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Saved From the Wrath of God (part 1) Romans 5:9
Romans 5:9, "Since we have now been justified
by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath
through him!" "Turn
in your Bibles to Romans chapter 5, as we look at the results
of God's work of love. Romans
chapter 5, we see "That being justified by faith we have peace
with God through out Lord Jesus Christ" (verse 1), "through
whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which
we now stand. And we
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance." And verse 3 says we can rejoice in our tribulations
and trials because we know that God's producing something
through them (cf. James 1:2-4). And then he says, 'We can rejoice in the hope
of heaven, and we can rejoice because we are going to miss
out on the wrath of God. Verse
9 is what I want to look at today and our topic is "Saved
From the Wrath of God". Look at chapter 5, verse 9. Read it with me. "Much more than, having now been justified by
his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through
him." I love this verse, and I'm excited about the
verse this morning. We're
going to be saved, gang, we shall be saved from the wrath
of God because of his blood [think of the original Passover,
when the wrath of God was taken out on all who didn't have
the blood across their doorposts in
Who will go through it? Well, I'll just give you a quick survey. Romans 1:18, since you're there, go to chapter
1, verses 18, this sort of summarizes it all, who's going
to go through the wrath of God. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the
truth in unrighteousness." In
Ephesians
2:3 it says "We were by nature children of wrath.", so in
other words, if you're not born-again by the power of God,
you have an old nature that is a nature that is going to be
the recipient of the wrath of God in the end times. [We have to understand that when Paul wrote this he
and all the other apostles sincerely believed the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ was imminent and going to be in their
lifetimes. The statement about the wrath of God does apply
to those who will live in the end times going right into the
tribulation (World War III) and the events leading up to the
2nd coming of Jesus Christ. But understand, from the time Paul wrote this to now,
almost the entire Church Age has gone by without this wrath
of God being applied to mankind. This wrath of God, in proper context with the entire
Church Age, is but a short span of time which those living
in the world at that time will go through. We are in the time period of the end times, as evidenced
by our ability blast all life from off the planet, but no
one knows when World War III or the 2nd coming
will occur within the context of our times. It may be a generation away. Who knows? Jesus said that no man would know the day or
hour of his coming, no, not even the angels. But rest assured, we are closer to those events than
was Paul when he penned this verse.] Ephesians chapter 5, let's look at who the wrath of
God is poured out on. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 5, "For this you
know with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous
man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the
Well, who will not go through the great tribulation? Probably I'm more interested in who's going to miss
out on this time then on who's going to go through it. That's my selfish nature. Who won't go through the tribulation? Those who have been justified by the blood of
Jesus Christ, going back to Romans 5 verse 9. Let's read it one more time. We've defined now what the wrath of God is clearly
through the Scripture. The
day of wrath, the great and terrible day of the Lord, the
Seven Last Plagues when the wrath of God is poured out in
full, that is The Day of the Lord [which he calls the great
tribulation, his terms are a bit off, as I said before], the
wrath of God that we are missing out on. The wrath of God that we will escape is the time period
made up of the great tribulation and Day of the Lord. Romans 5:9, "Much more
than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from the wrath of God through him." True believers who have a personal faith in Christ
will not go through this period of the wrath of God. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/faith/whatis.htm .] It's interesting,
that in Luke 21:36, just note it. In Luke 21:36 when Jesus is telling his disciples all
the terror that will come upon the world during that time,
then he has a little aside. He says, "But keep on the alert at all times, praying,
in order that you may have strength to escape all these things
that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son
of Man." In other words,
Jesus said 'You can escape these things.' [the type of being alert, watchful is not daily pouring over current events and
prophecy to try to figure out when it's all coming down, but
instead to be alert spiritually, awake spiritually, filled
with the Holy Spirit, being led by Him (Romans 8:9-16). And instead of being standing in the tribulation, you
could stand before the Throne. You don't have to go through the great tribulation. Revelation 3:10, which we'll look at more next week,
says, "Because you have kept"-speaking of the last-day faithful
church-"the word of my perseverance, I will also keep you
from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come
upon the whole world to test those who dwell upon the earth." People ask me often times, 'Mark, am I ready for Jesus
to come?' Well, you're the one who's got the answer to
that. Growing up, I
used to dread this 2nd coming of Christ, and that
was what our church was all about. I mean, his 2nd Advent was even
in the name of our church it was such a big deal-an Adventist-you know. And
yet, I wasn't ready for Jesus to come. And they used to have these evangelists come in, and
they always would have a lady with a low voice sing, and she
would always sing this song. I think they called her a contralto.And she
would sing "Are you
ready for Jesus to come, are you faithful in all that you
do, have you stood for the right, have you fought a good fight,
can others see Jesus in yooou?" I'm going No!
