Book of Romans, 8:23 - We Wait for the Redemption of Our Body, Pt. 6 (05/03/2020)

Park Meadows Church

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I want to welcome all of our Tradeway friends that are on today, a great number, and thank you so much for being here.

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It's an honor. And our Park Meadows Church Group, thank you for being on. You are the foundation for the work all across the country, and I know you love all the folks that come around from Tradeway, too, and it's a privilege.

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We consider it an honor. Preaching the Word of God is a privilege that's impossible to describe and also a fearful thing because you don't want to vary from the church at all,

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I mean, from the truth at all, and so we've prayed that we will not. So thank you,

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Ben, and thank you, Ben Mitchell, and also Brother Bill and Glenda. That was beautiful today, as it always is, and she always plays right before I get up to preach, and it's just anointed.

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It's anointed, her gift. God gave her the gift, and she's so humble and so sweet, but she's powerful when she gets behind that piano.

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So thank you so much, and Brother Paul, I know you're there, too. Thank you. We love you guys. We miss seeing you, and get together soon.

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All right, guys, I'm going to do a screen share here and see if we can get our

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Bible study going this morning. Just give me one second.

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We'll have that up and running. All right.

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Can you see it all right? Yeah, it's looking good. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you, Ben. Okay, so here's where we are.

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We're in the middle of Roman chapter 8, and we discovered, as we came through here, something

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I had not seen in my whole life or had not paid attention to, and that is that right in the middle of Roman chapter 8, which is perhaps one of the most powerful chapters in the whole

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Bible, all of a sudden here it's talking about the rapture and the second coming.

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So we sort of diverged off of our verse -by -verse and went into a discussion of this topic.

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That's what I like to do. I like to go verse -by -verse through Scripture, but as you see the great

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Bible themes pop up, as you go through every chapter and you see these great Bible themes pop up,

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I like to go out and find them everywhere in the Bible and pull them in, because there's no better interpretation of Scripture than Scripture.

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So that's what we do. So we've been talking about the second coming, the rapture, perhaps when the rapture happens, and I know there's some disagreement on that, and it can be very emotional, but I've tried to let that go.

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It's not my doctrine. It's not your doctrine. We don't need to be emotional about it, but we do need to be biblical about it, and I'm afraid to say that some of the great books that have been written on this topic, written some numbers of years ago, most of the ones used still in seminaries today and popular books as well, are just a little bit off on what the

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Scripture actually says in my viewpoint. Truth is, I never had much interest in this topic as a young preacher.

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I love the great themes of salvation, and that's a huge scope of things, justification, imputation, glorification, redemption, and on and on and on, and that's what

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I loved, and then the character of God, all about the character of God, the names of God, and the person and works of Jesus Christ, those are the things

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I focused on, and I knew what my mentors taught about the end times, and I just used that.

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I didn't take time to study it for many years, and then a friend of mine who was a good enough friend to challenge me one day said, little brother,

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I want to ask you, I don't want to debate you about this, but I want to ask you to do two things. First ask yourself the question, how many last trumps can there be, because that's when the rapture happens, and secondly, would you consider letting

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Matthew chapter 24 and Jesus Christ's chronology of the end times, would you let that be more important than the books you've read, and I said, sure, yeah,

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I will, and he walks away, right, so that messed me up for a year or two, so all of a sudden, the

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Lord gave me an interest in this topic because this man had challenged me, and I knew what he meant because I had had uncomfortable feelings when

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I would teach through some of these portions where I knew it didn't fit, and I would skip certain portions because I knew it didn't fit what

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I had been taught, and I sensed it was wrong, but I just didn't have much interest, so then the

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Lord took me on this trek through the scriptures, and he gave me something that is so wonderful when you get it, and it's called freedom.

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He took away the desire to win an argument on this issue, still like to win some arguments, but on this issue, he took that away.

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He took away the desire to have a preconception and just to let the

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Word of God speak to me as I studied, and it freed me, and so what

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I've discovered is totally different than what I grew up believing as a young man, totally different than what my wonderful mentor,

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Dr. Erwin Freeman, believed, but I believe if he hadn't gone to heaven early, he would have changed his mind, and my wonderful mentor,

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Otis Fisher, did change his mind, and he had taught it the other way 50 years, and as I took him through what

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I had seen at coffee, he said, you know, Brother David, you're right. We had it wrong.

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He said, but I'm too old, and I can't see, so I just won't teach it anymore, but you've got it right.

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It's not the way it happened, and it was amazing. You know, how many people pushing their 80s who've been teaching the

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Bible their whole life will change their view on anything, but he had a mind like a 21 -year -old, though. He was so wonderful, so let's go get going here where we were.

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Here I thought I would finish up last week, but we didn't quite finish, and I'm excited to get on into the next verses here in Romans chapter 8, which it's already done and ready for you.

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I just know I won't quite get to it today either, so Lord willing, next Sunday we'll pick up with the verses following this one, but this is the verse that just gives you an idea that it starts to talk about the rapture.

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It says, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of the body.

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That's the key. The adoption and redemption of the body is the key that this time about the rapture, because the rest of us has already been adopted and redeemed, the real us, the inner man, the new man, the new woman, right?

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So that's a clue. So that's talking about the rapture, and it's kind of interesting, and it goes on and talks about how the entire universe groans and so forth, so we've been talking about that.

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It's all waiting for Jesus to come back, because He's already fixed it. When He died on the cross and He rose again,

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He made it be where when He comes back, He can put the universe back in order, and the cosmos,

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God so loved the world, God so loved the cosmos, it means the orderly creation of God that He gave

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His only begotten Son. So Jesus died for all of it, to put it back in order, and we've been talking about that in recent days.

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All right, so just to review a little bit, last time we went into Revelation 19, 6, it says, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the

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Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. That's in the active voice, which means that's talking about experiential righteousness, like working at being a better person.

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The whole church is going to work at being godly and holy. This is not a passage on positional righteousness.

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This is experiential. Be ye holy, for I am holy, and it says she makes herself ready. So the question we ask is, what could possibly cost the modern church to make herself ready, because she's not ready.

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It's perhaps the weakest—if you've studied church history, this church is perhaps the weakest church that ever existed, especially in America.

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I can't speak for in Africa and India and places, maybe even in Iran, where the church is persecuted.

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It's probably very strong, but I don't get to keep up with those very much, but I know the church in America and in the

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West is maybe the weakest the church has ever been. So what's going to cause her to make herself be ready when

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Jesus comes back? The Bible says she will, though, so something, and that was the great question that we asked last time, and here's a hint,

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Hebrews 5, 8, look what the Lord Jesus went through. Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.

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So even Jesus Christ our Lord, the God -man, on the mannish side of his life on this earth, he had to suffer some things to learn obedience, and isn't that amazing?

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And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him, and so there's a hint.

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And if Jesus went through suffering, through living as a man and living in this environment that we live in, in a cursed world, you can't live here without going through suffering, and then we know how his life and ministry ended, and if he went through that, why would we think the church wouldn't need to go through that to make herself ready?

