Let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter
5 this evening. If you would, open the scriptures
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. A very short text for you this
evening, but it is It is a very powerful statement. This is our duty. This is the
Lord's very command to all of his people. It's found in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 and verse number 16. Two words. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice evermore. And I want you to understand
right from the outset that this is a command given to God's people. It's given to those who believe
the Lord Jesus. It's given to those who've been
brought by the Spirit to faith in God's Christ. The people that
this duty is addressed to. They're described back in verse
5 as being the children of light. We're children of the day. That's what it says. We're not
of the night. We're not of the darkness. These
people that the apostle speaks to are an enlightened people. We're the children of light. Our understanding has been enlightened
concerning God and his holiness, God and his justice. We've been
enlightened to know a little bit about ourselves, about our
sinfulness, our neediness, our wretchedness, The Spirit of God's
grace has enlightened us that we might know that there's a
vast distance between us and God. A distance that we cannot
possibly ever cover or bring us together with God. And our
understanding has been enlightened so that we know and we understand
and we rejoice in the fact that the Lord Jesus is the mediator,
the only mediator, between this great holy God and us sinful
selves. We're God's very children. We're children of light. We've
been brought to understand the gospel. We now know how God can
be just and justify the ungodly through the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus. We're not in the dark any longer.
We were in the dark. We were in ignorance. We were
in error. We used to think salvation was
by works, by our deeds. And then we were brought to understand
that by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified in
God's sight. We are children of light. God has shined the light of the
gospel into our hearts. The darkness has been driven
from us. Whenever the light comes, darkness
has to go. And we now understand, we know,
and we rejoice in the fact that through the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's own Son, salvation is ours. He is the one who redeemed us.
He reconciled us to God. He paid our sin debt. He did
everything necessary to bring us to God the Father. And the
Spirit of grace has granted unto us life. And we believe this
gospel. We rejoice in Him. So this duty
is addressed to God's people. And we need to understand that.
These people were people who were in darkness, but no longer. Look at verse 4. But ye, brethren,
you're not in darkness. that that day should overtake
you as a thief. You're not in darkness anymore.
You were just like everybody else. In ignorance. What does darkness
mean? In the scripture, what does darkness mean? It means
ignorance. Wickedness. Error. And that's the way we
used to be. But we're not like that anymore.
We don't believe error anymore. We believe God's truth. We believe
God's gospel. So this is addressed to the Lord's
people, to God's people. The Lord has delivered us, as
we read in the book of Colossians chapter 1, He has delivered us
from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son. Listen to Isaiah chapter 9. Those
people that walked in darkness, we have seen a great light. They that dwell in the shadow
of death, upon them hath the light shined. Isn't that what
has happened to us? The light has shined on us. The
light of the gospel. Listen to 1 Peter chapter 2 and
verse 9. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation, a peculiar
people, that you should show forth the praises of Him that
had called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. We read in Ephesians chapter
5 in verse 8, For you were sometimes darkness, But not anymore. Now ye are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. We're not in the darkness anymore.
We're not in the dark about how this salvation comes to us. Not of works, but of grace. We're
not in the dark as to why the Lord Jesus came into this world.
