is God. Like they might say, well, you know, hey, how did Jesus when he prayed to the Father, what's he praying to himself? See, Jesus is God. But they can't find a verse that will say Jesus is not God. They can't find a verse that will say Jesus is a created being. They can't find a verse that will say Jesus had a beginning. No, the Bible says he's without father, without mother, without the sin, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made life unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually. Jesus said, I am the beginning. I am the ending. I am the alpha. I am the omega. That's clear statements from the Bible that tell us that. Everything we believe has to be based on a clear statement. People will believe the doctrine that when the Bible says hell, it doesn't really mean hell. Sometimes it means paradise. Now, any person reading the Bible just on their own is not going to come up with that. That's right. They're not going to come up with it and say, well, in this verse, hell actually means paradise. And it's funny because people will come to me and they'll try to get me to defend my belief on this. Like, how do you say that Jesus went to hell? I just say, look, I'm not the one saying that. That's what the Bible... I don't have to defend it. Amen. I have a clear statement in the Bible that says in Acts 2 31, this spake me of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh seek corruption. He said, out of the belly of hell, cried I, and now hearth my voice. He said, the Son of Man will spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. I mean, it's just clearly stated. But yet, people don't believe it. They have this other doctrine where, well, when it says hell, it really means paradise. Now, what sane person would think that hell and paradise are talking about the same place? Does hell sound like paradise to you? You just want an all-expense vacation to hell! You know, hell is like the opposite of paradise, wouldn't you think? So the Bible said that Jesus spent three days and three nights No, I'm not going to walk away saying, well, when it says hell in that verse, it really means paradise, because paradise is this happy place in hell. And people will find verses to support this doctrine. I've even seen people go back to Ezekiel 31, where it's talking about trees and it's talking about hell, saying, see, those trees of the Garden of Eden are in hell because that's what paradise is, in hell. And you can find verses to kind of support that and make it seem like, oh, wow, that's really true. But you'll never find a verse to state, hell equals paradise. You know, because the bottom line is, and you say, well, Jesus on the cross said, today shall not be the day of paradise. That's because Jesus Christ, newsflash, Jesus Christ is everywhere. He's God. That's why Jesus, right before that, said to Nicodemus, no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. Jesus said that he was in heaven while he was talking to Nicodemus. He can be in more than one place at one time, but that doesn't make hell equal paradise. That's faulty logic. That's false doctrine. But here's the biggest one. Here's the one that just blows me away. Go to Matthew 24. You know, this is the one that just takes the cake because so many people believe that the rapture comes before the tribulation and they say the pre-trib rapture and they believe that Jesus Christ can come at any moment. There's no verse... Listen to me now. There's no verse in the Bible that says Jesus can come at any moment. And remember how we talked about everything we believe is based on a clear statement in the Bible? Did we have a hard time finding a verse on the virgin birth? Did we have a hard time finding verses that clearly tell us that hell exists? Did we have a hard time finding verses that say that salvation is by faith alone? There's no shortage. We've got to... Which one do you want to go to first? I'll take you to a hundred of them. Did we have a hard time finding a clear verse that said that God created this world in six days, not millions of years? That was pretty quick to find it. Do we have a hard time finding verses that teach the bodily resurrection of Christ? No. We've got a ton of them. Romans 10, 1 Corinthians 15, John chapter 2. Every one of the four gospels talks about Jesus rising from the dead. No problem. When it comes to what we believe, how about the fact that Jesus Christ is coming again? No shortage of verses on that. Jesus said, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there ye shall be also. Behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him in all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. Do we have a hard time finding verses to prove that the rapture exists? No. Because we have a clear statement in 1 Thessalonians 4 where he says, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them of the Christ that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the sound of a trumpet, with the voice of the archangel that the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. See