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So that's the great question that we ask. In 2 Timothy 3, it talks about the end times, and it says that all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, and then the seducers, false preachers, and teachers will grow worse and worse as we get into the end times, deceiving and being deceived.

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But we are exhorted to continue in the things that we've learned. Now I find these types of exhortations all through Paul's writings as if he is preparing

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Christians for something, some kind of tribulation, some kind of hard times that are coming up, and we know every century's had it.

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Each century, the Christians of that century felt like that the rapture would come in their era, and we feel that in our era.

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Of course, there have been some signs that have happened now that had not happened back then that had to happen, and so when we see them start to build a new temple, at that point, we're so close, you know, like we're probably seven years from the coming of the

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Lord at that point or less. So, you know, we've got some things still to see, but we've seen a lot of things that never happened before.

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One great example says in the last days, Jesus said, children will disobey their parents. Well, that doesn't sound like a sign, does it?

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But it is a sign, because if you talk to your grandparents and your great -grandparents like I did, and you ask them, well, what happened when you disobeyed?

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Man, the kinds of spankings they got with switches from bushes outside or with, you know, a razor strap, things like that, they learned to obey.

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Nowadays, we've got kids running around that have to have drugs to obey. That's never happened in the history of the world.

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That didn't happen in my grandmother's day. She thought she'd see the rapture, but she's in heaven already, and she didn't see the rapture, but that hadn't happened yet.

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So that was a sign that needed to be fulfilled. Well, now it has happened, and there are many others. We discussed that some in previous messages, right?

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So it's cool how it talks about how we have the Word of God there at the bottom of that passage so that the man of God or woman of God might be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

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Furnished for what? And as you begin to look at the context of Paul's writing, especially to Timothy, the young preacher, and to the church and how the church ought to be, you can vividly see, if your mind is open to it, that he felt that all of these things might come to pass in their lifetime, and he was preparing them to go through the tribulation that must happen before Jesus comes back, not telling them, hey, you won't be here.

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Now, if I were Satan and I wanted to create a lie, and I love blood, the blood of Christians and Jews in particular, the greatest lie

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I might come up with is, well, you don't need to prepare because you won't even be here. You'll be raptured seven years prior to anything bad happening.

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You don't need to be ready. That would be a great lie, and I think that's exactly what he did, and he duped people through the seminaries, through some huge -named preachers like Schofield, the

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Schofield Study Bible, which I love. I can't even say the word, but I love the

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Schofield Study Bible. But what he said about the end times, to me, it's totally not in the

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Bible. So Dwight Pentecost, who wrote Things to Come, probably a great man, but the stuff he said about the end times, not in the

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Bible. And so I do like the books for the point that they'll bring all the verses to bear, where we can go easily find all the verses to study, but the interpretation of those verses is very...it

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just doesn't fit together with Scripture. So I've come to find that on my own, and I'm challenging you.

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I'm not trying to teach you something. I'm not trying to convince you of something. I'm trying to get you to study. That's my job, okay?

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If I can put a thought in there like my friend did me when he asked me those two questions, then that is my job.

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So we have a Bible. It furnishes us to preach, even when it gets to the point where people won't listen.

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And he said, seducers are going to get worse and worse, and for us to continue in verse 14 in the things which we've been taught and what we've heard.

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And so we talk about this. So this whole passage, rather than teaching that the church will be gone already during the tribulation period, is teaching that the church needs to be prepared to suffer in the last times.

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When will these evil men and seducers grow worse and worse? I mean, what's the context of this whole passage?

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Clearly, it's in the end times. We're exhorted during these times to continue in the things that we've learned, and we have a

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Bible, and we are thoroughly furnished to do good works even in hard times.

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And that's what the passage is talking about. Sounds like we're being prepared for something here on this earth to me. All right, so that's where we've been.

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Now, here's where we're headed. We'll be going in, Lord willing, next Sunday, we'll start with Romans 8, 24 through 28, and we're going to be talking about 10 lessons on prayer.

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And really, we're focusing on the one lesson that's taught in that passage, and it's the 10th one. But you got the power of group praying, and these are things taught in the

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Scripture. The power of faith praying, the power of praying as an envoy, the power of praying in the way, that's a cool study.

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The power of fasting and praying, the power of persistence in praying, or importunity is the theological word for that, the word

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Jesus used for it. The power of specific praying, the power of selfless praying, and that's taught in the

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Lord's Prayer. The prayers of King David, praying God's promises and more, and the power of prayer while in the presence of God, and that's what's taught in this passage in Romans 8, 24.

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There's no deeper teaching in the whole Bible on any subject, on any subject than this.

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And Lord willing, we'll get to it next time. That's where we're headed. You're going to see some of the things we talk about today prepares us for it and leads right into it, obviously, because God put that in the context of the end times and the rapture and the second coming in Romans 8.

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He talked about the second coming and the rapture before he talked about this great secret on prayer, so it leads right into it.

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So, we're going to be talking about that, but not yet, all right? So, right now, we're going to continue this idea we brought up last time and time before on how will the church make herself ready?

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Is the church present on the earth during the seven -year tribulation period and even during the last three and a half years of that seven years is a great question.

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Would this bring her to consecration if she did have to go through that type of trouble? Another great question.

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And this ties in directly with our study on prayer that we're going to get into, Lord willing, next Sunday. So, let's continue where we were in some of these amazing passages where we're being prepared for something.

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2 Timothy 4 .1, and, of course, this is written to a young preacher, but also to the church, telling the young preacher how the church ought to be and some things the church needs to be ready for and so forth.

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He says, I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick, that's the living and the dead, at his appearing and his kingdom.

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So, I ask you, what is the context of what this passage is talking about? It's talking about the appearing of Jesus Christ and the millennial kingdom that will follow.

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That's what this is talking about. So, it's actually talking about the end times. Preach the word, be instant.

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Now, when do you think Paul is training Timothy to be preaching and to be instant ready?

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That means be ready in season and out. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long -suffering and doctrine because you're going to have many false prophets.

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What time in the period of the church is Paul talking about? I mean, if we're not careful, we'll think, well, he's just talking about the first century.

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No, he thinks the rapture is coming in his lifetime. He's talking about the end times. He just thought it would happen while he was alive.

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Every generation has thought that, and it will happen. It will happen, I think, in our time, right?

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It will happen, and he's preparing Timothy for that time. It's clear. The peering of his kingdom, this is what he's talking about.

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And he's saying, look, when those hard times come, you need to be ready. Instant means ready, means quickly ready, to quickly tell people why you believe what you believe.

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And to reprove, that means correct people that are teaching it wrong. Rebuke, that means correct them strongly when they're teaching it wrong.

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And exhort means to encourage the ones that are trying to get it right. And be patient, and use doctrine.

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People hate that word in modern church. Not all churches, but I mean, a lot of churches, they'll even say,

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I've had people criticize me and say, you know, you would be so much better off, Brother David, if you would just keep the doctrine out and just preach practical sermons.

