1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 15
this morning. You remember last time we concentrated
on the first four words really of verse 14, for if we believe,
Paul is encouraging and exhorting the brethren to to be aware,
to be comforted, to be encouraged, to not be ignorant. And he declares
in verse 14 there how that's all going to be true if we believe
faith. And it's very specific faith.
It's not the kind of faith religion talks about where if you just
believe, you know, strong enough that that your loved one's not
going to die, then they won't. That's not faith. The Lord has
appointed and the man wants to die. We don't know when that
is. God hadn't told me when you're gonna die and when I'm gonna
die. If I come to die, don't believe that I'll get better. Believe that God is good and
right whether I do or don't. If we believe what we just sang,
Christ's crucified, if we believe that Jesus died, if we believe
that the Son of God laid down His life for sinners. That's
the faith that'll encourage us and give us hope concerning our
loved ones who are gone and concerning ourselves. If we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, then I'm not worried about my loved
ones that are asleep in Him. because I know who he is, if
he died for sins, then sins are put away. And then the reason
I'm talking about verse 14 again is because verse 15 says, for
this we say unto you, for, because seeing that's true, seeing if
we do have faith in him who died and rose again, then we believe
also that 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. Let's talk about that verse for
a minute. The word prevent means to precede or to come before.
Those who are gone from this earth may be forgotten by this
world, and they are. And let's be honest, even those
that we love, and this is gracious and merciful of the Lord, they're
forgotten by us to some extent, aren't they? I don't wake up
every day thinking about my dad. Now, I do think about him quite
a bit. But time heals that initial pain. But this world completely
has forgotten him and everybody that's gone after a while, even
the most famous of people. Think about them during your
day. Don't even remember their names, most of them. Those who
were in their day, the talk of the town, are here today and
gone tomorrow. But I'll tell you this, if they're
asleep in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord hadn't forgotten about
them. They're uppermost in His mind. We're not gonna precede
them. We're not gonna come before them. They're with Him now in
spirit. And when He returns to this earth
triumphant, having redeemed by his precious blood all of his
elect people, body and soul. Their souls are with him now,
but he's redeemed their bodies too, and he will first claim
the bodies of those whom he has redeemed who have fallen asleep
in him. What's uppermost in our mind
is what's going on down here, but not so the Lord. He has a
host of his elect that are with him right now, and he's going
to come get their body. That's his first order of business,
is to redeem their bodies, their vile bodies and make them like
unto his glorious body. Now Paul includes himself here
in the we. Did you notice that? We which
are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. Almost sounds
like he expected the Lord to come back while he was still
alive. Now, statement right there was a matter of some concern
to the Thessalonians and Paul addressed that later if you want
to jot this down in 2nd Thessalonians 2 verses 1 through 3. There was
some concern that the Lord was going to come back not undue
concern I'm sure not that it would be a bad thing if he come
back right now but some were thinking well you know we just
They were probably having some of the false reactions that many
have had to that idea, perhaps. And he addressed that in those
verses there, if you want to jot that down. 2 Thessalonians
2, 1 through 3. But we now, today, us sitting
here, we're not waiting for anything. but him to come back. There's
nothing that needs to happen before. There's no reason to
believe, as far as I know anyway, maybe there is. I'm sure in God's
purpose and design, there are some things that will happen
before he comes back in this world. But I'll tell you this,
I'm not waiting for things to happen, I'm waiting for him.
Does that make sense? Well, he can't come back until
this, this, and this happens. You don't know what you're talking
about. But we're not waiting. There's no reason to believe
that he couldn't come back right now. And that's important now. May we live with such an expectation
of our Savior that we assume that at any moment, He's gonna
keep that promise. He will keep the promise. We
don't know when, but we assume that he could do so right now.
He said, if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself. And that's what Paul's talking
about here, that where I am, there you may be also. Whatever
you're worrying about right now, and don't act like you're not
worried about something, because you're just like I am. You're
worried about something. What is it? What's your primary worry
right now, as a dad, as a mom, As a wife or a husband, as a
child even, what's the thing that's in the back of your mind
that's perhaps some thorn in the flesh? Let me ask you a question.
