Titus 2:13
I Am A Pre
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and
the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ;
Last week, I began what I hope may be a series on the end times by
looking at our present location in humanity’s moral condition. We are
at a bad time. Things are getting worse not better. Paul taught us it
was coming in \\#Ro 1:19-21\\. He told us how it would start, by
building on a false foundation, one that denies the Creator. Call it
evolution, Darwinism, atheism or whatever name you prefer to call it
by, that false foundation set us on a spiral down.
That text along with other Bible passages, shows our momentum is down
not up, away from God not toward Him. The descend is both massive and
fast. I believe our lack of love for God and for others will result
in large-scale persecutions. Already the spirit of delusion is upon
us—-how much I do not know—but it will definitely worsen. No matter
what you and I believe concerning the end times, that is where we are
right now.
Two thoughts tonight that I will not complete:
I. I Am A Pre
A. A Pre-what?
1. It does not matter when it comes to end times. I believe
Jesus can come before it happens.
2. I am a PREtribulation, Premillennialist.
B. My belief is that in the end, the only thing that will save
the church is the rapture of the church.
C. Some people say that we who believe in a premillennial,
pretribulational rapture of the church, are not preparing our
people for the future tribulation
1. First, there is no preparing our people for the future
tribulation.
a. That is the point. No one can prepare for it.
(1) Build your bunkers.
(2) Buy your supplies.
(3) Boycott the grid.
(4) Bank up your weapons and ammunition.
b. Your efforts might see you through some of the milder
afflictions, but then what?
(1) Is there a bunker that will keep the scorpions of
Rev 9 out, those that come from a bottomless pit,
and are commanded by Apollyon in the Greek and
Abaddon in the Hebrew?
(2) Are there weapons you can buy which can turn back
the 200,000,000 horsemen under the command of
the four angels loosed from the Euphrates River
\\#Rev 9:13-21\\?
(3) Can you get off grid enough to escape the seven
seven thunders who utter their voices
\\#Rev 10:1-7\\?
(4) May I remind you what God said in the days when
He brought King Nebuchadnezzar against Israel:
Jer 25:27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall,
and rise no more, because of the sword which I
will send among you.
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the
cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say
unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall
certainly drink.
29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city
which is called by my name, and should ye be
utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished:
for I will call for a sword upon all the
inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of
hosts.
2. Second, I would say that the Lord has not commanded the
church to prepare for the Tribulation.
a. We are the church and if the church is not removed
from this planet before the Tribulation, then the
same command which Jesus gave us before He departed
will still be applicable then.
Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.
b. What does that mean?
(1) It means no bunker for us, boys.
(2) Our command would still be to go to every door in
every country and tell everyone that they must
be born again!
c. Do you think that just because the Tribulation has
become, that God’s commands to the church will be
null and void?
(1) Would it then be God’s will that the church crawl
into a home and hide?
(2) Would it then be acceptable for God’s church to
full and fat in bunker some place while others
around them starve?
d. As long as the church is on this planet, we are:
(1) to tell everyone about Jesus and
(2) love them like Jesus loves them.
3. Third, if we could get our people ready for anything, it
would not be the future tribulation. It would be to
serve Jesus right now.
a. If the church was doing what it was supposed to do,
we would not be sliding down the moral slide of
corruption.
(1) There would be no falling away.
(2) Iniquity would not be on the rise.
(3) Man’s hearts would not be cold and hard.
b. For that matter, the false foundation that Paul told
us of, the false foundation that all of these others
evils are built upon—denying the Creator and
worshipping the creature—would not be our foundation.
c. If the church was the church, the whole spiral
downward would be wrecked, demolished, annihilated,
and eradicated.
4. The church’s command is not get ready for the Tribulation.
a. The church’s command is to attack the gates of hell
and cause the devil to flee.
b. God forbid that the church get any more side tracked
from its mission than it already is by wasting time
and resources trying prepare for the Tribulation.
D. I am a Pre, but what is a Pre.
1. Last week, I pointed to the major future events last week:
the rapture, the Tribulation, Jesus’ return to the earth,
His millennial kingdom, and eternity.
2. But when will the rapture occur? When will Jesus call
His bride home to be with Him?
3. As a Pre, I believe in the pretribulational, pre-
millennial return of Jesus to gather His bride.
4. BUT
a. There is no single Bible verse that clearly and
distinctly answers that question. That are Bible
passages that give us some very powerful hints,
but none that actually point-blank, precisely, and
plainly give us the answer.
b. If there were, there would not be any debate on the
topic—and there is much debate.
c. Good men—with Bible verses—believe differently than
me.
(1) Some believe in a MIDtribulation, premillennial
return of Jesus.
(2) Some believe in a POSTtribulation, premillennial
return of Jesus.
(3) Some even believe in a POSTtribulation,
POSTmillennial return of Jesus, but—in my
view—they just don’t believe the Bible so they
don’t count.
(4) Let’s keep this as simple as possible:
(a) A pretribulation, premillennialist believes
Jesus could come at any moment.
(b) Everyone else, the midtribulationist, the
posttribulationist, the post millennialist,
believe Jesus will come AFTER something
else happens.