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And so, I do the opposite. I preach doctrinal sermons and try to show the practicality of it.

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You know, I just don't see it the other way. For the time will come. What time? What time are we talking about?

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When they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.

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Do we see that in any big modern churches nowadays and small ones alike? And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall turn unto fables.

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When? But watch thou in all things. Now, where else do we hear the

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Lord Jesus himself telling us to watch and be ready? It's the same language Paul is using.

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It's about the end times. Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions. Now, why would he say endure afflictions if we're not going to be here?

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Great question. Never made sense to me when I believed it the old way. Do the work of an evangelist make full proof of your ministry?

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Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. And when will we receive that crown?

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He's talking about the end times. Because when Jesus comes back, he's going to judge the church for the works that it did in this body.

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Not for salvation, we're eternally secure in that. It's for our rewards or the suffering of loss based on what we did while we were in this body.

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So, there's laid up for me, Paul says, a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day.

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Now, that particular crown, in my view, is positional righteousness. But Jesus is also going to judge us for the experimental or experiential righteousness.

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In other words, did we strive to be good men and women? And did we use the power of the

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Holy Spirit that's within us and the word of God and the fellowship with each other to help one another to live right?

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Or did we get slack in that area? Well, the end time church is slack in that area. But we're going to get better, you watch.

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As we see more and more tribulation, I mean, we're already better with the coronavirus. And that's part of the end times.

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I'm not saying how close we are. I have no clue. I do know when I see buds on trees that summer is near though.

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So, he goes on and he talks about here the verse 8 at the bottom, but unto all them that love his appearing.

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So, what is the context of this whole passage? Well, the church and the preacher, the young preacher

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Timothy, are being prepared for something. And he's charged by his appearing and by his kingdom.

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It's the very charge that Paul uses to get Timothy to get with it. Young preacher, don't be lazy.

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You need to get with it. And I charge you to get with it and work hard and don't sleep much because he's appearing and his kingdom is coming.

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And he charged him to do what? To preach, to be instant, in season and out. And he says, we have a

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Bible that thoroughly furnishes us for such a time as this. Preach even when they won't listen.

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Endure afflictions. Oh, we're not going to be here. Don't worry about the afflictions. Well, I don't think Timothy was taught that by Paul.

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I think Timothy was taught to be ready. You will receive a reward when he returns. So, how is that going to happen?

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You know, you're not even going through any of the affliction. Why would you receive a reward for the affliction if you didn't even go through it?

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When do they get where they won't listen? The people have itching ears.

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When is that? That's in the end times. And I think we're in the foothills of the mountains of the end times now.

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People are already getting that way. Context. It shows us when they won't listen.

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Samuel 3 .1, this know also that in the last days. See, this is what he's talking about.

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This is not just normal church age stuff. This is information for the end times. Perilous times will come.

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Why are you warning me, Paul? My mentors taught me I won't be here. Why are you warning me?

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For men shall be unholy, despisers of those that are good. Anyone that's preaching the truth, they'll say, oh, they're terrible.

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They're just awful. Heady, high -minded, prideful in other words, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

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You think we might be seeing some of that? Having the form of godliness but denying the power of it from such turn away?

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Wow. So, Timothy is being prepared for the end times, and every generation of Christians has been prepared for the end times by faithful preachers because none of us know exactly when that day or hour is coming.

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We have to be ready. So, why do we need to be ready? Because we're going to be there through that trouble.

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See the perilous times it mentions in verse 1? We're going through those perilous times or he wouldn't be warning us to be ready.

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And so, let me do this. I'm going to stop the share just a minute because I want to take you through a study

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I did a few years ago, many years ago actually. Still had hair and it wasn't gray when

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I did this one, but it was an overview of chapters 1 through 14 in the book of Revelation.

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Now, don't let me scare you. We're not going to do 14 chapters this morning, okay? But I do want to take you through something and show you something here.

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So, let me find it. Let's see. Trying to find which,

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I think it's on that one. Okay.

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So, can you see a Word doc? Let me know.

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Okay. Do you still see the PowerPoint or just the Word doc? Just the Word doc. Perfect. That's what

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I wanted to be. And do you see my pretty backdrop or do you see my awful desktop? I don't see anything but the

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Word document. Oh, that's even better. That's because I did what you told me. I put it on WebView or whatever it's called.

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Okay. So, it worked. All right, guys. Let's look at this a minute. Now, here's something I want you to understand.

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If you go through and you look at the five or six, seven or eight points that people who believe in the pre -tribulation rapture teach, if you examine each point one by one, they will crumble and fall because they're either taken out of context or they're not using proper word definitions and they're using tricks to twist it and make it fit.

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And I don't say that in a mean way. I'm not against them at all. I believed it most of my life and preached it and taught it, felt a little bit of conviction when

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I did it, and that's the truth because the Holy Spirit was letting me know, you need to study it. And finally,

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I did. But the thing is, I want you to see some of these points and how easy it is to knock them over.

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And they have no points, really. I was sitting out there. I went out with Brother Bill, as a matter of fact, and his family to Dr.

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MacArthur's once -a -year big event where he has guests come in and has a whole week of preaching and teaching and things like that.

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It was wonderful. But I went into a side room with about 60 pastors, and the head of their seminary was teaching us that day.

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And when he was done teaching on some topic, I don't remember the topic, one of the pastors raised his hand. Everybody in there is a pastor, and I'm sitting back towards the second from the back row.

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And this dude raised his hand, and he asked the gentleman, he said, could you tell us, give me several scriptures in the

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Bible that show clearly that the rapture happens at the front end of the tribulation.

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Could you do that for us, please, sir? And the gentleman kind of folded his arms, and he leaned back, and he put his feet up on his desk, and he said, well, gentlemen, no,

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I actually can't show you a scripture. He said, but when I look at the preponderance of the whole scriptures,

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I just feel it leans that way. That was his answer. That was his defense of this doctrine.

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And it just got so quiet, you could hear a pin drop in that room, because that was not an answer.

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But it's the only answer he had. And he actually was on the board that helped translate,

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I think it was, the New American Standard Bible. So, I mean, this was a brilliant man, but he just didn't have scripture for this.

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Doesn't surprise me. Now, they have some they'll show you, but if you'll examine them, it's out of context.

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It's not what the thing's talking about. So, let's look at this. Let's go. Here's one of the biggest ones. They say that from Revelation chapter 4, from that point on through the end of the book of Revelation, you will never see the church again.

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So, therefore, she's raptured right there. And that would allow them to place the rapture seven years prior to the entire end of the tribulation period, and that's what they want to do.

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So, they'll just say, well, this proves it. First of all, if you've ever studied logic, you can't prove a negative.

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So, to say that the church is not mentioned throughout the rest starting from chapter 4 on is not a proof that the church isn't there at all.

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You can't prove something that way. The word rapture is not mentioned either, but the rapture happens, and it happens later on after chapter 4.

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It doesn't happen here. And I'm going to demonstrate that to you and show you how out of context, how inappropriate, and how it's cheating to try to make this scripture say that.