He came to save His people from their sins. He came to establish
righteousness for us. He came to reconcile us to God. He came to make satisfaction
to the holy law of God. John chapter 12 and verse 46,
the Savior said, I am come a light into the world that whosoever
believeth on me should not abide in darkness. Listen to the words
of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. It's right at the
end of Luke 1, verses 78 and 79. He said, the day spring from
on high hath visited us. to give light to them that sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into
the way of peace. He guides our feet into the way
of peace. You remember in Romans chapter
3 when the Apostle Paul speaks of our great depravity and our
sinfulness? He says of the natural man, the
way of peace have they not known. And we will never know the way
of peace. We'll never know the way of life
unless we're guided into that way. Christ Jesus does that. He's the one who brings us into
the way. And listen, He is Himself the
way, the truth, and the life. We cannot and we will not know
the way of peace until that one who is the very Prince of Peace
guides us into the way. This is the way of salvation
by grace alone, through the work of the Lord Jesus alone, made
known to us by the work of the Spirit of God alone. So understand
then this duty. This divine commandment to rejoice
evermore is not for those who are in darkness, but only for
those who are in the light. You see, those who are in the
darkness, really, you have nothing to rejoice about. There is no
real joy in the heart of an unbeliever. There cannot be. Because real
joy is only found in knowing the God of grace and glory through
Jesus Christ the Lord. The natural man has that which
he says is joy, but it isn't really joy. For real joy is found
in knowing Christ and being found in Him, not having our own righteousness,
but His righteousness. That's real joy. Real joy is
to have your sins forgiven and pardoned. Real joy is to know
God as your Father, and Christ Jesus as your Savior, and the
Spirit of Grace as your Divine Comforter. That's real joy. And only those who know the Lord,
or as the Apostle Paul says, or are known of the Lord, only
those can rejoice evermore. Who is this commandment addressed
to? Look at verse 9. It's addressed
not only to those who are in the light, but it's addressed
to those whom it says here, God hath not appointed us under wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. This divine
commandment is addressed to those who are elect people. to the
people that the Lord ordained and He appointed to obtain salvation. I love that word appointed. It means fixed, set, established,
ordained. We deserved wrath, even as all
men do. But we were appointed, we were
ordained unto salvation. God Almighty ordained that we
would not be left in our sin, we would not be left in the darkness,
we would not be left in our deadness. God ordained this to salvation. In Acts chapter 13, read it at
your leisure, the Apostle Paul is preaching in Antioch. And as he always did, he went
to the synagogue and preached to the Jews. And they wouldn't
have any of the preaching. Because he went forth saying,
Jesus is the Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the Promised
One. And they said, we don't want
to hear that. We're not interested in your message. And so he says
to them, seeing that you put this gospel from you, and you
judge that you are unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard that, they were glad. and they glorified
the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained unto eternal
life believed." Who is going to believe this gospel? Those
who are ordained unto eternal life. Those that God has long
ago appointed, not unto wrath, but to obtain this salvation. this salvation, this life, this
forgiveness, this righteousness there in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. And God has appointed a people
who will receive all of these blessings in Him. And I would ask you tonight,
is He your all in all? Is He your hope? Is He your hope
of glory? Do you know Him? In your very heart of hearts
is Christ Jesus all of your salvation, all of your life, all of your
righteousness? You say, yes. Yes, He is. Well, here's the reason you believe.
Because God did not appoint you to wrath, but He appointed you
to obtain salvation. That's the reason. That's the
reason. This is the foundation upon which
our salvation is built, the foundation of God's eternal purpose of grace. He ordained to save people. And I'll tell you this, this
salvation that is ours by divine selection, by divine appointment,
it means that no power can take it away from us. And if we're
the Lord's and we haven't been brought to know Him yet, there's
no power that can prevent us from coming to know Him. Because
His people will be made willing in the day of His power. God
has His elect. The shepherd has his sheep. He'll
find every single one of them. He'll bring them into the fold.
God has appointed us to salvation. Oh, I love that. I love that. This salvation is ours by divine
selection. Divine election. God in His eternal
purpose, He ordained that we would obtain this salvation to
which we were appointed. And if you are His by His electing
grace, He will cross your path with the gospel. You will hear
of Jesus Christ and His blood and His righteousness. God has
ordained that. Those who are His from all eternity
will be confronted with this gospel. And they will be enabled
by the Spirit of grace to embrace this gospel, to believe this
gospel, and to rejoice in this gospel. Well, what did Christ do for
us? Look down in verse number 10. Who died for us? That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He died for us. That whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with Christ, with Him. Why did He die for us? In this
verse, we read very clearly that whether we wake or sleep, we'll
live together with Him. That is, He died so that we would
live with Him forever. And the only way we could ever
live with the Holy Son of God was for Him to do something about
our sins. It's the only way. You know, in this context, The
Apostle Paul is dealing with the day of the Lord. Look back
at verses 2 and 3. In fact, look at verse 1. But
of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye 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. So that's
his subject. This is the context. The day
of the Lord. The coming of the Lord. His second
coming. 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." When our Lord comes back, it's
going to be an awful time for those who know Him not. He will
be to them as a thief in the night, take them away to everlasting
destruction. But for those who are His people,
And I want you to grasp this. For those who are His people,
those who are children of light, we have nothing to fear in the
second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We look forward to His
coming with joy, with great delight. Never in the Word of God are
the Lord's people ever told to be fearful, or to be anxious,
or to in any way dread the day when the Lord comes back. It
will not be a day of shame for us. Say, but we're going to have
to answer for our sins. No! Our sins have already been
put away by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God holds
nothing against us. We're made the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. We look forward to seeing Him.
