Oh, that I may enter in, for he purchased my redemption and forgave me all my sin.
Amen. Good seeing you, Brother Ramon. Could you bless the offering for us?
Thank you.
Alright, go ahead and open your Bibles to Titus chapter 2.
Titus chapter number 2. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand. One of the ushers will bring you one.
Titus 2.
Titus chapter 2, the Bible reads,
But speak thou of the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, and charity in patience.
The aged women likewise in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things,
that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home,
good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works and doctrine showing uncorruptness,
gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed.
Having no evil thing to say of you, exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things,
not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself that peculiar people sell us of good works.
These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
Brother Timo, will you pray for us?
Amen. So, I am going to be finishing Titus chapter 2. I know that it's been a slow go, you know, with the
Titus series, but there's a lot of good stuff in there, and I just don't like to skip over things
that I think are good for our church, and basically, I mean, if it's a Bible study...
You know, we're studying the Bible, so it's not that uncommon to have multiple sermons preached out of one chapter, but I didn't end up getting to finish,
and I went way long on Thursday, but I didn't end up getting to finish the very end of my sermon last week, so I wanted to kind of finish off there,
but the title of the sermon is The Blessed Hope, so I'm going to be preaching about the rapture
a little bit here, probably a lot a bit, but I do want to finish my point from
my sermon from Thursday night, so that'll just be a quick part of the sermon. So, anyway, look down
at verse number nine in your Bible, and thus far, we've basically covered... Paul's saying that we
need to have sound doctrine, and this is what he's saying, that Titus, you need to teach these things.
Titus is a pastor that was trained by Paul, and so we've covered the aged men, the aged women,
and the young ladies, and the young men, and now I want to cover this topic of the
servants. So, look at verse number nine, where the Bible says, exhort servants to be obedient
onto their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering again, and we need to
get this through our heads, folks, and as Bible believing Christians, this is something, as a
worker, any kind of worker, we need to understand that people are going to look at us differently,
they're going to treat us differently, if they know you're a Christian, they're going to scrutinize
everything you do, so the same mistakes that someone else at the workplace is going to make,
you know, you can't make that mistake, because they're going to hold you to a standard that
they're not holding themselves to, or other people to, because you say you're a Christian,
okay? So, Paul's talking to Titus, and he's just saying, hey, exhort, that means to encourage,
to strongly encourage the servants to be obedient onto their own masters. So,
now obviously, the word servant can mean like a bond servant, and I think that, you know,
in the time that Paul was living in, there was such thing as bond servants,
but I mean, I would just apply this here to, you know, a servant is just someone that works for
someone else, like a personal attendant, but also, but like, so when you work at a job,
and you have a boss, that person is your master, you know, so to speak, because aren't they your
boss? Aren't they the ones that tell you what to do? Aren't they the ones that tell you what time
to take breaks, what time to take lunches, and all that stuff? So, I mean, applying this in modern
times here, you know, I mean, this has always been something that God
desires from his people is that we would be hard workers, we'd be obedient to our bosses,
we would please them well in all things, not just some things, and then it says not answering again.
So, I'm going to just break this verse down really quickly. Like I said, exhort means to strongly
encourage, to do, you know, somebody to do something. So, he's saying that, hey,
you need to teach this to people, the people that are working for other people, the people
that are servants, that they need to be obedient, okay? And what does obedient mean? Well, it means
complying or willing to comply with orders or requests submissive to another's will. So,
you're willing to comply or you are complying with what the boss is asking you to do.
Now, this could apply also in the home where, you know, obviously, the husband is the leader
of the home. And, you know, we talked about this last week, so I don't want to beat that down too
much. But, you know, the wives are supposed to obey their husbands, you know, in the marriage
vows, I always make sure that that's part of the marriage vows, because the Bible teaches that
wives are to obey their own husbands. And in 2022, we have a lot of, you know, feminism
and lesbianism and whatever else is, you know, just it's an anti-man world out there right now.
You know, women are ruling the workplaces, you know, they can rule the workplace,
but they can't really necessarily do the kind of work that a man can do when it comes to like
construction. I mean, any place I've ever worked with construction where there's women that are
working, most of the times those women are pretty worthless in that field. They can't lift as much,
they can't do as much, they can't endure as much. So, they usually end up driving a dump truck or
something like that or flagging, just a fact. So, but anyway, I said I wasn't going to get onto
that and I did, so I apologize for that. But anyway, so obedient means to be willing to comply
with orders or requests. So, when it comes to the workplace, your boss is, you know, the Bible is
teaching here that you're supposed to obey what your boss says to do. You know, and there's good
bosses out there, there's ones that are not as like constraining as others, you know, they're
not as micromanaging as others. Some bosses are micromanaging, you know, everything you do,
they're like over your shoulder looking, making sure you're doing it right. Now, I would just
expect that like if you were starting a new job, man, that your boss is probably going to be this
way for a while with you. You know, I first started, we first started this church with
Pastor Menes, he was a lot more hands-on with me at the beginning, until he realized that I could
manage everything myself and as time went on, I didn't have to call him as much. He didn't have
to call me as much, we didn't have to communicate on the same level. Every week I texted him,
you know, what our number, like what our attendance was, what our tithing was, and all that stuff,
maybe gave him a highlight of our weekend or something like that or how and how many people
were saved. But other than that, we'd go a few weeks without contacting each other and, you know,
he's got his own church down there, he has his own church down there to manage and so, you know,
he left it to me to manage the day-to-day here. That's why I was here in the first place and
eventually in order to ordain me to be the pastor of the church here. So, God expects whoever our
boss is that we're to obey them. That's what being obedient means. Now it says to please them and to
please them well in all things. You know, it's not just enough to obey, but you want to make sure
that your boss is pleased with you and pleased means to cause, to feel happy and satisfied.
So, you know, well, you don't know my boss, you know, he's just, you know, he's just ridiculous
with his requests and he just, he asks all this of me and it's just ridiculous. Well, let me just say
this real quick. There's plenty of jobs out there. If you don't like the boss that you work for,
you can just go work for somebody else that's not like that. You know, we live in a country where
we have plenty, you know, there's plenty of jobs, plenty of bosses, nobody wants to work anymore.
So, if you're a worker, you can get a job anywhere you want. If you get fired tomorrow,
guess what? There's, you know, literally Papa Murphy's right over here in this complex,
19 to 20 dollars an hour to start. You can sling pizzas all day long for 20 bucks an hour.
I mean, when I was a kid, that was like a four dollar an hour job. So, I'm not that old. I mean,
I know I'm older. I'm an older, aged man, but I'm not really old. I started my first job at
14 years old working for Thriftway. If you even know what that is, it's a store chain,
but as a box boy for four dollars and 25 cents an hour. So, and you're like putting away all the
milk. You're kind of like a laborer and so that's kind of where you start as a man. Usually doing,
if you're doing a labor type job, you're going to start laboring and, you know, if you're not
going to start laboring, you better learn how to do some computer work or something because
it's not going to get any easier from there. And if you want to move up, you have to have,
you know, some sort of an education or some sort of expertise in the field that you're working in.
