1 Thessalonians 5 Verse-by-Verse Bible Study

1 Thessalonians 5 Verse-by-Verse Bible Study

Video

August 5, 2015

1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse number 1, the Bible reads, "But of the times and the seasons brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." When we look at this verse, it's obvious that we're continuing something that was just being spoken, because it says, "But at the times and the seasons brethren, you have no need that I write unto you," and the obvious question is, the times and the seasons of what? What are we talking about?

If you remember, we just finished up in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 with the run down of Jesus Christ coming in the clouds and all the believers being caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, what is commonly known as the rapture. In fact 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 is the most famous rapture passage that people would point to as being they clearest description of the trumpet sounding, "The dead in Christ rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds." Look at the end of verse 17 there. "To meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words, but ..." You see that at the beginning of chapter five. That's what we're connected to. "Comfort one another with these words, but of the time and the seasons brethren, you have no need that I write unto you."

So, the times and the seasons of what? The times and the seasons of when the rapture will take place. The times and the seasons of Jesus Christ coming in the clouds and the trumpet sounding. He says, "Of the times and the seasons brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for yourself know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief of the night." This sentence only makes sense if the day of the Lord and the rapture are both happening at the same time. If those two things had different timing, then this would make absolutely no sense for God to say, "Here's what's going to happen at the rapture, but of the times and the seasons brethren, you have no need that in write unto you, because let me tell you about a totally unrelated event and when it's going to happen." That wouldn't really make any sense, would it?

Obviously this is a continuation. He describes rapture, and here's the thing. In chapter 4, there is no discussion of the timing, because it's all just a discussion of where your departed loved ones are, and how they are going to be brought with Christ, and how we're going to be caught up together with them. There's no timing given. In Chapter 5, he gets into the timing and he says, "You don't need me to write it to you, because you already know the timing." You already know that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Verse three, "For when ..." When has to do with the timing, "when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape, but you brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief."

So, this day is clearly bad for some people and good for others. For those that are not saved, he said it's going to come upon them as a thief in the night, and it's going to be sudden destruction coming upon them, but he says unto us, we're not in darkness that that day should overtake us as a thief. So, Christ is not coming as a thief in the night to those that are saved. He is coming as a thief in the night to the unsaved. Notice when he says here, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Notice, he doesn't say, "You're not even going to be here for that day, you're already going to be gone." He doesn't say that, does he? No. He just says, it's not going to take you as a thief because you are of the light. You are awake. You see this coming, and we'll get in to that a little bit later, but what I want to point out here is that the timing of the rapture is the same timing as the timing of the day of the Lord, and the day of the Lord is a major event that the Bible talks a lot about in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Let's look at some of those scriptures. Go back to Isiah 13. We don't have time to look at all of them, but let's go to Isiah, chapter 13, to see one of there main scriptures on the day of the Lord beginning in verses number six the Bible reads, "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come as a destruction from the almighty." That's the exact word that was used in 1 Thessalonians 5, destruction, "Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt, and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth. They shall be amazed one at another. Their faces shall be as flames."

Again, the exact same illustration as 1 Thessalonians 5 where he said that it would come upon them as travail upon a woman with child. That's a pregnant woman going into labor. He said it's going to be extremely painful for them. Let's keep reading. It says in verse nine, "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine, and I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore, I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger."

Let me point out some things about the day of the Lord from this passage. We see that it is a day of wrath. God's wrath is being poured out. There's going to be destruction. The earth is being punished. The sun and moon are dark and the Bible says, and there is a great earthquake. These are all things that characterize the day of there Lord according to this passage, and people will be very scared. It talks about people hearts fainting them for fear here. Go back if you would to chapter 2 of Isiah. Chapter 2, just a few pages to the left, look at verse number 10. The Bible reads, "Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and every one that is lifted up and he shall be brought low."

Jump down to verse 19, "And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats. To go into the clefts of the rocks, and the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth." We see a lot of the same elements here. People are very afraid they're scared of God's wrath. It talks about the great earthquake and the shaking, but here he keeps mentioning over and over again, people entering into the clefts of the rocks. Going into the caves and hiding in the rocks and in the earth.

Go if you would to the book of Joel, in the minor prophets towards the end of the Old Testament. Joel, Amos, Obadiah. Go to the book of Joel chapter number two and look at verse number 28, the Bible says, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."

Here when we look at the day of the Lord, we again have a description of the sun and the moon being dark. It says the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day of the Lord [will 00:08:45] come, and then it also talks about people being delivered. That there are going to be those who have called upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered or saved. Now, flip over to Zephaniah Chapter number 1 for another scripture on the day of the Lord. Every single one of these, if you look them up and even the ones that we don't have time to turn to, you look up every mention of the day of the Lord and it's very consistent what is being described. The type of event that's being described, where the Lord is pouring out wrath and punishment and where people are scared and hiding as an earthquake and the sun and moon are darkened.

That's a key feature that we see over and over again in these scriptures. Then some of the scriptures bring out the positive aspect for those that are saved, those who are delivered. Look if you would at Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 14, "The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord. The mighty man shall cry there bitterly." That's been a theme in some of the other scriptures that we've seen. "That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers." We could go on and on, and look at scripture after scripture. The same thing comes up over and over again with regard to the day of the Lord, and the key feature is the sun and the moon being darkened, and so forth.

Go if you would to Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter number 6, and let's see if this event take place in Revelation, because it's very easy to identify the day of the Lord in the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is the most important book in regard to Bible prophesy for us today in the New Testament, because this is the book to show unto to Christ servants the things which must surely come to pass. This is the revelation. What does it mean to be a revelation? It means things become clear. Things are unveiled. Things are made plain. This is what God tells us what's going to happen in the end of the world. It's not meant to be difficult to understand, or cryptic, or hidden in a way, no. It's the book of Revelation. It's something that should be easy to understand.

Now, look if you would in Revelation chapter 6, where we will see the day of the Lord, the event that is talked about all throughout Old and New Testament, clearly described. Look at verse number 12. Look at verse number 12, "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake ..." We remember that, "And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood." That's something that kept coming up at the day of the lord, sun and moon darkened, "and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind, and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." That's goes very well with the description we read in Isiah 13.

Watch this, "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains." Do you remember that from Isiah chapter 2 about the day of the Lord? "And said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?" What did we see in just about every description of the day of the Lord? The word wrath over and over again. God's wrath, he's coming to pour out his wrath. Over and over again, we see it. It's very clear.

Now, flip over to Mathew chapter 24. Mathew Chapter number 24, and we will see another crystal clear description of the day of the Lord. Look at Mathew chapter 24, beginning at verse number 29. It's easy to identify the day of the Lord because there are so many aspects of it that are the same in every passage. Look at verse number 29. It says, "Immediately after the tribulation," And those are very key words there, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." I don't know if you remember, but back in the Old Testament, that term was used about the powers of the heavens being shaken. It says, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Here in this passage, we have the sun and moon being darkened, the powers of the heavens being shaken, and then we have all the tribes of the earth mourning. This is just what we saw in Revelation 6 when all of the kings of the earth and the great men are crying out and saying, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?" All throughout they Old Testament, weeping wailing. People are fearful and scared about God's wrath. So, this fits perfectly when it talks about all the tribes of the earth mourning.

I've heard some people try to take this and say, "All the tribes of the earth, that's Israel." Hold on a minute, because they say, "It says tribes." Well, when it says all the tribes of the earth, it means all of the tribes of the earth, not one tiny country, but they'll say, "The word tribe is only ever used about Israel," wrong. The Bible used the word tribe about Egypt also. So that word is not exclusive to Israel. All the tribes of the earth shall mourn. That's talking about people all over the world of all the nations. It says, "All the tribes of the earth shall mourn and they shall see the of man ..." That's Jesus. Jesus called himself the Son of man many times, "coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree."