No! No! No! I'm not
ready for Jesus to come! I'm
not faithful in all that I do, I didn't stand for the right
yesterday, I caved in! Others can't see Jesus in me most of the time! No, I'm not ready! Are you ready for Jesus to come? You know what makes you ready is not what you do, it's who you know. Not what you're doing, but it's who you're knowing, and the one you know, he'll
change your life anyway. I
can stand here now and say, "I'm ready for Jesus to come. I'm ready if the Lord were to come right now,
I'm ready!" And I'm
even wanting Jesus to come. You know, trouble weans us from this world. You get a little more trouble in your life, you get
a little more longing for heaven. Yet get a lot more trouble in your life, you
get a lot more longing for heaven. Don't you? And
so I'm longing for heaven, I'm wanting it. If there were two buttons here, "stay here", "go be
with the Lord", I would be hard pressed. Oh it would be nice to stay here, do a little
bit more for the Lord, but man, I'm afraid I'd go for the
green button. (If it's a green button, whatever color it is,
I'd push it.) Jesus
makes you ready, Jesus makes you ready for heaven. Remember, there's a difference between the wrath of
the world coming against the church and the wrath of God coming
against the world. The great tribulation does not originate from
Satan. [He's got his terminology mixed up a bit here. The great tribulation, World War III, does originate
from Satan. The Day
of the Lord, the wrath of God, originates from God.] It's not something Satan conjures up, the angels of
God pouring out seven bowls of plagues on the earth in which
the wrath of God is finished. This is not some demon doing a bad thing, this
is something God's in control of, the wrath of God comes right
from God's hand and is poured out upon the world. Whereas, the trouble I experience as a Christian does
not come from God [but is allowed by God to purify us], but
comes from the evil one and from this world's system. Jesus said, John 16:33, "These things I have spoken
to you that in me you might have peace, and in the world you're
going to have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." True believers are going to face tribulation,
but not the Great Tribulation [i.e. the Wrath of God, the
Day of the Lord]. We're
going to face trouble from the devil's hand, and from the
world's hand, and from our own flesh. But we're never going to face, never face, the
time of the wrath of God. When his wrath is poured out in full strength upon
the world, we're not going to be here gang. You say, "How do you know, Mark? How do you know?" Well, because I believe the Bible very clearly
teaches a pre-tribulation rapture of the church. [Calvary Chapel teaches a pre-tribulation rapture. Other pre-millennial denominations believe in and teach
we go to a place of safety before the pre-tribulation-both
set of beliefs are pre-tribulation. As of this point in time, it's really unclear
which is true, and the teaching one way or the other is so
fuzzy, and also 2ndary to the gospel of salvation that it's
just not all that important. It isimportant to realize, both interpretations are based
on solid Scripture that promise protection from the day of
God's wrath for believers that are still alive. I speculate-tongue in cheek-that God may "rapture"
all of us to a "place of safety". Some Messianic Jews also believe in the "place of safety"
interpretation. This website does not take a stand one way or
the other on this issue or teaching, as it proves to be divisive
among different parts of the body of Christ, not a point of
unity.] "Pre" means before, before the tribulation. Pre-tribulation, and rapture, that's just another
word for being "caught up to be with the Lord." And I'll tell you how we got that word Rapture
in a second. But I
want you to see where it is in the Bible. 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. All the T's are together in the New Testament, and
it just happens that the 1st and 2nd Thessalonians are the first of the T's-Bible hint for the
day. 1st Thessalonians 4, verse 13. He's writing to comfort Christians who have lost people
due to the tribulation of this world, not the Great Tribulation
[i.e. the Day of the Lord], the world's trouble coming at
them. Not God trouble
in the world, but the world trouble in them. And indirectly, as he's trying to comfort these baby
Christians that he only got to spend a few weeks with before
he was run away from them, he's reminding them of some specific
truths. "Now, we don't
want you to be uninformed", verse 13, "brethren, about those
who are asleep." When
Christians die, you don't have to worry about them, a tragedy
has not occurred, it is no more dangerous than death." When I go in and watch my girls sleep at night, and
I tuck them in at night and I just make sure they're there-one
of them likes to sleep with one leg up in the air, she always
