The End Times, The Rapture, and The Church | Tony Evans Sermon

do you know your answer could be sitting right next to you but you'll never know it until god is ready to reveal it god says if you come back home you'll see i haven't gone anywhere so you draw near to him and he will draw near to you because he's the one who's never left if you walk in the spirit or walk by means of the spirit he will open up the hole for you to get through the snake is going to try to stare stuff up the snake is gonna try to get you away from god there is a serpent in the garden and your job keep him out sometimes he brings a little something that's a little cute to let you know keep on going keep on trusting because i hear you [Music] the next event on god's prophetic calendar is the rapture that is the next thing that's going to happen the word rapture means to seize grasp or grab and it refers to christ coming to retrieve his church believers who have accepted him as savior that is the next event on the prophetic calendar so that is the event i want to explain to you today about the rapture the imminent return of christ for his people jesus had told his disciples i'm i'm leaving he's getting down on the cross rise from the dead and the sin back to heaven and he told him you can't come with me now but don't worry i'm gonna come get you i'm gonna come get you when the disciples heard this they were traumatized because for three years jesus had been their leader their teacher their provider he had been their guide he'd been their help he'd been their deliverer he'd been their whole world for three years and now he says i'm leaving and um i'm coming back in fact here's what he told them in john chapter 14 verses 1 3. saint john 14 1-3 says this do not let your heart be troubled because they were they were troubled believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many dwelling places if it were not so i would have told you for i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you to myself that where i am there you may be also that is the first specific reference to the rapture i'm coming to receive you back to me during this interim i am preparing a place that word prepare doesn't mean to like construct something it means to make preparation for something and i am going to come again now our dilemma is he didn't say when all he said was i'm coming back to receive you to me but i got to leave now and so they were troubled they were troubled because jesus was not physically there so they had to live on a promise to understand this event and how it affects you and me which by the time i'm finished today your world should change let me show you why first thessalonians chapter 4 paul gives detailed explanation for this event called the catching up or the rapture he begins in verse 13 of first thessalonians 4. he says but we do not want you to be uninformed brethren i we don't want you not to understand this we don't want you to be unclear about this so paul is saying let me explain this to you don't be uninformed now let me give you the reasons why this event that he's getting ready to explain is going to happen he tells you the first reason in verse 13 i don't want you to be uninformed about those who are asleep you and i would say people who've died the biblical word that jesus has introduced is the word sleep why does he use the word sleep because for a christian when you die it's nap time okay but i'll explain that in a moment he says i don't want you to be uninformed about those who've died or are asleep now the reason he has to say this is jesus had promised to come back so they're waiting for jesus to come back while they're waiting for jesus to come back some of their loved ones die who are christians and so they're concerned well wait a minute if we're waiting for jesus to come back and some of our folks have died will they miss his return because they're not alive like we are well that leads to another question suppose i die am i gonna miss out on the rapture so the question was are folks who died missing out on this promise paul says i don't want you to be uninformed about that so one of the reasons he discusses the rapture is to inform them about how this thing will work with focal already dead another reason which you'll see later on in the scripture i'll give you is because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven first corinthians 15 50. it can't inherit the kingdom of heaven in other words you can't go to heaven like you are now because that environment does not fit your makeup flesh and blood so it is you can't function like you are in heaven as flesh and blood so a change has got to occur so that's why the rapture is needed another reason why this rapture is important is to remove you before all hell breaks out breaks loose on earth okay look at first thessalonians chapter 1 verse 10 and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead that is jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come now he's not talking about hell he's talking about the tribulation period all hell is going to break loose on earth in other words no matter how bad things are right now you ain't seen nothing yet all hell's gonna break loose and that's called the tribulation so before all hell breaks loose wrath to come he's going to come to retrieve his people before the wrath breaks loose there are numbers of illustrations of this in the bible remember he retrieved lot out of sodom and gomorrah before he rained down fire and brimstone on sodom and gomorrah he retrieved noah and his family into the ark before he flooded the world he retrieved rahab and her family into their house before the walls of jericho collapsed in other words he kept them from the judgment to come by retrieving them well that's exactly what jesus is going to do for all christians all who make up his church he will retrieve us before the tribulation comes when all hell breaks our breaks