Of course, that was the exact illustration that Revelation 6 used when it talks about the stars of heaven falling unto the earth, even as a fig tree casted her untimely figs. Here we see here in Mathew 24, the sun and moon darkened, the trumpets sounds, men's hearts are failing them for fear, they're mourning, they're crying out, and then Christ comes in the clouds and gathers the elect, the elect or the saved, gathers up all of those who are saved in the clouds, or what we know as the rapture. So, why would it surprise us then that in 1 Thessalonians 4 he describes the rapture, and then in chapter 5, he says, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." You know why? Because the day of the Lord and the rapture are happening on the same day. So, that day is a great day if you say it. It's an exciting day, but it's a terrible day if you're not saved. It's the day when God comes to punish the world.

If you go down a little bit further in Mathew 24, you'll see some other things that tier nicely with 1 Thessalonians 5. Look at chapter 24 verse 36, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man." Talking about what day and hour? The day and hour that this is going to happen, when Christ comes back. So, if somebody tries to tell you, "Hey, it's happening in September of 2015," they're lying, because nobody knows that. We don't know the day nor the hour. So, it says here, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only, but as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

Isn't that like where it's said in 1 Thessalonians 5 when it said that they would say peace and safety and then sudden destruction would come upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape? Here they are just eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage and then sudden destruction. Same thing. Let's keep reading. It says, "Then shall two be in the field. The one shall be taken, and the other left." Verse 41, "Two women shall be grinding at the mill. The one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come, but know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the what?" And, "what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of man cometh."

It's so clear, isn't it? How can anyone argue with the fact that 1 Thessalonians 5 is still talking about the rapture. It's the same thing. Go back to 1 Thessalonians 5 if you would, because he finished up talking about it in chapter 4, he describes Christ coming in the clouds and the believers being caught up together with him. Then in verse one of chapter five, he's clearly continuing the same discussion, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape, but ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober."

Remember he said look, if the goodman of the house would have watched, then the thief would not have broken up his house. He's telling us to watch and he says, "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night, but let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." Right there it makes perfect sense that God will remove us from this earth right before he pours out his wrath, because that day of the Lord is the day when God comes to punish the earth. It's the day when God's wrath begins to be poured out. That's why in Revelation 6, they said, "Hide us from there face of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come," meaning it just arrived. The great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?

It makes perfect sense that that's the same day that we will be removed. That's why it said in Mathew that just as the same day Noah went into the ark, the flood came. In Luke 17, it says the same day that Lot was brought out of Sodom and Gomorrah, it rained fire and brimstone. It's the exact same thing. The same day that we're removed from this earth via the rapture is the day that God pours out his wrath on this earth, fire and brimstone et cetera. It's all very simple and very easy to understand. There's nothing complicated about it when you just take it at face value, you read Mathew 24, you read 1 Thessalonians 5, it's all right there. You go to Revelation 6, you look up all the Old Testament passages, it all drives, it all fits, it's all perfect, but here's the problem. People refuse to believe in this, and the reason why is because they're stuck on this Tim LaHaye Left Behind's, Scofield, Darby.

They're struck on this pre-tribulation rapture. So, they can't see this. A child could see this. It's right there, but they don't want to see it. So, they have to go through all these mental gymnastics and all these mental acrobatics just to deny the clear teaching of scripture and they say, "This just can't be. The day of the Lord can't be talking about the rapture." They'll try to say, "These are totally different events, totally different things. Don't let it bother you that it says the trumpet sounds and Christ comes in the clouds in Mathew 24, and gathers the elect. We know that's not the rapture," and here's why they know it's not the rapture, because it says after the tribulation. It's a very circular thinking here. It's funny that they love to quote the versus about, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man. He's coming as a thief of the night," or "Watch therefore, you know not what hour your Lord doth come." Even though these are all coming from passages that tell you that it happens after the tribulation.

They'll just lift those versus out of context. When you read the whole chapter, it doesn't work that way. Here's where people are getting confused. They're confusing God's wrath with the tribulation, and people are teaching that the tribulation is a seven year period where God pours out his wrath on this earth, and that is a lie, because the Bible says that the sun and moon are darkened after the tribulation, after the tribulation. Then it says that when the sun and moon are darkened, that's when God starts to pour out his wrath. God does not pour out his wrath on this earth before the sun and moon are darkened. Therefore, the tribulation does contain God's wrath whatsoever, and that's very clear from these passages. We are removed before the wrath. Yeah, it's a pretty rough rapture, but it's not a pre-tribulation rapture. They just don't understand what the tribulation is.

The tribulation, if you read Mathew 24, it will tell you what the tribulation is, and if you read Revelation 6, it will tell you what the tribulation ... It's a period where there's a going to be warfare all over the world, there's going to be great famines, pestilence, natural disasters, and then it's going to culminate in a period where Christians are persecuted for the course of Christ unlike they have ever been persecuted before in history. It is the greatest persecution of believers that has ever been known and ever will be known. This is known as the tribulation. If it were not shortened, the Bible says then no flesh would be saved, but for the elect sake those days shall be shortened, because if it were allowed to run its course, all Christians would be killed, but it's cut short and so only some will be imprisoned and killed, and those that are alive and remain will be caught up together to meet up the Lord in the air, but there will be a time of intense persecution for believers leading up to the rapture, but this is not what we're taught today.

In churches we're taught that we just go through our happy lives and then one day we just disappear. We just [sluh duh duh 00:23:51] and then we're just gone. First of all the Bible never teaches anything about anyone disappearing. The Bible talks about the fact that at the rapture, that he'll send forth his angels to gather his elect. Just like the two angels went and gathered Lot and his daughters and took them by the hand and brought them out. So, this whole thing of a pile of clothes being left behind is just a Hollywood fictionalization. It has nothing to do with biblical reality of everybody just wondering through life and they just disappear, piles of clothes, and everybody is wondering, "What happened? Where did everybody go?" There is no mention of anybody asking that question, or, "Where [is it be 00:24:33]," because when it happens, it's a period where there is a great earthquake, sun and moon are darkened, the heavens are rolled back as a scroll.

You're not going to be wondering, [inaudible 00:24:45]. They're going to be running for cover and hiding in the dens and the rocks, because there's going to be fire and brimstone that's going to be raining from the sky. They're not just going to be wondering and wondering, "What happened? Where is it? Was it aliens?" This is all what Hollywood is actively teaching people, and also the Christian bookstore and the Evangelical Church. They've all joined in on this pre-tribulation rapture, "Jesus can come at any moment. He is coming today," and it is not biblical at all. 1 Thessalonians 5 clearly proves that it's not biblical. You see it yourself right here. He doesn’t say, "That day is nothing to you, because you're not even going to be here."

Think about it, the day of the Lord, the sun and moon being darkened is after the tribulation. No matter what you believe, you've got to believe something happens after the tribulation. Matthew 24 says after the tribulation, sun and moon are darkened, tribes' mourning, et cetera. Why is God not telling us in this chapter, "You guys are going to be gone years before that." No, he says, "That day is not going to overtake you as a thief." He didn’t say it's not going to overtake you at all. He said it's not going to overtake you as a thief, because you are awake. You are watching. You know what's happening. When these things begin to come to pass, you can lift up your heads and look and say that your redemption draweth nigh.

Let's look at this passage here. It says in verse 4, "But ye brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness, therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." When the Bible here talks about being asleep or being drunk, these both have to do with being unaware of what's going on.

A lot of people will use these terms today in the truth movement. When people are a truther, they'll talk about those who are awake, and those who are asleep. Why? Those who are asleep are basically the people who just kind of believe whatever the media tells them. They are not paying attention to what's really going on. They don’t know what Bible prophecy tells us. They don’t see behind the façade of what they're shown through the media. So, those who are awake are those who are paying attention. Think about it, when you are asleep, you're not really in tune with the reality around you. You are living out a reality that you've created in your own mind, but it's fake. It's fiction. When you are awake, you're seeing the real events that are happening around you.

