1. God Will Deliver The Righteous
All NKJV unless otherwise specified
Noah
Genesis 6 v5-9 (NLT)
5
Now the LORD observed the extent of the people’s wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and
totally evil. 6
So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart. 7
And the LORD said, “I will completely wipe
out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them.” 8
But Noah found favor with the LORD.
9
This is the history of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He
consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with him.
 Noah lived in an evil time.
 God brings judgment to evildoers.
 Noah was a righteous man living in this period of time (was in right standing with God).
 Noah was obedient, and lived in relationship with God.
 This is applicable to us today!
Genesis 6 v17-18
17
“And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of
life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18
“But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you,
your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
 God is a covenant God, and his promises can be trusted.
 This is applicable to us today!
Genesis 6v22 (NLT)
22
So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
 We likewise are also to do everything exactly as God commands us. Where are these commands found? In the Bible.
Genesis 6v23
23
So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the
air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.
 God removed His righteous one before He brought destruction on the earth.
1 Peter 3v19-21 (NIV)
19
through whom also he (Jesus) went and preached to the spirits in prison 20
who disobeyed long ago when God waited
patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people , eight in all, were saved through water, 21
and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good
conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
 God is not slow in coming. He is waiting patiently while the “ark” his church is being built.
 In Noah’s day, “only a few” were saved. God uses a new testament scripture to expound on this - Matthew 7v13,14
13
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many
who go in by it. 14
“Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find
it.
 Baptism – submersion in Jesus Christ – through the washing clean of our consciences towards God by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ
Hebrews 11v7
7
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his
household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
 We live by faith and not by sight! (2Cor 5v7)
 It is his faith in God’s promise that resulted in him taking action. He believed God, which saved him and his family.
He built the ark specifically according to the instructions of God’s word.
 Do you believe God’s promises? Are you obedient to God in faith, leading to the saving of your soul? Are you
following God’s instructions precisely, as Noah did?

2. Lot
Genesis 18 v20-33
20
And the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21
“I will
go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I
will know.” 22
Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 23
And
Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24
“Suppose there were fifty righteous
within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25
“Far be it from You
to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from
You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26
So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then
I will spare all the place for their sakes.” 27
Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have
taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28
“Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of
the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” 29
And he spoke to Him yet again and
said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.” 30
Then he said, “Let not
the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31
And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He
said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” 32
Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more:
Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” 33
So the LORD went His way as
soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
 Abraham interceded for (prayed on behalf of) the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah (Also see Isaiah 59v16)
 God agreed not to destroy the righteous with the wicked. Are you praying for others? God responds to our prayers
from the heart for others.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
Genesis 19 v12,13
12
Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in
the city—take them out of this place! 13
“For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great
before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”
 God removed His righteous one before He brought destruction on the earth.
Genesis 19v17
17
So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay
anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”
 God’s warning is given by His messengers.
Genesis 19 v24-26
24
Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens. 25
So He overthrew
those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26
But his wife looked back behind him,
and she became a pillar of salt.
 God is a righteous judge. Lot’s wife looked back in direct disobedience to the word from God. She paid for this
disobedience with her life.
 How often have we thought back on our “old way of life”? Do not lust for the things that the ‘world’ has to offer, for
this leads to death.
Genesis 19v29
29
And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the
midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.
 We are the children of Abraham (the children of faith).
 Abraham’s prayer to God resounds through the ages. We are included in the promise.
 God will remove us (those who love righteousness) before he brings destruction. God is consistent. Hebrews 13v8
8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

3. Distinguishing between the Rapture and the coming Day of the Lord
Rapture
Is there scriptural evidence of rapture in the bible?
Genesis 5 v21-24 - Enoch
21
Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22
After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred
years, and had sons and daughters. 23
So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24
And Enoch walked
with God; and he was not, for God took him.
2 Kings 2v11 - Elijah
11
Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated
the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
Acts 1v9 - Jesus
9
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Revelation 3v10
10
“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the
whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
 There is a trial coming upon the earth unlike any seen before. The Second World War will pale in comparison.
 God is consistent throughout all ages. As Noah and Lot were delivered from the destruction, so the church (the true
body of Christ – in obedience, devotion, relationship and His Lordship over them; born again Christians - and not the
‘church’ by title only) will be delivered from this hour of trial.
 Those who remain on the earth will be ‘tested’.
2 Peter 2 v4-9
4
For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be
reserved for judgment; 5
and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them
to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7
and delivered righteous Lot, who was
oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8
(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul
from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— 9
then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of
temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,
2 Thessalonians 2 v1-8
1
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2
not to be
soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is
revealed, the son of perdition, 4
who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits
as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you
these things? 6
And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7
For the mystery of
lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8
And then the lawless
one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His
coming.
 See verse 6 to 7 – the Church in whom dwells the Holy Spirit of God is the one who restrains the Antichrist (or
lawless one) mentioned here. The Church is thus restrains the Antichrist from appearing (verse 7), until the Church is
taken away. The Church is raptured.
 Verse 3 – Concerning the return of Christ, that Day will not come unless the man of sin (Antichrist) has already
appeared.
 Verse 8 – The Antichrist will be destroyed by the return of Christ.
 So the sequence is as follows: Rapture of Church then Appearance of Antichrist then Return of Jesus Christ (Day of
the Lord).

4. The Day of the Lord
2 Peter 3v3
3
knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4
and saying, “Where is the
promise of His coming?
2 Peter 3v10
10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Matthew 24 v36-44
36
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37
“But as the days of Noah
were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38
“For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39
“and did not know until the flood came and took
them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40
“Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the
other left. 41
“Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42
“Watch therefore, for you do not
know what hour your Lord is coming. 43
“But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would
come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44
“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of
Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
 ‘taken” in verse 40 above comes from the Greek word ”paralambano” – (Strongs 3880): to receive near, i.e. associate
with oneself (in any familiar or intimate act or relation); by analogy – to assume an office; fig. to learn;- receive, take
(unto, with)
 In essence, interpreting the above verse means that those taken are taken to be with the Lord. These are the saints who
believe in Jesus during the 7 year period of tribulation.
 Those scoffers who scoff at Jesus’ coming will be exactly like those scoffers of Noah’s day, who scoffed at Noah
building an ark.
 Jesus will receive his church, and it will be so quick that it will take all remaining by surprise.
1 Corinthians 15v51-53
51
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53
For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
 “we shall not all sleep” – means we shall not all die. When Jesus comes suddenly to receive his church, those who are
alive will instantly be changed.
Matthew 24 v30-31
30
“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the
Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31
“And He will send His angels with a great sound of
a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.