Good morning. It's very good
to be here. I don't often get called away to
preach somewhere, maybe to my dad's church once in a while.
But it's been very good. You all have been very good to
me. I enjoyed that dinner we had
last night. Lost track of time. That doesn't
happen to me. It was very good. We will be in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 this morning. Now the church in Thessalonica,
that was one of the churches that Paul went through and had
very little time to spend there. He said, I believe it's in Acts
17, somewhere thereabouts, And he had three Sabbaths to spend
there and that was it. They actually drove him and Silvanus
and Timothy right out of town. So when he was there for three
weeks, he met some people and their hearts were turned in that
short time. And in this part in chapter five,
he at first was reiterating his great love for these people that
he had found, he calls them his children. And he would like to
return to them. And he also has some instruction
for them. And instruction starts in the latter chapters. And in
verse or chapter five, he starts talking about the day of the
Lord. Most people refer to it the second coming. And it says
there in verse five or chapter five, verse one. Oh, and before
I start, I'd like to say I do read out of a slightly different
translation. It's the new King James, because I trip all over
those old words. So this is updated language. But verse one, it says, but concerning
the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should
write to you. Now, we know from Ecclesiastes
three that there is a time and purpose for everything under
heaven. God has appointed these times. But like the curious creatures
we are, we just can't help ourselves. We got to figure out when everything
is. Even even Jesus disciples asked him, when will that day
be? What are the signs that we'll
know of the coming of this age? They were curious, just like
we are. Now, Jesus answered those disciples. He just said there
will be war. There will be rumors of wars.
There will be famine, there will be pestilence. It sounds awful,
but all of these will come at their
appointed time. Every one of them. There won't
be anything amiss. Now, that is actually a comfort
to believers, believe it or not. Why is that a comfort? Why is
famine? Why is pestilence? Why is wars a comfort? Because God is the one who appoints
those times. And God is for us. He is not
for them. He is for us. He is for his children. He controls everything in the
universe. He controls nature. He controls
the people in government. He can turn Pharaoh's heart wherever
he wants. And he did. And remember how
in Genesis, Jacob and his family suffered under a famine, at least
for a little while, he suffered. And surely he never prayed for
seven years of famine. If anybody prays, they pray for
plenty. They pray for a lot. But it came
anyway because God appointed that time. But when those seven years of
famine did come on Jacob and his family, There was already
grain in Egypt. Before the famine came, there
was some mercy. There was some plenty. And we
don't want wars and famine, but at least we know that God has
every one of these in his hand. Instead, Jesus never tells us
seek out when these things happen, because you've heard all those
prophesiers say, well, the end of the world is coming on this
day and then they're wrong. OK, it's going to come on this
day and they're wrong. It never happens. Jesus says instead what
we ought to be pursuing, and that's in Matthew 24, he says,
but he who endures to the end shall be saved. That should be
on your mind. endure to the end, not win, just
endure. And he says there in the latter
part of that verse, you have no need that I should write to
you. Like I said, he had three weeks roughly with these people
and he taught them all he could in that time. But in other words,
they already know he taught them. And this is good. Anything they
can learn, any doctrine they have for instruction is good
because You might find a little commonality with these. They
were a young church. They were a very young church,
and they had only a short time for instruction. Not only that,
most of them were Greeks. They were not Jews. They weren't
raised in this. They didn't know the Old Testament. He had to
tell them. And then he wrote them part of it. And he continues
on in verses two and three, he says, for you yourselves know
perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the
night. For when they say peace and safety,
then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon
a pregnant woman and they shall not escape. Not phrasing as a
thief in the night is mentioned in two places only once here
and once in second Peter is describing the day of our Lord. As a thief coming in the night,
because nobody knows. I mean, if you knew you were
going to be robbed, you'd be prepared for it. But nobody knows. That's
what makes a good thief a good thief. Yet this is how that last day
shall be as told by Jesus himself in Matthew 24. He tells them
all what this will be like. We already know what it will
be like, but we're not going to read that. But turn to Matthew
24 in verses 43 and 44. When God and Jesus or anywhere
in the Bible gives instruction, there might be some information
in there that's good to know, but not always good to dwell
on, as we can sometimes become enamored with the wrong things. So starting in verse 43, he says,
but know this, that if the master of the house had known what the
hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed
his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready
for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Regardless, in other words, of when the last day is. Be ready. It shouldn't concern any of us.
