Turn back with me now to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5. In this chapter, Paul deals with
the age-old problem of ignorant men trying to pinpoint the second
coming of Christ. Now this evidently was something
that evil men did all the time. The Jews attacked it from this
prospect that they rejected Christ as the Messiah and so they still
looked for a coming Messiah. And so they said the second coming
can't be because the first coming hasn't come yet. Then there were
others who tried to pinpoint in prophecy that second coming
of Christ and tell them that it was nearer at hand than what
it actually was. And so Paul deals with that,
I think, in II Thessalonians 2, he deals with that a little
bit. And he deals with it over in the book of Peter in a whole
other respect. And they said that there's no
such thing as the coming of Christ. They said, they've been talking
about this since the beginning, and it hadn't happened yet, and
it's not going to. So in this chapter, he deals
with this age-old problem. Well, why do men spend their
days chasing after things that are not revealed in the Scriptures?
Why do they chase after things they've clearly been told is
not for them to know? Our disciples asked the master
point blank about it. You remember what he told them?
Not for you to know. No man knoweth the day nor the
hour, no, not even the sun in that respect. So why do they do this? Why do
they chase after these things that have been plainly told is
not for them to know? Because they have no eyes to
see the glory of God in the gospel. That's why they do it. That's
why they do it. Why do they chase after these
supernatural gifts and evidences? Why do they look for signs? Because
they have no real work of God in their heart enabling them
to see the sufficiency and glory of Christ, our Redeemer. Watch
this here in verse 4. But he said, but you, brethren,
but you. He doesn't even deal with it.
He doesn't even deal with the problem. He just goes straight
to the believer, and here's what he tells them, but you, brethren,
are not in darkness. You're not in darkness that that
day should overtake you as a thief. You're not in darkness. This
is what men do who are in darkness. This is what men do. This is
what men chase after who are in darkness. They chase after
tongues, and they chase after all of these things. They chase
after programs, and they chase after days, and hours, and times,
and evidences, and signs, and all these things. They chase
after them, chase after them, chase after them. Why? Because
they're in darkness. But he said, you're not in darkness. You're not in darkness. that
that day should overtake you as a thief. God's people have
been delivered, Colossians 1.13, from the power of darkness. God's people have been delivered.
Ye are all, verse 5, look here in our text, verse 5. Ye are
all the children of light and the children of day, and we are
not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, verse 6, let us not
sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. Darkness and light, day and night,
sobriety and drunkenness, awake and asleep, these are the terms
that the apostle uses to describe the condition of believers and
their distinction from this world. You're not in darkness. You're
not of the night. You're of the day. You're not
asleep. You've been awakened. You're
not drunken. You're sober by the grace of
God. These are the terms the apostle
uses to describe these two kinds of people. And I say to you the
same thing that he said to them, don't be angry with them. Don't be angry with them. Don't
build walls that neither one of you can tear down. Don't make
unnecessary separations. You who are children of the day,
how come you to be children of the day? How did you get there? How come you're in the daytime
and your friends are still in the darkness? Why is that? How
did you get here? How did you get this knowledge?
Where did it come from? Did God see something in you?
Were you born with something that other men didn't have? How
did you get here? How did you get to be a child
of the day? Was it not by the grace of God? Didn't somebody come to you who
wasn't angry with you and say, come with me? Come with me. Come and hear a man speak from
the Word of God. Come with me. Didn't somebody invite you to
come and hear? Did not God arrange His providence
to give you an opportunity? Did not God Himself speak through
His Gospel to your heart? That's what Paul said to those
Thessalonians. When you heard the Gospel which you heard through
me, you heard it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth
the Word of God, which affectionately worketh in you that believe."
