I'm back to 1 Thessalonians chapter
4. We'll finish out this chapter,
Lord willing, tonight. I titled this message, Words of
Comfort. Words of Comfort. I could have
titled it Homecoming. I could have titled it Homecoming.
Because that's what it will be one day. When Frank was reading this, I thought down here in verse
17, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. You can read it like
this, and so shall we continue to be with the Lord, because
we're with him now. Not like we're going to be, And
we don't realize it as we ought to. But we're with him now. He's
with us. Where two or three are gathered
together in his name, he said, there am I in the midst of it.
He's here. We're truly gathered together in his name. He's here.
That's real. That's real. Now, last Sunday, we looked at
this chapter And Paul wrote to these Thessalonians about their
walk and their conduct being consistent with their calling.
And here he turns to comfort, the comfort of believers concerning
their loved ones who have gone on, who have fallen asleep, who
have died, but they've gone on to be with the Lord. And you
know these Gentiles, they didn't have the Word of God that we
have. They were all babes in Christ. They didn't have all
this writings and the whole Word of God that we have. And you
know what kind of paganism and idolatry and superstitions that
they had to be brought out of. And they were real concerned,
evidently, about what had happened to those who had fallen asleep.
Who had died. To them, they had died. To them,
they were dead. Paul lets them know they're asleep. It's a real comforting portion
of Scripture here. So Paul starts by removing their
ignorance of what happens to believers when they die, when
they lay this body down. Ignorance is one of our main
reasons for over much sorrow, isn't it? It's one of the main
reasons over much sorrow. You remember the story of Martha,
Mary, and Lazarus, and they were very sorrowful about their brother
leaving. It just crushed them. I want
you to turn over to John chapter 11, and look how our Lord handled
this, I guess you'd call it a delicate situation for them. In verse 21, this is after he
had died, then said Martha to Jesus, Lord, if thou had been
here, my brother had not died. What's that? That's ignorance,
isn't it? He didn't have to be there. He
was there. They just didn't realize it. Our Lord fills all places. He's omnipresent. There's no
place he's not. But they said if you'd have been
here, he wouldn't have died. But I know that even now whatsoever
thou would ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus said to her,
Thy brother shall rise again. He'll rise again. Martha said
unto him, I know he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last
day. I know, I believe that. I believe my brother's going
to rise again, but if you'd have been here, he wouldn't have died.
Well, in our relation, he's not dead. Listen to this. Jesus said
unto her, I am the resurrection. I am the event. I am the event. I am the resurrection and the
life. Martha, you're looking for Him
to rise in the last day in this event called the resurrection.
Well, Martha, I am the event. I am the resurrection. Now listen,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. He's alive. The body's dead, but he's alive,
just as alive as ever. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believers, now listen, believers
shall never die. Our bodies, now this body will
return to the dust for a while. It'll return to the grave. But
now you're not going to die. Paul said, be absent from the
bodies, be what? Present with the Lord. Do you
believe that? What you do that gives comfort. Therefore you
draw your comfort. So he starts by removing their
ignorance here. Now we do not know much about
what happens after a person has died. We don't know a whole lot
about it now. We don't know a whole lot. Scripture doesn't give us
a whole lot of insight into that world. We have never died and
come back, and we've never spoken to anyone that has done so, except
our Lord. You know, He's come back, and
He's told us, He's given this, this, He's given us this, that
we might know. And this knowledge will help
temper our sorrow. So Paul says here, I would not
have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. Now,
Paul's not condemning sorrow here. We do sorrow. We do weep,
and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with
weeping. Our Lord wept. At the grave of
Lazarus, it says Jesus wept. He wept over Jerusalem. It's
a part of our makeup. There's nothing wrong with that.
We sorrow, we weep because we miss their presence. We miss
them. And we miss their fellowship
and friendship. And we miss their love because
it was real, it was genuine. And we miss it. And there's nothing
wrong with that. And if we consider who they are
with and where they are, where they are, it will help temper
that sorrow. What better place, I thought this today as I was
writing these notes, what better place could they be With what
better person could they be with than the Lord Jesus Christ? What
better place? None. There is no better place.
There is no better person to be with. What Paul is dealing
with here is overmuch sorrow. The heathen would cut themselves.