loose on earth that's the concept of the rapture or the reasons for it he introduces a word in verse 13 that he's going to speak and say something about a number of times concerning those who are asleep because it gives another reason why you need to know about the rapture so that verse 13 you do not grieve as those who have no hope it affects your emotional well-being see there are two kinds of grieving hope less grieving and hopeful grieving hopeless grieving is i'm never gonna see this person again hopeful grieving is i am going to see this person again both are grieving but they're grieving differently one is grieving without hope one is grieving with hope so i want you not to be hopeless in your sorrow when you lose loved ones who are part of the family of god so he introduces us to the word sleep that's jesus's word for what you and i call death oh wait a minute if you are asleep in our normal everyday nomenclature of life that means you're not dead you're in a new you're in a you're in a temporary shift of state of consciousness you're not you're not dead you're you're asleep you're in a position of death but there has not been the move to non-existence so keep that word in mind as we as we as we go along he says for if we believe that jesus died and rose again even so god will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in jesus now you ought to see a little conflict there we're talking about those who've fallen asleep i.e died but then jesus is bringing somebody with him when he comes so he's coming from heaven bringing somebody and the somebody he's bringing are those who've fallen asleep well wait a minute the folks who've fallen asleep are in the grave but the folks he's bringing with him who are the folks who've fallen asleep are coming with him from heaven so which is it am i in the grave or am i in heaven when god made adam he created a body when he created the body the body did not function until he breathed into the man the breath of life when he breathed into the man the breath of life scripture says and he became a living soul in other words his body didn't become animated active functional until the soul was deposited in it apart from the soul all you had was frame with no animation no life when you expire the life principle that god breathes in soul slithers in some invisible way out of the body so the body can no longer function because the soul has departed it and that soul for the believer goes immediately into the presence of god at the time of the rapture when jesus christ descends to seize believers he is coming with you the you that left you when you went to sleep okay so he says those who are living when jesus returns not only do you not have to worry about the folks who've already died they gonna beat you to the punch because when the lord comes for the rapture the taking away of the saints he says we who are alive if he were to come back in the next five minutes everybody in here who's alive will have to take second place to the folks who've already died we will not precede them you're not going to beat them to heaven even though they are dead sleep and you're alive well how is all this going to work so he wants to give you some details he says here's how this works verse 16 for the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout so at the point of the rapture jesus is going to leave heaven and there's going to be a shout i.e get up okay there's going to be a call a shout so jesus is himself this so this is a personal appearance he's going to come with a shout when he comes with the shout it will be with the voice of the archangel now the archangel is chief angel in charge and the dead in christ will rise first because remember the living won't precede the dead the dead are going to precede the living because they're going to rise first but wait a minute i thought i was in heaven because i'm coming back with him so if i'm in heaven coming back with him exactly what's rising okay well you are going to be buried but not your soul because your soul left so left at the point of death you are going to be buried when you are buried most of us will be put in a casket that's sealed that's under six feet of dirt but there are other people who've died who don't get buried some people died in the sea some people died and their bodies weren't put in the casket they would just bury it in the ground you're gonna become worm food so therefore in order to get your soul coming down it's new house to live in there has got to be a reconstruction of you you have to be stitched back together you have to be you have to be resurrected in some supernatural way so your soul that's coming back with jesus has some place to hang out so while you are coming back with christ because your soul went to him when you die the dead in christ shall rise first that's not your soul now we're talking about your body you have to have a reconstructed body for your old redeemed soul a body that can live in heaven and still function on earth so when jesus returns for the rapture and the shout of god is made there is going to be a raising of reconstruction of your humanity so that you and your soul can hook up again so you got you coming and a body rising so the dead in christ will be resurrected with new spiritual glorified bodies i'm going to talk about that in a second but that's how you will be resurrected he talks about people i love the end of verse 14 who fall asleep in jesus that's what he calls it for dying dying as a christian falling asleep in jesus so the assumption is that you have accepted christ if that assumption is true then when you die you will fall asleep in jesus he says the dead in christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up that's rapture caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air okay now please notice where we're meeting the lord we're not meeting him on earth because it's not time for him to come to earth