has a leg on the wall, always, sleeping with one leg up, in
those little cutesy pajama's, you know, with feet in them,
it's so sweet. The other one sleeps on her stomach, and her
hands are up above her like this. And when I go in, I don't start weeping, 'Oh, it's
all over, it's all over!' What's the matter? 'They're asleep.' 'Shh, or you're going to wake them up!' Right? Sometimes
I have you come over when you're at my house and the girls
are asleep, and I say "you want to see something precious? Come here." I mean, I've done that to some of you, haven't I? 'Look at them, aren't they sweet?' The one time of day when they're so sweet. [laughter] But they're going to wake up. Early. [more
laughter] Before you're
ready. They wake up,
praise the Lord, they wake up. And so sleep is always what is spoken of as, when a
believer dies, it's always spoken of as "sleep." Because our body goes to sleep. It looks like sleep, and it's no more harmful than
sleep. You're spirit
[i.e. the "spirit in man", cf. 1 Cor 2; Romans 8] goes to
heaven. How do we know? Because in heaven, there is a vision of the
souls of people who were saved during the tribulation, and
they've gone to heaven, and they are there, and they're crying
out to God saying 'Lord, how long until, holy and just, until
you avenge our blood.' And the Lord says, 'Hang on, here's a robe,
put this on, hang on until, just a little while longer until
all your fellow servants, the martyrs, are brought up here,
and then it will end.' 'Then I'll avenge your blood.' (Revelation 6:9-11) But the soul is conscious, active, crying out to God,
can even wear a robe. Which is important, in a minute. [Other denominations interpret this a being
a metaphor, while they interpret Solomon in Ecclesiastes literally
that the soul is unconscious "i.e. soul sleep". Also in Ecclesiastes, it says that all spirit's of
those who die go to God in heaven-the good and the bad-while
the spirit's in animals go into the ground. These groups interpret that God then at the
time of the resurrection to immorality at the last trumpet
blast in Revelation (cf. 1 Cor. 15) takes the human spirit's
of the righteous dead and uses them to resurrect them just
as they were, but with heavenly immortal bodies. The unrighteous dead are resurrected from the
preserved pattern of their past bodies back to physical life-God
using their human spirits to re-create their bodies and minds
just as they were (cf. Revelation 20:5). So you see, there are two ways to interpret these passages,
and since these apparently conflicting passages are really
in the Bible, the actual truth is not all that evident, making
this a very secondary doctrine-whichever way you choose
to believe. Revelation 3:10 does promise "Because thou hast
kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the
hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to
try them that dwell upon the earth." Now that one you can take to the bank. So regardless of which interpretation you or your denomination
believes, rest assured, we are all promised a pre-tribulation protection
of some sort. When
Scripture passages on a particular subject appear to conflict,
it merely means that the subject is extremely secondary in
God's eyes, and he wants us to find out later, and not invest
a whole lot of effort in teaching about it. I am merely pointing this out because some of
you come from fellowships that believe in literal "soul sleep"
while others of you come from the "we're all awake at God's
heavenly throne" group. I'm merely pointing out that it's OK to believe
either way, as the Bible hasn't really nailed this one down,
it's in one of those gray-zones as far as interpretation goes. Rest assured, we'll find out later. This site can't take sides on such issues without
becoming divisive.] "We
don't want you to be uninformed brethren, about those who
are asleep, that you may not grieve as do the rest who have
no hope, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again"-do
you believe that Jesus
died and rose again? And
then what did he do? He
went to the right hand of God. Right?-"For if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so God will bring him those who have fallen
asleep in Jesus." All
of those who have fallen asleep with Jesus are going to come
back with the Lord at the 2nd coming. "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that
we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord,
shall not precede those who have fallen asleep" (the
lucky bums) "for the Lord himself will 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." 'Oh, oh, oh, the dead were dead, see they were raised.' No, their bodies were raised, their spirits, their
souls were in heaven, their spirits and souls were in heaven. They were spirits and souls without bodies. Paul calls that being naked in 2 Corinthians 5 [vs.