They would show this excessive sorrow. I watched this on National
Geographic Channel the other day. This one tribe, I don't
forget what their name was, this one tribe, they would dig up
their relative that had passed away every year, one time a year,
they'd dig it up. And then they would go through
this and they'd unwrap it and they'd go through this whole
sorrowful thing and they would put it back in the grave and
they'd do it every year. Paul says, we don't do that. We don't do it because they're
alive. They are alive. And what Paul's dealing with
here is just overmuch sorrow here over these things. The believer,
his sorrow is moderated by truth, isn't it? Truth. Dealing with the truth. And here's
the truth. Those who have died in the Lord,
now listen, are asleep. Notice how he deals with this.
Speaking to those Thessalonians, he said they're asleep. They
are sweet. Their bodies have gone to the
grave, which is a bed. It's a resting place for the
body. That's what it is. It's a resting
place for the body until the resurrection of the body. But
the soul goes to be with the Lord. I already quoted that verse,
to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord. Now,
what body that takes between this time, I don't know. That
really doesn't matter, does it? Being with Him is all that matters.
That's what really matters. Get a hold of this. Get a hold
of this. Death may separate our union
to all earthly ties. And it will. It will. There'll be a time coming that
Vicki and I won't be husband and wife. Jason won't be called
my son. We'll be brothers and sisters.
We'll be brothers and sisters in Christ. That's what we'll
be, just as we are now in Him. But death may separate our union
to all these earthly ties. But now listen, it never separates
our union to Him. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. It never separates our union
to Him. All those who have gone on to
be with the Lord are doing well. Doing well. You know, the disciples when
our Lord said, He said, Lazarus sleepeth. That's how He spoke
of it. He said, Lazarus sleepeth. And
you know what they said? You know what their reply was? If he's asleep, then he does
well. If he's asleep, he does well. And those who have gone on to
be with the Lord, if they follow the sleeping Christ, They're doing well. They do well. But here's our source of comfort
in verse 14. If we believe, if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, faith in Christ, faith in His
death, resurrection, is a wellspring of comfort to everyone that believes
God. Faith in Christ. The object of
faith. Lord Jesus Christ. We believe
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
We believe that we were crucified with Christ, that we were buried
with Him, that we were risen with Him representatively, and
when we were born again, we were joined to Him, really joined
to Him by a new creation. Therefore, when we die, we shall
be with Him. The head is never without the
body. Where the head is, the body is.
We shall be with him where he is. Where he is. Then he says, even so, even so,
them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Every one
of them. Oh, you know what comfort this
brought to those Thessalonians. They had just come out of this
heathenism. They had come out of all this superstitious, imaginary
stuff of what went on after death, and all this other stuff that
just was nothing but imagination. And here's a great comfort, the
truth. The truth is this. They fall
asleep in Him. And they're alright. You know,
they are all right. And the note says, even so them
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. At no time, at no time does the Lord leave
His people. He doesn't leave them so He can
come after. No, He brings with Him. He brings
with Him. They're coming with Him. He's
not going to leave him back there and come by himself. They're
coming with him. At no time, at no time is that union ever
broken. He said, where I am, there you'll
be also. There's never a time when there's
a separation. That union is never broken. It's
just like my head, my body here. Where my head goes, my body goes.
You separate this union and it's dead. And he said, them which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And we say this to
you, he said, by the word of the Lord, upon the authority
of God's word. This is not speculation, this
is revelation. Paul said, I'm not speculating
here. I'm telling you the truth. This is what's going to happen.
And this is how it's going to happen. That we which are alive and remain
shall not prevent them which are asleep. There will be some who will be
alive on this earth when the Lord comes. There will be a remnant of believers
alive on this earth When the Lord comes, they shall be taken. It says over in Matthew 24, there
will be two women in a field. One will be taken and one left.
There will be two in a bed. One will be taken and one left.
There will be two grinding. One will be taken and the other
left. One will be taken to glory. And when He comes, there will
still be some alive on this earth and they will be taken. But not
before those whose bodies are in the grave are raised. They'll be raised and united
with that glorified body, and then we'll be taken. If it happened
tonight, if it happened right now, then we would be taken and
we'd be changed. We'd be changed. Now, this word prevent is an
old English word that means go before. We shall not go before
them. No, we shall meet them. We shall meet them. That's why
I said we could have called this a family reunion, homecoming
reunion. Now how's this going to happen?
