(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Please help us to draw something from its truth tonight as well. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Now in verse number four, in chapter number four verse one the final chapter in the book of Malachi and really a very significant chapter since it is the final chapter in the Old Testament as well. We saw of course in Malachi chapter one God's anger toward his people that had turned away from the truth their destitute spiritual condition. In chapter two we saw God blame it upon their leadership, their preachers, their religious leaders who had turned aside from the right way and were preaching false doctrine and heresy. In chapter number three we saw the prophecy of John the Baptist coming and Jesus Christ coming to the temple, overturning the tables. We saw Jesus point out several of their different sins that they had departed of him, the tithes and offerings, the offerings of what was not their best and what was blind and lame and sick and things that were wrong and they were speaking against God, they were very proud and boasting. And they had a problem that was brought up many different times throughout this book and look at verse number 18 of chapter number three he says, Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. And then look back if you would to the last verse of chapter two as well, the Bible says, You've wearied the Lord with your words, yet ye say wherein have we wearied him? When you say everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them. For where is the God of judgment? So at the very end of chapter two and at the very end of chapter three he explains that these people had a total lack of discernment, they couldn't tell whether somebody was preaching to them the truth or not or whether somebody was serving God or not. A total lack of discernment and we see of course in our day preachers and leaders that are lifted up who are not serving God. They serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies is what the Bible says. We see them roll up in their Mercedes Benz or their Lexus or their Jaguar and they pull in and they get out with their fancy clothes and their fancy out and the golden rings and all the diamonds but they don't serve God, they serve money, they teach things which they ought not for filthy, lucre's sake. This is your TV preacher this is your televangelist, this is your faith healer this is put your hand on the screen and you know what's amazing about all this is that if I were to bring a television into the church here which I would never do of course but let's say I rolled a television I wouldn't bring it into my own house let alone the house of God okay but let's say I roll the television in here and I were to turn on you know Benny Hinn. I mean you'd fall out of your chair laughing literally. I mean you would just fall out of your seat, your side would be hurting, you'd be laughing so hard when you see him slapping people on the forehead and they're falling over and while he's preaching somebody's playing an organ you know and he's you know preaching, I mean it's ridiculous and you'd laugh, you'd say goodnight and you know I watched it when I was a teenager, I turned it on a couple times and I said to myself who in the world you know believes this, this is this is ridiculous, you know I mean I kind of thought it was a joke at first but it's not and the sad thing is that if Benny Hinn came to Phoenix Arizona, you mark my words I promise you if Benny Hinn came to Phoenix Arizona he could pack out an amphitheater and that is no joke everywhere he goes he preaches to tens of thousands literally, why? because we live in a wicked day and one of the signs of you being wicked is when you lift up somebody who's wicked and you exalt somebody who's wicked and you speak well of someone and say that they are good in the sight of the Lord, you know these crooked phony politicians of our day you go to church and they'll tell you they're good in the sight of the Lord you know, this may make you mad that's never stopped me before okay, you know George W. Bush is good in the sight of the Lord, no he's not okay and you go to church and he's lifted up as some kind of a hero of the faith George W. Bush says that Muslim is a wonderful peaceful religion George W. Bush has hired more homosexuals to his staff than any president in the history of the United States including Bill Clinton, he has more of them okay and George W. Bush is a socialist, George W. Bush blah blah blah you say whatever you want, he's not a conservative okay and I don't mind saying that, I don't mind telling you that but I've gone to church and had him lifted up like he was the second coming or something, you know, have him lifted up like he's just so wonderful and he's our hero, he's not good in the sight of the Lord he goes, look, let me just, I'm sorry, am I bothering you right now let me just bring it right down on your level, do you know where George W. Bush goes to church he goes to church at an Episcopalian church where the the pastor is a woman and the deacon is a lesbian okay, does that bring it on your level, he can go to church wherever he wants I told that to somebody and I showed them the proof of it and they said well maybe he just has to go there because he's the president I said no, the president can go to whatever church he wants when Bill Clinton was in office, and good night talk about somebody who's wicked in the sight of the Lord, Bill Clinton but when Bill Clinton was in office, you know, he went to a Southern Baptist church in Washington D.C. when when George W. Bush was the governor in Texas he went to a United Methodist church which is about as weirdo liberal as you can possibly get and then when he went to the Washington D.C. he goes to an Episcopalian church that promotes homosexuality, okay go ahead, look it up, see if I'm not telling you the truth, okay go look it up on any source you want, it's no secret where he goes to church now if somebody goes to a church where the pastor is probably a lesbian too a woman pastor, the deacons are lesbians is that person good in the sight of the Lord if so, then your idea of what's good in the sight of the Lord you need to just sit down and just read Malachi like 500 times all four chapters, okay, honestly I mean that and so we see the wickedness of a church when they lift up people who are wicked and exalt them as heroes okay, when they lift up someone who's ungodly and tell us how great they are, that says something about their heart okay, the Bible says they that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law, contend with them but look at verse number one of chapter four where God puts in his final word here a very short and succinct chapter he's explained to us all the problem in chapters one through three and he definitely leaves us with a cliffhanger ending here not like at all the end of the New Testament which is just very conclusive and a finality of the end, I mean when you read those last couple chapters of Revelation you know it's over, it's done, okay but here he leaves us with a cliffhanger because of what's coming which is the New Testament which is the first coming of Jesus Christ but look at verse one here we see God's judgment on the proud God's judgment on the wicked the day that cometh that's going to burn as an oven when all the proud, now picture what he means by stubble you know stubble is, it's little bits of branches and grass and it's something that's very easy to light on fire I mean it goes up like that if you were starting a fire you would take big logs of wood and underneath them you'd put stubble to get that fire going because it would ignite so quickly he said the day is going to be burning like an oven and the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up, sayeth the Lord of hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch but unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall and ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet and the day that I shall do this, sayeth the Lord of hosts now what day is he talking about here? what day is he referring to? well I would say personally that the day that he's referring to is the day that he sets up his earthly kingdom on this earth the battle of Armageddon when he destroys the wicked, when he physically destroys them now don't be confused by this there's a lot of depth to the Bible when you're studying prophecy, when you're studying the end times nothing too complicated but it's just something that requires diligent study of the Word of God to see this now there's something called the day of the Lord okay, who's ever heard that phrase? the day of the Lord okay there's something called the day of Christ and then there's something called the day of God okay and then there's this day that's coming now let me read some scriptures for you and show you how consistent the Bible is on this look at you at Isaiah chapter number two, turn back in your mind with Isaiah chapter number two now what I want to show you right now is God's judgment on the proud I want to give you a little bit of the information about you know the end times and the prophecy but really what God's trying to say here and what he's trying to point out the pride and the arrogance of the people who have who have refused to obey him in chapters one through three he's describing his judgment on the pride, you know the Bible says of the devil that he's a king over all the children of pride you know the Bible says only by pride cometh contention you can trace a lot of the sin and a lot of the problems back to one thing in your life pride it's the one thing that you don't want to have in your life pride pride did you know that pride is why many people will go to hell? because they'll refuse to admit that they're a sinner because they're too proud to admit that not only that those who admit that they're a sinner will refuse to admit that salvation is a free gift from God they're going to try to earn it themselves because of pride why is it that they want to earn their salvation and work their way to heaven? Pride! they don't want to just take a gift and say Jesus paid it all all to him I owe sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow you see it's pride pride that wants to get up and say oh I was living such a wicked life before I got saved and I turned away from it all so that I could be saved that's pride a salvation message that centers on man and not on Jesus Christ is based on pride you see salvation is all about Jesus the gospel is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus the gospel is not that you turn from your wicked ways the gospel is not the change in your life you know we want to go soul winning and emphasize oh what God did in our life and the changes that we've made you know what you ought to emphasize when you go soul winning? the blood of Jesus you know what you ought to emphasize? the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ because Paul said I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek the power of salvation is the gospel the gospel is defined in first Corinthians 15 one and two that Jesus died and was buried and rose again in the first four verses of first Corinthians 15 that's the power my friend that's what you ought to emphasize when you're out soul winning emphasize the cost the death, the burial, the resurrection that's salvation what Jesus did you know going I've heard people say oh it's too bad you know I just got saved when I was a little kid so I don't have one of these testimonies of the dramatic change in my life you know I got saved when I was six years old oh what a change it's been my room was dirty I didn't obey my mom I used to you know my mom would put vegetables on my plate that I had to eat and you know what I used to do I'd fill my mouth full of vegetables pretend I had to go use the bathroom and uh... spit them all out and you know where I spit them out and flushed them down and so that's how wicked I was before I got saved boy before I got saved if I had on my plate meat and mashed potatoes and and some vegetable I didn't want to eat I would sometimes bury the vegetable under the mashed potatoes and build like a facade of mashed potato and say mom I'm too full to eat my potatoes all you know isn't that ridiculous but I gave it all up so I could come to Jesus you know what I thank God I remember I was in a liberal church and they were teaching I was so much better people that had this testimony where they'd gone out and been on dope and slept around and why in the world would you want to carry that kind of baggage with you and they said would you rather have that or would you rather uh... get saved as a kid and and and grow up in church I was like the only person that said I'd rather grow I'd rather grow up in church I'd rather know the bible I said look I want to know the bible by the time I'm eighteen I should already know the bible from learning it my whole teenage years and they said well it's not all about knowing the bible well you know what you ought to know a little more than you know is what I'd like to say to them right now because it is about knowing the bible yes it is about keeping yourself pure yes it is about living a clean life that's a good thing and so I thank God that I was never that I don't know what beer tastes like I've never been drunk I'm so glad that I didn't go out and live in a bunch of sin why so I could brag about it you know if you used to live in sin like that confess it to God and forget about it you know y'all not go around bragging about it don't brag about your sinful past there's no glory in that you ought to just get over it and move on and so I thank God that I that I grew up in a Christian home and you know what you know what you know what I talk about when I talk about salvation to people I talk about Jesus and the death, burial, and resurrection believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and that's what you want to talk about by the way that's where the power is not in your gut-wrenching story okay your tearjerker is not what's going to get people saved the Word of God and the power of the gospel will get people saved but look at Isaiah chapter 2 we're talking about pride look what the Bible says about the day of the Lord it says enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty in Isaiah 2 10 uh... the lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness that's pride, arrogance, the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day for the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty and upon everyone that is lifted up and he shall be brought low and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and upon all the oaks of Bashan and upon all the high mountains and upon all the hills that are lifted up and upon every high tower and upon every fence and wall and upon all the ships of Tarshish and upon all the pleasant pictures and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down and the haughtiness of man shall be made low and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day and the idols he shall utterly abolish and they shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth in that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold which they made each one for himself to worship to the moles and to the bats to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the tops of the ragged rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth see she from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein he see to be accounted of now turn over if you would did you notice how many times he mentioned pride haughtiness arrogance you know uh... the high looks of the proudness of man that's what angers God God's