Book of Romans, 8:21-23 - The Creation Shall Be Delivered, Pt. 2 (03/01/2020)

Turn with me if you would to Roman chapter 8 verse 21. Good to have

Benji and Barbara Chin visiting us today. Maybe you'll get posted in Corsicana.

That would be awesome. We'll have to create one. There's a couple of lakes near here.

They're not exactly Great Lakes, but they're lakes. Okay. All right.

Are you there? Romans 8 21. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. We just ask you to bless our study together today with your presence and be our teacher today and and bring these living words to real life in our hearts and minds today.

We ask it in Jesus name. Amen. Well I found it interesting you know a lot of preachers say that if you're stuck on a desert island and you can only have one portion of scripture you'd want

Romans chapter 8. You know and I find that true while I'm studying Romans chapter 8. Of course then when

I'm in John I think I'd rather have John or if I'm in Isaiah I'd rather have Isaiah. But still Romans chapter 8 is it is considered to be the focal point of the

Bible by a lot of theologians. It's just so amazing and I've studied it through the years so many times and preached through it and taught through it.

But I just never have thought about it so much as this time in Romans 8 starting with verse 21 through 23 that's actually talking about the rapture and the resurrections.

And I never thought of Romans chapter 8 as a part of the Bible that taught the rapture and all that stuff.

But it's right here. So look let's look at it together. It says because the create be sure you mark that it's not creature it's creation.

And in the Greek it's creation in fact down in verse 22 you'll see the word creation. It's the same exact Greek word.

So because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

And what that's talking about is that in John 3 16 where it says for God so loved the world that he gave.

The word world is cosmos and it means the orderly creation of God which was put into corruption and disturbance by man's sin in the garden.

And Jesus died to put it back in order. And so it is about us but it's not just about us

John 3 16. It's not just about him saving us it's about him saving the entire universe putting it back in order.

A lot of people miss that in John 3 16 but that's what it's about. And this talks about this necessity.

It says that the creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption out there in the future.

Maybe not that far in the future at this point. And it's going to happen when the glorious liberty of the children of God happens.

So when is that? That's the rapture. That's when we have the first true liberty.

I've tried to think about last Sunday when we were preaching through some of this. What's it going to feel like if we're the generation that doesn't die and we go up in the rapture and we feel the weight of this carnal body dropping off and being.

It doesn't it doesn't say drops off it just changes. He changes us in the air. What's that going to feel like?

When you have nothing in you that pulls against God anymore. Nothing that pulls against him.

It totally won with him. Even your body. Not only your soul and spirit but your body too.

Won't that be something? And all the imperfections will be gone. And the Bible says that that body is a real body but it'll say it will be in comparison to this body like the difference between the glory of the

Sun and the glory of the moon. So this body is like the moon. The next one we get is going to be like the Sun.

So it's going to be a big change that happens. And this is talking about that time. It links the bondage of the whole creation being corrected at the moment that the children of God get liberty.

And that's what that means you're freed from this body. For we know that while that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now.

We when we sinned it affected the animals. The animal kingdom. It affected the plant kingdom.

It affected the perhaps the tilt of the earth. Maybe it wasn't tilted. I don't know. They didn't have seasons in the garden.

It was just like Hawaii all the time. Sorry to say I'm going there tomorrow. But anyway it's it was just perfect weather all the time.

And so all these things happen and they're gonna be corrected. Verse 23 says and not only they but ourselves also which have the firstfruits of the

Spirit. We talked about this last couple of Sundays. That firstfruits of the

Spirit. I think this let me go on a second I'll explain. But it's kind of interesting where it says waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body.

We think of adoption and redemption as if they've already happened. And in a sense they have because our soul and spirit have been adopted and redeemed bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus.

And that in earnest that's just like earnest money put down on the house. But the house becomes totally ours at the rapture.

So right now we just have the earnest. So one of the things you know I've read a lot about Spurgeon and what he says along this regard.

It's amazing to hear 150 years ago this great man of God preaching and telling his people look we need to fight sin.

We need to want to be holy as he is holy and all that stuff. And then I've been listening to Rocky Freeman in the kitchen because it's on our church website by the way.

Now you can click on there and listen to Rocky Freeman. Messages there are so amazing. And he talks about the same things where he says we don't want to get so down on ourselves when we fail because we're put into the treasure is put into these earthen vessels on purpose.

God did it this way because he wanted to. This is God's will that we're not perfect. And the next phrase says so that he gets all the glory.

That's the reason. So when you fail get back up. We need to you know agree with God that we sinned.

That's what confess means. It just means agree. It doesn't mean you don't have to apologize although I do.

Don't you? Lord I'm sorry. You know but the agreeing with him that it was sin is all we have to do and that's not so that doesn't change our state with God by the way at all.

Because from the time that we receive that earnest and the Holy Spirit comes to live in us the Father sees us as if we've never sinned anyway and never sin.

That's how he sees us. So Jesus deals with our sin in time and space and so does the

Holy Spirit and that's wonderful because that's how we grow but it has nothing to do with our security of our salvation right?

That is totally secure but if you're like me you want to be a good person now that we're saved and that's not easy is it?