A lot of people today are described as being asleep. They are living in a dream world. What they think is real is not really real, and then there are other real things that are dangerous things that they don’t even know anything about. They are sleeping. They are not awake. God tells us not to be like them, but to be awake, to pay attention, to first of all know the scriptures is the best way to be awake. That's how we're going to know what's happening. The other way to be awake is to not just believe everything that we're told, and just take everything that the TV says or magazines and newspapers say, as gospel. We need to pay attention and realize that there are darker forces that work.

The Bible talks about the rulers of the darkness of this world. The Bible says, "They that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night." Again, people who are drunk, they tend to have a different view of reality. They see things in a way that's not real. So, when it talks about being awake and being sober, we are alert, our senses are tuned in to what's really happening around us. It says, "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."

Again, let me just quickly point out to you in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Flip back there quickly. It says in verse number 3, "That no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto, for verily when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and ye know." In chapter 3, it clearly says that we are appointed to afflictions and tribulation, but we are not appointed to wrath, according to chapter 5. Chapter 3, "Appointed to tribulation," chapter 4, "The rapture," chapter 5, "Not appointed to wrath." That's what the Bible teaches.

Now look at chapter number 5, verse 11. It says, "Wherefore comfort yourselves together." Wherefore comfort yourselves together." Again, that's very similar to what it said at the end of chapter 4, isn't it? "Comfort one another with these words." Now he says, "Comfort yourselves together." Have we just completely switched topics here? No, we're talking about the same timing, the same event. It's very clear. "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves."

When the Bible says, "To know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and esteem them very highly," this is talking about those who preach to you. This is talking about pastors and preachers who preach to you. He says, "First of all to know them," and he says, "to esteem them very highly in love for your work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves." Now listen. Today in 2015, there is a huge attack on the institution of the local church. People want to get out of church. They don’t want to be a part of any church. They just claim that if they get together with a couple of Christian buddies, they say "That's church," and they'll say, "where two or three are gathered together, there is Christ in the midst." That's true.

If a couple of believers get together and pray together, which is the context of that passage, if a couple of Christians get together and pray together, there is Jesus Christ right there in the midst of them, but that is not a church. There are so many scriptures that emphasize the importance of having a church that has a leader, that talks about the bishop, the elder or multiple elders, but the importance of leadership is something that is stressed throughout Old and New Testaments. Now today, people want to get away from this, and they attack this. Go to Hebrews Chapter 13, if you would. They'll talk bad about the subject of pastoral authority, and say, "You believe in pastoral authority and all these stuff," because they basically believe that church should be a free-for-all, or just that any free-for-all group of Christians who get together in a living room somewhere somehow constitutes a scriptural church. That is really not true.

In fact, it doesn’t make sense when you read the whole Bible, since the whole Bible is constantly emphasizing men of God and leaders who rise up and rally the people and lead the people to do things for God. Where do you see throughout the Old Testament or New Testament just a free-for-all. No, you see men in the Old Testament being anointed by God, being lifted up by God, being filled with the Holy Spirit, who rally the people. When they don’t have a leader, they don’t live for God like they should. Then in the New Testament, there are all kinds of people being ordained and being sent out, and Jesus is choosing men to call them apostles and telling them, "Look, go out and preach and do this," and then God's telling Timothy through the Apostle Paul, "You need to ordain elders in every city," and all these.

Then He goes into great detail about the qualifications of the elder, and says, "He needs to be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly, he needs to be sober, he needs to be given the hospitality, he needs to be apt to teach, he …" What is the point if people are going to say, "We don’t need that guy any more. We don’t need a pastor, we don’t need a leader, we don’t need a bishop," or, "If you are in one of these pastor-run churches, that's a cult," or whatever. Any strong leadership is just called a cult.

Having a [Bible-patterned 00:33:37] church with a pastor or bishop or elder who is actually biblically qualified and leading the church is considered a cult, because we should just have an open mic, free-for-all. When you have a free-for-all, then the worst people take over. It's like communism, where you say, "We are all going to be equal," and then the worst people take over. It's not biblical. Look what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13. It talks about this. [Somebody 00:34:06] says in verse 7, "Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation."

Look at verse 17. "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you." Look at verse 24. "Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you." So, the Bible does teach that we should have leaders, people that are over you in the Lord and admonish you. The Bible says you should esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Meaning, you don’t just try to pick fights with the leadership for no reason and be a rubble-rouser.

Today, a lot of people … We don’t have this problem in our church at all, but I hear it all the time, people being very disrespectful to their pastor and rebelling against the pastor. The Bible says, "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father." It's not that the pastor never makes a mistake. Of course the pastor is going to make mistakes, teach things that are sometimes not exactly right. Sometimes, someone even needs to correct the pastor, but it's to be done with respect. That's why the Bible says, "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father." If the pastor needs to be corrected, then you go to him kindly, humbly, and point out the error. You don’t just mouth off and be disrespectful, because of the fact that deposition a pastor. It's not that we're lifting up a certain person, but it's their work's sake.

It's the position that God has ordained. There is a reason why God has ordained it, because if it were a free-for-all, then the worst people would come in and take over. The worst doctrine would be preached behind the pulpit. The purpose of the bishop is to be an overseer, to guard the church, and make sure that the doctrine stays right, that the people behind the pulpit preaching know what they're talking about, and they can take the church in a clear direction. If you're going to lead any organization to do something, somebody has to be in charge and call the shots.

You can't just have everybody going in all different directions. Then it's not even a church. It's not even a group anymore. Everybody believes something different. Everybody is doing their own thing. No, you need to have leaders. You say, "I don’t want to get behind this particular leader." Then you need to leave and go to a church where you can get behind the leader. Someday, if you can be qualified and go through the process of being trained, and learn, and get sent out to start a church or take over an existing church, then you can be the leader, and then you can do things how you believe that they should be done. In fact, if you want to be a pastor some day, great, I'll train you. I'll teach you, and we'll send you out to go start a church.

You meet the qualifications, you learn, and be sent out of here to go pastor a church, and then you can lead and do things how you want to do them, and no one will stop you. That's why we believe in doing it Independent Baptist. The church that sent me out to start this church, they don’t like a lot of things that I've done, but I don’t really care, because I'm an Independent Baptist. While I was there, I was a blessing to that church. I was not a pain. I was helpful, and I did my best to promote the church, to support the pastor, to get on board with the program at that church. Today, everybody just thinks that they know better than the leadership, and just wants to do their own thing. Even people that are newly saved, even the people that haven't even read the Bible cover to cover once, thinks that they are an expert, and that they don’t need a leader.

Honestly, we need strong leadership in our churches across America today like we have never needed it before. It's amazing, because people will say this, "We need pastors and bishops. We need leaders, but we shouldn’t have one leader. We need multiple leaders." That's what you will often hear people say. Here is the thing about that, according to scripture, the Bible clearly teaches that the pastor is supposed to be a full-time position. It's supposed to be a paid position. The Bible says, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." "The laborer is worthy of his reward." "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor," et cetera, et cetera.

Peter was told to stop fishing, and to serve the lord, and he was a pastor. On and on, the Bible says, "They that preach the gospel should live off the gospel." People will point to the Apostle Paul, who wasn’t even a pastor. He was never a pastor, and he was a single man. He wasn’t married. He just lived on his own, making tents and preaching. Great, but that's not the pattern God set for churches and pastors. All the pastors in the Bible were full-time workers of the church, and they lived off of the money that they made from working with the church, just like in the Old Testament, the priests lived off of the sacrifices and the offerings of the people, et cetera.

Here is what's funny. They'll say, "What we need all is multiple pastors." How does that work in a small church? How are you going to afford to pay all these multiple pastors? Your board of 12 pastors and 7 deacons, how are you going to pay these 19 people in your house church that meets in your living room? It doesn’t make any sense, folks. Of course as a church grows and gets very large, then you need more than one leader. You need other leaders, just like Moses all kinds of other leaders that were chosen to help in his ministry, just like Jesus had the 12 disciples, and then later he had 70 apostles that were added.