1-9], and it's uncomfortable, that's why the Lord gives 'em
a white robe to wear in Revelation, because they're walking
around, like, 'Hey, this is embarrassing.' The Lord gives them a robe to wear. But when they come, they meet their bodies in the air,
their bodies are raised, 'What was planted in corruption was
raise incorruptible, planted in mortality, raised in immortality,
and they meet their new body in the air, they slip into it
like you dive into a glove-oh it feels so good!' There's no limitations to this new body, the
Bible tells us it will be a body like the Lord's, no pains,
no misery, hallelujah. Then,
when they get their new bodies, and this is going to happen
in the twinkling of an eye we're told, then we who are alive
and remain shall be caught up-underline that word-caught
up-in the Latin translation that word 'caught up' is the
word rapere, which is translated "rapture". People say 'The word "rapture" is not even in the Bible.' Well, it is too, the Latin Bible. I mean, it is in the Bible, the Latin translation instead
of the Greek. "Then
we who are alive and remain shall be caught up"-raptured-"together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus
we shall always be with the Lord, therefore comfort one another
with these words." The
term Rapture came from the Latin translation of the word "caught
up." Why? I
don't know. I'd rather
call it the "caught up" Church, you know. Rapture sounds sound's weird to me. But the word in Latin for Rapture means ecstasy, you
know, and I guess that describes what its going to be like. Nobody's going to be in the Rapture going "Oh, how
dull, boring", you know. "This is a drag, man." I mean, all of you, even those of you who sit
so stoically at church, and I try to make you laugh and can't,
even you will be going "Wow!!! This is crazy, I'm just like Mark!" This is the clear teaching of God's Word, the Rapture
comes before the tribulation, I don't care who wrote a book
on it. I don't care
what the new book is, or the latest teaching or what the stupid
television channel says. Before
the Lord returns [i.e. the 2nd coming], he's going
to come for his church, take us up before the seven year tribulation,
then we come back with him in glory, that's what the Bible
teaches, and it's pictured in the Old Testament and it's promised
in the New.
Let's look at the Old Testament pictures. Genesis 5, verses 21 through 24 show us a picture
of Enoch. Enoch was
a preacher of righteousness according to Jude. Jude tells us in verses 14 and 15 that 'Enoch was a
preacher of righteousness.' Enoch walked with God. A lot of us get the idea that, 'Ole Enoch, all
he did all day long was walk with God, you know.' Who's this?-Bible charades. That's Enoch, walking with God. You got him wrong, man. Put him behind a pulpit, put him out in the
street, put him in front of a bar, put him someplace preaching
righteousness. That's
Enoch. Jude 14 and 15, see, Enoch knew judgment was
coming, he knew the wrath of God was coming upon the world. He knew that a flood of destruction was coming,
he was living right before the flood, when God covered the
whole earth with water for forty days and forty nights, and
it really happened. You got the drain of the flood right back here,
the Grand Canyon, it was the drain-plug, you know. It happened. And he preached and he warned people. And yet he kept walking with God though the world around
him was into sex, it was into drugs, and demonism, and we
know these things from a close study and a careful study of
the Scriptures, we know it was a bad day to live. [And Jesus said the end-times would be like the Days
of Noah, a similar time, similar circumstances.] The wickedness of man was so great that God
was sorry he created man. He said 'I'm going to utterly blot man off the face
of the earth. And he would have done it had Noah not found
favor in his sight. And
you know how Noah went through that "wrath" in the ark. But before the wrath came, Enoch was caught up to be
with the Lord. Look, Genesis 5:21, "And Enoch lived sixty years,
and became the father of Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and
after he became the father of Methuselah and had other sons
and daughters, so all the days of Enoch were three hundred
and sixty five years, and Enoch walked with God, and he was
not, for God took him." I
love it. All of a sudden, Enoch and the Lord on one of
their jaunts walking together. The Lord said, 'You know, Enoch, it's a little farther
to your place than to mine right now. Come up. Enoch was raptured. He was caught up to be with the Lord. 'Oh, what about Noah? What about Noah? He went through the tribulation, he went through
the tribulation.' Yeah,
but Enoch's the picture of the Church, the Church that walks
with God. There are people that will go through the tribulation,
yes. They call them
tribulation saints. But
it's not the Church. It's
a whole different group of people saved under the ministry
of 144,000 Jewish evangelists, a ministry of two witnesses
that preach the gospel. And
the ministry of three angels that fly through the heaven and
preach the gospel. There
will be people saved during the tribulation, trouble is, they
all get martyred, except for a few Jews that hide, God keeps
them hidden, like Noah was hidden in the ark. [this is a remnant
of the teaching about "a place of safety" for the Church that
is recognized by those who believe in the Rapture of the Church
as opposed to the Church going to "a place of safety."] But praise God, the Church, there's a Rapture before the wrath, I love it! Don't you?