Don't you disappoint yourselves almost on a daily basis? So realize though that that was

God's perfect plan for us to be the way we are and that's okay if we know that because Satan can use that against us and say look at you you how can you even be saved look what you just did why don't you just quit you're probably not saved anyway and that's a lie and the

Lord comes back and tells us look we know that we groan we groan and all of creation groans because every time we mess up we go

I'm supposed to be saved I'm supposed to be better than this but you're not totally there yet because notice that this adoption and this redemption is in the future.

Future tense. So it's referring to the body part of us. The soul and the spirit are taken care of but the body the mind the brain everything else that's physical and that brain is so important it's just a physical awesome computer

God built and it is so corrupt it's desperately wicked who can know what the Bible says God couldn't even fix it so he just put us on the cross with Jesus and created a new man and woman in us and that's how he did it the old man is not fixed and we all know that and that's why we groan all right so here's the message here get up admit to the

Lord okay I messed up because me the new man I let the old man get in control and that's not worshiping you properly

I put him I let him put himself ahead of you and I'm that's bad it's sin and I'm sorry and help me be a good man or a good woman and get up and go again that's the whole life it's never gonna get better than that until the rapture but man when this rapture happens well we can't imagine what it's going to be like because that will be fixed in its entirety so this adoption and redemption have do when the whole man my whole body soul and spirit is totally saved totally right now think about this

God gave us the ability to think of him as three distinct persons one God subsisting subsisting as three distinct persons and what we tend to do in our limited ability is we will either study the distinct person so much that we forget he's one or we'll study the unity so much we can't accept the fact that he's three because we can't figure that out groups of people do both mistakes

I like knowing that I can academically study the fact that God is three persons and it's not people like we are because we'd have to be separate to be three he's not separate but he is the father and he exists as the son and he exists at the

Holy Spirit each one has a different role in our life and time and space but it's one

God now so when you think about us we have a body we have a soul we have a spirit and it's okay to academically break that down and understand okay now my spirit is the new me and when

I choose to be spirit fill I'm one with the Holy Spirit I'm like one united totally

I'm one spirit with the Holy Spirit inside of me running this whole body causing this body to live to the glory of God so that even this fleshly part that's not saved yet can do good things and will do good things as Jesus does them in me right and with me in time

I love what Dave Huber said this morning when when he just talked about the fact that you know we know

God's sovereign and we know he's acting and everything but part of his sovereign will is that he wants us to serve with him or however you put it

Dave was even better than that you said you know he wants us to work with him as he works you see that is so much a reality of the part of all this and you tend to want to look at God's sovereignty or the other but it's both and so our body even in its imperfection in this state right now is still designed to serve

God in this lost world and the only way it can is when you have a spirit controlled soul controlled body starts at the top and goes down and the

Holy Spirit is fellowshipping with your spirit then you walk with the Lord and we just don't do that much out of a whole day we don't do it much well it's

God's plan that it be this way so don't get down on yourselves it is good to try to get better but you can't get better by fleshly effort which is normally how we try to get better it's by spending more time in fellowship with the

Lord more conscious time in prayer doesn't mean you're on your knees in your closet it's as you go in the way you're doing what you're doing but you're doing everything with him that's a true disciple isn't it so it's all about that and it's not going to be perfect until this happens and this is why everything in creation is groaning and verse 23 says and not only they the creation in other words the animal kingdom the plant

King but we ourselves which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves why because we know we're not perfect but we're supposed to be but really we're not supposed to be yet it wasn't

God's sovereign will for us to be there totally yet or we would be right so this is

God's plan but we are waiting on this adoption this redemption of the body part of us we're waiting on it and listen we're going to disappoint ourselves hopefully we don't disappoint our loved ones in our church and all that hopefully we don't but we're going to disappoint ourselves and we just have to always know first John 1 9 is not some kids verse in Sunday school if we confess our sins that means agree with God that we just let the flesh control and do something we weren't holding

Jesus's hand while we did that and we admit that then it says he is faithful which means he'll do it every time and just which means it's right for him to do it because he died for us in our place to forgive us and then to cleanse us from all unrighteousness which means all the ones you forgot to confess

I never understood that because it's preached so wrong I've heard so many preachers preach it wrong so many times it

I've heard preachers say oh you've got to stay up all night and ask the Holy Spirit to get you to name every sin you've done or else they won't be forgiven that is so insane you know you you don't even know half the time we sin right you don't even know you did a sin sometimes so that's not what it means it means if you if the

Holy Spirit does bring one particular one up in your mind and you're under conviction confess it and then he forgives that one but he cleanses you of all the other ones to that and he does it every time and he does it all the time and you just get up and you go again that is the

Christian life that's the Christian life and I'll tell you something else if you want a rabbit trail there's a lot of churches now that are that are teaching young people to be this is good for a young married couple you can listen to this if you want to they're teaching young married couples to be totally transparent and to tell each other everything you're thinking and everything you've done and everything you know you're thinking that is very really terrible advice you know why because God has the ability to forgive and forget and we only have the ability to forgive did you hear what

