all right guys the reason I wanted to give you sheets of paper is because
today I'm going to be preaching on the Rapture on the second coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ and what is the most prevalent position of the Rapture in
this day and age you guys know it's the pre-tribulation Rapture okay the
pre-tribulation is the most prevalent position and it's been the most
prevalent position amongst Baptist for the last 100 years or so okay but before
that before a hundred years ago before 19 about 1912 the post-tribulation
Rapture was the most prevalent position amongst Baptist okay things changed in
the early 1900s with the advent of fundamentalism of the change I
mentioned a couple of things see before the difference between liberal
Christianity and fundamentalism we're at the same time that it started so did the
doctrine of dispensationalism okay and if you know you probably know what that
word is if you don't know that's okay but basically dispensationalism is a
man-made theology used to interpret the Bible and based on that man-made
theology not on the words of God but based on the man-made theology that's
where they created the pre-tribulation Rapture okay so one of the key
differences with our church that makes us very different is that I think you
all believe I'm not sure if it's all of you but we all you know I certainly
believe that the Rapture is post tribulation that Jesus Christ will come
back after the tribulation and the reason I've given you some sheets and
some hands is because I want you guys to know it's not that difficult all right
but I want you to know exactly when Jesus Christ is coming back what the
Word of God says and I'm not going to give you my opinion we're going to be
going through scriptures and you're going to be filling out these boxes on
your own okay and then in your own time when you go home you can take these and
study it out further for yourself but notice we've all these there's a few
empty box you've got a lot of empty boxes here each box has a number and a
letter right I just want to give you an introduction to that like the first box
on the top right is 1a you know and then when you look at the bottom of the lot
you know the bottom left it's 9b for example okay so you got one two three
four five six seven eight nine we're going to be focused primarily on the top
table the top table and then we're going to be looking at the bottom one later
on okay and I also expect this sermon to play out for two weeks so part one is
today and part two will be next week so let's start off by establishing just
some very simple things that the Bible teaches us okay now if you've got your
Bibles that'd be awesome but I'm not going to get you to necessarily turn to
all the references because we do have a lot of references to go to so I've got
the help of my computer here and I've got the verses up so I can get through
them pretty quickly but if you notice also on this page all those references
are there as well so if you don't have time today to go through the references
again you can go home and study this out for yourself okay now if you notice the
diagrams a little picture there okay of a Sun that's dark a moon and stars that
look like they're falling maybe a meteor shower okay now this is this is an event
in the Bible that's spoken out throughout the Old Testament and also in
the New Testament okay there are four references in the Old Testament that
speak about this event and there are five references in the New Testament
that speak of this event it's a very important event and in my in my time
growing up in churches hearing about the second coming of Christ hearing about
the rapture I never heard this being taught about the sun and moon being
darkened and the stars falling from heaven although it's found throughout
the whole Bible okay we're going to be looking at a couple passages today as
well so if you notice I've put that picture on the fourth column right the
fourth column all right so this will it all starts make sense once we are sort
of go through it but I just want to read a couple of passages to you I'm gonna
start with Isaiah 13 verse 9 and 10 the Bible says behold the day of the Lord
cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he
shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it now look at verse 10 for the stars
of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light the sun shall
be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not cease but shall not cease
shall not cause her light to shine so here we have in Isaiah this reference of
the sun and moon being darkened and the stars and the constellations also being
darkened okay so I just want you to notice that this is an important part
and notice how you mentioned the day of the Lord there in verse number nine and
I'm going to read to you another passage just in Joel 2 verse 1 Joel 2 verse 1
the Bible says blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord
cometh for it is nigh at hand now I'm going to skip down to verse number 10
because it's just there's too much to read there but verse number 10 it says
the earth shall quake before them the heavens shall tremble the Sun and the
moon shall be dark and the stars shall withdraw their shining so you have
another reference there in the old system in the book of Joel in fact the
book of Joel mentions this quite a number of times about this very
important event to come and again you could see that it's associated the day
of the Lord it said the day of the Lord cometh alright now one thing that I
want to establish here is I'm just in full B so if you look down just
underneath your diagram there in box number full B right not full A but in
full B I want you to write down now I've wrote down celestial darkening you guys
can write down Sun and moon going dark or something over those lines right the
