Well, I didn't hear anything last yesterday what happened. They were just telling me this morning, U.S. backed Israel dropped a couple bombs on that nuclear site over there. And Walt said the last thing Trump said last night, he said, God, I love you. And then when they replayed it, they skipped that when they replayed it. So. It's a possibility that Donald Trump could, I mean, there's a lot of people been around him, a lot of Christians, a lot of pastors and stuff been witnessing to him, and it's just a matter of a heart thing. And you know, Christians can be pretty carnal at times, all of us. And why would you say something like that unless it was in your heart? Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So just keep praying for him, pray for our leaders, and pray for Israel. God's working things out to his honor and glory. It's a strange thing. We back Israel, we love the Israelites, but they're under the wrath of God. They've been under the wrath of God since they rejected Christ at Calvary. And God, after he takes the church off of this earth, the day of Christ, when he removes his body, the church, they're gonna go through a seven year period of time where God's wrath is gonna be poured out upon them and on the world. And the Lord said, there's never been a time like it and never be another time like it. So and that's what we've been looking at. And turn to 1 Thessalonians. We're going to start there. I think that's about where we left off last time. Now the Thessalonians had Paul had sent Timothy to Thessalonica and there were some people Paul wrote about in Timothy that had overthrown the faith of some people teaching the resurrection was already passed. And the book of Thessalonians is to confirm their faith that it hasn't happened yet. It's all future, you can rest assured. But he mentions a few things. We're looking at the day of Christ. The day of Christ, we looked at multiple verses last week. The day of Christ, he's going to confirm us unto the end. The day of Christ, we may be presented faultless before the throne of God. We're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Our sins have been paid for. We're not going to answer for our sins. We're going to answer for the things we've done by faith or not done by faith. That's the walk of the believer. We're going to be judged for our life as believers. But the day of Christ, it terminates with the rapture of the church. And I don't know if I'm right in saying that because the day of Christ, if you think about it, that's when everything finishes. But the day of Christ began at the resurrection. Whosoever will, he's been saving souls since the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing has changed. He's been adding to the church daily. He does all the saving. The gospel goes out, people hear it, they trust what Jesus Christ did for them, and they are placed in the body of Christ. The Scriptures, we're going to read about it, but there's two parts to the first coming. The first coming, when Christ was born on this earth, the whole world, the known world, knew about it. This virgin, I mean, it was not done in secret. At 12 years old, in the temple, he had all these doctors of the law baffled because of what this 12-year-old child knew. I mean, he's not even a teenager. He's asking them questions that they can't answer, and he's giving them answers that they had never heard before, all based upon the Word of God, because the Word of God was sitting right in front of them. It's an amazing thing when you consider who Christ is, God manifest in the flesh. And I know we say that a lot, but when you stop and think about it, to be around God itself, I mean, we're gonna be with God forever and ever and ever and ever. And just thinking about the rapture of the church, being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, what is that going to be like? I mean, we could talk about it. I don't have enough vocabulary to even scratch the surface. You talk about an exciting time. Somebody's going to be alive when that happens. The dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. And it's going to happen in a twinkling of an eye, which is faster than that. We're going to leave our clothes behind? I don't know. False teeth? I don't know. We're going to meet the Lord here, and we're going to have that instantly a new body. It says that the whole creation groans and travails until then, when the sons of God are manifest, the whole creation, that curse lifts. That's seven years later when we come back. We're going to face the judgment seat of Christ. That's all part of the day of Christ. It terminates with the rapture, the judgment seat of Christ for believers, the marriage supper of the Lamb. I mean, we're going to a marriage. This is incredible. You know how excited it is when a child or a friend looks forward to getting married? Everybody, you know, leading up to that day. It's really a great thing. Well, we're leading up to that day. I don't know how close it is. We can't say the Lord's coming back in the next few years. We don't know. But just from prophecy and looking at what's going on in the Middle East, keep your place in Thessalonians and turn back to Zechariah, please. It's about two or three books before Matthew, the end of the Old Testament. Let's go to chapter nine to start with. Remember when Christ, he sent a couple of disciples to get an ass and a full of an ass. He said, go to this certain place. And if they say, what are you doing? Say, the Lord has needed them and just bring them to me. Chapter nine, verse nine of Zechariah. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon the colt, the foal of an ass. Isn't that amazing? Zechariah, 533 years before Christ, said your king's gonna come into town riding on an ass. They call that Palm Sunday, where all Jerusalem went out. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the King of Jerusalem, King of Israel. Here he comes. And they laid palm leaves down in front of him. And he rode in, and four days later, they were putting him on a cross, or three days later, they were killing him. Amazing. Prophecy, it's just amazing. Now turn to chapter 12 of Zechariah. Verse 1, the burden of the word of the Lord for Israel saith the Lord which stretches forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all people round about. when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day, I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All the burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. Thus saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness, and I will open mine eyes unto the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength, and the Lord of hosts their God." So these are all prophetic things that are going to happen at the second coming of Christ during that tribulation period. He's going to make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. I don't know how it's going to work out. Right now, Jerusalem and Israel are in the driver's seat. The U.S. is backing them. But he says, I will bring all nations against Israel. I don't know what's going to take place, but God will work it out to where all nations, including the U.S., will come against Israel. I don't know if it's gonna happen in the next four years with a re-election of somebody or if it's gonna happen with Trump in office, who knows? It may be years down the road too, we don't know. We're just reading what the scripture says. We know it's gonna come to pass because we just read about the king riding into Jerusalem on the foal of the ass and all the gospels bear witness to that. So he's coming, he's coming, he's right on schedule. Now back to Thessalonians please. We're gonna contrast the day of Christ with the day of the Lord. He talked about their faith in 1 Thessalonians 1. Verse eight, he says, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad so that we need not speak anything. In other words, your testimony has been great. How you've turned to God from idols. Look at the next verse. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. He has delivered, past tense, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Now we'd spent a lot of time on the flood, Noah and the flood and the ark. And baptism, we looked at that. Baptism is a figure. It's a figure. Everything goes right back to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in this book either points towards the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ or goes back to the, that is the most important moment in history is when the Lord Jesus Christ said, it is finished. Three days and three nights he came out of the tomb and he ascended to heaven. And then the whole New Testament was given little by little. And Paul came along, one of the biggest haters of Christianity. God saved him and sent him to the Gentiles. Imagine that, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. The Gentiles were dogs compared to the Jews. They just had nothing to do with them. God said, stay away from them. He winds up sending the Hebrew of the Hebrews to the Gentiles. And it's amazing. God just, he does things just the opposite of what you would think he would do. And I'm sure the end times are gonna be, we think we might have it figured out. It can be just the opposite of what we think, probably, but he's gonna do it. But he delivered us from the wrath to come. Well, that wrath to come is that seven year period of time where God is gonna judge this world after the rapture of the church. It's called the day of the Lord. We're gonna start looking into that next week. But he has delivered us from the wrath to come. God said, come into the ark. The eight people went in. God was in with them. He shut the door. When we believed on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, He put us in Christ, put Christ in us, and He sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise. So the ark is a perfect type of Christ. They're inside with God. The door is sealed. Nothing can get in. The wrath of God fell. The ark is a type of Christ. They were in Christ. He bore the wrath. The ark bore the wrath of God in the flood, rose above the wrath of God. And when we're in Christ, the wrath of God has already been paid for. He has bore our wrath at Calvary. There's a wrath to come. This is for Israel. People get the Israelites and the Gentiles mixed up all the time. There's lots of Christians today believe God's completely done with Israel, but He's not. He's not. promises made to Israel. God is not a liar. He's got that whole Old Testament full of promises made to the nation of Israel. He's going to fulfill every one of them. He promised them a land. He promised them a great nation. And He promised a king that would rule on David's throne forever. There's no king on that throne right now. and they're not in their own land. They're being gathered back and things are happening quickly. But this wrath is wrath to come, future. But he delivered us from the wrath to come, past tense. Look at chapter two, verse 12. Verse 11, as you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his children, that you would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. That's our main goal as Christians, to walk worthy. How do you walk worthy of what God's done for us? Just try to be as good and perfect as you can be. Hate the stinking flesh, hate the world, hate the devil, but do it in such a way that glorifies Him. Don't be obnoxious. When you talk to lost people, realize where they are, because we were all there at one time. Realize where they're at. They need light. They are in darkness. By nature, they are the children of wrath. By nature, they have a spirit of disobedience within them. By nature, they're sinners. They're in darkness. They hate the light. We were all there at one time. Just realize where they're at, pray for them, and just be gentle unto all men and have to teach. God will save. He will do it. He says, for this cause, in