Oh, glorious day when the Savior comes back for us. The Lord said
in the book of Revelation, the 22nd chapter, Behold, I come
quickly. And all of the church answers
together, Even so, even so, come Lord Jesus. We want to sing. We ask Him to come. Oh Lord,
come tonight. Oh how delightful, how wonderful,
how glorious beyond description would it be If our Lord should split the
skies and issue an effectual call to us, come up hither and
join me. The dead in Christ shall be raised
first, and then you and I who are alive and remain, we shall
be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, and oh how
glorious it will be to be with Him forever and ever and ever.
And the Apostle Paul says, He died for us that we might live
with Him forever. Can you imagine such a thing?
That you, who by nature drink iniquity like water, who came
forth from the womb speaking lies, that you were appointed
to obtain this salvation through Jesus Christ who died for you,
that you would live with Him forever. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. And oh,
how wonderful, wonderful it's going to be. And everybody He
died for is going to live with Him forever. He will not be deprived
of anyone in whose stead He died. All of those given to Him in
the covenant of grace, all of those for whom He shed His blood
and made atonement for their sins, they'll all live with Him
throughout eternity. Somebody says, there's going
to be lots of room in heaven. A city four square, 1,500 miles
high, wide and deep. Lots of room in heaven, but there
won't be any empty seats. Because everybody who is supposed
to be there is going to be there. Because Christ Jesus died. He died that we might live with
Him forever. He died for us, not as a martyr
to confirm His doctrine, He died for us, not as an example to
teach us to be submissive to God in the will of death, but
He died for us as our Savior, in our room and in our stead.
He died for us as the sacrifice for sins. He died to make atonement
for them. His death lays a solid foundation
for our hope of glory. Now watch these words. in verse number 10, who died
for us that, whether we wake or sleep, we shall live together
with Him. What do those words mean? Well, those words, whether we
wake or sleep, some people take those to mean Some people will
be awake when he comes, some will be alive, in other words,
when he comes back, while others will be asleep. That's the dead. Look back over in chapter 4 of
1 Thessalonians and verse 13. For me, it just crossed the page.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that is, for those who have died. Their
bodies have been buried, their souls are with the Lord. But I don't want you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
We shall not go before them. We shall not be changed ahead
of them. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 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 in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore,
comfort one another with these words." And we get over here into chapter
5 and verse 10. when it says, who died for us,
that whether we wake or sleep, we shall live together with him.
Many people, many commentators that we have confidence in, believe
or interpret this as meaning those who died in Christ and
those who are still alive at his coming. I was looking at
this today, and I don't think that's the correct interpretation
of these words. I want you to look back at verses
6 and 7 of chapter 5. We've got to keep this in the
context. Therefore let us not sleep, as
do others, but let us watch and be sober.
Now who's he speaking to? He's speaking to the people of
God, is He not? That's who He's speaking to.
He's writing to the people of God. He says, let us not sleep. Let's don't fall asleep on the
job. In other words, let's be watchful. Let's 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. And so I understand this as saying
there are sometimes, and I'm afraid more often than we'd like
to think, we're not very sober minded. And we get drunk, not literally,
When we get drunk, we get intoxicated by the things of the world. We
get drunk on the things of the world. And we fall asleep. We are not watchful. Let me ask
you this. Let me get a drink of water.
My throat is dry. Let me ask you this. That's a
believer. Now be honest, of course you
don't answer to me, nor do I answer to you. Are you always sober
minded about the things of God? Are you always spiritually awake? Or do you find more often than you would want
to admit to anybody, Do you find that other things kind of push
their way into your mind and into your heart, and the things
of God are kind of pushed out for a little while? Do you ever
find yourself that way? With your responsibilities as
a student or a teacher or a worker, as a mom or a dad, You have those
things to be concerned about, and then sometimes you kind of
get drunk on the toys of the world. And they divert your attention
away from the things of God. Is anybody like that? Well, I
must admit, I'm like that. There are some times that I fall
asleep, as it were, on the job. You know what I mean? I'm not
always awake as I ought to be. I'm not always alert as I ought
to be to the glory of Christ or the beauties of Christ, the
majesty of Christ, the grace of God. These things aren't always
on my mind. I hate to pop your bubble. I
hate for you to know the truth about me, but I'm not always
spiritually minded. Are you? Are you? Well, I'll answer for
you. No, you're not. And that's who our sorrow is.