I said we don't forget anything and gentlemen your wife won't forget nothing all right so and she cannot imagine how we think men she can't she can't imagine the battles we're going in and I'm sure we

I don't even want to know what women are going through I'm glad I don't have to know of course in this world I'm supposed to kind of be both ways aren't

I well I'm not like that so I don't know about that battle but listen you the scripture is really clear there's only one place in the whole

Bible in the book of James where it says confess your sins to one another and the next verse says so that you may be healed that's for sick people they didn't have doctors running around everywhere they didn't have medicine hospitals like we do so they would call the look at the context context is everything they would call the elders in anoint the sick person with oil and pray for him and if he had committed sins that caused the disease which we know some sins cause certain diseases right he should confess that that's the context it doesn't mean that you go around telling everybody the sins you've done or get up here and tell the whole church oh

I did this I want you forgive me you the Bible never says do that guess who it says you do that with Jesus you confess to him he is faithful and right just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you that's who you go to only the

Roman Catholics brought this idea of telling humans so there's some great advice go to Jesus and say

I can't really believe I did that I don't want to ever do it again make me a better man or if you're the woman say that you don't have to tell your spouse right now it's don't say things

I'm not saying like I had one person that heard me teach along these lines and it got upset had to be a female it happened to be a female got upset with me because she thought what

I was saying is that the man could go running around on his wife and just never tell her I'm not talking about that I mean if you listen if you violate your marriage you need to get right with God first and he's gonna always lead you to go get right with your spouse and you better pray that the spouse will let you get right right this is not always a given but there is forgiveness in love right love cover the multitude of sins love endureth all things so if love's there you can survive things but I'm talking about things in the mind and things that happen as we go on in our daily life and things like that you know you listen go to the

Lord with that stuff now there's a rabbit trail but it'll help your marriage okay because there's certain things your spouse isn't gonna help you with them anyway only

Jesus can and so these kinds of things that are part of the groaning of living in this old man and this old woman too while we're still saved and we're whole we're trying to be holy these are struggles that we deal with don't let any of them cause you just to lay down and quit get up confess the sin to the

Lord and go again I believe if the Holy Spirit convicts you to talk to your spouse about something do it but make sure it's not the enemy trying to get you to talk about something that they can't help you with it'll just make them never forget something you do you see the difference

I mean I think wisdom can tell you the difference and if you understand scripture you know that you're free to behave this way because so many people go to this thing in James where it's talking about healing and they said that that's just in general that you always confess everything to everybody it's not what it's teaching it's just terrible advice and a lot of these charismatic churches especially out in California are actually having classes where they're teaching all the married couples

I'll be totally transparent on everything I've personally done marriage counseling with people who went through that and did it and it messed their marriage up so badly that even my my wonderful counseling couldn't fix it back right could not fix it back why the person couldn't forget the the picture or whatever the thing was couldn't forget it and sometimes

I think we even have a hard time forgiving don't we we're supposed to forgive but it's hard sometimes so all of these things we're groaning we're going through this life we're not totally what we're supposed to be yet and we won't be until the rapture but the raptures the rapture is a coming right

Ben Ben never said that but he did say the Antichrist is a coming a little bitty all right so they so we talk about this and I don't look this one up because I'm headed somewhere else but this was last time in Luke 14 verse 14

I want to talk a little bit about that time period the rapture and the resurrection because that's what we're talking about here in Romans so in Luke 14 14

Jesus Christ himself spoke of a resurrection and he implied that there are more than one resurrections because he put an adjective in front of this one so we would know which one it's not so there has to be more than one and he said thou shalt be blessed for they cannot recompense thee for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just so he's talking about getting some rewards for things that we do get right and he said that's going to happen at the resurrection of the just which implies there is a different resurrection of the unjust so that's from our

Lord who is talking about these things and so then I would like you to go ahead and turn to Revelation chapter 20 while you're turning there

I'll remind you in 2nd Timothy 2 16 through at 19 last time we spoke of the fact that one of the problems in times of the

Apostles were that there were people teaching falsely things about the resurrection teaching false doctrine about how it works and and the

Bible says that it overthrew the faith of some people so it's very important that we get this right this information and yet I was

I was just looking this week at some information on the internet about the resurrection I'm just googling it see what people are saying out there and there is so much misinformation

I mean there's so many websites right now that talk about oh well there are only two but the first one's divided into several different resurrections and it tries to name them none of that's in the

Bible it's totally manufactured because what they're trying to do is make provision for a rapture to happen seven years before it actually happens and so they have to manufacture another resurrection that's not in the

Bible to make it fit because they know these scriptures were about to look at they and they got to deal with them so they create subsets like yeah there's only two but what the first one has

ABC you know first resurrection a second right you know the first resurrection

B which could be like a thousand years later and then all this stuff and it's not anywhere in the

Bible so people will do that when they're trying to cover up a lie and make it work so let's look see what the

Bible actually does say so just remember 2nd Timothy chapter 2 16 through 19 does not for it forbids us from teaching false information about this time period but people do it all the time all right so now we're in Book of Revelation chapter 20 and I just want to remind you that look down there at verse 5