Sun the moon and the stars go dark or just celestial darkening right all the
celestial bodies the Sun the moon the stars are going down I just want you to
write that down there so you have a point of reference okay you have a point
of reference so in full B in box 4b please write celestial darkening right
this is a biblical fact you've got other references there you can check it out
for yourself if you want to be more evidence on that event to come in the
future now the next thing I'm going to do guys is read to you from Joel 2 31
okay because you remember having this spoke about the Sun and moon darkening
mentioned the day of the Lord well what is it about the day of the Lord that's
relevant to this event I'm going to read to you from two passages in Joel 2 31
let's start there it says the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon
into blood and notice the next words before the great and the terrible day of
the Lord come all right so just think about those words the Sun should be
turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day
of the Lord come so what so when does the day of the Lord come before the Sun
and moon being darkened or after the Sun and moon being darkened anyone after the Sun and moon being darkened
right that's clear from scripture so what I'm going to do there in 5b in 5b
all right just right there day of the Lord day of the Lord right the
scriptures confirm to us that the day of the Lord comes after the celestial
darkening okay this is straightforward from the Bible that was from Joel 2 31
but it's not just in the Old Testament this is also found in the book of Acts
in the New Testament Acts chapter 2 verse 20 I'll just read it to you it says the Sun
shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and
notable day of the Lord come okay so Acts 2 quotes Joel chapter 2 this is
bound in both the Old Testament and the New Testament I love it when the
Lord gives us at least two references of the same thing all right because that
way you know oh yeah this is so obvious like you know you don't have some that's
trying to mess this up but that's easy right you know and as we view this
you're going to see just how easy it is to piece this together the only thing
stopping you from understanding this doctrine is the things you've learned
over the many years that you've been in church you know the books that you've
read you know all the fictional books left behind all the Rapture movies you
know that you've watched and and all the preconceived ideas that you have in your
head if you're willing to let go of this this doctrine is super super easy to
understand I promise you that okay as long as you have the right references
it'll point you in the right direction now we read from Matthew 24 if you take
your Bibles please turn to Matthew 24 because that's probably one of the
passages that I want you to stay in Matthew 24 Matthew 24 because as our
brother Michael was reading from Matthew 24 you may have noticed that this was
referenced as well the Sun the moon going dark Matthew 24 verse 29 the Bible
says immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened
and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and
the powers of the heavens shall be shaken so what does the Bible say
immediately after the tribulation of those days right after the tribulation
the Sun shall be darker and the moon shall not give her lights all right now
I'm going to read you another reference Mark 13 plus 24 it's just it's the same
teaching from Christ I just want to reach you from another passage it says
but in those days after that tribulation the Sun shall be darkened and the moon
shall not give her light and the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers that
are in heaven shall be shaken so what comes first the tribulation or the
celestial darkening anyone according to what we read the tribulation and then
the celestial darkening right I mean this is clear two passages from Bible
making this super clear so what I'm going to write there in 3b in 3b before
the celestial darkening as the Bible said it is the great tribulation write
down the great tribulation if you want okay the great tribulation or just
tribulation tribulation or great tribulation maybe great tribulation
because that Jesus doesn't give it that name as well all right great tribulation
in 3b okay so we're just putting this together right we're just going from the
Word of God I'm not happy I'm not I don't have to read this and and give you
my opinion and give you some complicated answer we just straight with the Bible
says we're just writing this down all right now if you want to keep a finger
there in Matthew 24 please turn to Revelation chapter 6 it's also another
important passage that we're going to turn to if you just want to keep a
finger in Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 they're going to be the main text that
we read from Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 Matthew 24 and so I hope you can see how
important this event is so far of the Sun and Moon being darkened and the stars
falling from heaven because the Bible tells us what comes after the Bible
tells us what comes before and the Bible also tells us when this happens okay
it's found in Revelation chapter 6 verse 12 Revelation chapter 6 verse 12 okay
and I look I'm not gonna have time to go through all the Bible prophecy stuff but
I just want to focus on the Rapture okay but Revelation chapter 6 verse 12 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 head and the moon became as blood and
the stars of heaven fell onto the earth even as a fig tree cast off her untimely
figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind so I'll just read that one more time 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 his hair and the moon became as blood so