We ask the Lord, Lord, keep me ever awake to spiritual things. Lord, these things, they come
into my mind so quickly. We sit here and we rejoice in
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we go out these doors, and five
minutes after we're gone, Don't you find quite often that your
mind is distracted by something? And the things of the Lord, it's
like they just go right out of your mind. Do you find that to
be so? I'm just being honest. I used
to hear Brother Mahan say lots of times, honest people don't
wind up in hell. We've got to be honest. You're
not spiritually minded all the time. Don't tell me you are. Let's not be drunken with the
things of the world. Let's be sober. Let's be awake. Let's be active. Let's be on
the watch. Let's always be alert about spiritual
things. And I want to be that way. I
want to always be excited about the Gospel. I want to have Christ
Jesus on my mind 24-7. Don't you? But do you? No. We don't always walk on cloud
nine spiritually. It'd be nice to, but that's an
impossibility. Sometimes we get dull. I wish we didn't, but we do. Sometimes we get drunk with the
cares of the world. And sometimes we just don't act
like we ought to. I wish I always conducted myself
as a child of God ought to conduct himself. But I don't and I'm
sorry and I confess that to the Lord. I should always be spiritually
alert. I should always be watchful. I must admit sometimes I get
into a state of spiritual sleepiness. Am I by myself here? But listen, I've got some good
news for you. The Apostle has an encouraging
word for us even when we get in that state. Because when the
Lord comes back, as far as eternal happiness is concerned, as far
as us being with Him in glory, as far as our everlasting standing
in Him, our everlasting presence with Him is not determined by
whether when He comes back He finds us awake or asleep. It's
all dependent upon this. Did He die for us? See, that's the thrust of the
passage. Did He pay our debt of sin? See, look at the verse again.
Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, whether I'm
awake to the things of God when He comes back, or whether I'm
in a state of spiritual sleepiness, I'm going to live with Him forever.
For this reason, He died for me. Boy, if you can grasp that, that'll
float your boat. That'll put some wind in your
sail. Because He died for us. You've got to understand this.
Everlasting life and salvation are not in any way dependent
upon us, but on Him. And that's so encouraging. And
really that fact alone, that salvation is dependent upon Jesus
Christ, that ought to wake us up and make us sober minded. Salvation does not depend upon
our watchfulness. I want to be watchful. But it
doesn't depend upon my watchfulness and my salvation is not hindered
by my sleepy, drowsy frame that I sometimes fall into. Salvation is dependent upon the
Lord. Dependent upon His purpose, His
purchase, His preservation, and His power. Have you ever heard a preacher
You wouldn't hear it from this pulpit. And you wouldn't have
ever heard this from this pulpit, but from somewhere else, maybe
television or whatever, maybe when you were in false religion.
Have you ever heard a preacher say something like this? When
the Lord comes back, would you rather that He found
you in the prayer closet or watching television? Would you rather be in church
or in a movie theater. Now, I'm sure we all need to
spend more time in the prayer closet. Agreed? We need to spend more time in
the prayer closet. And we do have a responsibility
to be under the sound of the gospel. But understand this. The reason
we will live with the Lord forever is not because we spent time
in the prayer closet, and not because we attended church, though
we certainly love to be under the sound of the gospel. The
reason we will live with Him forever is this, He died for
us. Let's be very careful. that we
don't make salvation a matter of our faithfulness or our works. Salvation is the Lord's work
and due to His faithfulness. When the Lord comes for us the
second time, those who are engaged in worship when He comes back
will join Him in the clouds and live with Him forever, and those
who are engaged in something frivolous We'll join Him in the
clouds and live with Him forever, because He died for us. I know some people have trouble
with this kind of preaching. And they say, you're giving people
a license to sink. You're giving people a license
to be sleepy. to get drunk on the things of
the world, because you've just said it doesn't matter what you're
doing. If Christ died for you, you're alright. Those who love
this gospel are not looking for an excuse for sin. We hate sin. And the fact that this gospel
is so precious to us, and we see the love of Christ in dying
for us, that just makes us more awake. It makes us more alert
to His glory. The salvation we enjoy is in
no way dependent upon us. And I'll tell you this, as we
did nothing to obtain it, We could do nothing to lose it.