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It's literally cheating. And we'll make available to you the 10 rules of proper Bible interpretation.

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Brother Otis and I decided when we first met that we would go by those rules, and we grabbed those rules from many different denominations.

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They were all pretty well universally agreed on, and we developed this 10 commandments of Bible interpretation.

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We said, we'll go by that together, and we will not diverge from it, and we won't cheat in order to win an argument.

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And we shook hands on it, and we had maybe 15 things or 20 we disagreed, and by the time he went to heaven, we had only two.

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And that's because we studied in context. We kept the rules. We used the right word definitions.

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We looked at the grammar and used proper grammatical rules and all the different things. We let the

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Bible interpret the Bible, so we didn't let it contradict anything else in scripture. And by keeping those rules, our viewpoints came almost to be identical by the time he went to heaven.

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And there were some major things that we each changed our mind on as we studied together. This was one of them.

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So let's use those rules here. So here's the passage that's used to prove that the church disappears seven years prior to the second coming of Jesus, which

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Jesus said, look, I'm not coming in secret. So that refutes the whole idea right there.

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He said, when I come, it's going to be like lightning from the east to the west, and every eye shall see me. He said, is there any false prophet teaches that I came in secret in the desert or in an inner room?

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Don't believe them, because when I come, it's like the lightning from the east to the west. Jesus taught that. But let's look at this.

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Here's what they try to use to prove that Jesus was wrong about that, by the way, all right? Revelation 4 .1, after this,

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I looked and behold, a door was open in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was as it were, that's a key phrase, let's don't forget that, as it were a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.

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And immediately, I, meaning John, who the Holy Spirit used to write this book, I immediately was in the spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

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Now, they'll say that is picturing the rapture, because here you see a trumpet blow, and John is transported into heaven.

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That's a picture of the whole church being raptured. First of all, let's look at what it actually says, all right?

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First of all, it actually says, I heard as it were a trumpet talking to me, which said, come up hither.

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So that was not a trumpet. That was a voice that was just loud, and that's an allegory, saying it's loud like a trumpet blast.

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The voice was loud, and the voice said to me, come up hither. So it was not a trumpet. The trumpet that sounds before the rapture, the seventh, the last trumpet, is actually a trumpet, okay?

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This is not. This is a trumpet as it were, in other words, an allegory. The Bible will usually tell you when it's speaking in allegories, and it says it right here, as it were, a trumpet, and the voice said, come up hither.

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And it was John who went in a vision, or maybe was spiritually transported into heaven, and saw these things, and came back and wrote it for us.

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It's not the church. It's John. It's an actual event. What in this passage indicates that this picture is the whole church, unless you just say that, and you put it in books that you write, and then people start believing it, and it becomes like a truth?

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The Bible doesn't indicate that at all. In fact, let's look at the context that this is found in.

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Right before it, you know, we know that the chapter divisions are not in the original, correct? So right before this, here's what was said.

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Right before what they try to use to prove the rapture happens, and the church is gone from chapter 4 on, here's the information that came right before this.

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Revelation 3 .20, it says, behold, I stand at the doorknock. Now, let me ask you a question. He says,

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Jesus says, if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me.

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Who do you think that was written to? Now, these proponents, these intellectuals who will tell you that their theory is correct, will say that this information from here on in the book of Revelation is written to the

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Jews, not to Christians, because the Christians aren't there. They're raptured away, and it's just the Jews.

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All the rest of the book is for just the Jews. The church is not there. That's what they say. Now, we'll see if we find the church there later.

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We're going to look. See, it's so much better that rather than taking a religious leader's word for something, to go look for yourself.

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What if they had done that 300 years before Jesus came? Because I've got in my library back here in my house a book with photographs of the targums that were being taught by the religious leaders of the

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Jews 300 years up until the time of Christ. They were no longer teaching the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures.

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They were teaching from targums, which is like the good news for modern man. It's not really a Bible. It's someone saying, this is what

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I think the Bible means. You see the difference? Very, very dangerous, and that's what they were teaching from.

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If you don't believe it, you wouldn't believe how they massacred Isaiah 53, which is where the Jew could go look and see

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Christ, the Messiah, dying for them, but they massacred it in the targums. So they missed their Savior because they weren't being taught properly.

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And boy, you just have to be... And a Bible teacher stands up and says, well, here's what this means. If you're lazy, you just go with that.

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But if you want to know the truth, you go check him out, and if he's wrong, you go privately and you show where he's wrong and give him an opportunity to apologize and correct it publicly.

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If he's a man of God, he'll do that. Give him the opportunity. I wouldn't correct him in public, but ask to see him in his study and show him where he's strong if you see that he's wrong.

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Now, he may be able to show you where he's not wrong, and that's okay too, but he should at least listen. So, obviously, this is a church verse.

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I mean, we use this to lead people to Christ all the time. And I have to say, in the context, it's actually this is written to people that are already

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Christians. It's not a salvation verse at all. I don't mind you using it though. I've read people that say, oh, that's awful.

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Don't use it to lead people to Christ. Why not use it? Where could you find a prettier one than to share with someone, hey,

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Jesus is standing at the door of your heart knocking. If any man hears my voice and opens the door,

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I will come in and step with him. It's really talking about Christians who are out of fellowship and he's inviting, he's saying, invite me back in.

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You'll be back in fellowship. It's not talking about salvation, but why wouldn't it work okay for someone who's not saved to share, look, this is what

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Jesus wants for you. He wants to be in your heart. I don't have a problem with that. But the context is speaking to the church and he says, to him that overcomes, will

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I grant to sit with me. Now, this is Jesus talking. Who is he talking to? The church, and what's he saying they're going to have to do?

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Overcome. Well, why do you have to overcome if you're not even there? If you're going to be raptured out before it happens, you don't have to overcome anything.

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You're just not there. But Jesus said, I'm at the door. You're out of fellowship with me.

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You're a carnal, weak, lukewarm church. But when I come, I need you to be ready.

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And look, I'm standing at the door of your heart. I'm knocking. And if you just hear my voice and open it, I will come in and sup with you.

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That means have supper with you. That means fellowship with you. So your life is not only saved, you're a saved person, but you're walking holy as I am holy.

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You're walking like you're supposed to walk with a consecrated life so that people that need help in this world can see you're not like they are.

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You're different, and they'll come to you when they need help. That's what this is all about. And he says, look, to any of you who overcome, overcome what?

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The hardships that you go through right before Jesus comes back. To him that overcomes will

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I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame. What does he mean that he overcame?

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What did he suffer on that cross? We'll never even know. We won't know what it was like for him to be separated from the

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Father when he never had been. We'll never know what that was like. When he suffered hell, in essence, which is separation from God.

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He suffered that for us in our place so that we could be saved. He had to overcome, and he's telling us you're going to have to overcome even as I.

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And then I was sat down with my Father in his throne. I'd like you to notice it says sat down, not sit down.

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This means that the Father, this is more passive than active.

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It's like the Father set him on the throne. Not that Jesus sat down presumptuously on the throne.

