Let us hear again God's Word, 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4. Since my focus is going to be verses 13-18, I will simply read these particular verses for our Scripture reading this afternoon. 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13-18. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord 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. 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. And may God comfort you with these words this afternoon. You may be seated. I return your attention this afternoon to the verses that I have just read in your hearing, verses 13-18 of 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul infallibly and inerrantly, under the illuminating guidance of God the Holy Spirit, instructs the believers in Thessalonica, as well as all of the Church, until the return of the Lord, as to why a true believer, why you true believers, should not sorrow as the non-believer when a beloved brother or sister in Christ physically dies, because their physical death, their physically dying before the Lord Jesus Christ returns, will not prevent the Lord from uniting their glorified souls with their raised and glorified bodies, even as He glorifies your soul and your body at that time as well. When He rends the heavens and returns, as the angels told the disciples who saw the Lord Jesus Christ descend into heaven, they also record that He would return. Acts 1.11 again, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven. But in light of the fact, and this is a fact of history, and this is an interesting fact, at least I think it's interesting, in light of the fact that the believers in Thessalonica were not only new believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, but they were also the first generation of believers alive following the Lord's glorious ascension. So a question arose in their minds, which Paul so wonderfully answers to comfort their distressed minds. the truth that any true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, who physically dies before the Lord Jesus Christ returns at the end of human history as we presently know it, will not be hindered in any way, shape, or form from being a participant in this awesome and glorious event. So you can understand, here's this first generation of believers, they know that the Lord Jesus Christ has ascended back to heaven, they know by faith that He is going to return, and yet they've seen Beloved brothers and sisters died. Where does that put them? So Paul addresses this very important question, the very truth that I sought to lay before your minds and understanding this morning. But my intention this afternoon is a different one. One that I hope and pray does not distract you from the glorious meaning and purpose of these wonderful verses, wherefore comfort one another with these words. But something I do believe is both profitable and necessary to be done. Not only so you remember to focus your mind on what a particular passage truly teaches, but to impress upon your minds the fact that just because a teaching is popular, that does not mean it has the support of Scripture. Even from the very texts that are often the preeminent verses used to support this popular but incorrect teaching. To illustrate what I mean, and what I hope to do this afternoon from these verses. But to illustrate what I mean with an example prior to addressing how these verses cannot support a very popular teaching within evangelicalism and fundamentalism, even though these verses are used to support this incorrect teaching. Remember, just because a text or texts of scripture are used to support a popular teaching, Even a very popular teaching does not mean that the text or text being used actually, upon closer examination and consideration, actually teach what is being taught. For example, before we consider these verses in particular. For example, the glorious gospel declaring verse of John 3.16 is often used to support the popular but false teaching of the free will of man. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now notice, this verse clearly declares that whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus will not perish but has eternal life. But to teach the doctrine of the free will of man from this verse is to misuse this glorious verse. Because what this verse clearly says is that whosoever believes will not perish. But to say that that therefore means that men have the ability to believe on their own is to read something into the text that is not there. You have to believe in the myth of the freedom of the human will in order to get this verse to say something it does not say. For if you compare Scripture with Scripture, the clear teaching of the Scriptures regarding the will of man is not that it is free, but that it is in bondage to sin and to the devil. So if you want a Biblical answer to the whosoever believe is, you do not look to the flawed and false philosophies of men, you search the Word of God. And Jesus infallibly declares who those are who make up the whosoever believe of John 3.16. He does it earlier in the chapter. It is those who are born again by the Spirit of God so that they can see and enter the Kingdom of God. because it takes the sovereign power and will of the Lord to deliver the sinner that Christ died for from his bondage to sin and Satan. Remember, remember that just because a teaching is popular does not mean that the texts, text or texts, plural, used to support that teaching actually support what is being taught. Make sure that what you are being taught from a particular text of Scripture not only has the support of that passage of Scripture, but the rest of the Scriptures as well. Because