I'm not going to cover the whole thing this time because we did last time look at verse 5 but the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished this is the first resurrection blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection on such the second death has no power so that tells us of a first resurrection that happens prior to the thousand -year millennial kingdom and that everyone at least correct me if I'm wrong here but it sounded like it said that everyone who is raised at that one will never experience the second death which is hell does it say that to you am

I got it right okay and I don't think looking at the Greek changes that English is very well translated so so we know now that we have a first resurrection and it happens right before the thousand -year millennial kingdom begins and it is called

Jesus called it the resurrection of the just he said that's when we'll get rewards remember in Luke and then here in Revelation it says and blessed are you if you if you rise in that resurrection because you you're not going to hell all right that implies there is a another resurrection coming where that might not be true that some people will be resurrected from the second one that will go to hell doesn't it so now we know we have at least two resurrections and it calls this it calls this one specifically the first one so there is no resurrection prior to this one and yet books out there in the

Internet are going to tell you there's two that already happened which is a lie or one that's already happened and another one that will happen before the second coming and then another one happens after the second coming this scripture has nothing about that here there's nothing about that here so that's not from the

Bible that's from theological books written by humans it just messed up a little bit probably even they didn't want to but they did all right so now if you want to see a little information about the second resurrection look at verse 7 and when the thousand years are expired

Satan shall be loosed out of his prison he's going to deceive the nation's you're gonna have another battle of Gog and Magog and Jesus is gonna end it with fire from heaven and destroy the enemies of God right so look at verse 10 and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever and I saw a great white throne in him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled the elements fled and there was found no place for the elements and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were open another book was open which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works see gave up the dead that were in it death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them that's

Hades and they were judged every man according to their works and death and hell were cast in the lake of fire this is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire so now there is a second resurrection and a thing called the great white throne judgment and everyone at that resurrection will be judged by their works now what if we had been judged by our works at the first resurrection then we would have had to be put back in the ground and come back up a thousand years later and be at that one but that's not how it works we're judged according to the blood of Jesus plus nothing what did we do with it what did the

Holy Spirit do with it did he apply it to my life individually did he save me did he quicken me did all of a sudden all the effects of that start to happen one by one

I got baptized I loved the Bible I read it I repented I had faith I believed and all these things go to church did those effects happen because they're always the effects happen when the cause happens and so that's who is risen at the first resurrection and then a thousand years go by and people who are not found in the book of life are judged by the deeds that they did in the other book which is a book of works now it may well be that we had a few judgments from that book of works but that was for rewards are suffering loss of rewards not for our salvation right and so there you go so there are our two resurrections and then after that it says a new heaven a new earth first heaven and the first earth had passed away there's no more see the new

Jerusalem comes down and God re creates the earth it's almost like the earth goes through a rapture where it's put back together right and we have no sin no death no crying anymore at that point and that wonderful so yeah it kind of a synopsis of the whole thing now

I'd like you to turn to Daniel chapter 12 and let's look at the Old Testament viewpoint of these events and what you're going to find out

I believe and even with Jesus who lived in the Old Testament economy because the

New Testament didn't start till after he was dead died risen and gone to heaven and then

Pentecost came and then the church started when Peter preached the first sermon that's the inauguration of the church so Jesus lived in the

Old Testament time period he spoke sermons as if they were Old Testament sermons although there are a loop allusions to New Testament concepts just like David in the

Old Testament had allusions to it and he spoke of what it will be like often in the church age but he basically spoke to the

Jews first in the in the Old Testament scenario so obviously Daniel is in that mode right so Daniel some 2003 or four hundred five six hundred years ago when he was here on the planet writing and here's what he said so I'm in Daniel 12 starting with verse 1 and I'm going to show you there's a little bit different viewpoint of the

Old Testament Saint because he didn't have the light that the New Testament Saint has God revealed his information line by line through time he didn't give it to humans all at once did he there was a long time period where there was no physical

Bible until Moses came it was all tradition passed down and taught from Adam and Eve to their kids and then to their kids to their kids all the way up to the time of Moses right and so God laid it down little by little so the

Old Testament viewpoint of the resurrection is a little bit different but some parts of it are amazingly similar like in Job which is one of the oldest books in the whole

Bible as far as chronologically when it was actually written Job said

I will stand before the Lord in the future not some other eyes but these eyes shall be him and I will be in his image now that's very specific amazing information about there will be a literal resurrection in the oldest chronological book of the whole

Bible so it's been the concept is always there but it's a little bit different in this sense and I think

I mentioned this last time that as the Jew when he looked at the coming of Christ he did not see two comings he saw one and he would come as a king right and blow away the

Roman Empire which is what they wanted so like if this is the first advent and then there's a valley in between of 2 ,000 years approximately and then he comes again at the second coming if you turn it this way it's how the

Jew saw it he didn't see the valley in the middle he just saw like this so he saw one coming of Christ and that's how they saw the resurrection they didn't see a thousand years and then another resurrection at the end or maybe they saw that but they didn't see the prior one before the thousand years they just saw it if this is the first resurrection this is the second they saw it like this now there's no other way to answer the information we have and make it fit then to understand that they didn't have all the information because the

