And children, you are dismissed to your King's Kids class.
! And if y'all would open up your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5,
! I am going to read verses 1-11.
We've only got three more sermons left, counting today, in 1 Thessalonians.
And then we're going to get into the Gospel of John.
It's page 1174.
1 Thessalonians 5, 1-11.
Hear God's Word.
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters,
you have no need to have anything written to you,
for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
While people are saying, there is peace and security,
then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman,
and they will not escape.
But you are not in darkness, brothers and sisters, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
For you are all children of light, children of the day.
We are not of the night or of the darkness.
So then let us keep awake and be sober.
For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love,
and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him.
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
May God bless the hearing of His Word.
Knock, knock, knock.
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
Ah.
You have an unexpected visitor at your front door.
What would be the first thing you do?
Here's what I would do.
I would sneak a peek out the side window.
Who is this visiting our house unexpectedly?
And lo and behold, let's just say it is a bill collector.
I'm guessing many of you may say something like,
Okay, family, let's just pretend no one's home.
Or maybe it's a police officer.
You might be thinking, uh-oh.
What's going to happen?
But if it is your best friend, with a smile, unexpected, with a four-pack of Sprecher root beer,
you're going to be like, Oh, yeah!
Come on in!
Surprise visitors have a way of revealing our hearts, don't they?
One of the themes of 1 Thessalonians is the unexpected coming, second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in the passage I just read, it's referred to as the day of the Lord, verse 2.
On that day of His coming.
On the day of Christ's coming.
And by the way, all the world will know.
It will be a glorious, highly public event when Jesus comes back.
On that day, what will be happening inside of you if you're here on that day?
What will be going on?
Will you be saying, Oh, no!
Or will you be saying, Oh, yeah!
For many Christians, including the Thessalonians who Paul wrote this letter to,
the unexpected, the second coming of Jesus Christ can make you nervous.
It can unsettle you.
Even make you fearful.
Christian, if the second coming of Jesus Christ is unsettling to you,
you are in the right place.
Because 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 through 11, it's designed to assure you.
It's designed to comfort you.
To put courage into your heart.
In a one-sentence nutshell,
here's what God is telling us this morning from this passage.
Christian, don't fear that day.
Be ready for it.
Christian, don't fear that day,
the coming of the Lord.
Be ready for it.
And this passage is intended to assure us that we have nothing to fear at Christ's coming on the day of the Lord.
And it's going to do it by making an extended contrast.
It contrasts between two peoples and two lifestyles and two destinies.
And so here are the four points this morning that I'm going to walk you through.
That coming day, what you need to know about it.
Two contrasting people, point two.
Point three is two contrasting lifestyles.
And point four is two contrasting destinies.
Christian, you don't need to fear that day.
You need to be ready for it.
So let's hear what Paul has to say about this coming day of the Lord.
In verses one and two, we read this.
Now concerning the times and the seasons, or as Jesus would say, the day and the hour.
Concerning the times and seasons, brothers and sisters,
you have no need to have anything written to you,
for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Now, Paul is essentially saying here that with regard to the timing of Christ's return,
he has nothing new to write them.
He already covered that ground when he was with them,
when he visited them for a few weeks, maybe a month, maybe two.
We can read that back in Acts 17.
When he was there, not only did he lead them to Christ,
he explained to them what to expect when it comes to the second coming of Christ.
But there's two things in verses one and two I just want you to see, help you understand.
The first one is the phrase, the day of the Lord.
For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
That's a significant phrase because it shows up frequently in the Old Testament.
And what I want to do is just very briefly help you understand the scope of that phrase,
what that's getting at.
And we could look at a variety of Old Testament passages,
but just to give you a sense,
if you looked at Isaiah chapter 13, verses 6 through 16,
you would see that the day of the Lord is a terrible thing,
is a frightful thing.
That it's a day when God comes and he brings with him full and final judgment
upon those outside of the people of God, unbelievers.
It's a terrible day.
But we also read in Isaiah 27, 1 through 13,
that the day of the Lord, for those who belong to God,
for who are of his people, who are believers in him,
that day is not a terrible day.
