Good evening everyone. Tonight's
message is called Forever with the Lord. Tonight we'll be continuing
our study in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We'll look at the
last two verses after we look at verses 15 and 16. Let's read
verses 15 to 18 of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of an archangel, and 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. Now, when a saint of God
dies, they are promoted to glory. As Brother Norm Wells has often
said, they receive their promotion and they are present with the
Lord. We see in our text in verse 16, the Lord himself shall descend
from glory. Verse 16 says, for the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ
shall rise first. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself
shall descend from heaven. As I mentioned last week, he
will not send someone to represent him. No, it is the Lord himself
who shall descend. And when he comes, he will come
in the brightness of his glory. And every eye shall see him.
Behold, it says in Revelation 1, 7. Behold, he cometh with
the clouds and every eye shall see him. And they also which
pierced him and all the kingdoms of the earth shall wail because
of him. Even so, amen. God's elect who
are alive when our Lord Jesus Christ returns are going to witness
the great coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to
witness his glorious coming. And if we're alive, when he comes
back, we'll see this. We'll see the brightness of our
Lord Jesus Christ as he descends from heaven. We'll hear the shout
from the voice of the archangel. We'll hear the sound of the trump
of God. I ask you, does that sound like a secret rapture to
you? No, it's a very public coming, isn't it? And God's people are
looking for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the
desire and the longing of every born again believer's heart.
And our hearts rejoice in the one who's loved us and gave himself
for us, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gave himself for
his people. He gave himself as an offering
for the sins of his people. The sinless, spotless Lamb of
God dies for sinners at Calvary's Cross. Sheds His precious blood,
gives His life. And so the believer in Christ,
we wait with unspeakable joy in our hearts as we anticipate
that great day when our faith gives way to sight, whether it
be when the Lord returns or whether it be the day that we breathe
our last breath and we go into the presence of the Lord. We'll
see our blessed Redeemer in all his glory. And if we're alive,
when the Lord comes back, we'll see him descend in all his glory. Oh, what a great day of rejoicing
that'll be for the saints who are still alive at that time. Look at verse 17. It says, 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. Now, in this life, we walk by
faith. Sin's all around us, and sin
is in every one of us. We who are the redeemed of the
Lord are but saved sinners. And we're painfully aware that
as long as we're in this body of death, we will sin against
our God every day. We don't desire to do that, but
we do that. And we hate sin. We hate sin
in ourselves more than in anyone else. But even now we are assured
by God himself that Jesus Christ took care of all the sins of
his people when he paid the ransom price in full for them at Calvary's
Cross. when he, the sinless substitute,
died in the place of his people who are sinners. And the scripture
gloriously proclaims this wonderful truth, there is therefore now
no condemnation which is no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus,
Romans 8.1. We see in verse 17 of our text
that we'll be caught up together with them in the clouds. All
of God's born-again, blood-washed saints who are alive to this
coming will be caught up together with the Lord in the air. We
can only imagine what that is going to be like for the saints
who are living at that time. The resurrection of God's elect
from all over the world, getting their brand new bodies, and the
saints who are alive will be caught up together to meet them
in the clouds. Beloved of God, just think of
the thought of such a sight. knowing we will be in that blessed
number. That should excite us. That should
stir up in us to echo the words of the Apostle Paul with joyful
anticipation when he said, even so, come Lord Jesus. And our
text says we'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
That air is referring to our own atmosphere. Our Lord will
be close enough for the inhabitants of this earth to see him as he
descends from heaven. Let me share a couple of thoughts
concerning our Lord coming into our own atmosphere. First, one
of Satan's titles is the Prince of the Power of the Air, Ephesians
2.2. And the heir is spoken of in scripture as the spear of
Satan's power. He's called the prince of the
power of the heir. So what Paul is telling us here
is that the transfiguration and reunion of Christ's redeemed
ones will take place right in the heart of Satan's territory.
the lamb that was slain, and all the host of his elect shall
be victorious, and Satan shall be ashamed, mocked, and defeated. And today it appears that he
is loose for a little season, but beloved, Satan's days are
numbered. Now we're no match for him. Not
one of us on earth are a match for him, but oh my, our Lord
has crushed his head. Our Lord has crushed his head.