You heard God speak, not a man. Now, I'm not suggesting that
you run with them in their riot and rebellion. Peter said believers
no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, in
the lusts of men, but to the will of God, for the time past
of our life is sufficient. for us to have wrought the will
of the heathen when we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess
of wine, revelings, banqueting, and abominable idolatries. Wherein
now these people think it strange that you run not with them to
the same excess of riot, and they speak evil of you." You won't get that 24-pack and
go out on the river with them now. And they think that's the
strangest thing in the world. Strange thing. And they persecute
you over it. Believers love and care for the
souls of men and women within the bounds of God's grace. They'll
do whatever they can to get them to hear the gospel. Verse 8,
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and love and for in him the hope of salvation. Now
here is my text, verse 9. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
let me give you four things here to consider in the light of what
I have just said and what I have just read. First of all, I want
you to see this. There is an appointment to death. Yes, there is. Our Lord said
of Judas, He said it would have been better for him not to have
been born. It would have been better for
him not even to have been born. There is an appointment unto
death. In Hebrews 9, verse 27, the Apostle
Paul tells us, it is appointed unto men once to die. Who did
that appointment? Who appointed that? Who said
men have to die? Who numbered their years? Who
told them how long they could live before they died? Where
is this appointment of death? What's this all about? Romans
5.12 said, By one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
He goes on to tell us, by the offense of one judgment came
upon all men to condemnation. And in 1 Corinthians 15, he said,
as in Adam, all die. All die. Man fell in his father
Adam, and he's even now under the condemnation of God. He's
born in darkness. He lives in darkness. He thinks
in darkness. He's a child of the night. He
lives in the night. His whole character and conduct
is formed like those who live in the night. Our Lord said, if the light that
is in thee, now listen to this, be darkness. How great is that
darkness? If what you think you know is
darkness, how great is that darkness? If what you rest your eternal
soul upon is darkness, then how great is that darkness? If everything that you believe
in this world to be light is darkness, how great is that darkness? When I think back before the
Lord called me out of darkness, everything I thought I knew,
was wrong. Everything. I had everything
in the wrong place, everything backwards and upside down. And
that's the natural condition of every man. God said every
imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually. That's not just talking about
wicked thoughts, that's talking about his godly thoughts. Turn with me to Psalm 102. There
is an appointment to death, and it is a just and righteous appointment. And the evidence is overwhelming.
The Son of God came into the world a perfect man, an innocent
man, a man who did no evil, who did no wrong. He was goodness
incarnate. He was righteousness incarnate. He was kindness incarnate. When you saw Him, you saw the
Father. When you saw Him, you saw God. Great is the mystery of godliness. God came into the flesh. God was manifested in the flesh. Here is goodness. Did anybody
in this world recognize that goodness? Light came into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light. That's evidence. That's evidence of man's fallen
nature. It's overwhelming. This, our
Lord said, is condemnation. Now look here in Psalm 102, beginning
with verse 18. This shall be written for the
generation to come, and the people which shall be created shall
praise the Lord." Now, there's only one people that he talks
about after the creation in Genesis chapter 1 to be created. And that is that we're new creatures
in Him. We're created in Christ Jesus.
He's talking about believers. So this is talking to a believer.
This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people
which shall be created shall praise the Lord. For he hath
looked down from the light of his sanctuary from heaven, did the Lord behold
the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, and to loose
those that were appointed unto death." You see that? There is an appointment unto
death. Preacher, you can read all the scriptures you want to.
I just do not believe that all men are totally depraved and
are living out their days in darkness. I just do not believe
that I myself am walking around in darkness. Yes sir, and that's
an additional evidence of your total depravity. That's what
that is. Now some moron can write a book
And you'll read that thing like it's the Word of God. Huh? You'll
read that thing. Look at this. Look at what this
man says. You'll hang on that thing. But
somebody can open the Word of God to you and read it to you,
and in two-syllable words and one-syllable words, and you won't
have it. That's evidence of your depravity. Total disregard for the Word
of God, the Gospel of God, and the Messenger of God. And that's
what the Scripture said, the natural man, that man in darkness,
he receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness
to him. What are those things? This book. This book is inspired by the
Spirit of God. He's not going to have that. What else? The Gospel. The Spirit of God
attends the Gospel. Foolishness stuff. The revelation of God? Foolishness. That's another evidence of this
darkness. No fear of God before your eyes. There's only one true and living
God, eternal, sovereign, holy, and just. One who has demonstrated
His holiness and wrath in the death and judgment of the world.
Thousands, thousands of men and women slain by the holiness of
God, who destroyed the world and all but eight souls in His
judgment and holiness, who killed His Son on Calvary out of holiness
and justice. And thousands in Israel, their
carcasses fell in the wilderness because of their disregard for
His Word. Yet men go on and persist in
their rebellion and sin. There's no fear of God. That's
what Paul said before their eyes. If you feared God, you'd reverence
His Word. If you feared God, you'd bow
to His means. And if you feared God, you wouldn't
stand so proud defending the very religion that's deceived
your soul and going to take you to hell. No fear of God before their eyes. He said, there's none that understandeth,
and there's none that seeketh after God. If you were seeking
after God, you'd be taking every advantage to hear His Gospel.
If you were seeking after God, you'd be hungry for His Word.
If you were seeking after God, you'd be of a contrite heart.
