AND THE DOOR WAS SHUT | sermonsfortheworld.com

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Far too many of you are unafraid of your future. You are unafraid, because you are not awake. You are sleeping, as your life passes you by. You are sleeping through sermons. You are sleeping through the counseling. You are sleeping through life. You will sleep, until you finally wake up in the hands of an angry God. You must wake up, and realize your spiritual situation. You must be afraid. You must address the reality of your soul. You must be frightened. You must experience the terror of the Lord. You must be so afraid, that you lose sleep. The Bible says,

Christ’s coming for the living and the dead has been spoken of throughout Christian history. It has been called a mystery, but it is now revealed, and you are unafraid.

1. Mystery (“musterion”), a previously hidden truth which is revealed
in the New Testament. There are 11 mysteries revealed in the New Testament.
The rapture is one of them.

4. The dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed (I Corinthians 15:52).

"It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (I John 3:2).

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first): Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

2. He will not come all the way down to earth, “to meet the Lord in
the air” (I Thessalonians 4:17).

3. There will be a “shout” and a trumpet will blow as Christ comes
in the air. (4:16)

4. The Christians who have already died will be resurrected and
raptured – caught up (4:17a).

5. Then living people who are true converts will be raptured to meet
Jesus in the air (4:17b).

The Bible speaks of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. There is a meaning and purpose of this parable. The parable speaks of the rapture. The Bible says,

I. First, if you are unconverted, you will be shut out – left behind at the rapture.

“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came (Christ came); and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage (into Heaven); and the door was shut” (Matthew 25:10).

“And they went in (to the ark), as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in” (Genesis 7:16).

“For yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:4).

God shut the door to the ark seven days before the flood began. This is a type of God shutting the door at the rapture, before the Bowl judgments.

If you are unconverted, you will be shut out – left behind at the rapture. That’s why you must deal with your soul now. You must respond to the preaching now. You must trust Jesus now. Jesus said:

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not…done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).

If you are not converted, If you are not really trusting Jesus, If you are trusting in feelings or doctrines, you are not ready for the rapture. You will be left behind!

II. Second, you should realize that all the signs are in place. You could be shut out this morning.

1. The reestablishing of Israel in 1948, with the Jewish people returning to
their homeland (Luke 21:24; Matthew 24:32-34; Ezekiel 37:21; 38:8).

2. The increase of world-wide persecution against Christians and Jews
(Matthew 24:9-10; Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1).

3. The increase of world-wide famines, unbalanced ecology, pestilences like the AIDS
epidemic, and an increasing number of earthquakes (Matthew 24:7)

4. The rise of apostasy in Christianity (II Thessalonians 2:3; Matthew 24:11-12).

5. The return of mankind to conditions like those that prevailed in the days of Noah, before the great Flood (Matthew 24:37-40).

1. In the time of Noah, they were unconcerned about salvation. They
were unawakened. They were just like you – no fear and no guilt.

She hears a noise and turns her head -- he’s gone.
I wish we’d all be ready.
Two men walking up a hill,
One disappears and one’s left standing still,
I wish we’d all been ready…
There’s no time to change your mind.
The Son has come, and you’ve been left behind.
(“I Wish We’d All Been Ready” by Larry Norman, 1947-2008)

But you do not need to wait for the rapture to be shut out. You could be shut out by God forever this morning. God could give up on you. God could close the door of salvation on you. You could commit the unpardonable sin, without ever realizing it. You could lose the opportunity to ever be saved. When God closes the door on you, there is no longer any hope for you. The door will be shut, and you will be lost forever.

III. Third, you will wish you were dead when you miss the rapture – and the door is shut.

You may think this is all just a story. You may let your mind drift to something else now. But when you miss the rapture you will wish you were dead. The Bible plainly tells us that:

“And in those days shall men seek death…and shall desire to die…” (Revelation 9:6).

You will think about suicide constantly after you miss the rapture. You will wish you were dead. Why?