Obviously, more leaders are needed as the church grows, and it gets too large. When it's running thousands, you're going to need more pastors. You're going to need more deacons and so forth, but don’t get caught up in this junk where people just say, "We are all the same. We are all equal. We all have an equal say in the direction of the church." No, that's not what the Bible says. That is called "The Gainsaying of Korah." That's what Korah taught, and the Bible warns us against that philosophy. Be careful of that, because there are bad people who want to creep in, turn it into a free-for-all, corrupt the church. You say, "It's supposed to be a democracy." Says who? Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.

Democracy is not biblical in any way, shape or form. You know why? The majority is always wrong. "Broad is the way that leads to ..." Why would you put the majority in charge when they are always wrong, according to the Bible? "Broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat, because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." What if our church goes out and wins a bunch of people to the Lord, and then they all come in here and say, "We want the NIV"? 51% of us want the NIV." It won't matter, because we're going to do the King James because the pastor says it's the King James, because it's a pastor-led church, because the pastor is a biblically qualified man of God to lead.

You get behind him or you get behind a different pastor, but you go to church, and you get behind the leadership. You don’t just come and say, "We're going take a vote on which Bible we use," "We're going to take a vote on whether or not we're going to do door-to-door soul-winning. We're going to take a vote on the music. We're going to take a vote on who is doing the preaching." No, we're not. Our church has never voted, and never will. I'm not voting in the 2016 election, but that's a whole nother sermon, and of itself. I didn’t vote in the last one either. Anyway, let's get back to the sermon. It says in verse number 12, "We beseech you brethren to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you." "I can't believe that someone would be over someone else." This is the mentality that people have, and it didn’t come from the Bible. Did it? It came from the world.

The Bible says, "To esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly." What does it mean to be unruly? Notice, it has the word there "rule," right there in it. Unruly means people who will never have anybody tell them anything. They don’t want anybody to tell them what to do whatsoever. They are unruly. They just are going to do whatever they want. The Bible says, "Warn them that are unruly," and then it says, "Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil."

This is a neat little section here where it has these series of just short little statements, these seven really short verses making these profound statements. It's hard to do these justice in a sermon like this, because each of these points … You could do a whole sermon on, "Pray without ceasing." You could do a whole sermon on, "Rejoice evermore." You could do a whole sermon on, "In everything, give thanks." These are just profound statements and instructions to be meditated upon, important things to remember. Every day we need to be ... By the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us and direct us in our lives. When God's Spirit brings from the word of God to remembrance, we don’t want to just shut that voice out. We want to listen to what God is saying to us in our spirit.

It says, "Despise not prophesyings." Prophesyings are preaching. That's what the Bible means. A lot of people will say, "Prophesying, that's foretelling the future," but it really isn't. If you study the word "prophecy" in the Bible, it's just preaching. An example I like to use is Proverbs 31, where it says, "The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him." There is no foretelling of future events in that passage, just preaching. It says,"Despise not prophesying. Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." "Prove" means to test. We would think of "proving" a little bit differently in today's vernacular, but in the Bible, proving something means to test it. He says, "Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good."

What is he saying? When you hear something, when you read something, when you're confronted with something, you need to test it. He says, "Hold fast that which is good." The implication is to discard that which is not good. Everything in our lives, we need to examine it and ask ourselves, "Is this good, or is this evil? Is this something that we want to have in our lives or is this something that God wants us to get rid of out of our lives?" he says, "Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good." Then lastly, "Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."

Again, this is yet another proof, and there are so many proofs of this in the Bible that the rapture is the second coming of Jesus Christ. That that's what the Bible is ... Every time the Bible says, "The coming of the Lord," "The coming of Christ," "The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," it's referring to him coming in the clouds at the rapture. People will often say, "Don’t get confused between the rapture and the second coming." The rapture is the second coming every single time. Here, it's proven yet again. What does it say here? "And the very God of peace ..." Verse 23, "sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." If our body and soul and spirit, if He wants them to be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, how could that be someday, years after the rapture, when the body is already been done?

Think about that. It's like when the Bible says, "He that hath began the good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." That work of sanctification that's going on in our lives, it goes up until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? When Christ comes, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We'll be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, and we will be like Him. We will be conformed under his image. Clearly, this proves once again that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is when our sanctification is over, because at that point we're transformed. We're like Him. We're fully sanctified. So, the Bible talks about us being preserved unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."That wraps up the book of 1 Thessalonians. What were the main themes? All throughout the book, the theme of the second coming of Jesus Christ was always in view. All five chapters dealt with it in detail, and brought it up over and over again, and then another theme that carried throughout the book was trials, tribulations, afflictions and suffering that we go through as believers.

This is a great book for the end times. 2 Thessalonians covers a lot of the same things, but from a different angle, because 2 Thessalonians is also going to cover a lot with Bible prophecy and a lot along those exact same themes. This is a great pair of books for us today in 2015, because these things could happen in our lifetime. We're definitely closer than any generation has ever been, so we need to be prepared spiritually to go through tribulation, to go through persecution. This is a great book to warn us and strengthen us for the fight ahead. So many people aren't ready for it, because they're being told, "We'll be gone by then. We're just going to be removed before any of the persecution comes, the tribulations come," and they'll say, "We all go through tribulations and persecution. We are not going to go through the big tribulation."

When you see a lot of them, and you look at the way they live their lives, they are really not going through any persecution at all, even now. Yet the Bible says here, "And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall persecution." The truth of the matter is that when you live the lukewarm Christian life in 2015, you're not going to go through persecution, but if you want to live godly in Christ Jesus, if you actually step out in faith, and serve God, and get out there and do something for the Lord, then you will suffer persecution. It's a guarantee. This is the book to help strengthen you from the word of God, First and Second Thessalonians. Let's bow down and have a word of prayer.

Father, we thank you so much for you word. Lord, we thank you so much for these warnings, and thank you for laying out a very clear timeline of events for the end times and showing us what the tribulation is like, showing us that the rapture will occur on the day of the Lord, that the sun and moon will be darkened, and then we will be caught up in the clouds with Christ before your wrath is poured out. Lord, there are many people out there who are trying to deceive us right now, and trying to just muddy the waters here and make this really confusing, when really it's not confusing at all. They want to get everybody to believe in this fable of the pre-tribulation rapture. Lord, I pray that no one in this room tonight would fall for their lies, and that they would just pick up the Bible, and study to show themselves approved by reading First and Second Thessalonians for themselves, and paying close attention to every word, and also reading Matthew 24, the book of Revelation, and all the other pertinent scriptures, Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 4 Verse-by-Verse Bible Study

1 Thessalonians 4 Verse-by-Verse Bible Study
Video
July 29, 2015

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the Bible reads in verse number 1 "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication."

Now it says in verse number 1 there "... ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God," In verse 2, he says, "... ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus." Then in verse 3 "... For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." A lot of times when people talk about the will of God, they talk about it as this mysterious thing, where there seeking after the will of God. They're praying and trying to figure out what God wants them to do. But honestly when you study the Bible we pretty much know what we need to do as Christians, 99% of the time.

People make a mystery out of something that's actually revealed in scripture. The Bible is saying, "You know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. ... this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." You see if you follow the commandments of the Bible and obey everything in the word of God, then you’re in the will of God. When you’re not obeying Gods commandments and when you’re not obeying scripture, you’re not in the will of God. It’s really that simple.

Now a lot of time when people are seeking the will of God, they're looking to know things about specific locations, for example or people. They'll say, "I'm looking for the will of God concerning, where to live? Where to start a church? What to do for a living? Who to marry?" But in reality many of these things are actually choices that God has left onto us. The Bible says, in Ecclesiastes, "Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man." Once you have obeyed everything that the Bible tells you to do, that's your whole duty, you’re done. God gives us choices in life and he gives us free will to decide who we want to marry; to decide where we want to live. These things are not set in stone somewhere, where God has a certain place for us to live and a certain person for us to marry and we have to somewhat figure out and solve this mystery. No. We need to obey the word of God and the Bible does say that God will direct our paths if we do that.