We were made ready. We were made ready by the dying
of the son of man, by the is covering us in His blood. So
it should not concern us when the last day is. But doom to
those who are not ready. It says they shall not escape. They shall not escape. That's
a promise. The Bible records several events
as a way to show that God doesn't change. He is the unchangeable
God. He will always be the same. However,
that doesn't mean that tomorrow will be just like today. Days
change. Isaiah writes in chapter 56,
Come, one says, I will bring wine and we will fill ourselves
with intoxicating drink. Tomorrow will be as today and
much more abundant as in the next day will be that much greater. Days change and one example of
a day that changed was when God opened up the Red Sea and the
Israelites cramped on through it on dry ground where once water
stood. Now Pharaoh's army saw that and
they said, well, if that's going to be opened up, Let's pursue
right down the middle. They follow the same path as
the Israelites did. But then something changed. Something
changed. Moses sang about it in Exodus
15. It says, you blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They
sank like lead in the mighty waters. The day changed. And when the day changes on that
day, The day of our Lord, they shall not escape. They will have nowhere to flee
because they scoffed at the cities of refuge and they scoffed at
the hiding place, the hiding place. And in the end, they will
find that neither is available to them on that day. In verse four it says, but you
brethren are not in darkness so that this day should overtake
you as a thief. In other words, when the day
arrives, believers are ready. Not that we have done anything
to earn that readiness. We were made ready. No one knows
the day that God has appointed. Jesus says only the father knows
that day. And we might be surprised. I
mean, if we see anything coming out of the clouds, that's surprising.
But we will not be uninformed and most importantly, we will
be protected on that day. Our sentence has already been
carried out and the punishment laid on Jesus' head. The wrath
that will come on that day is not for us. So we have all been
told and we will wait in hope for the day of our Lord. But to him that does not believe,
this day will come like a thief. Now, of course, a good thief
catches his victims by surprise or without them knowing. That's
just what happens. So that they can steal everything.
But there's a terror once you've known you've been stolen from.
There's an oh no, where's my wallet? I can't drive now. I can't even get back into my
hotel room, whatever it is. You've lost it. There's a doom
there. And a while ago I was I don't even know how I got there.
I was looking up homemade mouse traps and I found several of
them and they're all of them were different designs on how
to trap that rodent. But they all had one thing in
common and that was there wasn't any mechanism or anything that
killed them instantly. Wasn't a swift motion or anything
like that. They all either died of starvation
or drowning. And if rodents could think like
we could, they would have known their doom at that time. They could feel that. And that
feeling that their end is coming, that they are not, or they are
without rescue or any hope. They are trapped, utterly trapped.
So shall this day be to them that have no refuge in Jesus
Christ. They will know their doom on
that day. Jesus will come with a loud voice
and they will see him in his glory. And they will be stricken
by terror when they realize they ignored him their whole lives.
And so he did not know them. They will be trapped. In verses five through seven,
it says, you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We
are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep,
sleep at night. And those who get drunk are drunk
at night. Now, in the King James, it says
children, even the NIV says children. And this one says sons. That's
to imply inheritance. The son inherits things from
the father. Now, you might ask yourself,
are you a son or daughter of the light? Because we doubt. Am I really saved? Am I a son
or daughter of the light? You are, if you follow Jesus.
You are. I mean, there's no extra step.