when does this happen which seal in the book of Revelation anyone the sixth seal
so what I want you to write in 4a above celestial darkening I want you
to write there sixth seal and a sixth seal that's when it happens all right we
know what happens after the day of the Lord we know what happens before the
tribulation we know when it happens the sixth seal all right so um yes seal S E
A L seal so if you know the book of Revelation you're probably familiar
with the seven seals the seven trumpets and the seven vials we won't be able to
have time to go for the trumpets and vials today okay but the sixth seal so just
straight away it's time to put it all together right if you keep your focus on
this event the Sun and moon and stars it's all starting to come together for
you okay now go back to Matthew 24 Matthew 24 verse 15 Matthew 24 verse 15
Matthew 24 verse 15 the Bible says when ye therefore shall see the
pay attention to these words the abomination of desolation another big
word you have to write that down soon when you shall see the abomination of
desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophets stand in the holy place who so
rideth 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 give suck in
those days but pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the
seventh day but look at verse 21 notice verse 21 for then for then shall be
great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time
no no ever shall be all right so you saw there in verse 21 that's when Jesus
mentions the Great Tribulation for then shall be great tribulation so what was
before the Great Tribulation it's that long word right in verse 15 when ye
therefore shall see the abomination of desolation if you go if you got your
Bibles there you'll be able to spill it out but just in in box to be box to be
please write abomination of desolation right makes sense right the abomination
of desolation then the Great Tribulation that's what we just read in Matthew 24
so in box to be please write abomination of desolation and if you can't spill it
just write a OD a OD abomination of desolation now what's interesting about
this passage guys is in verse 15 Jesus said spoken of by Daniel the prophet now
obviously we know the book of Daniel in the Old Testament right God says how
Jesus says who so readeth let him understand so what's Jesus telling us
says look please read the book of Daniel so you can fully understand what I'm
talking about all right so that's what we're going to do and I'm going to turn
to Daniel chapter 9 you don't need to turn there just read it out to you
Daniel chapter 9 verse 27 Daniel chapter 9 verse 27 because we want to understand
a little bit about this abomination desolation okay Daniel chapter 9 verse 27
the Bible says and he speaking of the Antichrist speaking of the beast to
come in the future and he shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week now
if you know about prophecy all right again I don't have time to go through
all this but there are 70 weeks that were prophesied of Daniel in fact we
covered some of this before all right and each week represented a period of
seven years instead of seven days those weeks represented seven years all right
and there's still this one week to come when the Antichrist comes upon this
earth and that's the last week left the one week and then it says sorry we've
made for one week and in the midst of the week in the midst of the week what
does mix mean MIT st middle in the middle or in the midst of the week he
shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate that's what Jesus spoke
about the desolation of abominations even until the consummation and that
determined shall be poured upon the desolate so what I want to write here
guys above to be where you wrote abomination of desolation in 2a we know
when it happens so just right there in the midst of the week or the middle of
the week the middle of that seven year period that is still to come in the
future just right about there in the midst of the week we're gonna see that
abomination of desolation all right that's what the Bible says all right
Obama in the midst of the week to a to a all right now let me just quickly
explain to you without going through all the passages it appears that when the
Antichrist comes that he reestablishes some Old Testament practices such as
sacrificing animals okay that's what it appears to be in the old when the
Antichrist comes and in the new temple they may very well be sacrificing
animals which will be just a spit in the face of Jesus Christ who was our
ultimate sacrifice right look the Lord that takes no pleasure in the sacrifice
of animals the reason animals were sacrificed in the Old Testament was to
be a typhus to be a picture was to be a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ
to come and his blood that was going to be shed for us okay and so for the
Antichrist to reestablish a covenant of sacrifice it just shows you know how
this blast beam in the name of Christ there but then he's going to cause that
to cease he's going to cause that to stop and if you know the story of the
Antichrist he's going to come and claim himself to be Christ but just like
Christ with his sacrifice it put an end to the Old Testament okay and the
sacrificial system he's going to do try to do the same thing right establish
sacrifices then step in and say he's Christ and put an end to the sacrifice
there that's what the abomination of desolation is all about I haven't got
time to teach all of that okay now I do want to point out one thing I'm going to
read to you from Daniel 11 verse 31 the Bible says an arm shall stand on his
part and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength and shall take
away the daily sacrifice that's what I'm referring to they're going to take away