Well, you're never going to move up. You're never going to succeed. If you want to be a Papa
Murphy's worker for the rest of your life, you know, at $20 an hour, I mean, I don't even know
if you could afford to live on that now, but it's, that's a lot of money to put pizzas together and
wrap them up with cellophane, you know, but you want to please your boss well and, you know,
it's not just enough, like I said, to be obedient, you know, because people can be obedient with a
bad attitude and your boss can see that, you know, to please them well, do the things that
he asks with a good attitude, not just like grumbling under your breath and talking bad
about them to all the co-workers all the time. You don't want to be that guy. So it says not
answering again and I interpret this as not talking back to your boss, okay. I've never
heard anybody interpret it any other way, but when I read that, it says, you know, please them
well and all things not answering again. So it's like, you know, some people just like to ask a
bunch of questions or they try to get, you know, cheeky with their boss and like, so you're telling
me that you want me to do this. That's not my job description or whatever. And, you know, that's
answering back again. If your boss asks you to do something, do it. And look, I know because we're
in America that you can just quit a job and start another one. There's a double-edged sword to that.
You can be just one of these people that just bounces from job to job all the time. Well, you
know, I think that you should put some time in and obviously if some dream job comes up or something
like that, then I understand that. But, you know, spend some time and learn the trade that you're
in and then you'll become good at your job and then you're able to be promoted. But you know
who's going to get promoted first? The Josephs, the Jacobs, those type of workers. I mean, Joseph
was obviously a great worker and God blessed him tremendously and blessed all of Egypt
because, you know, Pharaoh picked the right man for the job, you know. And I understand that
there's bias out there against Christians, but what I've found out is that sometimes
people will say that it's bias, you know, they just don't like me because I'm a Christian. That's
code word for I suck at my job and I just want to blame it on me not, you know, me being a Christian.
So that happens, you know. So, but what's the Bible saying? Hey, obey your boss,
please them well in all things and don't answer back again when they tell you to do something.
Don't argue with them and yell at them. And look, has there been times when I've done that? Yeah,
there has. And I'm not exactly proud of those moments, you know, where I felt like,
this is before I understood this verse, you know, honestly. And I'm pretty respectful to my bosses
at work. I don't sit there and yell at them, but I work in an environment where people will do
that. But that's just, you know, that's just not how we should be, you know, we shouldn't be just
going around talking crap about the boss, you know, and then look at verse number 10, it says,
not purloining. What does that word purloining mean? Well, it means to steal, pilfer,
bilge, or to take from another without right or without detection. So don't steal from your boss.
Don't steal from your company is basically what it's saying. Don't take advantage. And you're
like, well, pastor, I would never steal a package or, or some kind of thing from my boss. But,
you know, we can do things without being intentional with it. But when you're, if you're
on the clock, you're supposed to be working, right? So if you're stopping and having a
conversation, even if it's about the Bible, with someone and you stopped working, and you're
supposed to be working, then you're purloining, you're not doing what's right in the eyes of the
Lord concerning that now there's a time and a place to bring up the Bible, you're like, well,
you don't understand pastor, I was trying to get this guy saved. Yeah, but that boss is a pain you
to get people say that boss is paying you to work. Okay. So there's a time and a place for doing
things like that. Maybe if you're on, you know, you're riding with somebody in a vehicle, and
you're getting from place to place, and you can do that. I've done that before I've gotten people
saved with, you know, just driving around when you're not actually working, working, you're just
driving to a spot or whatever. I don't think there's anything wrong with that,
or on your break, or after work or before work. And those things are all fine to do. And you should
do those things. If you want to get your co-workers saved. I mean, you're gonna have to put forth a
little bit of effort in order to do that. But we should not be purloining. And we shouldn't
be stealing. We shouldn't be, you know, just loading up on all kinds of office supplies,
you know, hey, I'm gonna go to the office supply thing. And it's, you know, I know, you know,
you run out of stuff at your house, and then you're just like, well, I know where to get more
of these. And it's at your work. Well, they don't give out office supplies or give you office
supplies. So you can stock your personal office at home. So these are just things that the Bible
is saying about being a servant, about being a worker. So it also says, but showing all
good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. So what is
fidelity? Well, fidelity is faithfulness to a person, cause or belief demonstrated by continuing
loyalty and support. So this is where you say, well, hey, I'm gonna be a good servant at my work,
and I'm gonna be faithful to my boss. I'm gonna be faithful to, you know, whatever the core
elements are of your work. And obviously, you know, if they have some LGBTQ plus AIDS
policies that you don't agree with, you know, you don't have to participate in that stuff.
If they try to make you participate in that stuff, just decline. You know, we do have religious
freedom in this country. And, you know, even with the whole mask thing, when they were trying to
fire everybody that didn't want to wear a mask, well, you know, if you put forth a religious
exemption, they cannot deny that exemption. Now you might have to wear a mask at work or get
tested more often than other people because they don't understand science, but that doesn't mean
that they're, you know, that they could just push you around. They can't fire you for being
a Christian. And if they do, they're breaking a federal law. You know, you're not supposed to have,
you know, these laws and, you know, a certain way for one people in a certain way for another,
even though this happens, even though in the environment that we live in today, this does
happen, where they'll just fire people because like, if you they found out you were like,
going to the hate church or whatever, they might try to, they might fire you for it. But you know
what, you could sue them and win. You could win. So and I'm not saying be ready to just try to
push your Christianity. You know, and again, if you say, hey, I have sincerely held beliefs,
and I'm not working on Sunday, and then they, you know, but other times you've come in for
overtime on Sunday, look, they can spot a phony. They can spot a fake. And even through that whole
thing, people are coming with religious exemptions, and they know that the person didn't go to church.
But you know, I mean, it is a belief. If you have a sincerely held belief,
you know, you should be able to have that request granted to you.
Or, you know, and I know, and look, God's going to give you grace, God's going to give you mercy,
but and maybe you took a job where you have to work, you know, certain times, you know,
during your, you know, your regular church week. Well, you know, just pray to God that that
can be something that can be overcome. Anytime I've ever and I've said this many times,
anytime I've worked or started a job where I knew I was going to have to work some kind of a
thing to miss church, God has always put me in a position where I could go and be free to thrive.
So it's whether you want it or not. So you can tell everybody else in the room that,
oh, you know, I can't be free to thrive because of this. But God knows your heart. See, if you
really want to be free to thrive, God's going to make it happen for you because He wants you to
obey. He wants you to obey His commandments. And, you know, if He's not allowing that to happen,
you know, obviously you have the choice of where to work, but sometimes you don't really have a
choice. There's been times, you know, even like 2007 to 2010 where it was hard to find a job.
