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Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Welcome back to Mountain Baptist Church. If you would, take a hymnal and turn to song number 22. Song number 22. We're going to get started with Are You Washed in the Blood? If we would all stand. We'll sing song number 22. Oh cleansing blood of the lamb. Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you walking daily by the Savior's side? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? When the bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Will your soul be ready for the mansion's bright? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Lay aside the garments that are stained with sand and be washed in the blood of the lamb. There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclink. Oh, be washed in the blood of the lamb. Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Song number 21, we'll sing What a Wonderful Savior. Song number 21. Christ has for sin atonement made. What a wonderful Savior. We are redeemed, the prices paid. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. I praise Him for the cleansing blood. What a wonderful Savior that reconciled my soul to God. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. He cleansed my heart from all its sin. What a wonderful Savior. And now He reigns and rules therein. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. He gives me overcoming power. What a wonderful Savior. And triumphant each trying hour. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. To Him I've given all my heart. What a wonderful Savior. The world shall never share apart. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. Amen. So welcome back to Mountain Baptist Church on the Sunday evening. And just some announcements here, but I also want to get the soloing numbers for the week. Get it out of here. So, what do we have during the week? One on Saturday. One on Saturday. None other during the week. Okay. And then today, what was the final number that we had today? One. I know our group had two, so that's three. Four. Five. So five. Any others? So that's one during the week. So six. Good job there. And we were kind of joking about how Brother Wade and I should hopefully get someone saved because it's our birthday. Well, this week, your birthday, too. And that actually came true. So praise the Lord for that. And on top of that, we had some crazy guy that was talking about Yeshua and drop buying us after we told him we don't want to talk to him anymore. So that was fun. So we're in some random alleyway. He's like running over trash, rolling down the window. Let me show you. Let me show you. Luckily, it was a one-way street. He couldn't turn around, so he just kept going the other direction. Anyway. Yeah, don't let, listen, that verse had never applied more. And heretic after the first and second admonition reject. So don't waste your time with people like that. So as far as the announcements go here, this Wednesday, probably not going to be here because the baby and all that. Probably even if we had the baby today, it may be kind of up in the air whether I'd be able to come out and make it back on Wednesday. But just being a prayer there when it comes to my wife with the pregnancy and everything. And then on the Soloning Times there, just be on the WhatsApp, Mount Baptist Church group there to know where everybody's meeting up at. And then after the service today, we'll sing our last song and then we're going to do the Lord's Supper. If I can get maybe a couple of men to help pour the grape juice into cups and everything. It doesn't have to be like a whole lot. It doesn't have to fill up the cups. But I'm not sure who usually helped before, but whoever wants to do it. And then we put on that tray and everything and then we'll do the Lord's Supper after the service here. And the women's prayer meetings this Saturday. And then also the Soloning Marathon that Brother Jim is leading up down in Ashland, Kentucky. And so be in prayer for that. And also, if you have any questions about that, Brother Jim can tell you about times, places meet up and all that stuff. And then our chapter memory for the month as we're going into February, we have First Thessalonians chapter five. So finishing up the book there, First Thessalonians, First Corinthians 11 26 is our memory verse for the week. And yeah, obviously be in prayer for my wife with the pregnancy there. Pray that everything goes well with that. And then be in prayer for Tiara Alesco and Amanda Spina on the pregnancy list there. That all got for announcements. Be in prayer for those that aren't feeling well, which seems to be all the time. So there's always someone. So it is what it is. But offering boxes in the back there if you want to give a tie to the offering. Mother baby rooms for the mothers and babies only. Brother Nick is going to come sing one more song. Who's reading tonight? Brother Wade. So Brother Wade will be reading Matthew chapter 24 for us tonight. All right. If you would turn to song number 51. Song number 51. We'll sing Where We'll Never Grow Old. Song number 51. I have heard of a land on the faraway strand. Tis a beautiful home of the soul. Built by Jesus on high. There we never shall die. Tis a land where we never grow old. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. In that beautiful home where we'll never more roam. We shall be in the sweet by and by. Happy praise to the king. Through eternity sing. Tis a land where we never shall die. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. When our work here is done. And the life crown is won. And our troubles and trials are o'er. All our sorrow will end. And our voices will blend. With the loved ones who've gone on before. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. If you would turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. Brother Wade will read that for us. And just so you know, we didn't pick that song just because of your birthdays today. Thank you. I appreciate that. Matthew chapter 24. And Jesus went out and departed from the temple. And his disciples came to him for to show the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, see not all these things. Fairly I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, tell us when shall these things be. And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world. And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many and ye shall hear of wars and remembers of wars. See that ye not be troubled. For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For a nation shall rise again a nation, a kingdom against a kingdom. And there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes and diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax gold. But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come. When ye therefore see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place. Who shall read it? Let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. 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 unto them that are a child and to them that get stuck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be the great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor shall there ever be. And except those days should be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved. But for the alike's sake, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, for there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as lightning cometh out the east and shineeth even to the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 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. And 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 coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds and from the end of heaven to the other. Now learn of a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and put at fourth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors. Fairly 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, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying, giving a marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and he took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore, be also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh, who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, and give them meat and dew season. Blessed is that servant who his Lord, when he hath come, shall find so doing. Rarely