How's this going to happen? He says in verse 16, 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. The Lord himself shall descend."
Yes, think. Think upon who's coming after
you. I read that over in John. He said, if I go and prepare
a place for you, he doesn't say, if I go and prepare a place for
you, I'll send for you. I'll send someone to get you
and bring you. No, he said, if I go and prepare
a place for you, I'll come. I'll come and receive you to
myself. I'll come. One writer said he's
on his way now. He's on his way now to come after
us. Coming after us. He's not going
to send a representative. He's not going to send an angel.
But the Lord himself is coming. King of kings and Lord of lords. coming. Most all the kings of
the earth, if they were going to come after somebody like me,
they'd think about it. If they were going to come after
someone like me, they'd send for me. They'd find a servant. They'd probably find a bellhop
or something and say, go get him. But the King of kings is coming
to get us Himself. Trophies of His grace. That's
what He's coming to get. You might send someone to get
a servant. Someone that works for you. But you don't send someone
to get your son. To get your children. You come
get them yourself. The Lord Himself is coming to
get you. And it will be no secret gathering. He's not going to slip in and
get you, then slip out. No, every eye is going to see
this. The archangel is going to announce,
the trump of God is going to blast. I mean, we have no concept
yet how this is going to be, but I know this, it's going to
be spectacular. It's going to be spectacular.
And I mean, there's going to be the sound, they said, the
voice of the archangel is going to announce his coming. And every eye is going to see
it. Everyone's going to hear it. It's not going to be a secret. See, this is the triumphant king
of glory coming to get his own. He's coming to snatch away his
own. That's what's happening. And the dead, it says, in Christ
shall rise first. We know several loved ones that's
gone on. He said their bodies are going
to rise first. They're going to be united to
that new body. And then we which are alive and remain are going
to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. It says in verse
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. What a glorious day this will
be. We will be with our Lord and we shall be made like Him. And shall be joined with our
beloved brothers and sisters. Joined there. This will be the greatest family
reunion ever. And Christ Himself will be the
center of attraction. He'll be the center of attention
among God's family. And when this happens, it says
here that we're going to be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. He's not going to step a
foot on this earth again. When this happens, He's going to destroy
this world, this earth. He's going to destroy it. And
He's going to create a new heaven and a new earth. And we're going
to reign with Him on that new earth. We're going to ever be
with Him. Ever be with Him. That's our
greatest comfort. Is this not our greatest comfort
right here? And so shall we ever be with the Lord. This is temporary. What we endure here, what we
go through here, is temporary. That's eternal. That's forever.
This is a little while. That's why Paul calls it these
light afflictions. It don't seem like it, but Paul
says compared to that weight of glory that's coming, These
things are but light afflictions. Ever to be with the Lord, never
to separate, never to wander, never to sin, and never to die. When we die, one writer said,
when we die, that'll be the death of death. We'll never have to
do it again. That'll be the end of it. Always
with Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Wherefore, verse
18, comfort one another with these words. The word of God
is a real source of comfort in all trials, isn't it? It really
is. It's really the only real source
of comfort in any trial, but especially during the loss of
a loved one, of a brother or sister in Christ. The Word of
God is the foundation and source of our hope in Christ, of our
hope of eternal glory. You know, it says back in verse
14, if we believe, believe what? That we believe the Word of God
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, His person and Word. That's what
we believe. And the only real comfort that
we can give someone is what God has given to us in His Word.
That's the only real comfort you can give. That's what God's
given to us in His Word. Anything else is a lie. We cannot
comfort those who have no hope, who have never believed Christ,
who've lived for themselves. But we can comfort. We can comfort those who have
fled to Christ for refuge. Oh, we can comfort them. Those
who have Christ as their all in all, we can comfort. Based on the Word of God, we
can comfort. They have a sure and abiding hope and can take
comfort with these words. Well, that was short, but that's
sweet, wasn't it? That's short but sweet. It is
to believers.