You just, there was just nothing out there. And it was, the country was in a recession because of,
you know, the Fannie Mae thing and the house closing and all that, you know, our country was
in a hard time and it was hard to find work, but we're not in that time now. So, you know,
if you've got a good place to work, you know, stay there and work, but, you know, we need to
make sure that we're doing things and saying that we're doing things for the right reasons.
Okay. So you can't just say, well, I want to be free to thrive, but my work won't let me.
That's rubbish. That's rubbish. And you know what it is. So try to do your best to be able to be
that guy or that gal to be free to thrive. Now look what it says in verse number 11. It says,
for the grace of God that bringeth, salvation hath appeared to all men. Now I could go off on
a Calvinistic rant right now, but I'm not going to do that because that's not really part of the
scope of this sermon, this study, but the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to
all men. And so it's basically like piggybacking off of this verse, like we want to have people
adorn the doctrine of God, our savior and all things in verse 10. So like you showing yourself
as a good worker at your work, it is, you know, we're not lifestyle evangelists here,
but there is something to be said about how your life does speak for you and for your God
in all things that you do. So if they see, well, hey, this person doesn't try to steal.
When he gets to work, he's ready to work. He tries to please me all the time. He's, you know,
exhorting, you know, or I mean, he's being obedient to everything I asked him to do.
That speaks volumes for you as a Christian and for God. And that's why it says that they may adorn
the doctrine of God, our savior in all things. And so, and this even goes back to the young men,
the young women, the elder men, the elder women, that all this stuff speaks how you live your life
in front of other people, how your conversation is, is going to speak volumes to people.
And maybe, you know, cause it even talks about in first Peter, how, you know, your chase conversation
as a lady and your obedience to your husband that's not saved can win that person over. Okay.
You can win hearts and minds before you ever preach a Bible verse to somebody. If they see
that, you know, you're living, you're truly living as a Christian and doing, you know,
your best to obey your boss and to live right in this world, people will take notice of that stuff.
And maybe they, where they wouldn't have been open before will be open at some point in the future.
And that'll be, you know, and again, that's not the main directive of soul winning. The
main directive is soul winning, but look, if you're living like trash, you're the worst
employee at your job and you're smoking on the job and you're like, Oh, I'm a Christian.
You know, I mean, you know, and look, I know that that's not the worst sin ever,
but people in the world judge us by a different standard than even the Bible judges us. You know
what I'm saying? Like the way you talk at work is also another way that people will judge you by
their, you know, they'll, they'll say every filthy word in the book, but then if you let something
slip out, Oh, I thought you were a Christian, you know, so we have to kind of take those things into
consideration. And, you know, if you're living like the devil in front of everybody else,
and then you're going to be like, Hey, I got a Bible verse, you know, how would you,
are you a hundred percent sure you're going to heaven? And it's like, are you?
You know, so again, I mean, and obviously we're not sinless, you know, we're going to mess up from,
you know, we're going to mess up, but like this chapter is kind of, you know, exhorting this
pastor to exhort his, his members and all these different categories, how to live rightly before
God and what God expects for, of us. So, and, and then it says for the grace of God, that bringing
it salvation has appeared to all men. So that's why he's saying this, because, you know, what's,
what's it all about? It does end up being all about soul winning and people being saved.
And so God wants, you know, multiple ways for the gospel to shine through in your life,
not just by word, but by deed also. So it says teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly
lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.
Not, you know, so the Bible, what does the Bible, you know, what is it boiling down to?
He wants us to show people, you know, Christianity through our works also. Okay. Not just by what you
say, because, you know, have you ever heard that term? Talk is cheap. Talk is cheap. So you can,
people can just boast and say all these different things, but are they really doing it? Are they
really living it? You know, that's the difference because if people don't see any difference in you,
then why would they want to be saved? They're like, well, he just does exactly what I do.
He does exactly what the world does. And so why would, why would they want something when
they're trying to be dead? You know, they, if they want, if they, maybe they have questions
in their heart about whether God's real or not. And then it's like, they see what you're doing
and they're like, yeah, you know, if that's Christianity, I don't want any part of it.
And that does happen, folks. It does happen. So, and again, I'm not teaching like a lifestyle
evangelism here. I'm just saying, you know, what the Bible's actually saying. Isn't that,
have I like spoken out of turn here? It's saying, teach us the denying ungodliness
and worldly lust. We should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.
Godly, you know, a separated life, different than other people. Righteously, you know,
live right in front of people. You know, avoiding these worldly lusts. You know, when it's talking
about worldly lusts, you know, I talked about what the, you know, the, you know, the, we want
to turn from the lust of our youth. And we're in the last sermon I preached about this, but also
just worldly lust in general. You know, we're going to look at some of the things about Egypt
today. And Egypt is a picture of the world. I've mentioned this before, but what did the children
of Israel lust after? Those things that were in the world that they left behind. See, as a
Christian, we can still get caught up into worldly lust. And the Bible is saying, hey, we need to
deny ungodliness. We need to deny worldly lust. We should live soberly. We should live a different
way than other people. Not because we want to get up and pontificate about how holy we are
and how much we don't say cuss words and whatever, you know, like people like to do,
but because it pleases God. Because who's ultimately our master? Our true master is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is a true teacher. He is, you know, as you, people called him rabbi,
which means master, right? So he is our true master. And when, and we are servants of the
most high God, right? So if we're servants of the most high God, just apply all this
to serving God. You know, maybe you're bad at doing all this other stuff, but hey,
don't be bad with it with God. You know, be obedient to the Lord. Please him well in all
things. And don't answer back, you know, well God, why is this in the Bible? I just don't,
this is, this does not jive with my personal beliefs. It doesn't matter what your personal
beliefs are. It doesn't matter whether you like what the boss is asking you to do or not.
You're supposed to do it. And you know what? The word of God, you're supposed to believe it.
Don't ask, don't answer again. You know, and sometimes men of God in the Bible would say like,
you know, why, you know, God, you said you were going to release the Israelites from Pharaoh's
power. And now he just made it worse on everybody. Remember they had to go and get their own straw,
you know, they're already in hard bondage. And then Moses comes and says, let my people go.
Let's say at the Lord. And then he just makes it worse on them. And then they're all mad at
Moses and Aaron for coming to try to free them because somebody else is doing something bad to
them. But, you know, and God, and Moses sometimes would say, you know, why are you allowing this to
happen? And he would question God and things like that. But, you know, obviously everybody
makes mistakes, you know, and sometimes it's, you know, it's okay to prove God too. Like,
I don't think that Moses was being like irreverent to God, but sometimes I think that Moses had a
lack of belief, just like when he said, how are we going to feed all these people, you know, flesh?