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God the Father set him on the throne because of the suffering he endured, and he obeyed God all the way to the end, and then rose from the grave.

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And God set him on that throne because of all that. So think about that. He just told us if we overcome, he'll do the same for us.

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Think about that. If he went through suffering, we're going to have to go through suffering. And these theologians who sit in these ivory places in America where things are so easy, and they say, well, the church,

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God would never allow the church to go through that type of tribulation. They've never even read Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

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The church has already gone through worse than that. What about the first century in the Roman arena where they fed them the lions?

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And things you can't even talk about, they did to them. I did a paper on that in college. It was awful what all they did to Christian men and women in that arena.

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So you can't tell me God won't let us go through tribulation. The Lord said, we're going to make ourself holy.

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We're going to make ourself righteous before he comes back. It's only tribulation in my book. I don't know anything that makes a church wake up more than going through trouble.

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And then he says, he that has an ear to hear what the Spirit says unto who. Oh, but this is not written.

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This is Jewish material. So what are we going to say, like, right up until verse 22, chapter 3, to the church and the rest of it's to the

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Jews only? Or is he saying here that this entire book is written to the

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Christian? Well, let's go all the way back to chapter 1 and continue to examine the context of this, including who is the book of Revelation written to in its entirety.

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Chapter 1, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou has created all things for thy pleasure.

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They are and were created, who bear record of the word of God, of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

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This is John writing what he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written herein, for the time is at hand.

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Now, who is he writing this to? Blessed is the person who reads this book. He's writing to Christians predominantly.

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And I'm not saying it's not for the Jew, too, because it is. It's for every human. It's for every human. But specifically, the context is this book is written for Christians.

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It's written for the church. And these people that say that the church is not even there and it's written to the

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Jew, they just made that up, and they literally pull it out of thin air. And I know they refer to Daniel, but Daniel, if you read

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Daniel carefully, you see that it's...and certainly, many of the minor prophets and major prophets in the

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Old Testament make it clear that the Messiah was coming for the Gent to preach the good news to the Gentile, not just to the

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Jews. So, that's just nonsense. Who bear record of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw, blessed is he that reads.

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John, to the seven churches which are in Asia. So, who is this book written to? It's written to the church, the whole book, not just chapter 3, not just chapter 1, 2, 3.

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The whole book is written to the church. You see how the best interpreter of Scripture is the

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Scripture? That is one of the 10 rules of Bible interpretation. So, when you let a human convince you something means something, you better go see if it fits the whole of the

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Bible, because if it's wrong, it won't fit it. It won't fit. So, it has to fit, and this is one of the ways the

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Holy Spirit uses the word of God to show us the truth. So, John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace unto you, who?

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The churches. Peace from him which is, which was, and is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne.

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So, this is Jesus, and from the Holy Spirit, and from the Father, and from Jesus Christ.

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So, here we have the throne, the Father, we have the seven spirits, the Holy Spirit is pictured there, the number seven being perfect.

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So, the Holy Spirit, and now Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness. It's from the entire Godhead. This book is written to those of us who will be here during the end times.

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Preparing us for it. What use is the book if we're not here? It's of no use whatsoever if we're not here.

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So, verse 5, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, and to him that loved us, who's us?

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Okay, is that the Jew, the lost Jew of today? Now, I know there's saved Jews, but is this the Jewish nation, or is the us a reference to Christian, born -again people, the church, who loved us and washed us from the sins with his own blood?

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Well, everyone who will ever be saved is washed with that blood, Jew and Gentile.

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I promise you, you can't separate this out and say it's only for one group of people. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, right?

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And he has made us, who? The church, kings and priests, and to God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

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We know, we know everywhere in the Bible it calls us kings and priests, right? That's who this is written to.

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Now, when we get to chapter 4, we're going to take a closer look at this little phrase that comes up here at the end of verse 6.

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Grace be unto you from him who is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits, and from Jesus Christ.

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But we don't have time for that this morning. That's an amazing passage. But the point is, who's the book written to? It's written to the church.

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Verse 7, behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. Now, let me ask you, does that sound like a secret coming seven years before the actual coming?

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And did Jesus not warn us of false prophets who would teach us that he came in secret, and he's already here, he's out in the desert, or he's in an inner room?

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Jesus said, do not believe them. When I come, it will be like the lightning from the east to the west. When I come, every eye will see me, not just the church mysteriously disappearing, and then

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I come seven years. There are not two comings mentioned. I mean, there is the first coming when he died for us, and the second coming.

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There's not a third one. Let's put it that way. There's not a third mysterious invisible one that happened seven years before the actual second coming.

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Nowhere in Scripture. That's not found anywhere. And there is a rapture, but it's not a separate event.

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And we'll see, we've already studied that, haven't we? So, he goes on and says, even so, amen.

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So, he's going to come, and every eye shall see him. They also which pierced him, that's the

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Jew and the Gentile, the Roman soldiers and the Jewish Pharisees, all of those that saw him and pierced him will see him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so, amen.

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Now, note that the nature of the second coming is not a secret. It's every eye shall see him.

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It's that kind of event. Then he says, I am the alpha, the omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the

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Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation.

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Now, why would he say that if we're not going to go through tribulation? He's using his own life to encourage us as we have to go through suffering.

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And who needs that more in the modern church because we are not used to suffering, not in the United States. I mean, I know we suffer in our individual lives because the nature of the fallen world, bad things happen, sickness, death, the loss of loved ones.

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I know that. But when you're talking about being sawn in half because you believe in Jesus or having your head severed from your body in front of a group of people because you believe in Jesus or being fed alive to lions because you believe in Jesus, that's not happening right now.

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So, we don't even think, you know, we're not ready for that. But it's coming, and we need to be ready.

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And this whole passage is telling us we need to be ready. Why would it say that if we're not going to be here? Look, he says,

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I'm your brother and companion in tribulation. But it's so amazing how the Word of God's written.

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It is so accurate to the cross and the T and the dot of the I where you can't refute it if you just study it hard enough.

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Because look at this, he didn't just say, I'm your brother and companion in tribulation.

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He had a trifold concept in which he is our brother and companion in three things.

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So, he is our brother and companion, the Apostle Paul, John, I should say. John is our companion and our brother in three things.

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The first one he mentioned is tribulation. The second one he says, in the kingdom. And look at the third one, in the patience of Jesus Christ.

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Is that not the church? I mean, that doesn't sound Jewish to me. The kingdom sounds like the millennial kingdom.

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But this patience of Jesus sounds churchy to me. And he says he's our brother and companion in all of these ages.

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So, note the important phrase right here. I think it's very important. So, John was their companion in the first area, which is tribulation, just as surely as he was their companion in the kingdom that's coming and in the patience of Jesus, which the patience of Jesus is for suffering, ladies and gentlemen.

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That's what it's a word formula. The patience of Jesus is as he endured the cross because he looked forward and saw himself with us out on the other side, and that's why he went to it.