angered by pride, you ever heard of this? Gay pride? you ever heard of that? that makes God angry makes him sick but look at you what Revelation chapter six Revelation chapter six it just kind of jumped out at me as I read that how many times he mentions pride in that chapter that we just read haughtiness the high looks are going to be brought down he says you're not going to be so proud in the day of the Lord now look at chapter six we'll see a new testament scripture regarding the day of the Lord same thing the Bible says in verse twelve this describes the day of the Lord says and I beheld when he opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake remember we just read about God shaking terribly the earth there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became his blood and the stars of heaven fell into the earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places now watch this watch the proud brought low 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 freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath that means anger from the wrath of the land for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand so here we see in the new testament the day of the lord the opening of the sixth seal now turn back if you would to Isaiah chapter thirteen and so i just want to make very clear in your mind that you understand what the bible is talking about whenever it talks about the day of the lord the day of the lord look at Isaiah thirteen verse four and you'll see how consistent this is Isaiah thirteen verse number four the bible reads the noise of a multitude in the mountains like as of a great people a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together the lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle they come from a far country from the end of heaven even the lord and the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land howl ye for the day of the lord is at hand it shall come as a destruction from the almighty therefore shall all hands be faint and every man's heart shall melt and they shall be afraid pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth they shall be amazed one another their faces shall be as flames 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 for the stars of heaven and the consolations thereof shall not give their light does that sound familiar the sun shall be darkened and is going forth and the moon shall not cause their light to shine and I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible I will make a man more precious than fine gold even a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir therefore I will shake the heavens there's the earthquake again and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger again that is referred to in chapter thirteen as the day of the Lord look at Isaiah thirty four verse one Isaiah chapter thirty four verse number one boy listen to the word of God let the word of God speak to you as we read it and let you know how he feels about pride how he feels about people who so what it's a sin I'm doing it so what this is the way he feels about it these are like the people in Malachi who say so what if I don't tithe so what if I don't live right so what if I if I bring God something that's flawed and that tell him it's my best so what if I speak evil of the things of God so what if I lift up the wicked evildoers so what and he says you know what your pride there where you think you can do whatever you want I'm going to bring that down a notch one day someday your pride is going to cease but look at Isaiah thirty four verse one come near you nations to hear and harken ye people let the earth hear and all that is therein the world and all things that come forth of it for the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations and is fury upon all their armies he had utterly destroyed them he had delivered them to the slaughter their slain also shall be cast out now notice this uh... in verse number three their slain also shall be cast out and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses and the mountains shall be melted with their blood and all the host of heaven shall be dissolved look at this and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll does that sound familiar the clouds be rolled back as a scroll the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend remember the song it is well with my soul this is where it comes from the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig tree now that's of course described indeed that's talking about the stars falling out of the sky the host of heaven it's talking about the stars there and the host of heaven the bible says the stars are going to fall down like figs falling out of a fig tree it's described that way in matthew twenty four mark thirteen luke twenty one and also in revelation six for my sword shall be bathed in heaven behold it shall come down upon Idumea and upon the people of my curse to judgment the sword of the Lord is filled with blood it is made fat with fatness and with the blood of lambs and goats with the fat of the kidneys of rams for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Basra and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea and the unicorns shall come down with them and the bullocks with the bulls and their land shall be soaked with blood and their dust made fat with fatness for it is the day of the Lord's vengeance and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion and the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone and the land thereof shall become burning pitch it shall not be quenched night nor day the smoke thereof shall go up forever from generation to generation it shall lie waste none shall pass through it forever and ever just a few more if you please turn to Joel chapter two verse thirty now we're in the minor prophets right at the end of the Old Testament working our way forward to Malachi look at Joel Daniel Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Joel chapter two verse thirty we'll read a few famous verses here Joel two verse thirty the Bible reads and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call turn just a few pages forward to Amos 5 18 just a few pages two pages probably in your Bible Amos 5 18 and the Bible reads in Amos 5 8 2 woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you the day of the Lord is darkness and not light did you catch that the day of the Lord is darkness and not light as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light even very dark and no brightness in it now this is why let me just put in a note here this is why in the New Testament because the day of the Lord is not something that's to be excited about for the unbeliever okay for the ungodly the unbeliever it's a day of thick darkness now God has a different name that he calls the same day by in the New Testament he uses this term seven times he calls it the day of Christ okay the day of Jesus Christ because the day of the Lord is always a negative connotation God's judgment God's wrath now the day of Christ and the day of the Lord although they take place on the same day although they take place in the same twenty four hour period they're still two different things okay because the day of Christ is what we as believers look forward to Jesus Christ coming in the clouds uh... what's commonly known as the rapture okay that's the day of Christ the day of the Lord although it happens at the same time is a different thing okay because the day of the Lord is God's wrath and God's judgment that he will pour out immediately after the rapture the Bible makes it clear and this is what's so dumb about these Tim LaHage you know left behind and where is everybody you know all of a sudden everybody's gone you know nothing could be further from the truth you know all of a sudden everybody's gone the cars aren't