that daily sacrifice of animals and they shall place the abomination that maketh
desolate I'm going to read to you from verse 36 and the king shall do according
to his will speaking of the Antichrist and he shall exalt himself and magnify
himself above every God and shall speak marvelous things against the God of God
and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished for that is
determined shall be done neither shall he regard the God of his fathers he's
not going to even you know acknowledge the God of the Bible nor the desire of
women nor regard any God for he shall magnify himself above all so he's going
to say he's exalts himself about you know Jesus Christ but the father you
know about probably all the other gods of the false religions and he's going to
claim to be the resurrected Christ claim to be God himself and exalting himself
okay that's important for you to just keep in the back of your mind for
future all right go back to Matthew 24 if you turned away Matthew 24 I hope
your your your graph is coming together all right we're building it on the Word
of God and what he just clearly says without me having to twist the
scriptures all right Matthew 24 verse 4 Matthew 24 verse 4 and Jesus answered
unto them sorry and said unto them take heed that no man deceive you guys you
might be wondering why there's so many positions on the end times why do so
many people have different opinions and interpretations on the end times and
timing of Christ and is there a future tribulation and and is a pre is a
pre-raph is opposed look Jesus said there's going to be deception all right
and this is why I just want you guys to write this down and know what the Word
of God says all right there's inception verse 6 and you shall hear of wars and
rumors of wars see that you'd be not troubled for all these things must come
to pass so keep that in mind of the wars and rumors of wars but the end is not
yet for nation shall rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom and there
shall be famines keep that in mind famines as well and pestilences keep
that in mind and earthquakes in diverse places all over the place verse 8 now
look at this all these all these that we just read about you know the nation
against nation and pestilences famines all these are the beginnings of sorrows
all these are the beginning of sorrows now so what I'm going to do what we
want to do it just yet so we're talking about the beginning of sorrows now if
you look at verse 15 look at verse 15 Matthew 24 verse 15 it says when ye
therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the
prophet okay so I just want to point your attention there in verse 15 speaks
about the abomination of desolation but what did Jesus Christ mention before
that the beginning of sorrows right the beginning of sorrows nations against
famines and earthquakes that is the beginning of sorrows before the
abomination of desolation okay so what I want to write in 1b what do you think
it's gonna be what are you gonna feel that in box 1b the beginning of sorrows
right the beginning of sorrows because Matthew 24 said that the beginner
sorrows and then the abomination of desolation all right so if you look at
your graph so far the beginning of sorrows so you should see now this is
going to be filled out hope you haven't missed anything because if you miss it
maybe you get spit jumbled up okay but one 1b you should write in there
beginning of sorrows all right now we're going to focus away from the first graph
for a moment and look at the second graph the second graph where it says the
beginning of sorrows you see where that's written there in the sorrows
Matthew 24 and then Revelation 6 seals 1 to 4 okay that's where I want you to
move your focus to right now let's just learn a little bit more about the
beginning of sorrows and let's see how it correlates with Revelation chapter 6
so I really want you to just flick through guys one finger in Matthew 24
one finger in Revelation chapter 6 okay and we're going to flick back and forth
because I want you to see how similar these two things are the Bible is 100%
consistent okay revelation chapter 6 verse 1
revelation chapter 6 verse 1 and if you listen that this is about the seals and
I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals the first seal and I heard as it
were the noise of thunder one of the four beasts saying come and see and I
saw and behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was
given unto him and by the way I believe this is the Antichrist and he goes and he
went forth conquering and to conquer all right so most end time teachers believe
this is a reference to the Antichrist okay it doesn't matter it's a pre post or
whatever most people would point this and recognize that is the Antichrist
coming and conquering nations and he's taking over nations right but notice
that he comes on a white horse and what did Jesus say I don't think I read it to
you sorry in Matthew 24 verse 5 go back to Matthew 24 verse 5 again we're just
going to flick back and forth so keep your fingers there Matthew 24 verse 5
what did he say about the end times he goes for many shall come in my name
saying I am Christ and shall deceive many so what does Jesus promise that's
going to come in the end times false Christs coming in his name coming to
deceive right and if we look at seal number one in Revelation chapter 6 what
do we see you know the ride on the white horse which I do believe that is a
reference to the Antichrist himself there are many false Christ there are
many Antichrist but there is one that is sure to come which is the beast of the
book of Revelation okay so what I want you to do guys is in 6a in 6a so if you
go to begin your sorrows Matthew 24 box 6a I want you to write down false
Christs okay Matthew 24 told us about false Christs right Matthew 24 write