And King Jesus will throw the old serpent into the lake of
fire. And second, we will be caught up from this sin-cursed
earth to meet the Lord in the air. While our sovereign God
destroys the wicked with the brightness of His coming, while
He takes vengeance on those who don't know Him, those who do
not obey His gospel, when everything will be consumed with the brightness
of the coming of God's exalted Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, His
people, shall be caught up in the air to be with him forever. And not only will all the elements
in this whole universe be on fire, this world and everything
in it will be destroyed, burned up by God's consuming fire, but
a brand new heaven and a brand new earth will be created where
in dwells righteousness, the scripture says. So next, let
us consider a wonderful fact, which is bought out before us.
Bought out right before the saints of God in Thessalonians, verse
17, look at this. 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. Now look at that latter part
of this wonderful verse, verse 17. This is just pure gold. This is just pure. This is one
of the great gems of the scriptures. Oh, look at this. Look at this
wonderful truth brought forth. This brings forth when it says
here, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. This brings forth
the certainty that God's people will be with him forever. How
this warms my soul. I'm a poor undeserving sinner.
I'm a hell deserving sinner who's found grace in the eyes of the
Lord just like each of God's people. And the scripture here
proclaims that because of God's mercy and grace towards his people
in Christ we shall ever be with the Lord. Oh what joy floods
the souls of the redeemed ones of Christ when we ponder this
wonderful truth. The text says that God's born-again
blood-washed saints will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air,
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Beloved, heaven is
heaven because we will be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever.
Again, being with the Lord Jesus Christ is heaven. That's what
matters to every born-again saint of God. We want to be with the
one who loved us and gave himself for us. In this scripture before
us proclaims that we shall be with Him forever. Oh, we want
to see Him, don't we? We want to see our Savior in
all His glory. We want to look upon the one
who's redeemed our eternal souls. We want to look upon our wonderful,
merciful Savior who shed His precious blood to purchase our
eternal souls. We want to look upon the one
who was crucified and died and was buried and rose again the
third day for our justification. how we as believers long to see
Him. we will because the scripture
here before us proclaims that we shall be with him forever
and that's all based upon the pure free and sovereign grace
of God in Christ plus absolutely nothing. Beloved now we understand
even more why Paul said I have obtained mercy and oh what mercy
we see here before us. The Lord Jesus Christ will take
his people and they will be with Him forever in glory. Here, take
them from this sin-cursed world and they will be with Him forever. And oh, how again we want to
see Him in all His glory. Oh, how we want to be with Him
in this scripture here before us proclaims we shall be with
Him forever. And how this answers his high
priestly prayer. In John 17 verse 24, when our
Lord was here on this earth, our Lord said this, Father, I
will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where
I am. that they may behold my glory. And beloved, this verse right
here, this verse right here says, so shall we ever be with the
Lord. His prayer, his high priestly
prayer will be answered. Beloved, we shall be with him
forever. And we shall behold his glory. Oh, we're gonna behold the glory
of the one who purchased us, who redeemed our eternal souls,
who paid in full our great sin debt who satisfied the law and
justice in our place when he died at calvary's cross oh what
a hope we have and we shall be with him forever all because
of his mercy and all because of his grace which we know and
I would like to state again, is immeasurable. You cannot measure
the mercy of God and the grace of God, which he has shown to
his people. You cannot measure it. You cannot
plumb the depths of this great mercy and his great grace. Now
I want us to consider the security that the born-again, blood-washed
believer has in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this verse brings
forth that wonderful truth that right before us, that the redeemed
people of God shall be with the Lord forever. And it has nothing
to do with anything we do, nothing. This is all grace and mercy,
which flows from God the Father, through Christ Jesus our Lord
to his people who have been born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Again 1 Thessalonians 4 17 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. Nothing, absolutely nothing shall
prevent our continuing to be forever with the Lord, because
it is He who keeps us. It is He who has saved us. God
Himself has saved our souls. Death shall not separate us,
nor the terrors of judgment. Listen to how Psalm 23 6 goes