driving you know blah blah blah when the rapture takes place that's not how it's going to be at all every eye shall see him the Bible says they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds with great glory then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn they're going to be scared to death as we just read in about forty verses I hope you're listening all their pride's going to be brought low when they see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory you see nobody's going to be wondering where everybody went everybody's going to know what happened and not only that but the same day you know and I've never read the book left behind or watched the movie thank God you know somebody in my family when I was growing up brought it home and you know I looked at it I took me about five minutes to tell that it was trash okay but I leafed through it a little bit and you know the thing is people are just kind of going about their lives for a little while there you know it is my understanding maybe you've read it you know or whatever but you know my understanding is that in the book and in their in this uh... paradigm that they've created that Tim LaHaye and other teachers like him basically everybody disappears everybody's just wondering why and they go about their little thing for weeks and months and whatever but you know the Bible makes it clear in Luke 17 if you want to study this later in Luke 17 the Bible makes it clear that in the exact same day that Lot left Sodom and Gomorrah God rained fire and brimstone down on that city and also in the same day the same day that Noah entered into the ark most people have a common misconception that he sat on the ark for seven days with the door shut before it rained and that's not true read the book of Genesis chapter uh... chapter six seven eight you know read the story it's clear and in Luke 17 it's clearer that Noah entered into the ark the same day that God began to pour out the rain and judge the world destroy the world and so clearly clearly from reading both Genesis chapter seven from reading Luke 17 and from reading Revelation six seven and eight it is clear that the same day that the rapture occurs within twenty four hours the same exact day God is going to rain fire and brimstone from heaven you see before the first trumpet of God's wrath is blown before the first vial of God's wrath is poured out before any of that the first thing that happens as you're reading when the seventh seal is open the sixth seal being the sun and moon darkened the day of the Lord's wrath the rapture takes place in Revelation chapter seven you know what the same day before any of those trumpets and vials and all that the bible says that a great angel took from the coals of the altar in heaven burning coals in a golden censer and poured them out on the earth and when the seventh seal was opened God rains fire and brimstone on the earth so the same day the rapture happens people aren't going to be saying where is everybody they're going to be hiding themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains from the falling debris of fire and brimstone being poured out by God and so that's reality that's the truth and so uh... you better watch out who you're letting teach you some weirdo like Tim LaHaye and he's a real squirrely guy do a little research on him he's a real squirrel okay and so you better watch out who's teaching you let the Holy Spirit teach let the bible study to show thyself approved unto God let yourself be instructed in the bible learn the bible yourself don't even rely on me to teach you the bible uh... you have no need that any man teach you but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is so lie and even if it is that taught you you shall abide in him okay you come to church I'll teach you more but you ought to be teaching yourself on a daily basis and let the Holy Spirit teach you but quickly one more turn to Zephaniah I'm sorry Zephaniah or Zechariah let's try Zephaniah chapter one just a few pages forward they're pretty close together so it won't be a tragedy if we turn to the wrong one uh... Zephaniah chapter one verse fourteen 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 a day of trouble and distress a day of waste-ness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess a day of clouds and thick darkness a day of the trumpet doesn't that sound familiar? a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities and against the high towers and I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord and their blood shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dung neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all that dwell in the... now God begins to judge the earth on the day of the Lord and that's when he pours out fire and brimstone, his great wrath every high look is going to be brought down and so forth the mountains are going to be removed out of their places, the Bible says every mountain and every island every mountain, every island is going to be removed out of its place, oh where is everybody? you think it's going to be what's on people's mind? before that every mountain and every island is going to be moved out of its place the same day did that happen in Tim LaHaye's book? no it didn't people are, you know, it's so dumb, I saw this thing when I was a... it didn't take me long growing up to figure out that all this stuff was bogus, like about the the pre-tribulation rapture, ok? like I sat there in a... I remember I sat there in a school, I went to Victor and Christian school and they brought in this videotape and this guy had recorded a cassette, and this was long before they left behind this guy records this cassette tape if you're listening to this that means that the rapture happened and I disappeared and blah blah blah you know what? people are going to know what's going on, ok? they're going to see Jesus in the clouds there's no secret rapture ok? when Jesus comes everybody's going to see him I saw a statement of faith of a church the other day that said we believe in the visible pre-tribulational rapture, I'm thinking to myself, you don't even know what you believe because everyone who's pre-tribulation believes that it's invisible that's what the pre-tribulation rapture, you know, where is everybody? we're all gone you know, they're like mixing together two things, the visible was the part where they were reading their bible and the pre-tribulational was the part where they forgot to read Matthew 24 verse 28 where it says immediately, and this is really hard to understand, isn't it? immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be dark and the moon shall not give her light and then shall they see the son of man coming in the clouds of power and great glory oh, pretty hard to figure out that after the tribulation is when the trumpet's blown and he gathers his elect from the four winds from one end to the other God's wrath is poured out after the rapture but the tribulation is not the outpouring of God's wrath if I asked you, let me give you an example, if I said to you if I said Brother Wallace, I hear that you've been suffering great tribulation in your life I heard that you've been going through some, you know, trials and tribulations does that mean that God is pouring out his wrath on him with fire and brimstone, no does it mean that he turned on his faucet at home and blood came out instead of water, no okay, I mean, come on trials and tribulations it's talking about people are persecuting you you're enduring suffering mostly for the cause of Christ people are persecuting you that's called tribulation Jesus said in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world and so there's going to be a great time of persecution before the rapture the anti-Christ is going to cause people to receive the mark of the beast there's going to be great pressure to bow down