[MUSIC PLAYING] There is no God. I mean, look at what's
going on in the world. I am my own God. God, Allah, Buddha, whatever. He's just waiting
to destroy us all. There's like hundreds of gods. It's just like that
bumper sticker says-- I am my own god. --dog is my co-pilot. There is no God. There is one true God. He's all knowing, all
powerful, and he loves you. Would you turn in your
Bibles this morning to the book of John, Chapter 14. Gospel of John, Chapter
14, as well as a marker-- because we're going
to get there-- in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4. So two places. John Chapter 14 and 1
Thessalonians Chapter 4. When I came to Jesus Christ,
I was about 18 years of age. And I remember that there were
bumper stickers that people were putting on their cars
at that time that said, Jesus is coming soon. And then I noticed
bumper stickers that said Jesus is coming. Are you ready? And then I saw one that said
Jesus is coming, look busy. And I even remember something to
the effect of, Jesus is coming, and boy, is he ticked off. But all of those bumper stickers
had a message, no matter how they were formed. And that is the promise
that Jesus Christ is coming. And I want to talk to
you about that today from God's word,
specifically, Jesus coming for his
church, something we call the rapture of the church. And I'll be honest with you,
the first time somebody told me about a rapture, I stopped
them and I said, what? Explain this to me. And they said,
well, yeah, Jesus is going to come back
for his church, we're going to be
taken up into the air. And I had never heard
that concept before, being raised in the
tradition I was raised in. I'd never heard that. And I told him, I said, you
gotta be kidding, right? You don't actually believe
that's going to happen. He said, well, the Bible
says it's going to happen. I said, nah, that's
probably a misreading of it. So he gave me all the texts. And I went home and I read
1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, 1 Corinthians Chapter 15,
John Chapter 14 and others. And I remember thinking,
he's absolutely right. That's exactly what the
Bible predicts will happen. As outlandish as it sounded to
a young convert at the time, I quickly realized the Bible
indeed predicts this event. But I didn't understand how
that event was going to work, or I didn't understand how
it would motivate a person. And I even remember
having some friends who got so geeked about
the coming of the Lord they became irresponsible
in their present day life. So they were thinking
like, I'm just going to bail out of school, or
I'm going to charge things up on my credit card. Jesus is coming anyway. I'll never have
to pay them back. And all sorts of
irresponsible behaviors. And I even found myself praying
for the Lord's soon return at very opportune times
for me personally. So like just before a final
exam, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Or when there were lights
flashing in my rearview mirror and I was being pulled over
by a law enforcement officer, and I remember
thinking, Lord, this would be a great time for
you to show up, right now. In fact, I think it would make
a real impact on the officer trying to give me this ticket. One time, it was
in the summer, I had been a believer
a few months, I had come to believe
in this doctrine that I am presenting
to you here today and the Bible clearly presents. And I remember going to a
home Bible study one evening. I knocked on the door. There was no answer. Knocked on the door
again, no answer. The door was ajar enough
that I just sort of imposed myself, because
I knew these people. I opened the door. I walked into the living room. And there on the
living room floor were scattered Bibles of people
by chairs and by pillows. And there were like a
jacket and notebooks. And it was obviously people
had been in that room. And I looked and all I saw
was that and no people. And of course, I panicked. My immediate thought is,
the Lord has come back for his church and
I wasn't ready. I wasn't taken. I freaked out. And I start
hyperventilating and panting and walking through the
house and calling out names. And finally, I get into
the back of the house, where the kitchen
is, and in comes the group of people
from the backyard through the kitchen
into the living room, saying, hey, Skip, what's up? And I thought they were
playing a joke on me. And they said,
no, there was just a low flying airplane
in the backyard and we were all
watching it do stunts. But I gotta tell
you, I will never forget the feeling of
thinking I was left behind. Speaking of low flying
airplanes, in that era, there was a vanguard
Christian musician by the name of Larry Norman who
wrote a song about this event, about the rapture. And he gave it an
interesting title. He called it UFO. And the words are, "He's an
unidentified flying object; you will see Him in the air. He's an unidentified
flying object; you will drop your
hands and stare. You will be afraid to
tell your neighbors; they will think
that it's not true. But when they open up
the morning papers, they will know
they've seen Him too. He will come back
like He promised, with the price already paid. He will gather up his followers
and take them all away. He's an unidentified
flying object; He will sweep down from the sky. He's an unidentified
flying object. Some will sleep
but will not die." I loved that song
when it came out. Probably most of you here
don't remember that but. It made a great impact
on me and kind of placed me in that awareness