That's a joyful day.
That's a day of salvation.
That's when he comes back and he makes all things right.
One, if you are an unbeliever on the day of the Lord,
it's going to be a horror.
But if you are a believer on that day of the Lord,
it is going to be a day of rejoicing.
So the day of the Lord carries that full sense.
And we see it in our passage.
In verse 3, while people are saying there is peace and security,
then sudden destruction will come upon them
as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman
and they will not escape.
The day of the Lord is going to bring sudden destruction.
We also read in verse 9 that that day is going to be a day
in which those who believe in Christ obtain salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
A day of sudden, inescapable destruction for unbelievers
and a day in which we will begin to live with him
with all of the blood bought forever.
So the day of the Lord is a future coming of God
in which he brings with him full and final destruction
for unbelievers and full and final salvation for believers.
So what Paul is doing here is he's actually equating
the day of the Lord with the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The day of the Lord is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you were to open up your Bible to Revelation 19.15,
it's a great passage when Jesus is pictured on a great white war horse
coming back and he's got four names.
But in verse 15, we read this, that when he comes,
he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
It's a horrific picture.
But we also read in Revelation 21.3-4 that when he comes back,
when the new Jerusalem descends,
God will wipe away every tear from our face of believers.
It's quite a contrast.
We also read that the day of the Lord in verse 2
is coming like a thief in the night.
Thiefs come unexpectedly.
They don't text you to let you know at what hour they're coming.
And what Paul is doing here is he's just simply reiterating
what Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 24.
And you can read what Jesus taught about the day and the hour of his return
in verses 36-34.
He says,
And what Jesus is referring to is the day in which he will come back
and he will bring with him destruction for those who do not believe
and he brings salvation for those who do believe
and nobody knows when.
No one in this room knows when Jesus is coming back.
And so, we're not to try to guess.
We're not to try to speculate.
Here's the closest thing we can do
when it comes to trying to anticipate the coming day of the Lord.
It's this.
By the end of today, we can, Lord willing,
say, well, we're one day closer.
You see, the window isn't lengthening to Christ's return.
The window's closing.
We're one day closer.
We can say that.
And what that does is put us in a state of readiness.
We need to be ready.
Like a thief who comes in the night.
We gotta be ready.
Does anybody remember Y2K?
If you are young and never heard of that before,
Google it.
You'll find it interesting.
But for those of us who lived through it,
there was a lot of people prepping,
getting ready for a global computer glitch,
which never really happened.
We knew the day and the hour,
and we were getting ready for it.
What we're being told here is,
hey, we don't know the day or the hour.
But we need to be ready for it.
And it raises the question,
how do we get ready for that day?
A day we don't know.
Well, we're not to fear that day.
We're to be ready for it.
So let me ask you two questions before I move on.
Have you considered that Jesus Christ may return in your lifetime?
Have you considered that?
And then, does that strike fear into your heart?
Or does that stir longing in your heart?
That day.
That coming day is one day closer.
So now let's move on to the next point,
two contrasting people.
And this passage uniquely assures us
that we don't need to fear that day
by way of a running contrast.
And the first contrast I want you to see
is a contrast between two people.
The day people and the night people.
Let's look at the day people.
In verses four and five,
Paul says to these Christians,
but you are not in darkness,
brothers and sisters,
for that day to surprise you like a thief.
It's interesting that he says you're not in darkness.
You're not like those in whom sudden destruction will fall upon
and they cannot escape it.
But brothers and sisters,
family of faith is how he addresses them.
These are the day people.
And look at verse five.
For you are children of light,
children of the day.
It's a contrast between day and night.
Children of the day are Christians
who have by God's grace
been delivered from the domain of darkness
and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved son,
the kingdom of light.
We who were once dead to God,
following the prince of the power of the air
in the domain of darkness,
have now by God's grace been made alive to God,
are following King Jesus,
and are in God's kingdom citizens of the kingdom of light.
That's who we are right now.
If you're a child of the day,
you're a child of the light,
which means you are a child of the living God.
He has adopted you by his grace
into his family.
And it's not on the basis of anything
that you have done, John 1.12.
And because God is light,
I mean Jesus said,
I am the light of the world.
We now bear the family resemblance.
If you're a Christian,
you have been lit up by God's grace,
and God will not abandon you.
He will not unadopt you.
We have all the legal rights and privileges
of being sons and daughters of the living God,
and that means an eternal inheritance
for which we are waiting and long for,
and Jesus is bringing back with him.
Christians,
don't fear that day.
Because of who you are,
by God's grace.
And that's contrasted with those
who belong to the night.
In 5.3, they're described as people
who are saying there is peace and security,
peace, peace.
When there is no peace,
they think all is well.
When in fact it's not,
then sudden destruction will come upon them
as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.
I am not a woman,
nor am I pregnant.
But my understanding is,
you don't really kind of set a date
for contractions to arrive,
and they're inescapable.
These are people who will experience
sudden, inescapable,
eternal destruction
on the day of the Lord.
They're of the night.
In verse 9,
we infer that those in darkness
will be objects of God's wrath
on that day.
And what Paul says is very clear
in 5.5 regarding Christians.
We are not of the night.
We are not of the darkness.
That is not who we are anymore.
What we have here is a contrast of identity.
Those who are children of the day,
children of God,
and those who belong to the night.
Unbelievers.
Who you are.
One of the great assurances
that you don't need to fear that day
is who you are in Christ.
You know what an ID card is, don't you?
Driver's license.
Student ID.
Passport.
Just imagine every Christian
carrying a grace ID card.
You can pull that card out.
I don't have my wallet on it,
but you pull that card out.
Your name's on it.
It's state,
sinner saved by grace.
Adopted by the living God.
Under my name,
it would say,
son of the living God.
If you're a lady,
you'd be daughter of the living God.
It would have your rebirth date on it.
The day that God,
he gave you new life.
And if you smelled it,
if you smelled that card,
do you know what it smelled like?
Do you know what the fragrance it carries?
It's the fragrance of Jesus.
Because your identity
is in Christ.
It's your grace ID card.
It's who you are.
The argument here,
where Paul starts with these contrasts,
is you don't need to fear that day
because of who you are in Christ.
Christ.
That's the point of these contrasting people.
You don't fear that day
because you carry a grace ID card.
It's who you are.
Which brings us to the next point.
Two contrasting people
have two contrasting lifestyles.
We see this is in verse 6 and 8.
And the principle is this.
Who you are
determines how you live.
And we have two different lifestyles.
We have the day life,
children of the day.
And we've got the night life,
those in darkness.
The day life,
you can see in verse 6,
are those who are to keep awake
and be sober.
And the night life,
in verse 7,
are those who are asleep and drunk.
Children of the day have a lifestyle
of wakefulness and sobriety.
And those of darkness,
of the night,
have a lifestyle of sleeping
and of drunkenness.
Let's look at the night life.
Notice in verse 7
that both activities of sleeping
and getting drunk
happen at night.
For those who sleep,
sleep at night.
And those who get drunk
are drunk at night.
Now,
I hope you can tell
that Paul is using
this sleep
and getting drunk,
he's using these things
metaphorically.
He's describing
a way of being.
So what does
this being asleep mean?
Well,
you know what it's like
to be asleep.
You become unconscious
of the things around you.
You're unaware
of reality.
Unless you're like my dad
who doesn't sleep that well.
And when I was a boy
and I'd come into his room,
he'd like,
pop out of bed!
You get the point.
Being asleep means
being unawares.
The description
of a non-Christian's
posture towards God.
Unawares of God.
Doesn't care.
Doesn't care about God.
Doesn't care about
what God has accomplished
through Christ
in our salvation.
And specifically,
they are asleep
with regard
to the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the sleep metaphor.
What's the getting drunk metaphor?
Well, let me just state this
to just state the obvious.
When it comes to
literally drinking,
the Bible permits
drinking alcohol,
but it forbids
drunkenness.
Because when you get drunk,
you're no longer
thinking clearly.
You know what a DWI is?
Driving while intoxicated.
There is an LWI.
Living while intoxicated.
What Paul is raising here
is living under the influence
of sinful intoxicants
of the world
that just take over.
In 1 John 2.16,
John describes
the lifestyle
lifestyle
of the darkness.
Of the desires
of the flesh.
Desires of the eyes.
In the prideful
way of life.
Pride of life.
These are the
anti-virtues
of darkness.
And those who are
living in the darkness
are living
while intoxicated,
are being ruled
by these things.
darkness.
And we all
once lived there,
didn't we?
Who you are
determines how you live.
And so if you're
of the darkness,
you're going to be
living these
virtues of darkness.
Anti-virtues,
better said.
Contrast these things
to the day life
in 5.6.
So then let us
not sleep.
as others do,
non-Christians.
But let us
keep awake
and be sober.
Keep awake
is to be
conscious of God.
You're living
in reality.
It's what the
Proverbs talk about
as living
in the fear
of the Lord.
Where you
take God
seriously
in every
area of your
life.
You are
aware of
Him.
You are
seeking to
live with Him
as the
controlling
center of
your life.
your one
consuming
passion.
You're all
governing
reality.
When Jesus
becomes the
controlling
treasure of
your life.
That's the
day life.
That's being
awake.
It's living
in light of
the salvation
that as a
God has
accomplished
in Christ.
And it
means keeping
a clear
head to
that day
that is
one day
closer.
We live
this day
in light
light of
that day.
And that's
what it
means to
be sober.
Not just
living,
being awake,
but being
sober means
being clear
headed.
Not being
distracted or
disabled by the
intoxicating desires
of the world.
old.
I doubt
anybody's
heard this
phrase before.
Have you
ever heard
the phrase
beer
goggle?
It's when
someone gets
drunk on
beer and
their vision
is distorted
and they
see people
in a
distorted
way.
those who
are in
the night
life
have a
distorted
view of
all things.
But those
who are
living in
the day
life who
are sober,
we word
goggle.
We see
with eyes
of faith.
We see
clearly.
We keep
our
minds
sober,
self-controlled.
it's how
we live
in the
light.
What's
interesting
here is
that Paul
in verse
8 then
mixes his
metaphors.
He's talking
about sobriety
in verse
8.
He reiterates
what he's
just said.
But since
we belong
to the
day,
let us
be sober.
Okay,
got it,
clear headed.
But then
he mixes
his
metaphors.
Having
put on
the breastplate
of faith
and love
and for
a helmet
the hope
of salvation.
salvation.
You might
think
immediately
of Ephesians
chapter 6
of the
armor of
God,
of standing
firm.
But this
is not
the breastplate
of righteousness.
What he's
talking about
is the
breastplate
of faith
and love.
And then
he talks
about putting
on the
helmet.
We're to
be military
ready.
We're to
gear up
with gospel
armor.
We're to
put on the
helmet
the hope
of salvation.
And that
hope of
salvation
is the
anticipation
of the
coming of
the Lord
Jesus
who will
bring a
full and
final salvation
with him.
What you
have here
is a
triad.
Faith,
love,
and hope.
Maybe that
rings a bell
from 1 Corinthians
13.
Faith,
hope,
and love,
the greatest
of which is
love.
He's writing
to the
Corinthians.
You guys
need to
love each
other.
Let me
emphasize
love.
Here,
he's
emphasizing
hope.
Put on
the breastplate
of faith
and love.
Faith in
God's word,
love for the
brothers,
and put on
the helmet
the hope
of salvation.
Be
controlled.
Live in
light of
the coming
of Jesus
because we're
one day
closer.
You're to
gear up
that way.
That is
a way
by which
we are
to be
sober-minded.
What's
interesting
here is
Paul,
what he
prescribes
in light
of the
coming
of Jesus
is not
necessarily
to open
up your
newspaper
and open
up your
Bible.
He's
telling us
to prep
a different
way.
He's
saying prep
by storing
up faith
and hope
and love.
That's how
we live
ready
for the
coming of
Jesus.
let me
ask you
a question.
The
night
life
and the
day
life.
Of those
two,
which
characterizes
your life
right now?
Who you
are determines
how you
live.
If you
are living
awake
and you
are living
sober,
you are
geared up
with gospel
armor,
you don't
need to
fear that
day because
how you
are living
reveals who
you are.
You can
be assured.
But if
you're trying
to live
the night
life while
being a
child of
the light,
do you know
what that's
going to
result in?
You're
going to be
miserable.
What does
light have
common with
darkness?
this?
You're
going to be
miserable.
I lived
that way
for a long
time and
I was
miserable.
God be
praised.
Here's the
question I
have for you.
Do you
want to
walk in
the light?
Do you
want to
live by
faith?
Do you
want to
love your
brothers and
sisters?
sisters, do
you want
Jesus to
come back?
In Y2K,
people were
prepping by
putting all
sorts of
food in
their
basements.
We prep
by putting
on the
armor of
God,
faith,
love,
hope.
That's how
we get
ready.
We've
seen two
contrasting
people.
We've seen
two contrasting
lifestyles.
Who you
are determines
how you
live and
it also
determines
your destiny.
Two
contrasting
destinies.
They're so
contrasting,
they are as
different as
day and
night.
The first
destiny is
that of those
who belong to
the night.
These are the
people who are
dead to God.
They're
oblivious to
him.
They don't
take him
seriously.
They don't
really care
about the
salvation that
he's accomplished
in Christ.
Christ's return
is just maybe
an interest,
but they
really don't
care much
more about it
than that,
if anything.
They are
drunk on
worldly
toxins.
Their destiny
is clear,
verse 3 of
chapter 5,
while they're
saying,
peace,
insecurity,
sudden destruction
will come upon
them as labor
pains,
and they
will not
escape.
Inescapable
destruction,
an endless
pouring out
of the wrath
of God.
Do you know
what Revelation
1-7 says?
That when Jesus
comes back,
all of the
non-Christians
on the planet
will wail,
they'll
wail,
because when
Jesus comes
back,
it will be
obvious there's
no escaping
the destruction
he brings with
him.
He is going
to tread
the winepress
of the fury
of the wrath
of God
Almighty.
Now,
you may be
in your seat
saying,
wait,
time out.
I thought
God was a
God of love.
what's all
this wrathful
stuff?
Fury
winepress,
violent
treading
business.
You might
be thinking,
what's
God's
problem?
Let me
just humbly
say this.
That's the
wrong question.
The real
question
has to do
with us.
the everlasting
fury of
God's wrath
points to
our problem.
The sinfulness
of our sin
against a
holy,
just,
eternal God
who is
bound by
his righteous
character
to execute
holy,
just,
and eternal
judgment
on our sin.
He is
bound to it.
You don't
want an
unjust God.
God,
the destiny
of those
who belong
to the
night,
apart from
Christ,
unexpected,
inescapable,
eternal wrath
of God
poured out,
and I just
need to add
one more
thing.
God will
be glorified
in that.
God
will be
glorified
in that.
It's
the destiny
of those
who do
not
repent,
but for
those
who by
God's
grace
do
repent
and believe
in Christ,
their destiny,
our destiny,
is as
different as
the day
is from
the night.
In
verse 9,
we read,
for God
has not
destined us
for wrath,
but to
obtain salvation
through our
Lord Jesus
Christ.
That
is our
destiny.
salvation
through Jesus
Christ.
Wait a
second,
you say?
Aren't
Christians
sinners
too?
Yes,
Christians
are sinners
saved by
grace.
Why
isn't
God's
wrath
our
destiny?
What's
the difference?
What's
the difference
between the
two?
We see
in verse
10.
But to
obtain salvation
through our
Lord Jesus
Christ,
who died
for us.
Who died
for us?
Christ
died as
a substitute
for all
who would
believe in
him.
For us,
he died
in our
place.
Christ's
finished work
on the
cross has
secured our
salvation,
past,
present,
future.
Past,
we've been
justified,
we've been
adopted.
Present,
we are being
sanctified,
we are being
conformed into
the image
of Christ.
And for
the future,
we will
one day
be glorified.
That is
coming.
When we
will
experience,
we will be
in God's
presence,
with God's
people,
in God's
place,
experiencing
God's
everlasting
peace.
You see,
what the
cross has
done,
it has
secured
our destiny.
If Christ
died for
you,
instead of
a destiny
of just
wrath of
God,
we await
a destiny
of God's
good
presence.
Christian,
you don't
need to
fear that
day.
It's not
who you
are.
It's not
how you're
living.
It's not
your destiny.
destiny.
In fact,
our destiny,
did you
see that?
Whether we
are awake
or asleep,
that goes
back to
the last
week's
passage.
If you
are awake,
if you're
alive when
Jesus returns,
or if you've
fallen asleep,
if you've
died before
Christ's
return,
whether you're
awake or
asleep,
we might
live with
him.
The end
of this
obtaining of
salvation,
and when
Christ comes
back,
we will
all be
united,
and from
that point
on,
we will
live with
him in
his presence.
Two very
different
destinies.
1 Thessalonians
5, 1
through 11
is in
your Bible,
Christian,
to assure
you,
you need
not fear
that day.
but you
do need
to be
ready for
it.
That day
of the
Lord is
one day
closer.
Okay,
everybody,
get your
watch out,
synchronize
your watches,
mark one
day closer.
And of
those two
contrasting
people,
if you're a
Christian,
you're a
child of
the day.
You have
been blood
bought.
And brought
into God's
family,
so you
stand
assured.
And of
those two
different
lifestyles,
the lifestyles,
night life,
and the
day life,
if you are
awake and
sober,
if you are
growing in
those things,
if you're
gearing up
with gospel
armor,
and you are
saying,
I want to
walk by
faith,
I want to
love the
brothers,
I want to
keep on
hoping in
that coming
day,
be assured.
Lord,
and of
these two
different
destinies,
one of
God's
everlasting
judgment and
one of
God's
everlasting
peace,
for those
of us who
belong to
the day,
Christ's
death has
also secured
our future.
we don't
need to
fear that
day.
What we
have is to
anticipate
eternity in
his presence,
with his
people,
in his
place,
experiencing
his peace.
So if you
are in the
room this
morning,
and you're
fearing the
day of
Christ's
coming,
because you
know you
are not a
Christian,
today is the
day of
salvation.
put your
trust in
Christ alone.
Romans 10
says,
if we
confess Jesus
is Lord,
and believe
in your
heart that
God raised
him from
the dead,
you will
be saved,
you will
be delivered
from the
domain of
darkness,
transferred into
the kingdom
of the beloved
son,
and on that
day you
can be
assured of
welcome.
come.
And if you
are looking
forward to
that day,
if you
long for
the day,
if you're
saying,
come Lord
Jesus,
you don't
need to fear
knock,
knock at
the door.
You don't
need to fear
the glorious
return of
Jesus when
he comes
back on a
white horse.
You look
forward to
that.
You long
for that.
And what
we're being
called to do
here in
verse 11 is
to encourage
one another
in light of
that.
And this is
how you can
do it.
I'm going
to have
the congregation
on my left.
You say
this.
Child of the
day, say
it.
And the
people on
my right,
you say,
we're one
day closer.
child of
the day,
we're one
day closer.
You ready?
I'm going to
point to you
and now you
say it.
So when you
bump into a
fellow brother
or sister this
week, you
know what you
can say to
them?
Christian,
don't fear
that day.
Be ready
for it.
We just
sang it.
Fear is
gone and
hope is
sure.
Christ is
mine forever
more.
Will you
pray with
me?
Three times
in Revelation
22, the Lord
Jesus, you
say,
behold, I'm
coming soon.
to which we
say to you
now, come
Lord Jesus.
Come.
We long
for you.
We're ready
for you.
God, would you
bless us, your
people, and
would you help
us to live
ready for
that day?
In your name
we pray.
Amen.