And there's another picture. The picture of Lot. Remember the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had
sinned to such an extent, they were so gross that God said
they had to be exterminated. And before God could pour out his judgment on those
cities he first had to remove Lot and his family. There's a principle there. And Abraham stated the principle. Abraham stated it so well in Genesis chapter
18 in verses 23 and 25, he said to the Lord, 'Lord, Lord,
won't you save the cities if there are this many righteous?' 'Yeah, I'd save it if there were this many righteous,
but there aren't.' 'Well,
how about this many?' and he kept counting down, counting
down, 'if there's just a handful of righteous?' The Lord said 'I'd save them if there were just a handful
of righteous, but there are not.' Well then he says, 'Well, you're not going to
destroy the city, you're not going to let your wrath fall
on Lot are you?' "And Abraham came near and said" Genesis 18:23
and I'm just reading pieces of 23 and 25, "Abraham came near
and said, 'Would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Far be it from you to do such a thing as this,
to slay the righteous with the wicked, far be it from you. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?'" You see, that's the principle, gang. The principle we see typified in Enoch and in Lot is
that God first has to remove the objects of his love and grace
from the sphere of where his wrath is going to fall. The angel was sent by the Lord to destroy the
city, but the angel said to Lot 'I can do nothing until you
get out of here!' And
the angel had to say to Lot in Genesis 19:22, 'Hurry, escape
there', the angel said, 'For I cannot do anything until you
arrive there.' You
see, until Lot was pulled out and arrived safely to the destination,
the wrath couldn't fall. [And
whether you believe in the pre-tribulation "Rapture" or pre-tribulation
"going to a place of safety" this Biblical principle holds
true. You see, I think
those who believe in the Rapture are terrified to think the
Rapture may not occur, not knowing that if it isn't a Rapture
by which we're saved out of the tribulation, it will definitely
be by another means, i.e. a "departure" to "the place of safety." It's definitely one or the other folks, it's just the
Bible is a little fuzzy as to which. Any guesses as to why? Usually when a subject is left a bit fuzzy like that
it's because the Lord doesn't want us to overly focus on it,
going all dogmatic and crazy on the subject. There are other things the Lord wants us going
crazy over right now, and it's not how we're going to have
our butts saved physically from WWIII. But this is a very interesting subject, told from the
Rapture point of view. It may happen this way and it may not. Personally, I have no idea at this point which
Biblical scenario is correct, and this site doesn't take sides,
just tries to present both scenarios as objectively as possible
and let the reader decide. Rest assured, those who are righteous in God's eyes
and live on into this time will find out which scenario is
true. Until then, doing
the Lord's will is far more important than focussing overly
on this stuff.] And as long as the Church is on the earth you
don't have to worry about us being in the great tribulation. Oh, the war, the Middle Eastern War, the Persian
Gulf War-people were saying 'Oh we've entered into the tribulation!' Oh baloni, what are you doing here if we've entered
into the tribulation? You're not going to be here for the tribulation! [true, whichever scenario is true.] Or, 'aren't we going to go halfway through it, like
Rosenthal says? No,
you're not going to go through any of it. We have been saved from the wrath of God through
him, through Jesus Christ.