Scripture cannot contradict Scripture. For if what is being taught from a particular text of Scripture is not supportable from that text of Scripture, then it is not correct. And if other texts of scripture illuminate how a particular text is being misused, then you have more than one reason for rejecting a teaching, even if it is very popular. Now, in addressing the incorrect use of this passage to teach and support a popular but false view, I'm not doing this because my desire is to be argumentative or arrogant. My hope is that the reason I do this is because I do not want you to be ignorant of how this text can be misused. But also, out of my concern for your souls, I am convinced that by seeing how this particular passage is incorrectly used, you will be able to see how dangerous this popular teaching is with respect to what it teaches by laying before those who embrace it a false hope. of not having to face tribulation for the cause of Christ in this world. You see, my exposing the incorrect use of this text has a pastoral concern. For I would rather you face the truth that in this world you will have tribulation, than have you thinking that when things get really difficult, You are going to be secretly and silently taken out of this world, which is amazingly what this text is used to teach and support. Now what I am referring to is what is popularly called the pre-tribulation rapture of the Church. For example, some of you know Eugene Burgess. He is absolutely and totally convinced of this position. And I could show you a three-ring binder of charts that he has given me in my study, in which he has meticulously detailed this view. And it would not surprise me if most of you have heard of the book, The Late, Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey. a book that further popularized this idea. Now what the pre-tribulation rapture proponents teach is that there is a yet unfulfilled seven-year period of time from Daniel's 70-week prophecy in Daniel chapter 9. that remains yet to be fulfilled, a seven-year period of time that remains to be fulfilled. But as I have previously shown, the 70-week prophecy of Daniel has been perfectly fulfilled already in the first coming of Christ. There is no seven-year period yet to be fulfilled regardless if the person holds to a pre-tribulation rapture, a mid-tribulation rapture, or a post-tribulation rapture. The 70th week of Daniel has already been fulfilled in the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this truth alone should deliver a person from holding any of these false views. But since the pre-tribulation rapture is so popular, another way of attempting to expose that it is incorrect is by showing how 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 13-18 does not support this teaching even though these verses, my dear people, are used to support it. Now in rejecting the idea that 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 13-18 supports or teaches the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture, I'm not denying the rapture of the church. I'm not denying the rapture of believers. Although the English word rapture is a transliteration of the Latin word that translated the Greek word used by Paul. You believer will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air is verse 17 of 1 Thessalonians so wonderfully declares, which is where you find the Latin word and the Vulgate from which is derived the English word rapture. You will be caught up. You will be raptured. In denying that this text teaches a pre-tribulation rapture, I am not denying the glorious reality of believers being caught up to meet the Lord in the air. You will be raptured, believer, but not in the way that is taught by those holding to the pre-tribulation rapture. Now, the pre-tribulation rapture is the idea, is the teaching, that prior to the 70th week of Daniel's 70-week prophecy beginning, for that final seven-year period of time, the 70th week picturing a seven-year period of time prior to that seventieth week beginning, believers will be secretly and silently taken off the earth to meet the Lord in the air where they will then return with the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven while the seven years of tribulation in their system is poured out upon the earth. I could show you charts that illustrate this. There's even been a movie series that's been popularized, a book series, the Left Behind series. All these are eschatological fiction, dear people. And a simple reading or hearing of the authors or speakers who hold this teaching would show that this simple summary is accurate. the secret and silent rapture of believers to heaven prior to the beginning of what they see as the yet unfulfilled 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. Now, apart from the fact that, as I have already shown in other teaching, that the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy has already been fulfilled, Does 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 13-18 which Paul wrote to comfort believers who were dealing with the physical death of other believers prior to the return of Christ teach two things? Does it teach first a secret and silent rapture? And second, does it teach that believers are caught up or raptured up by the Lord to return to Him, to Heaven, while the prophetic clock ticks off the last seven years of Daniel's 70th week prophecy? Well, considering the first question, does 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 13 rapture of believers. Other words used in the literature teaching this view are quiet and noiseless. Now I believe all of you understand what the words secret, silent, quiet and noiseless mean. From the youngest here to the oldest. If I told you I want something to be kept secret You do not start shouting about it. If I was to tell you that it was a silent night, you don't expect to hear thunder. If I told you to be quiet, you would not immediately start talking unless you were going to reject what I had just asked you to do or you did not understand the word quiet. If I said something was noiseless, you would not expect to hear any sound relating to it. Yet with respect to the rapture, with respect to believers being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, what does Paul infallibly and inerrantly say will take place? And remember, Paul is speaking the Word of God. He is speaking under the infallible and inerrant inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, who is revealing to him how the rapture is going take place. 