What a blessing. We're going
to start with verse 1, and I'm not going to hurry. We'll go
as far as we can go tonight and pick it up later in another service. But Paul, in verse 1, writing
to this beloved church of whom he said, I know you're God's
elect. You remember reading that a while ago? I know you're God's
elect. You've heard the gospel. You received it. You believed
it. You followed the Lord. You were
examples. From you sounded out the word
of God. You were witnesses. You turned from your idols to
serve the living God, and you're waiting for his return. And those
are marks of the elect. And then he says here in chapter
5, verse 1, But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you
have no need that I write unto you. Now Paul's talking about
the second coming of Christ. He's talking about the return
of our Lord to this earth. Is he saying that it's not necessary
to preach the second coming of Christ? Is he saying it's not necessary
for him to write again and again to these people to encourage
them to look for his return? That's not what he's saying.
That's not at all what he's saying. It's necessary to speak often
of the return of our Lord. He did. He did. Before he left here, when he
was comforting his disciples, this is one of the ways in which
he comforted them. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And when I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again. I will come again. And he emphasized
that over and over, over and over. I will come again and receive
you unto myself. That where I am there, you may
be also. Our Lord, the angels declared his return when he took
his disciples out to the Mount of Olives and blessed them. and told them to tarry in Jerusalem
till they be endued with power till the Holy Spirit comes upon
them. And then he was taken up from them into heaven. They stood
and watched him go. And immediately the angels of
God appeared to them and said to them, ye men of Galilee, why
do you stand here gazing up into heaven? I'm sure they stood there
and gazed till he was clear out of sight. And they just stood
there. They saw him, he talked to them,
blessed them, he's gone. And they said, this same Jesus
will come again. And like matters, you've seen
him go. That's the first message after he left, coming back. And
right across the page here in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, Paul himself
said 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. So our Lord preached His return.
The angels declared His return. The apostles declared His return.
And on down here in chapter 4, look at verse 17. I just read
16. And when He comes, the dead in Christ shall rise, and then,
verse 17, 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, that's the believer's comfort,
that our Lord's coming back. He will return. And John wrote
this. First John 3 said, Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us. that we should
be called sons of God. And it doth not appear what we
shall be, but when he shall appear, when he comes back, we'll see
him as he is and be like him. And he that hath this hope, what
hope? That the Lord's coming and we'll
see him as he is and we'll be like him, that he's coming back.
And he that hath this hope purifies himself. even as he's pure. So Paul's not saying here, of
the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need, I write to
you. He's not saying it's not necessary to preach and write,
that Christ is coming back. Tell you what he is saying. He
said, of the times and seasons, you have no need, I write to
you. If you're talking in terms of time, what year he'll come
back? What month he'll come back? What
day he'll come back? And there are a lot of day setters,
not a year setters. There are a lot of people talking
about 2000, talking about 2003. One fellow talked about 1994.
Of the times and seasons, will it be winter, spring, summer,
or fall? Now you have no need that I write things like that
to you. You have no need, first of all,
because nobody knows when he's coming. He said that. He said no man knows the day
nor the hour, not even the what? Angels in heaven when Christ
is coming. Nobody knows. Well, any time
some fella spends all his time talking about two more years
or three more years or four more years in the springtime of 2003,
turn it off. Nobody knows. It causes time-wasting, idle
speculation. That's exactly what it is. Our
Lord's coming, that's sufficient. Our Lord may come tomorrow, that's
wonderful. Our Lord may come in ten years,
that's all right too, wonderful. Or twenty or a hundred. He'll
come when He pleases the Father. And for me to sit around talking
about times and seasons and dates and years is idle speculation
and time-wasting when I can be looking into His glorious person
and work and His word and His grace and His goodness, His promises,
talking about things I know something about. And then thirdly, Paul
says this here of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no
need, I'll write unto you, and I'll tell you why. because true
believers do not need to know more than God's pleased to show.