that the Lord could come back at any time. Jesus said he was coming back. We're going to read that
again in John Chapter 14. Remember in 1984, Terminator 1? Some of you remember Arnold
Schwarzenegger's famous line in the police
station, I'll be back. Jesus said it first. He said it to his
disciples the night he was having the Last Supper
with them in that upper room. Let me show you the words. John Chapter 14, verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,
believe also in Me. You believe in God? I also am God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house
are many mansions. Better translation, more literal
translation, rooms, rooms, abiding places. In my Father's house
are many rooms. If it were not so, I
would have told you. 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. And where I go, you know,
and the way you know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we
don't know where you're going and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me. Now to understand the rapture
as presented in John 14, it helps to have a
little bit of background in the Jewish wedding tradition,
because it's based on that. When a young man in Judaism
came of age to get married, he would go to the
bride's house and enter into a formal
engagement, a betrothal. He may have had that
wedding arranged since he was a child, but about
a year before the wedding he's going to enter into an
engagement, a betrothal. After that, he goes back
home to his father's house and begins to build a room
onto it, where he and his bride will live after the wedding. When the time for the
marriage has come, he goes to his father, asks
permission to go get his bride. And then he goes from
his father's house to the bride's
house unannounced. Makes no announcement. She has to be ready in advance. She has to be
ready at all times, along with the wedding party. And when the groom is in the
neighborhood near the house, somebody blows a
trumpet, a shofar, announcing that an
event is taking place. Then, when he gets
to the bride's house, the groom lets out a
shout introducing himself, that he has come
to get his bride, at which point she follows
him back to his father's house where they have the
wedding, and then the wedding feast that lasts
about typically seven days. That's the Jewish wedding. Now Jesus is here at a meal
in an upper room in Jerusalem with his disciples. It is the last night
he spends with them before his passion, the cross. His public ministry is over. The nation has rejected him. The cross lies directly
in front of him. And so he turns his attention,
his words, his instruction, and his comfort to his
most intimate friends, his followers, the apostles. What I want to show you in
the verses that I just read, and other verses,
are four aspects of Jesus coming for his
church, four aspects. The first aspect is the
comfort of his coming. The comfort of his coming. He begins by saying, let
not your heart be troubled. There's only one reason
somebody says that. And that would be because
his audience is troubled. And they were troubled. Anxiety was filling the
hearts of the Apostles moment by moment during that
meal because Jesus has made some announcements. So let's look at it. Go back, if you don't
mind, just to a few verses, to get the flavor of this,
back into the previous chapter, Chapter 13, verse 33. Little children, I shall be
with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as
I have said to the Jews, where I am going, you cannot
come, so I say to you. Well, that's quite
an announcement. They didn't expect that. Oh, by the way,
boys, I'm leaving. I, your Messiah, who has
come, am leaving soon. And you can't follow me. Go down to verse 36. Simon Peter said, Lord,
where are you going? Jesus answered him, where I am
going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall
follow Me afterward. Well, that's sort of enigmatic. So Peter said to him, Lord,
why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my
life for Your sake. You can feel the trouble
going on in Peter's heart. And then by the time
we get to Chapter 16, in verse 6 Jesus says, because
I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. That is what is going on
emotionally in the minds and hearts of the disciples
during this event, during the supper. They're being filled with
anxiety, filled with trouble. Jesus has announced that
he is going to leave. And so he comforts them. He gives them a promise. I'm going to leave but
I'm going to come back, and I'm going to get you. Now look at, again,
that command in verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. It is a command. It's an imperative. And the way it is written
in the Greek language, it is a present
passive imperative, which simply means he is
giving a command for them to stop an action that
is already going on. It's already going on. It already has begun. The anxiety has begun. And Jesus says, stop it. Stop it. Literally, it's let not your
heart continue to be agitated. Stop being stressed. Stop freaking out. Now the fact that
it is a command shows me that we have the
power to control emotion. This kind of emotion
can be controlled. The fact that
Jesus says stop it, I'm giving you a
command to do it. Whenever Jesus gives a command,
he gives with the command the capability to
obey the command. He wouldn't give you a
command that's impossible. So he gives them a command. With the command is the
capability to keep the command. You have the power