and worship the idolatry of the anti-Christ and the false god that's going to be set up and so there's going to be great tribulation but God is going to put an end to it with the day of the Lord the day of the Lord's wrath and so we see that clearly in the Bible, I don't want to go on any more about that turn back to Malachi chapter number four now after all that's through after the tribulation, after you know the persecution and people are suffering for Jesus and and on and on all that's associated there with, after the rapture after God's wrath is poured out in the the seven trumpets and the seven bowels after all that there's going to be what's called the battle of Armageddon and at the battle of Armageddon God is going to gather together all nations and he's going to gather together their armies, not every single human being in the world but the armies of the nations are going to be gathered together in the valley of Jezreel and Jesus Christ is going to come on a white horse and destroy them all with the sword that proceeds out of his mouth and the the Bible says that their bodies are going to waste, the flesh is going to waste their carcasses are going to be burned up and they're going to be laying there, their carcasses are going to be laying in the valley of Jezreel their burnt up consumed carcass is going to be laying there on that day and that's when the judgment seat of Christ occurs, he sits down on a throne and he gives out the rewards and puts people in places of authority setting up his thousand year literal physical millennial reign of Christ on this earth now the Bible says, for behold in light of all that, for behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud ye in all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch now he changes subjects here, that's verse one then he changes subjects and says but unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness, now doesn't it strike you odd that it's spelled S-U-N but it's in capital letter there, isn't that odd? the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as cats of the sun, now what is God showing us here God's using here a metaphor which is a comparison between two things without coming out and telling you it's a comparison that's what a metaphor is and what he's saying here is that just as the sun rises, just as in the darkest hour of the night you'll begin to see that glimmer and the sun rises he's basically prophesying here the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ok? he's calling Jesus Christ the son of righteousness and saying that he is going to arise with healing in his wings and he shall go forth and grow up as cats of the stall, that's what he's referring to there, he's referring to the the first advent of Jesus Christ, his death, his burial and here we're seeing his resurrection as the sun arises Jesus is going to arise when he comes and that's why it says sun, S-U-N, instead of sun, S-O-N although he is the son of God, S-O-N he's being compared here to the sun's rising, that's why it's S-U-N, that's not a mistake in your Bible because there is no mistake in your Bible if you have a King James Bible and then in verse number three the Bible says, and ye shall go ye shall, I'm sorry, and ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts now turn over quickly if you would to Isaiah 66, we're seeing a lot of parallels here with the book of Isaiah well the book of Isaiah is a fantastic book in the Bible look at Isaiah 66 and we'll see the same thought here I gotta hurry, I don't want to, I want to show you things in chapter 66 but I'm going to skip that for time but just look at the, look at the verse 24 there it says, and they shall go forth, and this is referring to that time after the valley of the battle of Armageddon and after all those armies are consumed and their carcasses are there and the millennium begins God describes some of the events of the millennium in chapter 66 he describes many things that will be going on during the millennium during that thousand year reign of Christ he says, and they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me their worms shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh, that that phrase there, that quote is where Jesus was quoting from in Mark chapter nine when he said then to be cast into hell fire where their worm dieth not and their fire is a, now you say you gotta, when you study the Bible you gotta, you know use your mind and think about other places that you know in the Bible we know that Isaiah 66 is talking about the millennium for several reasons number one in order for someone to look at the carcass of a dead body of someone who sinned against the Lord and was proud against him this is before the old heaven and the old earth pass away and hell is relocated to the lake of fire their physical body is still laying there, the dead bodies in the valley of Jezreel is still laying there and their soul, the Bible's teaching, is in hell where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched and so their souls in hell, their bodies are there on the earth but back to Malachi chapter number four it says and ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes unto the souls of your feet in the day that I shall do this say it the Lord oppose now look at verse number four it says remember ye the law of Moses my servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments now here's an admonition to keep the law, to obey the Bible now this is pre Jesus Christ of course and he's saying here to these people that the law of Moses he commanded it to Moses but was it just for Moses to obey? No, he says I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments now let me just briefly say this in the old testament the children of Israel had a nation and their laws were governed literally by the first five books of the Bible I mean they didn't have uh... the laws on the books like we have their legal system their law was Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy now let me ask you something what do you think is better and I'm just trying to get you to think straight when it comes to this issue what do you think is better the legal system that we have in the United States of America in 2007 or the legal system that God set up and instituted in Genesis through Deuteronomy, which one do you think is better? probably the one that God made than just what people made pretty obvious right? the Bible says the law of the Lord is perfect now people get hung up on this thing of you know we're not under law we're under grace that's true, amen amen brother we're not under the law but Jesus did say if you love me keep my commandments now think about this does God ever change? so if God says that something is morally wrong in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy does it really matter whether we're living under that legal system or not whether that's wrong oh you know I used to think that was wrong but now it's not wrong anymore now the Bible says that because the priesthood is changed from Old Testament to New Testament there is made of necessity a change also of the law Hebrews chapter seven now there are some changes that God made in the law of necessity not because he just changes all the time he never changes but he changed the law out of a necessity because we're switching from the Old Testament Levitical priesthood to the New Testament the priesthood of the believer Jesus Christ being our high priest after the order of Melchizedek now try and comprehend this it's really very simple if you put aside maybe preconceived ideas that you have God's laws are only changed where he said they're changed pretty simple right? for example there are Old Testament laws about sacrifices that was the Levitical priesthood that's gone because the priesthood has been changed it would be blasphemous to offer a lamb sacrifice to