And first thing I want to point out in luke chapter 12 is that there's a lot of hard preaching in this chapter
But jesus is really coming off some even harder preaching
In chapter 11 and I want to just point that out at the very end of chapter 11
He says in verse 49 therefore also said the wisdom of god
I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute
That the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world
May be required of this generation from the blood of able under the blood of zacharias
Which perished between the altar and the temple verily I say unto you it shall be required of this generation
Woe unto you lawyers for you've taken away the key of knowledge you entered not in yourselves
And then that were entering in you hindered so jesus preaching pretty hard. He's taking the pharisees to task
He's taking the lawyers to task and then verse 53
It says that as he said these things unto them the scribes and the pharisees began to urge him vehemently
I mean they're getting mad and they're trying to provoke him
To speak of many things look at the next
And it says laying wait for him and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him
But look at the next verse the first verse of chapter 12 in the meantime
When there was gathered together an innumerable multitude of people
In so much that they trode one upon another
He began to say unto his disciples first of all beware ye of the leaven of the pharisees
Which is hypocrisy?
And the first thing I want to point out here is that hard preaching drew an innumerable multitude in this passage
I mean in the midst of jesus preaching really hard calling out false religion calling out the phonies
And then he's doing it before and after verse one and yet verse one says that in the meantime
There's gathered unto him an innumerable
Multitude so it's a lie today when you hear people say that hard preaching is going to turn people away
It's going to turn people off people can't handle it people can actually handle a lot more than you think
And if pastors today in america would just get up in their pulpit this sunday morning
And just really just cut loose and preach and just take the gloves off
And take the filter off and just get up and just preach the word of god
As it's written and tell it like it is and apply it to the day
We live in with no regard for the face of man
I guarantee you the vast majority of people
That are in actual bible believing churches where the people are actually saved are going to be able to handle it
They're going to be able to take it
You know, it's the leadership that's failing in this country the people in the pew can handle so much more
It's just that the pastors are not dishing it out
You can have a big church and still preach hard
You don't have to be tired. I don't like this attitude that says well if you preach hard, you'll never be big
Well, that's not really true
Because we've seen in the past churches that preached hard growing and and becoming large our church is growing
And as independent fundamental baptist churches go our church is very large
And our church is growing quickly and our church is one of the largest independent baptist churches even in arizona now
Why because hard preaching doesn't scare people away except the kind of people that you want to scare away
Keeps all the weirdos out
But hard preaching can still gather a multitude today
You don't have to choose between reaching a lot of people and preaching hard. You can do both
Our church has hard preaching and we reach a lot of people
We don't have to choose so we don't need this defeated attitude that says well if you preach hard
You can't grow and we don't need the scared
Oh attitude in the pulpit that says well, you know if I preach hard i'm going to run everybody off
It just isn't true and christ proved it right here
But he says there in his preaching to this great multitude at the end of verse one
He said beware ye of the leaven of the pharisees
Which is hypocrisy for there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be known
Now jesus at various times his ministry spoke about the leaven of the pharisees here
He says that the leaven of the pharisees is hypocrisy
Elsewhere the bible said that when he talked about the leaven of the pharisees he was referring to their doctrine
Now why was the false doctrine?
Of the pharisees called their leaven. I believe it's in matthew chapter 15 somewhere around that neighborhood in the book of matthew
the reason why
That doctrine that they taught was known as leaven is because if you remember leaven
Could be hid in three measures of meal and then the whole thing is leavened right leaven spreads
It grows it's it's it's something that multiplies
Leaven is what we know today as yeast
Or we could know it as a bacteria
Something that multiplies and grows and it causes bread to rise and it pictures sin in the bible
which is why the the body of jesus christ was was uh
pictured by the unleavened bread
With no yeast in it, right and then obviously the the unleavened fruit of the vine
The unfermented not with yeast in it
Which is by the way, what ferments alcohol in grape juice is the yeast on the outside of the grapes. So it was the
Unfermented fruit of the vine and it was the unleavened bread because it's a picture of sin there
so leaven
What does leaven have to do with doctrine because if you get a false doctrine
It'll spread to other doctrine in your life
So when people get a false doctrine that's not biblical
And they're not willing to let go of it and they hang on to it
What ends up happening is that they they start getting a bunch of other false doctrine as well
Because they're looking at everything through that wrong lens or through those wrong glasses
And I heard a great illustration about this like a guitar that has a string that's out of tune
So if you get one string out of tune on the guitar the logical thing to do is to tune that string
And now you're playing again, but what some people want to do today
They have a false doctrine that they just will not let go of
So what they end up doing is trying to tune the other five strings to match that string now all six strings are tuned
Wrong, and if you just listen to that person play
It sounds good why because all six of their strings are in tune with each other, right?
