Titus 2, and we'll read verse 13. Looking for that blessed hope in 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. And then in verse 15 he says, these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no man despise thee. Along with that, 2 Thessalonians chapter two. 2 Thessalonians chapter two. Beginning of verse 8, then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and line wonders and with all deceivableness of righteousness, of unrighteousness rather, in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie." This morning, we're kind of continuing at this hour with the same kind of thought that we had at the previous sermon I preached on the Rapture, and for this message this morning, I wanna bring a message on the pre-tribulational rapture, the pre-tribulational rapture. Everyone today is looking for something. as far as with under that great umbrella of Christianity. And regardless of what you what you believe about the eschatology, you're looking for something to happen next. And so. I read these two passages to ask the question, who are you looking for this morning? Who are you looking for this morning? Are you looking for the return of Jesus Christ or are you looking for the rise of the Antichrist? Now folks, there are some things that are coming. Some things that I believe the world is being set up for as far as the Antichrist goes. But I'm not looking for him. I'm looking for the return of the Lord to come in the air. It may be that we'll see some hard times as the stage is being set for the tribulation period and as the Antichrist, the one world system and all of that is being set. No doubt we may see some things, and I believe we are seeing some things. Look at the Great Reset. some of those things that have come to be. Marxism and those sorts of things as they're brought out and spread across the world. Even Islam, we think about that, or at least I do. I know it's not very popular to think about it. But Islam has a goal of world domination. 21 years ago, we were reminded of that, weren't we, in a great way, a horrible way. Marxism has a goal of a one-world government, a one-world stage, and even let's not forget about Catholicism, the old whore of revelation as is brought out. I'm not going to preach about Catholicism today, but let me just say that the Lord has a bride, he has his bride, but there are some strange women that are following after him in a deceiving way. They're not following the truth, but they're doing enough that they seem to the untrained eye, the unstudied eye, they seem to be the Lord's churches to some people, but they're not. The Bible calls them a whore and her harlot daughters. But all these things are happening in this world and the stage is being set for the time when the Antichrist will rise on the scene, come on the scene and really tear things up. But that's not what we're looking for today. We ought to be looking for the Lord to come back. Jesus Christ is coming, and I trust that the last message was a great comfort to you as you considered that, and I trust that this will help solidify some of the reasons why that even though the world looks rough, and it does, times are perilous. I believe we still ought to be more concerned about Jesus coming back rather than trying to figure out who the Antichrist might be. In 1 Thessalonians chapter four, we read this as our text in the previous message. I won't go to the entire, well, actually, let's start with verse 13. I just love it so much. It's worth repeating. He says, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, those who have died. I'm not talking about soul sleep. We looked at that last time too, didn't we? That you 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. 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. The Lord himself shall descend. He's not sending somebody else. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 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." What a great source of comfort this is. And we have this text. Notice that Paul ended this by saying, wherefore comfort one another with these words. When you and I get into the Bible and we study the scriptures about the end times, there's a lot of things that will make your heart to fear and to tremble in the flesh. Oh, there are some terrible things that are coming to this world. Some horrible things. But we find that the Bible gives us much comfort to be found. Why? Because Jesus is coming. He's coming to rapture us up out of here. And when we think about the timing of this, I know there are some brethren, and I know there are some good brethren, who disagree with us on this sort of thing. But when you get into Revelation, and you read Revelation 6-19, details about the Great Tribulation period, and the horrible things that are coming, the wrath of God as it's being poured out in this world, unlike anything that's ever before been seen. You search it. You'll read about the dominion of the Antichrist. You'll read about the horrors that are coming to this world. But you won't find anything about the Lord's churches there. If this was what the Thessalonian church had to look forward to, what's written in Revelation 6 through 19 is not something to be comfortable about, not something to receive comfort of, but they weren't looking for those things. They weren't looking for them in the same way that they were looking for Jesus to come and snatch them away, to pull them out before the tribulation period. In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 1, In verse 10, he says, "...and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." And then in chapter 5, in verse 9, he says, "...for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." The wrath of God is coming, but the Lord's churches, the saints of God who are alive now, we will miss that. We won't be there. It's why it's called the time of Jacob's trouble and not the time of the church's trouble, you see. In any position that places the Lord's churches in the midst, either partway through or all the way through the tribulation period, has missed the mark. Yes, there will be some who are saved during the tribulation period, but even they will be delivered through martyrdom as they're marked out and slain for the truth. Revelation chapter 4. Revelation chapter 4. I've preached verse by verse through Revelation twice in my ministry. I can't say I understand everything about it. Certainly, there are some things that became clear to me the second time around, when it was the first, but in Revelation chapter 4, Verse one and two says, after this I looked