how easy it is to just find clear scriptures for what we believe? Here's why. God's not trying to hide the truth from us. He wants us to know the truth. He wants us to know. He's not trying to trick us. He didn't give us a Bible to trick us. He gave us a Bible to tell us the truth, to tell us what we believe. And that's why he just clearly spells things out for us. And if we just read it and just put away preconceived ideas of what man told us and just read it and just believe it, that's where we're going to come to the truth. And if we believe that it's all from God, we know that none of it can contradict itself. And if we just read through it and make it all harmonized and make it all agree because it's all consistent, then we're going to all believe the same thing. But false doctrines never have a clear verse. You see, there is no verse in the Bible that says Jesus can come back at any moment. I challenge anyone to show me a verse that says, Jesus can come today. He might come before this service is over. He can come at any time. That is not what the Bible says. And here's the only verse I've ever had anybody bring me to was here in Matthew 24. Let me show it to you. It says in verse number, let me find my place here. It says in verse 36, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Now, what day and hour are we talking about? Because if he says of that day and hour, and people say, see, nobody knows when Jesus is coming. Therefore, he can come at any moment. Now, hold on a second. Just because nobody knows when he's coming, does that necessarily mean that he can come at any moment? Like, for example, what if I told you, I said, you know, brother, I'm going to come visit you in Colorado sometime after the summer. OK, but I'm not going to tell you when that's going to be. You don't know the day. You don't know the hour. I'm going to just drop in on you one of these days. I'm too busy in the summer, but when the summer's over, I'm going to drop in on you one of these days. And I'm not going to call you first. I like to just drop in. That's how I am. So, you know, I'm coming at some point. You don't know the day. You don't know the hour. Does that mean I can come at any moment? Because I clearly told him that I'm coming when? After summer's over. Does he know when I'm coming? No, but he does know one thing. It's going to be after the summer's over. Now, look what the Bible says. Now, here's the other thing. Keep your finger in Matthew 24 and go to Mark 13. And this is why the first place I showed you where he said about using the words which God teaches and the Holy Spirit teaches, not which man's wisdom teaches. Remember how he said comparing spiritual things with spiritual? Because part of how we understand God's word is we compare God's word with itself. We compare Matthew with Mark. We compare Mark with Luke. We don't compare Luke with a book that a man wrote. We compare the books of the Bible with one another. We compare spiritual with spiritual. You can't just take the book of Matthew by itself, can you? No, you've got to take it with the book of Mark and you've got to compare them and make sure that you've got the truth. Now, let's compare, shall we? Let's compare Matthew 24, 36. Let's compare it with Mark 13 when Jesus says the same thing. Look at Mark 13, 32. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man. Now, it's the same statement and he's talking about the same event. If you read the chapter, it's an identical statement. Know not the angels which are in heaven neither the Son but the Father. Now, look back at Matthew 24. But of that day and hour knoweth no man not the angels of heaven but my Father only. What's the difference? Somebody tell me the difference. Exactly. The difference is that in Mark 13 he added one more statement, didn't he? In Matthew 24, he said no man knows the angels don't even know only the Father knows. But when we go to Mark 13 we see that he says no man knows the angels don't know and he said I don't even know. He said the Son doesn't even know. Now, let me ask you this. Jesus Christ when he was on this earth yes, we know he was God in the flesh but he took upon himself the form of a man and so he took upon himself the limitations of a man. He was hungry, he was tired, he was thirsty. He did not have all of his powers that he had as God. He put aside those things and was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, the Bible tells us. And so Jesus Christ while he was on this earth while he was walking this earth in human form did he know the day and the hour when he would return? Did he know? He said no. He said the angels don't know no man knows and the Son doesn't even know. But let me ask you this. Does Jesus know now? Of course. Now that he's already gone through his life as a human being, he died on the cross, he's very worth getting, he's glorified and seated at the right hand of the Father. He knows all. All powers given unto him. He has all the knowledge. He's at the right hand of the Father and he knows all things. So