You are if you follow Jesus. Jesus said, I am the light of
the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness. But have the light of life. His
ways are truth. Man's ways are darkness. Children
start learning opposites at a very young age. Fat, thin, short,
tall. Big, small. I would encourage everybody Tell
your children this opposite. God's ways, good. Man's ways,
bad. His ways, righteousness. Our
ways, unrighteousness. You can pick up on that. Follow
God and you will walk in the light. And ask God to not let
you stray into the path of darkness, which is called so strongly. We want to stay on that narrow
path. Now, what does he mean here by
do not sleep as others do? Earlier, he had said those who
sleep in Christ, those who have died already as sons of God,
those who sleep, this is not the same. To sleep here means
to be unconcerned with spiritual things. Those people say, I'll
go to church when I'm ready. Or I have better things to do. Or religion isn't my thing. I
respect what you do, but it's just not my thing. Instead, we should watch and
be sober, as in be on your guard, be vigilant, attend church. This is where you get your armor,
your helmet, your breastplate. But he says, for those who sleep,
they sleep at night. And when they get drunk, they
drunk at night. Why? They think nobody sees them. That is the work of people who,
well, they're night people, I guess, if you want to use the verbiage
here. It's night work. It's not day
work. This is day work. What you're
doing now is day work. Let's strive to be day people. Our conduct should be as much
like our savior as we can make it. We aren't going to be that
perfect, but we can strive to be. By being sober minded and upright,
says Paul. And then in verse eight, he says,
but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. By having
faith, love, and hope of salvation, you will protect yourself by
having those things. While you are being watchful,
don't forget to guard yourself with these. Don't ignore scripture. Read it. Now, I'm not just telling
you that because I think you don't or anything like that.
When I first preached this, I realized I didn't do that either. I mean,
I go to church, I read. When I prepare, I read. But at
night, on free time, as people would call it, no, I did not.
So I started. And it's been a blessing. It
only takes a few minutes. But that is how you put on your
armor. We need to be watchful. We need
to be on our guard. Matthew Henry wrote about this.
Don't let anything shake your trust in the Lord. What would
shake your trust? Doubt. Doubt creeps in. The devil uses it. He's very
good at wielding it. That is his sword. And we know
that this world is an enemy to God. That means he is an enemy
to you and me. Now, how do you think you came
this far in your life? Was it luck or skill? You had the right genes? The enemy's untruths are arrows
and spears thrown at you. So when you've had to defend
your faith, were you not wearing the armor of God? When you could
reply back with a verse to their untruth, their lie? You know when you are wearing
the breastplate and the helmet. Because when someone says a lie,
you have something to return. You have something to guard against
their arrows and their spears and their swords. And when someone
says a lie concerning it, you know it's a lie. You can tell
there's something not right about this. This doesn't sound like
the Jesus I know. Now, I went through this rather
quickly because when I was reading this, I had such a hard time
getting through these verses. I didn't feel I had anything.
Then I got to verses 9 and 10. And as people say, the heavens
opened up, that's what happened. I wanted to get to these because
these verses are such a blessing. It says, For God did not appoint
us to wrath. but to obtain salvation through
our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake
or sleep, we should live together with him. This is my blanket. Rip this out of here, sew it
into a blanket. It's what it needs to be. God did not appoint us to wrath. Did you know that the day of
our Lord is also the day of wrath? It's the same day. The very same day on which we
are taken up to heaven is the same day God pours out his wrath
on the world. Job says, for the wicked are
reserved for the day of doom. They shall be brought out on
the day of wrath. Didn't we just read about these
people here? These people work in the night. But Paul says that God did not
appoint us to wrath, so it must be appointed to some. That wrath
must go somewhere. God appointed the wicked for
that day of doom. And if God appoints it, what
can be done for those people for whom it is reserved on that
day? What can they do? Can they make
one final plea? Maybe their money, maybe their
things, maybe something they've accumulated on this earth will
help them out. Proverbs 11, it says of them,
riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers
from death. Righteousness. That's not something
you can accumulate from this world. That comes from one source
and how worthless will be their money. on the day of wrath. Turn to the book of Ezekiel. Pardon me, I never memorized
the order of the books. So I've got bookmarks. There we are. We'll be in Ezekiel
chapter seven. Starting in verse one. It says,
moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, and you, son
of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel, an end. The end has come upon the four
corners of the land. Now the end has come upon you.