Holy Spirit hadn't given it yet in fact in the passage in Daniel the angel says or the

Lord says lets Daniel know some of this information is going to be sealed up until the end times no one's going to be given the understanding on how this works it says it so they weren't supposed to see the details that we see does that make sense if you don't understand that you'll be somewhat confused but if you do understand it you'll be fine alright so Daniel chapter 12 verse 1 let's just start there it says and at that time shall

Michael stand up and the great prince which standeth for the children of our people so Michael is specifically one of Michael's the angel

Michael's job is to watch over Israel that's been a busy angel hasn't it very busy probably very powerful angel so Michael stands up now when an angel stands everyone takes notice because they're awesome creations and so he's the great prince he stands on behalf of the children of thy people that's certainly

Israel it it could do you think it could include the adopted children to which would be us perhaps but you you have to sort of read that into it we know it's

Israel and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even into the same time now that word in Greek would be tribulation so what do you think

Daniel is seeing here he is seeing the seven -year tribulation period isn't he now does he see that it's seven years well

Daniel is pretty amazing at prophesying to the day when Jesus would come the first time that's in the book of Daniel exactly when he would come the first time but I don't know that he sees the full seven years but I know that he sees the trouble that happens in that time period he speaks of it here and he says there's never been trouble like this in the history of the world and never will be trouble like this again it will be the worst time in the history of the world and what's interesting about it he does somewhat see the seven years because he speaks of it as times and time again and with hindsight we can look back and say that's three and a half years and then there's another three and a half years so Daniel saw it spoke of it but I'm not sure he understood it completely what do you think he probably you know he writes what

God tells him to write doesn't mean he he doesn't mean he can picture it like we can see it now and we'll see why in a minute because God kind of covered up some of it till the end times so he goes on and says such as never was since there was a nation even to the same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered everyone that shall be found written in the book now this is one reason that I think

Michael is not only over Israel but over all we're adopted Jews in a sense aren't we not so much

Jews but adopted children of God it to me has to include us because now it's speaking of a book and everyone whose name is written in the book these are the ones that are saved that will be resurrected into life and that's us too not just the

Jews and here's Michael dealing with it so I think he is sort of the archangel over God's people so that includes us too now people who have developed false ideas of the rapture will try to say that all of this is just Jewish material but when

I read it it's not just Jewish material in fact when I read Isaiah it says Jesus Christ the Messiah is coming and and he's going to save the

Gentiles I mean the Jews too but it specifically says he came to preach the gospel to the

Gentiles so it's both it's God's saved people is who this is talking about and it's those who are found written in the book of life right so that's everybody saved

Jews saved Gentile saved people verse 2 and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake now sleep is the word

Jesus used for dying he never said you die he said you sleep right well he gets obviously an authority of scripture he had seen this verbiage used before and he loves it and since he wrote the

Old Testament I mean makes sense doesn't it but he adopted the same idea that it's sleeping so now we're talking about people who have died physically and been buried and have become part of the dust of the earth and Daniel is looking forward some 2 ,000 3 4 5 600 years into his future and by the

Holy Spirit he's given a vision and he sees people being resurrected and it says many of them notice it doesn't say all isn't that interesting many of them that had died and were in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt now when you read that it sounds like they all come up at the same moment but we know they don't but Daniel saw it that way so he says here's the two resurrections he saw it this way it doesn't say that there's not time in between them does it now if you ever study logic you can't prove a negative so the fact that it doesn't mention that there's time in there doesn't prove that there's not time in there that's good logic but I didn't state it very clearly you hear what

I'm saying though right and so it leaves room for there to be two resurrections it just doesn't say how many there are it just says that the saved people are going to be resurrected and the lost people will be resurrected and at this event the way he sees it he says many which means not all of them came up at that moment when he saw it so that implies even further that there's a later one so it's implied but it's not explicit here in the

Old Testament not in this place but then again let's keep reading and they that be wise shall shine is the brightness of the firmament that I love this verse and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever does that mean you can save people well what does it say it says you're supposed to turn people to righteousness who is who is righteousness so you turn them towards Jesus you tell them about Jesus you tell them look you're not righteous you'll never be righteous and every other religion in the world except biblical

Christianity says you got to get more righteous by doing good stuff you're not going to get there so I introduced you

Jesus Christ there's your righteousness that's all we can do that's our job and that's what we do and we can do it well we can be salt and we can be light but we can't get people saved can we but wise people the

Prophet Daniel said will someday shine is the brightness of the firmament when we get to heaven we'll be like the

Sun compared to the moon if we were the people who pointed others to Jesus because all true

Christians do that you do it with your life and your words all true Christians do that people that are faking it don't do it because it embarrasses them to talk about Jesus they won't do it

I remember because I can remember being lost I didn't get saved till I was 24 I remember lots of times

I didn't want to be known as a Christian because it was embarrassing until after I got saved then I wanted to tell everybody so I became somewhat of noxious about it but anyway all right so look at verse 4 but thou old

Daniel shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased do you realize that's the jet airplane and that's the internet and none of this could have happened till that happened and it's already happened so now we are in the end and so now it can be open see how it was shut this knowledge that the