Now, the first New Testament promise
about this, we've seen two Old Testament pictures, we've got
time to take a peek at the New Testament promise in 2 Thessalonians
2. 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul writes the letter to
the church of the Thessalonicons because, again, he hasn't
had been able to spend hardly any time with them to nurture
them in the faith. But the little few weeks he had with them, he
poured a lot into them. He
taught them especially about last-day events. Now he's been separated from them since 'super-spiritual
people' came in, and said 'we have a revelation from God that
Paul has approved, and it is this, we're in the Day of the
Lord.' Well they knew,
just like you do now, that the Day of the Lord meant the day
of the tribulation [correction, day of God's wrath-the great
tribulation is World War III, and is brought on man by Satan. God's wrath comes to end the tribulation, where God
starts to make war on those that are making war and destroying
the earth. Just a mix-up
in terms, that's all.] 'Oh
no, oh no, Paul has told us that we wouldn't go through the
Day of the Lord. We're
in it? Oh no, I missed the Rapture!' You know, have you ever had that feeling? Like you were supposed to show up at church for a meeting,
you didn't know you got the day wrong, and no one showed up,
and you think 'Mark's not here, the elders aren't here.maybe
the Rapture occurred and I didn't go.' That ever happen to you? Happened to me the other day, I thought I'd missed
the Rapture. "Now we
request you brethren", chapter 2 verse 1, "with regard to
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together
to him"-don't you just love that, 'Our gathering together
to him'-"that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure
or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter
from us to the effect that the Day of the Lord has come." In other words, they were really shaken up,
man, someone said 'the Day of the Lord has come!' 'What?! We're
in the tribulation now? They
were being persecuted too, by the way. Someone said 'This is the great tribulation.' And they're saying, 'What are we going through the
wrath of God for, I thought we were his precious Bride?' "Let no one" verse 3, "in any way deceive you, for
it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the
man of lawlessness is revealed and the son of destruction
who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or
object of worship, so that he takes the seat in the temple
of God, displaying himself as being God. Don't you remember I was telling you these things?" I want you to see two things. Number 1, this is tricky, in the Greek. He says, "Don't let anyone deceive you because it won't
come unless the apostasy comes first." Now the most common translation of the word
"apostasy" is "a defection" or "revolt" or "a falling away." But there is another real meaning of apostasy,
and it can literally be translated "the disappearance" or
"a departure." You
can right that in the margin of your Bible safely. He's saying, 'let no one deceive you in any way for
it will not come unless the 'disappearance' or the 'departure'
comes first.' Well you could read that two ways, either the
disappearance of true faith from the earth, that'll happen
when we leave-right?-a departure from truth, yes-or it could
mean the departure of the Church-the Church leaves. We're outa here.And so he says 'Don't you remember
while I was with you, I was telling you these things?' What things? Well, look at 1st Thessalonians chapter
1, verse 8, "For the Word of the Lord is sounded forth from
you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. And your faith toward God is gone forth so that
we have no need to say anything, for they themselves report
about what kind of a reception we had with 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-Jesus,
who delivers us from the wrath to come." Does that
sound like you're going half-way through it [the tribulation
and Day of the Lord]? No! [and I say the same "No!"-whether it's a "place
of safety" we go to or are "raptured" to, or whether we are
"raptured" to God's throne in the 3rd heavens-regardless,
we are protected from the "wrath".] We're going to be delivered from, and
that word "from" can mean "out of." 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 9, "For God" Oh we better all read this one too, this is cool, 5:9. "For God has not destined us for wrath, but
for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. [I have a word to add, go back to verses 4-8,
putting this verse 9 in context with the whole passage. Paul tells us living in these last days, as
his letter is focussed on the last days, in verse 8 how we
as believers in Jesus, Yeshua ought to be acting. Sort of, if you want to be protected from wrath, pay
attention to this "But you, brothers, are not in darkness
so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep,
but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who
get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled,
putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of
salvation as a helmet." Revelation 3 talks of two churches, which some interpret
as church era's or revivals, both occurring at the end times. One is promised protection from God's wrath,
"the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world
to test those who live on the earth." The other, the Laodician era or church, has no such
promise of protection. God wants us to don the breastplate of righteousness,
of self-control, faith and love, all of which are the qualities
or traits of the Holy Spirit. But we must be led by the
Holy Spirit, as Romans 8 says, not merely be indwelt by Him. Galatians 5:22-23 give these same traits of
God's Holy Spirit. Paul
is saying here to those who hope to escape the tribulation
of Satan and wrath of God, "put on self-control, faith and
love, agape love, as a breastplate. That's in verses 4-8. Verses 9-10 must be taken in context with verses 4-8.]