You'd be humble. None that understandeth. The
Word of God is a closed book. It's a mystery. All you can get
out of it is a few moral stories, some do's and don'ts, and a few
promises, which most men and women take out of context. And
the few things you think you know, you believe, having rested
the Scriptures to your own destruction. There is an appointment unto
death, spiritual death, total depravity, absolute darkness
and inability. You despise everything about
God, the living and true God. And the only thing in this world
that can do you any good is for God to send you a preacher and
tell you the truth. But you won't have it. Why? Because
you're dead. You're dead in trespasses and
sins, deceived by worldly religion and bound in chains of darkness.
There is an appointment unto death. But here's the good news. God has a people He has appointed
to obtain salvation. Out of those that are dead, out
of those who wandered their lifetime in darkness, out of those fallen
men and women, God has a people that He appointed to obtain salvation. If it wasn't for that, they wouldn't
hear. They'd be just like all the rest. They were chosen in
Christ to be blessed. Predestinated, the Scripture
said, unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Made
accepted in the Beloved, have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sin. God hath abounded toward them
in all wisdom and prudence, caused them according to His sovereign
eternal purpose to obtain an incorruptible inheritance according
to the good pleasure of His will. God arranged His providence for
them, decreed the time and the place of their awakening, ordained
the means and ways to recover His banished, and sent His sovereign
Spirit to take the words of life and create them anew. causes
those words they hear to be effectual in their hearts and minds. God
has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said to those Thessalonians
that God had from the beginning chosen them to salvation. And
here again, he's telling them the same thing. Not to the possibility
of it, Not to a helping hand to get up and take it. Not just
the first step and you take the rest, but to obtain it. To obtain
what? To obtain salvation. To have
it. And that salvation they were
chosen to obtain would come through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. whereunto He said, He calls you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And the rest of this unbelieving
world who receive not the love of the truth, that they might
be saved. God has sent and even now is sending a strong delusion
that they might believe a lie and be damned. And the only reason
you're in this place today and not out there babbling in an
unknown tongue and falling out in the aisle with some kind of
spiritual trance, and the only reason you're not out there listening
to some educated man babbling in Latin what he thinks he knows
something about, the only reason you're here this morning instead
of being lost in religious programs and ceremonies is because God
has appointed you to obtain salvation. That's exactly right. That's
the only reason. Grace of God. Grace of God. And I'm telling you this, I don't
care how beautiful it appears, I don't care how sacred it feels,
I don't care how spiritual it seems, this world is appointed
to wrath. And wrath is what they even now
are experiencing. I just keep reading this Scripture
here in John 3, 36. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. He can't see it. He's not ever
going to see it. He's not ever going to see it.
He's not ever going to figure it out. He shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him. But God hath not appointed us
to wrath. but to obtain salvation. And then thirdly, this appointment
is to obtain salvation. To obtain it is to have it. It's
to have it. It's to possess it. It's to enjoy
the benefits of it. What good would it be to be appointed
unto salvation and never obtain it, never have it? Where would
be the joy? Doesn't the Scripture talk about
rejoicing? You are the circumcision which
worship in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Well, you couldn't
rejoice if you didn't have hope. If you hadn't obtained it, what
are you going to rejoice about? You'd be mourning. To obtain
it is to have it, to possess it, to enjoy the benefits of
it, to rest in the knowledge that it's mine. Richard, do you
believe a person can know that they are a child of the promise? Do you believe a man can know
that? John said we could. He said we
could. Listen to this, John 2, verse
3. And hereby we do know that we
know Him if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him." What commandments? What's he talking about? Well, He commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. To repent. Do you? Are you turning in your mind
and heart? Do you see things and turn from
them? Do you see what's in you and
turn from it? 1 John 3, verse 23 said,
this is the commandment that we should believe on the name
of His Son, Jesus Christ. Do we? Do we? That name that God has
proclaimed in the gospel for His Son manifested in His Son. Do we believe in that name? All those born of God do. It's
commanded of all those who believe in God to maintain good works.
Do you? It's commanded of God to forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together. It's commanded of God for believers
to be baptized. It's commanded of God for believers
to submit to all authority, parental, civil, spiritual. And believers
do. The salvation of which Paul speaks
can be known. It's evidenced by true repentance. It's evidenced by faith in Christ
Jesus. And it's evidenced by a change
in attitude and spirit. My friends, salvation is not
in some isolated experience. It's a new creation. It's a new
life. It's a new direction. And all
those who believe God are sealed, he said, with that Holy Spirit
of promise. All those who have the Spirit
of God dwelling in them rest in the promises of God. They
rest in them. It's treasure to them. They lay hold on them. And they
rest their eternal souls. on those promises. They find
peace in Him. They find mercy in Him. They
find grace in Him. They find love in Him. They find
preservation in Him. And they find the only piece
of common ground that they can have with one another in Him.