down in 6a false Christs now in 6b what I want you to write down what do we see
in Revelation 6 the Antichrist okay the Antichrist 6b we see the Antichrist and
if you also want to write there the white horse white horse okay the white
horse I want you to keep this stuff in mind okay so false Christs and then the
rider on the white horse okay 6b all right let's move on I hope you see
Matthew 24 Matthew 24 verse 6 Matthew 24 verse 6 and then Jesus says so after he
mentions the false Christ he says and ye shall hear of walls and rumors of walls
see that ye be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the
end is not yet for nation shall rise against nation and Kingdom against
Kingdom what are we seeing in Matthew 24 anybody what are we saying sorry wars
we're seeing wars right we're seeing world wars so what I'm going to write
there in 7a in 7a this is seal number sorry I shouldn't say that yet but what
we're seeing here after the false Christs are the wars and rumors of wars
if you just want to write world war you can write that as well you know nation
against nation whatever whatever is easier for you to write just write that
down there in 7a okay I'll give you a minute to write that now fleet back to
Revelation 6 fleet back to Revelation 6 Revelation 6 verse 3 Revelation chapter
6 verse 3 now we're going to look at the second seal what is the second seal
Revelation 6 verse 3 and when he had opened the second seal I heard the
second beast say come and see and there went out another horse that was red and
power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth hey they're
taking peace from the earth what does that mean if this please be taken away
what's going on in the earth wars right wars and keep reading and that and that
they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword hey
what is the sword represents warfare rights a weapon of war so what I want to
write in 7b in 7b is that peace is taken oh yeah peace is taken and red horse as
well red horse peace is taken and also write down the red horse okay so hope
this is coming clear to you right the box in 6b is the first seal the box in
6b sorry 7b is the second seal okay and you can see how it lines up perfectly
with the events that Jesus Christ is speaking of one by one now flip back to
Matthew 24 Matthew 24 verse 7 Matthew 24 verse 7 Matthew 24 verse 7 we started to
read it it said in Kingdom against Kingdom but what's next and there shall
be famines and there shall be famines so what I want to write guys in box
8a box 8a is famines famines a lack of food right 8a famines and this makes
perfect sense if there's a worldwide war okay naturally you know the economy is
going to suffer naturally people aren't going to be able to go about their
business and farm and all those kinds of things and there's a drop of food out
food okay and people are going to be hungry they're gonna be famines this was
this happens in any kind of war scenario okay but go to Revelation chapter 6 go
back to Revelation chapter 6 verse 5 Revelation chapter 6 verse 5 let's look
at the third seal the third seal and let's see if this lines up with what
Jesus speaks about in Matthew 24 Revelation chapter 6 verse 5 and when he
had opened the third seal I heard the third beast say come and see and I be
held in love a black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his
hand and I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say a measure of wheat
for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou hurt not the
oil and the wine now that might not make a lot of sense to you but in these days
a penny was a day's wage if you worked just a standard job you would earn a
penny okay so I don't know work out how much you you earn a day okay let's say
I don't know let's say it's a hundred and fifty bucks let's give it simple
right hundred fifty bucks you earn a day for full working all right that's what's
going to cost you to purchase a measure of wheat okay so if you want to feed
your family and a measure of wheat it's just a portion of wheat it's gonna cost
you a hundred fifty dollars okay why because it's famine right and when
there's famine with the shortage of food guess what the food prices skyrocket you
know and the value of your dollar collapses okay the value of your dollar
collapses because people are more interested in food than they are in money
okay so we see that play out there and then it says in three measures of barley
for a penny so you get a bit more barley for your day's wage but it's well short
of what you can buy I mean if you're gonna be buying some wheat at how much
is wheat if you're going to buy some flour or something to bake bread how
much is that a couple of bucks maybe four boxes I don't know five bucks all
right imagine paying 150 bucks so whatever right at days wage that's what
that situation gonna be because of the famines that take place there so you can
see that correlation take place between Matthew 24 and Revelation chapter 6 so
sorry I don't know if I told you yet in 8b in box 8b I want you to write down a
food food shortage I wrote down the wrong thing here a food shortage and
then you can also write down the black horse the black horse a black horse and
a shortage of food which lines up again with what Jesus said about the famines
okay now flick back to I'll give you one more minute to write that down if you
can not one minute but a few seconds go back to Matthew 24 verse 7 Matthew 24
verse 7 we didn't finish the verse yet what comes after the famines pestilences
right and pestilences so what I wanted to write down in 9a and just ignore that
black box there that's just a mistake but anyway 9a write down pestilences 9a
box 9a this is from the book of Matthew write down pestilences now what are
pestilences diseases yeah diseases sicknesses you know I'm have you ever