if Jesus is saying that he didn't even know the day or the hour is this saying that no one will ever know the day or the hour? No. Because it's not saying that the Son will never know. It's saying that no one knows the day or the hour right now. Okay. But not only that, not only that, but what day and hour are we even talking about? Because you can take a verse that just says of that day and hour know no man and you can just, well, I think that that day is talking about the day that, you know, Faith Board Baptist Church was gonna start. You can't just make that day be whatever day you want. I mean, we have to read the Bible. Go to Matthew 24 where we're reading. What day are we talking about? What day is it that we don't know the day or the hour of? But of that day and hour knoweth no man. Well, which day and hour? Look at Matthew 24 verse 29. It says, immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man, Son of Man is Jesus Christ, coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And yes, this is talking about the rapture because it says in the next verse, he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree when his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is done. So likewise he, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors. So he says, wait a minute, when you see these things, you'll know that it's near. Right now nobody knows the day or the hour, but when you see these things, you'll know that it's near even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away, but of that day and hour knoweth no man. So of what day and hour knoweth no man? The day that we just read about, where Jesus comes in the clouds, right, I mean is everybody listening to this? The day where Jesus comes in the cloud and sounds the trumpet and gathers the elect, that's the day and hour that no man knows. But one thing we do know is what it says at the beginning of verse 29. You see that? Immediately after the tribulation. So we do know it's after the tribulation, we just don't know the day or the hour. Now here's what's funny, you have to be some kind of a mental spiritual acrobat to believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. Because you have to say that Jesus can come back at any moment and the only verse in the whole Bible you have to support that is this one right here that says of that day and hour knoweth no man. So on the right side of your brain you have to believe that this is talking about the rapture. Because come on brother, the Bible says that no man knoweth the day or the hour of the rapture, right? So on the right half of your brain you have to believe that no man knoweth the day or the hour of the rapture, that means he can come at any moment. And look, whenever Harold Camping, the lying false prophet in California, predicted that the rapture was going to take place on May 21st, and by the way it didn't happen, when this lying false prophet Harold Camping said that the rapture is going to happen on May 21st, everybody was quoting him this verse, weren't they? All the pre-trib believers were saying no man knoweth the day or the hour. So they have to believe with the right side of their brain that no man knoweth the day or the hour of the rapture, but then on the left half of their brain they have to say, well this isn't even about the rapture. Because in verse 29 it says immediately after the tribulation, that can't be about the rapture because we know that the rapture is before the tribulation. How do you know that? What clear verse in the Bible says that the rapture is before the tribulation? So you see, why can't they just pick? Is this about the rapture or not? If it's about the rapture, then the rapture is after the tribulation. If it's not about the rapture, then you have zero verses saying that it can happen at any moment. Right? I mean look, you have to, does anybody understand? You have to do like this mental backflips, well this says the... I mean I remember, I mean listen to me folks, the preacher of the church, the pastor of the church who sent me out to start this church. Okay, are you listening to me? Six months after I started preaching and pastoring this church, six months later he said, we're separating from you, I don't want anything to do with you. He said, this is what he said, six months after I started the church, the church that sent me out said, I want nothing to do with you because you're calling Jesus a liar. And I said, why am I calling Jesus a liar? He said, because you believe that the rapture is after the tribulation, that's why. And he said, the Bible says no man knows the day or the hour. And if you're saying it's after the tribulation, then you could figure out the day once you were into the tribulation, you know, and that means he's alive. And I said, okay, well what verse are you going by that says that nobody knows the day or the hour? Let's turn there. Amen. And he said, I don't have it in front of me. You know, and I said, well let me help you because I know the reference. I said, there's two places. It's Matthew 24 