to stop freaking out. Why do I say that to you? Because the world
is freaking out. And as a Christian, you have the
power to not allow your mind, not allow your heart
to be overwhelmed. Let not your heart be troubled. Let that be Jesus' word to you. Let not your heart be troubled. Stop freaking out. 2 Corinthians Chapter 10,
bringing every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ. Romans Chapter 12, do not
be conformed to this world but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. 1 Peter Chapter 1, gird
up the loins of your mind. That's an old fashioned
way of saying, think clearly and
be self controlled, exercise self-control. Stop going in that
direction mentally. Now what that tells me
is this, the key to peace is to replace anxiety in the
present with the certainty of the future. I'm going to say it again. The key to peace is to replace
the anxiety we feel, experience in the present with the
certainty of the future. You go, certainty of the future? The future is uncertain. That's why we freak
out because we don't know what's going to happen. We face an uncertain future. Yes, you do partially. Of course, you don't know what's
going to happen day to day. Nobody does. You don't know who's going
to live, who's going to die, what might happen
catastrophically around the world. Nobody knows that. But there are certain
things you do know and those things
you do know ought to bring you comfort
and settle your heart. It's the same thing that Paul
said to the Thessalonians. They were all so freaking out
because Paul had told them Jesus is coming back. And the problem is, they were
being persecuted by the world. The persecution
was getting worse. And to make matters much worse,
you say Jesus is coming back, but a lot of my relatives
and friends have died, so they're going to miss
the event of his coming. So Paul writes words of
comfort in 1 Thessalonians 4. He says, no, the dead in
Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain
will be caught up together with them in the air to meet
the Lord and so shall we ever be with Him. Therefore, comfort one
another with these words. How would that
give them comfort? The comfort is, you are one
day going to see the Lord. And when you see
the Lord, you're going to see the Lord
with your loved ones. They are also going
to see the Lord. So there is comfort
in these promises. Folks, every tomorrow has two
handles, the handle of fear and the handle of faith. It's your choice which
one you're going to grab. You're going to wake up
tomorrow and you're going to grab the handle of fear. Most people grab that handle. Freak out, freak out, freak out. Or are you're going to
grab the handle of faith? If you grab the handle of fear,
you're going to freak out. If you grab the handle of faith,
you're going to chill out. Because you realize God is
in control of the future, and he has made me
pretty incredible promises that are certain. So there's the words of
Jesus, let not your hearts be troubled. Now to comfort
them specifically, you'll notice in
verse 2 he points their thoughts toward heaven. In verse 2 he says,
in My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I
would have told you. 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. Think about that
for just a moment. Think about heaven,
how he describes it. First of all, heaven
is a real place. Whenever Jesus
spoke about heaven, he always spoke about heaven
as being a real place. You know why he did that? Because heaven is a real place. That's why. To Jesus, it's real. He knew what it was like. He had been there in his
existence previously. He was going back there. So he spoke about
heaven as a real place. But here, notice something
else, he speaks about heaven as a relational place. He doesn't refer to
it by the word heaven. He does in other places. But here he calls it,
my father's house. That's relationship. In my father's house there
are many mansions, many rooms. He did that to comfort them. Because when you get to heaven,
there's going to be the Father. You'll see him. There's going to be
Jesus, your Savior. And there's going to be all
those who have followed Christ that are your friends and
relatives who died or slept before you. There will be that reunion. So then heaven is
sort of like home. Your home is precious not
because of what you have there but whom you have there. Heaven is precious
because of whom is there. So it's a real place. It's a relational place. A third thing to
notice in what Jesus comforts his disciples with is
that heaven is a diverse place. In my father's house
there are many mansions. And I've told you, should
be translated to rooms. Mansions is sort of an
unfortunate translation. Because when Americans
hear the term mansions, they're thinking of
like Texas oil ranches. You know, you got like 20
acres and then the mansion, the castle, and then you got a
whole bunch of land, and then your castle. And you got all
this stuff going on. It's better to think of it in
terms of the Jewish wedding, where the groom goes
back and adds a room on, so there's always room for more. You just keep adding. And it's especially fun
to think of it this way. Because when we get to
Revelation 21, the new heavens and the new earth,
there's a city that comes out of heaven toward
the earth called New Jerusalem. And the measurements happen
to be given in Revelation 21. John sees an angel
measure the New Jerusalem. And he says, you
know, first of all, he says, I notice
it's this odd shape. It's a cube. It's the same depth