I'm happy with that. If it were necessary or helpful
in any way for me to know when my Lord's coming to fulfill His
purpose, He'd reveal it to us. But evidently, He does not feel
that's necessary. And true believers do not need
to know what God is not pleased to show. The secret things belong
to God who reveal things to us. So I'll feast on the revealed
things and enjoy them immensely and leave the secret mysteries
to my Father. And I tell you this, He'll come
in the fullness of time like He did the first time when He
pleases God. For yourselves know, you believers,
He's talking to the brethren. You know perfectly that the day
of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. These are some
things I know. What do you know? Preach what
you know. Well, I know first it's the day of the Lord. It's
the day of the Lord. It's not the day of events and
advents and happenings. It's the day of the Lord. It's
the day when He's coming back. I'm looking for Him. I'm not
looking for a millennium. I'm not looking for a tribulation.
I'm not looking for a happening. I'm looking for a person. When
He comes back, I'll see Him as He is and be like Him. It's the day of the Lord. I know
that. Secondly, it'll be suddenly. Maybe tonight. Turn to Luke 12. Let's look at some verses in
Luke's gospel. Our Lord speaking about His return. Like I told you, He spoke often
of His return. Luke 12, 37. Our Lord says, Blessed, Luke
12, 37, Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh,
shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he
shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet, and
will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second
watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so blessed of those
servants, and this know, that the good man of the house had
known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched,
and had not suffered his house to be broken into. So be ye therefore
ready, for the Son of man cometh. At an hour when you think not, a friend of mine said to another
friend years ago, they were talking, he said, do you think the Lord
will come tomorrow? Oh, he said, I think not. He
said, at an hour when you think not, your Lord will come. That's what he said, huh? And I expect if I would ask you,
do you think you'll come tonight? I hope he will, but I just, no. You think not. It's the day of
the Lord and it's come suddenly. And it'll be expected and it'll
be awaited by his true church, but totally unexpected by this
world. I look at verse 3, the day of
the Lord, 1 Thessalonians 5, cometh as a thief in the night,
unexpected by the world. Suddenly, and verse 3 said, for
when they shall say, who is they? The world. This is not believers,
this is the world. When they shall say, peace and
safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them. We're talking
here about the suddenness of His coming. Now listen to me.
When they shall say, when the world says this, the church is
not saying this. Believers are not saying this.
Christ is not saying this. Natural men talk of peace, prosperity,
and safety. They promised themselves many
days like the wealthy man who filled his barns. He said, so
take thine eat. Thou hast many things laid up,
and thou hast many days. Peace, safety, prosperity. Then our Lord said when they're
saying that, sudden destruction, sudden destruction. The Lord
cometh upon them. He's coming to receive us. He's
coming upon them with judgment. He's not coming upon us. He's
in us. He's coming to receive us. I
received you to myself, but he's coming upon them suddenly, without
warning. And it'll all end. All of this
peace, so-called safety, prosperity, suddenly. Like a woman who's expecting
a child, but she doesn't know when, suddenly the pain starts. She said, we got to go. You sure? Got to go. Turn to Luke 17. Listen to what
our Lord says about that. Luke 17. Another statement He
makes in Luke. Luke 17, 26. Listen. This is what He's talking about.
The world, they still say peace and safety and we've got many
days and much time, no sense in being in a hurry, all these
things. In Luke 17, verse 26, our Lord
says this, And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be
in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, prosperity. They did drink, gaily,
happily, no worries. They married wives. They were
given in marriage. They had children. until the
day that Noah entered that island. And then the flood came, and
they were destroyed. When the world says peace and
safety, I think not. Many days, we're rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing. We're eating and drinking and giving in marriage, Christ comes. It's over. You
know, people talk about, listen, they'll talk about signs of the
times. Be careful now. I know that they're there. I know that God in his great
power and wisdom and purpose and plan has all things ordered. He has the time of Christ coming
set and the things that are leading to that coming. But we don't
know what they are. We're not able to read these
signs, and it's not necessary that we do. And people talk about
the signs. Well, all has been fulfilled. Listen to what our Lord said
in Luke 11 about that. Luke 11. You know, like they
say, well, Israel's gone back, and the homosexuality's rampant,
and church's apostate, and all these signs are pointing to an
imminent coming of Christ. Are we looking at these signs
or are we listening to His Word? Now listen to Luke 11, verse
29. Listen to it. And when the people,
Luke 11, 29, when the people were gathered together, Gathered
thick together, he began to say, this is an evil generation. They
seek a sign. And it shall no sign be given.
