(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Right now, Lord, for our pastor, as he comes forward to preach, and I pray that we would applaud his principles for our lives. Jesus' name, we pray, amen. All right, good morning again, everybody. So we're in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Now, last week we took a break from our prophecy series, and we talked about Mother's Day, but if you remember before that, we talked about as it was in the days of Noah, right before the flood, and the different things, and how evil and wicked the world was, and how we showed how God rescued Noah and those that were with him, and then flooded the earth, and that's a picture of how it will be in the end times, where God will rescue us before he pours out his wrath. Now, with that comes a can of worms, and we're going to try to sort through some of that today, but today's topic is about the rapture, so who's heard of the rapture? I'm sure most people in here have heard of the rapture. So 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 is like the rapture passage. Now, you're not going to find the word rapture in the Bible, just kind of like you won't find the word trinity in the Bible, but yet the principle and the doctrine is there. So just real quick, let's look at verse number 13. We'll read verse 18 just so we can get the context here. It says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that she sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. So obviously this was a problem in the Thessalonica Church, right? They had questions, they were having doubts, they were probably having issues, and so Paul's trying to reaffirm some things with them, things that he's already told them. Now look at verse 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Right? So they're kind of confused about the order of what happens after we die. You know, they're like, are we going to go to heaven? And then those who've already died, what happens to them? You know, and he's just like, hey, you know, God's going to bring them with him and we're all going to be together in the air. Look at verse 15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain into the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. So he's saying, hey, you don't have to worry about those who have already passed on, who are already asleep. We're going to see them again one day. Verse 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And 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. So that last verse there is the reason why we have to understand these things. It's the reason why we have to preach these things. It's for comfort because things are going to get bad. There's coming a time on this earth of tribulation, great tribulation, unlike anything that we've ever seen before. Now, if you go to some countries, you'll you'll probably see that Christians are being persecuted for their faith, even killed, you know, and those days are going to get worse. The Bible says it's going to be all over the planet. But nonetheless, he's saying, hey, comfort yourselves with these words. Now, keep your place here, but go to Psalm chapter one hundred and twelve Psalms chapter one hundred and twelve. So there's basically if you talk to any modern Christian today, they're going to tell you there's three positions about the rapture. Now, the rapture is what we just read. Like I said, it's just a word used to describe verse 17 are catching up together in the air. You know, it's hard to explain the rapture to somebody without that word because, you know, we don't want to just read verses 13 through 18 through them. Right. We want to just say rapture and hope that they understand the concept of our departure from this earth and meeting the Lord, the day of the Lord, it's also called. But most Christians will teach that there's three positions. OK, they'll say there's the pre tribulation rapture, which means that this is what they say. They'll say, well, that means the church or every believer in the world gets caught up before the Antichrist comes, before he makes war with the saints, before before the tribulation, basically before the hard times. They say that we're caught up with them. Right. That's what most Christians believe today. That is the position they take. And then they'll teach another position. Well, they won't teach it, but they'll say that there's other people that believe in a mid trip rapture. That's what the dispensationalists accuse us. And in this church of believing is a mid trip. And that's not correct terminology. That's that's that's hokey. We'll we'll get into that. And then they teach a post trip rapture. And there they these three views are based off of what they call a seven year tribulation. Now, I just want to throw this out there right off the bat. There's no verse in the Bible that says that the tribulation period is seven years. There's not one. If anybody's got one, raise your hand right now and we'll read it. Yes, it doesn't exist. There is no verse. There's verses in Revelation Chapter 12 that talk about the tribulation being one thousand two hundred and three score days or one thousand two hundred sixty days. Revelation 13, it talks about the tribulation being a great tribulation, be forty two months. So there's there's there's verses like that, you know, and we'll get into that more next week. But nonetheless, you're not going to find any verses in the Bible that say that the tribulation period is seven years. Now, what we believe here at Shield of Faith Baptist Church is what the Bible teaches. And we will get into that, which is a post-trib pre-wrath rapture. Right. Because remember what Jesus said, he said, as it was in the days of Noah. Right. So as it was in the days of Noah, God rescued Noah and his people and then he poured out his wrath. Right. It's the same thing. We are going to go through tribulation and I'm going to prove that to you. But we're not going to go through God's wrath. Right. We read I think at the end of the sermon that I preached two weeks ago, we read about the the verses in Revelation that talk about hell being opened or the pit being opened and the locust coming out and basically torturing people on the earth. And the Bible says that God removes death so that the people that are left behind here, they cannot die. It's God literally opens up hell on earth. We're not going to be here for that. Right. Because we are not appointed unto wrath and you're going to see that. And so when you tell somebody that goes to another church that you're a post-trib pre-wrath person, you can watch their eyes literally go into the back of their heads. This I mean, this doctrine to most people, even other independent Baptists is like heresy. Like they like they don't even want to talk to us. Like they think that we're heretics because we believe this. Now, look, if anybody in here is pre-trib, like we're not going to kick you out. It's OK. You know, I mean, if you want to believe that, I mean, that's fine. Eventually you're going to see the truth. But nonetheless, if you were to go into their churches and tell them that you're post-trib pre-wrath, they want to kick you out. In fact, that's why this church was started, because a lot of you were getting kicked out of your churches because of this doctrine, you know. But you know what? We ought to go with what the Bible says. So the post-trib pre-wrath position is bad news for pre-tribbers. It is. It's bad news. It's evil tidings. You're there in Psalm chapter one hundred and twelve. Look at verse number six. Now, this chapter is talking about people who are saved, people who are righteous, right? People whom God has given that righteousness to. And in verse six, it says, Surely he shall not be moved forever. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. Now look at this next verse. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. You know what that tells me? Evil tidings. That's bad news, right? That's what evil tidings means. And the word evil in the King James Bible, it just means to hurt. That's what it means. The time of the tribulation, the time where the Antichrist makes war with the Saints, that is an evil time on this planet. It's an evil, hurtful time. It's evil tidings. And then this verse says right here, it says he shall not be afraid of evil tidings. So we who are saved, who have God's righteousness, we aren't supposed to be afraid of evil tidings. So you know what that tells me? When I talk to somebody who's pre-trib, who's a pre-trib rapture person, and they start freaking out, that tells me that their heart is not fixed on the things of God. And you can take that to the bank. They're not trusting in the Lord. They can't handle evil tidings because they aren't trusting in God. Oh, they might say, oh, we're King James only. Oh, we go soloing. Oh, we do this. We do that. It doesn't matter. It's all smoke and mirrors because you don't trust in God's word and your, you know, your actions say otherwise. Why else would they just want to fight with us so hard over this? I mean, these people, these pre-trib people in their churches, they would rather have sodomites come into their churches. They would rather have people that don't even believe in God hang out with them than they would to hang out with somebody like us who actually believes the Bible. So go back to 1 Thessalonians 4. So the title of this sermon today is pre-trib rapture only in your dreams, only in your dreams. That is the only way the pre-trib rapture is going to make sense is if you dream it up. Because if you watch these people, look, just go to raptureready.com or just go type in any pre-trib sermon. And you will literally be banging your head off the wall trying to understand that if you're trying to follow along in the Bible, because it doesn't make sense. It's not in the Bible. It's not anywhere in the Bible at all. And so that's what we are going to be talking about today. So I've got four statements for you this morning. They should go pretty fast. This is very basic, very introductory. Each sermon that we cover on this topic, there will be a lot of overlap because there is a lot of information in the Bible about the rapture, about the tribulation, about the end times in general. And why is that? It's so that we can comfort one another with these words so that we can have our hearts fixed on God so that we don't fall or so we don't have our hearts fail us when we start to see these things come about. And I don't know about you, but every single day I hear something on the news. It sure seems like we're getting pretty close. You know, so we need to we need to be rock solid on these things. So statement number one is simply this. The word rapture does not appear in the Bible, but the doctrine does. You're there in First Thessalonians. Look down at verse number 17. It says, 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. Now, there's there's no doubt about it. This event is called the rapture. This is going to happen. The question is, when? Now, most people are going to teach this this pre-trib doctrine. They have this other doctrine. It's called imminent return. Right. If you've ever been to other churches in the area, you know, the people, the pastor will say, well, hey, you know, Christ can come back at any moment. You know, he might even come back before the service is over. I mean, I've been hearing that since I can remember ever being in church, you know, since I was a little tiny kid. I can remember that. So we want to take a look at that. Go over to Second Thessalonians chapter two. Now, is it true that Christ could come back at any moment? Is that a true statement that we can make right now? Or is there some things that have to happen before that event? And let's take a look. Let's see what the Bible says. Remember, we want to believe what the Bible says. We don't want to just go around and believe what other people say. We need to check these things and see whether or not they are true. So is it true that the pre-tribbers are right and that Christ could come back at any moment or what they call imminent return? Is that true? Let's let's find out. Second Thessalonians chapter two, look at verse one. It says, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him. See, there's that word again, that phrase, a gathering together. You're going to see that a lot in the Bible. That is the rapture. Verse two, that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand. So he's saying, hey, look, don't be shaken in mind. Don't be troubled. Don't be worried that this is happening right now. Now, what do we have today in Christianity? People saying the exact opposite, saying that the day of Christ could happen today. It could happen by the end of the service. It could happen by the end of the week. You know, it could happen in any moment. Now, look at verse number three, because there are requirements. There are things that have to happen before that day can come. Now, look at verse three. It says, Let no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. And we'll get into that more later. But there's two things that have to happen first. The falling away and the man of sin, who is the antichrist, has to be revealed. Now, who in here knows who the antichrist is? Now, we all know who antichrists are, right? Like Obama. I'm sure Trump is an antichrist. There's a lot of people that are antichrists today. There's been antichrist people throughout all generations. But who is the antichrist? Who is the incarnation of the devil? Who is the guy that's going to be possessed by the devil? Nobody in here knows right now. He hasn't been revealed yet. So can Christ come back by the end of this service this morning? No, he can't, right? Is there a falling away? Yes, we can definitely see what I would call a falling away, right? I mean, we go out soul winning every single week, and most people in most churches don't understand the gospel. There has been a large departure. But you know what? I can't prove to you that we're in the falling away right now. I don't know. And by the way, don't ever let anybody tell you, well, this falling away is the rapture. Well, falling away is different than being caught up, right? I mean, that language is completely different. Now they'll try to take you back to the Greek. And well, when they originally spoke this in the Aramaic and they translated Greek, we just