yet because we're going to be moving back and forth from heaven to earth okay so there's a two location thing so you need a body that can go in both places you need to be able to play offense and defense you need to be able to work both sides of the ball you need to be able to you need to be able to hang out up there and be and chill down here you got so so a lot of your time is going to be spent on earth not in heaven okay so he says we will be caught up to meet the lord in the air first corinthians 15 and let's look at this just a little bit closer verse 51 behold i tell you a mystery i will tell you a mystery we will not all sleep but we all will be changed so everybody dead and alive are going to go through a metamorphosis like a butterfly emerging from a caterpillar there will be a metaphormorphosis or a change he says in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trump will sound the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed for this perishable will put on imperishable and this mortal will put on immortality okay everything wrong with you will change it will be a glorified body okay well well i don't know about you but i'd be interested to know what that body is gonna be like okay john says in first john chapter two first john chapter three verses two and three he says when we see him at the rapture we will be like him okay we will be like him okay so if i'm gonna be like him then i need to know what he's like so i'll know what i'll be like when i'm like him all right so let's rehearse jesus's resurrection when jesus rose from the dead with a glorified body three days after crucifixion when he stepped out he was the same person who died okay he wasn't another person he says this jesus whom you've seen they say is coming back again so you won't become somebody other than who you are so that's the first thing so it's not like you're becoming you're meta you're morphing into something else because remember it's your soul that's entering the body so whoever you are is what you will be then so this is a whole different realm coming at the return of christ at the rapture and this imperishable must put on immortality and it will happen he says in the twinkling of an eye quickly the dead will be sucked out of the grave new bodies to meet their souls redeemed souls the souls will enter into the new bodies for their glorified existence the rapture is the next event on the calendar before god re-enters his program for israel he's going to remove us out before the wrath in order to recall his people and so he ends in first thessalonians by saying in verse 18 we will be with the lord comfort one another with these words if you hold a magnet to something that has iron fillings in it it's going to suck those fillings to the magnet okay you put a magnet near something that has iron fillings in it it'll suck it to the magnet when jesus christ comes back his glory will suck up the dead in christ those who have the spirit of christ in them they will be sucked up in their new bodies to connect with their souls for their new glorified existence so why should any of this matter number one you should feel comfort to know when you're dead you're not dead you should feel just a little bit better that when you're dead you really haven't died because you've never been more alive than you are in that second because to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord and you ought to feel better and less fearful about death knowing that the thing you fear most is the thing you'll never experience so yeah it ought to make you just feel a little bit better about the uncertainty and the the fear that comes with death secondly it ought to make you want to witness so that you don't have loved ones who are left behind it ought to make you want to share the gospel to make sure and that great getting up morning family and friends that you love and care about are sucked up in the rapture seized in the rapture with you and not left for the hell that's going to break loose on earth in the tribulation period in first john chapter 3 verses 2 and 3 he says he that hath this hope purifies himself he says when you when you know this good news it ought to affect how we live my point is you don't want to miss this you don't want to be left behind you're only left behind having played church you're left behind having been religious [Applause] if you're here today and you don't know for certain that your sins have been forgiven and that you have received the gift of life you got two things that could happen you could die or the rapture could occur either one are bad news for you so if i were you i would run to the cross where god opens up his hands and says whosoever will let him come and drink from the water of life freely he offers eternal life to every man every woman every young person who comes to the cross as a sinner recognizing they need a savior and trusting christ as their sin bearer for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life don't let another day go by and for those who are already saved if god never blesses you with a more with a new house another new car more clothes better job bigger bank account all that's fine but if he never gives you anything else you have a reason to praise him for your future that he has planned for you [Music] [Music] you've been lied to so long that you've never become what you were created to be when you are displaying that i have dedicated all of my life i have put all that i am on the altar to jesus christ now you're ready to turn this culture in the name of jesus christ jesus christ says i have died for you i have risen from the dead for you i don't care what color you are i don't care what class you are him that coming to me i will not reject you

Channel: Tony Evans

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Id: IkMzUKZcRI4

Length: 27min 40sec (1660 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 05 2021