But the sign of Jonah the prophet. What was the sign of Jonah? He
preached the word of God. God sent him to Nineveh to warn
them, to preach to them. And he preached to them the judgment
of God, God's judgment going to fall. And that's all they
had was this poor man that didn't want to go to Nineveh. And he
ran and he got on a ship and tried to get away from what God
sent him to do and got swatted by a fish and spit out on dry
land. And then he ran down there and
preached what God told him to preach. But that's the reluctant
prophet is all they had. But he told the truth. Now read
on. For as Jonah was assigned to
Nineveh, So shall also the Son of Man be to this generation.
God spake to our fathers, but the prophets in these last days
have spoken to us by His Son. We have the Word of Christ. He's that prophet. Jonah was
that prophet sent to Nineveh to bear the Word of God. Christ
is that prophet, the messenger of the covenant, who has come
to speak to us the words of the covenant. Read on. The Queen of the South shall
rise up in judgment with the men of this generation and condemn
them. She came from the uttermost parts
of the earth to here, to here, the wisdom of Solomon. And behold,
a greater than Solomon is here, Christ. And the men of Nineveh
shall rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it.
They repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, a greater
than Jonah is here. So the word is our sign. Honestly,
the word is our sign. And that's all we need to assure
us that he's coming. Me and, back during the flood,
me and talk, you know, that was the talk of that village there,
Noah's Ark. We were building an ark. He was
in a land where it never had rained before. The earth was
watered by a mist, wasn't it, that rose up? It never rained
before, a mountain stand. And he's talking about a flood
that'll sweep everything away, and he preached it and preached
it and preached it and preached it. There wasn't any sign. Wasn't any sign. But the sign of the Word. And
then one day, God said, Noah, come into the ark. He came in,
God shut the door, and it rained. And that's it. And I believe
Christ said this as it was in the days of Noah. So shall it
be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. And the only
true unquestionable sign that he will return, either today,
tomorrow, or whenever, is his Word. I will come again, and
that's all we need. In verse 4, listen, but you brethren,
he's been talking about these other folks, but you brethren,
you're not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a
thief. It's not going to take you as a thief. You're not in darkness. We're
talking about the return of our Lord, the revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and this world is in darkness. They know nothing
about His return. In fact, they're in darkness
pertaining to everything about Him. It's not just His return
they don't know anything about. They don't know anything about
His deity. They don't know anything about His eternality. They don't
know anything about the fall. They don't know anything about
His incarnation. They don't know anything about why He came and
why He died on the cross. They think He died as an example.
They know nothing of substitution and satisfaction and how God
can be justified, how Christ put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself. They don't know anything. They're
in darkness. And consequently, they're in
darkness about His return. But you're not. You're not. He has translated
us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
Son. And like that verse I read to you, he said to the Thessalonians,
he said, you are waiting for his Son from heaven, waiting,
waiting. And when John closed the book
of Revelation, the last two verses, he said, even so come, Lord Jesus. Never talked about signs or what
must be done, just said, come. Come. You're not in darkness. That day won't overtake you as
a thief. Listen, you're children of the light. You're children of the day. What's
that say? We're not in darkness, we're
children of the light. Now, if our gospel be hid, It's hid to them that are lost.
That's His first coming and His second coming, His eternality
and His glory. Oh, that's hid to them that are
lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded them. That's
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them.
But God, who makes the light out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts. to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. You are not
in darkness. You're children of light. Now I want to, I wish, I know
a lot of preachers hear our messages, and I'd like to offer a word
of counsel to all the preachers of grace. Preachers need to be careful
about lumping God's elect with the children of darkness when
they say, we. They say, we got wicked hearts.