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And that's what got him through it. That's called patience. And that's the church is going to go through it like their leader,

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Jesus, went through it. So, John is comforting them by saying he is their companion in all three of these things, and he has gone through tribulation in his lifetime as well, and therefore can comfort those of us who would be going through it during the tribulation in the future.

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Now, he says that he was in the Isle of Patmos and that the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, he was placed there, and John knew he was placed there to write this book.

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That's where he wrote the book of Revelation from. Now, look at verse 10. And I was in the Spirit on the

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Lord's day. Now, remember, we're in chapter 1 now. I started the message a little earlier by reading you a portion from chapter 4, and it says this same phrase, and they said, oh, that's the last trump, and that indicates the rapture of the church.

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But the same phrase is found in chapter 1, and I don't see a commentary anywhere in the world that says that's the rapture of the church, but it's the same event.

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So, if it's not the rapture in chapter 1, it is not the rapture in chapter 4. Is that hard?

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I mean, does it take like a PhD? I don't have one in theology. Does it take a PhD in theology to figure this out?

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Now, I think it's smart to study grammar. I think it's smart to study logic. You can be self -taught.

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Spurgeon was the greatest preacher to ever live. Never went to college, never went to seminary. Called him

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Mr. Spurgeon. But listen, it's who's in the word, that's the person who

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God will bless. And there are preachers around this country, and you may not know them, you may have never heard of them, that are in the word, and man, when they preach, your heart chimes with it.

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And that's what's important. Now, we know Jesus and his followers, other than Paul, didn't have seminary educations, did they?

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So, the point is, let the Holy Spirit be your teacher. 1 John says, we have not any need that any man teach us, but we have an unction from God.

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That's the Holy Spirit, and we have the word of God. So, study, study, study, all right? If you want to be ready in the end times, you have to study.

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And he says, this phrase is also exactly almost word for word in chapter 4, and they say it's the rapture, but here it is in chapter 1, and this is not the rapture, okay?

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And no one says it is. He says, I was in the spirit of the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice. Look at the key here, as it were, as of a trumpet.

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He's not saying it's a trumpet, he's saying it's loud like a trumpet. Same exact phrase, but this is not the rapture, but in chapter 4 it is.

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You see these arguments? This is how every one of their arguments are. They just crumble so easily. If you just have a person with an open mind listen, it just crumbles.

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Now, people have their mind closed, and I'm just going to believe that because I don't want to go through the tribulation, so I'm just going to believe it.

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Then, you know, you may or may not see what the scripture says at that point, but the Holy Spirit will work on this.

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Note that at this point, John hears a great voice as a trumpet, and none of the commentators feel like this alludes to the rapture, yet in chapter 4 the same phrase is used with many commentators saying that that represents the rapture of the church.

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Nonsense, if you ask me. That's my opinion. But just using common interpretation methods like you would read any book, you can't make it mean something in one place and then three chapters later, the same thing is said, oh, that means something totally different when it's all in the same writing, it's in the same context.

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It simply means, as it simply reads, that John heard the voice of an angel which sounded loud like a trumpet.

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That's what it means. This is not an actual trumpet, so it's not the last trumpet, so it's not the rapture.

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We will see this is also true in chapter 4. It's not a trumpet at all, nor does it represent the rapture.

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Now, the following verses in 11 through 16 show us that this whole book of Revelation was not written to the

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Jew only, as these proponents of this theory have to say because they're saying the church isn't there anymore.

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It's not written to the Jew only, and they'll say, well, it's Jewish material. It's not.

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It's to the church and the Jew. It's very clear, just like the Old Testament prophets write to the Jew and to the

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Gentile. All of this, all the contents here are written for the instruction, the comfort, and preparation of the church, and I would ask you the question if the church is not going to go through the tribulation period and the events described in this book, what is the worth of the book?

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Simple question. We just have to ask questions if people proclaim things, don't we? The book is written to a church which is going to be there and, therefore, needs the comforting.

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Verse 11 says, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto who?

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The Jew? No, it says send it to the seven churches, which are in Asia, and it names them, and they represent all of the churches in the world throughout all the ages,

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I think. So who is the revelation written to? It's written to the church, and yet these scholars will say, well, the church is missing after chapter 3, or after chapter 4,

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I should say, and it turned, I turned to see the voice that spake with me. So you see, that was not a trumpet.

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It was a voice that was loud like a trumpet, and I turned, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.

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Now, allegory, allegorical language is used in this portion. In these seven golden candlesticks, we know later, because it tells us, that represents the church, and look who's in the midst of the church.

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And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one likened to the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

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And so from that, the next few verses give a description of how Jesus looks now that he's glorified and he's at the right hand of the

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Father. It shows how he looks. For sake of time, I'm going to drop down to verse 17. And when I saw him, when

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John saw Jesus as he looks now, he said, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying to me, fear not,

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I am the first and the last. That's how we know this is Jesus. And he says, I am he that lives and was dead.

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That's how we know this is Jesus. He was buried. He died, he was buried, and he rose again.

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And behold, I am alive forevermore. That's the risen Savior. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death.

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And his instructions to John and the purpose of the book of Revelation is mentioned right here.

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Write the things which you have seen. John, these things I'm showing you here. Go back and write these things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which shall be here and after.

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That's the tribulation period, the millennial kingdom, all that. Write them for the benefit of whom? The church.

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And then chapters two and three, the entire chapters, the messages to the seven churches, which possibly represent seven stages of the church, perhaps.

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That's a theological concept. I kind of like the concept, but I won't be dogmatic about that. Like the last one is the

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Laodicean church. It's described as lukewarm, and Jesus would spew it out its mouth because it makes him sick when a church is neither hot nor cold.

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Seems to fit today's church at large, and especially in the West. But I'm not going to make a big deal out of that.

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But clearly, it's written to the churches. And then you get all the way down to chapter four, and then you hear the same thing about the thing that was like a trumpet, but it was actually a voice talking to me.

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Come up hither, and I'll show you great things here and after. As it were, as a key phrase, it means it's not a trumpet.

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It sounds loud like a trumpet. And you look at the language, it literally means a trumpet.

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Word is the word for the trumpet. It's loud like a trumpet. And perhaps it means not necessarily a trumpet, but a loud quavering like something with reverb and vibrato.

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Loud voice. And immediately, I was in the spirit. Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

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And he that sat on it looked like jasper and sardine stone, and he describes everything about how he looked.

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And so out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices, and there were seven lamps.

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That represents the church. And then, I'm sorry, this lampstand represents the church. The seven lamps, the number seven being number of perfection, represents the

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Holy Spirit. So you see, John sees a picture of the throne with the Shekinah glory above it, which is the representation of the

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Father. Not his presence, but his representation, because he's not inside of time like that.

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But it represents the Father, and you see the Holy Spirit represented by the seven lamps, and you see

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Jesus represented as a lamb. And then you look in the lamb's eyes, and you see the same seven lamps.

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So you see the Holy Spirit in Jesus, you see the Holy Spirit in the Father, and you see the Holy Spirit tying the Father and Son together, and all the church together with the

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Father and Son. All that is in this vision. So it's for the church, right? So you got angelic beings, but you also have 24 elders.