You know, he's looking out of this desert where there's nothing, there's no animals or anything,
except for the ones that are leading around, there's no water. How are you going to feed,
you know, millions of people flesh? And then, you know, God's like, has the arm of the Lord waxed
short? And it's just like, you know, you've little, it's another way of saying, oh, you've
little faith, you know? So, you know, when we please God well, when we're servants and obedient
servants to God, we're not answering him again. We're not stealing from him, you know, his time,
his tithe, all that stuff. And, you know, we're showing good fidelity. We're showing faithfulness,
you know? Peter lacked a little bit of faith, you know, to where he actually denied Christ three
times in front of a bunch of people that he probably never hung out with again ever after that.
And we feel these pressures come upon us. Those things are intentional. People want to put us
under pressure. They want to put us under terror. You know, these wicked people want to do this,
and we succumb to peer pressure. Peer pressure is a real thing.
You know, these people were his peers, and he was the lone person that was like for the Lord
Jesus Christ at that point in that place. So what's he doing? He's warming himself by the
world's fire. You know, the world is lighting a fire. Hey, let's go join up with them and then
reject Christ and his teachings. So, you know, the people that are blessed in the Bible, you notice
that they just continue to follow God and keep his commandments and stay faithful to him. They're
blessed in their life. They're blessed in their end. And, you know, again, we're all sinful. We
all do sinful things. And a lot of these people that did follow God with all their heart, they
did make mistakes. David made mistakes. You know, Solomon made mistakes. Everybody in this book
makes mistakes. You know, beware of a book that calls itself a holy book where all the characters
always do everything that's right every single time. That's an unrealistic book. You know,
the Bible paints people in the picture of truth, regardless of whether they were a great man or
not, regardless of whether they broke down the Sodomites' houses that were next to the place of
the Lord. You know, but then Asa, you know, there was a sermon preached a few years ago called,
you know, Awesome Asa or something like that. And he was awesome. He did do a lot of great
things. But in the end, he was diseased at his feet. And he sought for the physicians instead
of for the Lord. You know, obviously, you know, if our tale of our Christian journey was in here,
and the worst sins that we ever committed were in this book, you know, it'd be embarrassing.
It'd be embarrassing. So anyway, let me move on to verse number 12. It says,
teaching us that, oh, no, excuse me, verse 13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Where does the Bible ever say that Jesus
was God? Well, how about this verse right here? Doesn't it say looking for the blessed hope?
You know, that's when Jesus Christ is going to come again, the glorious appearing.
That's telling us, saying it twice so we understand what he's talking about. And then
the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, you're saying, well, it's and. Well,
look back up at verse number 10. What's it say there? It says that we may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior. And then it says God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ is the
Savior, is he not? Even people that believe and repent of your sins or all this false doctrine,
even Jehovah's Witnesses admit this. You say, who's the Savior in the New Testament? Well,
it's Jesus. Well, how do you reconcile that with Jehovah is the only Savior
in Isaiah chapter number 43? How do you reconcile that? Well, because Jesus is God.
Plain and simple. I mean, where does it say that? Well, it says it right here.
So if you connect that with verse number 10, you know, two verses ago or whatever,
where he says three verses ago, where he's saying the doctrine of God our Savior, and then it says
the appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. When the second coming happens,
who's coming? It's Jesus. Is he God? Yes, he is. That's what the Bible is teaching here.
You know, he's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord. And so
Jesus is God. He's our Savior. So God equals Jesus. There's your math lesson for the day.
Okay. So now the blessed hope that it's speaking of in verse number 13 is talking about the rapture.
So the glorious appearing is the rapture. And, you know, I like to preach on this subject
at least once or twice a year. And I think this would be the second time that I preach it this
year, but I still want to preach this. And so hopefully people understand this because, well,
and one thing I was thinking about is I saw in one of these Facebook groups called, you know,
it used to be called like a million Baptists or something like that. But basically someone posed
the question that said, which one is it, pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib? And it's like the people
that believe in pre-trib never post a verse because they don't have any. The people that
are mid-trib, I mean, mid-trib does not make sense because at the middle is not when the
rapture happens. So in the middle is when the Antichrist reveals himself. So it is after the
middle, but it's not at the end of the seven-year period because people say seven years of
tribulation. That's like a dispensational keyword, right? But I prefer to call it the final week
of human history or whatever. So it's talking about Daniel's 70th week, which is a seven-year
period, but that whole time is not tribulation for Christians because we're beamed out of here,
like maybe a couple months or two months and ten days, seventy days or something like that.
Somewhere around there, there's going to be a great... So there's already a tribulation
happening, but then when the Antichrist reveals himself at the midpoint, there's going to be
great tribulation. So that's the midpoint. That's the exact midpoint. So the mid-trib
rapture is not true. Now, maybe they're just confusing that because it's not too far after
the middle, but it's not the middle. So you can't really call it a mid-trib rapture. That's what
people like Andrew Sluder and people like that have accused us of believing, a mid-trib rapture,
but that's not true because we say post-trib, post-tribulation, pre-wrath. That's the position
this church holds. Why do we hold that position? Well, let's turn to Mark chapter 13.
Mark chapter 13. So Paul's referencing this blessed hope, this glorious appearing of our
great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that will be a great day for believers.
And we're going to just finish the, you know, the rest of this sermon is going to just be dedicated
primarily to this doctrine. So Mark chapter 13 verse 32, what's the Bible say? It says,
but of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven,
neither the son, but the father. So what's it talking about? Well, the day when Christ returns
is not known by any man. So when people try to guess dates, they're always going to be wrong
because no man knoweth. You could, you know, they could just pick a date and whatever date
they pick, it's not going to be the right one, right? So it says, take heed, take, excuse me,
verse 33, take heed, watch and pray for you know not when the time is. So what's that the key
there? Watch and pray, watch and pray. And you know, your prayer shouldn't be God please come
and destroy all these wicked sinners. It should be more like God please, you know, come soon because
things are getting worse and worse. So, you know, to desire the day of the Lord to come upon people
because the flip side of the rapture is that the people that are on the on the wicked side of
things, their judgment begins and their ultimate destruction begins the day that we are beamed out
of here in the rapture. So look what it says in verse 34, for the son of man is as a man taking a
far journey. This should help you right here. As a man taking a far journey who left his house and
gave authority to his servants, that would be us, and to every man his work, those are the works
that we should be doing, and commanded the porter to watch. What's a porter? A porter is someone
that like gathers bags for somebody, right? And, you know, have you ever heard like of a hotel
porter? What do they do? They grab your suitcases at like fancy hotels, right? Not the ones we stay
at. We're self porters at those ones, right? You get those little carts that like never
roll right or whatever, and you throw all your suitcases and stuff on it. You're a self porter,
but this is talking about the porter that is like watching and waiting and doing the Lord's will
until he comes, right? And so it's talking about, you know, we have a task to do while he's on his
journey, you know? Christ is not here anymore. He's not going to do the soul winning for us,
and he gave us authority to run the church, the polity of the church, and all the different
doctrines, and to every man his work. So Christ does expect us to work, okay? It's not, hey, just
this is Calvinism. Everybody's going to automatically be saved, and you'll never know
when it is. The Holy Spirit just falls on people, and they get saved. That's what Calvinists
believe. You know, maybe not all Calvinists believe that, but generally they think that
there's no effort made by a man to be saved, which is not true. The effort is that you have faith,
which is not works. That is belief. So what it says, and commanded the porter to watch.