They've got a false doctrine. They got that bad string and they tuned the other five to match up with it
It's like yeah, this makes sense. Yeah, this sounds great, right? Yeah until they start actually playing with the rest of the band
Until the piano player starts playing until the bass guitar starts playing until the trumpet starts playing until the song leader starts singing
And then it sounds horrible
But when they're all isolated by themselves they're making sense until somebody actually pulls out a bible which is like the tuning fork
Pulls out the bible, which is a little electronic tuner and says whoa, buddy. You're way flat
You need to you know, you need to get tuned up to this thing
But it all starts with just having one thing wrong
And we've seen that over the last week at the prophecy conference all the different sermons about end times and everything
There's one thing you can't deny
And that is that the false doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture
Goes hand in hand with the doctrine that the jews are god's chosen people
This doctrine that's stuck in the old testament program
Of israel and the physical nation those two things are hand in glove if you can get people to see
That they're wrong about the jews
Then they'll have no problem seeing that the rapture is after the tribulation and vice versa
But they've just tuned all their strings
But but here's the sad thing about that crowd is that when they they've got their their pre-trib string out of tune
Right, and then they they get their
String out of tune on the jews. Well, here's what they end up doing. They start tweaking the salvation string
Because you'll notice that every single person who goes into a detailed
Explanation of the pre-trip rapture and actually tries to refute our film after the tribulation in any kind of a detailed way
You'll notice that they always end up teaching
a different salvation in the old testament different salvation during the tribulation and they teach that there are three gospels
Or three different programs and you know what?
It's it's a wicked false doctrine and I believe that when people when people get to that point where they're that
Deep into it where they're saying that there's three different gospels. Let them be accursed at that point
You know it but but the the most people who believe in the pre-trib rapture
They don't believe in the three gospels thing. They just haven't even studied the issue
Your average pre-tribber is just pre-trib because they're just doing that because that's what everybody has been telling them
They haven't actually studied the issue on their own for themselves
okay, but
The ones who actually have studied it
And they have delved into it and they're still pre-trib, you know, there's something wrong with those people. They're bad people
I said they're bad people. I mean look why don't they preach what the bible says?
Why don't they believe what the bible says, you know if you ask it'll it'll be given to you
If you seek you'll find if you knock it shall be opened unto you
How could somebody sincerely go to god's word and say oh god show me the truth and read matthew 24
And read mark 13 and read luke 21 or read second thessalonians 2 and still walk away pre-trib unless they're a bad person
Look because what are they doing? They're they're basically teaching lies believing lies ignoring what the scripture says
But like I said 90 some percent of them. It's not that they're bad people. They just haven't even looked at it
They haven't studied it. They're they're relying on other people's study of it
And they're just kind of going with the flow riding the coattails
And some of them don't even want to study it because they don't want to be responsible
for that knowledge
But the and you say well, what's the big deal? I mean, so what if people are wrong on the rapture?
But you know what it's indicative
Of every other area in their bible study and every other area in their life
Because if they're refusing to acknowledge the truth on this which is as plain as the nose on your face
What else are they going to ignore?
And what kind of a person are they if they're scared?
To preach what the bible says for fear of offending their preacher buddies and their bible college alma mater
And if they're just and you say no no pastor
They they really studied it hard and they're sincere, but they just can't figure it out
Then they're not even fit to be a pastor because they don't have enough intelligence to pastor
You know, they're not smart enough to pastor then if they can't figure out that it's not pre-trip
They need to step down because their iq is too low at that point
But again, like I said most of them they just haven't looked at it
They just haven't even studied it and you said how dare you insult them
You know what somebody ought to insult them because i'm sick and tired of them
persecuting anybody who actually read the bible and believed what it says the bible says that they're the ones who are deceiving us by saying
That the day of christ is at hand and the bible says let no man deceive you by any means that day shall not come
Unless there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition
Anything other than that is a lie
And I can't even find one of these pre-trippers who will even try to defend their doctrine without teaching this false salvation
Where they say oh it used to be salvation by works in the old testament
And in the tribulation it's going to be salvation by works again
You know when they're teaching different salvations
And different gospels that just shows they're a complete false prophet, right?
Right, so which side you know my message to the pastor of america would be well
Which side are you going to be on you're going to be inside with the the hyper dispensationalists
With their three gospels that are cursed of the lord. Are you going to actually figure out?
That the your big name heroes from the last generation were wrong on the timing of the rapture
Get over it move on with your life and believe what the bible says
And nobody can provide any kind of a meaningful
refutation
Of a post-trip pre-wrath rapture without appealing to the ruckmanites the hyper dispensationalist and the wrong salvation
It's that simple and so, you know people need to wake up
And the time is is is possibly going to come in our lifetime
It's pretty important that people know now that's actually what this chapter is about
jump down to verse 35 it's interesting because
Uh, we we just sang the song
Will jesus find us watching and it's funny because as I was studying this chapter
That's the song that kept coming into my head because that song is based on this chapter
And then I thought it was pretty cool when I got here and I was oh, that's what we're singing tonight. Perfect
But it says in verse 35 let your loins be girded about and your lights burning
And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord
When he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately
Blessed and this is where the song comes from blessed are those servants whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching
Verily I say unto you
That he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet and will come forth and serve them now
What does it mean to be found watching? Well all throughout the bible?
You'll find the word watch as in the first watch second watch third watch fourth watch of the night
The word watch means to be awake
Right those who watch all night until the morning are those who are staying up at night, right and they're watching
Jesus christ said to the disciples that fell asleep in the garden of gethsemane
Could you not watch with me for one hour?
So the servants that are watching are the servants who are awake and paying attention to what's going on, right?
as opposed to the ones who are
Asleep that is the opposite of watching. It's to be asleep, right?