and height and width. And he measures it. 12,000 furlongs on all sides. That's 1,380 miles. So a 1,400 mile cube
descending out of heaven to the earth, roughly the
size of the moon, roughly 2,250,000 square miles. And those that have
studied that said the New Jerusalem,
this city, could easily accommodate 20 billion people. And that's assuming that
only 25% of the city is used for dwelling places
and the other 75% used for streets, parks, public
buildings, et cetera. 20 billion people. And that each person could have
a cubicle block of 75 acres on each face to themselves. Now we don't know exactly
what that's going to be like. That's just an idea. That's an estimation. But I like the idea,
in my father's house there are many rooms. I don't know about you,
but when I get to heaven, I'm going to snoop around. I'm going to be
knocking on doors. I'm going to see what
your room is like. And I'm not going to be sitting
on a cloud playing a harp. I'm going to be very busy
just exploring the digs. It's going to be
a diverse place. And then something else that
is in this little comforting promise of Jesus, as he directs
their thoughts toward heaven, he tells them heaven will
be a personalized place. Because notice that he says,
I go and prepare a place. What are the next two words? For you. Remember what occupation
Jesus had when he was raised by Joseph in Nazareth? He was a carpenter. Now he's a custom builder. Now he's making things
custom built for you. It took God six days to create
the heavens and the earth. He spoke them into existence. He's been working on your
place for 2,000 years. What do you think
that looks like? Don't know, but it sounds
like it's going to be awesome. He's making it just for you. As one little girl
said to her father, if heaven looks this
good on the wrong side, what does it look like
on the right side? Well, I don't know, but it's
going to be something for you. And all of this was
to comfort them, the comfort of this coming. Let not your heart be troubled. And he directs their
thoughts toward the future. Let's consider a second aspect. And that is the
chronology of his coming. Now back in verse 2 and
verse 3, in My Father's house are many mansions,
rooms, abiding places. If it were not so, I
would have told you. 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-- notice the wording-- that where
I am, there you may be also. In other words, I am
coming back at some point to get you and take
you to where I am. This, most New
Testament scholars believe that this is
a reference of Christ to the coming for his
church, the taking of his saints at the rapture. This is not the second coming. This is not the second coming. At the second coming,
Revelation chapter 19, Jesus comes from heaven
all the way to the earth. Jesus wouldn't have
said this then. He would have said, at
some point, I'm coming and I'm going to
be where you are. He says, I'm going to
take you where I am. He's going to come back
and take us somewhere. So this is not
the second coming. This is something different. Now these disciples didn't
understand all of this. They didn't understand
the nuance of the rapture and the second coming. When Jesus gave
this message, he's not giving them a
lesson in eschatology, and they're in no
condition to receive it. They don't quite
understand it all. I get that. And he doesn't explain to them. But they will understand it. And here's how I know. Because they're going to
write about it later on. They're going to get the
full revelation later on. But let's just
pause for a moment and consider the
chronology, the timing. Because now we have the benefit
of the entire New Testament and now we understand, by
looking at all of the passages, that the coming of Christ in
the future has two stages. Stage one, he comes in the air
to take his church with him to be where he is. And then at some point,
he comes with his church to the earth to set up his
kingdom, second coming. Now I want you to turn to
1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, the words of Paul the
apostle that I said pre-mark. 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4. This is the classic
passage on this event. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13. But I do not want you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep. It seems every time Paul says,
I don't want you to be ignorant, it's a doctrine upon which the
church is majorly ignorant. I don't want you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning those who have fallen
asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. Keep in mind, they thought, OK,
you told us Jesus is coming, our loved ones
have died, they're going to miss out on this event. So Paul corrects it. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with
Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you
by the word of the Lord. Here's the special
revelation I got from God. That we who are alive and remain
until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede
those who are asleep, those who have died. For the Lord himself
will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ
will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain
shall be caught up 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. That is the rapture
of the church. Now some of you are thinking,
I didn't read the word rapture in that passage. The word rapture isn't
in the New Testament. The word rapture
isn't in the Bible. Well, it depends which version
of the Bible you're reading. Yeah, if you're reading