along with what Paul wrote here by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God. Psalm 23 verse 6 tells us that
the believer will be with the Lord forever. Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now, I'd like us to
look at a few points in this epistle. Do you know that we
see Paul speaking about the second coming of Christ in every chapter
of this wonderful book? He is inspired by the Holy Spirit
of God to do so, to write these things. So let us look and see
that the second coming of Christ is referred to repeatedly in
1 Thessalonians. Turn, if you would, to chapter
one, and we'll read in verse 10. 1 Thessalonians chapter one,
verse 10, and it says this. And to wait for his Son from
heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered
us from the wrath to come. God's people, while we're on
this earth, we wait for the return of our Savior. And he's either
gonna come and receive us at our death, or He will receive
us when He comes in all His glory. In chapter two, in verse 19,
the scripture says this, for what is our hope or joy or crown
of rejoicing are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at His coming? That's speaking of the second
coming of Christ. And then in chapter three, in
verse 13, the scripture declares to the end, He may establish
your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Look
at that. Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming
back with all his saints. And then in our text tonight,
we've seen spoken of how the Lord will catch us up if we're
alive, if we're alive, and that the dead in Christ shall be raised
first. That's their bodies. They shall be raised. And then
we which are alive, if we're alive at that time, at the time
of his return, we shall be translated. to meet the Lord in the air,
and so shall we ever be with Him, or be with Him forever.
And now, actually, let's look at chapter five, too, in verses
one to 11. It speaks of the second coming
of our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture
declares, but of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no
need that I write unto you. Just know that He's coming back.
You don't have to speculate when the Lord's coming back. Just
know He said He's coming back. He's gonna come back. The scriptures
declare he's gonna come back, so it's certain that he's gonna
come back. He told us that he would come
back. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh
as a thief in the night, when no one expects it. 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. There will be no one who will
escape the wrath of God, no one. You see, the wrath of God's been
satisfied in the place of his people by the Lord Jesus Christ. But all those outside of Christ,
just like all those who were outside the Ark of Noah, the
wrath of God's gonna fall upon them. And it says in verse four,
but ye brethren are not in darkness that they should overtake you
as a thief. You are all the children of light. Well, the only one
who's made us to differ from the children of light and the
children of darkness is God. And the children of the day,
we are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not
sleep as do others, 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, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an
helmet, the hope of salvation. And don't forget, the whole armor
of God is Christ. The breastplate of faith? Well,
who's our faith in? Christ. And love? Who do we love? The Lord Jesus Christ. And for
an helmet, the hope of our salvation. Who's the hope of our salvation?
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is. And then look at this wonderful
verse. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. See, God is the only one who
makes us to differ. We don't make ourselves to differ.
God has not appointed His people to wrath. That wrath fell upon
Christ in our place. It says, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, never forget, never forget that salvation
is a gift. Faith is a gift of God. Salvation
is a gift in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in Him alone.
And then look at verse 10, it says, who died for us? He lived
upon this earth. He walked upon this earth. He
hungered like we hunger. He thirst like we thirst. And
then it says he died for us, but he did all that without sin.
Now we're full of sin. He's the totally sinless one.
Sinless, spotless lamb of God who died for us. He really died.
But then the scripture says, oh, he was raised for our justification,
doesn't it? It says, look at this though,
who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, so whether
we are living or dead, we should live together with him. Well,
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another,
even as also you do. Don't tear each other up. Don't
look for fault with one another. Comfort one another with these
scriptures. Comfort one another with the truth that the Lord
Jesus Christ is coming back. Edify one another. Build one
another up. Esteem each other better than oneself. Esteem your
brothers and sisters in Christ better than you. Always remember,
Christ must increase and we must decrease. And in this book and
in 2 Thessalonians, Paul does not mention an earthly reign.