The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." The Bible says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord ..." We just need to focus on being that good man so that our steps can be ordered by the Lord. We just need to worry about trusting in the Lord with all our heart and not leaning on our own understanding and then he will direct our paths. But people spend a lot of time agonizing about things that are questionable, when we really ought to be agonizing about that which we know to be true. We ought to be putting more effort and thought into how can we obey the Bible, than in trying to know the unknown and searching for the will of God.

He says, "No, this is the will of God." That your sanctified, that you live a holy life, that you obey the Bible, that you keep the commandments, that's what God, wants us to do. He's revealed us those things in scripture. Honestly God is okay with you marrying who you want to marry. As long as you marry someone who's saved. As long as follow the commandments of the Bible and marry a godly person, and you’re a godly person, well then everything will be fine. It's the same thing with a lot of the choices in our lives. I heard someone say it this way, "The what of God's will, is more important than the where, of Gods will." Sometimes young men are agonizing about where to start a church? They know that God wants them to go out and preach the Gospel and be a bishop, but they agonize about where? When in reality, the where, is not really that important.

People are dying and going to hell everywhere. People need to be saved everywhere. We need a soul winning church everywhere. Honestly, it's not that important. What's important is that, you meet the qualifications. What's important is that, "Study to show you’re self-approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." There are even some guidelines in the Bible that can help someone decided where to start a church, but it should all be coming from the Bible. Not just seeking some ethereal, mysterious will of God. But I've seen a lot of people really get wrapped up in that and waste a lot of time and energy thinking about that.

The Bible says here, in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse number 1, he says, "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God ... " He says look, you already know how to walk. You already know how to please God. What you need to do is just abound more and more. He says, in verse 2, "For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." Now what is sanctification mean? Go back to Exodus chapter 13, if you would. Exodus chapter number 13.

I love how the Bible defines itself. The Bible is truly, its own dictionary. A lot of times, whenever there is a difficulty word in the Bible, if you go to where the first time that word is mentioned it will define it for you right there in the Bible. Actually we're going to see that with a few different words in this chapter, that can be looked at as difficult words. But look in Exodus chapter 13 verse 2, the Bible reads, "Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine." Now the two words that I want you to pay attention to there are the words sanctify at the beginning of the verse and then half way through the verse you'll see the word womb. "... whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel ... " Jump down to verse 12, and notice that virtually the same statement is made but a few words have been switched. It says in verse 12 "That thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix ... " Notice, instead of saying "Sanctify unto the Lord ... " it says "... set apart unto the Lord ... " Instead of saying " ... whatsoever openeth the womb ... " it says " ... whatsoever openeth the matrix ... "

Right there we can define some difficult bible words. We can see that sanctify means set apart. Then we can also see that matrix means the womb. Okay. Right there the Bible is defining itself. Elsewhere, if we study the Bible, we can see for example, the Old Testament Holy Place, is known in the New Testament as the Sanctuary. We can see that sanctify means made holy or set apart, if we just use the Bible to define its own terms.

When the Bible says this is the will of God back in 1 Thessalonians 4 “... even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." What's he saying? He's saying that you should be holy. What does he mean by being holy? He means that you should be set apart, okay. Set apart for the service of God. Paul said in Romans 1:1 that he was sanctified and he said that he was set apart unto God. In fact flip over to Romans 1 just so that I can quote that properly here. Romans chapter 1, he said, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God." The Bible talks about being set apart for the use of God, different from just your average person in this world, someone who is holy, someone who is set apart for God.

When the Bible says that its Gods will for us to be sanctified, what's he saying? To be different from this world; to be cleansed of the filth of this world and to live a godly, righteous, holy life that's different from the unsaved people around us. That's what he means when he says, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication." Why? Because this world does not abstain from fornication by enlarge. In this world, fornication is considered acceptable. This is basically what goes on in the marriage bed, happening before people are married. This is people who sleep with someone that they're not married to. The Bible is saying here, that it is Gods will, that we as Christians be different. That we be sanctified and that we abstained from fornication.

Then he expands on that thought on verse 4 by saying, "That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification" there's that word again, "... and honor." Now our vessel is referring to the body, the physical body. This is the vessel that we dwell in and it says "That every one of us should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." Again, we see these words being repeated sanctification, holiness and he's saying, "You’re not going to be like the Gentiles which know not God." You don't want to be someone who is unclean, but rather you want to be holy, different set apart, cleansed from the filth of this world.

Now, there's a word in verse 5, that's kind of a difficult word that we don't use very often and that is the word concupiscence. Again, the Bible actually defines this word for us, go back to Romans 7. This word is used three times in the New Testament and it’s interesting if you look at the first time it’s looked up. I'm sorry, if you look at the first time that it’s mentioned in scripture and then if you look at this mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4, the definition is right there built into the verse. You can see what it means from the context. Look at Romans chapter 7 verse 7, the Bible says, "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Right there we get definition of the word covet, to lust after something. We know that lust and covetousness, have to do with desiring something that does not rightfully belong to you. It’s something that is off limits unto you.

Desiring something that belongs to you; that's great. Desiring your wife, desiring your car, desiring your house, the things that you have, but when you desire other peoples stuff, that's covetousness. Lust is when you’re looking at someone who is not your wife, okay, you’re looking at someone else's wife and you’re desirous of her. Then that's why the Bible says, "Though shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife." Right here, he defines for us covetousness as lust and then in verse 8, it says, "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead." Now flip back over to 1 Thessalonians 4, if we look at that passage, he's saying, "Before the commandment, though shall not covet. He had not known lust but once the commandment came, then it talked about him having all manner of concupiscence." We see that concupiscence is lust; if we look at those two verses together, we see that they're being used interchangeably.

When the Bible says, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, "Not in the lust of concupiscence ..." we again can see that, that definition is consistent. "Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God." Why would it say, "... lust of concupiscence …” lust of lust. Well no, because concupiscence is specifically lust of the sensual nature. Lust in regard to adultery and fornication, when the Bible says, "... lust of concupiscence ..." we're getting more specific here. You’re not coveting your neighbor’s house or his car, but rather you’re coveting a woman. You’re coveting either someone to commit fornication with or commit adultery with. That's what the Bible is teaching here.

It says, "Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." Now, what is that have to do with defrauding your brother? What is the lust of concupiscence have to do with defrauding anyone, right? Because he says, "Don't walk in the lust of concupiscence, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified." The context here is about basically sins of fornication and adultery. What he saying here, is that going beyond and defrauding your brother would be committing adultery with your neighbors wife, number one. Or it could be, if you were to commit fornication with a woman before she's married, you’re basically defrauding her future husband; because the Bible, throughout the Old Testament, talks about the virtues of a woman being a virgin when she gets married. That is of great price in the sight of God. But if you go and deflower some girl that you’re not married to, then basically now your defrauding someone there.

You see, whenever we commit see we're harming other people. Sometimes we just look at it as, well it’s my life I'll face the consequences of my actions. But honestly, whenever you commit sin you’re harming other people too. Because other people have to live with the consequences of what you’re doing. You commit adultery with someone else's wife, with someone else's husband. There's that marriage that's being destroyed, there's that other person that you’re hurting. The person that you’re with is being hurt and when you commit fornication, you are harming people’s lives, your harming your own life. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6, "... he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." But your also harming the person that your committing fornication with and they're future spouse, they're future marriage is not going to be the same because the damage that your doing with the sin that you commit.

Now this kind of preaching isn't that popular today because so many people participate in the sin of fornication in the United States 2015, but this is what the Bible teaches. God sets the standard as being pure when you get married and not committing fornication that's the will of God for our lives and he says, "Don't defraud your brother." Don't defraud someone by taking away what belongs to them because of you covetousness and lust. He says, "Don't go beyond." Beyond what? Beyond the scope of what God has given you. God has allotted you the right to every man has his own wife and every woman to have her own husband. Don't go beyond that. Be content with such things as you have and rejoice in the wife of thy youth. Don't go beyond that, is what the Bible is teaching.