an English translation, it doesn't have
the word rapture. If you were reading a Latin
translation of the Bible, the word rapture is plainly
there in this passage. The word rapturo. It's a Latin word from
whence we in English get the word rapture. So the idea of the rapture
and the word in Latin is certainly there. But notice the word caught up. We will be caught up. That's the Greek word, harpazo. Harpazo. It is a word used 13 times
in the New Testament. Harpazo. It's translated a
variety of ways. Four times it is
translated, to catch up. Three times it is translated,
to take something by force. It is translated
catch away twice. It is translated
to pluck two times. It is translated once
to catch, and another once it is translated to pull. So you get the general idea. You're going to
take something away. You're going to
snatch it quickly. I have a translation I brought
with me called the Kenneth Wuest translation. This is a Greek scholar
who wrote several volumes. And this is his New
Testament translation. What he does, he takes every
single Greek word and sentence, adds the richest and the nuance
of the English translation and makes it as full as he can
so that you would understand the tenses, et cetera. So this is how he
translates this verse in 1 Thessalonians 4. We shall be snatched away
forcibly in masses of saints having the appearance of
clouds for a welcome meeting with the Lord in the
lower atmosphere. That's pretty plain. That's pretty detailed. Even a casual study
will show that there is a vast difference between
the rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ. Let me run down a
few of those to you. The rapture is when Jesus
comes for his church. The second coming is when
Jesus comes with his church. At the rapture, Jesus
comes in the air and we meet him in the
air, and we will ever be with him, 1 Thessalonians 4. But at the second coming,
Jesus comes from heaven through the air, that is,
through the atmosphere, all the way to the earth again. At the rapture, he comes
to claim his bride. At the second, coming
he comes with his bride. Think of the Jewish wedding. At the rapture, the focus is
Jesus Christ and his church. At the second, coming the focus
is Israel and the kingdom. At the rapture of the
church, it is a sudden event. It is an unpredictable event. It is a signless event. As Jesus said, or as Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 15, in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye we shall be changed. Most people think, well, the
twinkling of an eye, that's a 30th of a second. That's when your eye winks. No, it didn't say
winking of an eye. The twinkling of an
eye is different. Twinkling of an eye
is light traveling at 186,000 miles per second
bouncing off your eye. In other words, in a nanosecond,
phoom, it's going to happen. We'll be with the Lord. Jesus referred to
it in Matthew 24. Therefore you also be
ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when
you do not expect him. The second coming is different. Unlike the rapture, the
rapture is unpredictable. The second coming
is predictable. It will happen, I believe, seven
years later, the second coming, when there's a tribulation
on the earth, when there's darkness on the earth,
cataclysms on the earth, half the world's population
on Earth will die. That's Revelation 6 through 19. At the rapture of the church,
only believers will see him. We who are alive and
remain will be caught up. At the second coming, every
eye shall see him, we are told. Now we're going to consider that
next week, the second coming. So that's a brief
chronology of his coming. The third aspect I
want you to look at is the controversy
of his coming. Notice in verse 4, Jesus
says, and where I go, you know, and the way you know. Thomas said, Lord, we don't. We don't know
where you're going, and how can we know the way? Understand the controversy here. The Jews, at that time, believed
that the Messiah was coming. But the Jews
believed the Messiah was coming once, not twice. He's coming. And when he comes, He's
Going to set up the kingdom. And the apostles
were Jewish apostles. They were Jewish
followers of Jesus. But that is their belief system. I believe Jesus is the
Christ, the Messiah. I believe that. And so because he
is the Messiah, he's going to set
up his kingdom. He's going to come
and take over. By the time of
Jesus, Jewish people had a clearly formed
eschatology already in place. Let me give you the rundown. Number one, they expected
before the coming of the Messiah there will be a terrible
time in the world, terrible turmoil will happen. And they believed that
had already happened, because the Romans occupied the
land, took away their rights, forced them to do things
they didn't want to do, taxed them heavily. They were under the
oppression of the Roman yoke. Number two, after that, after
the terrible time of turmoil, in the midst of that turmoil,
a forerunner is going to come, an Elijah-like
personality, who's going to make an announcement
that he's coming. That's why people were all
excited about John the Baptist when he came down
to the Jordan River. Number three, the Messiah
would then appear. He would then
establish his kingdom. He would defeat
all of his enemies and, number four, scattered
Jews from all over the world would flood into Israel. Jerusalem would then be
restored to a place of dominance and there would be world peace. That was sort of a fourfold
eschatology that Jews at that time believed. The apostles were Jews. They believed that. And probably they
