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The title I serve tonight is Lot's Pre-Wrath Rapture. Lot's Pre-Wrath Rapture, we see in verse 21, it says, I will go down now and see whether they have done all together according to the cry of it, which has come unto me, and if not, I will know. And the thing about Lot is I believe this is one of the strongest pictures of the Pre-Wrath Rapture. It's one of the best illustrations of understanding even the timing of the rapture. I mean, this story just goes hand in glove with all the New Testament passages, with everything talking about the rapture, and it's even mentioned as an example of what the rapture is gonna be like in the New Testament. But as I grew up in church, I always heard that Lot was a picture of the pre-trib rapture. I always heard it taught, well, just as Lot was taken from God's wrath, we too are gonna be spared. But the problem is they mix up the tribulation with God's wrath. They get these two concepts mixed up. But we see in Genesis chapter 18 and 19 that there's a big difference between the tribulation in these chapters and God's wrath. There's a huge difference, and there's a huge difference in the New Testament and in Revelation between God's tribulation and God's wrath. Go, if you would, to Matthew chapter 24. The Bible says in Genesis 18, it says, and the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done all together according to the cry of it, which has come unto me, and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence and went toward Sodom, but Abram stood yet before the Lord. So we see the Lord, he's gonna go check out Sodom and Gomorrah, and he says it's very wicked. And there's these cries coming from Sodom, why? Because there's just anguish. There's just, this is a horrible place. Horrible things are happening. Noah has likened unto the timing of the rapture, the timing of God coming and second coming, and it said in Genesis chapter six, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of their thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So he's got two pictures of what the end times are gonna be like, Noah and Lot. And man, they're talking about some wicked people, some evil things happening, some great violence in the earth. So as a Christian, it's good to understand what it's gonna be like so you can prepare yourself. You can understand that there's gonna be perilous times in the end times. Look at Matthew 24, verse four. 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. Now, this just to me just destroys that stupid false doctrine about the Yeshua movement, because where in the world are all these false Yeshua's? Where they all go, hey, I'm the Yeshua, nobody. But there's all kinds of people claiming to be Jesus Christ, why? Because that's God's name. That's the name of God's son, Jesus Christ. That's why you say, oh, many will come in my name. Do you really believe that? Nobody's coming in Yeshua's name. And this Yeshua movement says, well, Jesus isn't even really his name. It's just, you know, something from Zeus, and it's just this hybrid word, some Greek word. That's blasphemous, that's wicked. It's obvious that Jesus Christ is the name of our Savior. And this verse to me just destroys the idea that it could be any other name. There's only one name that people cringe at when it's blaspheming. That's Jesus Christ. There's only one name that false prophets come in. That's Jesus Christ. The Bible is true in every verse. And this makes it clear that it's just Jesus Christ and his name. Look at verse six. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled. For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes and diverse places, meaning just in lots of places. And all these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. And you shall be hated of all nations for my namesake. 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 cold. But he that shall endure under the end, the same shall be saved. Now, when I read this passage, I understand that the world we live in is pretty wicked and that it's going in a bad place, but I feel like this sounds a lot different than even the world we live in. He said, look, in just virtually everywhere, people are just gonna be slaughtered or gonna be killed or they're gonna be strongly persecuted for just believing in Jesus Christ, just claiming the name of Jesus Christ. Now, there's certainly a few countries in this planet where it's illegal to preach Jesus Christ, it's illegal to preach the gospel, but it's not the vast majority. I mean, most of the places you can preach the gospel, there's a lot of Christian nations. I think that the world's gonna get a lot worse. We're gonna see even a more departing away from the truth, a bigger departing from God's word, where there's gonna be great sorrows. I mean, he says this is just the beginning of the sorrows. And we see the two examples of Lot being inside of men. That was a wicked place. That was not a good place to be in. That was not a safe place to raise your family. I mean, it talked about even the young boys being taken advantage of by the fact that they were brought with all the men. I mean, all the people from all the quarters surrounded the house of Lot, all of them, that's wicked. So we see there's a parallel to the cry of tribulation. We see at the end times, what was God even going down to see God sodoming more for, the cry? What do we see in Matthew 24? At the end times, there's gonna be a great cry, because there's gonna be great persecution. There's gonna be great