So we're supposed to be watching for the Lord Jesus to come. Now obviously it's been 2000 years,
maybe a little more than that, but we're still supposed to be watching. It says,
Watch ye therefore, for you know not when the master of the house cometh, at even or at midnight,
or at the cock crowing, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
And what I say unto you, I say unto all. Watch. So he's not just talking to the disciples here.
See a lot of people say, well that's just to the Jews. Is that what it says? It's not just
to the Jews. These dispensational, you know, rucktardian people will say that, you know,
there's dispensations, and the church isn't going to be here. The church is going to be
gathered together before this. Well where's the chapter and verse on that? And they'll always try
to like bring up Revelation chapter 4, this trumpet blew, and then I was caught up in the
spirit or whatever. They'll say, see that's the rapture. It's like, oh yeah I missed it,
because that's not what it's saying. But we're supposed to watch. What I say unto you,
I say unto all. Watch. We're supposed to be watching for this blessed hope. And Jesus gave
us signs, and I'm not going to go through all those things, because we don't have time for
that this morning. But I do want you to turn over to Matthew chapter 24, and let me just
give you the clearest verse in the Bible about when Jesus is coming back. It's the most clear
verse in the whole Bible. At the beginning of Matthew chapter 24, the disciples asked,
what will be the signs, you know, the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age, or the end of
the, good night, let me turn over there. Speaking New King James ease here for a second. That's
what makes sure I'm saying it right, because I know people say the end of the age. I don't
think that's what it says. Matthew chapter 24, because see the disciples are showing Jesus the
temple and all the different buildings and things like that, and he says not one stone will be
turned, or one stone will be left upon another. And let's see, okay, verse number three says,
and as he set upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately,
saying, tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming,
and of the end of the world? And so then Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no
man deceive you. So Jesus begins to just explain what these things are going to be, these signs,
all these things, and then he actually tells them what, you know, because if you take just that
question right there, what shall be the sign of thy coming, what is that going to be? And
really the main culmination of that is actually found I think in verse number, let's see,
well, it's in verse 29 where we're at, okay, I'm sorry, verse 29, and it 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 is Jesus saying here? After the tribulation, so we're watching, we're supposed
to be watching, we're supposed to be praying, but if that tribulation isn't even here yet,
then we know that it's not coming right away. There is going to be things and signs that have
to happen, you know, what's the sign of thy coming, and the end of the world, not the end
of the age, the end of the world. And so Jesus begins to tell them all these things, and then
the very thing before he comes that happens comes after the tribulation. And it's a tribulation
that is the worst tribulation that any believer has ever faced from the time of the beginning
until, or ever will be, right? So then he says in verse 30, and then shall appear the sign of
the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the
Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his
angels with the great sound of the trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Kind of sounds like a rapture, doesn't it?
But here's what people will say, well, that's the second coming. It's like, yeah, I know.
It is the second coming. That's what they're asking. They didn't say, when is the coming
after the secret coming that you haven't told us about yet? When is that coming?
Is it coming? Is it the coming 1.5 or 2.5 or whatever? No, it's the next time he comes back,
this is what it's talking about. This is what they're asking him about. What's the sign of
thy coming? And then he says all the things that all the other verses that the pre-tribbers want
to go to, says all the same stuff. Everything lines up together with all end times Bible
prophecy concerning the rapture. And obviously the word rapture is not in the Bible,
but that's just explaining the catching up, okay? It sounds cooler, but that's what it's talking
about. When Jesus Christ comes back, he's going to catch the church up, and then I'm going to go
through the verses here, but what is that sign, that immediate sign, though? It's after the
tribulation. Why are we post-trib pre-wrath? Well, because that's what the Bible teaches.
That's what Jesus said. If you're going to go by what Jesus said, you've got to go with this.
Not some secret hidden rapture that Jesus never talked about.
I don't have this in my notes, but turn to Revelation 1. Revelation chapter 1.
What's it say? Verse 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. They which
pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. He shall come
with the clouds. What's it say back in your text? I should have had you hold your place there,
but Matthew chapter 24, it says that he shall, verse number 30, 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. What's it talking about?
In Revelation 1.7, it says every eye shall see him. It's not going to be a secret, folks.
When it's talking about every eye, it's not just talking about the dogs,
and all the animals of the world, and then just Christians. Then all the Christians' clothes will
drop to the floor, the airplane pilots, the jet fighters will just be vanished up, and they're
going to be crashing into the ground, and all this other stuff. That's just ridiculous, folks.
That's not how it's going to happen. That's not what the Bible teaches, but see, they just don't
want to come off this. You know why? What it really boils down to is they don't want to go
through tribulation. They don't want to go through hard times, but you know what? Every Christian
on the face of the planet goes through tribulation one way or another, and you know, maybe we're not
going through the hardest persecution right now, but that could change tomorrow. That could change
tomorrow. We could have a brand on our back, and then we're being hunted down just like it's
happened to Christians all throughout history. You know, they're like, well, we're not appointed
under wrath. I know, but you see, they're mixing up wrath. They're mixing up wrath and persecution.
They're two different things. The wrath of God is him pouring out his wrath upon the earth,
and persecution comes from people that are against Christians, against God, the devil,
you know, the antichrist, and just there are many antichrists and people that hate God and they
think that they're going to be doing God a service to turn us over to people. When the amber alerts
turn to Christian alerts, you know, Christian 12736-5 is on the loose. He's fat, so he's not
going to get very far, you know, whatever. They're going to be thinking that when they're
hunting us down that they're doing God a service because really it's not the atheists that are
going to end up ruling. It's going to be the ones that believe in the devil. See, the devil doesn't,
you know, atheism serves a purpose for the devil so that people won't believe in God and they'll
just die and go to hell, but he ultimately, what's he want? He wants people to worship him.
He wants people to worship him. Now let's turn to Revelation 6 verse 9.
I don't want to get ahead of myself because I'm going to be preaching about that tonight. So
anyway, Revelation 6 verse 9, it says, and when they had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the
altar of the souls of them which were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they
held. So why are they slain? For the word of God and the testimony which they held. What's the
testimony? Hey, I'm saved by grace through faith. I'm with Jesus. And they were slain for the word
of God. See, people have been slain over this book for many, many years. We can walk outside,
we can walk door to door with our King James Bible, but that hasn't always been so.
When William Tyndale translated the New Testament, he was doing it off a horseback. He was running
from place to place. He was in fear of his life and they did end up finding him and one of his
friends betrayed him, his Judas buddy, and he was put to death. He was burned in a fire. For what?