gone to work and maybe you've been sick and people have said to you you look
painful maybe just you know family you're not feeling well and you tend to
lose a bit of color people say you've lost color people say you look pale you
know you look sickly right go to Revelation chapter 6 Revelation chapter
6 back to Revelation chapter 6 verse 7 Revelation chapter 6 verse 7 so now
we're going to look at the fourth seal and when he had opened the fourth seal I
heard the voice of the fourth beast say come and see and I looked and behold a
pale horse so like a sickly a sickly looking horse a pale horse and his name
that sat on him was death and hell followed with him and power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword and with
hunger and with death and with the beast of the earth so it looks like with all
this world war and it's these famines and the pestilences that Jesus speaks
about that a fourth of the whole earth are going to die and succumb at this
point in time because of this and obviously when there's great deaths this
is when diseases spread you've got all you know obviously you know rodents and
mosquitoes carrying all kinds of diseases but it's interesting that it
even mentions and with the beasts of the earth so it looks like wild beasts are
going out and killing people as well you know and again I don't know does this
line up with the shortage of food maybe they're maybe they're going for
struggles and they're attacking humans and things like that for food that's
that's one possibility but I just like you to notice just how well all of that
comes together in the Bible and then again what did Jesus call all this is
this is the beginning of sorrows right he talks about all these events and
calls it the beginning of sorrows and if you look at Revelation 6 we haven't got
time to go through this but this is the last time of the seals being referenced
to a horse okay seal one is a white horse seal two was a red horse seal three
was the black horse and seal four was the pale horse and then the other seals
are not referenced to horses it's like something changes at that point in
Revelation and we do see that something does change in the book of Matthew 24 as
well as you already wrote down because after the beginning of sorrows you have
the abomination of desolation but I just want you to see how those two
things go together okay so now what I want to write in box 9b write down death
okay and write down pale horse death and pale horse because I think you should
have already written pestilences in 9a so are all your bottom boxes filled out
there should be right so it might feel that some sort of strings a little bit
should be all filled out okay so what I wanted to show you with this is the
correlation again between Matthew 24 specifically the beginning of sorrows
and Revelation chapter 6 specifically the first four seals and the four
horsemen and the foot the four horsemen so now that we've looked at that what I
want you to write down in 1a the top left corner the box sorry the top left
box is seals 1 to 4 or seals 1-4 okay seals 1 2 3 4 if you want okay just write
down something like that because you see that's correlated with the beginning of
sorrows all right beginning of sorrows seals 1 to 4 it's the same thing it's
the same thing all right now if you look at your box and if you look at your
table at the top there so 1a you've got seals 1 to 4 right and then in 2a
you've got the midst of the week yes in 3a it's empty right now and then in 4a
you've got the six seal right that should be that hopefully everybody's got
that so without even reading the Bible let's just forget the Bible for a minute
just using logic what should 3a be anybody you've got seals 1 to 4 in 1a
you've got seal 6 in 4a what seal are we missing seal number 5 seal number
5 now don't write it in just yet let's get them let's get the proof from the
Bible I just want to use logic a little bit there 3a should be the fifth seal
and 3a should be the fifth seal go to Matthew 24 go to Matthew 24 verse 8
Matthew 24 verse 8 Matthew 24 verse 8
Matthew 24 verse 8 all these are the beginning of sorrows we read that already
right then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you
shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake hey for the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ you know some people reject Matthew 24 and say it's not for the New
Testament believer it's not for the New Testament Church they say it's for the
unsaved Jews and yet what we see Jesus speaking about you and they shall
deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all
nations for my name's sake hey the only people that carry the name of Christ you
know are Christians are believers hey Judaism hates the Lord Jesus Christ they
reject the Lord Jesus Christ they're not going to be some look they might be
suffering during this time but if they're suffering they're not suffering
for the name of Christ let's put it that way right it's the people of God
it's his believers it's his church that is suffering for his name's sake all
right but notice that he comes after the beginning of sorrows we already saw
there's a lot of warfare on the earth the whole earth is is suffering during
this time but when we get to Matthew chapter 24 verse 9 now he's going for
those that name Jesus Christ now he's going for the believers all right so
what I wanted to actually not only try anything there but if you look at 3b
what's it what did we write down in 3b the Great Tribulation the Great
Tribulation and what the Jesus says they're gonna come and kill you they're
going to come and persecute you hey that is tribulation something that you need
to understand okay and if you believe in the preacher of rapture right now you
can probably shake your head going no no no the tribulation is when God