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Those are like preachers. What does that have to do with Jews? You know, other than the fact that Jews and Gentiles are saved into the church, it's churchy.

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It's not Jewish. It's elders, all right? And it says, they cast their crowns before him, saying, thou art worthy,

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O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou has created all things, and for thy pleasure they were and are created.

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And you jump down to verse chapter five. Jesus takes the book with the seven seals in the hand, and he sits on the throne and says,

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I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and without the backside seal with seven seals.

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And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose those seals?

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And one of the angels said unto me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the books.

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Wow, that gives you goosebumps. That's Jesus. He's going to open these books with the seven seals, and part of that's going to be the seven trumps and so forth.

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And I behold, and lo, in the midst of the throne of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders, stood the lamb, as it were, slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God.

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So that represents the Holy Spirit in Jesus. He had the fullness of the Spirit. We have the

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Spirit in part. He had it in full. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat, and following great worship of Jesus Christ happened.

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And they sang a new song, and thou worthy to take the book and to open the seals, and now we're slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred.

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That's Jew and Gentile, not just Jew. Every tongue, every people, every nation, and has made us unto

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God kings and priests. That's the church that's the kings and the priests. And we shall reign on the earth.

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That's the church in the thousand -year millennial kingdom helping Jesus rule over the earth. This is not just Jewish material, ladies and gentlemen.

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It's just so clear by just reading it. And I behold and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, beasts and the elders, that's preachers, church preachers, and the number of them was 10 ,000 times 10 ,000, thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing in every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as under the sea.

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All that were in them heard me saying, blessing and honor and glory and power unto him that sitteth on the throne unto the lamb and unto the lamb forever and ever.

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And the four beasts said amen, and the four and 20 elders representing the church fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever.

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And so we see all of the things happening. You see that this book is written to the church. It's about the church.

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It's so obvious if you just read down through it, all right?

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So as he goes on through and these seals are open, you see it's spoken of in the book of Daniel.

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It all parallels this passage and also Matthew 24 parallels this passage.

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And I don't have time to go through all this. It's a wonderful little study.

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I love it though. So this talks about a time when

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Jesus will judge all the nations of the earth and so forth. Then it goes in and shows how

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Matthew 24 parallels all this. He comes like lightning from the east to the west. And then you can see

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Paul's chronology, how it fits Jesus' chronology of the tribulation first and then the second coming.

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Well, tribulation, resurrection at the second coming, and then rapture with those who are resurrected but slightly following them, all happens at the second coming event, not seven years prior to it.

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And all three, Jesus, Paul, and Daniel all give that same chronology. We talked about that previously in previous

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Sundays. People will be killing one another in chapter 6, and it all goes through the great day of wrath.

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I mean, this is just, you know, it just goes on and on. So it's very clear that this whole passage is a passage that was given to the church.

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The entire book was given to the church and not just to the

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Jew, and that just became so clear. All right, I'm going to try to share my

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PowerPoint for one more second here. I did it incorrectly.

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Let me fix it. Sorry, tend to do that every time, don't I? All right.

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So can we see the passage, 2

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Timothy 3 .1? This know also that in the last days, perilous times will come.

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It's talking about the same things that the book of Revelation was preparing us for, and it's so clear to me as we go through this.

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Now, about out of time, let's look at just a couple more places where you see this language coming from both

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Jesus, but also John, and then also the Apostle Paul in several places. Here's a place in 1

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Corinthians where the Apostle Paul talks about it. Behold, I show you a mystery, which shall not all sleep, but shall all be changed.

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This is a reference to the rapture. It doesn't call it that, but it's what it is. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, doesn't say as it were a trump, it's actually a trumpet.

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For the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

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So this happens at the same time. The resurrection we studied that we spent a great deal of time, if you want to go back and look at the archives of these sermons, even since the coronavirus with you guys, we've studied about there are only two resurrections listed in the whole

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Bible, one at the end of the church age, one at the end of the thousand -year millennial kingdom. This is the one at the end of the church age.

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So the resurrection has to happen first. Jesus comes, of course, in the air as the lightning from the east to the west.

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Those who died before us are risen, and we cannot precede them, Paul said over in Thessalonians.

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We cannot precede them, but we go up with them. And this one shows clearly that the dead will be raised.

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So there is your resurrection, and we shall be changed. There's your rapture. It happens at the same time, same event.

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It's at the end of the seven years. So when I saw that, it's like the Lord said, how did you not see this?

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I mean, if you just look at the teachings in the Bible and the resurrections, and I know in their books they create other resurrections that are not in the

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Bible. We talked about that if you want to go back and listen to previous sermons recently. We talked about that. It's just they make these things up, ladies and gentlemen, and because who they are, people believe it.

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Listen, all of us who teach will answer for what we teach. That's what the judgment seat of Christ is about.

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We won't lose salvation over it, but we will lose rewards when we teach something wrong just because we wanted to hold up our seminary or hold up our denomination.

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So we led the sheep astray in order to win an argument or something. I'm beyond that. Thank God, he got me beyond that before I died.

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I wouldn't want to face that at the judgment seat, and anything that I have taught wrong, I want to fix it if you guys let me know about it.

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So look at this passage now. It's a reference of talking about the rapture.

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So what's the time period and the context? And we shall be changed.

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Now, look, he says, oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, why is he talking about death? Because we worry about death, don't we?

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If we're going to go through the tribulation period where they're killing Christian and Jews just because we're Christians and Jews, you don't want to be found in the cities, ladies and gentlemen.

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You need to find a place to get away from technology and from cities. When you start to see them building the temple,

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I mean, one or both of those Islamic mosques have got to be destroyed, and when they are and they start building that Jewish temple, you don't need to look back.

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You just need to go find a place away from technology, away from the cities, because if they can find you, they're going to kill you during this time period.

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And so why is he comforting us? He's saying, look, what if they do? What if your whole family is killed in front of you, and then you're killed?

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What if that happens? Oh, death, where is your sting? Look at the context. I mean, we pull this out and use it at funerals all the time.

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And the context is talking about people going through the tribulation period prior to the rapture that he just spoke of in verse 52.

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Always, you have to look at context to get the real deep meaning of what Scripture is saying and to get it right. Oh, death, where is thy sting?

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Oh, grave, where's your victory? Paul is saying, look, Christians, you're going to suffer. Jesus suffered. But, you know, why are we so worried about men who can kill the body, but they can't kill the soul?

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Why are we so worried about death when Paul said, for me to die is gain, because I'll be instantly together with the

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Lord in his presence, instantly. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, where's the victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

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And we're reminded of our very salvation, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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He's saying, when you face tribulation, put on the helmet of the hope of salvation. Realize that you are saved.

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You'll never spend any moment in hell separated from God ever. You're already living eternal life.

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It's not like you got to die to get it. You're already living it. So don't worry too much about death and suffering, because many

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Christians have gone through it, and your resurrection reward will be greater if you do go through it.