Now, 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, that's the stuff he had told them. He said, 'Look, you've not been destined for wrath, and Jesus delivers you from the wrath to come.' And then he's already written to the Romans and he tells the Romans 'You've been saved from the wrath that is to come.' You're not going to experience the great tribulation, gang. No way. You're going to leave, and actually, you have to leave before it can come [either way, rapture of place of safety, this is a Biblical truth]. Now, how do we know that? It says, verse 5, "Don't you remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed." And I always go, 'What? What restrains him?' What restrains him? Keep reading, "For the mystery of lawlessness is ready [already] at work, only he who now restrains will do so." Who? Who is he who restrains? "Until he is taken out of the way." Well, who's restraining wickedness in the world right now? The Holy Spirit through the Church-right? The Holy Spirit through the Church.the Church is called light and salt. Light restrains the darkness, salt restrains putrification and corruption [corruption: rotting]. And when you remove the light and the salt from this world, I tell you, it's going to go to hell in a handcart. I mean, it's going to go bad fast. It's going to rot like a dead body on a hot day. Get the picture? That's what's going to happen. Shall I go on? [laughter] It's going to be gross. But he that restrains.it's the Holy Spirit in the Church, that when we're caught up [or removed from the scene], we are that which restrains. When we're taken out, then the anti-christ can come. Now, a word in conclusion. What about those of you who say, 'Well I believe, maybe, but I'm going to wait until I see it happen, because you know, I've got my life to live, I've got some things I want to do, I think Christianity might cramp my style, and I'm going to wait and see if these things happen. If the anti-christ comes up and all these things happen, then I'll believe. Wrong. The Bible says that if you've heard this message today, and don't accept Christ, and we get raptured tomorrow, you can't be saved. [Now that's not entirely true. The Bible says that many will be saved during the tribulation. These people are referred to as tribulation saints, as Mark pointed out earlier. But it appears these people may be saved in and through martyrdom. Also the Laodician era saints are saved through the tribulation and their direct martyrdom. Read Revelation chapter 3:14-21.] What?! Listen, not my words. You listen. Verse 9, After the Church is taken out of the way, verse 8, "And then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming. That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the"-what?-"love of the truth, so as to be saved. For this reason God will give them"-those who don't love the truth enough to be saved today-"God will give them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they may be judged, who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." This is very solemn, this is very serious. This is so important. The NIV version of that is: "And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends [i.e. by allowing Satan to do his work ] them
a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and
so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth
but have delighted in wickedness." Because, he's saying, if you hear the Word today, and you reject it, and especially if you think you're
waiting for some day when these things begin to happen a little
bit more, and the Church is gone-'Oh, after the Rapture of
the Church, then I'll believe.'-No you won't believe. God will allow a strong deluding influence to come
upon you, so that you'll believe what is false, because you
don't love the truth today. See, God's looking for truth-lovers, wherever
they are, whatever cult they might be in, whatever darkness
they're in. God is looking for those who love the truth,
and he'll lead them into his light. But if you don't love the truth, you will believe a
lie. You will be lost. Don't put it off. Don't say, 'Well, I'll wait until I see.' Because that's too late. 'Well, let me think about it.' No you don't need to think about it much more
than what you have today, because you might not have a tomorrow. You see it's easy for me to live a little tritely,
because I know that if I die, I'm going to heaven, I know
it. Or if the Lord comes tomorrow-Hey! Hallelujah! I'm going! I'm
outa here! But for those of you that aren't ready for Jesus
to return, I would live very carefully, I would buckle my
seatbelt, I would be careful what I ate, I would look both
ways before I crossed the street, I wouldn't be out in thunderstorms,
because I wouldn't want to die in that state. 'Scare tactics Mark, is that what you're trying to
put on me?' No. It's your life. And if you don't love it enough to think seriously
about it, then you can lose it. It's your life. But
maybe some of us love you a little more than you love yourself. And that we're thinking about things that matter,
where all you're thinking about is the guy who's looking at
you, or what your friends are going to do after the service,