I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods, but, and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and an hour when he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, that shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let us pray. Dear Lord, please be with us this evening as we hear your word preached. Please be a pastor in Jesus now to pray. Amen. Amen. So you're there in Matthew chapter 24, and we are continuing our study, if you will, through our statement of faith, and we have two more points. This is the second to last point, and this is dealing with when we believe the Lord is coming back as far as the timing of the rapture. Obviously, we don't have a date set on it. We don't know when this is going to happen, but I'm just going to read to you what our statement of faith is. It's, we believe that the rapture will take place after the tribulation, but before God pours out his wrath upon the earth, and then we have Matthew 24 and 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 as our proof text, if you will, for our belief on this, but this is honestly just very simple. I mean, if you read through this chapter, and you read through Mark chapter 13, and you read through any passage dealing with end times and the great tribulation and all of that, you would only come out of reading that, believing in a pre-tribulation rapture, if you had that preconceived idea. I mean, no one just simple reading is going to come out with that type of conclusion. It's just, it's not there grammatically, and the pre-tribulation rapture, what that means is that Jesus is going to come in the clouds before the tribulation ever happens. Pre, meaning before, and there is no proof for that. Actually, it's straight up the contrary. It actually says after the tribulation, so we believe in what we call the post-tribulation rapture, but that's really just the after the tribulation, post meaning after, pre meaning before, and so where do we get that from? Why do we believe it's after the tribulation? We'll go down to Matthew 24 and verse 29, and because it just plainly says that. This is one of those doctrines that it's just, it's crazy that especially Baptists, independent fundamental Baptists will hold on to this pre-tribulation rapture doctrine, and there's just no proof for it. It doesn't clearly state it anywhere, or even, there's no verse that even would, can be twisted to say it's before the tribulation. They have to do these acrobats, talk about Jewish tradition, talking about, you know, seven-day wedding feasts and all this crazy stuff to try to get you to shoehorn in this dumb doctrine that is the pre-tribulation rapture. Okay, notice in verse 29 here, 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, and then, now, words have meanings, okay? Meaning this is that, where are we at in the timeline here? If you're reading this, where are you at? Are you before or after the tribulation at this point? You're after the tribulation, and then, you know what that means? You're still after, but you're actually further down the line after the tribulation, and 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 coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and 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. You know, my wife has this book that she wrote when she was like eight years old, and my girl's actually reading it, and she illustrated it and all that, and I give her a hard time about it because she was eight years old when she wrote it, but it was like, first, we did this. Secondly, we did this. Thirdly, we did this, and I'm over here, they're reading, and I'm like, fourthly, fifthly, sixthly, seventhly, you know, and then, and then, and then, and I'm joking around with her because obviously, you know, we know that a lot of times, you know, when you're writing something, you'll try to be less redundant with it, you know, as far as like you'll kind of use different words, and then, and then, but sometimes the Bible does this, and I love it, meaning this is that when you're in Romans chapter 15, and again, it said this, and again, and again, and again, and I'm just like, yes, because there's a reason why God's doing it, because he's talking about like how the Bible said that the Gentiles are gonna trust in God and that he was coming unto the Gentiles and all this stuff, and he's like, and again, and again, and again, and it's to the point where you're just like, okay, but the point he's trying to get is so redundant, but here, it's like, immediate after tribulation, and then shall be this, and then, right? It's just like constantly, we're going down the line. In Revelation, you'll see the same thing, where it's like after these things, after these things, after these things, you know what it means? After these things, like it's not hard to understand if you're reading this with an open mind, as far as like, okay, let me just, what does the text say, okay? I would dare to say that if you had an unsaved person read this passage, and you asked them after they read it, someone that can understand English and that can comprehend English, that if you read this and said, hey, when, and you gave them a quiz, when does Jesus come in the clouds? If they can understand English and comprehend it, they would say, well, it looks like it's after the tribulation and after the sun and moon is darkened. You're like, you get an A. It's not hard. You know, it's one of those things that you can understand and understand how like the natural man receiving not things in the spirit of God and their foolishness unto them, but then there's things that are just like, they may not understand every ins and outs, you know, like what's really going on with the end times and who's the saved and who's the saints and all that stuff and they may not understand that, but they can understand after this, this happens. And so when it comes to this pre-trib doctrine, there is nothing that they can stand on. And it's almost, it's almost embarrassing to have to even bring up their arguments, but I'm gonna bring up some of their arguments, but at first, I want you to see, it's as clear as the noses on my face that after tribulation, sun and moon is darkened, Jesus comes in the clouds and he sends his angels to gather together his elect. You're like, well, the elect are the Jews, you know. It's the Jews and they're the elect and that's who he's coming for and this is not, this is not when he comes in the clouds, although it says he comes in the clouds. This is when he comes on a white horse and they try to differentiate this between Revelation 19 and say, well, this is his second coming on the white horse and this has to do with Jews and all that stuff, although nothing in here says anything like that. It says he comes in the clouds. The elect, by the way, are the saved. By the way, you don't have to be a Jew to be the elect. Actually, to be the elect of God is by grace, not by works, and it doesn't matter. In Christ, there's neither Jew or Gentile and 1 Peter proves that point because to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, meaning this is that they were all Gentiles and yet they're elect. So when he's gathering together his elect, he's gathering together those that are saved by grace. That's what's going on. Now, go to Mark 13 because I've heard people say, I've had one person say, you know, because throughout the years, listen, I've gone to churches that believe in the pre-Trib rapture and I've honestly tried to figure out where they're coming from. In a good, you know, obviously I love them and I want to know, like, where are you coming from? Where are you getting this from? And I've heard them say in Matthew 24 31 where it says that he gathers together his elect from the four winds from the one end of heaven to the other. He's saying, well, he's gathering his elect that are in heaven and it's from one end of heaven to the other. Okay. Mark 13 and verse 24. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels and shall gather together his elect from the four winds from the uttermost part of the, what? Earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Oh, that puts a hole in your, that whole theory. So, well, yeah, sure. He's gathering people on every end of heaven because there's saved people in heaven right now that it says we're not going to prevent those which are asleep because the dead in Christ shall rise first. So obviously he's gathering everybody from heaven to earth, everything, right? But this is the resurrection that's going on here. Now, when it comes to this, there's so many ways to disprove the pre-trib rapture and to show how this works because the Bible is super clear on this. Listen, there are things in the Bible that are cryptic. There are things in the Bible where you're just like, okay, this may take some time to try to understand what's going on. This idea, if you get this down, the Bible teaches this. Tribulation, the rapture, wrath of God. Because that, if you understand that structure, that you'll see it from Genesis to Revelation just constantly. Tribulation, rapture, wrath. And that that's tribulation, rapture, wrath. I'll do it in your direction, right? When you understand that structure, that's the simple truth as far as understanding when the rapture happens. And what they'll say is that, well, you know, you're mid-trib. Mid-trib? No, we're after trib. We're after trib. We're not mid-trib. I said after the tribulation. We're post-tribulation. That means we're gonna go through God's wrath. See, this is because I don't understand what words mean. Tribulation doesn't equal God's wrath. And when I say, you know, well, this is in the midst of the week. This is in the midst of seven years. They think, well, we know that it's the seven-year tribulation. The question you have to ask, do we know that? You know when people say it, they're like, well, we know this. Let me stop you right there. Do we know that? Actually, that's not a true statement. Nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about a seven-year tribulation period. Now go to 1 Thessalonians 3. But this structure is found so often in the Bible. But I want to show you in 1 Thessalonians, I'm gonna show you chapter 3, chapter 4, and chapter 5, this progression. Tribulation, rapture, wrath. So we do not believe that we will be here for God's wrath. But we do believe that we will be here for the great tribulation. I mean, obviously, if it's in our day. And this is just plain reading. I mean, when you're reading this, you're talking about beware of false Christs. Let no man deceive you. You know, all this stuff. There's gonna be all these wars and rumors of wars. But then after the tribulation, Jesus is gonna come in the clouds and He's gonna gather together His elect. How do they not see tribulation than rapture? Now, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 3, because I've heard everything from, oh, you know, my God's not a wife-beater. You just gotta say that and leave that there, you know? It's like, what? You're like, well, we're the bride of Christ, and, you know, He's not gonna beat up on His wife. Well, let me ask you a question. In Matthew 24, where do you see God beating up on the saints? Where do you see God as the one that's taking anything out on the saints, on the believers? You don't see that anywhere. No, what you do see is the world, and you see the Antichrist, and you see those that are children of the devil that are going after the saint. So why would that be God beating on His wife, right? It's like these cute little phrases that they try to push in there. There's no Bible to back up any of that. But what it comes down to, though, is that Jesus, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Jesus says, in the world, you shall have tribulation. He says, in me you'll have peace, but in the world, you will have tribulation. Just many times over, the whole world does it say, you're never gonna suffer tribulation. You're never gonna suffer persecution. That's what these soft, new evangelical type of CCM type churches teach. It's like, well, we don't want to have any actual persecution, and if you have any persecution, you must not be following Christ right. It's like, well, Jesus said, if they hated me, they'll hate you. If they persecuted me, they're gonna persecute you. So, if they killed the Lord Jesus, and they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call the servants of his house? And so, you know, get into the Bible for the answer on this. If you're reading through, listen, those that have been reading through the New Testament, you may even be almost done with it right now, right? Or maybe you got those two grace period dates, you gotta finish it up. When you're reading through the New Testament, and after you read that, and then someone came up to you and be like, listen, I think as a Christian, you know, God's not gonna let, he's not gonna have us go through any tribulation. You're gonna be like, what did you, what were you reading? I mean, you read through there, and you're just like, tribulation, tribulation, tribulation, persecution, persecution, affliction, affliction, affliction, affliction. Like, where did you find that? You mean where Stephen was stoned? You mean where Paul was stoned, they thought he was dead? You know, that, that idea there of no tribulation is ridiculous. So, and first, I had you go in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 3. It says that no man should move me, should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. I want you to pay attention to that word right there. We are appointed thereto, to what? To afflictions, right? For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and you know. So he's like, you're going to suffer tribulation, even as we already have, right? It's this idea that, like, we've already been suffering tribulation. We're going to suffer it again. Anna, if that, I don't know who's popping, are you popping something over there, Anna? I can't tell who it is, but if it's my child, stop. So, anyway, so we're going to suffer tribulation, we're appointed unto it. Not just that we're going to suffer it, we're appointed to it. Now, go to chapter 4. So, chapter 3, what do we have? You should suffer tribulation, we're appointed unto afflictions. Chapter 4, guess what we find? The rapture, okay? The rapture, it says in verse 13, so it says, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 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. This is where we get the term rapture, though it's not in the Bible specifically, but it just means to be caught up into something, right? So, what is happening here? When Jesus comes in the clouds, by the way, you know what the pre-trib guys want to say? Well, you know, when Jesus comes in the clouds, that's not the second coming. Is it the 1.5 coming? Like what? Is it just kidding? Just kidding. Thought it was coming, but not yet, right? No, it says the coming of the Lord. That's what it calls this, is the coming of the Lord. And then it says that we're going to be caught up together with them in the clouds. You know, the dead in Christ shall rise. So everybody, everybody that's in heaven right now that's saved, everybody that's alive and remains down here, we're all going to be resurrected in a resurrected body, and we're going to be caught up together with them in the clouds. So what do we see? We're appointed under afflictions. We're going to suffer tribulation, rapture in chapter 4. Let's see if we can find the wrath in chapter 5. Chapter 5 and verse 9. So 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 9. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, so we're appointed unto afflictions and tribulation in chapter 3, but we're not appointed unto wrath. But according to the pre-trib, those are one and the same. Right? The tribulation is God's wrath. What? Now the Bible, the only place that the Bible will talk about tribulation, basically upon believers, there's a couple, well there's two places. In 2 Thessalonians it says he's going to recompense tribulation to them to trouble you. Meaning this is that if you want to look at how this works, tribulation from the devil and from the world is going to be upon us. The rapture happens, God is going to pour out his wrath, which is trouble and tribulation and affliction on them. Right? Or you could look at it this way, the world is putting wrath upon us, and then God's going to put wrath upon them. But here's the thing though, tribulation just means trouble, but we're not being troubled by God. We're being troubled by the world, by the devil, by the evil workers of iniquity in this world. And when it comes to this, it's as clear as day, you even see that progression within one book here, that we're appointed unto tribulation, rapture happens, and then we're not appointed unto wrath. And it's exactly what our statement of faith says, is that we believe that the rapture happens after the tribulation, but before God pours out his wrath. We're appointed unto tribulation, that's why we're there. The rapture happens, and then God starts pouring out his wrath. The day that we're taken up, he's going to rain fire down on the earth. So in that same day, the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, that fire is going to be rained down upon this world. Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now, the big thing about the pre-trib rapture is that they want, they're trying to teach that it can happen at any moment. So meaning like it can happen right now. It can happen before I'm done preaching this sermon. And it's called the imminent return of Christ. And it's not biblical. Actually the Bible teaches against that doctrine. It actually says, let no man deceive you. Meaning this is that in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 1. And by the way, this is a good reason to have a King James Bible, because other versions of the Bible will mess this up. But in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 1, it says, now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him. What are we talking about? The coming of the Lord and our gathering together with Him. And this is clearly 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Jesus comes in the clouds. We're gathered, we're caught up together with Him in the clouds. And so if you're like, I don't like that term rapture. Well then call it the catching up. Or the gathering together of His elect. I don't care what you call it, but I don't get caught up in semantics when it comes to that. Listen, if the word that you're using is biblically explained in the Bible, then use it. You're like, why don't you use sovereign? Because your definition of sovereign is not biblical. That's why. It's not that sovereign is that bad of a word. It's just that your definition of sovereign Calvinist is not biblical. So I'm not going to use that term sovereign because it carries that weight of not being biblical. Though the word itself is not a bad word. It's just that they've twisted it and made it a bad word. Essentially because their meaning is messed up. Now in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 1, we see obviously we're talking about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him. That's the subject here. Verse 2 it says, that ye be not soon shaken in mind neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand. What he's stating here is that don't be shaken. He's given this whole list of ways that you can hear this information. Whether by word, whether by letter from us. It doesn't matter how you hear this. Don't be shaken by it. Meaning this, if someone says to you that the day of Christ is at hand. The day of Christ is at hand. Now what does it mean for something to be at hand? My coffee is at hand. Meaning it's in arm's reach. It's like right there. I can grab a hold of it. Meaning that it's imminent. When we're talking about timeline, we're talking about something that's imminent. When it's saying this, it's saying don't let anybody deceive you If they're saying that the day of Christ is at hand, you'd be like I don't think that's what it's saying. Well keep reading because in verse 3 it's going to clarify what it just said. Let no man deceive you by any means. Now I want you to think about this. That's the phrase that Jesus uses in Matthew 24 when it says let no man deceive you. He starts off talking about end times prophecy saying let no man deceive you. And 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, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. You know what the Bible says? The day of Christ will not come except there be a falling away first. That's those that are departing from the faith and obviously there's this big apostasia. You know that's the big theological term there. A falling away first and that the man of sin is revealed. And then it talks about what does it mean for him to be revealed? When he sitteth in the temple of God saying that he is God. Guess what? The day of Christ will not happen until that happens. It's not saying it's going to happen on the day he does that. It's just saying that these things have to happen first. There has to be a falling away first and the man of sin has to be revealed. Now when does this happen? In the timeline of events, when does this happen that the man of sin is revealed? When he goes into the temple saying he's God. This is what the Bible calls the abomination of desolation. Where the antichrist is going to go into the temple of God, he's going to set up an image, or more so the false prophet is going to make an image and set it up so that you worship the antichrist with this false image. But when he goes in and shows himself that he's God, that's where the abomination of desolation is happening. Now let me just show you Matthew 24 and verse 15. Now what is 2 Thessalonians 2 saying? The day of Christ cannot happen. It won't come until these things happen. So if what we believe is right, you know what? This event should happen before Jesus comes in the clouds, shouldn't it? Because this has to happen before the day of Christ happened, before the coming of our Lord and our gathering unto Him. Matthew 24 and verse 15. Oh it does! It does happen before that. Because in chapter 24 and verse 15 it says, When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, who so readeth let him understand, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Okay, so that happens before because we haven't got to verse 29 yet. So what happens after this abomination of desolation is set up? And you have this man of sin opposing all that is called God, saying that He is God, saying that He is God, sitting in temples, you know, saying I am God. Notice what it says in verse 21. Matthew 24 and verse 21. Then, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Okay, so you have this man of sin being revealed. Now we have great tribulation such as the world was never seen. And then in verse 29 what happens? Immediately after the tribulation of those days. Everything seems to fit perfectly, right? I mean, we're talking about, well, before Jesus comes in clouds, there's going to be the man of sin be revealed. You're going to have an abomination of desolation. Then you have this great tribulation. Because before that you had the beginnings of sorrows, which you can consider tribulation, right? Because you're dealing with afflictions and tribulations, but it's not the great tribulation, okay? The great tribulation happens after the abomination of desolation. 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, and then shall appear at 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 coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Isn't that the exact subject of 2 Thessalonians 2? The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him, and he's saying this isn't going to happen until there's a falling away first and the man of sin be revealed. Matthew 24, guess what happens? The man of sin is revealed, you have great tribulation, and then you have Jesus coming in the clouds gathering together his elect. I mean, we might as well just close up our Bibles and go home. I mean, is there anything to be disputed there? Like, what can they say to that? You know, it's baffling that Baptists believe this. Now, I can understand the world getting off on false doctrines and stuff like that, but listen, as an independent fundamental Baptist, aren't we supposed to be the ones that are like, give me chapter and verse for why you believe something? There should be, I mean, if I said to you, show me a verse that says you're saved by grace, not by works. You know, you'd be like, Ephesians 2, 8, 9. And you'd probably rattle off all these other verses that you'd be saying, right? But Ephesians 2, 8, 9, boom, got it. Okay. Show me that the Bible is perfect without error. And you're like, you may be thinking like, well, we're born again, not a corruptible seed, but the incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever, you know, and you maybe have some other verses on that. Okay. Well, tell me, when does the rapture happen? Is it before or after tribulation? And you're like, well, listen, I need you to go back to Samson's, Samson's wedding, okay? When he married the Philistine. And in that wedding, they had a seven day feast. And in that seven day feast, you know, and it goes on about some Jewish tradition or something like that. And you're like, wait, what, wait, what happened