verse 13, for this cause we thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as it were the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which affects we work of also in you that believe. Peter says you're born again by the word of God. This book brings you to the Word, which is at the right hand of the Father. This book will save your soul, if you believe it, because you're believing on the one that's next to the Father. They're inseparable. They're both called the Word. They both have two natures. But the Word of God was given by inspiration of God, but it was written by man. The Lord Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh. Both have two natures. They're both able to save. When we read what God says about eternal life, everything based in here is based upon the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. So everything we have is based upon the Word, capital W, being faithful to the written Word of God, which we have right in our laps here. Just amazing. I was listening to a couple of guys that I really like on the way up here, and they were using a different version. Just to show you how confusing it can be with different versions of the Bible, turn to Galatians chapter 2, please. Both of these fellows were former Catholics and they were given their testimony and how religion says you have to do, you have to do, you have to do. I was born that way. We got a lot of people that were former Catholics in our congregation. And the guy that this fellow was talking to basically had the same testimony I had. He said, I always believed certain segments of what Jesus Christ, who he was, that he died, buried, and rose again, and that he was God and a trinity. He said, but I was taught you had to be baptized, you had to go to mass, you had to do this, you had to receive sacraments, you had to, had to, had to. The whole life was a life of works trying to be good enough that when you died, you could go to a place called purgatory to pay for your sins. And then after who knows how many years of purgatory, you can eventually go to heaven. The scripture says that he purged our sins by himself. I'll never forget when I saw that verse in Hebrews chapter one. Wow, what a verse. But the word of God is so clear. It's light. It's not darkness. Religion is darkness. Religion is, your faith is in doing the best you can, but whatever religion it is, I'm not just picking on Catholicism. I don't care what religion it is. If you're a Baptist religiously, you're on your way to hell. You cannot make heaven by any kind of works. You have to come to the end of self and just trust with the Lord Jesus Christ, the simplicity of the gospel. The verse he quoted, verse 16, now read closely with me. Watch the wording, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Did I read that correctly? I changed one two-letter word three times. It says the faith of Jesus Christ. Verse 16, faith of Jesus Christ. We believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. They changed all three of those spots to in. What does that do? Does it change it? Well, it's all true, isn't it? We had faith in Jesus Christ. But if you read that verse, it's the faith of Jesus Christ. that we have believed in Jesus Christ. See, it's not our faithfulness that keeps us saved. It's not our faithfulness that's gonna get us to the judgment seat of Christ or the rapture of the church. It's his faithfulness. And this verse right here teaches the substitutionary work of Christ. That's a major doctrine in the Bible. God demands perfection for sin. There's no unrighteous, no not one. That's why he sent his son, God manifest in the flesh, born of a woman, water birth, quickened of the Spirit, he had the Spirit of God inside of him, and he was God manifest in the flesh. He lived a perfect, sinless life, and shed his blood for the sins of the world. He said it's finished, paid in full. The whole world, the sins are paid for, every one of them. You can tell anybody you see today, your sins are paid for, but if you don't trust the Messiah, the Savior of the world, who did that for you, if you don't come to him by faith and trust what he did for you, you have no hope. But it's paid for. It's bought and paid for. It's finished. And He is our substitute. When we put our faith in Him, He seals us. Just like the ark, He puts us inside with God, seals the door, and we're in Christ. And when the wrath of God falls, He's already borne our wrath for us. The ark was just a picture of what would happen in the future. He has already borne our wrath for us. He's seated at the right hand of the Father, never to be crucified again, never to be offered again. And we are in Him, and He is in us. As the ark raised above the wrath of God, we're in Christ. We're above the wrath of God. And before he pours that wrath out on this earth that we're talking about this wrath to come, he's taken us out. The pictures are just incredible all through the scriptures. Enoch walked with God and he was not. He wasn't an astronaut. He just was not. He just, God took him. He just took him off this earth. Perfect picture of the rapture of the church. My Catholic friends don't believe in a rapture, why? Because they're told it doesn't exist, and they believe their tradition. Talked to them the other day, the word of God at best is in third place. You've got tradition, you've got the magisterium, which is the vicar of Christ, the pope. Turn to 1 John 5, we might get back to Thessalonians here. Turn to 1 John 5, these things bother me, they really do. First John. Let's see here. First John chapter two, verse 18. He says, little children, it is the last time. The last time began with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and ascension into heaven. As you have heard, that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby you know that is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But we have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. Well, the Holy One is the Father Himself, or the Lord Jesus Christ, both bear the same name in the Old Testament. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you shall also continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life. There's different ways to deny the Son of God. I think of my own life, my own testimony. I had no idea that the Christ of the Bible paid my entire sin debt when he died, buried, and rose again. I believed he had to earn it. I was believing in another Christ. You can't get around that. I was believing in another Christ. It's that simple. Each one of us have distinct properties that identify us, each one of us. I heard a good illustration. He says, say you're married, and your wife's name is Susan, I use my wife's name, and this woman, and you're well-known in town, and this woman comes into town and starts claiming she is your wife. Are you gonna just sit back and let her go on and on and on about her being your wife and her being this and her being that, or are you gonna confront it and expose it? Well, if you love your wife, you would confront it and expose it. We've got a person today called the Vicar of Christ. He sits over in Rome. He's an American. Everybody's excited about the new American Pope. He claims to be the Vicar of Christ. He claims to be the Holy Father. Those two terms, while the Vicar of Christ is not in the Bible, but a vicar is a representative. maybe even the real thing. He claims to be Christ, the Holy Father. That term is used one time in scriptures. John 17, when the Son of God is praying to His Father, He addresses His Father as Holy Father. So we know who the Holy Father is. He's not a man like us sitting on a throne in Rome. He's an antichrist. He denies the Christ of the Bible. He has taken his place. That's exactly what I was taught. That man represents Christ on this earth. What he says is true. And I've been reinforced with this for the last couple of weeks with my Bible scholar friend from Kentucky who hates this book with a passion. He told me the other day, he said, tradition is everything, basically everything with us. Tradition and our hierarchy, the only true church. Remember, you start with the wrong premise, come to the wrong conclusion. They start with Peter being God's representative on earth. The apostle of the Gentile according to the scriptures, we're all Gentiles, is the apostle Paul. Things different are not the same. No lie is of the truth. I get so upset, not the people, I don't get upset with the people, I just get so mad at seeing how Satan has deceived this world. He's just a, he's a deceiver, he's a liar, he's a murderer, he hates the truth, he hates God's people, Israel, he hates the church, he hates God. He's a master at counterfeiting things, an absolute master at it. It's so important that we speak up for the Lord. Pass tracts out. You know, talk to people if you get a chance. And you know yourself, when you're talking to a religious person and you start giving them truth, boy, it's like they put a shield up. I did it. Everybody I talked to has basically done it. When you start getting into what God says versus what religion says, man, you see the wall there. It's a spiritual battle. God can get the light to them, but we need to give truth out. If we don't give out truth, we have nothing, nothing to give them. The Lord Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Now let's go back to Thessalonians. Chased a rabbit there for a while, but I shot that rascal. I don't hate Catholics. I've been accused of being a Catholic basher and a Catholic hater. I do not hate Catholics. I love the truth. I was in that darkness. He transferred me from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son when I was born again. I can never thank him enough for it. We're talking about the wrath to come. He saved us from the wrath to come, future tense. Look at chapter two, 1 Thessalonians. Here, talking about the day of Christ again, he says, verse 18, wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us. He is a real enemy. He is a very strong enemy. For what is our hope or our joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? See, he's writing to these Thessalonians, it was Paul that led these people to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I'm trying to come back to you, but Satan's hindered us. But you're our hope, you're our joy, you're our crown of rejoicing at the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. for you are our glory and joy. So we're going to rejoice with one another. The people that we see that are saved, you know, you're passing tracks out. Walt told me about a young Mexican fellow that they met on the bus. He was going north. They gave him tracks on how long ago that happened, but he got saved. He's going back south again, back home. And they stopped out in Tri-County where they meet that bus. And they said he was so excited about trusting the Lord. I mean, it's just amazing how many people like that pick up a track and read it and get saved. And at the resurrection of the saints, when the dead in Christ shall rise and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up, we're going to see these people. You talk about rejoicing forever and ever and ever. We're going to be with our brothers and sisters in Christ. What a promise. What is something to look forward to? Amazing. And look at verse 13. He says, to the end, verse 13 of chapter three, I'm sorry. To the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. So when he comes, he's coming with all his saints, all the ones that have gone on before us. They're coming back and their souls coming back with the Lord. The bodies are gonna be caught up and we're gonna be changed in a moment in 20th Amendment life. The people that are left alive when Christ comes, it's gonna happen just as sure as we're talking about it. Talk about traveling at the speed of thought, there you go. Probably faster than that even. But it's gonna happen when he comes with all the