So the bible says blessed are those servants whom the lord when he cometh shall find
Watching look at verse 38 and i'll prove it to you and if he shall come in the second watch
Or come in the third watch
And find them so blessed are those servants
So the night is broken up into these different watches of the night when they would maybe the guards would trade off
You know the first watch second watch third watch of the night blessed are the servants that he finds
Watching that are awake that are paying attention
That know what to look for it says in verse 39 and this know
That if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come
He would have watched
And not have suffered his house to be broken through be ye therefore ready also
For the son of man cometh at an hour
When you think not now the pre-trib rapture doctrine is based on such a shallow understanding of scripture
They don't even seek to understand what the bible is actually teaching here
But instead they just grab hold of one sentence here, you know be ready. You don't know what he's coming
It just becomes a slogan or a catchphrase
They don't realize that that's the tail end of his teaching and they need to get the whole teaching
Not just the catchphrase not just be be ready brother. You don't know when he's coming could be denied
Wrong it could not be tonight
The one who doesn't know when he's coming is the one who he's going to overtake as a thief
Do you see that? I mean look what he says here. It's amazing how
People could not see this
It says if if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched
And not have suffered his house to be broken through be ye
Therefore ready also he's saying be like that guy
Who's watching so that he knows?
when
The thief is coming
right
He's not saying hey, we're all going to be surprised. We're all going to be shocked
He might have to come tonight. Wouldn't that be a surprise? It's not what it says
It says be the guy who's awake and paying attention and ready so that you'll see him coming
Before he comes
You will be aware of it
You will be aware
Of when he's coming. I mean, isn't that what it says? It's pretty clear, right verse 40 be ye
Therefore ready also for the son of man cometh at an hour when you think not so we can't predict when he's coming
Can we?
Can any of us predict and say it's going to be on this date or on that date or this year that year?
We can't predict it
He's coming in an hour that we think not it's it's a date that nobody's predicting. It's not september 23rd 2018
Or any other goofball date that people come up with
You say well, when is it then here's what we have to stay awake all the time watching
So that we can watch for the signs of his coming before they happen
Now go to first thessalonians chapter 5
first thessalonians chapter 5
So luke chapter 12 goes into more detail on this. We're going to go back to luke chapter 12 and see more detail about
This idea of christ's return and him coming upon people unawares people not being ready
now first thessalonians chapter 4
is
The quintessential rapture passage is the most famous most detailed
Everyone agrees that it's the rapture all the pre-tribbers agree that it's the rapture
and they love to quote it and they they think in their warped understanding that somehow this provides a
Proof of a pre-tribulation rapture even though in first thessalonians chapter 4 there's no timing given
There's no timing of the rapture given in first thessalonians 4 he describes the rapture
He tells us that it's going to happen, but he doesn't give the timing until chapter 5 verse 1
Which they won't even touch with a 10-foot pole
They love to just comfort one another all day long
They're just so busy comforting one another in chapter 4 verse 18, they never even make it to chapter 5
and the bible says
In verse 17 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
but
But
See there's this big but that they are not facing today
They won't even look at it it's a conjunction
I mean don't make me take you to conjunction junction to figure out what a conjunction is
I mean, it's not done. The book isn't over
right
And the most important stuff is coming in chapter 5 because he's going to explain to us the timing of the rapture
right because he says this but
Of the times I mean, isn't that pretty important
That sounds pretty relevant. I mean, we just finished explaining the rapture now. We're going to talk about the timing
Great
But of the times and the seasons brethren you have no need that I write unto you
Why not?
Why don't you need why don't we need to know for yourselves know perfectly
Know perfectly
That the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night now how in the world do they know?
That the day of the lord's coming is a thief in the night. Somebody must have taught him that
You know who taught him that jesus christ taught them that
And this is what's so foolish about this idea of oh jesus never taught on the rapture
That was only revealed to us through paul
Paul's our apostle to the gentiles and blah blah really if paul's the apostles gentiles
Why did jesus give the great commission to all the apostles and tell them to teach all nations, right?
He commanded every one of those disciples to go reach the gentiles. They just refused to do it
Most of them that's not his fault
But the point is that it says right here
That they already know perfectly that the day of the lord cometh as a thief of the night
Isn't that the exact illustration that jesus taught in luke 12 when he said
He's coming like a thief
And if the watchman if the good men of the house would have known what time the thief was coming
You would have watched you need to watch look jesus already taught the doctrine
Of the day of the lord coming as a thief in the night
So he says well, I don't need to tell you about the timing because christ already taught you the timing
Right, you already have heard what jesus taught in matthew 24
You've heard what jesus taught in luke 12, you're familiar with what jesus taught in luke 21
You're familiar with what jesus taught in mark 13
You're for and i'm not saying they had those written books, but they'd heard that teaching they'd heard that preaching of christ's words
From the apostles and so paul says well
You don't need me to tell you the times and seasons
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief of the night now
Let me ask you this is there any way possible to read these two verses?
And walk away saying that the day of the lord is not the rapture
Because it wouldn't make any sense to tell us about the rapture
And say but of the times and seasons
You have no need that I write unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as even light
Unless the timing of the day of the lord is the same timing as the timing of the rapture
That's the only way that would make any sense
I mean it would be like
Let's say you know, um
Uh brothers say gora and myself, right? We're gonna be going to a soul winning marathon
In tim buck two, right?
And brothers say gora and I we're both going to the soul winning marathon in tim buck two
And we're both planning to arrive on the same day. We're flying on the same flight
We're sitting next to each other all the way there
We're gonna land we're gonna do our soul winning
We're gonna preach and then we're gonna fly home again on the same exact flight, right?