36 and it's Mark 13 32. And I read it to him and he said, see, there you go, right there, no man knows the day or the hour. Then I backed him up, you know, seven verses to verse 29 where it said, after the tribulation, he said, that's not talking about the rapture. That's talking about Israel. But it's like, wait a minute, you just use that verse to say the rapture can take place at any moment. And now you're saying it's not the rapture. I mean, this is the kind of confusion that comes from a doctrine that is not based on anything the Bible says. Amen. Now look, if you believe that the rapture is after the tribulation, you have a really clear verse. Immediately after the tribulation, he comes in the clouds, sounds the trumpet, and gathers his elect. Pretty clear. You say, how did you figure all this out, Pastor Anderson? This is how I figured it out. It all started when I was 12. And I was sitting in the living room of my house. I can picture it like it was yesterday. I can even picture the chair I was sitting in. I'm not kidding. I'm telling the truth. You say, did this guy open up already? No, no. I was sitting in the living room. It was a tri-level house, and I was a few steps down, the lowest level of the house, and I opened my Bible, and I decided, I'm going to read the whole New Testament. And I were to cover, because I was 12. This guy didn't open up for anything. I just opened the Bible, and I wanted to get a good head start, so I started in Matthew Chapter 1. I got to Matthew Chapter 24, and I read it, and I was just like, well, this is after the tribulation. You say, well, how did you figure that out? Because that's what it says. And you say, well, I don't think this verse is about the rapture. Then there's no verse in the entire Bible that says that Jesus can come at any moment. Because the one verse they use is the one where nobody knows the day or the hour. Therefore, he can come at any moment, which obviously, that doesn't even mean he can come at any moment, but that's the only verse they use. You say, well, I don't know if it's about the rapture. Okay, tell me if this sounds like the rapture. Verse 40. Then shall two be in the field. The one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, and the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. See, you don't know the hour. But wait a minute, we don't know the hour of that day that happens after the tribulation. But we don't know the hour, do we? I mean, look, I don't know the day or the hour. I can't tell you the exact day. I'm not going to make some prediction like Harold Campbell. It's going to be on this thing. No, but I can tell you one thing. It's going to be after the tribulation because that's what God said. He said all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. But when you see these things, then you'll know that it's near, even at the doors. Then you'll know it's about that. But look, there are a lot of people who believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. There are a lot of independent Baptists who believe in it. And they can give you scripture upon scripture upon scripture to support their belief, but they don't have one verse that says before the tribulation. No, but we have after the tribulation clear statement. They don't have one verse that says we'll escape the tribulation. No, every verse in the Bible they use the word tribulation to look them up. He says you're going through it. He says in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. He says in all these verses over and over again that we through much tribulation much it must enter into the kingdom of God is what they were preaching in the book of Acts. And all you have to do is take a concordance and just look up every time the word tribulation is used. And then here's what people will say. Well, none of those are talking about the great tribulation though. None of those are talking about it. So then they say that's not the seven year tribulation. And I always say, okay, well then show me which. Here's, I was getting a whole list. I say here's 20 verses on the tribulation. They use the word tribulation. Which one's talking about the seven year tribulation? And then they look at this one and they're like, oh, well, we can't do that one. Well, we can't do this one. And pretty soon they just say, well, that's just what we call it. I mean, you know what I'm saying is true right now. And look, I'm sorry. I just can't see how anybody can't get this, what I'm preaching to you guys. It's not that complicated. And then look at this. Look at, and here's what's funny. Let me just go off on a tangent on this because it just, it burns me up. So, look at verse 29. Okay, just get this one thought. Because people try to get away from the clear statements of the Bible. I mean, they're just so clear. Look at 29. Matthew 24, 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. Let's just take that one verse by itself. What's going to happen after the tribulation? The sun and moon are darkened and the stars are going to fall from heaven, right? Okay, now go to Revelation 6. Okay, Revelation chapter 6. And let's see that actually take place because in Matthew it's being predicted. In Revelation 6 it's actually going to happen. Okay, look at Revelation chapter 6. And it says in Revelation chapter 6, verse 12, it says, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal. And lo, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell under the earth even as a fig tree casteth her on timely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. So, isn't that the same thing? That happens in Matthew 24. And in Matthew 24 it even mentions the fig tree if you go down to the other verses. So it says the sun and moon are darkened, there's an earthquake, fig tree, same thing. Okay, keep reading. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dungeon and the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand? So when did the great day of his wrath come? After the sun and moon are darkened. Isn't that clear? Sun and moon are darkened and then they said the great day of his wrath not has come, is come. It's like we sing the song joy to the world, the Lord is come. Has come could have been in the past somewhere. Is come means it just came right now. Like here it is. The great day of the... Now, you know, I believe that a day is a day. Like isn't a day like... Okay, let me help you out. Remember Genesis 1? He called the light day and the darkness he called night. The evening of the morning for the first day. So today Jesus said of the not 12 hours in the day, you know, and the 12 hour night. So a day is like 24 hours. Who believes that's what a day is? Like I know we're going deep tonight brother. I just believe that a day is 24 hours and I believe that those 24 hours are made up of 60 minutes each. Call me crazy. That's what I believe. I'm gonna stand on it. So the great day of his wrath comes. When does it come? After the sun and moon are darkened. You say well Matthew 24 is talking to Jews. I don't care if he's talking to Jews or Gentiles or Ethiopians or whatever. He said in Matthew 24 that the sun and moon will be darkened after the tribulation and the stars fall. Here he says that after the sun and moon are darkened and the stars fall, the day of his wrath has come. Is God's wrath ever mentioned before this in the book of Revelation? No. So God's wrath is poured out after the sun and moon are darkened and then as we begin to read here, he pours out his wrath. He sounds all these trumpets and pours out all these vials where he's turning water into blood and he's pouring fire and brimstone and he keeps calling it wrath, the vials of the wrath of God. All of his wrath is poured out. So let me ask you this. Is God's wrath in the book of Revelation poured out before or after the sun and moon are darkened? Okay. When did the tribulation happen? Before or after the sun and moon is darkened? Before. Before. Because he's saying after the tribulation, the sun and moon are darkened. After the sun and moon are darkened, the great day of his wrath has come. So are the tribulation and God's wrath the same thing? No. No. Because one of them is before the sun and moon are darkened. That's the tribulation. And one of them is after the sun and moon are darkened. That's God's wrath. And none of this is complicated. I mean, this is something that a 12-year-old should be able to pick up the Bible and read and that's what I read. It just makes sense. Oh, okay. After the tribulation, the sun and moon are darkened and then God starts pouring out his wrath. But yet people will say, the Christians can't be here for the tribulation because God's not going to pour out his wrath on his own people. Except there's no place in the Bible that equates the tribulation with God's wrath. But you see, people have written books this thick all about how the rapture is before the tribulation. They've got big charts that they'll put on the wall explaining how the rapture is before the tribulation. And they've got commentaries and books and charts and all their logic. And it's all logic. Here's some of the logic that I've heard. Here's what somebody said. Logic for the pre-trib rapture. Well, no man knows the day or the hour. That means it can happen anytime. We already saw that. It was ridiculous because he said after the tribulation. Here's other logic that people will say. Somebody said, well, Jesus is not a wife beater. Here's what they said. The church is the bride of Christ and Jesus is not a wife beater so he won't pour out his wrath on his own people. First of all, we already proved that the tribulation is not God's wrath. Number one. Number two. There's no verse in the entire Bible that says the church is the bride of Christ. Have fun finding that verse. Number two. And number three. He says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. So they say, well, Jesus is the wife beater and the church the bride of Christ. Okay. As we as believers, are we children of God? Am I supposed to spank my children? So is God going to spank his children? And you say, well, that's