tribulation. But then there's gonna be what's called in the Bible great tribulation, which is even worse than that. Go back to Genesis chapter 19. You might wanna keep your finger in Genesis 19 and Matthew 24. We'll kind of flip back to a lot of these places. Let's go a little bit further in the story when they actually go down. The Lord sends two of his angels into Sodom and Gomorrah because there's been this great cry. But the Bible makes it clear that there's gonna be even greater tribulation than that. Even greater tribulation than all these sorrows. That was the beginning of the sorrows. Look at Genesis chapter 19, verse four. But before they laid down the men of the city, even the men of Sodom can pass the house around. Both old and young. All the people from every quarter. That's a lot of people. And they called them a lot and said to them, where are the men which came unto thee this night? Bring them out unto us that we may know them. And a lot went out at the door unto them and shut the door after them. And said, I pray you brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known men. Let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you and do you to them as is good in your eyes. Only under these men do nothing. For therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, stand back. And they said, this one bell came into sojourn and he will need to be a judge. Now we will do worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even locked, and came near to break the door. I mean, this is a terrible situation. This is great distress. This is great tribulation. I mean, they're trying to break this door down. They're trying to take advantage of these men. They're trying to do wicked things. And this is a parallel that the Bible draws of what the end times are gonna be like. This is some wicked times. We need to be vigilant, we need to be sober. Those that are gonna enter in the end times, there's gonna be great tribulation. Not just, oh, rumors of wars and wars. I mean, we're talking about filthy people, wicked people trying to take destruction on us. Here, I wanna be close to God's righteousness in this time. I mean, talk about needing God's favor on your life. Go to Matthew 24, go back. We're gonna see there's a heightened level of tribulation that Matthew 24 also talks about. It says in 2 Timothy 3, yea, and all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's just the reality that if you live godly, if you're a born-again-saved Christian and you're trying to live godly, you're trying to preach the gospel, there will be persecution. And in the end times, we're gonna see the greatest persecution ever known to me. He said that it was gonna be the greatest. Now, think about this. What Lot went through sounded really terrible. What a lot of people went through was really terrible in the Bible. But he says they're gonna be the greatest tribulation, the greatest persecution in the end times. And it sounds terrible, it would be rather to know that and understand that and see the pictures in the Bible so that we can prepare ourselves now, so we can have our hearts right now. The Bible says in John chapter 16 verse 33, these things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace, and the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I will overcome the world. You know, we shouldn't go into these situations being fearful. You know, if you're living godly, God's purposes will be fulfilled in your life and he can even deliver you out of great tribulation. We're gonna see that for a lot. It turns out good for him. In this moment though, it was probably pretty terrifying to most people. I mean, it'd be pretty easy to be nervous about the whole city is literally surrounding your house, beating at the door. I mean, it's just a matter of time before they break in. We see God gives them that deliverance. We'll look at that later. But we see there's great tribulation. Look at Matthew 24 verse 14. 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 shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place. Whoso readeth, 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 with child, and to them that get suck in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Jesus Christ makes it clear that the tribulation in these times is gonna be the worst that we've ever seen. Now to make this make sense, for some people, you can't really have greater tribulation. It's more so talking as a whole. Obviously, if we see the Apostle Paul, some of the tribulation he went through, it'd be hard to imagine you going through more tribulation as an individual than he did. The fact that he was stolen multiple times and beaten and shipwrecked, and I mean, just constant persecution and tribulation. On a personal level, you're probably not necessarily gonna see greater tribulation than that. He's just saying it's gonna be broad scale. Not every apostle, not every Christian was going through the exact same punishments that Paul did. We see that even a lot of the people that he got saved may not have had that type of persecution. They may not have been stoned to death and then come back. So we see it, what he's talking about is just it's gonna be wide scale. It's not just Pastor Anderson that's banned from Jamaica. It's gonna be whole scale. Hey, you can't preach the Bible, period, no matter who you are. You can't travel to any country. You can't even speak in his name. You can't do by yourself. You don't take the mark of the beast. That's what the abomination of desolation is gonna be. The