And then what if I were to forward my itinerary?
To somebody in tim buck two so they could pick me up at the airport
And know my schedule and know how to plan the event, right?
And then if they said well, you know, can you send me brother chris's itinerary as well?
Well
Well, you know what of the times and the seasons of brother chris say gora's arrival you have no need that I write unto you
Because i've already sent you my itinerary
Now what if we were on totally different flights and arriving in totally different days would that make any sense
If they said send us brother chris's itinerary, we want to pick him up at the airport. I said well
You already have my itinerary
Huh, the only way that would make sense is if chris and I are on the same plane
Does everybody understand what i'm saying?
If chris and I are on the same plane, then it makes sense if you got the one itinerary
That's all you need
But if we were coming that's the only way this verse makes any sense
He's saying oh the timing of the rapture. We already know
That the day of the lord's coming is at the end of the night. What does he mean by that?
Of the times and the seasons brother and you have no need that I write unto you
You already know what to look for you already know
What's going on with the timing of the rapture?
You don't need me to tell you because you already know the day of the lord's going to come as the evening
Okay, everybody got that. Okay. Well, what does the bible say about the day of the lord like 10 times?
The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the lord come
So what has to happen before the day of the lord sun and moon have to be darkened
Well, isn't that interesting that in matthew 24 and mark 13 it says that after the tribulation
Sun and moon are darkened and then christ comes in the clouds to gather the elect
But you see
This is what i'm saying people it comes a point where people who refuse to see theirs are just liars at some point
At some point they just have to be seen for what they are a liar
Who sees it and they know it and they just refuse to admit it because they're a liar because they're a coward
Because they want to be everybody's friend and everybody's buddy at some point
They need to be either called out as a hyper dispensational
works teaching heretic
Other gospel teaching heretic or they need to just be uh called out as a liar
Now they've never studied it that one thing but if people are going to study this and walk away i was still pre-trib
either they're an imbecile or they're not saved or they're just being
Extremely stubborn which makes them a liar because they're refusing to admit what they see
And you say well you you know, you got all radical on this from the conference hey
I've been saying the same thing
Since back in 2012 when I made my post-trib moments watch post-trib moment number 60
I said hey if you watch all these moments and you're still pre-trib. You're either an idiot
Not saved or you're just being stubborn and refusing to see it and I stand by that statement
And I think that the vast majority of them are just being stubborn
Or they just haven't even looked at it
I mean look when I tried to talk to my pastor back home about this when he broke fellowship with me
You know sends me into the hottest part of the battle literally and then withdraws the troops from me
I'm talking about phoenix, arizona
If that's not the hottest part of the battle then you must be in death valley california at that point
Hey, my pastor sent me to start a church in the hottest part of the battle and then withdraws all blessing from me
Withdraws the troops from me breaks fellowship with me over the issue of the pre-trib rapture
And then when he's pinned down with questions to defend it, here's what he said well, I haven't really studied it
Well, isn't that interesting how you'll break fellowship
With somebody over it, but you haven't even studied it
So you haven't even studied it, but that's the story with 99% of these pre-trib pastors
They haven't even studied it for themselves
They're just repeating stuff that they've heard and that's why isn't it funny when they when they have to defend themselves against
After the tribulation film they have to bring in a specialist
They have to bring in
Evangelists and missionaries and specialists that will come in and teach their people
They can't even get up and teach it themselves because they don't even understand it themselves
And many of them are just refusing to look at it because i've pinned some of these pastors down and proved it to them from the bible
And then after I proved it to them from the bible, they said well, you know, I I'm pretty sure you're right
But I need to study it and digest it talk to them a year later still studying two years later
Still studying three years later still studying five years later. I'm still studying it
Why because they're putting it off and putting it off they don't want to be held responsible for the information
They want to have plausible deniability
So what's going on?
but the bible says here that the timing of the day of the lord is the timing of what he just told us about
in first thessalonians 4 and that matches perfectly with
Everything else that christ taught but look at verse three and let's go even deeper with this
For when they shall say peace and safety
Then sudden destruction cometh upon them
The they and the them is talking about the unsaved, right?
They say peace and safety destruction comes upon them and they should not escape but ye brethren
Are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief you 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 again
Remember, I was telling you that watch means to be awake
Well, that's why he says don't sleep
But watch and be sober. So what's he saying here? He's basically saying that a lot of christians
Are as asleep as the unsaved
So the unsaved are the children of darkness
That day is going to come on them as a thief in the night
But here's what he's telling christians don't be that guy don't be like them the unsaved
It will come upon them as a thief
But you brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief
He says don't sleep as do others. Who are the others the unsaved people don't sleep like them
Be awake
But sadly most of even saved christians today are asleep
They're not heeding this admonition to be awake and to watch and look if you're pre-trib, you're automatically asleep
Automatically because you don't even know what to watch for you don't even know what you're looking for
You're not even expecting the thief to even come
You just think that you're going to be just beamed up
with no warning with no suffering with no
Time leading up to it where you're going to have to make some hard decisions
About what to do with your life during that time and and how you're going to handle that
So the bible says let us not sleep as do others
But let us watch and be sober for they that sleep sleep in the night
Neither be drunken or drunken in the night
But let us who are of the day be sober
Putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation
We have hope of salvation why because god has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain
Salvation through our lord jesus christ and when we see these things begin to come to pass
We will look up and lift up our heads for our redemption
draweth nigh
Super clear, isn't it?