Translating the word of God into English. That's his crime. But see, when we hold to the Bible
truths, people are like, well, you guys are just a cult because you just believe in a book written
by men. No, this is the word of God. That's why people hate it. They don't hate the Quran.
They always make excuses for the Quran, don't they? They always make excuses for the Buddhist.
And in fact, a lot of times when we knock on somebody's door, they'll be like, oh,
I'm a Buddhist, you know, because a lot of Christians don't know what to say at that point.
Like, oh, okay. They don't really have the knowledge to like, you know, but it's the same
gospel given unto every one of them. And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a
little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were
should be fulfilled. So what's going on here? Why am I reading this to you? Well, because when the
fifth seal is open, this is Revelation chapter number six, and then it's showing these people
that are slain for the word of God, but they're not, it's not quite all done yet because what's
happening here is, you know, they're going, these people are going through the great tribulation,
just like Jesus said. So, but then look at verse 12, it says, and I beheld when they had opened
the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth
of hair, and the moon became as blood. Well, doesn't that match up with Matthew chapter 24?
You know, immediately after, so it's immediately after the tribulation, and then here in verse 12
is where that those stars, you know, where the great earthquake happens, the sun becomes black,
it becomes darkened, and a sackcloth of hair, and the moon becomes as blood. When that happens,
we know that it's after the tribulation because that's what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24.
When did he say he was coming back? After the tribulation. Verse 13, and the stars of heaven
fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty
wind, and the heaven departed as a scroll when it was rolled together, and every mountain and
island were moved out of their places, and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man,
hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the of the mountains, and said to the mountains
and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the
wrath of the lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? See,
this is where, you know, people just, these pre-trib people, they just can't get this,
and because they're just looking at things through another lens. It's always the Jews'
dispensationalism, but if they would just take the Bible and read it for what it says,
they would see that Matthew chapter 24 lines up with Revelation chapter number six, and then,
you know, it says that these people are going to be afraid. What happened? Why are they afraid?
Well, because the great day of his wrath is come. It hasn't come to this point. Now it's going to
come. Right here, we're after the tribulation. We're in Revelation chapter six, okay? These
people, these dispensationalists, they have a hard time with this stuff because that just throws,
it just throws in the face of everything that they've learned from their pre-trib gurus,
from Sam Gipp and all these other bozos that don't know how to, you know, Sam Gipp isn't even,
he can't even write. You know, he's just a complete bozo, a charlatan that's just kind of,
you know, been tossed, you know, he comes in and supposedly preaches all these great sermons,
but he has no clue what he's talking about. He doesn't even know who Jesus is. He doesn't
even know what Jesus' name was supposed to be. So how is he going to figure out the rapture for us?
But it's really not that hard, folks. If you're saved and you just read the Bible,
it's right there in the Word of God for you that the wrath is come. So what does that mean? The
wrath hasn't come before this. So all this tribulation and people being beheaded and
people being killed for the cause of Christ, that is something different, isn't it? It's not
wrath, it's tribulation. It might be the devil's wrath, but it's not God's wrath because God will
not suffer us to go through his wrath like that. He's not going to allow it. Revelation 7, verse 9,
let's turn over there. Revelation 7, verse 9. The Bible says in Revelation 7, 9, it says,
after this I beheld and lo, a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and
kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white
robes and palms in their hand. What does that sound like to you? Sounds like a rapture's happened.
So it's happening in the exact order that Jesus Christ laid it out for us in Matthew 24.
So this great multitude which no man could number, those are the tribulation saints. Yeah, we know.
They went through the tribulation. And not all of them went through the great tribulation,
but everybody that went through the great tribulation is part of this group,
aren't they? Because when the dead in Christ shall rise, that means everybody that died before
Jesus came back, those of the dead in Christ and those that are alive and remain
are going to be caught up with the Lord. So now it says, and cried with a loud voice saying,
salvation to our God which sitteth above, excuse me, sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb.
And all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four
beasts and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God saying, blessing and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever,
amen. And one of the elders answering said unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes?
Whence came they? He's asking, where did they come from? You know, this great multitude that
no man could number of all these different places. And I said unto him, sir, thou knowest.
And he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation. So we know in chapter 7,
for sure, they came out of the great tribulation. And then so after the tribulation, like Jesus
says, that's when the rapture happens, that's shown in Revelation 7, 9. So, and it says they
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. So look, the Bible is
consistent, but people just aren't consistent in how they teach it. They always want to say that
after the tribulation applies to Jesus's physical return on the Mount of Olives or whatever. That's
not what it says, does it? That's not what it says. It's saying that every eye shall see him,
Revelation 1, 7. It's saying that, you know, he's not going to come back till after the
tribulation, that what do we see in Revelation chapter 6 and 7? The same exact thing that Jesus
said. Turn to John chapter 16. Now, about this thing where people just don't want to admit
that they are going to have to go through tribulation because God's not going to beat
his bride, amen? Amen? That's what they say, right? But the funny thing is, is that the fact
that Christians go through tribulation is from the beginning to the end of the Bible. I mean,
Cain killed Abel. The first false prophet killed the first prophet of God. That was Cain and Abel,
the first two people born upon the face of the earth. So it started from the beginning,
literally, and then ends literally with the two, not the two false witnesses, the two witnesses
being killed in the streets of Jerusalem and then going back up into heaven, right?