antichrist is gonna set himself up. And he's gonna say, you can't buy or sell unless you take the mark of the beast. We're talking about some perilous times. We're talking about some intense persecution. And we see that's what the situation we have with God. I mean, it's an intense situation. The people are beating at the door. They're ready to take him. And then what's God gonna do? That's when he comes into the rescue, right? But we see before that there's this great tribulation. And I like verse 22, it says, and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. Think about if God hadn't intervened in a lot of situation, would anybody have been saved in that household? No way. I mean, they had all the people, they were ready. They were ready to beat that door down. Look at, go to Revelation chapter 13, if you would. It says in 2 Peter chapter two, verse nine, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. So God can deliver. And we see in the Bible, there's two different people. There's people that are delivered and people that aren't. But those that are living godly, it's always God's purpose in their life if they were to die a martyr's death. And what a glorious way to go to have, I mean, you got all of eternity. Hey, I was martyred for the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, I died a glorious death. It's not a death to bemoan. It's not a death to look down upon. Even if you were to die, oh death, where's thy steam? Oh great, where's thy victory? I mean, we're gonna be rejoicing with Christ in heaven. You know, if I were to die, I would want it to be quick. And I think it sounds like a lot of these people are dying quick. I mean, in Revelation, you have people that are beheaded for the Testament of Jesus Christ. I don't even know if they felt that. I mean, sometimes, if you've ever had a really shocking experience where you've hurt yourself, I mean, the first 30 minutes even sometimes, you don't even know. It's when you kind of slow down and start realizing your situation. I mean, these people that get their heads cut off, they might not even feel any pain. I mean, that might be one of the best ways to go. Look at Revelation chapter 13, verse three. And I saw one of his heads, as it were, wounded to death. And his deadly wound was healed. And all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And power was given unto him to continue 40 in two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 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 and nations. So this is a time where God is gonna actually allow the devil to have victory over Christians. He's gonna actually be able to overcome them on a level where it's a mass scale that Christians are being put into death. You think about, there's a lot of people in the Bible. Abel, he was overcome by his brother, the wicked one. It wasn't because he wasn't righteous. It wasn't because he wasn't living godly. We see a lot of times, Stephen, he was killed by the Jews that rejected his sermon. They rejected the fact that he preached unto them. Sometimes it's God's will that we would die, and we would die for his purposes. But it would be a glorious death. But many times also, God will deliver the godly out of that temptation. He'll rescue them. We see the third parallel with Lot is there was impending death. Go to Daniel chapter seven. So the first point is what? There's tribulation. There's gonna be a cry. In the end times, it's gonna be a horrible place for everyone, not just Christians. It's gonna be a bad time. But then there's gonna be great tribulation where it just honed in on the Christians, where they're the focal point, where they're the ones that are gonna be in this great strait, and then we see impending death. I mean, Lot is gonna be dealt worse with than these two angels. That doesn't sound very good. Matthew 24, 22, I already read this, but it says, and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Saying, look, if the devil had his way, everybody would be killed. I mean, if he gets to fulfill his plan, it's death for all. In Genesis 19, nine, and they said, stand back. And they said, this one fellow came into sojourn. He will needs be a judge. Now we'll deal worse with thee than with them. And they press sore upon the man, even Lot, who came near to break the door. Look at Daniel chapter seven, verse 15. I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit, in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings which shall rise up the earth, but the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Then would I know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass, which devoured, braked in pieces, and spamped the residue with his feet, and of the 10 horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell, even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spayed very great things, whose lip was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the ancient of days came and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. So now in Daniel, it's a little more cryptic of a book. It's giving more analogies, it's giving some examples, it's giving this metaphor. It's saying, hey, there's 10 horns on this head of this beast, and we see another little horn coming up. It's a reference to the fact that the Antichrist will have 10 kings at the end of the world, and these 10 kings will give their power unto the Antichrist, and he's this little horn, and he's gonna have a mouth that speak very great things, is what the Bible says. We already read that in Revelation 13, where