pours out his wrath on the earth why would God pour out his wrath on his
people it's because God's wrath is not the tribulation the tribulation and if
you look at tribulation in all your Bible it's always the world it's always
the devil persecuting God's people the tribulation all right and then in
answer to the tribulation God will later pour out his wrath pour out his judgment
upon the ungodly world upon the armies of the beasts okay but that is the wrath
of God upon the earth the tribulation is the world or the Antichrist
persecuted believers these are two different things and I'm going to prove
this to you as we go on all right so we said this should be the fifth seal go to
Revelation chapter 6 go back to Revelation chapter 6 verse 9
Revelation chapter 6 verse 9 Revelation chapter 6 verse 9 and when
he had opened the fifth seal what should we expect to see what did we just read
about people killing believers I saw under the altar the souls of them that
were slain what's that killed for the Word of God and for the testimony which
they held hey they're being slain they were killed for the testimony that they
had they were killed for the Word of God hey these are believers that were put to
death here at the fifth seal do you see how well it comes together we don't need
to force it you know it unravels itself when we compare scripture with scripture
so what I'm going to write there in 3a if you haven't already is the fifth seal
the fifth seal the fifth seal is the Great Tribulation okay where the
Antichrist specifically persecutes God's people specifically persecutes those
that have the name of Christ those that hold to the Word of God okay
now how many boxes do you still need to fill out on the top just one more is it
5a 5a all right cool now I'm going to read to you from Zephaniah chapter 1
Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 14 Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 14 I mean I can turn
anywhere but I'm just turning because the day of the Lord guys you see there
in in 5b it's day of the Lord we want to learn about the day of the Lord okay
what is the day of the Lord okay this is what we want to learn about there's so
many references in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament but I'm just
going to read to you some of the better ones Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 14 it
says the great day of the Lord is near it is near and hasteth greatly even the
voice of the day of the Lord the mighty man shall cry there bitterly that day is
a day of wrath what is the day of the Lord it is the day of wrath a day of
trouble and distress a day of waste and desolation a day of darkness and
gloominess a day of clouds and thick darkness a day of the trumpet and alarm
against the fenced cities and against the high towers and I will bring
distress upon men they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned
against the Lord and their blood shall be poured out as dust in their flesh as
a dung neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in
the day of the Lord's wrath and whose wrath is the day of the Lord it's the
Lord's wrath it's God's wrath against the wicked but the whole land shall be
devoured by the fire of his jealousy for he shall make even a spindly
riddance of all then that dwell in the land that's Zephaniah chapter 1
verse 14 to 18 I think I've got the reference there yeah I do. Isaiah now I'm
going to read to you another passage Isaiah 13 verse 9 Isaiah 13 verse 9
again you've got the reference down there it says behold the day of the Lord
cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he
shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it so what is the day of the Lord is
there any doubt I mean I can read so many other passages the Bible's
super clear about this the day of the Lord is the day of God's wrath okay so
what I want to write there in 5a in 5a is God's wrath God's wrath okay God's
wrath
so hope now this should be filled out we're pretty much done now okay but I
just wanted to understand guys and we haven't even spoken about raptures yet
but I just wanted to piece together some pieces of the scriptures put them
together and show you these things now if you look at your top table guys you'll
notice that the two there are two arrows right or two arrows pointing up okay now
these two arrows are supposed to represent the rapture okay what is the
rapture it's when the Lord comes back and gives us our resurrected bodies
praise God we don't have to deal with this fleshly sinful nature forever
God's gonna come back you know if you're in the grave if you're dead by then
you're still gonna make the rapture because God's gonna bring his saints
with him those that have slept in Christ he's gonna bring them with him they're
gonna get the new resurrected body and be caught up with the Lord in the air
they're gonna go first and then those that are here on that last day that last
generation of the New Testament Church those that remain on the earth they're
gonna also we're going to this probably next week but they're also gonna be
taken up in the air to be forever with the Lord with their new resurrected
bodies now the reason I put the first arrow there is because this is where the
pre-tribulation believers say the rapture takes place they say it takes
place here before the beginning of sorrows before any of this stuff starts
to take place okay and and definitely before the tribulation all right but for
for the pre-tribulation believers they call that the entire seven-year period
they call that the entire seven-year period the tribulation or the great
tribulation okay but the Bible says that the great tribulation comes after the
abomination of their salvation which is when the Antichrist establishes himself
as a new God a new Christ that's what Matthew 24 clearly says okay we don't