believed they were between phases one and three. To add fuel to that
eschatological fire, just a few days
prior to this meal, Jesus rode into
Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds
proclaimed him Messiah. Blessed are you who come in the
name of the Lord, son of David. There was an uproar, a furor. For the first time everybody
recognized he is the Messiah. So you've got to
understand, the disciples were salivating at that point. They were going, this is it. It's showtime. So the next logical
step, they thought, is he's going to
establish his kingdom. So Jesus, after the donkey
ride, walks into the temple and looks around and then leave. And it's like wah, wah. Oh, he didn't do anything today. So he does it
again the next day. Talks to a few people, says
a few things, and he leaves. Then he invites them to this
Passover meal, at which time he says, I am leaving you. This is not what they expect. This is not what
they anticipate. This is why there is
trouble in their hearts. Even when Jesus dies and
gets raised from the dead and he is with his
disciples, in Acts Chapter 1, they come to him and say,
will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Are you going to now
set up your kingdom? And Jesus said, you
know, it's really not for you to know the
times and the seasons that the Father has
in his own authority. You know, lighten up. So you've got to know that
their entire theology is going to change from
this night forward. In the next few days,
weeks, months, years, they're going to
get it and they're going to understand, OK,
Jesus is coming back. And when he comes back, he's
coming back for his church. And then he's coming back
with his church to the world. They're going to see
those two coming. Now all of that to say this. Jesus coming was controversial. Today, Jesus coming is
still controversial. I think everybody agrees
that Jesus is coming, but not everybody agrees
when Jesus is coming. And it's funny how
we argue about that. But we do, unfortunately. Some believe Jesus is coming
in a pre-tribulation rapture, before the tribulation begins. I happen to be in
that camp strongly. Others believe,
no, that's wrong, he's coming in the middle
of the tribulation. We call that a
mid-tribulation rapture. Others say, no, he's coming
at the very end, which is sort of the
weirdest position, because why would he take you
up only to bring you back down? It's like you're going to
hit each other on the way up. That's called post
tribulation rapture. So there's all sorts
of-- and there's probably another position we can
throw in there called a pre-wrath position,
that before he really unleashes wrath on the earth,
God is going to then take us up with him. There's all sorts of
different positions. It's OK to believe in them. I believe in a
pre-tribulation rapture. You can believe in
anything you want. You're wrong. And I'm OK with you being wrong. I love you anyway. Because it's not a cardinal
doctrine and will not separate fellowship. You're wrong on so many levels. But that's OK. The fact that he is
coming back and we just need to say that those are OK. What's not OK is there
are some people who believe that all of this is
imaginative and spiritual, that Jesus and all
these events the Bible talks about in the future
really aren't going to happen. They already happened. It's called preterism,
P-R-E-T-E-R-I-S-M, preterism. A preterist is
somebody who believes that all of the events written
about in Revelation Chapters 6 through 19 already
happened in 70 AD when Titus
destroyed Jerusalem. It's all figurative language. It already happened. It's never going
to happen again. And there's an extreme
view of preterism that says Jesus already
came, spiritually. So they don't even
make it physically and literally, even though the
angel said to the Apostles, the same Jesus you saw go up
will come back in like manner as you have seen him go. But there are those who
believe he's not even coming and that all the events
have already happened. Well, that's pretty easy
to prove wrong, right? Because if all the events
in Revelation 6 through 19 have already
happened, then there have got to be some record in
history of half of the world's population being wiped out. I've not read that. Have you? I've not seen that in the
first century in Jerusalem, in Israel, in any
subsequent century. There would be some
oral thing passed down of all the cataclysms mentioned
in Revelation having happened. And there is not. But his coming is controversial. I want to end on this. Because we're just sort of
touching on all these things and not going too deep, but
we have a time constraint. And that is, number four, the
consequences of his coming. The consequences of his coming. Now let's look at the last
two verses of this paragraph. Thomas said to him, Lord, we
do not know where you're going, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him-- I love this-- I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me. Now I know we like to
poke fun at Thomas. We like to chide him. We like to call him the
apostle with a question mark for a brain, the apostle
from Missouri, the Show Me state. I won't believe
till you show me. Can I just say, I
like his honesty. I think he is
listening to Jesus. Peter doesn't get
it, because he's even said he didn't get it. Where you going? Nobody's getting it. But maybe all of
the other apostles are sort of like nodding their
heads when Jesus is talking, going, yeah, man,