he's gonna speak great blasphemous words against his name, against his tabernacle, against his throne. It's all pictures of the Antichrist, and we can use Revelation to interpret Daniel chapter seven. But it even says the same thing in verse 21. I beheld in the same horn, made war with the saints, and prevailed against them. Now the way that he's prevailing is, he's actually not prevailing in the spiritual battle, he's prevailing in the physical battle. He's slaying the Christians. We make war against spiritual wickedness in high places, and I believe in the end times, God's people will still be winning many spiritual battles. They're gonna be going out and doing great exploits, is what the book of Daniel says. But from a physical perspective, Satan will win by destroying many of these Christians, by putting many of them to death, by taking their lives, by causing great affliction and tribulation upon them. And it says that he's able to prevail against them at this time, until the ancient of days come. So we see a third point is that there's this impending death. I mean it's just, it's inevitable that a lot of Christians will die in this time. And we see even with Lot, it was an impending death situation. Let's go to Mark chapter 13 if you would. We're gonna see the fourth symbol that we have from Lot to the pre-wrath rapture. Mark chapter 13, I'll start reading verse 19. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation, which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord has shortened those days, no flesh should be saved. But for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And then if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, he is there, believe him not. For false Christs and false prophets shall rise and show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible even the elect. But take ye heed, behold, I have foretold you all things, but in those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. So we see a picture. What's gonna happen right before the deliverance? There's a darkness. There's some, there's the moon is not giving her light. The sun is darkened. So we see a great darkness happen upon the earth, a great sun. Go give it back to Genesis chapter 19. Says in Joel chapter two, verse 30, and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. Now the end times, the rapture, what people use that word, the rapture is not used in the Bible, but the timing is of that the day of the Lord, when the Christ will come again. And if we get these two events together, we understand what the Bible's saying, we can understand the whole Bible. When you understand, when you think about the Bible from a pre-trib perspective, none of it makes any sense. I mean, you can't understand large portions of scripture when you think there's a pre-trib rapture. And how would that even make any sense? All throughout the whole Bible, people are constantly getting persecuted. They're constantly being afflicted. There's constant, you know, tribulation as it were. But then we see Jesus says, hey, there's gonna be even greater tribulation in the latter days. If you believe in a pre-trib rapture, where's that great tribulation? Where's all the same people to suffer tribulation, to suffer this great tribulation? No, the Christians are still there, aren't they? But there's this sign of darkness that comes over the earth. Look at Genesis chapter 19, verse nine. And they said, stand back. And they said again, this one fellow came into sojourn and he will needs be a judge, now will do worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, he would lot and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand and pulled lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. And the men said unto Lot, ask thou hear any besides, son-in-law and thy sons and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxing great before the face of the Lord. And the Lord has sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. So we see there in verse 11, that the angels when they pulled Lot back into the house, they smote the men with blindness. A picture of the fact that there'll be great darkness when the Lord comes. There's gonna be a great darkness upon the face of the earth. Men are not gonna be able to see. We see this even in Egypt. We have the plague of the darkness right before the deliverance of the Lord. We see the Bible has a consistent picture throughout the whole Bible of all the events. And if you have a preacher rapture, you would never even understand this passage from the symbolism that it points to Jesus Christ's return. But there's not only just a physical darkness. He also blinded them in another way. He says, and Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. The Bible says that God's gonna bring strong delusion that they should believe a lie. There's gonna be so many more people that are basically reprobate in the end times. I mean, they're smote with not just the fact that they can't see physically, they have a spiritual blindness. They just can't even understand. You try to preach them the gospel and they just mock. They can't even understand what you're saying. And that's what a reprobate type of person's like. It just seems like you're, it's just a joke. I remember I was preaching the gospel not too long ago. And I came across a couple and there was a young girl. I don't know if they were married or what their situation was. But I started preaching to them and it came pretty serious, that pretty obvious quickly that they didn't really understand or they