1. You will be tormented by demons unleashed from the bottomless pit, according to Revelation 9:1-2. Listen to the description of these demons given by Dr. John R. Rice:

“We do not doubt that the locusts are here demons…come to torture ‘those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.’ Tortured and tormented by these ‘locusts,’ these demons from Hell, ‘in those days shall men seek death…’

…the torment mentioned here is spiritual torment, with a troubled, agonizing mind. The picture of these locusts is fantastic, like a terrible dream, like a summing up of all the fears and troubles and heartbreaks of men…They torment the soul (the mind)…Can you imagine the awful ruin of soul when men are turned over to the evil spirits?” (John R. Rice, Behold, He Cometh! A Commentary on Revelation, Sword of the Lord, 1977, pp. 169-171).

You will be tormented mentally day and night by demons. There will be no one to help you, no Prosac or other drugs to quiet you. We will be in the Tribulation and those things won’t be available to you, since millions of others will also be driven wild by demons. You will be driven nearly insane. You will wish you were dead. You will think constantly about suicide. There will be no one to help you! You waited too long. You were left behind.

2. You will be executed if you try to become a Christian in those days. The Bible speaks of “them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark in their foreheads or in their hands” (Revelation 20:4).

You will realize that you are in the Tribulation. They will want to put a microchip, or something similar, in the skin of your hand or forehead. You’ll remember that this will damn you as a worshipper of the Antichrist. You’ll say, “No, I’m not going to have that put into my body.” But you won’t be able to buy anything without it. Your hand will have to be “scanned” to buy anything. You’ll be starving. You can’t buy food at the store! Someone will turn you in. They will cut your head off for being, a Christian. You’re going to lose everything one way or the other, because you were left behind!

3. You will have to go through the bowl judgments. Someone says, “Well, I’ll just let them put that microchip under the skin of my hand. I’ll be OK. They won’t cut my head off.” But, if you escape having your head cut off, you’ll still have to go through the Bowl judgments!

(1) A terrible sore will appear on your body that will cause you to experience gnawing pain night and day (Revelation 15:6).

(2) All of the water will be poisoned in the ocean and the fresh water as well. All water will be poisoned. You won’t have anything to drink. (Revelation 16:3-4).

(3) You will be scorched with heat. A meteorite will fall and scorch you. Your body will be burned horribly. There will be no medicine by then. You will walk around with pus running out of the sores on your burned body (Revelation 16-8-9).

(4) The electricity will all go out. You will be in total darkness at night, gnawing on your tongue for pain (Revelation 16:10-11).

(5) The armies of the world will mobilize. This will cause you even more discomfort and confusion – as war always does. Many of you – men and women – will be forced into military service against your will. (Revelation 16:12-16).

(6) There will be a great earthquake, greater than any earthquake ever recorded. Then meteorites will fall like hail on the earth. Where will you hide? Buildings will be in ruins from the earthquake. Where will you hide? (Revelation 16:17-21).

And remember all of this happened to you because you put off your conversion. You knew that Jesus Christ died on the Cross to pay for your sins. You knew that He rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven, to the right side of God Almighty. You knew that you needed the Son of God to forgive your sins and wash them away by His Blood. You knew these things – but you fooled around. You played and laughed, and made excuses. You were left behind!

WHEN YOU WRITE TO DR. HYMERS YOU MUST TELL HIM WHAT COUNTRY YOU ARE WRITING FROM OR HE CANNOT ANSWER YOUR E-MAIL. If these sermons bless you send an e-mail to Dr. Hymers and tell him, but always include what country you are writing from. Dr. Hymers’ e-mail is at rlhymersjr@sbcglobal.net (click here). You can write to Dr. Hymers in any language, but write in English if you can. If you want to write to Dr. Hymers by postal mail, his address is P.O. Box 15308, Los Angeles, CA 90015. You may telephone him at (818)352-0452.

(END OF SERMON)
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Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Mr. Noah Song: Matthew 25:1-10.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”
(by Larry Norman, 1947-2008).