So that's how it ends in Revelation. So in between all this time, which has been thousands of years,
there's people that have gone through tribulation, some worse than others, some born in different
times than others, but ultimately, even us are going to go through some sort of great
tribulation. Now, is everybody going to be killed in this room? I don't know. I don't know. Well,
I can't predict the future of what's going to happen in this world, but we should be prepared
for that maybe happening in our lifetimes. But what are you going to do? That's what our lot
in life is. If that's our lot in life to be killed for the cause of Christ, we're going to receive
rewards for those things. And you're like, well, that doesn't really sound that great to me. Well,
you don't know what the reward is. It's a great reward. The Bible says when people shall persecute
you and say all manner of evil about you for my name's sake, then leap with joy. For great is your
reward in heaven. That's just receiving persecution about Jesus. So great is your reward in heaven
for going through persecution, but if you're actually killed for the cause of Christ,
and your head is separated from your neck or whatever, or whatever else happens to you,
hey, what do you think is going to be the reward then? So if it was great for just receiving
persecution when people are saying evil and wicked things about you, how about when they actually do
kill you? It's going to be even greater than that. So look at John 16, verse 33. Let's look at some
verses about tribulation here. Because these people are like, first of all, they don't
understand what tribulation is. And tribulation can be a synonym of affliction. Affliction and
tribulation are the same thing. So when you're being afflicted, that's tribulation. And also,
the Bible talks about it being trouble. Tribulation is trouble. It might be trouble. You're going to
be in trouble. What does trouble mean? Well, you're going through some sort of distress in
your life. That's a tribulation. And when people are attacking you and lying about you and all
this other stuff, it can be hard on you. Now, and most of the time, it's really hard on you
when the people that you love the most, a.k.a. your family, then when they start saying all
manner of evil things about you, and they want to separate their company away from you, and they
want to call you a cult member, and they want to call you a Jesus freak, and they want to call you
a Bible thumper, that's a little bit worse. You know, I'd rather have my worst enemy say that
than my family. But you know, family does it. Because Jesus came to divide. He didn't come
to, you know, people think that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and He is, but when He came,
He came to cause division. Okay? And so, Jesus causes division. If it's in your house,
and half the people are saved and half aren't, there's going to be a division there. There's
going to be some problems. Look what it says in John 16 33, these things have I spoken unto you
that in me, you might have peace. In the world, you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer,
I have overcome the world. Jesus has overcome the world for us so that we could overcome
and be saved. But He says, in the world, you shall have tribulation. And when Jesus says,
ye shall have something, it's a fact, right? So we're going to have tribulation in this world. So
for the people that are wanting to escape the tribulation, well, you just want to go through
the tribulation. No, I don't want to go through the tribulation. If I knew like what my end was,
it was something like that. I don't, I wouldn't want to go through that. Who wants to go through
that? Like, that's just a weird thing for people to say. But I would just flip that on and say,
well, you don't want to go through any hard times, do you? You just want Christianity to be like,
a country club where you can kick back and drink some sweet tea and, you know,
have someone fan you and feed you grapes or something. But, you know, look at Acts chapter,
I'm just going to read Acts 14-22. Go ahead and turn to Romans 5-3. Acts 14-22 says,
confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith,
and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Much tribulation.
So what, you know, the Christian's plan that doesn't want to believe the word of God is that
they don't want to have to go through tribulation, so they make up this whole doctrine so they get to
escape before. But it's okay for the tribulation saints to have to go through it, just not us.
I mean, it sounds like the Pharisees. It sounds like, you know, they think that they're better
than everybody else when they're not doing squat for God right now. They don't even have a soul
winning program. They're talking about how they're going to be able to escape because they're the
better Christians or something. You know, even if that was true, I would stand with the people
that are the tribulation saints, which is what's the reality. We're all going to be tribulation
saints if we make it through that time. But isn't that just ridiculous how, you know, they never
want to go through anything. They're all high and lifted up and think that they're better than
everybody else. And, you know, they want to sport around that, you know, and look, I'm for Baptist
doctrine, but there's a lot of Baptist doctrines that aren't Baptist, and they're not real
doctrines. But the Bible says that we're going to go through tribulation. Jesus said we're going to
go through tribulation. Paul said we're going to go through much tribulation. He said, hey,
stay in the faith because we're going to go through great tribulation in this world.
Why is Paul saying that? Because, I mean, he's just a poster boy for it. Like the tribulation,
it's like Paul, you know, with all these wounds on him. And, you know, I mean, Paul went through it.
He knows. Romans five says in verse number three, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also
knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Now this is what we have to understand about
tribulation. Look, nobody wants it when it comes. Nobody wants to go through it when it comes. But,
you know, why is it allowed to happen to us? So that that tribulation can work patience in us.
And it's not talking about like, oh man, I can't wait till this is over. But it kind of is like
that. When you're going through tribulation, when you're going through hard times, you're just like,
when is this anxiety going to end? Because that's what it is. It's anxiety, people trying to put you
in fear, you know, people trying to overthrow you, overthrow your faith, and all these things,
trying to, you know, just destroy you. That's what tribulation is. You know, look, the devil
was allowed to put Job through tribulation. And he, you know, the Bible says, and you've heard
of the patience of Job. Job endured these things, and the backside came out better for it.
You know, he might not have felt like that going through it. Of course he didn't. I mean,
there's chapter upon chapter upon chapter of Job just be like, everything, I just wish I
was never born. You know, and sometimes tribulation can make you feel that way. But the Bible says it
worketh patience. So if it helped Job, it can help you. Romans chapter 8 verse 35 says,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Thou tribulation or distress or persecution
or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? No, none of those things are going to separate us from the
love of God. And it says, shall tribulation or distress or persecution? All these things are
bad things to go through, but nothing's going to separate us from Christ. The minute your head
leaves your body, if you are one of those people that are persecuted, you're with Jesus
instantaneously. And you're never gonna have to worry about those things again. Turn to second
Corinthians or Romans chapter 12 verse 12, Romans chapter 12 verse 12. Romans chapter 12 verse 12
says, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Look, we got to have
a mindset where we're just ready to go through tribulation. And if you haven't gone through a
big tribulation in your life as a Christian, it's gonna come. But how you handle it is gonna make
all the difference in the world. And the Bible says we're supposed to be patient in it. It's
gonna stop. It's gonna end. It's not gonna just continue for your whole life, even though it
might feel like that. Second Corinthians chapter one verse four says, I'll go ahead and turn to
second Corinthians seven four. I'm gonna read second Corinthians one four. It says, who comfort
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Now it's a mouthful, but what's it saying?
It's saying that when Christ comforts us through our tribulation and we go through this tribulation,
it's that we can help other people and comfort other people that are going through these hard
times and show them that they can be comforted through God also. Because, you know, sometimes
you're like, why am I going through this? And sometimes it's because God wants to teach us
something that we can help other people with. Second Corinthians chapter seven verse four says,
great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort.
I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. So the apostle Paul, he's like, hey man,
I've been through it all. You know, I'm exceeding joyful in all the tribulation. At this point,
he's like, you know, I've gone through a lot of stuff and I'm just joyful. You know,
it's hard to feel joyful when you're going through tribulation, but I guess as you start,
if you go through it multiple times, you know, it gets easier to go through these hard times. It
does. And so like the first time you ever were in tribulation for your faith, which that just means,
you know, you're going through a hard time because of it. Maybe it was your parents.