kind of lost them. No, you're just you just can't receive evil tidings. You don't have your heart fixed on the Lord. You're going through tribulation. Only in your dreams will you not go through the tribulation. That's a fact. So there are requirements before Christ comes back and they are in this chapter. Number one, the falling away. Number two, the Antichrist has to be revealed. Now, let's move on here. Once you guys turn to Second Corinthians, chapter one, let's talk about the word tribulation. Because, like I said, the big issue, the big question is, when is the rapture? Is it before we go into tribulation? Is it after the tribulation or is it like the dispensationalists call this mid-trib? Right. Well, we know it's not that because the tribulation is not seven years. So what does the word tribulation mean in the Bible? What does the word tribulation mean in our English language? It simply means trouble. It means persecution. If you just type in the tribulation or define tribulation into Google, then you'll come up with phrases like this. A cause of great trouble or suffering, a state of great trouble or affliction. I would agree with that. And here's why. So you're turning to Second Corinthians. I'm just going to read to you Mark 13, 21. It says, Yet hath he not rooted himself, but doeth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. So the word tribulation is just trouble. It's affliction. It's persecution. It's what we get for doing God's will. I mean, we've gone through a little bit of persecution since we've been independent. I mean, just the other day, I got this like five paragraph thing on Facebook. God doesn't exist. Don't knock on my door. Blah, blah, blah. I think I read like three lines. I was like, I just can't. I'm getting numb to it now. But but praise God, I didn't tell you some of this. Like 30 minutes later, this woman that we got saved, brother Chris and I got saved over in Caldwell. I don't know what prompted her to do this, but she went onto Facebook and must have been looking at her reviews. And she was like, I don't know what's wrong with the people around here. You know, she's like, I thank God that those two men, she's like, I thank God that Pastor Jones and his friend came by and got me saved. That's what she said. You know, so, hey, let's just learn right now to deal with this persecution because those people, they are still grateful, even though we probably won't see her again. You know, she for some reason, I think God laid it on her heart and said, hey, this church is going through a little bit of persecution, a little bit of hard times. How about some encouragement? And she went on there and wrote us a review. And I thought that was pretty nice. You know, I thought that's pretty cool. And I wanted to share that with you guys because that's an additional encouragement for us to keep on going out and doing the good things. But nonetheless, let's get back to this tribulation thing. Tribulation is simply trouble. It's persecution. It's affliction. And nobody wants to go through tribulation. But you know what? We are going to go through tribulation. We go through tribulation all the time anyways. So you're there in Second Corinthians chapter one, look at verse three. It says, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comfort us in all our tribulation. Now, if God didn't want us to go through any kind of tribulation, why would he put this in the Bible? It doesn't make any sense. So I just want to highlight the fact to you guys that we are always in tribulation. If you're not in tribulation, then you're headed there. Right. We're always going to be going in and out of storms. But nonetheless, he says, who comfort us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Now you guys turn to John Chapter 16. So that's not talking about the antichrist tribulation that he puts on us, war with the saints. It's just simply talking about everyday life, right? Being persecuted, going through trials, going through hard times, being afflicted because of the word of God. Look, when you decide to live godly in Christ Jesus, you will suffer persecution. That is why we have thousands of people that hate our guts right now. We've only been around for two and a half months. It's because the word of God, we will go through tribulation. So just a recap real quick. The first statement I wanted you to remember is the word rapture does not appear in the Bible, but the doctrine, the principle, the concept is in the Bible. It's all throughout the Bible. Now, statement number two is this. Christians were never promised or told that they would not go through tribulation of any sort. Christians were never promised or told that they would not go through tribulation. So if you're there in John 16, look at verse 33. These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. Now pay attention to this next phrase. John 16, 33. It says in the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. That's like what we read in Psalm Chapter 112, right? Have your heart fixed on God because that brings you cheer. That brings you comfort because you know that we win in the end no matter what. We are on Christ's side. But why would he say this? These are the words of Jesus Christ. He says in the world ye shall have tribulation. You see, if I was going to walk outside right now and get jumped and I didn't have any weapons or any fighting skills, I would at least rather know mentally that someone's coming after me because it makes it a little bit better. You know what? When we as believers, we need to know what's coming. We need to understand the things that are on the horizon because you know what? To be honest with you, they're not pleasant. We will go through tribulation, but be of good cheer because Christ has overcome the world. That makes all the difference for you mentally when you really fix your heart on that and you understand it. Now you guys turn to Revelation Chapter 1. So Jesus Christ himself said that in the world ye shall have tribulation. Why would he say that if we were not going to go through the tribulation? It wouldn't make any sense. So while you're going to Revelation 1, I'm just going to read for you out of Acts 14, just more verses about us going through tribulation. It says, and when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught them, taught them many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Again, why? So Paul understood this. Why would he say that we through much tribulation must enter into the kingdom of God if we were going to be taken out of here before the Antichrist takes power? It wouldn't, it doesn't make any sense. You know why? Because it's not in the Bible. We're going to go through tribulation in our lives. We're going to go through tribulation as a church. We're going to go through tribulation as Bible believing Christians. We're going to go through the great tribulation. If you're alive during that time frame, I mean, you can ask, you know, when, when's this going to happen? I don't know. Nobody does. We don't know. It seems like we're getting close, but I, you know, can't prove it. You know, we just don't know. So nonetheless, we ought to have our hearts and our