5. My goal is not to explain what they believe. My goal is
to share with you what I believe. I’ll let them tell you
what they believe if you want to hear it. I have heard
some of it, and I still believe what I am going sharing
with you. You should study until you are comfortable
with what you believe.
II. I am Pre because of "The Blessed Hope"
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and
the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ;
A. This verse divides itself into three parts:
1. The Looking
2. The Blessed Hope
3. The Glorious Appearing
a. No matter what you believe about when Jesus will
rapture the church, the appearing of Jesus will
still be glorious.
b. However, I believe that expecting Jesus’ come at any
time other than a PRE time, diminishes the blessing
and the hope.
c. Let’s consider the verse.
B. The Look
1. We are looking for the appearing of Christ, not of the anti-
Christ or a tribulation.
2. God has never commanded us to watch for any other than for
His Son to come.
a. Paul commanded both here in Titus and in other places,
that we are to LOOK the coming of Jesus.
1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift;
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Php 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from
whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ:
b. Jesus commanded us to watch for His return.
Mr 13:34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a
far journey, who left his house, and gave
authority to his servants, and to every man
his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the
master of the house cometh, at even, or at
midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the
morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
c. Peter said we are to look for Jesus’ coming:
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming
of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat?
d. John prayed for the quick coming of our Lord.
Re 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith,
Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
(1) The quick coming of Jesus does not mean the soon
coming of Jesus.
(2) It means when Jesus does come, it will be very
quick.
(3) Paul said the same:
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye…
3. None of these verses settle the question of when Jesus may
come, but they do point in a direction.
a. It makes no sense to look for something that is a
minimum of seven years away or worse, 1007 years
away!
b. To watch, to look, to pray for and to desire that
Jesus will come all imply the possibility it could
happen today.
c. They do not demand that Jesus come today, but they
encourage the thought.
d. They all point us down the same line of reasoning.
4. Jesus’ coming is what I am looking for—and nothing else.
a. I am not looking for the falling away. I see it, but
I was not looking for it. I was looking for Jesus.
b. I am not looking for the delusion. To be honest, I
did not expect the spirit of delusion that has
infiltrated and blinded this world. I did not
expect that spirit to arrive until after the rapture
of the church and, its coming earlier than I
anticipated actually caused me to re-evaluate the
order of end-time events that I was expecting. The
spirit of delusion coming did not change any of my
views overall. I was just surprised by it for I was
not looking for it. I was looking for Jesus to call
His bride home.
c. No. What we look for is the coming of our Savior and
that can only be so if we are looking for a Savior
may come any moment.
5. And that is the Savior’s coming that we are looking for,
an imminent coming Savior.
a. Imminent does not necessarily mean "soon" coming.
b. His return may be soon, but it may not be.
c. An imminent returning Savior means He could come at
any moment, that there is nothing that must be done
before He returns.
d. This is the Savior that we are looking for, the
imminent returning Savior.
C. Jesus’ coming is our BLESSED HOPE.
1. If we are to go through the Tribulation, then no matter
when we are alive, as long as it’s before the Tribulation,
our seeing Jesus will be at least seven years away.
a. That is a hope but if I have to wait at least 7 more
years for Jesus to come, it is a slightly diminished
hope.
(1) September is nearly over and people are thinking
fall and Christmas.
(2) Suppose I find the key to a 2023, Ford F150,
extended cab, 4 door, 4-wheel drive, pickup
truck with a nice cargo cover.
(3) And my wife tells me that I cannot have it until
Christmas, 2029! (Seven years from now!)
(4) Don’t get me wrong.
(a) It is still a hope.
(b) It will still be glorious.
(c) It will still be joyful, but my hope will be
somewhat diminished.
b. That is a blessing but if I have to wait at least 7
more years, that will be a slightly diminished
blessing.
(1) If a groom and bride are suddenly separated by
a war, and the groom is taken away, would the
bride count the news that she will not see her
groom for at least seven more years a
blessing?
(2) If she is told that during those seven years,
she will hunger and thirst, her land will be
pillaged, demons will fill the land, she
herself will likely be killed; but IF she
survives, her groom and she will be reunited,
is that a blessing to her?
(3) I suppose so, but it will be a slightly diminished
blessing.
2. Why am I a PRE? Because the coming of Jesus is a blessed
hope!
a. Few will survive the Tribulation.
b. If there is a blessed hope to be had having to go
through the Tribulation to get to Jesus, it would be
our going to Him, not Him coming to us.
c. The odds would be far better of our death than of our
rapture.
3. Well, if going through the Tribulation is not a blessed
hope for the believer, what would it be?
a. The Tribulation is a judgment from God.
b. The writer of Hebrews called the looking for judgment
a fearful things.
Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall
devour the adversaries.
Does this settle anything?
1. Not at all.
2. Nothing I have said is conclusive.
3. Nothing I have said can not be honestly argued against, but
neither will any argument change the fact that the blessed
hope of Jesus’ coming is diminished if one must wait seven
years to see Him and must go through the Tribulation to see
Him.
But wait. There will be more.
<OutlineIndex> <Close Window>