have to change that and then the second arrow so I've just got it there just for
your reference the second arrow that comes after the great tribulation and
after the celestial darkening that is the rapture position that I'm teaching
you guys today okay it's post tribulational meaning it's after the
tribulation and I don't want you thinking seven years here I'm just just
thinking tribulation which is after the abomination of the solution my personal
opinion is probably just a few weeks all right I've got some reasons for that
but before God's wrath before before the Lord's wrath on the day of the Lord it
will take place okay as God starts to get himself ready to pour out his wrath
upon the earth which is why the position that we hold here as a church is
commonly known as the post tribulation pre-wrath rapture okay post tribulation
pre-wrath rapture so the idea is we're going to be here for the Antichrist is
going to reveal himself he's going to persecute believers okay the final
generation of God's people and those that managed to get through that time
then be raptured to be with the Lord before God turns around and pours out
his wrath on the earth now go back to Matthew 24 go back to Matthew 24 let's
look at this very quickly I'm almost wrapping up so for those that came in a
bit later this is part one next week we're doing part two I'm gonna build on
this a little bit more Matthew 24 I didn't want to keep you here for two
hours so I cut it in half Matthew 24 verse sorry guys one moment verse 29
Matthew 24 verse 29 let's just finish on this immediately after the tribulation
of those days shall the Sun be darkened we saw this and the moon shall not give
her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens
shall be shaken so hey Matthew 24 is consistent with the passage that we saw
in Joel and in Acts okay and then look at verse 30 and then what's the word
then follow in right and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in
heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the
Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory hey
they all see Jesus Christ it's not a secret rapture it's not something that
just disappears he's here one minute and gone the next they all all the tribes of
the earth mourn when they see Christ coming and verse 31 he shall send his
angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect
from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other now we just read
that let's let's finish off on the memory verse the memory verse that you
guys memorize in Revelation chapter 1 verse 7 Revelation chapter 1 verse 7
actually before we read verse 7 let's read verse 4 why is the book of
Revelation written guys look at verse 4 John to the seven churches which are in
Asia grace be unto you and peace from him which is it which was and which is
to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne and from Jesus
Christ who is a faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the
prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our
sins in his own blood who's John one to the churches those that are saved those
that are washed in the blood of Christ look at verse six and have made us what
an honor have made us kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory
and dominion forever and ever amen let's busy run to again I'm sorry for
repeating myself but this is important to the New Testament Church verse 7
behold and what does behold mean it means look fix your eyes upon this this
is important pay attention look behold he cometh with clouds that's what
Matthew 24 said and every eye shall see him the Bible said in the story of 24
said every every out every tribe sorry every tribe wasn't tribe all the earth
will see him right and they also which pierced him so even the Israelites and
all kindreds of the earth shall wail what did my 24 say they shall mourn a
woman it's the same thing when you're wailing you're mourning you're
sorrowing you're crying out when you wail because of him even so amen
what's the instructions of the New Testament Church to watch some secret
rapture watch is coming with clouds and all the nations of the earth will see
him and they're gonna wail the unbelieving world are going to be
wailing and mourning because as we saw in what's following here God's gonna
pour out his wrath upon the earth God's gonna unleash the trumpets he's gonna
unleash the vials and it's just gonna literally gonna be hell on earth during
that time but praise God for us we behold we fix our eyes upon Christ you
know we you know you might say it's a bit scary hey but there are believers right
now on this earth that are being put to death that are being persecuted that are
fearful for their lives okay and I truly believe if we're the generation that
goes through this time that the Spirit of the Lord's going to empower us it's
going to give us boldness and we're gonna be able to get through this even
though right now we might think of it as a scary thing and if you feel that
way it gives you fear what should that drive you to do that should drive you to
draw closer to the Lord it should drive you to know the scriptures more it
should drive you to rely less on your own self and rely more on the power of
God in your life hey and if we're not the generation that experiences this
could be a hundred years from now who knows right it could be hundred years
from now but still hey even in this earth there could be local tribulation
there could be local warfare there could just be struggles and difficulties
in your life but if you prepared yourself for hardship as a believer
you're going to be more successful and more in the will of God to overcome
these challenges in our life okay so I'll leave it there guys if you have any
questions please let me know but next week we're going to go through part two
okay let's pray