were not really caring. So I just kind of focused on the young girl. I just started focusing on her, trying to give her the gospel. And she was pretty silly child. She didn't really take very many things seriously. And as I was going through in the Bible and trying to show her, the two adult people were kind of talking amongst themselves. And as I got to Acts chapter 16 and made it clear that it was just by faith that you're saved. Just by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. The free gift that he gave us. One of the parents said to the other one, oh, it's like Cinderella. Oh, it's just, it's like a fairy tale. You just believe and it's magical. Just like they're mocking the Bible. And then I preached the whole gospel to the girl. I don't really know if she really believed it or not. I still prayed with her. I wasn't gonna count it, but I might as well just finish the deal. She was getting the questions right. And then I asked the kind of the adult people. I said, hey, do you believe the same thing? Oh yeah, whatever. They're real lighthearted about it all. And then I'm about to walk away. And I was like, I'm not gonna count any of those people. At least I got them the gospel. They were willing to listen. And they go, hey, I got a question for you. So I come back and they say, hey, does this apply to homosexuals? And I was like, I never said anything about that. I never made any mention. They just asked that. And I said, no. I said, the Bible makes it clear that, in Romans chapter one, that those that hate God, that reject God, that never want to believe on them, that never want to see this free gift, that God gives them over to a reprobate mind and they will never believe on them. They will make no sense to them. And they're like, so the girl looks at them and says, well, I guess I know where you're not going to church. And I just walked away. I was there, I said, you know what? Just to make it clear, we don't allow those people at our church ever. No home owners are allowed at our church ever. And I just took my stuff back and left. But it was like they just mocked at it. It didn't even make any sense to them. And the Bible just proved truer and truer and truer. Those reprobate people, it's like they just mock at the word of God. I even, the first door I knocked, like in this, when we came here, I asked this guy, I said, hey, what do you have to do to be saved? And he's like, just believe. And I was like, could you lose your salvation? He says, that's kind of a debatable thing. And I said, well, what do you believe? It's like, you know, from my understanding, probably not. And you're just kind of like laughing at me the whole time. And then he's like, I said, well, you can come to our church. He's like, you don't want me at your church. And I was like, why? He was like, because I'm a homosexual. And I was like, you're right. Never come to my church. I mean, it's like, I didn't even bring it up. I didn't say it, but it just comes out of their mouth. Why? They're mockers. They hate the word of God. It's a joke to them. They don't believe it. And we see it's a spiritual blindness. We see a picture of the spiritual blindness here. What? From the reprobate sodomites in Genesis chapter 19. Hey, come be saved with us. They had just gotten physically blinded, but they still couldn't even believe it. I mean, can you imagine someone just smoke you with physical blindness and they're saying, hey, I have salvation for you. And you still reject it. They're still wearing themselves to find the door. They're not gonna stop until they kill you. They have no repentance. It's not possible. Go to Revelation chapter six. I think the worst thing when I think about this story is the fact that Lot married his two daughters to two guys in Sodom. I mean, he literally let his daughters marry these sodomite men. I mean, talk about wicked. Revelation chapter six, look at verse 12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell into the earth even as a fig tree cast with their untimely figs when she was 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, the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every freedman hit themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the land. For the great day of his wrath has come and who shall be able to stand? So we see there in the very first part, he says there's an earthquake. He says the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood. We see that darkness happening again. And we see the darkness is a good way to go through the Bible to see, hey, this is the timing of when Jesus Christ is coming. This is when Christ said he coming. We have these signs of this darkness, of this blindness. Another picture from Genesis chapter 19 carried all the way to Revelation. Go to Genesis chapter 19 again, back if you would. Revelation 1 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. It's interesting, the Bible says it's gonna be like pitch black. I mean, you're not gonna have any, you can't see anything, but then what's gonna happen? Jesus Christ is gonna turn and he's gonna be coming in the clouds and every eye is gonna see him. Why? Because there's nothing else to see. It's completely black and you're just looking up at Christ. But you know, I think only the safe people are gonna be able to see him. Because the Bible says in 2 Thessalonians two, and then shall the wicked be revealed. Then the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Think about just trying to look at the sun. I mean, you can't even look at it like blinds you, right? You can't even look. Christ is gonna be brighter than the sun. But somehow we're gonna be able to see that he's coming. But I think it's in a way that it'll be kind of like a blindness to those people that are not saved. They might see the fact that he's, I mean, every guy is gonna see him. I'm not gonna contradict scripture. But I'm saying think about when Paul had the angels or Jesus Christ appear on them. And they said they heard a voice, but they didn't know what he said. I believe it could be in a way there too, where these people are seeing Christ coming in the clouds, but it's another level of blindness to those that are unsaved. Look at Genesis chapter 19 verse 15. So the fifth point that I have, the fifth picture that we have is the day of salvation, the rescue. Says in Genesis 15, or 1915. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot saying, arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest they'll be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto them. And they brought him forth and set him without the city. And it came to pass when they brought them forth abroad that he said, escape for thy life. Look not behind thee, neither say thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. So we see the great deliverance of the Lord. What is the picture of Lot? It's that he was in tribulation. He was in great tribulation. Then there was impending death, but what happened? The Lord rescued him out of there. And it wasn't because of his righteousness. I mean, it's hard to point to anything that Lot did that was good. It was just by his faith. He was a just man because God had imputed his righteousness unto Lot. Look at, go to first Thessalonians chapter four. The Bible says in Mark 13 verse 26, 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, which shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. So you see, he says, even when Christ comes, he's gonna send his angels to gather the elect. So we have Christ coming. We have the angels gathering the elect, just like Lot, who God sent the angels down to see in Lot and go into Sodom, and they rescued Lot out of the door. Now, the thing that just blows my mind is how in the world does anybody interpret this with a pre-trib rapture mindset? I mean, what in the world? I mean, where do you see the angels coming and rescuing Lot, you know, and say, well, he didn't go through the tribulation. I mean, man, that was some great tribulation that Lot went through in my mind. We see there's a change after the rescue when God pours out his wrath, doesn't he? But let's look at verse 17 and four first. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an 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. You know, in the first lesson on verse four, a lot of times, you know, it's used in a funeral to comfort people, the fact, hey, you'll see your loved ones again. But I think it'd even be a comfort to those that are alive and in this great tribulation, hey, at one point, Christ is gonna come and gather us together, and we're gonna be with him forever. And Daniel said forever and ever and ever. Let's focus on that. If you have your mind focused on forever and ever and ever, what's just the last few moments of great tribulation? What's just the last little bit? God's put you on this planet for a reason. God has a mission for you in your life. Why wouldn't you just wanna go out with a bang? You don't wanna be ashamed before man is coming. The Bible makes it clear. And if you're focused on the fact that you'll be with him forever, you can be comforted. You can be comforted with the fact, hey, Christ is gonna come. I wanna be one of those people that makes it to the end. We see some elements here. He comes with the shout. He comes with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. These are another pictures that are matched in Mark chapter 13 and Matthew 24. When you start connecting all the dots, you see these passages are so connected. There's all these verses. Why do people believe in the preacher of rapture? I'm convinced it's because they're ignorant of the Bible. And you know, God put a great truth in Genesis 19, but how many liberal pastors wanna preach Genesis 19? I mean, it's not a pretty picture. Many of the doctrines that come from Genesis 19, most pastors don't wanna touch with a 10-foot pole. They don't wanna touch on the sodomites. They don't wanna touch on the reprobates. They don't wanna touch on the rapture. Why? Because they just avoid this. So they never teach it. They never teach these passages. They don't teach the clear parts of Matthew 24 versus, you know, talking about Amoeba at the tribulation. They don't talk about Mark chapter 13. You know, I grew up going to a church where they taught the preacher of rapture like once every month, almost. I mean, it was just constant. They're constantly preaching the preacher of rapture. And now my dad, he never believed in it. He would always say, oh, it's not biblical. There's no verse in the Bible. You know, it's not in there. And they would always go to 1 Thessalonians chapter four, which is probably one of the most vague passages on just all the events that are taking place. It's more so just giving us the fact that we'll be caught up together with them. And it's kind of undeniable that there's gonna be an event. I would say, well, my dad, there's an event. When is it? And you know, I was convinced there's only three positions. It was pre-trib, there was mid-trib, and there was post-trib. You know, I ignored preterism because that was just foolish. That was stupid. But I said, well, I know it's not mid-trib because that's where the desolation of, you know, abomination of desolation is. And I know it wasn't post-trib, post-wrath because it didn't fit with any of the other timing that I had known. So I was like, I guess it has to be pre-trib because it couldn't be any other time. But that's because I was confusing the tribulation with the wrath. And there's a huge difference between the tribulation and the wrath of God. And Genesis 19 makes that very clear. Go back to Genesis 19. Let's look at verse 24. So he's just been saved. He's just been raptured. He's just been taken by the angels up into the clouds with the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Genesis 19, verse 24. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground. Now this is actually the first time the Bible even mentions the word brimstone. Isn't it interesting? When he destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, the first picture we get of brimstone in the Bible. That's a special punishment. That's a special wrath that comes from God. We don't see anybody being afflicted with brimstone by man. You know how you get afflicted by brimstone? By God. That's a separation from the tribulation and the wrath. Is God pouring out the fire and the brimstone on these people? Look at, go if you want to Revelation chapter six. There's a special wrath that comes only from God. Now sometimes devil, the devil and his minions, they can replicate some of the things of God. They can replicate, we see in the story of Moses and the Egyptians, they can replicate some of those plagues and some of those things and their lies and their deceit or however they did it. But at a certain point, it crosses a line where, hey, this is the finger of God. This is what God is doing. And when it's brimstone being rained out from the sky, that's God's wrath. We see he'd already been saved from that. We know that the Bible teaches a pre-wrath rapture, but it's obviously post-trib. Third, Second Thessalonians chapter two, verse one. Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him. When are we gonna be gathered? When the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is. That verse packages it all up. You can't separate our gathering with Christ and the rapture because that's when we get gathered with them. Says in Second Peter chapter two, verse six, and the turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemn them with an overthrow, making them an ensemble under those that after should live ungodly and deliver just lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under the day of judgment to be punished. So it's interesting in this last verse though, he delivers the godly out of temptations and he calls a lot righteous. Now there's no way looking at a lot of life you could ever call that guy righteous. Hey, you married your two daughters off of the homos and you live in the most wicked city ever and you get drunk. You impregnated your daughter through alcohol and then you impregnated the younger one through alcohol. I mean, you're looking at this guy, you're like, he's not righteous. But he was righteous because Christ's righteousness was imputed unto him by faith, making it very clear. And it says the Lord will deliver the godly out of temptations but it says he reserves the unjust under the day of judgment to be punished. Saying, look, these guys are being reserved. Now think about it. If we were taken out before the tribulation, all the saved people, then who would be going through that tribulation? Unsaved people. But the Bible says, no, he's reserving the unjust to his day of judgment, which is when? When Christ comes in the clouds, we're gathered up together with him, the same event, and then what happens? He pours out his wrath, which is perfectly summed in Revelation chapter six. So we'll read the first part of that again. It says, and I beheld when he 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 into the earth, even as a fig tree casts out their 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 of the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the land. For the great day of his wrath has come and who shall be able to stand? So now they're gonna see him, but do they wanna look at him? They're saying, no, we wanna be hidden from his face. You know, just the fact, you know, every eye is gonna see Jesus Christ come, but it's gonna be a type of blindness. They don't wanna look at it. They don't, they wanna be hidden from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. And his great day of wrath is coming, what? Now it's coming. Now it's happening. Now is gonna be the sudden destruction. Go to Luke chapter 17, it'll be the last place we turn. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5, but of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as is deep in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as to avail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. Now why in the world would Paul say, but of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord. The only way that would make sense is if there was tons of scripture telling us of that event. Otherwise it wouldn't make any sense. Hey, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You already know this, but I didn't give you any verses about it. You know the pre-trib rapture guys, they can't turn to any verses. They can't turn to any symbolism in the Bible. Now we don't use symbolism to believe our doctrines. We use the clear statements of the Bible, like Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 17, Luke 21. So many clear verses in the Bible about the end times that came out of Jesus Christ's own mouth. But not only that, we have a lot of clear pictures in the Bible. And the picture in this is a perfect picture of the pre-wrath rapture. Look at Luke chapter 17, verse 26. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given at marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also was it in the days of Lot. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built it. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Now it's interesting because the Bible said that he was gonna reserve the unjust until the day of judgment. Now it says here that they did eat. Now what he's saying, they, who's he talking about? All the unsaved people. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given at marriage. So it seems like the unsaved, those that hate the Lord Jesus Christ, that take the mark of the beast, it might actually seem kind of peaceful to them. And you know, the people in Sodom, I mean, were they having a bad day? That's just business as usual, right? Some new guys came into town. We're excited. Let's go know these guys. I mean, are they really suffering their affliction now? Are they going through tribulation? No, the godly are the ones that are going through the tribulation. The righteous are going through the tribulation. That's the whole point of tribulation. Tribulation is when you're persecuted for Christ's sake. When you're going through that persecution because you're a godly person. We see here that the unsaved, it's just normal business to them. But to the righteous, they're going through great tribulation. They're being greatly persecuted. And it says in the same day that Lot went out of Sodom and rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Then was the Son of Man revealed. So we have what? The cry of tribulation. We have the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Lord going down. We see that there's great tribulation though. It's increased. There's even more tribulation happening. Then there's what? Impending death. I mean, there's gonna be great destruction of the Lord's people physically, not spiritually. Then fourthly, we see a great blindness or a great darkness that happens in the timing. Then what do we have? The salvation of Lot. But lastly, we have what? The judgment and God's wrath poured out. If you go through the end of Revelation, you see God's wrath being poured out, locusts coming out from hell. You know, the water being turned into blood. We have all kinds of horrible things happening at the end times. That's God's wrath. That's not the tribulation that God's people go through. And when you separate these two events in your mind, when you see the clear dividing line of Lot, it'll help you understand the timing of the rapture. You know, I hope this sermon was a great help of understanding the fact that there's a huge difference between tribulation and the wrath. That's how you get the timing. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you so much for giving us not only clear statements, but also pictures to give us better ideas of what's gonna take place in the end times. I pray that we would not have our hearts set on the things of destruction, of all the tribulation, of all the woes, but we have our eyes and our minds set on the fact that we gather together with you. That we will all be caught up together in the clouds with you. Whether we tarry until the end time or whether we're raptured in that time. And that we would be with you forever and ever and ever. And that we could go out and do great exploits in your name and be focused on the things that you have for us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. We're gonna read a song number 356. Song number 356. I Must Tell Jesus. Song 356. On the first there. I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone. In my distress he kindly will help me. He ever loves and cares for his own. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. He is a kind, compassionate friend. If I but ask him, he will deliver. Make up my troubles quickly and end. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. Tempted and tried, I need a great savior. One who can help my burdens to bear. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. He all my cares and sorrows will share. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. Oh how the world to evil all lures me. Oh how my heart is tempted to sin. I must tell Jesus and he will help me over the world of victory to win. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. We're dismissed. Thanks for coming. Thank you for being on the music. You're doing good. I'll be okay. Sorry to sing on the third one again. I like the third one so much. It's a little Wednesday here though. Mrs. Ester. I'm not fucking Mrs. Ester, I say no. You need to bring your husband around. I know, I know. I'm wearing him down. Where is my husband? My husband is- Sir, we would see Jesus. Yeah. Sir. As soon as I read that I said I should start calling him. Sir. How do you talk? And mister- And Mrs. Ester. And Mrs. Ester. And brother. Brother. Sister, Sister Hadassah. Sister works too. Yeah. The first time I heard someone use the word, it's not biblical work. I mean, you can do it. It's biblical. It's not in the Bible. I never understood why the word brethren is used for the whole congregation. Because the man is the head of the woman. And most people are married.