Huh? Take away the grace of God in
Christ, you and I couldn't get along five minutes. This is the common ground. His
promises are not empty dreams that pass in the night, but a
solid, substantial foundation for hope and rest. By God's immutable
oath and promise, we have strong consolation, Paul said, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before. Lay hold
on it. That's to possess it. That's
to take hold of it. There was lots of folks passed
by that old Jerusalem and it was down there in rubble. But
it was a picture of this work. And the prophet said, is it nothing
to you, all you that passed by? You just passed by and said,
boy, ain't that something? And just keep on walking. Folks come in here all the time
and do that. Come in here and listen, go out the door. Boy,
wasn't that something? I want to see them again. sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. Promising never to leave us or
forsake us. Promising to reveal to us the
living God. Promising to preserve us through
trials and chastise our disobedience and perform the work He began
in us unto the day of Jesus Christ. God make this preacher to realize
that among those precious ones gathered here today, is a people
highly favored of God and appointed by His grace to be joint heirs
with Christ and sons of the living God. Cause my heart and mind
to speak comforting words to them, but to in no way offer
an unsanctified peace to any that believe not on Him. There
is an appointment to death. Sin entered and death reigned. But God has not appointed all
to wrath, but some to obtain salvation, and not to look at
it from a distance in despair, not to see it out there and try
to reach for it, but to have it, to obtain it, to rejoice
in it, and find rest and assurance for their souls. And then last
of all, and by no means least of all, this salvation can only
be obtained through our Lord Jesus Christ. who died for us
that whether we wake or sleep, we should live with Him forever. I think it's in Colossians chapter
3, he said, you are dead. And your life is hid with Christ
in God. And when He shall appear, we'll
appear with Him. That's our hope. That's our hope. It's all together in Him. Whether
we've been awakened out of spiritual sleep and made children of the
day or we pass from this world and lay asleep in the grave,
salvation is ours in our Lord Jesus Christ who obtained it
for us, who took possession of it and sat down as our guarantor
at the right hand of God. It belongs to us. He ascended and took possession
of all heaven's blessings for us, our covenant head and surety,
our guarantor. And He accomplished our redemption.
He put away our sins. He ushered in an everlasting
righteousness. And He ever liveth to make intercession
for us. Seated at God's right hand, He
arranges all things, commands all things, preserves all things,
so that all things work together for good to you that love the
Lord. and for His glory. Assurance is in Christ, our salvation. It's not faith in your faith
that gives you peace. Well, sometimes I just don't
do what I ought to. I never do what I ought to. Never
do. Paul said he couldn't either. Things that he would do, he didn't.
Things that he wouldn't do, that's what he did. That's not my hope. My hope is in Christ. And it's
not confidence in your confidence. Boy, if I could just stand back
and look at my faith. Faith ain't your Savior. Christ
is the Savior. Get your eyes off your faith
and put your eyes on Him. That's what strengthens faith.
You see the difference? Men are running around looking
for signs and evidences and do this and do that so I can be
sure I have this faith. If you have Christ, you have
faith. Do you see that there is the biggest difference in
the world in laying hold of Christ and trying to justify your faith? That one who occupies the throne
for us is none other than the God-man, Christ Jesus. In this
man who sits as our representative in glory is all the attributes
of God engaged for the salvation of your soul. In Him, Paul said,
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are
complete in Him who is the head of all principalities and powers. I said all that to say this,
verse 11, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Wherefore, wherefore, comfort
yourselves together. How? By pointing each other to
Christ. By rejoicing in Christ. By testifying
to one another what Christ has done for you. Comfort yourselves
together and edify one another even as also you do. Is there anything that brings
peace and comfort to your soul more than thanking upon the redeemer?
Anything out there? What brings peace and comfort
to your soul? Is there anything that thrills
you, excites you, or inspires you more than thinking upon God's
Savior for sinners? If there is, can I give you some
good advice? Get rid of it. Get rid of it. Take it out to the dung heap
and throw it away with the rest of the trash. Get rid of it. and then come to Christ. May
the Lord be pleased today, if never before, to reveal to you
His glory in Christ Jesus. That's where it all is. He that
hath the Son hath life. He that hath the Son hath wisdom.
He that hath the Son hath resurrection. I am the resurrection, he saith. He that hath the Son hath all
things. I'm not trying to get you to
join a club. I'm not trying to get you to do anything except
come to Christ. Don't move a muscle, Barnard
said, but come to Christ. Come to Christ. Look to Him.
Rest in Him. Bow to Him. Follow Him. Follow
Him. Why just don't understand these
things? Study Him. Study Him. That's where they're
revealed.