Whatever it is, your greatest worry right now, what difference
will it make if the Lord comes back today? What difference will
it make? That's how we should live. What
difference will it make if the Lord comes back today? before
we leave this building this morning. How wonderful to be occupied
with the business that he's given us to do, with the knowledge
that at any moment, in a moment, he said, just like this one,
just like this one, he said, in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, the trumpet shall sound. And the dead shall be
raised incorruptible and we shall all be changed in a moment. Why not this moment? And then
notice in our verse here, it's by the word of the Lord that
we have this hope. We believe on Christ and it's
by his word, Christ revealed in his word, not as he's talked
about in religion. But as he's revealed in his word,
it's by the word of the Lord. Thank God for the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Thank God. Today. The glorious news of the Son
of God, the God Man Redeemer. Will fall upon my ears. And again. My heart will be waiting for
him. My hope will be. him and his return, his promise
that he'd come back for. You know what, we think the solution,
you know what the solution to your worries are, to your problems
are, is? We think, well, if this event
will happen or if that event will happen, then my worries
will be over. You know, there's just another stack of worries
right behind this stack. You understand that, right? You
know what the solution to your problems is? The Lord Jesus Christ
coming back. That's the end of it right there.
That's the end of it. He said, I'm going to come back
for you. and you're gonna be where I am, and there aren't
any worries there. There aren't any tears, there aren't any sorrows,
there aren't any fears, there aren't any worries there where
he is. And so by the word of the Lord,
we have hope. He said, comfort one another with these words.
John said, even so come quickly, Lord Jesus. And we echo that
sentiment. And so I'll rest easy concerning
those whom I love who are asleep in him. By the word of the Lord,
I have hope. And then look at verse 16 just
for a minute. For the Lord himself. I like
that he's not going to send an emissary. Not going to send an
angel or one of the Saints. He's coming for us himself. He'll 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." Here again, we see his first order of business,
it seems, when he returns, will be to reunite the bodies and
souls of those who have been with him since they went to sleep. We think that what's happening
on earth takes priority, but we're wrong about that. Those who are gone, to some extent
at least, from our experience and even our memory, are present
with the Lord. They are present with the Lord.
They may be an afterthought now to us, but they are present with
the Lord. And we will not precede them
in this thing. The Lord's not gonna send somebody.
You know what his promise was? He said, I will come again. And that's what's gonna happen. I'll come again and receive you.
The Lord himself. You know the scriptures are full
of that. The Lord himself. He by himself purged our sins. He himself shall take possession
of those whose sins he purged. The angels Acts 1 11 said that
the Lord Jesus Christ would so come in like manner as you have
seen him go into heaven Just like he ascended That's how he's
coming back bodily the same Jesus this same Jesus And it says he'll
come with a shout The only ones that were shouting when he came
the first time were the angels, because they had some idea of
what was taking place. But this is a shout of triumph.
The trumpet of victory and fanfare will be sounded. Can you imagine
the glory of it? Human beings try to create fanfare
and celebration with our voices and the instruments that we've
created. But the glory of this can only
be imagined The first time our Lord came to this earth, it was
quiet and humble. Very few people celebrated it
or even knew about it. But when he comes back, Revelation
1, 7, every eye shall see Him. Every eye. How is that even possible? We're talking about God that's
how. We're talking about God. And they also which pierced Him,
and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. He
has redeemed a people out of every kindred, tribe, nation,
and tongue under heaven. But there are also those out
of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue who are not going
to be happy to see Him. They're not going to be celebrating
his return. They're going to wail. And it's just the beginning
of wailing. When he came before, it was in
low estate, in somber circumstances. He was as a root out of a dry
ground, Isaiah said. The earth, for hundreds of years,
God had been silent. There'd been no revelation from
God. You can imagine what this world was like. But then he's
coming with grandeur and magnificence. Before, he came to die in the
place of His people for their sins. But He comes again as described
in Revelation 118, I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold,
I'm alive forevermore. And have the keys of hell and
of death. He came before to redeem us,
but then to take possession of us. I like the way Paul describes
this in Hebrews 927. Listen to this. As it was appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ
was once offered. To bear the sins of many. And
unto them that look for him, shall he appear the second time?
Remember the rest of it? Without seeing. unto salvation. He came to bear sins the first
time. The second time he comes, there won't be any sins. They're
gone. Where are they? He took them from me. I don't
have any. He doesn't have them with him or on him anymore. When
he comes back, where are they? They're gone. They're behind
God's back. They're as far as the east is
from the west, from us. They're in the depths of the
sea. Our Redeemer, the one who did
come and bear the sins of many. Those many whose sins he bore,
he's coming back to possess. The ones who are gone, we won't
precede them. He's gonna raise their bodies
first, and then we're gonna be caught up with them in the clouds.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord. I don't know about
you, but the stuff I'm worrying about today, There's not much
to it. Let's wait on him. Not just Biden
time, but hanging up on him. Depending upon him. Looking for
him. Anxiously. Desiring his return
even so. Come quickly. Lord Jesus. Let's pray.