And I surely wouldn't encourage anybody in there sin. But here's
the fact of the matter. If God appointed you to obtain
salvation through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're
alright forever. And you'll hate your sin. You'll
despise your sin. Because the Spirit of God will
show you Christ died for your sins. Rejoice evermore! Who is to rejoice evermore? Those
who are enlightened by grace, those appointed unto salvation,
those in whose stead Christ died. What a happy duty! Rejoice evermore! That's a happy duty! Mr. Spurgeon
said, this is a sunny precept! I like that. It's a sunny precept. It's full of life. It's full
of joy. What a pleasant commandment.
Rejoice evermore because we're children of light. Because God
has ordained us to obtain salvation. Because Christ has died for us.
Rejoice evermore. We ought to rejoice that there's
a commandment to rejoice evermore. Did you know that? The apostle speaks of rejoicing
as a perpetual duty that we are to carry out. There are some
things that can only be done one time. Some at another time. But rejoicing, it's forever. Forever. Rejoice evermore. When great
trials come to you, rejoice evermore. When sickness lays you flat on
your bed, rejoice evermore. When death visits your family,
rejoice evermore. That's why in the book of Philippians
the apostle writes, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I
say rejoice. Our brother read to us Psalm
42. David said, Why art thou cast down on my soul? Why art
thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance. I tell you,
sometimes we need to have a little talk with ourselves. And say, What's wrong with you,
self? Cheer up! Rejoice evermore! Look who has
saved you! You're going to be with Him forever!
You ever talk to yourself? Nancy's daddy used to talk to
himself a lot. And Nancy's mother would ask
him, she said, in fact, she'd call him an old fool. She said,
you old fool, why do you talk to yourself all the time? He
said, because there's nobody else around to carry on a decent
conversation with. Sometimes you need to talk to
yourself. What's wrong with you? Cheer up. Oh, but this is wrong. This is going wrong. Has God
appointed you to salvation through Jesus Christ? Has Christ died
for you? Has He put away your sins? Well,
listen. I like what Scott Richardson
said. I hadn't heard any bad news ever since I heard the good
news. He died for us. And this is not
a fleshly rejoicing. Because if your joys spring from
earthly foundations, those fountains will sooner or later be dried
up. And then your joy will be gone. But if your joy is in the Lord,
He doesn't change. And His purpose of grace doesn't
change. This is a spiritual rejoicing.
Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous. That's what the psalm said. Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord.
Thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel, Isaiah 41, 16.
Isaiah said, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments
of salvation. He has covered me with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels." And this is a joy that lost people
don't have. That's why Hosea wrote, and he
said to Israel, Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy is other people,
for you have departed from your God. The only ones who have this
joy and who can rejoice evermore are the Lord's people. We rejoice
in God the Father, delight thyself in the Lord. God is my exceeding
joy. That's what the psalmist said.
We rejoice in every attribute of God. Every characteristic
of God is an inexhaustible gold mine of precious joy. delight thyself in God as your
Father, that He adopted you into His family. He's not ashamed
to say, I'm your God and you're my child. Rejoice in God the Son who died
for you. Whoever lives to make intercession
for you, can you not rejoice in Him? Listen, He is Immanuel,
God with us. He's always been Immanuel, God
with us. There's never been a time when
He wasn't God with us. In the old covenant of grace,
God the Father gave us to Jesus Christ our surety. He was Immanuel
then, God with us. He is Immanuel when He came into
this world and bled and died for our sins. He's Emmanuel with
us now by His Spirit. He's a sympathizing Savior. He's never unfeeling toward His
people. Delight yourself in His blood
and in His righteousness. Rejoice evermore. And rejoice
in God the Holy Spirit. Rejoice in Him who dwells in
you, who has quickened you, who is comforting you, who is illuminating
you, who remains with you forever. Rejoice in God the Holy Spirit.
Yes, rejoice evermore. It's a delightful duty. Rejoice evermore. I'll give you
one more passage. Look over at Habakkuk. You know
this one. I want to read it to you. Habakkuk
chapter 3. Utah met some bleak, bleak days. Habakkuk writes about them in
the book of Habakkuk, the book that bears his name. Habakkuk
chapter 3 and verse 17 and 18. Habakkuk chapter 3, although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, the field shall yield
no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, there shall
be no herd in the stalls. Wow, that's bad. Yet, yet, I will rejoice in the
Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Children of God, children of
light, rejoice evermore.