sacrifice some kind of animal on an altar to shed the blood of a goat or a bull but when Jesus is the sacrifice once slain for all it's finished Jesus said and it would be blasphemous to offer that sacrifice once again there's a pretty big change because now all those laws dealing with any sac... any laws dealing with the Levites and their function those are not something that we're following because the priesthood has been changed okay? we don't follow those laws we don't follow the rituals of the Levites and the setting up of the tabernacle and the sacrifices and the diverse washings and the carnal ordinances look at Hebrews 7 I must show you this because there's so much false teaching in this area I want you to understand the truth about this and I want you to see how simple this is it's not it's not that complicated at all I'm sorry Hebrews chapter 9 the Bible says this it says the Holy Ghost this signifying in verse 8 of uh... chapter number 9 he's talking about the blood sacrifice in the tabernacle he says the Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience now look what this entails which stood only in meats foods drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until when? imposed on them until the time of reformation so is that imposed on us today after the coming because look what is the time of reformation look at the next verse but Christ being common high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us now what could be clearer all of the laws in the old testament regarding meats divers washings carnal ordinances the levitical priesthood sacrifices anything to do with the tabernacle is done away God tells us that clearly he tells us in other places that we're allowed to eat any kind of meat that we want we're allowed to eat any kind of food that we want in the book of Acts in chapter ten when uh... God appears to Peter and says eat any animal that you want God has cleansed uh... it says in first Timothy six that we can eat any kind of meat that we want it's sanctified by the word of God and prayer you know I was in Mexico on uh... Saturday night went down to Mexico brother Jimenez and I and uh... you know I'm the kind of guy where I walk into this taco place I just say give me one of each I like to try new things but there was a certain word that I didn't understand right away and uh... later on I thought about it and I remembered what this word means but it was too late and uh... the word was tripas t-r-i-p-a-s and I remember they said oh you know I saw that I know what that means steak you know you know the tacos al pastor I know what that is that's my favorite one then they said tripas I said give me one of each you know so I'm eating this taco and I'm eating it and you know it was okay but it just wasn't as good as the other two and so I'm eating it and I'm eating it and I said to uh... brother Jimenez I said you know this one's just not as good it's kind of slimy it doesn't really have the texture of meat you know but I had a lot of salsa on and everything you know so that still was okay you know I was probably just tasting the good tortilla and the salsa and I'm eating it and I got down to the very last bite I mean literally I ate the whole taco just down to one bite and I looked at that last bite I looked at it and I said this is not meat you know this doesn't even look like meat I mean because it was the color of meat that's what threw me off at first it was the same color as the asada but when I looked down at it I was like you know I saw this round like circle okay like a cross-section of a circle and I looked at it and it was about this big and I said you know this isn't even meat and I you know I just said you know I think I'll just eat that one last bite you know and so I finished the rest of my food and we left and I was thinking about it and I was thinking about it and you know it came to me that it means intestines is what it means you know the N words and so that that came to me and then I realized that I've been eating you know intestines my wife didn't want to kiss me when I got home and everything it was really a bad situation but what does that do with the sermon? Oh yeah I don't know it's a good thing we prayed for our food you know because it's sanctified by the word of God in prayer okay what's my point I was not committing sin when I ate the intestines now in the New Testament God specifically says you know what you ought not eat blood okay yes it says that in the Old Testament but God says you know what in the New Testament also he said and in the Old Testament it's clear don't eat blood forever okay God says never write to eat blood I don't know what these Catholics are doing with the mass where they supposedly are eating flesh and drinking blood of Jesus but you know it sounds like that's a little bit sick because eating blood is always a sin okay so I didn't get the tacos morcillo is that right? taco morcillo I didn't mess with those okay thank God okay but anyway no blood but does that help you maybe understand a little bit the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament okay does that mean that we just throw out let's just tear out the whole Old Testament because we're under grace isn't that dumb here let me break something to you it's three quarters of the Bible okay I know you'd probably like to just take this little sliver of the New Testament and just live by this but you know this is three quarters of the Bible this is the book of Psalms this is Proverbs this is things that you need in your life these are commandments that you need to be following now do you need to follow the commandments in regard to food? no. Do you need to follow the commandments in regard to washings? no but it'd probably be a good idea for some of you okay do you need to follow the commandments in regard to sacrifices and tabernacles and Levites and the priesthood? no but when God says thou shalt not kill do you need to obey that? when God says thou shalt not steal thou shalt do no murder thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image but it doesn't stop there at the Ten Commandments all the other commandments love thy neighbor as thyself what about the commandment that talks about you know not wearing as a woman what pertains to a man and people will say that's Old Testament does that have anything to do with meat? does it have anything to do with washings? does it have anything to do with the priesthood? no it's a moral right and wrong issue and just to prove to you that God still feels that way in First Corinthians chapter eleven he goes into the length of a man's hair versus a woman's hair and in Deuteronomy 22 5 he talks about wearing men's clothing if you're a man and wearing women's clothing if you're a woman and so God doesn't change that God doesn't just give you license to...or how about this, the death penalty do you think God's against the death penalty? no, God instituted the death penalty in Genesis chapter nine and God's for the death penalty, God by the way decides in the Bible who gets the death penalty for what and I've shown people this and they said well no that's the Old Testament that's the same chapter that says to stone a rebellious child read the story, it's a child who will refuse to obey he grows up, he goes out and he's a glutton, he's a drunk, he refuses to work and God says take him out and stone him God still feels that way he said if a man won't work he shouldn't eat you know what happens when you don't eat? you die and so God still feels the same way, you know what God puts the death penalty on in the Old Testament? murder you know what else he puts the death penalty on? adultery wouldn't that wouldn't that save a lot of children from having a broken heart of their parents being divorced the death penalty on adultery you know what else he puts the death penalty on? and by the way there's nothing sorrier than a man