and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit and behold, a throne was set in heaven and one sat on the throne. As you read through the book of Revelation, you see that Revelation chapter 4 comes right directly after John is instructed to write down some letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. You'll read those letters in chapters 2 and 3. But after that, we don't read any more about any church. I believe it is significant that in chapter 4 in verse 1 and 2, we see John as he was translated to heaven by way of a trumpet, a picture of the rapture. It is significant that this happened here, and there's no translation mentioned in chapter 19 or 20 when we read of the second advent of Jesus Christ. As we read the details going forward in Revelation 4 and going to about 19, we see the things that happened during the tribulation period. I believe that the pre-trib position is the only consistently landmark position. And you might say, well, whoa, where's this coming from? Well, let's look at a couple of things. First of all, in Matthew chapter 28, let's just understand something about the landmark position. In Matthew chapter 28, beginning of verse 16, it says, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Verse 18, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power or all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. It is significant why Jesus, when He gave this commission, He didn't give it to the multitudes. He didn't give it to all Christianity. He had His audience, the eleven disciples. Who were they? They were representatives of that first church at Jerusalem. He told them, I have the authority and I'm telling you what you need to do. And then he ends it with, I'm with you always, even until the end of the world. This was bigger than the apostles. They're dead and gone. But Jesus has been with his true church all the way up until this present day and will be until the end of the world or as I believe is indicated here at the end of the age that we're in right now. that he gave them authorization, the authority to carry out this commission, to preach the gospel, to baptize those who are saved, and then to teach those who are saved. Are there others out there who are preaching the gospel? Absolutely there are. but they do it without authority. Are many of them saved? Well, yes. Yes, there are folks who are saved who aren't Baptist. And if anybody ever tells you that David Green believes that you have to be a Baptist to be saved, they're lying. And if anybody has ever said that this church believes you've got to be a Baptist in order to be saved, they're lying about that too. In fact, the Baptists are the only ones who have consistently preached and taught that you don't have to be a member of the church in order to be saved. Even the Protestants, while they were out protesting the Church of Rome, which is a false church. And they were talking about sola scriptura and all of those things. What were they doing? They were holding on to that pillar of potpourri, infant baptism. Why did they believe that? Because their doctrine consistently teaches that in order to be saved, you need to be marked, you need to be baptized, sprinkled, whatever, in their kind of a church. And if you didn't agree with them, they would persecute you and hunt you down. That's the way it was. And you say, what in the world does this have to do with the rapture? What does it have to do with eschatology? Well, it has a lot to do with it. Because when you go over to Revelation chapter 7, you find some things are beginning to happen. And after these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth. The book of Revelation is primarily a literal book, but there are some things which are figurative. And there's some crazies out there right now who are teaching about a flat earth and saying that the Bible teaches a flat earth. That's not at all what this is saying here. When he talks about the four corners of the earth, he's talking about like the four points of a compass. East, west, north, and south. Not saying that the earth is flat. That's just hogwash. It's not biblical. And it's not even scientific. So watch out for guys like that. They are deceivers and not telling the truth. He says, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel. of the tribe of Judah were sealed 12,000, of the tribe of Reuben were sealed 12,000, of the tribe of Gad were sealed 12,000, the tribe of Aser were sealed 12,000, of the tribe of Nephthilim Neptilim were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Manassas were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed 12,000. The tribe of Zabulon were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed 12,000. What's this have to do with the landmark position? Well, we have a group of men, 144,000 of them, Jewish men. 12,000 from each tribe who are called the servants of God. Now, we see this is very, very obvious of what is happening here, but let's go to, for a moment, you can hold your place there in Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25 and verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants, delivered unto them his goods. Where we're at right now in history, Going all the way back to the beginning of the Lord's churches during His earthly ministry. Jesus has called us His servants. He delivered unto us His goods. The goods, I believe, is the commission. It was given to His church exclusively, not to any others. There are those who are out there preaching the gospel. There are those who are out there baptizing and they are out there teaching without authority, certainly. But in the scriptures, you find the Lord working in and through his church, giving them the authority and having them carry it out. You go into Acts, in the book of Acts, you find even Paul. A group came to him, or he came to a group, however it was, I don't remember right now, but they had been baptized and he questioned them. They weren't baptized right, so he baptized them properly. The name Baptists that we have right now, we got that because originally we were called Anabaptists, rebaptizers. The reason we did that is because these guys were out here doing things without authority, and then they wanted to come and join the Lord's churches. And those preachers, those churches back then said, hold up a second, you've got to be scripturally baptized before you can join our church. So we recognize that the commission was given to the Lord's churches. He called us his servants there in Matthew 25. And in Revelation chapter seven, in verse three, the latter part of it, he talks about sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. These servants, same English word, same Greek word, is used to describe Jewish men. This is to be taken literally, this 144,000, as well as the fact that it is the children of Israel, because then as he goes through, he describes them each, 12,000 from each tribe. The so-called Jehovah's Witnesses, they think that they're the 144,000. They're not, they're not. But God will have his men, When we look at the world around us today, these 144,000, they are marked out. And when we look at the world around us today, we don't see 144,000 Baptist men. I dare say that if we look in the world, any time that's come about, that we haven't seen that many before in any other time period either. In the book of, well, when we look at these, sorry, I got turned around in my notes, but these 144,000 men, they're not Baptists, they're not, recognized by their church names, they're recognized by their tribes. Doesn't mean that a man will be saved just because he's a Jew or of a particular tribe, but it means that the Lord will have a remnant, a group, within the larger group that exists that he has marked out. He's elected them for this purpose. But even though these men are not with any kind of a church, they're not outlaws or freelance preachers, They're not usurpers, they are the servants of God. They are called for God's work. God appointed them and God will send them with a message to preach. In Revelation chapter 11, in Revelation chapter 11 in verse three, I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy 1,200 threescore days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. Not only do we read of the 144,000, but we read of the two witnesses that the Lord gives authority to, to come and to prophesy for three and a half years, or thereabouts, during the tribulation period. I don't know who the two witnesses are. I've got some ideas. But I do know this, they aren't Baptists. They're not landmark missionary sovereign grace, landmark Baptists like we know today. But the Lord has commissioned them. He has given them the authority there. Chapter 14, Revelation chapter 14. By the way, verse four. Verses three and four, he says, and they sung, as it were, a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and elders, and no man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. These 144,000 Jewish men aren't just any men, these are virgin men and so on. So we get that and we get to verse six and he says, and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and every nation and kindred and tongue and people. So not only do we have the 144,000, not only do we have the two witnesses, but we have An angel delivering the gospel. God has placed in His Word the authority given to the church. Had He wanted to, He could have given it to angels to preach. But He didn't. He didn't. He could have given it to the birds to sing, but He didn't. He's entrusted His church, you see. And so when I say that the pre-trib position is the only consistent landmark position, I mean that according to Matthew 28, verses 16 through 20, the Lord has given authority to His churches and His churches only, but in the tribulation period, we have some other things going on. If the rapture doesn't happen until after the tribulation period, then I might as well just quit, go home and join up with the reformers or some other kind of a church, because there ain't no difference. But I'm telling you there is, and there's a reason why, that the Lord isn't commissioning angels or witnesses outside of his church, or 144,000 in our day right now, is because he commissioned them, he commissioned them his churches. And there's no indication that he will abandon his churches or allow anyone or anyone else or anything else to usurp that authority in the age in which we live. I thank God that once we're out of here, that there will be some who will be presenting the gospel. But I thank God that where we're at right now, he's commissioned his churches to carry out this great work. And what a blessing it is to think and to know that the future doesn't hinge on us. That even after we're gone, God's got it all taken care of and he's got a plan for that too. And then, Finally, I just want to say, before we get to the last thing I want to look at is Deuteronomy chapter 24. Deuteronomy chapter 24, verse five. Deuteronomy 24 verse five, it says, when a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business, but he shall be free at home one year and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken. One of the things that's gonna take place in the future is there's gonna be a great marriage. The Lord marries his bride. And if Jesus was to return, meet his bride in the air, and then immediately come down and fight the forces of Antichrist, he would violate this passage. Not my Lord, he's no lawbreaker. He has not, nor will he ever, violate even one scripture. He must come down to catch us away before the tribulation, and then come back to battle the forces of Antichrist seven years later at the end of the tribulation period. We'll look more at the bride later. But right now we're talking about the bridegroom. He is coming. He is coming. And the timing of it, in order to fit with all the rest of Scripture, has to be pre-tribulation. In conclusion, when we talk about the Lord coming back before the tribulation, we don't mean that God's people won't have any tribulation. Certainly we do, don't we? You may have had tribulation getting to church this morning. Sometimes seems like there's trouble comes up, you know? Somebody wanting to argue with you, trying to get ready for church, Maybe you couldn't find your shoes or your keys or, you know, those sorts of things. You just don't know, right? I mean, there's degrees of tribulation that we go through. You may be going through tribulation right now, some sort of trouble or trial in your life. Certainly, we pray for you and we ought to consider that. But when it comes to the great tribulation, the seven-year tribulation, We're gonna be raptured out before then. God's wrath will be poured out on this world. And Lord willing, next sermon we'll look at perhaps some reasons for the tribulation period. But in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 18, he says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. What a joy it is to know That while the world is getting ready for Antichrist, while the world stage is being set, while the world is gearing up for that time, we can be looking for the Lord to come back at any moment. And we have indeed been saved from the wrath to come. May God add the blessing to His Word.