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 or go before them which are asleep. Believers alive at the return of the Lord are not going to be raptured or caught up before those who are physically dead. But what is going to accompany? What is going to accompany this human history-ending event as we presently know it? Is it going to be secret? Is it going to be silent? Is it going to be quiet? Is it going to be noiseless? No! It is going to be the exact opposite! Verse 16, 4. And remember, this little word 4 is to introduce how described in verse 15 is going to take place. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Now, I simply ask you, dear people, there is nothing silent If you were to tell your neighbor, or your nephew, or your niece, or your son, or your daughter, stop shouting, they would understand what you were referring to. There is nothing silent about a shout. I challenge you, I challenge any one of you here this afternoon to give me a silent shout. Or a quiet shout. Or a secret shout. Or a noiseless shout. Shout is not a synonym for quiet and silent. It is what? An antonym. A shout is the opposite of being quiet and silent. And listen to how various Greek to English lexicons illustrate this word in the Greek. It is a It is the word of command in battle. It is the word which gave the time to the rowers. It is a command specifically, a stimulating cry, as in animals roused and urged on by men, as horses by charioteers. Think of it, a man's in a chariot. Is he going to silently and quietly talk to the horse? But that is not all. Not just the shout like that of someone on a battlefield, but second, the voice of the archangel. The voice of the chief of the angels, who can comprehend the magnitude and magnificence of His voice, a silent voice, a quiet voice, at the most glorious event of history, the return of Christ for His church. This event is not going to be silent and secret, and quiet and noiseless, with a shout and with the voice of the Archangel Anne III, the Trumpet of God! Now, just try to picture this for a moment. If I told you that I wanted something to be secret and silent and noiseless, and you were to go and get a trumpet, and start blowing the trumpet, I say, didn't I just tell you to be quiet? To be silent? Why are you blowing this trumpet? Does someone blow a trumpet because he wants to keep something secret and silent? No, because he's announcing something! My dear people, there is going to be nothing secret or silent about the rapture of the Church. For simply read what verse 16 says is going to happen before verse 17. 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 then, or afterward, or next, that is after the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, after the voice of the archangel is heard, after the trumpet of God is sounded, 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." I ask you, dear people, I mean this in all honesty, I ask you, have I gone beyond what is written? Have I gone beyond what is written in the text? Have I tried to give you some weird and different meaning to the words of verse 16 so I can tell you that the rapture of the church is not going to be secret, silent, quiet, and noiseless? For unless cat can mean dog and hot can mean cold in your vocabulary, the teaching of a secret and silent rapture of the church is unbiblical. idea of a secret and silent rapture is not only unbiblical, it is also unbiblical with respect to a teaching that the purpose of the rapture or the catching up of the church is so that those who have been raptured to meet the Lord in the air, meet Him in the air so that they can return with Him to heaven for seven years. Which is my second question. Does 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 13 to 18, specifically verse 17, teach that believers meet the Lord in the air, which they unmistakably do, so that He can return with them to heaven? And just as silent and quiet have the exact opposite meaning of shout and the trumpet blast of God, the word translated meet in verse 17 has the exact and opposite meaning to the idea popularized by the pre-tribulation rapture of the church that believers meet the Lord in the air to return with Him from where He came, rather than to come with Him to the earth. And in order to see this, you must compare Scripture with Scripture, because verse 17 simply mentions the fact that believers will be what? They'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. But what is this meeting to do? When believers are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, what is this meeting to do? That's the question I'm laying before you. To remain where they are? Suspended in heaven? to return to heaven for seven years, as is taught by those who teach a pre-tribulation rapture, or to return with the Lord to the earth. Believers are caught up to meet the Lord in the air