minds prepared so that we can be of good cheer, so that we could be of good comfort because you know what? It's only going to last for a short season and the rewards that we're going to reap from going through that, from understanding that, from remaining faithful are beyond what any of us can comprehend. So Revelation chapter one, look at verse number nine. It says, I, John, who also am your brother and look at this and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the aisle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. So you're going to find these concepts tied together. Tribulation, word of God and patience. Going through tribulations builds patience. God allows us to do that so that we can learn patience, so that we can learn zeal, so that we can do good things for him. It's for our own benefit. That's what it's saying here. And I go over to chapter two. So we saw John goes through tribulation. The saints that he's writing to and keep in mind the word saint just means Christian, just to save person. They go through tribulation. Let's look at chapter two. Look at verse number eight. Revelation two, verse eight. This is the letter to the church that's in Smyrna. And he says, and unto the angel of the church at Smyrna write, these things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. He says, I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou are rich and I know the blasphemy of them, which say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. Again, Jesus Christ writing to the church at Smyrna says, hey, I know your tribulation. Why would God allow us to constantly go through tribulation, tell us we're going through tribulation, just regular tribulation, if he wasn't trying to build us up for something greater, something bigger, something harsh than what they were going through? It wouldn't make any sense. Look, we go through tribulation now. Why would we think in our minds that we wouldn't go through the tribulation or the great tribulation? It doesn't make any sense. There's no Bible verses anywhere in this Bible saying that we're going to skip that. The only way out really is if you die like today or, you know, right beforehand. That's your only way out of the tribulation. If you're alive when the Antichrist gets revealed and the falling away has happened, guess what? You're going through the tribulation. And that is a fact. Now, point number one, remember this. It was the word rapture does not appear in the Bible, but the doctrine does. The concept does. You could see it all throughout the New Testament. It's clear as day. Number two is Christians were never promised or told that they would not go through the tribulation. And we just saw several examples of Christians going through tribulation, right? Christians go through tribulation all the time. Now, number three, go to Revelation chapter 13. So number three is the rapture is after the tribulation period. The rapture is after the tribulation. That is what we believe. That is what the Bible teaches. And now we're going to look at quite a few scriptures to show you that, to prove that to you. So you're there in Revelation 13. Look at verse number four. It says, and they worshiped the dragon, which gave power into the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him? So the beast here, the beast, the Antichrist, the world system here is what we're talking about. Look at verse five. It says, and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things in blasphemies. And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. Now, I mentioned that earlier in the sermon. And again, we'll cover this more in detail next week. Verse six, and he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. Verse seven. Look at this. It says, and it was given unto him to make war with the saints. Now, if we're all gone, who does he have to make war with? I mean, who would be left? It would be people that are following the beast, right? Why would he make war with them? It wouldn't make any sense. It says, and it was given unto him, the Antichrist, it was given unto him to make war with the saints. And look at this, and to overcome them. And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. This is that one world ruler, the Antichrist, the beast, the, you know, just the son of perdition that we read about. The son of perdition that we read about in second Thessalonians chapter two, chapter three. Go, go, go to Matthew chapter 24 here. Matthew chapter 24. I just wanted to read that for you because I want you to understand that the tribulation period or our time of trouble is when the Antichrist takes power and none of us can hide, right? That's what it says. He's been given this power to basically make war with us. He will overcome us and he will defeat us on this earth is what the Bible is saying. And so let's go to Matthew chapter 15. We're going to read quite a few verses, but I'll try to explain them the best I can as we go through this. So point number three is the rapture is after the tribulation. The tribulation period is a time of trouble. It is the time where the Antichrist is ruling. He's reigning and he's making our lives miserable. And this is what people don't want to believe, right? They just want to close their eyes. They want to be like the people and judges who just ran down to the water and buried their head in the water to drink it. They just have their head in the sand. You don't want to believe it. Why? Because they don't have their hearts fixed on God. Because they can't receive bad news. They can't. They aren't strong enough to handle evil tidings. But you know what? We ought to be different than that. We ought to be stronger than that. So let's read out of Matthew 24 verse start at verse 15. It says, when he therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, the prophet stand in the holy place, who so readeth, let him understand. And this is the Antichrist here committing this act. We'll talk more about that later on. Verse 16, it says, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. I'm just going to stop right here. Go to Mark chapter 13 real quick. I just want to highlight something for you because you see, people will read this here and they'll say, well, Matthew's geared towards the Jews. So this doesn't apply to you. So if you're trying to educate somebody on end times prophecy and how the rapture is after the tribulation, they will say, well, you can't read out of Matthew because that was only written to the Jews. Okay, well, that's just simply not true. That is not found in the Bible. You know, maybe it was geared more towards the Jews, but it's still for us. And I can prove that here. Look at Mark chapter 13 and look at verse 37. So Mark 13 is where you're going to find the same parallel passage. You can find this, the end times teaching by Jesus. You can find it in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke chapter 21, Revelation six and seven. I mean, it's in the Bible and it's in there in great detail. Right now, here's the problem, right? It says, well, Matthew 24, 16, this is what they'll do. They'll say, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountain. See, that's to the Jews. You're not a Jew, so you don't have to worry about it. You're going to be gone, right? That isn't true. This verse here, this chapter, this book is to everyone. Look at Mark 13. Look at verse 37. This is what Jesus said. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. Now, if it was only to the Jews, why wouldn't he say what I say unto you, I say unto the Jews. Watch. He doesn't say that. It's for everybody. We're all supposed to watch. We're all supposed to understand these things, not just the Jews. So go back to Matthew 24 and let's finish reading here. I just want you to have that in your tool bag. I want you to be able to explain that to people that this is not just to the Jews, because that's what the dispensationalists love to say. Oh, that's only to the Jews. All right, look at verse 17. It says, let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days. And he says, but pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. So he's basically saying, hey, when you see this abomination, you know, it's probably time to hide. It's probably time to really start to be vigilant because they're going to come around and they're going to be cutting people's heads off and it's just going to be a very, very bad time. But that's just talking about the tribulation time. We'll talk more about that next week. Look at verse 21. It says, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time. No, nor shall ever be. And this is the event here that they want to teach you that you're going to miss out on. And you know what? The pre-tribulation rapture, that doctrine, it causes people to become complacent. That's what it does. Why read the Bible? Why go out soul winning if Christ could come back at any moment? Right? And so in a lot of these churches, you'll find this mentality that these people have where they're just basically, well, it's up to, you know, they have Moses and the prophets. They'll just let them hear him. We don't need to go out and reach him because Christ could come back at any moment. And you know, it's on them. That's a lot of their attitudes. That's why they have no sense of urgency. That's why they have no zeal. They have no zeal. They have no zeal according to knowledge. They have no, they just have no, no faith. They have no trust. That's what that doctrine does. It is dangerous. Because when I was pre-trib, I didn't go out soul winning. And yes, there are people that believe in pre-trib that go out soul winning, but there's very few. And you know what? They don't have the same zeal that we do. And you, Oh, you're bragging. I'm just being, I'm just being factual. I'm just being honest with you. You know, when you understand that we are going to go through these times, it changes your mindset. You know, it really does. It makes it so that you're like, Hey, we need to warn people. We need to strengthen ourselves also so that we don't fail because the Bible does say that men's hearts will fail them during this time. You know what? And people's hearts fail them even today for stress, for worry. You know, the Bible and the Psalms and the Proverbs talk a great deal about the organ in your chest, your heart. About how when you let things like envy or you let things like worry and sorrow overcome you, it affects your health, your physical health. It does. And so we need to not be like that. Look, I don't want to die prematurely because I'm worried about stuff, right? I don't want to get my head chopped off if I'm going to be there during the, you know, this timeframe. I want to be strong enough to stand to the end. And that's what I want for all of us. And again, I'm not saying that this is going to happen in a lifetime. I simply don't know. But nonetheless, you know, if it doesn't happen in our lifetime, I bet it's going to happen in our kids or the grandkids. It's got to be soon. I mean, it's not getting any better out there. So look at verse 22. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. And the elect are us. The elect are people who are saved. They're not the people in Israel that are banging their heads off of that concrete wall. They are not the elect. Look at verse 23 says, then if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ or there, believe it not. And focus. Read that again. Says that if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ or there, believe it not. That kind of reminds me of the Pentecostals to say I had a vision of Jesus Christ. He came to my living room. There was this guy named Oral Roberts and he said he had this vision of Jesus and he was like 900 feet tall and stuff like that. And that stuff's really prevalent in Pentecostal churches. You know, you always have these people that say, I saw Jesus Christ. You know what? The Bible says, hey, don't believe him. Jesus himself said don't believe him because when you see me, you'll know it's me because my sign is going to be in heaven. There won't be any doubt. There won't be any question. But the verse also says or there. Right. That or there is kind of like the pre-trib rapture. It's like the doctrine because they're saying imminent return. Christ come back at any moment. Right. So that's basically them. They're saying or there. Don't believe it. We've already seen what the Bible says. There are requirements to come that have to be fulfilled before Christ can come back. He can't come back at any moment. He's already set in order two things that have to happen. The falling away in the antichrist has to be revealed. So let's keep going here. Verse 24 for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very lack, meaning it's not possible. So when you start seeing people get deceived, guess what? They're not saved because it's not possible that we should be deceived. But nonetheless, the delusion. Right. The deception is going to be so strong during this time that it would be like we'd be like, man, you're going to have to really know your Bible. You know, you're going to have to really understand these things. Look at verse 25. It says, behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if you shall or if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the desert going out forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers. Believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the son of man be. Now, verse 28, for wheresoever the carcasses, there will be the eagles gathered together. Look, people will try to take verse 28 and turn it into this deep spiritual meaning. And they'll try to take you to Jeremiah and Revelation, try to preach the preacher rapture to you that way. Look, I'm going to explain to you what this means right now. What is he talking about? Look at verse 24. What is the subject? For there shall arise false Christs. Not hard to understand, right? There's going to be people who claim to be the Messiah, who claim to be the Savior, false, false prophets that are going to spring up everywhere. And they will show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Right. So what are we, what are we talking about here? We're talking about these people, these false prophets, these false, these false Christs. And he's just reiterates in verse 25. Behold, I have told you this before. Now look, verse 26 is wherefore if they shall say unto you, behold, he's in the desert, you know, going out forth. Now verse 27, he states a fact here. He's simply stating a fact. He says, for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the son of man be. So he's stating a fact here, right? When I come back, you will know there will be no doubts. He's like, when there's lightning in the sky, there's no doubt about it. It comes from the east, it shines the west. Everybody sees it. No one debates it. Oh, that wasn't a lightning bolt. That was a plane or a satellite. When there's lightning, everybody knows. He's simply stating a fact. When I come back, you're going to know. Now verse 28, he states another fact because he's really trying to hammer this point home about their arising false Christs and false prophets. So he says, hey, look, for wheresoever the carcass is, there will be the eagles gathered together. And when you see a carcass on the side of the road, there's, you know, going to be vultures, there's going to be eagles, there's going to be these birds. That's a fact of life. That's what he's saying. Hey, when there's a dead carcass, there's the eagles. But there is a symbolical meaning here as well. Because the carcass here is the false Christs or the false prophets. And the eagles are a picture of the people that flock to them. Because remember what he said in verse 24. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets. There's your carcass. They're dead. They're not saved. You understand that? They are dead. They are spiritually dead. He says, and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Right? So that says that most people will be deceived by this. And so he's saying here, hey, where the carcass is or where these false prophets are, where are you going to find a bunch of people that are dead with them? Those are the, that's the picture of the eagles. The eagles are the people that flock to the false prophets, right? That's simply, that's all he's saying. There's no hidden key in here. Like in a, some Zelda game, you know, where you take this and you go over to Revelation and you unlock this and you go back and you get the Bible code book out and you read the Bible backwards in Hebrew and Greek. There's none of that. The book of Revelation is a book of revelation, of revealing, of opening. It's to make sense to you. It's not to confuse you. Does everybody understand that? It's not that hard to understand, but you know, we have a bunch of people today that are liars, right? These people in verse 24, they're out there today and they're doing a pretty good job of deceiving people. You know, there's a bunch of eagles that are flocking to these dead carcass churches, churches all over town. Like that Mennonite church that brother Chris brought that track to saying that, oh, we believe in eternal security. And then on the next page it says salvation's conditional, right? I mean, take your pick. Just go to go through the phone book and look at the different churches, call them up and ask them what they believe. I do it all the time. I do it all the time. Guess what? They believe in work salvation. They are false prophets. They are a dead carcass. But you know what? They have 300, 400, 500, 600, a thousand people that go to their churches. I mean, Treasure Valley Baptist Church, their pastor says that you have to turn from your sins to be qualified for salvation. That is a false prophet. That is a dead man. That is a carcass. But you know what? They brag about having a thousand people. There's your eagles. That's where they're gathered together. That's all he's saying. That is a wicked abomination. That is disgusting. You know what? And anybody believes that, the Bible says let them be accursed. Because that's not the good news. Hey, that's not good news. Turn from your sins and you can go to heaven. Who in here thinks they can turn from all their sins? Raise your hand. Nobody's raising their hand because you know it's not true. You can't turn from all your sins. Salvation is a gift from God. And the people that understand that become the elect. And those are the people that God's going to come back for. Amen. And the rest of them are going to get destroyed. So let's move on here. So if you remember when we read out of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, there were three elements. Right? The Lord shall descend. It says the Lord shall descend himself with what? A trumpet. Right? And then it talks about being caught up together in the clouds. Remember those three things. The Lord Jesus shall descend. And then you see trumpets. Right? He calls us with the trump of God. And it talks about being caught up together in the clouds with him where we'll be with him forever. Now stay there in Matthew 24. Look at verse 29. This is the smoking gun right here. Immediately after the tribulation of those days. What days? The tribulation days they just got done talking about, which we just read. Right? Now I want you to remember those characteristics, those elements that we read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Right? The Lord descends. He uses the trump of God and caught up in the clouds. So look at verse 29 again. 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. Look at verse 30. And then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven. Right? That's him descending. Now and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. Didn't we read that in first Thessalonians chapter four? Yeah, we did. And they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. That is first Thessalonians chapter four, verses 13 through 18. That is the rapture. But when does it happen? Look back at verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days. Look at verse 30. We will go through the tribulation. It's a done deal. There is, there is no debate. There is no arguing. If you want to say you're a student of the Bible, if you want to believe the Bible, then guess what? It's after the tribulation. You can read the same thing in Mark 13. You can read the same thing in Luke 21. You can read the same thing in revelation six and seven, which we're about to cover here. Actually turned to a revelation chapter seven. And we'll see that. So revelation six, if you read it, you'll see all the elements of the tribulation in there. And then you'll see the rapture in revelation chapter seven. So Jesus Christ himself settled the question for us. When is the rapture going to happen? Before the tribulation? In the middle or at the end? In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle or at the end? And the answer is at the end. He said immediately after the tribulation of those days. That's when you're going to see the trumpet. That's when you are. You're going to hear the trumpet. You're going to see me. You're my sign. And I'm going to come back in the clouds. All those elements are all throughout Matthew chapter 24. So if you're there in revelation seven, look at verse nine, same situation here. I want you to keep in mind those same elements because you're going to read about them here. It says after this. So revelation seven, nine, after this, I beheld and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like