yes, right on, man. That's so heavy. That's good. That's good. Not Thomas. He goes, I don't get it. I have no idea
what you just said. I don't know where you're going. And if I don't know
where you're going, I don't even know
how to get there. And I'm really glad he
piped up, because Jesus gave a real good answer
to his piping up. And we have it recorded,
and I'm glad we do. Verse 6, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me. Not everyone is going to make
it to the Father's house. The rapture is a
selective event. It is reserved for family
only, the Father's house. It's sad but true. The Bible says, God is now
willing that any should perish. He didn't want anybody to
perish eternally, die eternally. He's not willing that
any should perish but that all should
come to repentance. The sad truth is many do
perish, even though that is not God's design or desire. So not everyone's going to
make it to the Father's house. Jesus says, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. Now look at verse 6 and
notice something about this. It's a very narrow
minded statement. It's a very dogmatic statement. He does not say, I am a
way, I am one of many ways. He does not say, I
will show you the way. He does not say, I
will teach you the way. He says, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one gets to the
Father except through Me. Will you agree that that is
not what most people think? What Jesus just said, most
people do not agree with. Most people think
if there's a heaven, pretty much everybody
is going there. All you got to do to
get to heaven is die. The actual truth is very few
people make it to heaven. Not most, few. Matthew Chapter 7. Jesus speaking. Enter in by the narrow gate;
for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leads to destruction, and many go in by it. But narrow is the
gate and difficult is the way which leads to life,
and there are few who find it. Peter said in Acts Chapter
4, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no
other name under heaven given among men by which
we must be saved. Boy, that's narrow minded. Boy, that's dogmatic. You know why it is? Because it's true. That's the nature of truth. Truth happens to be dogmatic. You know, I had a math teacher. She was so dogmatic. 2 plus 2 in her mind
always had to equal 4. If I said, yeah, but
today I sort of feel like it could be 5,
you get it wrong. Oh, you're so dogmatic. You're so narrow minded. Yeah, I can afford to be,
because your answer is wrong and this happens to be right. Oh, by the way, your
bank is very dogmatic. You might decide, I don't
want to make the full payment, I'll just make $20 payment
for my house this month. OK, they'll let
you know that you are wrong in your
assessment, and they'll be narrow and dogmatic
going forward. So the good news is
Jesus is coming back. [APPLAUSE] The good news is
Jesus is coming back. The bad news is
Jesus is coming back. And depending on who
you are will determine if that's good or bad news. If you come to Jesus, you'll
be introduced to the Father. If you're introduced
to the Father, you'll get to the
Father's house. If you don't come
through the Savior, you'll never know the Father. If you don't know the
Father, you will never get to the Father's house. No one comes to the
Father except through Me. Christian. Back to the bumper sticker,
Jesus is coming, look busy. Forget that. Jesus is coming. Be busy. Right? Work while it is day,
for the night is coming and when no man can
work, our Lord said. Now's the time to be
busy about his business and not be overwhelmed
with what's going on. Yes, to be diligent,
yes, to be responsible. Not to be overwhelmed,
not to be fearful, not to be weighed down
with trouble, because of the certainty of the future. Father, we address
you, and as we're praying to you, because even
Paul thought and hoped that perhaps Jesus could come
back in his lifetime. Because he said, we who
are alive and remain will be caught up. And he told the church,
looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of
our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. We, likewise, Lord, realize
that as we pray to you, you could come before we
say Amen to this prayer. You could come at any moment. Father, we pray our
hearts would be ready. We pray that our lives
would be in tune with you. We pray that we will
have trusted in Jesus in an authentic manner, that
we come through Him, the way, the truth, and the life. And in coming through Jesus
and believing in Jesus, trusting in Jesus, we make
contact with the Father and we have the promise
of the Father's house, where we so look forward. And we say, like the Apostle
John said, even so, come, Lord Jesus. I pray for anybody
who is not ready, pray they would get
ready, make ready today. If you're listening to
this by radio or computer or you're here in the
auditorium or you're outside, you're on the
premises, if you realize, hey, my heart isn't right with God,
then do something right now about that. Talk to him. Say something like this. Lord, I admit I'm a sinner. Forgive me. I need you. I believe in Jesus. I believe he died on a cross,
shed his blood for my sins, and rose again from the grave. I turn from my sin. I turn from my past. I turn to Jesus as
Savior and Lord. Fill me with your Spirit
and help me to live for you. Help me. Walk with me in Jesus' name. Amen. We hope you enjoyed this special
service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us at
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