Super clear and you know what?
This is super clear and we didn't even look at second thessalonians chapter two, which is even more clear
And we didn't even look at matthew 24 or mark 13 or luke 21 that are all super clear
So to be pre-trib, you just have to ignore
Super clear super clear super clear scripture one after the other and just refuse to admit what the bible's saying
Go if you would to luke chapter 12 where we were before let's get back to this parable
So the parable makes perfect sense christ is teaching that which paul taught in first thessalonians five, right watch
Be awake
Don't let it come upon you as a thief
Right be awake be sober be watching and jesus, of course said at the end of mark 13 what I say unto you
I say unto all
watch
Watch therefore for you know, not what hour your lord doth come
You don't know if it's going to be in the second watch or the third watch so you got to stay up all night
Right you stay up all night. And when you see
the abomination of desolation
Spoken of by daniel the prophet who so readeth let him understand, you know, that's when you know
That it's going to happen
Now luke chapter 12
He said in verse 35 let your loins be girded about your lights burning. What's he talking about being awake?
Leave the light on
Now we already covered verses 36 through 40
Be therefore ready also for the son of man cometh at an hour when you think not but look at verse 41
This is pretty interesting
Then peter said unto him lord speaketh out this parable unto us or even to all
Now jesus does not directly answer his question. He doesn't say yes or no
But the things that he says next will answer the question
Of whether this is being spoken just to them
Or to all now when he says all there
That's everybody that's even referring to even unsaved people
Okay, so when he says are you saying this to everybody?
Jesus is going to answer him
By now including unsaved people in the parable because when he when he first gave him the parable about the thief here
He's actually just talking to the saved
He's telling the saved to be ready. Okay?
Just like paul is telling the saved. Hey, don't sleep, you know be awake pay attention
So he's dealing with the saved but now he's going to deal with both saved and unsaved in the next part of the parable
Why in answer to the question that peter gives?
so you gotta stop and pay attention to the question that peter gives in order to understand the next few verses because
Peter asked the question. Hey, is this just for us or is this talking to everybody?
Which would even include the unsaved. All right, look down at verse 41 or verse 42 and the lord said
Who then?
Is that faithful and wise steward whom his lord shall make ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat in due season
Blessed is that servant whom is lord when he cometh shall find so doing of a truth. I say unto you
That he will make him ruler over all that he hath
ruler over all that he hath
Verse 45 but and if that servant
Say in his heart now some people will try to apply this to save people
But no, this is talking about unsaved people and i'll explain to you why in a moment
And it's in response to the question that peter asked but and if that servant say in his heart my lord delayeth his coming
And shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens and to eat and drink and to be drunken
The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him
And at an hour when he is not aware of and he will cut him in sunder meaning cut him in half
And will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers
And that servant which knew his lord's will and prepared not himself
Neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes
But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whomsoever much is given
Of him shall much be required and to whom men have committed much of him
They will ask them more now in order to understand this parable
You have to get the context of the rest of christ teachings because christ gave this parable over and over again
About a lord of a household who goes on a far journey and then comes back
And he finds the servants
Have taken over and rebelled and mutinied
Okay
For example, you remember the famous parable where jesus talks about how the lord of the vineyard?
He goes off into a far country
And while he's gone, he sends his servants
To the vineyard to to receive the fruits thereof. And what did the servants?
Of the vineyard do they beat them up and sent them away
He he sent more servants they beat them up made fun of them and sent them away
A third time right then last of all, he sent his son
And he said they'll reverence my son
but when they saw
Him a great way off. They said this is the heir
Let's kill him
And let's see we'll seize on the inheritance ourselves and they killed him
What's the lord of those servants going to do when he comes?
He's going to miserably destroy those murderers and he's going to give
The vineyard to others who will bring him the fruits in their due season and then he explains what it means
He tells the jews the kingdom of god shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof
So some people will mistake this parable and they'll say oh well if they're servants of the lord
They must be saved but they're not servants of the lord lord. They're servants of the lord in the story
Okay, the lord of the manor has servants in his vineyard
That are supposed to be bringing in the fruit thereof
They're supposed to be doing the work and what did they do in this story?
The servant said oh my lord delays is coming. He's not coming back
And what do they do they begin to beat the men servants and the maid servants?
And they begin to eat and drink with the drunk. Look, this is what the jews did
The jews are the servants who knew the lord's will and did it not
And they'll be punished worse than the gentiles who did not know the lord's will
And did it not okay because the jews we're supposed to be the servants of the lord
And instead of bringing in the fruits of the vineyard serving god, what did they do? They rebelled against god
And they beat
The maid servants and the men servants who are those people well in other parables jesus equates those servants that they beat up to
to the prophets
So the prophets that he sent unto them
From other countries or the prophets even from their own country that preached to them were killed
They you know, jesus said which of the prophets have you not killed?
Which of the prophets did you not persecute?
Right, so these servants that are beating their fellow servants and eating drinking and saying he's never coming
These represent the jews
Okay, that rejected the lord and this could also just represent
Unsafe people in general who believe that you know christ is never coming. They say where is the promise of his coming?