what we've been reading? Look at verse 10 and cried with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God, which sit upon the throne and unto the lamb and all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God saying, amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and Thanksgiving and honor and power and might be into our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered saying unto me, what are these, which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? So this elder asks Johnny's like, so who are these people? You know, do you understand? Do you understand what you're seeing here? And look at verse 14. And I said unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. So you see, it's the same thing in revelation seven that you'll see in Luke 21, Mark 13, Matthew 24 and what we read at the beginning of the sermon in first Thessalonians chapter four, verses 13 through 18. It's after the tribulation. There is no debate. It's over. If you want to believe the Bible, it's after the tribulation. So go, go back to a, or go over to revelation chapter six. And so the first statement that I said this morning was the word rapture does not appear in the Bible, but the doctrine does. Remember the principle is there and we've just looked at that same number two where Christians were never promised nor told that they would go or that they would not go through tribulation. There's no promise like that anywhere in the Bible. Now keep in mind, it's a tribulation. I didn't say wrath statement. Number three was the rapture is after the tribulation. Remember Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, revelation seven as we're going to find that in revelation six that also now same number four is this tribulation and wrath are two different words in two different teachings in the Bible. You see the big problem today is that Christians confuse the word tribulation with God's wrath, right? What they do is they'll you say, well, show me a verse that supports your pre-trib theory. And they'll take you to verses that use the word wrath to prove their point. Now, what, what that causes us to have to do is to understand the Bible, right? We need to know what does the Bible say about wrath. And so we're going to take a look at that here. Revelation six, look at verse 12 says, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sack cloth of hair and the moon became as blood. Now we read about that in Matthew 24. Remember after verse 29, when Jesus said immediately after the tribulation said, the sun will be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. Right? We're reading that right now. This is just a different angle. There's more information. Look at verse 13 and the stars of heaven fell into the earth. Even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs. When she is shaken of a mighty wind 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 in every bond, men and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in 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. See, even the heathens know it's him, right? Remember in Matthew 24, where he said, Hey, where the carcasses, there shall the Eagles be gathered together. It's just a simply a fact where you, when you see the lightning come out of the East and it shines into the West. There's no debate about that, right? It's definitely lightning. So he's saying, when I come back, everybody's going to know, even the pagans, even the heathens, even the non-believers would know. And what do they say instead of getting right? Instead of, you know, asking God to save them, they're like, they're calling to nature, right? Which is what they worship anyways, you know, fall on us and hide us from, uh, from him who sits on the throne. Now look at verse 17. This is very important for what we're talking about here for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand. You see that? So after the tribulation, we get taken up to meet the Lord in the air. And then he pours out his wrath on the people that are left on this planet. That is what's going on here. It says for the great day of his wrath has come. So as it was in the days of Noah, right? What happened? You know, Noah went through tribulation of trying to tell people, Hey, there's a coming flood. Hey, God's judgment's coming. And guess what? They didn't believe it. You know, it's, it's, it's the same thing like what we're doing today, trying to tell people about this stuff and they don't believe it. What happened? God or Noah builds the art, right? He gets on, God seals it up. He rescues Noah and those that are with him. And then he floods the earth. He causes his wrath. That's a picture of what we're reading here. It's the same thing. We go through the tribulation. We fight. We, we tell, you know, we tell God, we tell people about God. We tell people how to be saved. Some of us are going to be martyred. A lot of us are going to be killed. God says, okay, I'm going to rapture everybody up. I'm going to take everybody out of here. And then I'm going to pour out my wrath on those that are left, but look at their attitude. What's their attitude here. I've already said it before. They're saying, hide us from him. I mean, think about that. Just let that sink into your hearts. They can see Jesus Christ. There's no more debate anymore about what, Oh, you know, your, your, your evolution and your atheism and all those pagan theories that they have. Guess what? Those are out the window at this point. They can't trust that anymore. They know that they were wrong, but they still reject God, even though they can see him. Why is that? Because they're a bunch of reprobates. That's why, that's the only thing that makes sense. They're like Pharaoh, right? When Moses and Aaron keep bringing all these signs to him and he just won't get it right. You know, he just rejects God and God just keeps pouring more signs on him. He's just like, hide me from, from God, get out of here. Why don't you guys go across the red sea? It's the same mentality that these people have here. And so I want to ask you a quick question. What is the source of God's wrath? It's it comes from him, right? The day of the day of his great wrath, that comes from God, right? Do you see that? Who pours out wrath on the earth after the tribulation? It is God. Everybody understand that, right? It's God. Now you guys turn to first Thessalonians chapter five. So who's the source of the tribulation period? It's the devil. It's the antichrist, right? He's the one that makes war with the saints. That's what we read in Revelation 13, seven. It says, and it was given unto him, uh, power. It was, and it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues of nations. So do you see the difference there between tribulation and wrath? The tribulation that is fueled by the antichrist, by the devil making war with us, but the, the wrath or God's wrath, that is by God himself. That is him pouring out the vials and blowing the trumpets and doing the plagues and just basically literally pouring hell on earth. So that's the difference. The tribulation, that is from the devil wrath that comes from God. So the tribulation that goes on to