your logic. No, the Bible says that. The Bible says whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth. Do you know what scourge means? This is just, this is, this is discouraged right here. Okay. This is a skirt. I mean, remember when they scourged Jesus? You know, that was of course so much worse beating because that was actually just on his bare back with the whip, but scourging is another word for beating. Jesus was scourged. Paul, the apostle was scourged. And later he said, I was beaten. That's what he called it. He said, I was beaten with stripes. Later he called that scourging. So does Jesus beat his children? Yeah. We're not talking about abuse, obviously. We're talking about spanking. Yeah. Jesus said that he disciplines his children. God does discipline his children. Now that has nothing to do with the rapture, but it just shows the nonsense that people will say. And I heard somebody say that. Jesus didn't wipe you. And that's why the church is going to be raptured before the tribulation. Amen. Amen. Wow. Wow. That's such a great point. I never thought of that. Of course you never thought that because it's not in the Bible. Amen. Amen. But it sounds, it sounds good. Oh, well, yeah. You know, beating up your wife. Yeah. Jesus doesn't go around beating up his wife. That makes sense. But it's not biblical. You see what I mean? The test for doctrine is not whether it makes sense. This makes sense is not because you know what the Bible says? There is a way which seemeth right unto a man. But the wind there are the ways of death. A lot of false doctrine seems right until you start reading the Bible. And then it messes everything up when you start actually reading the Bible. So that's some logic. I heard another logic. You know, God won't pour out his wrath on his own people. Again, just made up, no Bible verse to say that the tribulation even is God's wrath. No verse to say anything about it. And then people will have all this other great logic. Like they'll say, well Enoch, and whenever people are using all these pictures from the Old Testament, but they don't have a verse to say like, this is the way. Here's what they'll say. Well, Enoch was raptured before the flood. That shows the preacher raptured. So what about Noah? Didn't he go through the flood? And the flood has nothing to do with the tribulation, by the way. But you see what I'm saying? It's like they'll say, well Enoch was raptured out, see, before. Well, he's raptured out way before. Okay, so again, it just falls apart. It's just human logic. It's just man-made ideas. I think Enoch represents this. I think Noah represents this. You know, I think the ark represents Noah. What does the Bible clearly say? And look, I'm all for finding pictures in the Old Testament, but it better back up a clear statement in the Bible. And I'm telling you right now that I don't care what the doctrine is that I believe in. You come to me after the service, and any doctrine that's on our statement of faith, on our church website, or any doctrine that you've ever heard me stand on, and preach, I will show you a clear Bible verse to prove that doctrine. Not to support it, to prove it. That will be something that no one can argue with. Just a clear whosoever believeth shall not perish, but have eternal life. I mean, just clear. Why do you say, why do you believe in a post-trib rapture? Because it says after the tribulation. That's why. It's clear. But people will have all kinds of doctrines that they believe in. And look, I'm not saying that they don't use the Bible. The Mormons will come to the door and they'll use the Bible. The Jehovah's Witnesses will come to the door, and look, get this through your mic. The Jehovah's Witnesses will come to your door and use the Bible. Every Pentecostal will use the Bible. There are so many denominations, and so many cults, and so many religions in this world. Even the Muslims will use the Bible. But they'll never be able to show you a clear Bible verse that states what they believe. But they'll be able to have all kinds of verses that kind of support what they believe, and logic, and I call it propping up what they believe. They can prop it up, but they'll never find a clear verse that tells you. People can find verses to prop up bowing down and worshipping statues at Mary. But you know what? You're never going to find a clear verse that says, bow down to a statue. Bow down to a graven image. But I've got a clear verse that says, thou shalt not make any graven image. The guy, we were off so many things. I was off so many with brother Richard. We knocked on the door, and brother Richard is showing this lady Revelation 21 8. And he's showing her Revelation 21 8, and where it says, but the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable. And the point that he was trying to make, because I've heard him make this point at other doors, is like, maybe you haven't done everything on the list. Because he mentions murder, he mentions sorcery. And most of the people that we run into are not sorcerers. And they're