to this? Like, well, I got a verse for that. Okay. And you're like, well, we got a verse, you know, no man know what the day of the hour. He cometh as a thief in the night. You know, it's just like no context, have no idea what you're even talking about. If he comes at a thief in the night, that doesn't mean he comes before the tribulation. He can come at a thief in the night in the middle of the tribulation. He can come at a thief in the night after the tribulation. He can come at a thief in the night, I don't, whenever. That doesn't tell you when it happens. That just tells you that he's coming as a thief in the night. Meaning it's going to be kind of a surprise, you know? And, but the question that we'll get to is like, who's being surprised though? Is everybody being surprised? Is he coming upon everybody as a thief? Now, go to Daniel chapter nine, Daniel chapter nine. And what you'll see here is that this abomination of desolation, that's in Matthew 24, 15, okay? So I know this is really complicated, but verse 15 comes before verse 29, okay? Verse 15 happens before verse 29, meaning this is that verse 15 is something, whatever's happening there is happening before we get to verse 29. And you're like, well, that doesn't necessarily mean the case. Well, when it says, and after these things, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, then yes, it is actually going to be in that order, okay? Now, Daniel chapter nine and verse 27, this is actually the one place where you're going to see, not even, it's not even going to say seven years, it's going to say it in a different way, but you'll see it mention this kind of seven year period, okay? But I want you to read this with me here, verse 27, it says, And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. So, what the Bible is talking about here, there's 70 weeks determined upon Israel, and there's 69 weeks, and these are weeks of years, okay? So that's where, you know, when you see the term week, it could be talking about week of days, that's normally how we think about it, but in the Bible here, it's actually talking about a week of years. So if it says a week, it's seven years. So if you're dealing with 70 weeks, you're dealing with 70 times seven, you're dealing with 490 years, okay? Well, there's 69 weeks of years that happen from when the commandment goes to rebuild, you know, Jerusalem and all that, to when Jesus Christ is crucified, and he talks about Messiah being cut off. And then there's obviously this gap of time, even for the Preterist, by the way, okay? Because even the Preterist, the temple wasn't destroyed, you know, right after Jesus rose from the dead, okay? So even for the Preterist, there's a gap between the 69th week and the 70th week, but this 70th week, as we'd call it, is a week of years. So it's seven years, but when does the abomination desolation happen within that week? In the midst. In the midst. So in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 15, where are we at in that seven-year period? We're in the middle of it, aren't we? We're smack dab in the middle of it, and that means that the middle of the tribulation, or in the middle of, see, they got me saying it now, in the middle of the tribulation. See, what they want you to read here is that this week is seven years' tribulation. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that, though. It says the Antichrist is gonna confirm his covenant for one week, for seven years, and guess what? The Antichrist is there that whole time. When God's wrath is being poured out upon him and this whole world, he's still there, until the seventh trumpet sounds, and then you have the battle of Armageddon, and the Antichrist is thrown into the lake of fire, okay? But he's there that whole time, okay? And he's got his kingdom until the very end there when he's destroyed, but we see that this abomination happens in the middle of the seven-year period, okay? It's in the middle, not... Actually, you know what the Bible says after that? Then shall be great tribulation, okay? So the abomination happens in the middle of the seven-year period, then there's great tribulation. Now, before that, it calls it the beginnings of sorrows, which you could term tribulation, right? It's kind of like there's tribulation, and then there's abomination, desolation, and then there's great tribulation, okay? It only lasts for a shortened period of time because God shortens those days or no one would be saved physically, okay? Now, the other point that I want to make here that proves that Jesus comes after tribulation, that there's this marker in there that you can really just show that when the day of the Lord happens, okay? And that's the sun and moon being darkened, okay? In Matthew 24, it states that immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, okay? So when's the sun and moon darkened? According to Matthew 24, after the tribulation, okay? Go to Joel chapter two. Joel chapter two. Joel chapter two. Hosea, Joel, Amos. Right after the major prophets, there again, Joel. Joel chapter two and verse 31. Joel chapter two and verse 31. It says, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. Now, it repeats this, it quotes this in Acts chapter two and verse 20. It says then, or I'm sorry, in Acts chapter 220, it says, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come. Now, in 2 Thessalonians, it says, that day shall not come except there be a falling away first and the man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. Guess what has to happen first before the day of the Lord? The sun and moon have to be darkened. So, and when is the sun and moon darkened? Before or after tribulation? After the tribulation. Actually, immediately after the tribulation, right? Let's get really specific here. Immediately after the tribulation, the sun, moon, darken, and then it says the sun and moon darken before the day of the Lord comes. Okay? Let's see if that fits in Revelation. Go to Revelation chapter six, Revelation chapter six. You say, well, how do they answer these things? They don't really answer them, to be honest with you. They don't answer them. They do mental acrobats, and they say, well, in that case, we're talking about the Jews. Like, you can't just say we're talking about the Jews and that just makes it fit. Okay? And they don't have a leg to stand on. They're like, you didn't even get into where it says, you know, he comes to us deep in the night or we don't know the day or the hour. I'm gonna get to those. But those are just so easy to answer. I just want to make it very clear that, listen, the Bible says, after the tribulation, Jesus comes in the clouds. The Bible says that the day of the Lord doesn't happen until the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, and that happens in the midst of the week. So if he can't come until then, we're at least halfway through the seven-year period before Jesus comes in the clouds. But then it says that, well, you know, the sun and moon darken before the day of the Lord and that's immediately after the tribulation. Now, in Revelation chapter six here, Revelation chapter six, verse 12, notice what it says. 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 his blood and the stars of heaven fell unto 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 was 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 dens and the caves and the rocks and mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon 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? That sounds pretty consistent, doesn't it? So the Bible says that, okay, the sun and moon are dark, the sun and moon are dark, okay, the sun and moon are dark, the sun is darkened, the moon is turned into blood immediately after tribulation. Then it says the sun and moon have to be darkened before the day of the Lord come and oh wow, there it is. It literally says that the sun and moon are darkened and then it says the day of his wrath is come. Of who? The wrath of the lamb, it says. And you say, well, okay, I see that. That kind of fits with Matthew chapter 24. But where's the rapture? Where's the rapture? Go to Revelation chapter seven. Revelation chapter seven. Guess what? Revelation has the same thing. You know what's awesome about Revelation? It repeats itself too because Revelation goes from chapter one to chapter 11 and then it starts over again and retells the story again and guess what you see? The rapture wrath. Tribulation, rapture, wrath in both those