to continue with Him or to accompany Him to the earth. For by using the two other texts of Scripture that use the exact same word, It is crystal clear that believers are caught up to meet the Lord, to come with Him, as He returns in all the glory of His second coming to this earth. That's what it means to return. And the proof of this is seen simply by considering the other two passages where this word is used. See, because if you only had 1 Thessalonians 4.17, where the word is meet, caught up, So what's going to happen when this happens? There's a given in the text, but when you look at the other two texts in which this word, the same word is used, you can see that there is only one biblical answer that can be given as to what happens when the church is raptured. Now the first text, that uses the word translated, meet, is found twice in the parable of the ten virgins, which is also a passage about the return of the Lord, and how some will be ready and some will not be. But consider the use of the word in this text from the perspective of what the virgins go out to do. Do they go out to meet the bridegroom in order to escort him back to where he has come from? If they attempted to do that, they would have a very upset bridegroom, and a very upset bride. They went out to meet Him, to escort Him, or accompany Him to the marriage. Matthew 25, verses 1-10, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto the ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. That's the word, to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. It's the second use of the word. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there not be enough for us and you. But ye go, but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage. And the door was shut. See? Why do you think I want to meet the bridegroom? to escort him, to accompany him to his marriage feast. Certainly not to take him back. I think he would have been a little upset. These wise virgins met the bridegroom not to remain with him where they met him, not to return with him to where he was coming from, but to go with him to the marriage supper. just as all true believers who are raptured at the return of the Lord meet Him in the air to return to the glorified earth for the marriage supper of the Lamb. And the second text that shows that going with the person to their destination and not returning with the person to where they came from is what is clearly meant by the word meet is found in Luke's record of Paul's journey to Rome under the escort of the Roman guards. And don't fail to capture all that is preceded the verse that I will read from verse 15 of Acts 28. To capture the context of this verse, I will start to read at verse 11 in Acts 28. Acts 28, verse 11. And after three months, well, after three months of what? Well, if you know the historical event, after three months of what? Having been shipwrecked on the island of Melita, as the Roman centurion seeks to do what? To get Paul to Rome. He was to escort Paul to Rome. So, after having been delayed for three months because their ship was destroyed in the waves, after three months of being shipwrecked on the island of Melita, Picking it up in verse 11 again, we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Regium. And after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli, where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. Where's Paul going? He's going towards Rome. The destination of Paul is what? It's Rome, not Jerusalem. And now verse 15. And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us. Same word. They came to meet us as far as the Apiaforum and the three taverns, whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage. Now what did these brethren go out to meet Paul for? Stop and answer that question. What did they go out to meet Paul for? To overpower the centurion and the guards with him who have just spent months of trial and tribulation in getting Paul to Rome so that they could return him to Jerusalem? I mean, just try and picture the scene. Dear centurion, despite all you've gone through in getting Paul this close to Rome, we have come out to meet you so we can escort him back to Jerusalem. Not so, as verse 16 declares. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with the soldier that kept him. And when we came to Rome, they went out to meet him so they could encourage him as they made their final approach and entry into Rome. That's what the word meet means. These believers went out to meet Paul so they could encourage him as the centurion delivered him to the Roman authorities, just as the wise virgins had oil in their lamps so they could meet the bridegroom and accompany him to his marriage feast. And just like believers are raptured to meet the Lord in the air so you, believer, can come back with him. to the glorified earth and be with Him for the length of time that Paul mentions at the end of verse 17, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That is the teaching of the text. And Scripture interprets Scripture. And so I ask you, have I misused verse 16 in telling you that the rapture of the church is not going to be a silent and a secret and a quiet and a noiseless thing? Have I misused verse 17, explaining to you from other texts of Scripture clearly and unmistakably what the word means? Dear people, do not allow Incorrect teaching from this passage of Scripture prevents you from the realization that nothing will prevent you from meeting the Lord in the air when He raptures all His saints so that all of us can be with Him forever. Let us comfort each other with what this glorious text teaches and not be misled by what it does not. God, give us that grace today. Let us pray.