This is the second coming of Christ he's speaking of. And
the fact that we will be with the Lord forever, he's speaking
of his eternal reign. In Daniel chapter 7 verses 13
and 14 the scripture says this I saw in the night visions and
behold one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven
and came to the ancient of days and they bought him near before
him and there was given him dominion and glory in the kingdom that
all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion
is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away in his kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed So we see then that Paul's terminology
implies that he's speaking of the eternal kingdom of God. And
beloved of God, as we have received him, so shall we walk in him,
whether in life or in death. And we have received eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now let's look at the last
verse of chapter 4 here, which will be our closing verse for
tonight's study. It says this, Wherefore comfort
one another with these words. Comfort one another. With the
truths concerning our loved ones who have fallen asleep in Christ,
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Their bodies went into the ground, but their soul and spirits in
glory. They're in the presence of the
great King, and they're waiting for their glorified bodies. But
they're in the presence of the Lord. And never forget, too,
they're free from all sin. They're free from all temptations
of sin. They're free from every evil thought, from all pain,
physical, mental, and spiritual. They're free from all the worries
and concerns of this world and this life. Free. And not only
are they enjoying the fellowship of all those who died in faith,
not only are they enjoying the company of our Lord's elect angels,
Most of all, the saints who have died and went to be with the
Lord are in the presence of the true and living God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who purchased them with his own precious blood.
They're in his presence, beloved. They're looking upon the one
who shed his precious blood to redeem them at Calvary's cross,
to purchase them, to save them from all their sins. They're
looking right now, right this second, they're looking upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are right now enjoying
sweet fellowship with him, sweet fellowship with him, with the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you this, They're
continually dazzled by the brightness of his eternal glory. They're
in continuous awe of our Lord Jesus Christ. So let us then
comfort one another with these truths. And let us comfort one
another with these words that our Lord Jesus Christ is coming
again to receive all those for whom he died. And if we are alive,
if we are alive when our Lord Jesus Christ returns, we will
be caught up to meet him in the air. And so shall we ever be
with the Lord, the scripture here declares. Oh, how thankful
we should be that this life with all its sorrows and painful trials
is only temporal. It's only temporal, beloved.
Our life with our blessed Redeemer in heaven is eternal. The scriptures
here declare, we shall be with him forever. Oh, how that warms
my soul, beloved. How that warms the soul of this
saved, redeemed sinner. Is it so for you? Does it thrill
your heart to think that the very one who purchased you with
his precious blood, if you're a believer, that you're gonna
be with him forever? That you're secure, even right
now, or upon this earth? The scripture says, so shall
we ever be with the Lord. So when we breathe our last breath,
we're going to be in his presence forever, all because of his mercy
and his grace. Our life with our blessed Redeemer
in heaven is eternal, beloved. And soon, very soon, we'll join
those who've gone on before us. At our death, we'll be ushered
into heavenly bliss, where there'll be no more sin. No more temptation
to sin. Can you imagine that? No more
sin. No more temptation to sin. No
more evil thoughts. No more proneness to wander.
No more sorrow. No more pain. No more worries. No more concerns about this world
and this earthly life. No more. But most of all, we'll
be where we want to be. We'll be where we desire to be.
And that's in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King
of glory. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words. Let me leave you with this sobering
thought, the sobering truth. Heavenly bliss with Jesus Christ
is just as real as this very world we're living in. But so
is hell and eternal torment. That awful place is the eternal
habitation of all who refuse to believe that Jesus Christ
is the sovereign Lord over heaven and earth. All those who refuse
to bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ, all those who refuse
to believe he has saved his chosen people by paying the ransom price
in full for their sins with his own precious blood, all those
who reject these truths will suffer the eternal wrath of God
in hell forever. Brethren, beloved of God, we've
already suffered the wrath of God in Christ Jesus, our substitute. The wrath that was due us was
poured out upon him in our place. And this was revealed to us under
the preaching of the gospel. 1 Peter 2, verses 8 and 9 says
that Jesus Christ is a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense. Even to them would stumble at
the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should
show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. The wicked have no excuse. They
don't want Christ. and they will go to hell with
no one to blame but themselves. Those who go to heaven. Well,
we give all the glory to our great God because salvation's
of the Lord, all of it, in its planning, in its execution, and
in its application. God's sovereign grace and mercy
has been bestowed upon those for whom Christ has died. God's
sovereign grace and mercy have been shown and bestowed upon
his people, those for whom Christ died for, and it is God who makes
the difference. It is God who has made us to
differ one from another. Glory be to our great God. Praise his mighty name. Amen
and amen.