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That's taught in the Bible. And he's saying, he's trying to prepare us to be able to get through the hard times. It's obvious.

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This is who this is written to. This is the terminal generation. Oh, Christians, those who are alive, when the second coming and prior to that, seven years of tribulation happens that we have to get through.

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And look at this, we're exhorted to stand steadfast and be unmovable. Why? Why would we need to be unmovable if we're not going to be here?

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So he says, thanks be to God that we're saved. Therefore, my brethren, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the

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Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain. It sounds like we're being prepared for something.

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Our labor, our suffering, our tribulation is not in vain. So stay in the word, stay strong.

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And in so many places, he says, endure to the end, all these things. Here's another place, we've got a little time left,

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I guess. First Peter 1. So now we've had Paul, we've had

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Daniel, we've had Jesus and John, and now Peter. He says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout

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Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, I should say, elect.

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Now, look, all of this little phrase there where it says Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to, where it says the word to, skip right down to verse 2 because this is who this is written to, the elect, according to the foreknowledge of God, the

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Father. This book is written to Christians, the elect, all right? Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles, people that are born again, that's who this book is written to, all right?

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So let's keep looking. Verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again.

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Oh, this is the church, unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you.

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Time and time again, when these apostles and prophets are going to warn you of trouble you're about to go through, before they do that, they're going to comfort you by reminding you, number one, you were saved.

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Number two, you have eternal security and cannot lose your salvation because you didn't gain your salvation, it was a gift.

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And you're begotten again, and you have an inheritance, everything Jesus owns, you own. And now, why is he telling us all these wonderful things to think about?

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Because that's how we get through tribulation. Look, we are kept by the power of God. If we go through tribulation, our soul is kept in the hand of God.

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It's kept through faith and through salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, so tell me the context.

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Who's he speaking to? He's speaking to a church that's going to go through the last times.

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Did you ever see this passage that way? We don't tend to, but that's the context. Here are the elements.

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We're reminded of our salvation, of our lively hope of resurrection, of our inheritance.

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We own everything Jesus owns. We're joint heirs of our eternal security and all to be revealed when?

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When he comes back for us, and we're still here. That's clearly the context.

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Now, look at verse 6. We're in you greatly rejoice, though now for a season. How long is that season?

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About seven years. If need be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptations, and that's testings, like as in going through trouble and trials.

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Temptations, that's what the word means, a putting to the proof. How does the church make herself ready is my question.

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She is put to the proof. These people that say she won't be here missed it, and they fell in line with Lucifer.

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I don't care if they were good men or good women. They fell in line with Lucifer because the argument became more important than the truth.

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Their seminary education, their denomination became more important than the truth. Their being accepted among the other preachers in their group was more important than the truth, and they were easily led astray, and they made the church think she doesn't need to be ready for manifold temptations or a putting of the proof.

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That the trial of your faith, what's that talking about? Well, what's the context?

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Look right here. Kept by the power through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

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That's the context. The trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honor and glory when?

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At the appearing of Jesus Christ. Clear, isn't it? Who having not seen you love, in whom though now you see him not, that's us, those of us who weren't here when he was on the earth the first time.

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We see him through eyes of faith, yet we believe rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.

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When? In the end of time. We need to be reminded of our salvation, of our eternal security, of our inheritance.

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We need to keep the word. The word has prepared us unto everything we need to get through this time.

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And we have the Holy Spirit. We have the angels all around us, and we have each other. And he says, wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end.

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What end? The end of this tribulation period. Hope to the end of this time of trouble for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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Apparently, you're on the earth, and he's saying this grace is going to come to you. When he shows up, man, you're going to win.

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If you're still alive, you're going to win. And even if you die and you're with him, you're going to win. For what glory is it if when we are buffeted for our faults, we take it patiently?

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But if when we do well and we suffer, you take it patiently. This is acceptable with God.

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He's getting us ready for something, isn't he? He's getting us ready to be punished when we don't deserve it. For even here unto we are called.

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So not only is it contrary that these professors and these theologians say we won't be here, on the contrary, it says we're called to this.

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We are called for this purpose, to go through this like our Savior went through it. For even here unto were you called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.

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Follow him when? At the revelation of Jesus Christ, all the way to the end when he comes back.

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Is it acceptable to the Lord that we suffer? Well, they say it's not, but the scripture says it is. Peter said it is.

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John said it is. Paul said it is. Jesus said it is. Daniel said it's acceptable. The Holy Spirit wrote that it was acceptable again and again, but the theologians say, no, he would never let us go through that.

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So does that fit the idea that God would not allow us to be here during the tribulation period? I don't see how it fits.

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Philippians 1, 1, Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are in Philippi, with the bishops and the deacons, grace be unto you and peace from God, our

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Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ.

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Now, what's he doing once again? He's reminding us of our salvation and our eternal security all the way up till the time

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Jesus comes back. You need to keep the helmet of the hope of salvation on your head to be able to make it through that trouble.

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For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Why is Paul telling us this? Like, it's okay if you die.

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It's actually gain because you'll be with Christ immediately. Why is he telling us this? In the context, he's talking about the day of Christ.

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Only let your lifestyle be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent.

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Remember, he's talking to a group of people that he believes will be there through these end times. And I may hear your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together, unity for the faith of the gospel.

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Stand fast. When do we need to stand fast? When it's tough to stand, and that's during times of trouble.

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And in nothing, be terrified by your adversaries. Well, are we terrified right now? Well, a germ has got us terrified.

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But what's it going to be like when governments are killing Christians just because you believe? He says, don't be terrified.

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Why would he say that if you're not going to be here? Which is to them an evident token of hell, these people that are killing the

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Christians, but to you, it's a token of salvation and that of God.

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Those of you who die because of the faith, it's just a token that you are saved. And to you, it is given on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.

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What are the elements? We're reminded of our eternal security again. We're reminded that death is a victory again. We're exhorted to stand fast in unity.

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We're exhorted not to be terrified. We're reminded it is given to us to suffer for him. And all these things are found again and again through these passages.

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Unfortunately, we're out of time. But I mean, the Bible teaches the Bible time and time again.

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You see these same elements, and God is preparing us for something. So don't believe a story.

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Don't believe an extra biblical story when you have the Scriptures. That's my exhortation.

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Wish we had more time. I'm having more fun than you are. I guarantee that. But I'm going to have grace on you and let you go.

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Even though I can't see your faces, they're starting to lose the attention probably. It's about that time.

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Really appreciate it, the honor to be able to be with you today. And Lord willing, we'll be back together next week.

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All right. I think our friend Ben had to go off to his own church services.

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And so I'm going to bid you adieu today. I want to thank Bill Nichols for teaching, Glenda for playing so beautifully for us, and Ben Mitchell being on the back side, the back office for us.

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And normally Dave's here. We miss him today and wish him safety to be back with us next time.

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Guys, we love you. Park Meadows Church family, I love you. Want to hug you soon. And all of our church body from around the country with Tradeway, we love you just as much.