or your casseroles in the oven. Let it burn. Better it burns than you burn. It's not scare tactics, it's truth. Sometimes the truth is scary. But Jesus said the truth would set you free. It's not by coincidence or accident that you've come
here today. Some of
you believers needed to know what's going to happen, that
you're outa here. And
we're going to teach you more next week on this point. But others of you have come this very day because you
really do have a love for the truth. Are you ready for Jesus to come? No. But
you can be ready by asking him to become your personal Savior
today. He crosses all
racial barriers, all national barriers, he crosses all denominational
barriers. I could care less whether you've been baptized,
confirmed, posted, I don't care what's happened to you. I want to know whether you've been born-again
by the Spirit of God. And
if you've been born-again by asking Jesus to come into your
life-he says, 'behold, I stand at the door and knock, and
if anyone hears my voice, I will open the door, I will come
into him and he with me, and I'll be his friend for eternity'
is what he's saying. But
you've got to open the door, you've got to ask him to save
you. How do you do
that? It's through
prayer. Prayer is the way we talk to God. You say, 'Well I don't know how to talk to God.' That's OK, we'll talk to him together as a friend,
you and I, in just a moment, we'll pray a prayer asking God
to save you, asking God to make you ready by making you a
new creature and a Christian [or Messianic Jewish believer]. There are three universal needs in this world, one
is the need to get rid of guilt. Another is the need for something on the inside that's
real, because there's so much loneliness in life. And the third thing is, it happens when you die, there's
a universal need to know what happens when you die. There's a fear of dying. Jesus, Yeshua meets every one of those needs. He can take away your guilt, and forgive you of your
sins. 'No, you don't
know how bad I am.' Jesus
does, and he says whoever will come to me, I will never cast
away. Prostitutes came to him, rotten corrupt businessmen
came to him. He forgave
them all of their sins. A
murderer on the cross next to him, he forgave him of his sin
and gave him eternal life. You can have the emptiness filled with Jesus'
life, and you can know that if you were to die, you'd go to
heaven, or if Jesus were to come tonight, you'd leave with
all of us. If you want to be ready, then I want you to
bow your heads right now, all of us, please, pray for those
around you. Ask God's Spirit to move out.If you want what
Jesus, Yeshua is offering I want you to pray this prayer with
me right now. "Lord
Jesus, please come into my life. I know that I'm a sinner. I know I've done wrong things. And I know I am not ready for you to come back. But I believe you died for me. And I believe that you rose from the dead for me. And I believe you can change my life. Please accept me just as I am, weak, helpless. Make me a Christian [or Messianic believer]. Fill my emptiness with you. Take away my sin, please. And now give me the assurance that because I believe
in you, and trust you with my whole heart and life, that I
am ready now when you come again. In Jesus name [in the name of Yeshua haMeshiach], Amen."
If you'll keep your heads bowed please
and pray for those around you. I just want to talk to you. If you asked the Lord to come into your life, I want
you to know that that decision is going to be tested very
soon in the future, it might be before you get out the door,
somebody will make fun of you. Maybe you came with someone and they're not into the
Lord. But you came, and man, God's spoken to your
heart. I want to pray
for you that your faith will stay strong in Christ [Messiah]. Jesus, Yeshua said that if you'll confess me before
men, I'll confess you before my Father in heaven, but if you're
ashamed of me here, I'll be ashamed of you there. I'm going to pray that your courage in Christ will
be strong now. Maybe
you feel the peace of Christ descending already in your life. There have been hundreds of people this year
that have experienced what you've just experienced. It's real! It's
real! And I want to
pray for you now, that your faith will stay strong in Jesus. I want to pray a blessing on you specifically. So everybody's eyes are closed, just between you and
me and the Lord, I'm going to ask you to do something really
tough. I'm not going
to ask you to stand up, I'm not going to ask you to come forward,
but wherever you are in this auditorium, if you prayed that
prayer and you wanted Jesus, Yeshua to save you, raise your
hand right now.ok you can put your hands down. Let's pray. 'Lord we just thank you so much for the power of your
Word that changes lives, for the power of your Spirit and
of your peoples prayers, to cause miracles like we've seen
today. Thank you Lord,
that we as a team, could share the gospel. Now we pray, Lord, together, that these brothers and
sisters who have accepted you as their Savior, that their
faith will be strong, that they won't waiver. And even though it's tested, that they'll stand up
for Jesus, no matter what the cost. In Jesus name'-and everybody said-'Amen.'" [This is a transcript of a sermon given by Pastor
J. Mark Martin, Calvary Community Church, P.O. Box 39607,
Phoenix, Arizona 85069]
end part 1 Romans 5:9
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