who will go and cheat on his wife or a woman who will cheat on their husband God help us and you know what, I agree with God on that you say well I've committed adultery, should I be taken out and killed? no you shouldn't because that's not the law in America but you know what ask yourself this question if that would have been the law, let's say you've committed adultery if that would have been the law in America God's law that said death penalty on adultery would you have thought twice about it? yeah okay do you see what I'm saying? so God put those laws there to protect you and to protect your spouse and to protect your children and to protect our society he put these laws in place, I'm not saying to take out and kill the adulterer but you know what, if I were king I'd say from now on if anybody commits adultery in America, in the United States past this date when we're instituting this death penalty and it would be amazing how it would drop you say well I don't agree with that, well take it up with God because that's what God had a nation called Israel, that was his laws when he was in charge when he was, he's not in charge right now in America in case you didn't know that he's not the one who made the laws that we have that are that are crooked and perverse, that protect abortion and whatever, okay you think God made that law? He didn't, God's laws are better, trust me and so God put the death penalty on kidnapping, did you know that? someone who would steal break into my house and steal my children or steal an adult and take them and abuse them or whatever God put the death penalty on murder, adultery, kidnapping homosexuality death penalty Leviticus chapter 20 and on and on, and God doesn't change, God still feels that way, God still hates adultery he still hates murder, he still hates, and you know murder is a wicked sin in the eyes of God many people in America commit murder yes they do and God says it's wicked and his judgment must come on the shedding of innocent blood God hates kidnapping, God still hates people cross-dressing oh that's Old Testament, well I'll just come and address tonight okay is that alright if I come to church on Sunday morning and wear an address then since you think that's the Old Testament see you don't really think it's the Old Testament, okay you know that God's laws are true and so do a little studying and and understand what God has specifically changed in the New Testament but don't throw out your whole Old Testament, you need it believe me, you need those principles and those teachings and those stories that's going to be your meat and potatoes of the Bible, you know reading through that Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, you need it you know, yes we're not under the carnal ordinances, yes we're not under the the meats and drinks and the washings but we do ought to obey God's laws when he tells us what is right and what is wrong, obey it believe it, study it, learn it, know it but look down at your Bible, let me quickly hurry through this, we're almost out of time here but look down at Malachi chapter 4 it says remember ye and then that's why all because this one verse, this one profound statement that God just interjects in the middle of the chapter here, he just he talks about something else and then he just brings up something new and he moves right on but he just says remember ye the law of Moses my servant whom I commanded, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments then he says this, Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great dreadful day of the Lord. Now do we have any trouble understanding what is the day of the Lord? no because we saw it in Isaiah 2 Isaiah 13 Isaiah 34 Joel 2 Amos 5 Zephaniah 1 and really many other places as I was preparing my message site I was asking myself you know should I include this one, should I include this one because there are a lot of references to the day of the Lord and they're all very consistent with what that is and then we see here Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children of their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with the curse. Now many people think this many people think that one day Elijah okay he's going to come back from the dead okay and that is what they say. Now I'm not saying it's impossible but here's the thing they believe that in Revelation where God has these two witnesses the two olive branches standing before the God of the earth and these two witnesses in the book of Revelation that they will be a reincarnation of Elijah and Moses because Elijah never really died you know he went up by a chariot in a whirlwind, he was a fiery chariot came and he went up by a whirlwind into heaven and then the Bible talks about the book of Jude Moses' body you know and in the Old Testament it says no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day and the devil and Michael the archangel disputed about the body of Moses in the book of Jude and all that now let me give you the problem with that the problem with that is that the two witnesses in the book of Revelation well there's a lot of problems with that but number one the two witnesses in the book of Revelation come after the day of the Lord what does this say behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord the two witnesses will be after the rapture okay they'll be during God's pouring out of wrath during that phase if you know the chronology of the book of Revelation they will not come before the day of the Lord they will come after the day of the Lord okay so there's your first problem okay number one number two turn if you would to Matthew chapter eleven and we'll see what this really means now who are these two witnesses well have you ever thought about this maybe the two witnesses could just be two people that just have never lived before who are they who are they well you know they're just two guys that are going to come along and God's going to use them in this way they don't necessarily have to be anybody's reincarnation from the dead okay now is it possible I mean is it possible that God could bring back Moses and Elijah because they did a lot of the same miracles you know possibly but to say that Elijah never died is a fallacy okay look look if you would at and Matthew eleven let's let Jesus Christ interpret himself the prophecy given in Malachi four the Bible says in verse number eleven verily I say unto you among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist are you in Matthew eleven eleven notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he and from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent take it by force for all the prophets in the law prophesied until John and if ye will receive it this is Elias which was for to come now what does he mean which was for to come that means which was supposed to come this is the Elijah that was supposed to come before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord what's it say for all the prophets of the and the law prophesied until John and if you will receive it this is Elias which was for to come he that hath ears to hear let him hear now flip over to John chapter one and I'm hurrying up because we're just about out of time but flip over to John one and another place in another of the gospels uh... and I'm paraphrasing this but he says uh... the disciples came to him and said why say the scribes that Elias must first come and he said why are they teaching that why are they saying that Elijah has to come first and he explained to them you know Elijah truly must first come as it is written but I say to you Elijah is come already and then the bible says that then they understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist I believe it's in the book of Mark I'm just giving you that off the top of my head then they understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist in Matthew eleven he comes right out and says this is Elias Elis is Elijah by the way that's the in the new testament Elijah is called Elias and then Elisha is called Elisius referred to one time in the new testament as Elisius just like Noah is referred to as Noe Shealtiel, Israelite, Silathiel, you know they're just slight differences between the Hebrew tongue and the Greek tongue number one because somebody showed me this one time to say well no he's not John the Baptist was not Elijah well okay look Jesus just said he's Elijah that might be the end of the story okay but look what it says here verse nineteen and this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who art thou and he confessed and denied not but confessed I am not the Christ and they asked him what then art thou Elias and he saith I am not now let me ask you something okay Jesus Christ said this is Elias John the Baptist said I'm not Elias who are we going to believe Jesus okay you say the Bible contradicts itself the Bible is not contradicting itself John the Baptist is not God okay I hate to break it to you but John the Baptist is not God and so whether John the Baptist knew that he was Elijah or not that does not change the fact that John the Baptist was in fact Elijah flip back if you would to Luke chapter two just one book back in your Bible Luke chapter two I'll give you another example of this and uh... you must be able to differentiate when you say the Bible between the Holy Ghost God speaking Jesus speaking uh... the narrator of the Bible speaking or just what someone said sometimes God is just quoting what a person says telling us what did John say he said I am not for example the book of Job a third of the book of Job is people saying the wrong things false things I've heard preachers get up and preach a sermon based on what one of Job's three friends said when God says at the end what they said is wrong okay and they'll get up and preach it authoritatively as if it's the word of God just because somebody in the Bible you know the devil speaks in the Bible there are quotes of the devil and Jesus said of the devil there's no truth in him so is the Bible telling us a lie no because the Bible is true in telling us this is what the devil said that's true but is what the devil said true? No is what John said was it true when he said I'm not Elias? No when Jesus said Jesus is the truth and when Jesus said he's Elias he's Elias okay now look at Luke 2 33 let me give you a perfect example in your King James Bible only the Bible says and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of now that's God speaking that's the narrator of the book of Luke God himself the Holy Spirit telling us and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of if you get a modern Bible like the NIV it says his father and his mother marveled now that's blasphemous to call Joseph Jesus' father the Bible never would do such a thing would never call Joseph it says very carefully in Matthew in Luke chapter 3 that Joseph be as supposed the son of Joseph Jesus was being supposed to be the son people thought he was the son of Joseph he's the son of God he was not the son of Joseph whatsoever and so if you have a King James Bible it's very careful to tell you Joseph and his mother marveled every other Bible version the NIV the HIV the NAS the whatever uh... they all say his father and mother blasphemy false doctrine now look down but look down if you would and uh... let me let me find this I wasn't prepared to say this just came to me but look down if you would at uh... verse number if anybody finds it first let me know it looks like verse number I win the prize verse 48 it says and when they saw him meaning Joseph and his mother and when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said unto him son why hast thou thus dealt with us behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing now was he right was she right when she said that thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing no God when God speaks well he says it right Joseph and his mother when Mary speaks here she's just speaking you know humanly speaking you know she just says well your father and I have been looking for you and look at this he even rebukes what she said just to prove to you because I've actually had people say like I'll show them hey your NIV says Joseph is Jesus' father and they say oh yeah well right down here the King James Bible says it's his father and I and I said look that's not God talking that's Mary Mary can make a mistake I hate to break that to the Roman Catholics but Mary is not God Mary can make mistakes let me prove to you that Mary makes a mistake it says when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said unto him son why hast thou thus dealt with us behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing watch how he turns it around on her and he said unto them how is it that you sought me wish ye not that I must be about my father's business see he turns it around and says look this is not my father I'm about my father's business right now I get so sick of this sticker my boss is a Jewish carpenter you ever see that bumper sticker put it up your hand you know what my boss isn't a Jewish carpenter my boss is the living God okay the Lord Jesus Christ no you'll not find a mention of Jesus being a carpenter in the Bible and the only time he was ever referred to people said is not this the carpenter's son people who didn't believe in him Jesus was not a carpenter I hate to break it to you and especially he is not a Jewish carpenter Jesus Christ is the son of the living God not the Jewish carpenter and so here I mean can't you see how Jesus is rebuking that where she says your father and I have sought thee sorrowing he says no no how did you how why are you looking for how that you sought me wish he not that I must be about my father's business very clear isn't it and so remember that when you're studying the Bible just because John the Baptist said I'm not Elias he didn't know he's Elias Jesus said after his death this was Elias actually I believe that wasn't even after his death it was when he was imprisoned I believe in Matthew chapter eleven yes he was just imprisoned he wasn't dead yet but it was toward the end of his ministry and so verse five will quickly finish in Malachi four behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before see how we must understand here that those two witnesses whether they are Elijah and Moses or not which I highly doubt okay probably just two people that are going to come around whether or not they are this Malachi four five cannot be used as a proof text because this Elijah is coming before the day of the Lord the two witnesses come after and guess what Elias has already come eat of that the earth see you let him hear pretty simple right pretty clear before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with the curse here we see God ending the Old Testament with that cliffhanger that I told you about what are we looking for next if we're living in Malachi's day the coming of John the Baptist followed by the coming of Jesus Christ we saw it in chapter three verse one John the Baptist verse two Jesus Christ right here we see John the Baptist prophesied we flip over the page we're into the New Testament the book of Matthew we see Matthew chapter three Matthew one and two Jesus Christ being born and growing up chapter three John the Baptist fulfilling the prophecy in Malachi chapter number four let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father thank you so much for the Bible and thank you for those that are here because they love you nobody is uh... telling them that they must be here dear God but they're here because they love the Bible and they love to hear these help us to draw something from its truth tonight as well in Jesus' name I pray Amen now in verse number four