It says in verse number 6, "That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." Notice that at the end of verse 6, he says, "... we forewarned you ..." there's a warning associated with this. If you commit fornication, if you commit adultery God will revenge that sin, that's what the Bible says. The Bible says in Hebrew's chapter 13, "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whore-mongers and adulterers God will judge." You see the punishment that is associated with that sin, it’s a warning.

He says, "... we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." Verse 8 "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit." This goes back to what he had said in chapter 2, when he said in verse 13, "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which ye heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." In chapter 2, he said when you heard us preach the word of God, you didn't treat it like it was our word, you treated it like it was the word of God because that's what it was. It was the word of God. That's why here, he says, "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God." He's saying, if you get mad at this preaching when the preaching gets hard against fornication, it gets hard against adultery, he said, you’re not despising man, you’re not despising the preacher, your despising God.

A lot people want to kill the messenger. They get really mad when a preacher gets up and preaches hard against sin and rails on sin and they try to call them hateful and mean, but honestly, a preacher is just faithfully delivering the word of God and a lot of the times, the Bible is mean. A lot times the Bible is harsh, the Bible uses strong language, why? Because God is trying to send us a strong message, that we don't have the right to live an unclean, unholy, wicked life and that he demands our sanctification. He wants us to keep our bodies as the temple of the Holy Ghost and to keep them from uncleanness and not to defraud other people of their wife and what they deserve and to just be content with such things as we have. We're supposed to keep our body and honor our body and not just make our body the members of a harlot, as it says in 1 Corinthians 6, but to actually keep ourselves sanctified and set apart. You say, "Well everyone is doing it." But God says, "Be different, be holy. I'm holy." God says, "You need to be holy."

That's what the Bible is teaching here, when he says, "That he therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God." Don't get mad at the preacher, its God who said to us these things. It says in verse 8 there, "... who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit." Verse 9 "But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;" Here he's praising them for being a very loving church. He's saying you don't even really need me to take the time to love one another because you already been such a great example of the love of God and you already shown love. But he's saying, "Just increase more, you’re doing great, just keep on doing what you’re doing and increase even more and more."

Then it says in verse 11 "And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing." Now this is another theme in the books of first and second Thessalonians that comes up over and over again. You see Paul had been to this church and he knew what things they were strong in and what things they needed work in. He knew that they were a very loving church but he feels the need to really warn them about fornication. He also is constantly talking to them about the persecutions, tribulations and things that we will endure as Christians. He talks to them a lot about Bible prophecy. But another theme that comes up in the books of first and second of Thessalonians is this idea of working hard and being a good worker.

Now flip over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, look what the Bible says in verse 10 "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread." Notice the similarity here, he says "... that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread." Over in 1 Thessalonians 4 he said, "... that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you." Translation, "Shut up and get to work." is what he's saying. Now the reason he's saying that is because the Bible tells us in Proverbs, "In all labor there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury or poverty." He's saying people who just talk and run their mouths instead of working become poor. Gods telling us that we need to study to be quiet and to do our own business and to work with our own hands as he commanded us. He's saying "If any will not work, neither should he eat."

God is saying that we as man were born to work, six days shalt thou labor, the Bible talks about, over and over again. Back in Genesis, he told Adam that he would work by the sweat of his face all the days of his life. We as men have been created to work. When you talk to people who don't work much, as men, they're miserable people. They get depressed because work is what we're created to do. Men are happy when they have important work to do and stay busy working. But one thing that sometimes people do instead of working is just talking. You know that sometimes at your job you've seen people who get carried away talking, instead of working. God is telling us that he doesn't want us to be that guy. He wants us to be a hard worker and especially children, when you tell them to do their school work or you tell them to clean their room or do any kind of work in the yard or work around the house, you often catch them just, "Blah, blah, blah, blah." Just talking and talking and talking and work isn't getting done, at the same rate as when you just shut up and just put all your focus on working.

Now there is a time to talk and there's a time to speak and there's a time to be silent and to focus on work and to just get serious about getting something done. It's great to be a talkative person but you just need to know when is the appropriate time to talk and when is the appropriate time to just buckle down and get some serious work done. These people at Thessalonica obviously had a problem in this area because he says, "I told you when I was there." Then he writes them a letter about it. Then he comes by and visits again and tells them again. Then he writes them a second letter about it. I mean, he just keeps telling these people, "Work, work, get to work. Shut up, work!" Notice the people that don't work are busybodies. What do busy bodies do? Talk about things. The Bible says "... busybodies, speak of things which they ought not." They talk about other peoples matters and they get involved in everybody else's business.

We need to be careful not to fall into the trap of talking to much and working to little. We need to find the balance in our lives of working when its time to work and talking when it's time to talk. There are times at work when there are opportunities to talk, where your doing something where you can talk. Or maybe your driving to the job site or your on a lunch break or your doing an activity where talking doesn't take away from it. But often talking does take away from productivity at work and you want to give your boss 100%. Be a good testimony and work as unto the Lord and not unto man. That's what the Bible is teaching here, when it says, "... study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands." He says, " ... as we commanded you." reiterating that he already told them this.

Then in verse 12 he says, "That you may walk honestly toward them that are without." What's that mean? People that are outside of the church, that you'll walk honestly, that you'll be a good testimony unto them. That they will see your work and they would be impress by it and that they wouldn't be looking at you as the worse worker on the job or as someone who is always bumming money off of everybody and taking all the freebies that they can. They're seeing that your a hard worker that works hard, they can provide for them self and they can even be generous with the people around them. That's the kind of testimony we want to have as Christians. "That we may walk honestly toward them that are without." That they don't see us be dishonest, instead of working hard for our money and that we may have lack of nothing. That we will have the food and clothes that God has for us.

You see God has promised to supply all our need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. But that doesn't mean that if you don't go to work He's just going to supply your need even if you don't go to work. Why? Because the Bible says "If a man won't work neither should he eat." God has promised to provide us with food but that doesn't mean that we're not suppose to go to work and earn the money for our food. You see God expects us to do our part and then He'll take care of it from there. But if we're going to be lazy and not do our part, He's not obligate to fee someone who's lazy and not working.

We talked earlier about the fact that God gives us a choice of who we're going to marry. God says that ladies may marry, whosoever they will, only in the Lord; and we do have choices. We're not forced, unless your in a country or something where they're forcing you into an arrange marriage but that's not a biblical teaching. The Bible teaches that people should be able to chose their own spouse, but that there are certain criteria for choosing. I'm not going to go into that. That's outside the scope of this sermon to go into all the criteria in choosing a wife or choosing a husband. But it always cracks me up when people have this attitude "I'm waiting on the Lord for a wife." That always just blows me away because that's like saying "Well I'm waiting on the Lord for food." Your not putting in job applications, your not going out and knocking doors, "Oh I'm just waiting for God to give me job." No just because God says that a prudent wife is from the Lord, just because God says that He'll supply our need and give us food and raiment, doesn't mean, hey just sit back and just wait for it all to come to you. No, its your job as a man to go out and find a wife. It's your job to go out and work and put food on the table.

This thing of, "Well I'm just going to sit back and wait on God. Just wait for it to happen" yeah, well good luck with that. See you in 10 years when your still single. It's true. Then what cracks me up too is when somebody will sit there and basically say, "Oh I'm going to marry this divorced woman." And you say, "Well the Bible says that, that's adultery." Here's what they say, "Well then I'm just going to be single for the rest of my life, because this is the only person I can find." There's 7 billion people in the world, half of them are woman. That's like if Adam and Eve said "Well this is the only tree I can eat from. The tree that's forbidden unto me." That doesn't make any sense people. There all kinds of fish in the sea we just live in a society that's so smart phoned and internet, that basically they can't interact socially with people anymore and just meet people, organically.