For all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation
And so those who knew the bible
Are going to be held to a higher standard than those who didn't know the bible
They're going to be punished worse and and see that's why the jews were punished so severely in christ's day
And that's why they will be punished severely again
In the end times because of the fact that they are supposed to know the bible
I mean who do you think's more accountable to know about the bible and the true god a hindu or a jew?
You know, I mean think about that
Because I mean at least the jews have got some truth because they have
The torah and they have the tanakh and they have the actual script now
They have a bunch of other lies that they mix with it
But they're accountable for having heard real scripture in their life and knowing who the god of the bible is
And they know who jesus is and they are held
Very accountable because unto them were committed the oracles of god
So obviously the jews who rejected christ
That's why he said it'll be more tolerable for sodom and gomorrah in the day of judgment than for you
He said you're worse off being a jew at the time of christ and going to hell
Than being one from sodom and gomorrah who went to hell or the men of ninova
You know would rise up in the judgment and condemn them
The queen of the south will condemn you he said it'll be more tolerable for sodom than for you
That's I don't think sodom is going to have a uh an easy day at judgment, right?
I mean you think sodom is just going to have a smooth judgment
They're going to have a serious judgment. That's why he's using that as an example. He's saying guess what for the jews?
It'll be worse
Why would you how could anyone in their right mind join that religion?
Think about what you're joining
Yep, sign me up for the worst possible judgment
You know sign sign me up
with the christ killers
You know sign me up with and you know what people people get uncomfortable with that
They say how dare you say the jews killed jesus. What did it say in luke chapter 11?
We just read it
He that had an ear let him hear look what it says in luke 11. Let's back up and see it again
It says in luke chapter 11
Verse 50 that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation
from the blood of able unto the blood of zacharias
now
Correct me if i'm wrong
Jesus is blaming
The death of able on the jews, you know people are like, oh you blame everything on the jews
Right
How dare you say the jews killed jesus
Well, the bible says in first thessalonians chapter two that the jews both killed the lord jesus and their own prophets
Peter preached them and said whom you slew and hanged on a tree
Okay, but right here. Jesus is saying even able was killed by the jews you say how does that work?
I thought cain killed able
Why because it's the same spirit of cain that is the spirit of judaism, right?
So he looked at the jews and said i'm going to require of you i'm going to blame on you
I'm going to hold you accountable for the blood of all the prophets from able to zacharias from a to z
Right able the first martyr in the old testament right to zacharias the last one killed
In the old testament for the faith and he says it's going to be required of this generation and you know what?
He wasn't talking to the gentiles
Right, he's talking to the pharisees
He's talking to the jews. He's talking to the people who screamed crucify him crucify him
The people who said his blood be on us and on our children. Yeah
So why don't you just back off?
On saying how dare you say that about the well, how dare christ say it about able right?
Now look if you would at luke chapter 12, I gotta hurry up to get through this
But it says that
The lord of that servant will come in a in a day when he looketh not for him
Why because he's not looking he's not watching he's not paying attention. He doesn't even know what to look for
He doesn't even know what the signs are go to luke 21. This is pretty interesting. Look at luke 21
This is the very end of luke 21
And you'll find something pretty similar here he says in verse 34
He
Says and take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness
Now let me just start out by saying this in this chapter luke 21
one of the things that really stands out is the difference between
ye you your
and they them theirs
So when he's talking about the unsaved he says they them there
You know and we and you know, it's funny whenever he talks about israel or the jews in luke 21
He says they them there. So it's bizarre that people say that this chapter
Is toward the jews because every time he talks about the jews he says they them
And then when he talks to the christians is ye you your
right
Your redemption draweth nigh but there's going to be all this wrath on this people
The jews, okay, that's what he said read luke 21 when you get a chance
but
He when he says you I mean here this is one where he's talking to his disciples and he's saying to them you
Okay, because because he distinguishes in this passage they them are the unsaved
He says take heed to yourselves. Listen anytime your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness now
Remember, that's what the unsaved are doing
They eat drink and are married because tomorrow they die
And he brought that up in luke chapter 12 of something to unsaved do they're they're eating drinking beating the servants
But it says here
Take heed to yourselves. Let's say anytime your hearts be overcharged with
Surfeiting you say what's surfeiting?
Surfeiting and drunkenness. Let's just say partying and drunkenness, right?
That's probably a word that we would understand in our vernacular
That probably gets the same point across
You know just partying drunkenness cares of this life
And so that day come upon you unawares watch verse 35
For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth
So to all them out there the unsaved those that dwell on the face of the earth
It's going to come upon them unawares. It's going to be a snare to them. It's like a thief in the night to them
But he's saying don't you be like that?
You don't want that day to come upon you unawares
So he says verse 36 watch ye therefore
Right watch ye therefore
Watch this and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass
And to stand before the son of man, so you say well pass your hand why watch
What does it even mean to be ready when christ comes?
Now the to the pre-tribber the only thing you have to do to be ready is just to be saved
Right, I mean if you're pre-trib
You only have to do one thing to be ready just be saved
Because if he just shows up
You're beamed out
It's fine
But what about if we actually have a biblical understanding?
Of the fact that there's going to be the tribulation the abomination of desolation
Persecution affliction a time of trouble such as the world has never seen
What does it mean for us to watch why be awake? Why be ready?
Does it mean hey, you better have your mres ready?