saints. Now getting to chapter four, let's see here. Now these people, like I said, they had some false doctrines. Some of these people were teaching that the resurrection was already passed and these people were a little bit confused. And Paul wrote this first Thessalonians to let them know that it hasn't happened yet. In verse 13 of chapter four, he says, but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren. That's the worst brethren you can have is ignorant brethren. The Word of God will take that ignorance away. It will show you things that you just marvel at. Concerning them which are asleep, those are the ones that have died in Christ, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope. That's the lost people. They have no hope. For 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 under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or go ahead of them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, The voice of an archangel with a 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. That's our comfort. That's our blessed hope. Titus says, well, let's look at it. Just a few pages to the right. Go to Titus. Religion denies this. It's not gonna happen, they say. Titus chapter two, verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. That's a command by God. That's what we should be doing. And while we're doing that, he says, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. That's our blessed hope. We're looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, as Christians, we don't know how far or how bad it's going to get before Christ comes back. I mean, we're born in America. We don't have much persecution in this country at all, really, think about it, Christianity-wise. There's people in other countries that are giving their lives for Christ, being tortured, arrested, beaten, imprisoned, you name it. It's just like it was back in the early church in other parts of the world. I don't know how bad it's gonna get before Christ comes, takes us out. But we're not gonna go through the tribulation. The great tribulation is gonna be the worst seven year period of time on this earth. We're not going through that. He's kept us from the wrath to come. We're gonna miss that. But it could get pretty tough before it's all over. And look at verse four of chapter three. But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. not by works that we've done. According to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. What a Savior. What he has done for us, it produces rest. It produces confidence. It produces assurance. He said, being fully persuaded that what he has promised, he will actually perform. He'll do it. He'll do it. You don't have to worry about it. He's gonna do it. Now let's go back to Thessalonians. We just read about the rapture of the church. That's the day of Christ. Now look at chapter five. It contrasts the day of the Lord with the day of Christ. He said, 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 prevail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. Big difference between the day of Christ and the day of the Lord, isn't it? That's just the first mention in the New Testament, or the first time I mentioned it in the New Testament. Next week we're going to look into the Day of the Lord a little further. What's the first thing that happens when the rapture of the church takes place? The Antichrist shows up. This man is going to be the greatest politician that ever lived. He's going to have signs and wonders. He's going to be such a compelling personality that he'll be able to convince the entire world that he can take care of them. It's going to be Satan in the flesh, the Antichrist. And then he's going to have a false prophet come on the scene that's going to be the spiritual leader, going to point everybody towards the Antichrist. And he is going to be so powerful and so great that he's going to be able to take over the whole world. Israel is going to look at him as the Messiah. They're looking for their Messiah to come. They don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. There are Jews getting saved today, just like there's Gentiles getting saved today. But when you get saved today, you lose your nationality. You lose, you're no longer a Jew, you're in Christ. You're no longer a Gentile, you're in Christ. You're one body in Christ. That's one of the mysteries revealed to the Apostle Paul. He broke down that middle wall partition between us. The Jews had nothing to do with Gentiles, and the Gentiles had nothing to do with the Jews, but in Christ, we're all one. There's neither male nor female, Jew nor Gentile, born or free, we're all one in Christ. So when he comes back for the church, he says, when they shall say peace and safety, when the Antichrist comes on the scene, wow, it's gonna be a wonderful time for a short while. Now, I don't know if that seven year period starts immediately after the rapture, if there's a period of time between, I don't know, that's up to the Lord. There's a lot of things I don't know, a whole lot of things. Now look what it says in verse four. But ye brethren, talking to the people in Christ, are not in darkness, that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. You see the contrast between a saved and a lost man. We're in light, we're children of the day, we're not in darkness anymore, we're not children of the night. He says, therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they, us and them, 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 a breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has 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. Verse nine again, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. The day of the Lord is a day of wrath. It's gonna be a horrible time. Look at 2 Peter. We've been in Peter the last few weeks. Well, let's just read chapter three, starting with the very, very first verse, 2 Peter 3. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by whatever amendments, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. We looked at the flood a couple of weeks ago. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word, are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's a great verse showing the nature and the character of God. God doesn't want anybody to perish. When he pours his wrath out, he'll be perfectly just in doing it because man has rejected him. It's just that simple. He doesn't want anybody to go to hell. He's made the way for all to escape. I thought about this a lot. There's a doctrine that teaches that God chose a certain group and all the rest he foreordained to go to hell and there's nothing you can do about it. Of that group that's already been foreordained, when you stand before God and God says, you know, you're going to hell because you rejected my son. Well, they could say, well, you foreordained me to reject your son. How could you charge me with something I had no choice in? That's a horrible doctrine. That's a doctrine of devils. Doctrine of devils. That's not true. He is not willing that any should perish. The God in the Bible is a God of love. God is love. Yes, he has wrath too, but he is love, number one. Number one, he is love. I just think of my own life, how he would save somebody like me. It has to be love, it can't be anything I've ever done, my goodness. Now look at this next verse, verse nine. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. He's going to do it, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works therein, that are therein shall be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blemish. So that's our challenge. Walk worthy of the salvation that God's given us. I mean, he's blessed us tremendously with what he's done for us. Now we just looked at the contrast in 1 Thessalonians 5 between the day of the Lord and the day of Christ. Contrast it completely. Let's look at it one more time. We'll just read through it and you can see it again. 1 Thessalonians 5. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. We think we're in the time and the seasons. We don't know for sure. We can't say the Lord's coming within the next few years. We don't know. He says, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Remember the story the Lord told in the Gospels? He says, if you'd have known when the thief was coming, you would have waited for him and your house wouldn't have been broken into. We don't know when he's coming. We know he's coming for sure. Absolutely sure he's coming. He says, 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, see, us and them, but ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that they should overtake you as a thief. You are children of the light, children of the day, and 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 a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. So he has not appointed us to wrath, but that day of wrath is coming. He's going to take his church off this earth, and then he's going to start with a false peace. Just the anti-Christ is a false everything. He's going to bring false peace. He's going to bring false safety. And when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction. It's just going to go downhill gradually. Well, I don't know. I don't know what it's going to be like. It's going to be a time of Jacob's trouble, it says. It's going to be a time that Nobody's ever seen before the Lord says can be so horrible unless I return there'll be no flesh left That's seven year period. That's a long long time in man's man timeline. I mean it seems looking back It seems like the last seven years went fast, but if you're going through What's it like to have a toothache for seven hours? You know what I'm saying? Can you imagine the wrath of God for seven years that says man will seek death and won't be able to find it? That's the kind of time they are gonna face. We're not gonna face that. We're getting out of here. We're in Christ. He's not gonna put his body through the wrath of God two times. He said it is finished. He bore our sins. He suffered the wrath of God for us. He said it's finished. One time he died. One time he bore the wrath of God and he arose and he ascended into heaven. And he sits at the right hand of the Father. And there's nobody that can call him out of heaven and make him into anything. He's finished. He's seated at the right hand of the Father. When he stands, he's coming back. He's coming back for the church and we're gonna meet him in the air. The first coming, the whole world was aware of who Jesus Christ was. When he started his ministry, the word went out everywhere through the known world. When he came out of the tomb, he just appeared to his people, nobody else. Over 400 people saw him at one time. When he comes back, it's going to be just the opposite. He's just going to appear to his people. We're going to be caught up, meet him in the air, and then seven years later, when he comes back, the whole world will see him. Every eye shall see him, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, the glory of God the Father. So there's some exciting times in front of us, but boy, there's some wrath coming that the world's never ever seen before. We need to tell people, we need to warn them. Do the best you can. Just pray for people. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word. I pray I got all this right, Lord. I know it's your word, Father. I'm just doing the best I can. Lord, we love you. We thank you so much for what the Lord Jesus Christ did for the world, Lord, and how many people that don't know him, Father, caught up in religion, caught up in drugs and drinking, whatever, Lord. Please save souls, Father. I know you desire to. I pray you use us to to be your people, Father, to preach the gospel, to get it out. Lord, bless every tract that goes out. Bless Brother Bob this morning as he preaches, and bless the folks that are coming. Lord, we ask in Jesus' name, amen.