sections. You see the tribulation in Revelation chapter six and you see the sun and moon darkened and you see the day of the Lord coming. Chapter seven, I'm gonna show you the rapture and then chapter eight, guess what? God's wrath. God's wrath is poured out all the way to chapter 11 and then it starts over again and you see the beginning of SARS in chapter 12, you see the great tribulation in chapter 13, you see the rapture in chapter 14 and then you see God's wrath after that. Just consistent. Tribulation, rapture, wrath happens. You don't have to explain it away. All you have to do is read it. So in Revelation chapter seven and verse nine here, so we're, okay, the day the Lord is come and actually the very beginning of chapter seven, it says don't hurt any of the earth. You know, it's basically making a point, don't hurt any of the earth. Before we read in chapter six there the souls of them that are under the altar that have been slain for the word of God, he says, how long, oh Lord, holy and true, thus thou not judge and avenge our blood. So God hasn't been avenging any blood up to that point and even in chapter seven, he hasn't started pouring out his wrath yet and in verse nine here it says, and after this I beheld and lo, a great multitude which no man can number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes and palms in their hands. Isn't that interesting? There's this multitude of people just found in heaven all of a sudden. You're like, well, how do you know that that's those that were in tribulation? I'm glad you asked that because actually one of the elders asked that question too. That's what it says here in verse 13. And one of the elders answered saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes and when's came they? All right, well, let's ask that question. Where did these people come from? Well, they were just in heaven. They just came over there and all that. Now, I do believe some were in heaven already but notice what it says in 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. There you have it. They came out of great tribulation. That seems to line up with Matthew 24, doesn't it? Matthew 24, there's great tribulation such as the world's never seen. And it even says that, you know what? Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved but for the elect's sake, he shortened the days because if he allowed it to go that whole seven years of us going through persecutions through the Antichrist, then no one would make it. But he shortened the days but guess what? The Antichrist was still there confirming his covenant for that whole week. Okay, now, pretty clear, right? What about this, well, you know, no man knoweth the day or the hour, right? And they'll just say this and just be like, well, yeah, I mean, if you don't know the day or the hour, I mean, then it can happen at any moment. Listen, right now with my wife, I don't know the day or the hour of the birth of my child but I'll say this, I knew, you know, before she got pregnant, you know, I wasn't thinking she can have a baby at any moment right now. Any moment. It could happen tonight. It's like, no, there's certain things that have to happen. I'm not gonna go through the details of what have to happen but here's the thing, certain things have to happen. She has to get pregnant and then there has to be this whole process of being pregnant and that's why, you know, the Bible even likens to him coming as even a woman giving birth to a child because that's a great example of how you can, you may not know the day or the hour but I know it's coming soon, right? I know it's pretty close now. It wasn't close before and actually, over nine months ago, it wasn't even possible. Does that make sense? It wasn't even possible for that because there's certain things. That day shall not come except XYZ has to happen, right? And there's certain things that have to happen to put it all into motion and then at that point, there's a certain season that has to go by before it's actually gonna happen, okay? But here's the thing, they'll say, no man know it's the day or the hour. It's like that's all they can give you, right? Okay, where's that found? No man know it's the day or the hour. Matthew 24. Go to Matthew 24 and verse 36. Matthew 24 and verse 36. See, a lot of people, a lot of preachers, they bank on your ignorance that you don't know the passage because if you're reading through Matthew 24 and then you got to this point where it says no man know it's the day or the hour, are you just gonna be like, well, I guess it's before the tribulation then. I guess it can happen at any moment now because no one would ever think that but if you just took this out of context and just said that day or the hour here's the thing, okay? Look at verse 36. But at that day and hour knoweth no man. Know not the angels in heaven but my Father only. Do you see that term that there? It's called a relative pronoun and a relative pronoun needs to have an antecedent that goes to it. If I said that day, you're gonna be like, what day, right? That day we're gonna do this and be like, what day? That day we're gonna do this and be like, what day? Right, you can't just say that day. You have to know that you're talking about a certain day and obviously what day are we talking about? The day of the Lord that happens immediately after the tribulation. So if you read it in context, you would know, okay, that day goes back to what we were just talking about. Jesus coming in the clouds and it even goes through this whole thing about when you see, you know, when you see these things begin to come to pass and talk about the parable of the fig tree which obviously goes back to the stars falling from heaven. Listen, if you see the stars falling from, you see the sun and moon darken and you see stars falling from heaven, guess what, lift up your head because your redemption draweth nigh. I mean, at that point, it's at the doors. But if you don't get any of that context, you're like, no, man, no, it's the day of the hour. It's like, you can't just rip that out because there has to be an antecedent to that that day, okay? But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving a marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. And by the way, I mean, the flood is a great example of this. The day he went into the ark, God flooded the earth. The day that we're taken out of this world and then we're raptured out is the day he pours out his wrath. And then it goes on to, you know, two shall be in the field, the one shall be taken, the other left in verse 40 there. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, the other left. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. And every, and I don't want to say every, but I mean, most every single independent fundamental Baptist that believes in the preacher rapture would say this is talking about the rapture. They'll say, well, yeah, I mean, that's the rapture. No man know what they're, oh, there's gonna be two in the field. And by the way, apparently there's another Left Behind film that's being pushed out there because I keep getting some stupid notification on my Facebook feed about some Tim LaHaye Left Behind series, which is a bunch of garbage. But that's where they get this, Left Behind, the Left Behind series, two shall be in the field, one shall be taken, one shall be left. But you can't just rip this out of context and just make up stuff. So they preceded this, and that is the Great Tribulation. So when people, when they use these terms, they're like, well, no man know the day or the hour, you have to ask the question, where are they even pulling that from? And it's literally coming from the text that they're saying. Because you'll see in Matthew chapter 24, they'll say, well, this is the coming of the Lord, right? You know, when he shall come, you know, basically as the lightning coming from the east and the west, and then immediately the coming of the Lord. Not the coming of the Lord. Okay, we're not talking about the coming of the Lord. Okay. And then you get down to here and it's like, okay, of that day and hour, no man. Well, this is the coming of the Lord. This is the rapture. It's like rapture, not the rapture, rapture, not the rapture, rapture, not the rapture. It's like, what? But no one reading this would do that. Well, you just don't have discernment, brother. This is what it really comes down to. They can't defend their actual doctrine, so what they do is they intimidate