Holy Spirit was giving him about these two resurrections and about the end times was shut up where people wouldn't fully understand it until the internet was invented and jet airplane was invented and now we can be because now we're in that time period where the

Holy Spirit is going to open more people's eyes to how it works that's why you read Dwight Pentecost book on things to come it was a great book for the time he wrote it but he wrote it 90 years ago and he didn't have the light you have and he was a scholar and a theologian and you're not but you are living more in the end and you had

God the Holy Spirit has revealed more to you how it works than to him back then and he got a lot of it wrong frankly most of it wrong in fact my mom met met the man

I'll never forget she met the man she went with a friend to Dallas and they went into an apartment and he was visiting one of the kin folks and my mom got to meet

Dwight Pentecost she came home that evening said I wasn't that impressed with him he didn't seem that godly to me that's just my mom's opinion

I'm it's not saying it's my opinion but it's a true story at least that's the way I remember it mom

I hope I got it pretty close to right I think she said he was disgusting actually no not really teasing okay so you see there how there's a lot of information there but it definitely speaks of a resurrection of saved people it speaks of a time of tribulation like the world's never seen then don't you think it implies that after that there's a resurrection did you catch that so so I'm telling you

I'm gonna show you in a minute the Rapture cannot happen until after the resurrection so when you start doing the math the theory of the seven years and the

Rapture first and then seven years and then the second coming is fought is proven false just by the math so you have to have a tribulation period first then you have to have a resurrection and in a minute the

Holy Spirit's going to instruct Paul to tell us in the New Testament that then after that or actually together with it the

Rapture happens so let's see if we see this and I'm not trying to teach theology here I'm just trying to I'm just gonna read scripture you tell me if I've got it right or not it's not that difficult so so here he says there'll be a time of trouble such as never was there was a nation even until the same time there will be trouble that bad again and at that time thy people shall be delivered all right that sounds like Jews and Christians that had been being having their heads cut off for seven years are all the sudden going to find deliverance everyone that shall be found a book of written in the book of life will be delivered spiritually and many of them that sleep in the dust the earth will awake and some to everlasting life some to shame and so forth all right now look at turn with me to first Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 13 but I would not have you ignorant brethren

I wish more people would read that like I don't want to have you in a state of never having studied this properly and getting the sequences correct

I don't want to have you like that I'm gonna teach you what God is telling me this is

Paul talking here I'm gonna teach you what God just showed me about how this works in the timing of it all so I don't want you to be ignorant about any of that brethren concerning them which are asleep that's those who have died before us right family friends that have already died physically and the reason he doesn't want us to be ignorant because he doesn't want us to be sad about it even as others which have no hope if you die and you're lost and your loved ones die you have no hope we're not like that for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them which sleep in Jesus will

God bring with him so where are they right now are they in the grave are they with Jesus right now well if he's going to bring them when he comes back they have to already be with him and if you study

Corinthians you'll find out they're in a temporary body they're not just floating around a spirit just aimlessly a ghost or something

God at the moment of their change and see they were changed to only not in the air when they died they were changed their body went to to be buried but their soul and their spirit were instantly placed in a temporary body and an angel escorted them to be immediately in the face of Jesus and meet him for the first time and that's where they are and then when he comes back guess who's coming with him all of them right your loved ones so don't be sorry about it they're already with him when they come back to meet us they're gonna be with him and this is what

Paul says so he goes on and he says don't be sorry about this like those with no hope for if we believe

Jesus died and rose again even so them which have already died in Christ that means they're saved people notice notice it doesn't say everybody that died it said the ones that died in Christ all right so this is the resurrection of the saved will

Jesus and will God bring with Jesus for this we say unto you by the

Word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain that means we don't die physically we're in the generation that gets raptured that's who he's speaking to he said that we which are alive and remain let me ask you this did

Paul think he was going to get raptured he said we so the answer is yes do you know that every generation of Christians for 2 ,000 years has thought they would get raptured

I remember my grandmother saying I'm not gonna die I'm going up in the air I remember brother

Roloff saying I'm not worried about airplane rides I want the plane air ride you know stuff like that every generate that you know and he didn't make it either right in fact he went down in his plane in a storm but he's with the

Lord in his new temporary body but let's keep reading here for this we say unto you by the

Word of the Lord so Jesus Christ taught Paul this while Paul was in the wilderness three years with Jesus that's what that means when it when

Paul says I'm gonna tell you something Jesus told me this goes this is not just inspiration the

Holy Spirit this is when he was in the wilderness three years and Jesus was with him teaching him before he became an apostle isn't that amazing so Jesus taught him this face to face on this planet in time and space very interesting for this we say unto you by the

Word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord now that's a reference to the second coming isn't it obviously so those of us who are still alive at the second coming shall not prevent them that are asleep now that's an old

English word the word prevent let's look it up in the Greek in fact if you look up the word prevent in a big dictionary a big old

English dictionary will tell you what the old meaning used to be in 1611 it means the same as what the Greek word means now and it's

Thano is the Greek word and it means to be beforehand to proceed so a better modern

English translation will be we shall not precede them we will not we will not be brought up and changing the air before them but after them you got that is what it says all right so for this we say unto by the