I mean they can't just talk and meet people, walk up to people and [inaudible 00:27:48] because they're so use to texting or something, that they can't talk and meet people. There's a lot of people out there to meet. "Oh every girl in my whole state is ungodly." What? Look there's 7 thousand men who haven't found the need to bail, I'm sure there are 7 thousand women also who haven't found the need to bail. You just need to find them. Anyway that has nothing to do with the sermon.

But anyway, back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, it says in verse number 13 "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." Here he gets to some prophetic things about end times Bible prophecy and he's explaining it to them in the context of people that they've lost. Loved ones that have gone on to be with the Lord. He says, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren." so he speaking to the saved here, "... concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Now those which are asleep are those who have died because if you notice at the end of verse 14 where it says' "Them which sleep in Jesus." that is the same group as where the Bible says at the end of verse 16 "... the dead in Christ shall rise first." The asleep in Jesus are the dead in Christ.

Now when the Bible says they're asleep, the Bible is talking about their body. The Bible talks about the book of Daniel, that them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise. That's talking about their body. We know that when a person dies their soul goes directly to heaven. You say "Where in the Bible does it say that?" Well the apostle Paul said, "I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better ..." he said, "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Why was it gain for him to die? Because he would depart to be with Christ. He said in 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians, I'm sorry, he said in 2 Corinthians 5, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." He said, "We are confident and willing, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

We also see in Revelation, that at the fifth seal being opened, in Revelation chapter 6, that the souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus are up there in Heaven saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" They're very conscious, very awake and they're saying, "How much longer do we have to wait Lord, until you judge?" they're up there waiting. The body is asleep. This doctrine of soul sleep, of the Jehovah's Witnesses and Seven Day Adventist is a false doctrine. The sleep in Jesus is talking about the body.

Now that's very clear also in this passage because the Bible say right here, you say, "Well I'm still not convinced." Okay, look what the Bible says in verse 14, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." Well where is God coming from? From Heaven. He's bringing them with him, from where? From Heaven. The asleep in Jesus, those people, their soul's in Heaven. That's why he says, "The dead in Christ shall rise first." that's the body, "... and He'll bring them with Him." that's the soul, so they're in two different places. Because when a Christian dies, their body doesn't go to Heaven, their body remains, we bury it. The soul goes to Heaven immediately. But then a person who's unsaved, their body remains, the soul goes to Hell.

Later there's a resurrection of life. This event right here, where the body and the soul are reunited and the body is changed in a twinkling of an eye unto a new glorious body. Then later, there's a resurrection of damnation, in the Bible calls it, where actually the unsaved are bodily resurrected and then they're soul and body is cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. But what's interesting about this passage also is that it's a great prove of the deity of Jesus Christ. This is another great proof that Jesus is God. See throughout that New Testament, the Bible will often refer to Jesus as God. For example in Hebrews 1:8, it says, "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." The Bible says, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." That's all talking about God and those are all things that Jesus did.

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the Lord or He's referred to as God. That's why Thomas fell before Him when he had seen the print of the nails in His hands. He said, "My Lord and my God." and what did Jesus say to Thomas? "Blessed art thou Thomas because you believe. You've seen and believed. But blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." He didn't correct him, when he called Him "My Lord and my God." because that's what He was. But this also calls Jesus God because look what it says in verse 14 "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep." See in this passage, whenever it talks about Jesus Christ coming in the clouds, when it talks about Him descending with the sound of a trumpet, it only refers to Him in this passage as God or the Lord, every time. But of course we know its Jesus because of the fact that Matthew 24 it says, "The Son of man will come in the clouds with the sounds of the trumpet." and so forth.

The same person is being called, the Son of man, God and the Lord, its Jesus. It says right here that God will bring them with Him, verse 15 "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord." Now again, I can't emphasize enough, this event commonly known as the Rapture, when the believers are caught up into the clouds, to be with the Lord, in the air, to be with Christ, this event is known as the Coming of the Lord; this is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The event in Revelation 19 is never referred to as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, that's referred to as Armageddon, that's a different event. The Second Coming, is Christ coming in the clouds, people will say, "Well He didn't touch down." that's none of your business, if the Bible calls it the Coming, it's the Coming. "Well it doesn't fit my criteria for ...” Nobody asked you! If He came in the clouds and sounds trumpets and gathers the believers and He wants to call that the Second Coming then I'm going to call it the Second Coming. You say, "Well it doesn't say second." Well okay, but it’s the second one, because the first time was in Bethlehem, coming one, this is coming number two. There's no one and half coming, okay. Or I always say to people when they say "Well this isn't the Second Coming." I say, "Are you denying that Jesus came the first time?" I mean that's the only way you cannot call this the Second Coming. "Well your just play semantics." No they're playing semantics, to try to twist scripture to teach a Rapture that comes before the Tribulation, which is not what the Bible ever teaches anywhere.

Including in this passage, there's no Pre-tribulation Rapture, in this passage. In fact in chapter 5, Gods going to very clearly give us the timing of the Rapture and it’s after the Tribulation. In fact, the timing given in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 is exactly the same as the timing that we find in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. You see in chapter 5 verse 1 it says, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you." and he goes in to discussing the times. See in 1 Thessalonians 4, there's no mention of the timing of when this will take place. There's no mention of timing, there's no mention of when this is happening and then in chapter 5, he gets into the subject of the timing. But a lot of people just stop reading in the end of chapter 4, they don't get to chapter 5, where he lays out the timing.

Here in chapter 4 let’s keep reading. It says in verse 15 "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep." now prevent means come before; pre means before and then vent comes like from the same root word as like the Spanish word "venir" which means to come; prevent means come before. It says, "... shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." Notice he says, "We that are alive and remain will not prevent them which are asleep." We're not going to come before them, why? Because the dead in Christ shall rise first, the Bible is real clear on the time line here.

First, the dead in Christ are resurrected. "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Now the interesting thing here is that in this passage pretty much every verse mentions the departed loved one, because remember that's the subject. In verse 13 it says, "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep." That's the topic of discussion, what happened to our beloved that has died and gone to be with the Lord? Are we ever going to see dad again, mom again, grandma and grandpa, if there were believers in Christ? The Bible says, "We do not mourn like those who have no hope." Because look at each verse.

Verse 13, he says, "... them which are asleep.” verse 14 says, "... them also which sleep in Jesus.” verse 15 says, at the end, "...them which are asleep.” verse 16 says, "... the dead in Christ." Verse 17 says, "That we will be caught up together with them." Right there, ever single verse is making reference back to the departed loved ones, that's the subject. Because a lot of people will point back to verse 18, where it says, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." I've had many people tell me "That proves that, that's a Pre-Tribulation Rapture." That proves that the Rapture happens before the Tribulation because see He's comforting us. He's comforting us. See and here's what they say, "How is it comforting to know that we're going to go through great tribulation? That's not comforting." But here Gods not comforting you saying, "You’re not going to go through the Tribulation. So just get comfortable buddy. Just sit back, relax and just enjoy because you’re going to disappear and before any of the crazy stuff happens, you’re going to gone." That's not what this passage is about. People have twisted this passage.

The real passage is teaching that those who've departed to be with Christ, they're with Him and we're going to see them again one day, so "... comfort one another with these words." is telling us that when someone dies and they're in Christ, let’s say at a funeral, this would be something that we could use to comfort people. To get up and say "We don't mourn like those who have no hope. We will see this person again. They're in a better place. We will spend eternity in Heaven with that person and in the New Heaven and the New Earth with the Lord Jesus Christ, so we don't have to mourn like those who have no hope." Now the sad part about this is that there are people that have no hope. People who are not saved, when they lose a loved one, they have no hope of ever seeing that person again. Or if your save and someone you know who did not know the Lord Jesus Christ their Savior depart, you will never see that person again. That's a hopeless situation, isn't? But when we lose someone who is a believer, we don't mourn like those who have no hope.