not murderers. So he was kind of showing. But then at the end of the list, it says, and all liars. I mean, come on. Everybody will admit, OK, I'd lie. Or like some of the other lists in Galatians, you may not be a drunkard, but he also mentions envy, strife. He mentions stuff that pretty much everybody's been guilty of. OK. Envy is when you kind of are jealous of what somebody else has. You wish you had what they had. And everybody has had that feeling. Of course, covetousness. So he's showing this, and he's going through with this lady. And he says, but the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable, murderers. He's like, you're probably not a murderer. She's like, no, I'm not a murderer. Whore mongers and sorcerers. He said, do you do like black magic and witchcraft and cast spells? And she's like, no, no, I don't do that. And then he said, and idolatry. He said, do you worship statues? Do you like bow down and worship a statue? She's like, well, yeah, I'm Catholic. And he's like, yeah, but he's like, is that part of you worshipping that statue? And she's like, yeah, I'm Catholic. And he's like, OK, whatever. And he's like, and all the liars. You know, and he's like, and you lied. Yeah, you know how he made his point. But I mean, she just flat out said it to us. This was like, what, an hour and a half ago? You know, and so the thing is, you can find stuff in the Bible. I mean, there are people who can prove to you every doctrine of the Mormon Church from the Bible, but they're never going to have a clear statement that supports their doctrine. They're not going to have a doctrine that tells you there's multiple gods. They're not going to have a clear statement that, I mean, we have a clear verse that says there is one God. Verse Timothy 2 5, there is one God. We have a clear statement that will tell us marriage is one man and one woman. That's marriage. But they'll support every Mormon doctrine with a Bible verse about polygamy, about multiple gods. I mean, they just want multiple everything, don't they? Multiple gods, multiple lives. God's going to multiply everything. Anybody that's Islamic, Catholic, whatever, they can find verses to prop up what they believe. But they'll never be able to show you a clear verse that will tell you, hey, you know, do this, hey, believe this. Well, we believe the differences that we based on clear verses. And look, you might look at this sermon and just say, what is the point? It's so obvious. But you know what? It's not obvious to a lot of people. A lot of people, if somebody shows them stuff out of the Bible, they just think, oh, what's the Bible? It's coming from the Bible. But always ask yourself when anybody shows you something in the Bible, ask yourself, wait a minute, is this verse really clearly saying that? Or is this person interpreting it to me and putting a spin on it? Because if it's a real doctrine, you should just be able to read it in the Bible for yourself and just see it. And there it is. Because the Bible says that when Stephen preached, no one was able to gain, say, or resist the words that he's saying because he was using clear scripture to preach what he believed. And nobody can argue with a clear scripture. Beware of false doctrine. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of there's so much false teaching, especially in the age of the internet. When people are on the internet, everybody's saying this. And you say, who do I trust? No, people are saying this. People are saying this. This denomination says this. This version says this. People say this. Look, just make sure you will always be right. You'll never go wrong if you just make sure that everything you believe is based on a clear statement in the Bible. Not a doctrine, not an interpretation, not a story or a picture in the Bible, but just a clear statement. And if there's no clear statement, I'm sorry. I don't believe in it. Amen. About anything. About any doctrine. I don't believe in it. I might have things where I say, well, I think it might be like this, but anything that I stand on and say this is what I believe, it's based on a clear, clear statement in the Bible. Not a verse that's foggy or out of context or confusing. Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word, dear God. And I thank you that we have an anchor where we don't have to keep changing what we believe. Yes, we all have opinions. And I have opinions. And we all have preferences. And we all have theories and possibilities of what we believe. But God, help all of us to just nail down the key doctrines of the faith based on clear verses in the Bible and make sure that nothing we believe contradicts any clear verses in the Bible. Help us not to get sucked in by false teachers. And I pray that if there's anybody here tonight who has never read their Bible cover to cover, I pray that they would decide right now that they're going to read the Bible cover to cover and just believe what it says and go by the clear statements that they read in the Bible and make sure that nothing that they believe