Hey, you better have your water filter ready, is that what he's saying
Hey, you better stockpile enough ammunition. You better you better have the bunker ready
That's not what he's teaching
He tells us why we need to be ready. He tells us what it means to be ready for the lord at his coming
He says don't let your heart be what overcharged with
Surfing and drunkenness and the cares of this life. Why not because you don't want this day to come upon you unawares. Why not?
What does it matter if it comes upon you unawares? Listen to what he says
for as a snare
Shall it come on all them that dwell in the face of the whole earth watch ye therefore
And what pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before
The son of man, what does it mean to watch to be prepared to be ready?
It's not talking about physically being a prepper
What it's talking about
Is to be paying attention and praying to the lord to protect you
Praying always that you'll be counted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the son of man
Now a lot of people they they wrongfully have this idea that there's pretty much two options in the end times
You're either going to go hide somewhere
In a bunker and survive
Or you're going to gloriously give your life as a martyr for christ, right?
This is what people think like you're either going to gloriously boldly preach and be beheaded
And be beheaded
Or you're going to go hide somewhere and cower in a bunker, but you but you know what?
There are a couple other options of what could happen to you in the end times
And and this is going to really drive home why it's so important to to watch to be prepared
There's another option of boldly preaching the word of god and surviving
Because god can protect you
But you know what it's going to take prayer
Now the pre-tribbers have never even prayed this prayer ever
Because they don't even believe in it
So that puts us in a pretty good position to get answered because we're actually praying the right thing
if we pray lord
please
Account us worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the son of man, you know, we're likely to be answered
Since so much of christianity has failed to even pray that prayer or even understand that prayer
But then there's yet a fourth option right because we think of the guy who's hiding in the bunker with the mres
We think of the one who gloriously dies for christ, which is great. Amen. If that's our if hey if that's our destiny. Amen
even so amen
We sometimes fail to think of the fact that you don't have to compromise
You could boldly preach and win souls to the bitter end and survive because god protected you
I think there's gonna be a lot of that
But then there's a fourth option that I bet most people have never thought of and you know what this is where a lot of
Christians who aren't ready are going to end up with this terrible fourth option
These are your these are your christians who are into surfeiting and drunkenness
Right, and they're not paying attention. They're not awake. They're not ready. They're not praying. This is your typical
They're not praying. This is your typical watered down pre-trib christian. They're going to end up in category number four sadly
You're backslidden christian
Or the one who's living in drunkenness or fornication
When these things come to pass, you know what they're going to end up in category four
And you know what that is to die in some other
Dishonorable way
Hello, it's the tribulation
You know what people are going to be dying of in the tribulation
You know what? They're going to die of starvation
There's going to be great famines and you know what if you seek first the kingdom of god
Then all these things will be added unto you. And by the way, that's from luke chapter 12
So don't say I didn't preach on luke 12 tonight because I did
Preaching a lot of stuff from luke 12
Hey
He said if you seek first the kingdom of god
Food and raiment will be added unto you
What if you're not seeking first the kingdom of god is god guaranteed to feed you when you're living in fornication?
When you're living in drunkenness when you're out of church
When you've quit serving the lord, you've quit soul winning you've quit reading your bible
You don't even care about the doctrine. You don't even know what's going to happen in the end tides
You skipped all the prophecy sermons you skip the book of revelation you skip daniel
And you know what you think god's just guaranteed to feed you
I hope I hope he does but you know what he might not
But i've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread
Hey, if you seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness, he will provide and feed and clothe you but when you're backslidden
And you and you know what the one who's not ready for these end times
He could be in a position where he finds himself starving
So let me ask this would you rather be beheaded in a split second and feel a split second of pain or would you and be
Greeted in heaven as a glorious martyr of christ
And handed a white robe and cheered on or would you rather slowly pine away of starvation because you're so backslidden god's like well
I got other
You know you you you had no time for me. You didn't pray to me at all your your disgrace
I'm ashamed of you and you're in fornication
And that's to you
Okay, what about this how about dying in warfare?
There's gonna be the whole world's gonna be at war
You don't think that's gonna kill a lot of people and you think that no christians are gonna die in that warfare. Oh, yeah
They will but you know what there's no reward for dying in that war
You're not a martyr if you die in that war, you're not a martyr for starving to death
What about the pestilence, you know pestilence is disease outbreaks?
During the time of the tribulation disease is going to break out mass plagues
Unlike the world has ever seen earthquakes. You think people are going to die in those earthquakes?
Earthquakes warfare famine pestilence disease starvation
Hello, and you say well, what does it matter?
What does it matter if we know what's coming? Why do we even need the prophecy conference?
What why do we even care? Why does it even matter? It's not even relevant. Okay, i'll tell you why
Because when you see those things come to pass you better be dropping on your knees and purifying yourself and saying, you know
Man, I got 75 days left
It's time for my living girlfriend to move out
Right
You know or even before that even years before that when you start seeing the one world government coming together
When they start saying hey
We're going to rebuild the temple in jerusalem
When you start seeing the signs of the false prophet or the anti-christ look the more awake you are
The more you're going to see and you know, that's an extreme example of somebody who's living in fornication
But you know what? Everybody has little sins in their life and little things. I guarantee you're going to tighten that up
In those last few months
Right, you're going to tighten that thing up
You are going to be on time and you're going to be at soul winning and you're going to be
Doing you know, whatever those things are in your life, you know, you're going to be like, okay now it's time to quit smoking
Right
Think about it
Now the pre-trippers have such a warped view they say well
Yeah
But our view is even better because you feel that way all the time
Except guess what if you feel that way all the time, then you never feel that way
Nobody's on edge all the time
Are they
You think you're just 365 days he's coming back today. I better get my I better get my act together
It's going right today. No, no, no, no, they're not
to be always to be always
Awake and ready and light burning is to be never why because you can't stay up
every night every day every week every month
It's today, you know
Nobody can live like that
Right
The point is we don't know when it's going to happen. So here's what we do. We serve god
We work hard we do our best, but we're always paying attention
And we know what to look for
And we're ready so that when we see these things come to pass. Hey, we realize you know what he's coming
It's time to light up that lamp. It's time to get ready to roll. It's time to stay up all night
It's time to make sure that we're ready
To face what's coming, you know, it you said what are you guys gonna do go build a bunker or something?