Here's the thing, some people when they lose a saved loved one, are going to be very sad and they're still going to mourn. The Bible is saying "We don't mourn at all." No, that's not what its saying. The Bible is not saying we don't mourn at all, the Bible's just saying we don't mourn like those who have no hope. There is mourning obviously, when we lose someone we're going to be sad just because we are not going to be able to see them anymore on this earth and we're going to miss them. But we don't mourn to the depths that we would mourn if we actually were never going to see that person again.

In fact, if a believer loses someone that’s a fellow believer or a baby or a young child that we know according to the Bible will go to Heaven. Then when they lose that person it’s almost like that person is just maybe gone to a distant country. I mean think about it, there are people in our live who might move to another country, move to the other side of the world, especially before the internet and Skype and all the different technologies of communication. It used to be if somebody traveled across the ocean to a distant land you might never hear from that person again. Maybe you'd get a letter occasionally, but sometimes the letter couldn't even get through. That's really what it’s like when we as Christians when we lose a child, when we lose a parent or a friend or brother, sisters whoever, it’s just as if that person just took a journey to a far country. In fact, they're in a better place and in fact we know that we're going to be joining them eventually. That's a comforting thing to know as believers. That is the comfort of 1 Thessalonian chapter 4, that's what he's referring to in this passage.

But when we look at this passage, it’s very clear that all of the things mentioned here are consistent with what we see in Matthew 24. Let’s just quickly go over there and make that quick comparison. Matthew 24, this also ties in perfectly with 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 but if you want to look at 1 Thessalonian 4 and just get the basic elements of the Rapture, basically you have Christ descending in the clouds, the trumpets sounds and then of course the believers are caught up into the clouds to be with the Lord in the air. Now look what it says in Matthew chapter 24 verse 29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Right here we see the same element of Christ coming in the clouds, the trumpets sounding and Him gathering the elect, it’s clearly the same event. Especially when you see that the same things are mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 5, when it talks about the Day of the Lord, which we know is associated with the sun and moon being darkened. Then right here in Matthew 24, what do we have the sun and moon being darkened. These are clearly the same events Christ comes in the clouds, the trumpets sounds and then the elect, which means the saved are gathered together. The Bible says, "... shall gather together his elect from the four winds." the four winds is referring to the 4 compass directions, north, south, east and west. Basically, he's just saying gather them from all over and then it says, "... from one end of heaven to the other."

Now a lot of people just don't want to accept that this is the Rapture because they just can't come to grips with those words in the beginning of verse 29 "Immediately after the tribulation ..." you ask them but why isn't this, the Rapture? "Oh because it’s after the Tribulation." and we know that the Rapture isn't after the Tribulation. Right but how do we know that? "Well 1 Thessalonians 4." Did 1 Thessalonian 4 say anything about before the Tribulation? There is nothing like that. In reality, they just form a preconceived idea which is actually a lie that the Rapture happens before the Tribulation. Then when they look at this, they just say "Oh well this can't be, the Rapture because [inaudible 00:44:27]" but then what's funny is that they'll often quote the verses that are just a few verses down, where it says in verse 40 "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." It’s funny because they love to quote that because they can tell you "He can come at any moment."

A minute ago this passage had nothing to do with the Rapture, but when it’s talking about coming in any moment, in their mind, it’s like "Oh yeah, that's the Rapture." But it’s the same passage, it’s the same story. See nowhere does this teach He can come in any moment. Just because we don't know the day or the hour doesn't mean that he can come in any moment. Look at verse 36 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." But the question is, which day and hour? If He says but of that day and hour, He's referring to what He was just talking about. What day and hour is that? Of Christ coming in the clouds, the trumpets sounding and the elect being gathered, "... of that day and hour, knoweth no man." We do not know that day nor the hour of the Rapture but we do know that it’s after the Tribulation because He just finished saying that.

It would be like if I said, "Well I'm going to take a trip and I'm going to come back after summer but I'm not going to tell you which day or hour I'm going to be back. Just be ready for me to come back because I'm going to come back sometime after summer and you’re not going to know when that is. Just be ready." Then should I say in July, he's coming today. He can come today. It wouldn't make any sense, what it? He told us it’s after summer, okay. It’s the same thing with this. We don't know the day or the hour but we do know that it’s after the Tribulation. In fact, we know that it’s immediately after the Tribulation, okay. Because the Bible is really clear about that in this passage and in other passages. This teaching is all over the Bible. But I've even heard some people in their Zeal to try to teach "Hey this is not the Rapture." They'll look at verse 31 where at the end it says "... from one end of heaven to the other." I've literally heard people say, "Oh He's just moving people from one end of Heaven to the other." Like the Heaven where God dwells, okay.

Now look at Mark 13, because obviously that statement "... from one end of heaven to the other." is just a figure of speech when you think about how if you look outside, right, and you see the Heaven as in the sky, you've got the horizon on this side, you've got the horizon on that side. One end of Heaven to the other is just basically saying "Everywhere; the whole earth." That's what its saying. If we look at Mark 13, this interpretation kind of falls apart of this teleportation from one end of Heaven to the other, okay. Look what the Bible says in Mark 13 verse 24, "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven." Here it gives us a slightly different figure of speech that means the same thing.

Again, these people are grasping at straws a lot of times, just to try to find some way to say this is not the Rapture. Then they'll talk about what's missing. They'll use the argument from silence by saying, "Oh well, where did the dead rise in Matthew 24, hmm?" But here’s the thing, if Matthew 24 brought up all the exact same things as 1 Thessalonians 4, we wouldn't need 1 Thessalonians 4. It’s silly to talk about all that wasn't mentioned when you have all these things that line up perfectly. You have zero contradiction between 1 Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24 they're clearly talking about the same event. Sitting there and saying "Well but there was a detail over here that was left out over here."; that's like saying "Well Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they don't agree with one another because there were stories left out of Matthew that I found in the book of John. Or there were stories in Matthew that weren't in Luke. That proves that it’s a fraud." No, they are telling different details, otherwise we would only need one Gospel. You give 4 gospels, to give us 4 different stories to focus on. 4 different themes, different things to be emphasized, different details to be added or left out, to make the point that he's trying to make in that particular book.

In Matthew 24, he's focusing on certain things for a reason. In 1 Thessalonians 4, he's focusing on the positives because of the fact that the whole point is to comfort people who've lost loved ones. He's not saying "Hey people, let me lay out for you all of Bible prophecy and all the End Times in 1 Thessalonians 4." No, he said "I don't want you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep." that's the context. Therefore he's going to focus on the dead rising because that's who we want to see. Where as in Matthew 24, he's not comforting them concerning departed loved ones, that's why he's not making a big deal about the dead in Christ rising. He's focusing more on "Look you’re going to see these things come to pass. You’re going to see the abomination of desolation spoke of by Daniel the prophet. You’re going to see the sun and moon darken and when you see these things, look up lift up your heads for you redemption draweth nigh.”

Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 is geared towards people who are going to be alive during that time to understand what to expect, what's going to happen, what to look for with the coming of Christ in the clouds. Whereas 1 Thessalonians 4, it’s talking about your dead departed loved ones, that's why there's a different emphasize in both places. To say "Well there must be two different events because it’s giving us different details." is ridiculous. People are really stubborn about this doctrine, of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, they don't want to let go. They have no evidence. They have no leg to stand one. They can huff and puff all they want but there's no verse that says before the Tribulation or anything like it. There is no verse that says that Jesus can come in any moment. There are verses that say we don't know the day and the hour. There are verses that say we are looking for Him to come back but you know what, the Bible talks a lot about looking forward to things that are even further than that into the future as we already covered in weeks past.

Let’s bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much Lord for this clear chapter from your word that tells us how to live holy, how to know your will Lord by studying the Bible, following your commandments, abstaining from fornication, being holy. Lord thank you for the comfort concerning those that we've lost and that we don't mourn like those who have no hope. Father, I pray that we would all study to show ourselves approved study to be quiet, do our own business Lord. Help us to work hard and live Godly and clean lives that will own and glorify you until that day when you come back in the clouds for us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.