by fear. They say, well, you just need to make a decision of what you believe. Preachers have actually said that to friends of mine and said, you just need to make a decision on what you believe. It's like, okay. If you can't defend your doctrine at all, I guess I've made my decision then. I mean, who's gonna be like, yeah, you're right. I guess, you know, since you can't answer it, you're gonna be like, well, you know, since you can't answer it, you can't defend it, I mean, I guess the logical conclusion, I should just believe what you say. And it's insanity. But here's the thing, though. When it comes to independent fundamental Baptists that believe in this doctrine of the pre-Trib rapture, you know, I'm not saying this is a damnable heresy where we can't fellowship with them, but they actually view this as being a damnable heresy in most cases that they don't wanna associate with us. Which is funny, you know, because we're more willing to associate with them even though we think they're wrong on that issue and they are obviously wrong on this issue. The reason they don't wanna associate with us is because they can't defend their position. They are unable to defend this pre-Trib rapture position. And it's not for lack of intelligence, it's just the fact that it's not there. You're defending something that's not there. You don't have the power to defend it. You don't have the truth on your side. I can go all day. I can just start reading books here in the Bible and just show you that whole tribulation rapture rat theme that's throughout the whole Bible. Now go to First Thessalonians chapter five. Let me show you, the other fun thing that they try to say is, well, he comes as a thief in the night, okay? Thief in the night, thief in the night. You know, it's like, again, you know, if you don't know the day or the hour, that doesn't necessarily mean you don't know the year, does it? I'm not saying we know the year, but I'm just saying, like, if we see the abomination desolation happen, guess what? We know the year. There's gonna be a point where we're gonna know what year it happens, right? But at the same time, we may not know the day or the hour even at that point. We may not know when that great tribulation officially started, okay? And by the way, think about this. I was actually thinking about this at one point. It's a different day in a different part of the world right now. If you said, okay, Jesus is coming back on, let's say, February 14th, let's say Valentine's Day, I don't know. That sounds like a good day for doomsday. Just kidding. But let's say you said it was happening on February 14th at five o'clock in the afternoon, okay? And you're just like, day and hour. Well, that's stupid, first of all, because you can't do that. But at the same time, let's say you did that. Guess what? It's not five o'clock in the afternoon on February 14th everywhere in the world. That means it might be the 13th at some point somewhere, right? I'm not sure exactly where you'd be on that as far as the timing, okay? You may be thinking, okay, you may be, in some places, you may be further than that, right? You're on the 15th now. So Jesus comes on the 15th for them and on the 14th for us. He comes at night for them and in the middle of the day for us. Does that make sense? That's why you don't know the day or the hour. You don't even know, when he comes, it's gonna be night for some people, it's gonna be day for the others. So that's why it's kind of silly to think like, oh, I'm gonna know what time of day is gonna happen. What day are you in? And days, obviously, depending on where the sun's at and where you're at and all that, it's gonna be different. So anyway, 1 Thessalonians 5, let's see where it talks about the thief in the night. So in 1 Thessalonians 4, what did we just get done talking about? Remember, we were talking about tribulation, rapture, wrath. So in chapter three, it says, if you're appointed under afflictions, you should suffer tribulation. And then chapter four, we had the rapture at the very end there. So right after talking about the rapture, what does it say here in verse five? I'm sorry, chapter five, verse one. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. Of what? Of the rapture, right? We're talking about the rapture. It says, or the coming of the Lord, if you will. Verse two, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Okay, what they want you to do is stop reading there. Stop reading, close your Bibles, and go home. Time to go home. He's gonna come as a thief in the night, and that means he can come at any moment. That doesn't mean he can come at any moment. Like I said, just because you say he's coming as a thief in the night doesn't mean that it can happen right now. It's just telling you in the manner that he's coming, and which is why he says I come quickly. It's giving you a reference point as far as how he's coming, right? It's not telling you when he's coming. It's saying how he's coming. I like to see context when we're reading through the Bible, but it says in verse three, for when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction coming upon them as a travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape, right? I mean, what woman is just like I didn't even know I was pregnant. I had a baby. Now I know what happens, okay? There's weird things that happen out in the world, and there's been women that were overweight, didn't know they were pregnant, had a baby in a bathroom, had no idea. Let's rule out those crazy scenarios for a second, and we're talking about just normal situations here that women know that they're pregnant, okay? They know that they're pregnant, and that there's a certain season, times and seasons. It'd be like this. If I was talking to my wife, I had no need to talk to her about the times and seasons of being pregnant, but that baby could come as a thief in the night when the time is there, right? When you're at that point, because there's been times where it's the end of the night, but at the same time, it's not gonna happen at any moment before she's even pregnant. Now, and keep reading there. So it says in verse four, but ye, brethren, that's what they don't want you to read, but ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. I want that to sink in, okay? They're wanting you to, they're basing their eyes on you, they're basing their whole doctrine on the pre-trib rapture, this imminent return of Christ on the fact that Jesus comes as a thief in the night. That means we don't know the day or the hour. It can happen at any moment. Yet the Bible says that we are not in darkness that the day should take us over as a thief. That means it shouldn't take you over as a thief. So their whole doctrine is them being overtaken as a thief, which is a rebuke. Their whole doctrine is a rebuke on them, saying, well, you know, he's coming as a thief in the night. Maybe on you, because you're not watching and waiting and actually looking for anything that the Bible teaches on this issue. Verse four, I'm sorry, verse five, it says ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. Listen, if you watch and be sober, he's not gonna come on you as a thief. Let me show you another place where Christians are being rebuked about Jesus coming upon them as a thief. Go to Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three and verse one. This is the church that's in Sardis. The day of the Lord coming upon you as a thief is not a good thing, okay? Meaning this is that that's not something to be like, yeah, you know, he comes as a thief and praise the Lord he's coming, you know, as a thief in the night. Like, if he's coming upon you as a thief, that's not good, okay? Now if you're saved, you know, you're still going to heaven, but you're still gonna be resurrected, but at the same time, like you're walking in darkness, you're gonna be ashamed before Matt is coming. We don't wanna be ashamed before Matt is coming. We wanna have confidence that it's coming and be watching and waiting and serving the Lord when he comes, okay? And guess what? It's not gonna come on us as a thief. You know what we're gonna be doing? When all this stuff goes down and you have the abomination of desolation happen, you have this great tribulation that's going on and you see the sun and moon dark and you see, I mean, you see all this stuff happening and what does the Bible say? Lift up your heads and look up for your redemption draweth nigh. That's not coming as