Word the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming the second coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep for the

Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the

Archangel and the Trump of God I had a friend that friend that challenged me to look into these things and change my mind on it just simply ask how many last trumps can there be and that got me studying for a year because there can only be one and doesn't happen seven years prior to the second coming it happens at the second coming but anyway that's just a rabbit trail but he goes on and says the

Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first so in case you didn't understand that prevent means proceed he makes it clear here the dead in Christ will rise first so now we arrive at what

Daniel and Jesus in the book of Luke called and in John in the book of Revelation called the first resurrection we've arrived and here's what it looks like our loved ones who died and we're still alive at the second coming theoretically let's just say everyone else believe it we might as well believe it's us right so we're still alive you hear the shout you you hear the

Trump and you see Christ like the lightning from the east to the west coming in the air and you're still standing here and you're wondering dang if the

Rapture happened seven years ago I missed it but there wasn't one that was a lie and so you're still standing there and grandma comes out of the grave and heads up to be with Jesus and waves at you and then you go up and you're changing the air that's exactly what is being seen here it's just I don't say

I could be more plain the Rapture cannot happen until after the first resurrection and that is at the end of the seven years at the second coming so they're part of one big event and I'm not saying it happens

I know the Rapture happens in the blink of an eye but the second coming is not like that it things surround the second coming happened for many many days when

Jesus comes there's a lot of stuff that happens during that little time period of days and including

Armageddon that takes time but but it's all kind of one event and the

Rapture is not separated by seven years from it anywhere in Scripture Old Testament or new so it's a man -made concoction this makes it very clear that we the

Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and the Trump of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds so even though we don't proceed them they they're just slightly ahead of us because it's all one event you see that the resurrection happens here they go and now we go with them we don't go before them that's the point there was false teaching 2 ,000 years ago

Paul's dealing with it in this passage of Scripture where they were teaching that the resurrection had already happened and it was destroying people's faith and Paul says so many many lost their faith over this false teaching and he said part of what he's teaching here is clearing that up he said that's not how it works here's how it works that that the dead in Christ will rise first and then those of us who alive and remain will be caught up together with them and we will be changed in the air so then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the

Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord wherefore comfort one another with these words but of the times and the seasons brethren you have no need that I write you listen there were people that understood this back then he's telling his brothers look

I just told you how it works but I didn't need to you already knew it do you catch that so only today is there confusion of course we live in the end times and Jesus said there'll be many false prophets many false preachers and that's why we get it wrong because we were taught wrong and then when we see the truth it confuses us so you just have to eliminate what you've been taught go to the scripture and let the

Holy Spirit teach you straight from the word or you'll you won't get it but if you do that you'll be set free and you'll see it like it is so he says then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds wherefore comfort one another with these words but at the times and the seasons brethren you don't have need me to tell you about it you kind of know about it for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the

Lord comes as a thief in the night and if you study it in the context where Jesus talked about it that way too it's like that to the lost world not to us now only in the sense that we don't know the day in the hour is it that way to us so it is a little bit like that like we don't know the day he's going to do this right we just know it's in our future we don't know the exact day but the lost people don't even know it's coming they're not going to be prepared for it and the huge majority of church won't be either because they think well

I'm not going to be here I'm going to go out seven years I don't need to worry about it I don't need to prepare now you got seven years tribulation to prepare for before this happens so don't be caught sleeping and this whole passage is saying don't be as them that sleep don't be as them that are drunk you need to be awake you need to be thinking you need to be planning you need to be taking care of your family because this is going to be the worst time the earth has ever seen or ever will see for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the

Lord comes as a thief in the night for when they shall say see you see there's a we and there's a they there's the sheep and there's the goats the goats are going to say peace and safety even the

Antichrist is promising them peace they're going to say all the world's never looked better than it does right now during the first three and a half years right as that stuff starts happening they're going to think it's never been better the economy is going to be booming you know that things are going to and fro people are going to and fro across the world information is flowing we're like before the

Tower of Babel so we can build anything we think we think about we can actually make it and God knows that but now it's gonna be time for that to happen back then it was too early so God stopped it now the timings right so with the internet listen

I do it all the time I'll just go into Google I'll say English I'll say Italian to English two boxes come up I'll put the agreement with Italian government for exosome left and boom it reads it to me on the right in English so there is no language barrier so now we're back like it was before the

Tower of Babel but now it's time for it to be that way God is allowing it now because we're going to create some amazingly destructive things to kill each other still and for when they shall say peace and say and yet the whole time we'll be saying peace and safety and the

Antichrist will come on the scene and he'll say look I can fix the economic problem if the Western economy collapses because of all the money printing they're doing right now is

I can fix that but I'm only gonna do it if you will agree to no longer have national barriers because they're bad because borders cause wars see that's bad logic but that's what the message will be borders is what causes wars if we eliminate the borders they'll be peace that's not true if you think that's true go read the

Old Testament when they didn't have borders and see what they did to each other when they would two armies meet back then when sunset came one side was completely dead and then they went and killed the women and kids so one side is completely gone in a day that's how it was before we had borders so anyway