And I will send my anger against you. I will judge you according
to your ways and I will repay you for all your abominations. Skip down to verse 19. They will throw their silver
into the streets and their gold will be like refuse. Their silver
and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of
the wrath of the Lord. They will not satisfy their souls
nor fill their stomachs because it became their stumbling block
of iniquity. There goes your riches. What
used to gain you prestige, what used to gain you land, things,
is now thrown out on the street as good as dirt on the day of
wrath. That dissatisfaction that they
will feel, that failing to be delivered, from God's wrath. That's reserved for the wicked.
They will know doom on that day. So if that day of His wrath comes
on the unrepentant heart, can they perhaps make a statement
of faith? You know, if it's not riches God wants, what does He
want? Maybe one final plea. I'm sorry. Someone might argue, surely if
we make one more final stand and say, look, OK, I was wrong.
I plead Jesus blood. Surely God is not so cruel as
to turn away that repentant heart on that day. Turn to Isaiah. Chapter 13. People have their ideas of God
that are not founded in the Bible. Starting in verse six of chapter
13, it says, Wail for the day of
the Lord is at hand. It will come as destruction from
the Almighty. Therefore, all hands will be
lent Every man's heart will melt, and they will be afraid. Pangs
and sorrows will take hold of them. They will be in pain as
a woman in childbirth. They will be amazed at one another. Their faces will be like flames. Behold, the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate,
and he will destroy its sinners from it. That sinner had his
chance. That sinner on the day of the
Lord had his chance. He could have appealed to God's
mercy. Remember the rich man who died with Lazarus? They both
died. One went to heaven. The other
went to hell. He was being tormented by Hades
and pleaded with Abraham to send Lazarus with just one little
drop of water from my tongue. He was in torment. And he said, oh, he also said,
send Lazarus back to his five brothers, send someone back from
the dead that they might believe and they might not suffer the
same that he is. And isn't that nice? That's so
nice of the brother. It was a selfless act. He just
wanted to help others, not himself. He was already doomed. And surely
God would respect such a selfless request. That kind of thing just
tugs at the heart, doesn't it? Makes you feel sorry for the
guy. But that was not Abraham's reply. He said, they have Moses
and the prophets. Let them hear them. So the rich
man responded, no father Abraham, but if one goes to them from
the dead, they will repent. Surely. Now what's he saying? That signs and wonders are all
that people listen to? Magic. Some kind of miracle. The only or God has decreed that
he will save sinners by the preaching of the word. That's his method.
That's what he uses. So Abraham replied to this rich
man, he said, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets,
Neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead.
Not even a miracle would do it. Unless that miracle is that God
takes their heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh.
That's one miracle that can turn a man's heart. So on the day of God's wrath,
if they do not hear the prophets, it will be too late. There will
be nowhere to escape. Those cities of refuge, no. The cleft in the rock, no. Turn one more to Zephaniah. If you haven't noticed already,
I like to jump around. And unfortunately for those people,
the day of God's wrath is near. I know that it was prophesied
2,000 years ago. But if we don't know when it
comes, it is always near. It is always near. Zephaniah
chapter one, starting in verse 14. The great day of the Lord is
near. It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day
of the Lord is bitter. There the mighty men shall cry
out. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress,
a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against
the fortified cities and against the high towers. I will bring
distress upon men and they shall walk like blind men because they
have sinned against the Lord. Their blood shall be poured out
like dust and their flesh like refuse. Neither their silver
nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of
the Lord's wrath, but the whole land shall be devoured by the
fire of his jealousy. For he will make speedy riddance
of all those who dwell in the land. But you, God's precious
children, he has named you and he calls you by your name for
you He will keep you protected on that day. You will be protected
on that day. And he gladly does it. In John
6, he says, this is the will of the father who sent me that
all of all he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up at the last day. Who are all he has given me? That's in the next verse. And
this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the
son and believes in him, may have everlasting life. Those
are the people. And I will raise him up at the
last day. Isn't that just a warm blanket?
You are not appointed to wrath. Not you. You the follower. It just calms the nerves. Instead,
you are appointed by the living God to obtain salvation. Praise his name, that's all I
have.