us, we go through that. We experienced that we go through that, but the wrath, we don't go through that. That's for the people that are reprobate. That's for the people that have rejected God. That's for the people who just, you know, didn't get saved that are just here like, Hey, hide us from him. Who sits on the throne. We don't want any part of it. So if you see the difference, you have tribulation who has started, who, who is, uh, or, or is, uh, put on by the antichrist, the devil, and then God's wrath, which is from God onto the people that remained that didn't want anything to do with them. Where did I have you turn first Thessalonians five. Okay, good. I got a little black mark here over my Bible verse. All right. So look at verse number one, and this is talking about the day of the Lord. So we already read chapter four, right? We read, remember verse 18, he says, wherefore comfort one another with these words, with this doctrine, with this teaching. And then we're continuing the same subject to that same thought. Now look at verse one, he says, but of the times and of the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you for yourselves. Know perfectly that the day of the Lord. So cometh as a thief in the night. Now you got to understand the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night to the people in revelation six that say, Hey, hide us from God. Hide us from Jesus Christ. We don't want him right to us. It's not going to be a surprise because we're saved. We know the Bible. Verse three, for when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape. But ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. See, when you're saved, that day is not going to overtake you, right? You're going to get caught up. We're going to get caught up with the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to go, okay, I get it. I understand. You know, we went through tribulation, but now the part of the day is going to, is going to turn for the worst for the people that are left behind. I look at verse five, he says, ye are the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. And in verse six, he says, therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober for they that sleep, sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us also, I'm sorry, but let us who are the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and foreign helmet, the hope of salvation. Now verse nine, for God hath not appointed us to wrath. So he just gets through here comparing the day to the night, right? We are the children of the day. We get caught up in the daytime, right? I mean, it might be nighttime. We don't, we don't really know the physical, you know, attributes that that's going to happen. But nonetheless, he's making a distinction here, right? The people who get caught up in the day go through the tribulation, right? They go through that tribulation, but we get caught up. We get rescued. We get raptured out of here. And then God pours out his wrath unto the, what he calls the children of the night, the wicked ones, the people that don't want anything to do with them. And then in verse nine, he says, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on to say, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also you do. So the same doctrine, he's talking about the rapture. He's talking about the end times twice. He says to comfort yourselves with these things. Why? Because times are going to get tough. Times are going to get bad. So it's important for you to understand that we are not appointed to wrath. Now, the pre-tribbers, they'll take you to first Thessalonians 5 and say, we're not appointed to wrath. Checkmate. I got you. I won. You lost. But you got to understand the difference between wrath and tribulation. Remember, God's the one that's pouring out his wrath on this planet. You need to understand who he's pouring out his wrath on, right? And we need to understand the tribulation that's put on by the anti-Christ that's put on by the devil. And yes, God does give him power to overcome us. But nonetheless, that is not his wrath on this planet. That is the anti-Christ making war with the saints. That's what the tribulation is. So you have to understand those differences. So it's true, we're not appointed to wrath. We're not the children of the night. We're not going to be saying hide us from the rocks because we're saved. We want to go be with him and we're supposed to comfort ourselves. So it's just important for you to understand the difference between the tribulation and wrath. And that will also help you in your Bible reading when you're going through these things, making these distinctions, connecting the dots and really understanding this doctrine that God wants us to understand. And so just a quick recap, I had four statements. Number one was the word rapture does not appear in the Bible but the doctrine does. Remember, the principle is there. And we saw it. Where do we see it? 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, Revelation 7. The word rapture is not in the Bible but the doctrine, the principle is there. Statement number two, Christians were never promised nor told that they would not go through tribulation. Right? And we covered that. There's just no debating that. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun and moon be darkened? That's when we get caught up together with the Lord to meet him in the air. Statement number three is the rapture is after the tribulation. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ taught. That's what we believe. And statement number four was tribulation and wrath are two different words in two different teachings in the Bible. It's under, you know, I can't explain how important it is or I can't emphasize it enough how important it is to understand who's involved with the tribulation, who is the source of the tribulation, who's involved in God's wrath and who is the source of God's wrath. Right? It's God who's the source of God's wrath. It's the people that have rejected him, the people that are left behind. They will get God's wrath but we will go through the tribulation because it's the antichrist who makes war with the saints who pours that out on us and on our fellow brethren. And so if you can remember those four statements there, it's going to help you in your Bible reading. It's going to help you in the coming sermons that we're going to be preaching here. And anyways, remember, these things were written not to scare you. This isn't to scare you. This is to strengthen you, to help you so that we can comfort one another because you will run into people that are going to get scared. And you know what? If you've got the knowledge, if you've got your heart fixed on God, you'll be able to overcome evil tidings or bad news. Remember that. Psalm chapter 112. Right? We want to have our hearts fixed on God so that we can overcome those evil tidings. So let's pray. All right. Thank you, Lord, for this church and for all these people here. Thank you for your word and the comfort that it gives us. I just pray you bless the fellowship and the soul winning to come, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Turn to hymn 315.