I love rabbit trails but these liberals when they talk they're lying their plan for peace is exactly the one that we'll see here and when they say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them whoa whoa as travail upon a woman with child and they won't escape you know what that tells us a woman doesn't just boom and have a baby she has birth pangs and they get closer together and they last longer

I know because we did husband coach childbirth and I was the coach I'm glad I was the coach and not the player but I was a good coach five times and I know that there's a time period of preparation before that baby is born this is telling us there are going to be signs they're going to be things that have to happen first and they're going to lay down in order and you're going to see him and and not only will you see him but the things that have kind of always been around like earthquakes the point is they're going to get stronger and kill more people

I did a study less than five years ago where I went into the national area where the

US gives information on earthquakes and I put it on the spreadsheet and it's already happened there are already more of them but the important thing is they are killing way more people each decade than they have in recorded history so it's already happening and they're going to do like birth pangs it gets harder it's not that they weren't already there they were there but they were little but now they're getting stronger and these things will happen and while they're happening the world's going to be saying peace and safety when's last time you had the whole world so interested in a plague as you have right now and yet Jesus said well in last you know when it gets close one of the signs you're gonna have a lot of plagues well you've never seen

I mean even SARS I looked at the stock market all the time right you go back and you look at the stock chart when

SARS happened which it literally killed almost everybody that got it this one doesn't this kills very few out of the people that get it but the stock market went down for about two and a half weeks and they went right back up this one's getting slaughtered the market is by this one so people are reacting in more fear and so here it speaks of these things it'll be like the travail of a woman with child and they shall not escape the baby's gonna be born right but you brethren are not in darkness that the day should come upon you as a thief you see

I told you that I that's for the lost that's for the goats the thief thing we see it coming we know the signs we've read

I teach them to teenagers in 1980 I used to listen a lot of the stuff

Charlotte not taught the youth group in 1980 have already happened now we said these things gonna happen a lot of them already happened now and it is just mind -boggling to somebody my age to have walked through this profit prophecy and seen so much of it fulfilled already you are the children of light and the children of the day we are not of the night nor darkness therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober and prepare for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunk or drunken in the night but let us who are of the day be sober sober sober sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation that is a great key what that's talking about you know where the armor is given in Ephesians 6 talks about the helmet of salvation this one calls it the helmet of the hope of salvation and you take the helmet on and off and you say that doesn't really fit because we don't lose our salvation and put it back but it's not talking about salvation it's talking about the hope of salvation what is that the rapture if you look up the word hope author the

New Testament it's a word formula it's talking about the rapture so the hope of every generation is that you won't have to die you'll go up and be changed in the air every generation has thought that every generation including

Paul including my grandmother including brother Olaf everybody has grabbed for that and missed it so far so I think it's us but that's the hope of salvation and that helmet

I put listen when I get frightened I just put that helmet on think about that for a minute what's that day gonna be like and you just pray you don't run out of money before that day happens but you might right but you know what even if you do what's it gonna be like when that day happens and you're one of the ones that gets to go up well that's the real big hope that's what we should be focused on for God has not appointed us to wrath now there's one brother

Bill knows this there's one that the false teachers will use to try to prove that the rapture happens seven days seven years earlier because they say see right here

God didn't appoint us to go through that kind of tribulation listen read Fox's Book of Martyrs Christian people have already gone through way worse tribulation than some of this if you read it you'll see what

I mean it's already happened so God doesn't protect all of us from being sort of say tribulated from being persecuted right with listen some you go right after the

Catholic Church came into being they killed more Christians than the Romans did read it all right so that's not talking about being protected from tribulation or suffering it says wrath and that word means hell so all it's saying is

God did not appoint us to go to hell he appointed us look what it says but to obtain what read the next word you're not looking at your

Bibles sorry I caught you all right read the next word somebody what does it say salvation it's not talking about tribulation and missing it it's talking about salvation or missing the opposite which is hell do you see that so this is taken out of context and used to try to prove thereafter happened seven years early it has nothing to do with that it's just sad how people misuse use and abuse the

Bible to prove a false doctrine but anyway there it is so God didn't appoint us to go to hell but to obtain salvation by our

Lord Jesus Christ who died for us there's another clue that it's talking about salvation that whether we now look at this whether we wake or die we should live together with so there it says we're dying but I thought they're saying this is protecting us from dying by being raptured early no it says some of us are going to die some of us are not but we're still saved you see the context here we gotta go like this so I can move on all right

I love it everything is context when you're trying to protect the integrity of the Bible wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also you do is there ever been a more perfect ending to a sermon let's stand in that prayer together so now we have the timetable straight from Scripture we know when the first resurrection happens we know when the dead that died before us will be raised and we know when we will be raptured and we know a thousand years will happen after that and then there'll be another resurrection of the lost so we will not we'll only be there as a spectator all right so blessed are they that arise in the first resurrection for they shall never experience the second death that sounds like eternal security to me we could go on y 'all want to sit back down no let's pray

Lord thank you so much for your Word thank you for how clear it really is when we take time to study it and thank you for your

Holy Spirit who even in the difficult passages will give us light and help us to learn more and more every day of our lives from your