a thief, is it? You're like expecting it. You're like, it's coming and you're expecting it and it's just this big surprise that's happening. Now, in Revelation chapter three and verse one, it says, And unto the angel of the church and Sardis write, These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know thy works, that thou hast the name that thou livest and art dead. What this is basically saying is that they're not, he knows their works, meaning that they don't have works and kind of like the James chapter two where they have this dead faith, right? It's a dead church and you can, in all churches, they're like, that church is dead because it's not doing anything, okay? But then it says, You have a name that thou livest because they used to do good things, right? They were working for the Lord, they were serving the Lord, now they're not. It says in verse two, it says, Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Notice verse three here. Remember therefore, how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent, if therefore thou shalt not watch, same language that's used in First Thessalonians chapter five, I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Does it sound like the day of the Lord, that it's a good thing if the day of the Lord comes in an hour that you think not and that it comes as a thief on you? That's actually a rebuke. Their whole doctrine and their whole verses to validate their doctrine is them basically being engulfed in a rebuke from the Lord. Because the Lord is saying that they shouldn't overtake you as a thief. You're not darkness. You're children of light. You should know better. You should know what's going on. You shouldn't overtake you as a thief. And even in this passage, he's saying, you know what, if you don't watch, I'm gonna come in an hour when you think not. So when it comes to this, their whole doctrine of the pre-trade rapture is basically a rebuke. And it should be a rebuke. It's foolishness. It's foolishness to believe in the pre-trade rapture. It's not biblical. There's nowhere in the Bible that states it. Their two proof texts are a rebuke against them. You can't make that up, right? And it's interesting because churches are dealing with saved people, right? And I'm talking to saved people when I'm talking about this doctrine. I'm talking about saved people that believe this doctrine. Read about the church in Sardis and then tell me that those are two good passages for you to use. That you don't know the day or the hour and that he comes as a thief because Jesus is saying you need to watch so that I don't do that to you, okay? Now the last thing I'm gonna mention that will be done is that Jesus is not coming in some secret rapture. I had some other things to talk about but I don't have time, okay? But go to Revelation chapter one. The whole book of Revelation starts off showing you that it's not a secret rapture. And that's what it really comes out of. The pre-trib rapture is all about this secret rapture and they don't like to admit it but the first time it's ever mentioned of this secret rapture is by some like messed up Pentecostal woman having a dream back in 1830. They're like, wow, you know, there's other places that it was there, you know? And listen, there's nothing new under the sun. If you found some like, a person back in like 880 or something like that that believed in some secret rapture, I wouldn't be shocked, okay? Because listen, false doctrine goes back to the very beginning, okay? But at the same time, listen, it as well as my soul got it right. When I talk about the Lord descending and the heaven shall depart as a scroll, that's Revelation chapter six. So whoever wrote that song, they didn't believe in the pre-trib rapture, okay? So this pre-trib rapture by and large is a new doctrine when it comes to the scale of people that are believing this. I'm not saying there wasn't some fringe group back in the day before this that believed in it but listen, what I'm preaching to you is biblical doctrine that's been believed throughout the years and it's not like this is some new doctrine that I'm preaching to you. It's just the fact that, listen, Baptists have fallen off the wagon with this doctrine and got sucked into some Pentecostal moment and they need to get it right, okay? But let me just end with this and Revelation chapter one and verse seven, it says, behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so, amen. So the whole book of Revelation, which I mean is dealing with end times, right? It starts off stating that Jesus is coming in the clouds which by the way, in Acts chapter one, what does it say? When he's going up, he went up in a cloud and the two men in white apparel said he's gonna so return in like manner. It says, actually, he's gonna come in like manner. That means when Jesus comes again, he's coming in the clouds and guess what? Every eye shall see him. And in every instance, when I'm preaching this doctrine and I'm having to rebuke the preacher of rapture, the Bible actually rebukes them. Go to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. The Bible actually rebukes this idea of the coming of the Lord. So after this sermon, if you're like, I think they have credence to their doctrine, it's like you weren't listening. There is no credence to this doctrine. Actually, Matthew 24 completely annihilates that doctrine on every level. Look at what it says in verse 23. Matthew 24 and verse 23. Then if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect. That means it's not possible to deceive the elect. So even these pre-trib rapture guys that are saved, they're not gonna be deceived by the false Christs, the anti-Christs, and the anti-Christs themselves. Verse 26. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold, notice this, he is in the secret desert and 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. Meaning this, every eye is gonna see it. It's not in some secret chamber and they wanna believe in some secret rapture that only the saved see and it's some left behind weird Tim LaHaye movie where everybody's just like, what happened to all the Christians? Planes are crashing, trains are going off the rails. It's like, that wouldn't even happen. People would probably be just like, their idea of how many people are saved is inflated a little bit, okay? There's that many pilots that are saved, you know what I mean? It's like, give me a break. You might have a little bit of a disturbance, you know? But here's the thing, when we're raptured out, everybody's gonna know it. Everybody knows what's going on. They're all gonna be in fear while we're up there with the Lord. It's not a secret. The Bible says don't go into any secret chamber, you know, basically, like Jesus is coming and no one knows about it but you and you know, come with us. So I can go on and on, but I'm not. The Bible's very clear on this. We believe that the rapture happens after tribulation. Why do we believe that? Because the Bible says immediately after the tribulation the sun and moon are darkened and it talks about and then shall you see the sun and man coming in the clouds. I mean, it's really that simple. And once you understand that structure, you can really get into deep, you know, all the meticulous things about like the timing of things and what's the antichrist doing over here and like all that stuff. You can get into that. But if you don't have that structure down, you're gonna be lost in that doctrine. So understand that simple logic there as far as tribulation, rapture, wrath and revelation's easy at that point, honestly. It's easy to understand. It's not hard. It's called the book of Revelation for a reason. It's revealed. So let's end with a word of prayer. The heavenly father, we thank you today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for these teachings on end times prophecy and Lord, just thank you that you will be coming back and will we just help us to be watching and waiting and to be ready for any type of tribulation that would come. And Lord, we love you. Pray also in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. But Nick will come and sing one more song and then if I can get a few men or ladies or whoever wants to help with the juice and then after we close everything up, we'll have the Lord's Supper. Turn to song number 91. In your hymnals, song number 91. If we would all stand, we'll sing Hiding in Thee, song number 91. Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming