All right, I'm going to ask you
to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 Thessalonians,
chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. I'd like to read verses 1 and
2. 1 Thessalonians 5. But of the
times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write
unto you. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Let's
pray together. Our Father, we call upon you
this evening thanking you and praising and blessing you for
who you are. Thanking you for the time that
we have, Lord, to hear the word of God. I pray that this evening
you'd bless the word to our understanding, bless it to our joy and comfort.
Lord, forgive us where we failed you, for we know we do. And do
so, we pray, for Christ's sake. Amen. A few days ago I began to look
at this particular passage of Scripture, 1 Thessalonians 5, and began to think on the day
of the Lord. And as I began to think and began
to prepare this message this evening, I realized that the
message would be longer. than one message should be. And being as we're planning to
have the Lord's Supper tonight, I have decided that I'm going
to preach out of 1 Thessalonians 5, and this evening I'm going
to deal concerning the day of the Lord, on this portion of
the day of the Lord, His second coming. the day of the Lord,
the second coming of Christ. And then, Lord willing, this
Sunday, I'll preach the second part of this message, which will
be the day of judgment, which is the same day, the day of the
Lord. The Lord is going to come back,
and then the judgment. So as we look at this passage
of Scripture this evening, let's consider the Lord's second coming. to speak to believers concerning
the second coming of Christ is necessary. It's necessary because,
first of all, the Scriptures, the Lord Himself deals with the
subject. So we know that the second coming
of Christ is true. And because we know it's so,
The same truth. John said, we looked at this
a few weeks ago, 1 John 2.21. John said, I have not written
unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know
it. And that no lie is of the truth. So when Paul the apostle writes
this letter to the church at Thessalonica, he's saying, but
of the times and the seasons Brethren. So this letter is written
to God's people. To teach them something of the
second coming of Christ. So we know that this subject
is a sure thing. God's people know that the Lord
is going to come back. So to remind them that the Lord
is going to descend from heaven. That His people are going to
meet Him in the air and that we're going to forever be with
Him is a comfort. It's a joy. And we want to hear
about it. I want to know the truth concerning
the Lord's second coming. So concerning His coming, We're
given this exhortation from the Lord Himself. Now listen to this,
Matthew 24, 42. He said, concerning His second
return, Watch therefore, that is, stay awake, be vigilant. Watch therefore, for you know
not what hour your Lord doth come. Give strict attention and
be cautious concerning the second coming of Christ. In the book
of Luke, chapter 21, verse 34, the Lord is speaking again and
He says, And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts
be overcharged, that is, weighted down with surfeiting and drunkenness
and cares of this life, surfeiting. What does that mean? Pulled away. Take heed to yourselves, lest
at any time your hearts be weighted down and pulled away with anything
that absorbs the attention and diverts it from spiritual things,
from the second coming of Christ. And so that day come upon you
unawares. Take heed. Be careful. Wake up. Be vigilant. Now, we need to be told to be
vigilant. We need to be told to wake up.
We need to be told, be aware. The Lord is coming. Be aware. His coming draweth nigh. So,
the Lord's people rejoice to hear that He soon shall return. But to speak about when, I know
that so many people, the Lord is coming back on a certain day,
but to speak to God's people concerning when His coming is
going to occur, is totally unnecessary because they know that that would
be nothing more than idle speculation. Here's what the Lord said, But
of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of
heaven, but my Father only. But of the times and seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. Why? Because
you know that no one knows but the Father when the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to come. But yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord shall come. as a thief in the night. We don't know when he's coming,
but we do know this, he's going to come in a time when it's sudden,
when it's uninspected, in a moment, 1 Corinthians 15 or 52, a twinkling
of an eye. I looked that up to find out
just what does that mean, you know, a twinkling of an eye.
What does that mean? Here it is. A time that is incapable
of further division or measurement because it's so short. It cannot
be made shorter. It'll be that quick before you
know it. Have you ever been out on the
ice, speaking from experience here, and slip and when you knew
that you slipped was when you hit the ground? Never even knew
what was happening. Man, I'm telling you, I've fallen
so many times. Get out there and hit the ground
and I thought, wow, that was quick. No, that wasn't quick. I'll tell you what's going to
be quick. The second coming of Christ. So in that day, here's
what's going to happen. In the twinkling of an eye, before
you know it, In a time that you cannot even think about measuring,
the Lord is going to return. And the scripture says in 2 Peter
3.10, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. I thought
about that. What's going to happen? A great
noise. and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. The earth also in the works that
are therein shall be burned up. And with such knowledge, be aware,
be vigilant, wake up, knowing that according to His Word, His
will, and His purpose, everything that now exists, everything that
He's created, He's going to burn up Now that thought ought to
cause us to be faithfully walking with an anxious anticipation. If I know somebody's coming to
the house, we got some visitors coming, what time y'all going
to be here? Well, we're going to be here probably, I'm going
to say, probably somewhere around 3. Well, about a quarter to 3,
you know, I start watching. The closer it gets to three o'clock,
I start watching. And then if it goes a minute
past three, now I'm really starting to watch. I'm trying to look
up the road, just see if I can see. Why? I'm anticipating. I'm
anxious. I'm expecting. Now, 2 Peter chapter
3, listen to this, verses 11 and 12. Seeing that all these
things shall be dissolved, I'm talking about everything that
we see, everything we can't see. Seeing all these things shall
be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy conversation? And you walk in godliness, looking
far and hastening unto the coming of the day of God wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and all the elements
shall melt with fervent Nevertheless, we, according to His promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."
God Almighty, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, everything
that you and I can see right now, according to the creation,
it's going to burn up, it's going to melt with fervent heat, just
a great noise. It's going to be gone. You're
going to create a new one. And I can tell you that when
Almighty God created this world the first time, and the scripture
says, and the Lord saw it, and it was very good. It was very
good. You know what this second one
is going to be like? Just like this one. Just like
it was created before the fall. Because it was very good. And
the Lord made it, and that which the Lord made was very good. But in that new world, that new
earth, dwelleth righteousness. What's that going to be like? I don't know. But I can tell
you this, there will be no sin there. Almighty God is going
to make it new. Luke 12 40, Be ye therefore ready
also, for the Son of Man cometh in an hour when you think not. God's people by the grace of
God are ready. He said be ready, be ready. By the grace of God, every believer
in this congregation or in this world, living or past, They died
ready and God's people regenerated by the grace of God right now
are ready. Aren't you glad that there's
nothing that you can do to get ready? What would you do to get
ready for the second coming of Christ that's going to happen
so quickly you couldn't even measure it? Before you knew it,
the trump of God sounded and the Lord descended. with all
of His holy angels and ten thousands, the Scripture says, of His saints.
And there He is. Not a secret thing. Not this
secret rapture people talk about and everybody's gone, people
trying to look around and wonder what happened. No, sir. Let me
tell you something. When the Lord returns, everybody's
going to know it. Every eye shall see Him. Everybody's
gonna see Him. And it's too late. Ain't gonna
be no preparation then. Be ready. Let me tell you what
the Lord has done for His people and made them ready. Now if you're looking to try
to do something yourself, well then, just forget it. You're
not going to do it. You're not going to be ready
to meet God if it's left up to you or left up to me. But let
me tell you what the Lord has done, making His people ready. Number one, God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit, Almighty God, Jehovah. He said,
I've loved you with an everlasting love. I've loved you. I loved you. And Almighty God,
according to His love, He said, I chose you. I chose to put my
affection upon you before the foundation of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ, according
to that precious love, in electing grace, according to God's everlasting
covenant, He agreed, I will make them holy and without blame before
you, Father, in love. He came into this world and lived
for them as their federal head and as their federal head as
the man, Christ Jesus, the Lord. He earned a righteousness accepted
of God, because it's the righteousness of God. And that righteousness
that he earned, having borne their guilt, made sin for them,
and paid their debt, made them without blame, no condemnation,
robes them in righteousness. Seals them by the Spirit of God. When I say sealed, you know,
the seal, imprint. God sees it. God sees it. Sealed them to the day of judgment. Keeps them. Teaches them. Gives
them faith. Now let me tell you who are ready. All that are ready. Those that
have been loved of God. chosen by God to have mercy and
compassion shown them. Redeemed by the blood of Christ. That blood that the Father says,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I'm going to pass over
you. Righteousness, charge robed them. And now they stand before
God, in Christ, ready. ready. Be you therefore ready
also for the son of man cometh at an hour when you think not.
But for those without Christ, those who think nothing of God's
word, of God's promise concerning the second coming, those who
think nothing of impending judgment. Those who think that they stand
before God in their own works of self-righteousness, which
is, this is what the scripture says, concerning our works of
self-righteousness. Filthy rags. And you know what
that is. You know what that is. Filthy rags. Can you imagine
that you're going to present that to be accepted of God? All that care nothing and they
stand before God not ready. Not ready. You that believe. You cannot even imagine going
to bed tonight and not being ready. You couldn't sleep. The only
comfort you got is that Almighty God has made you ready by grace
and compassion and mercy. For those without Christ, who
is that? All that believe not the Son. I'm not saying those that don't
believe that there is a Jesus Christ. Demons believe that. But I'm talking about all that
have not cast themselves upon Him for mercy and looked at themselves
and said, loss. Dung. Dung. I count all things but dung,
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. surprise and horror is going
to be their lot of the day. Because they thought they're
going to be like that nailman, the leper. A little maid told nailman's
wife, nailman was a leper and he was a mighty man of valor
and all that kind of stuff. And she said, there's a prophet
over in Samaria. and go over and see him. Remember Elijah or Elisha, one
of the two, sent a servant out there. He didn't even go out
there to see the leper. The leper got mad because he
told him to go wash in the Jordan River. He said, we got better
rivers, you know, where I'm from. I'm not going to that dirty river.
and got mad, because I thought, I thought that the prophet would
come. Evidently, you don't know who
I am. I thought. That's what they're going to
say. I thought. The Lord is going to return on a day that's just
like every other day from the beginning. Let me ask you something. What's the difference in today
and yesterday, really, as far as your day was concerned? Ah,
you might have changed a little. You did maybe something. You
might have gone over to this grocery store or something. Cheryl,
you might have gone to some other place than yesterday. But basically,
basically, what's the difference in today and yesterday? You think
tomorrow's going to be any different? Really? I've told you before,
you know what God's people are doing? They're waiting right
now for the second coming of Christ. That's the only thing
they're doing. They're going through the days that the Lord
has established that they're going to be here. But as the
days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man
be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating,
and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage until the day that
Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came
and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. In those days, all the way back,
go back, go back and start looking in Genesis. It starts talking
about it in Genesis 6. thoughts, mind, evil, continually. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And he repented the Lord. He
had made man. I'm going to destroy, I'm going
to destroy man. And Noah was just like them. Every thought of Noah's mind
was evil continually. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Nothing that Noah did There's
none good, no not one. But God chose to show mercy on
a man called Noah. And in those days just before
God caused the fountains of the deep to be broken up, the windows
of heaven to be opened, men were eating and drinking and marrying,
giving in marriage, and just plans were being made. But they were being made with
impending doom. Y'all think we ought to get together
next Friday? Why don't we just, you know,
y'all want to have a big cookout? Yeah, let's do that. Yeah, well,
you know, my daughter's getting married. Oh, really? Yeah, well,
y'all come. It's in a couple of months. We'll
have a good time. Y'all all come. They were doing
just exactly what men are doing today. Nothing has changed. We're
just going through what we're doing. There was nothing that
was inherently wrong with what they were doing. But the issue
was those things, because of an unregenerate heart, those
things, they were marrying and giving and marrying and eating
and drinking and just going to work and taking vacations. But what happened was all those
things became the focus, the pleasure, the attention of their
lives. Therefore, they were found to
be totally disregarding the preparation for their safety in the ark.
There was a man named Noah that built an ark for a hundred and
twenty years. A hundred and twenty years. He
preached the gospel to them. And it became so commonplace. He's still out there. He's been working on that boat
as long as I can remember. That's all he does. He's working
on a boat. And he's saying that a flood
is going to come. That God is going to destroy
this earth by water. And it had never rained. It never
rained. And he said, it's going to rain. Then all of a sudden, the rains
did come in a day that they thought not. And before they knew it,
everything else that was so important is not important anymore. Why? Because the Lord shut the door.
When the Lord returns for the second time, How many do you
think on this earth would give anything to know what they know
now when He comes back and have one more hour? Just one more
hour. Here's what the Lord said concerning
their, you know, they were eating and drinking. In the book of
Luke, I bought a piece of ground. I can't come to the wedding.
I bought five yoke of oxen, I've got to go prove them. Count me
out. I married a wife and therefore
I cannot come. I don't have time to come to
the wedding feast. I got too much stuff to do. Oh
may the Lord deliver us. deliver us from the carnal heart
of unbelief. A heart that would do nothing
but keep us in blindness of sin and rebellion against God. They
did not believe that there was going to be a flood until it
started raining and they were swept away. And men and women
today, they know, they've heard of the second coming of Christ. But it makes no difference to
them until God gives them a new heart. And God opens their eyes
to their need of Him. They didn't see that that ark
was a picture of salvation in Christ. They didn't see it. You
and I see it now. But they didn't see it. That
was types and pictures and now we have the open revelation of
what that was all about. Come to the ark. Get in the ark. The rains came. And young and
old and rich and poor and all that ridiculed Noah as he appeared
to be nothing more than a foolish old carpenter with a wild dream
about coming doom. Those that possibly sympathized
with him, they thought, you know, he's really sincere. He's really
convicted. Though he's, I think as an honest
man, It seems to be any of them that happen to be working for
Him, worked on the ark, but saw no need to get in. Like God's preachers today, you
know, there's a certain amount of respect. It's amazing to me. I try as hard as I can not to
tell anybody that I'm a preacher. You think I'm kidding, I'm not.
I'm not. Why? Because everybody and their
brother, as soon as you tell them they're a preacher, you're
a preacher. I mean, they get all religious and they start,
I mean, it's just ridiculous. I'll just be yourself. You know? I'm sure they said, you know,
he's a good man. But to get in that boat? To get
in that ark? Oh, but when that flood came,
and it rained 40 days and 40 nights, and they couldn't climb
any higher hills. And the water came a long way
over the top of the highest peaks, and they all drowned. So shall
the coming of the Son of Man be, like it was in the days of
Noah. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this world the first time, the scripture says. He came into
this world and lived and died for His people. He who is their
life. He died their substitute. He was made sin. He was made what they are and
the law found Him on that cross being made sin And the law demanded
justice. Justice. And Almighty God forsook
him. That's what he said. My God,
my God. Why have you forsaken me? You
know why? Because sin was found there.
And God's just. He's a just God. He died. to put away death of his people. He was buried and rose again
for their victory over the grave. He ascended into heaven, and
right now he ever liveth to make intercession for them. And the
scripture says that he's going to come back. He said, I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go, I'm going to come back and I'm
going to get you that where I am there, you may be also. The day
of the Lord, the second coming of Christ is going to be a day
of rejoicing for God's people, but a day of horror for everyone
that believes not the gospel of Christ. 1 Thessalonians, I'm
just going to read verses 3 through 11. 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 3 to 11.
For when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and
they shall not escape. But ye, brethren... Now listen
to this. Now here's the comfort. I can't
end this message without some comfort for God's people. But
ye, brethren, are not in darkness. that that day should overtake
you as a thief. You're not in darkness. You that
believe Christ. You that believe the gospel.
The light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has
shined in your heart. And God's taught you. He's taught
you who you are, who He is, who His Son is, and how He saves
His people. He's taught you. You're not in
darkness. That that day should overtake
you as a thief. You're all the children of light,
and the children of the day, and are not of the night nor
darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
others do, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep,
sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in
the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, serious-minded,
putting on the breastplate of faith and love for a helmet,
the hope of salvation. Now listen to this. For God hath
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with Him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also you do. We that know the Lord, we that
believe that salvation is by the grace of God, the Lord has
not appointed us to wrath. God has chosen to show mercy.
May we be comforted. We know He's coming back. We
know that there's going to be a day in which we're going to
see Him. Every eye is going to see Him. But in that day, we're not as
those that have no hope. We're going to behold Him, we're
going to see Him as He is, and shall in that day hear Him say
unto us, according to His mercy and grace and imputed righteousness,
well done, well done. Thy good and faithful servant.
And we'll say, Lord, as You say it is, it is. May this word bless
our hearts for the glory of Christ and for our good and comfort.
Amen.