Maybe it was your sister. Maybe it was your brother or whoever it was. But now that you've
kind of experienced that thing and somebody else puts you through that tribulation, it's not as
hard to go through the second time, is it? As when your father, your actual father says,
I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore because, you know, you're in a cult or
whatever. That stuff gets easier if it's some friend from Facebook that you haven't seen since
high school when you're like 40 years old. It's like, who cares what they think? Go ahead. Give
me your best shot, right? So first, go ahead and turn to, let's see, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse
6. I'm going to read for you 1 Thessalonians 3, 4. 1 Thessalonians 3, 4 says, For verily,
when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass
and you know. You're in 2 Thessalonians 1, 6, it says, Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to
recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. That should be a comforting verse to us
that it says, Seeing it's a righteous thing with God. See, God thinks it's a good thing and it's
a righteous thing to him to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. So these people that
trouble us, these freaks that are sycophants and weirdos and are always trying to attack our church
and attack the Word of God and try to bring us down and all this other stuff, that's a very
comforting verse to me. That God thinks it's a righteous thing and so if God thinks it's a
righteous thing, don't you think God's righteous and he's going to do things that he thinks are
righteous? It says that God will recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. What is
the day of the Lord about? He's recompensing the world for all the trouble that they've been,
have had to go through and God's like, you know what, it's time for your tribulation now,
you know, you silly freaks, you people that have taken the mark of the beast and are worshiping
the devil and that's why these people are afraid and cowering and saying to the mountains and the
rocks following us and hide us from the face of the lamb, you know, the lamb is going to be
looking angry. Emmy has this little lamb that she carries, has been carrying around with her and
it's like really cute and, you know, we call him Lammy. But anyway, the lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ
is not going to look like Lammy, he's going to look like a mad lamb, like an angry lamb. I don't
know if he's going to have horns or what, but this, you know, it's funny to think of the fact
that you'd be afraid of a lamb because lambs are like really cute and fluffy and have you ever
seen them like do these little videos where they're dancing around and like doing stupid
things and butterfly flies on its nose or whatever. Not this lamb, this lamb is coming back
and he's really angry and he's going to recompense the tribulation to them that have troubled us
and they're going to go through the wrath of God. Tonight when we talk about Pharaoh, what's going
on in that story? Well, God is pouring out his wrath upon this wicked nation that is, you know,
pictured as the world, so they're getting a taste in a very small place of the world in comparison
to the whole world, but they're getting a taste of what's coming in the end for all these people
that wanted to torment us and that hate God. So Revelation 1 says, I John, who also am your
brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the
aisle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. See, it
doesn't change. This is what we've always had to go through tribulation for. John's like, hey, I'm
your companion in tribulation. So even the guy they try to say, the pre-tribbers try to say,
and he was, you know, he was caught up, he says he went through, he's a fellow person that's gone
through tribulation. So even if they want to use that as a spiritualized picture, he went through
the tribulation first, didn't he? Why is he on the island of Patmos? Well, it says for the word of God
and the testimony of Jesus Christ. He wasn't there because it was a good place to, you know,
to retire as one of the apostles. He was there because someone put him there forcibly,
and he's like, I'm your companion in tribulation, you know, and then if you want to say, well,
he went up, well, then I guess that fits the doctrine of the Bible, too, because, you know,
he's caught up by the Spirit after the trumpet blows. How about that, pre-tribbers? Anyway,
1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13. You know what? I'm probably gonna have to skip through this because,
I mean, I'm getting deep into time here. So, but I mean, if you want to self-study, obviously,
actually, let's just go to this last verse, then I'll close it. Okay, 1 Thessalonians 4,
verse 13, because this is kind of gonna make sense to us a little more tonight as I go through
the doctrine of the Antichrist being pictured in Pharaoh. So, 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 says,
But I would not have to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you,
by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. So,
what's gonna happen when Jesus comes back? The dead in Christ are gonna rise first,
and then, 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 word. What's the comfort here? The comfort is, is that your loved ones that have
died in Christ, they're gonna rise from the dead. We're gonna see those loved ones that have passed
on, that we care about deeply, they're gonna rise first. That's their honor. But then,
we which are alive and remain, so if we're here at the time of this happening,
what is happening here? They're going through a great tribulation, and guess what? That great
tribulation is, you know, all of a sudden you're gonna start seeing all these, these things happen
in the heavens, and then we'll know. The Bible I think says, lift up your heads for your redemption,
draw off nine, and that redemption is the fact that Jesus Christ is going to come,
and he's going to rescue us at our time of need. What happened with Pharaoh? Pharaoh's charging
forth, he's got his armies, all the children of Israel's backs are against the wall, there is sea
behind them, and then in front of them is all these chariots, and what happens? You know, God
says, see the salvation of the Lord, and then God parted that red sea so that they were able to cross
through, and what happened to those that were trying to persecute them? That we're persecuting
them, we're trying to kill them, God destroyed them, he killed them all. That's what's going to
happen in the end for us too. See, the wicked are going to get recompensed, these people that
terrorize us, they're going to get recompensed for the things that they do, so don't worry about
that. You know, they have all hell, hell for all eternity to look forward to, and we have heaven
for all eternity to look to. So, and in Second Thessalonians 2, 1, I know I told you that was
our last one I'm going to have you turn to, but I'm not going to have you turn to this one.
I'm just going to read it. It says, Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or troubled,
neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, that the day of Christ is at hand,
let no man deceive you by any means. What does that say? No man, by any means, not by word,
not by spirit, not by letter, not even if the apostles themselves said it,
let no man deceive you, for that day shall not come, except there shall come a falling away first,
and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. This is the Antichrist. This is the
midpoint mark. So, the midpoint mark is not when the rapture happens, it's after the tribulation
that happens when he reveals himself, okay? So, we're post-trib, free wrath for a reason.
You know what? It's a blessed hope for us because, you know, it's something for us to look forward
to because, you know, living in this world, in this day and age, it's tough. All the things
that we see happening around us, it's tough, but you know what's blessed is the day that we get to
see Jesus Christ and be with him forever. Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank
you, Lord, so much for this doctrine, this truth of the second coming, the blessed hope, Lord, and
Lord, I pray that we would all be in prayer for these things, and Lord, that we'd be praying for
the right things, or that many people be saved in advance to you coming, and Lord, I just pray that
you'd comfort those, Lord, that maybe they've lost loved ones, and even recently, pray that you just
comfort their hearts, Lord, and give them that assurance and truth that they're going to rise
from the dead, Lord, just like we're going to rise from the dead, and that we'll be
ever with him and also ever with our loved ones, and Lord, we thank you for the fact that you're
going to recompense those that are our enemies, that are wicked and hate you, Lord. Pray that you
just help us comfort our hearts when we think on these things. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
All right, our last song will be song number 474, Sunshine in My Soul. In your blue hymn book,
song 474, Sunshine in My Soul, song 474. Let's sing it together on the first.
Sunshine, there is sunshine, In the peaceful happy morning's call.
When Jesus shows his smiling face, There is sunshine in my soul.
There is music in my soul today, A barrel to my feet,
Where Jesus is living beneath, The songs I cannot see.
Oh, sunshine, there is sunshine, In the peaceful happy morning's call.
When Jesus shows his smiling face, There is sunshine in my soul.
There is springtime in my soul today, For when the Lord is near,
The power of peace is in my heart, The flowers of grace appear.
Oh, sunshine, there is sunshine, In the peaceful happy moment's call.
When Jesus shows his smiling face, There is sunshine in my soul.
There is gladness in my soul today, And hope and praise and love,
For blessings which he gives me now, For joys laid up above.
Oh, sunshine, blessed sunshine, When the peaceful happy moment's call.
When Jesus shows his smiling face, There is sunshine in my soul.