I don't know. I'm never building a bunker somewhere. You know what i'm why would I?
If I got 75 days left to serve the lord if I got three and a half years left to serve the lord
I want to use every day. Why it's the last chance. Yeah
It's the last why would you go hide when it's the last chance?
Okay, what if what about this? What if I could go hide out in the woods and survive?
Or what if I could just even win one person in the lord
And you say yeah, but what if you're killed
Okay, so how painful is it going to be for me to be guillotined if that's if the worst happens, right?
You might not even feel it
You might not even you'll probably it'll probably just be such a shock to your brain the lights will probably just go out
But you know what, let's say it hurts really bad for 10 seconds
Worst case scenario, okay
Worst case scenario like that old story in the 1001 arabian nights where the guy gets his head chopped out
And he could talk for 10 more seconds before he's gone
Nobody else has read that except me. Okay, that's all right
Worst case it oh it hurts bad for 10 seconds. You know what I will go through
I will go through 10 seconds of excruciating pain
If I can save somebody an eternity of hellfire, right?
What kind of a person would say no don't put me through 10 seconds of pain maybe?
Let that person go burn in hell for eternity that makes no sense
And you know what? I'm not going to win one person lord during that time
You're not going to win one person lord during that time. We're going to win five people lord
We're going to win 10 people lord
We're going to win 15 people lord during that we're going to win 25 people lord during that time
We're going to be out there working hard and doing great exploits for the lord. Yeah
We're not going to be hiding
But the pre-trippers have this straw man. Oh, you're just into guns and prepping and and storeable food or whatever. Not me, brother
I'm going to be out there screaming my head off
Preaching the word of god until the bitter end
Until the bitter end and i'm gonna i'm gonna do my best
At the end it's like you run a long race. See the christian life is like a marathon. It's not a sprint, right?
See the pre-trippers are telling us just sprint the whole time because you never know when the finish line's coming
Right like oh this might be the finish line this might be the finish line
Pretty soon, you know what you're gonna do like I don't think this finish line's coming
So then they're just chill all the time, but then they claim like yeah. Yeah, we're ready all the time
Yeah, I can tell by your life
I can tell by all the pre-trib churches in our town that are just ripping it up on soul winning
I mean, they're just going nuts because they know they only have a little time left
But see the true story is that the christian life is like a marathon right where you're cruising along at a steady pace
That you know, you can maintain
Right, you don't want to just burn the whole tank at the beginning
So you're cruising along at a steady pace you can maintain
But as you get toward the end of the race
You realize you know what there's only a little time left. I know i'm gonna finish
I didn't start too fast. I didn't burn it all off too early
I know I have a little time left. And so now I got nothing to lose
There's the finish line and you sprint to the finish
You sprint to the finish
But but but they're running it with their eyes closed they don't even know when the finish is
But what's jesus say open your eyes be ready so that when you see the finish line, right
You can sprint to the finish
When you see the finish line, you'll know and by the way, you're you're actually going to be able to pray
The whole time
That you make it because you even know what race you're even running
It's not like we don't know. Is this a 5k? Is this a 10k? This is a half marathon
We don't know what we're running
if we're pre-trib
But with with the bible doctrine here he's saying look
You watch and when you see it getting close
You ramp it up
You ramp it up so that's what it means to be ready
It means to be prayed up
And to be living a godly life why so that god will protect you so that you can have a glorious finish
So that you can either survive to the end
And be one of those that are alive and remain which would be awesome, right?
I don't want to die. I'd rather just live through the whole thing and just make it the end, right?
Or you could die a glorious death for christ
Or you can just be a backslidden christian
Who a rocket lands on their head
Right
I'm serious, or you could just be some backslidden lame christian. Oh, I don't know what's going on
I thought it was gonna be pre-trib, you know, and the next thing you know, you're picking up some disease
And you've wrought away of some disease
They're more than just the two options that people are thinking about folks
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you lord for this great chapter lord in luke chapter 12
Help us lord to be ready
And and not just ready in the sense that we're saved
I think the vast majority of people here tonight already have that taken care of
We already know that we're saved and going up in the rapture lord, but help us
To be ready so that you're not ashamed before us at your coming lord
You said you'd be ashamed of many of your people at your coming
Lord help us not to be those people that you're ashamed of where they
They end up dying a stupid death lord either either let us survive
Or or die a glorious death lord, but help us to serve you
And earn rewards and please you
and that you will uh
Gird yourself and serve us lord and and and welcome us home
as opposed to us
uh being a shameful
Black sheep of the family and in jesus name we pray