God's children don't have wicked hearts. They have a new heart. Isn't that right? They say, we
don't love God. Yes, I do. Now, the world may
not love God, but this fellow loves God. By his grace, his
love's been shed abroad in my heart. You're not in darkness, you're
children of light. And sometimes we get to preaching
about how wicked and depraved and all that. Yes, such were
some of you, but you're washed. Not that way now. When we're preaching to God's
children, do like Paul here, preach to God's children. Now,
if you want to make application to the world, do what he did
here. He said, they say, peace and safety. You don't say that.
They're children of darkness. They're enigmas concerning His
first and second coming. You're not enigmas. They're walking
in darkness. You're not walking in darkness.
You're children of light. You see that, Ronnie? Children
of light. And sometimes we send God's children
out of the meeting house, you know, instead of exhorted and
lifted and blessed, we send them out, you know, I ain't no good. Well, by nature I'm not, but
in Christ I am. You see what I'm saying? I'm
not a child of darkness. I'm a child of light. God's done
a work of grace. You're children of the day. They
talk about we'd rather present our works to Christ than His
righteousness. I wouldn't. Now the world may,
but not God's people. We're children of the day. What
do you mean children of the day? Well, here's what I mean. Turn
to Isaiah 2. Children of the day. And here's
what he's talking about here, Isaiah 2. Children of the day.
The day of Christ. The day when the law was fulfilled.
The day when the ceremonial law was put aside. The day when every
type and Sabbath and sacrifice and law was fulfilled. When the
curse was removed. That's the day. And we're not
children of the Mosaic law and the Levitical law and the bondage
of law, we're children of the day, the gospel day, the day
of the Lord. Look at Isaiah 2, verse 10. Enter into the rock, hide thee
in the dust, for fear of the Lord, for the glory of his majesty.
The haughty looks of man shall be humble, and the haughtiness
of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day." Now look in your margin at all those references
under the day of the Lord. Isaiah 4, 1 and 2, Isaiah 11,
Isaiah 12, Isaiah 24, Isaiah 25, 26, 28, 29, Jeremiah, all
of those verses are saying, in that day, We shall say, this is our Lord,
we've waited for Him. In that day, the branch shall
rise up, and you'll be called the Lord, our righteousness,
and Judah shall be saved in that day. Run references on those
sometimes. And that's what he says about
us. You're not in the darkness. You're children of the light.
You're not under the bondage of the law and the works Sabbaths,
these things. You're children of the day. The
day star has risen in your heart. Child of light. Child of day. Not under the bondage of the
law. Therefore, verse 6, let us not sleep. Let us not sleep, as do others. As they do, let
us watch and be sober. They either sleep, sleep in the
night, they either be drunken or drunken in the night. Is the
Lord talking here, is Paul talking here about people who are actually
in physical sleep and physical overindulgence in alcohol and
they're drunken? No, he's making a picture here.
People who sleep, and in drunken condition, that's a condition
of the mind. People who forget God, who are
not interested in His wisdom, who are not interested in His
Word, who are not interested in His grace, who are not interested
in His mercy, who are not giving themselves to seeking His face
and seeking His grace and His mercy. They're like people who
are asleep. the darkness. They don't hear
anything, they don't see anything. Like last night about two o'clock
I woke up and it was lightning, a flash of lightning just going
through our bedroom, just going through, some of you might have
seen it. Darche never saw it, she was asleep. I asked her this
morning, she said, I think it rained last night. I said, yeah,
it didn't just rain, it thundered and lightning, but she was asleep.
And that's what he's talking about here. People of the world
are asleep. That's not us. Sleep, asleep,
people sleeping, and drunken. What are they drunken with? Well,
they're indulging. They're indulging themselves
in the carnal pleasures, materialism, fleshly entertainment, the foolishness
of this world. And they're drunk. They're drunk
on those things. Be not drunk with wine where
it is excess. Now believers aren't going to
be drunk. Drunkers go to hell. But he says that type of thing
is being possessed with wine, indulging to such an extent that
it controls you. You're drunk with wine, it controls
you. Your thoughts, they're not straight. It controls your walk. It's not straight. It controls
your words. They're not intelligent. And
when this carnal world and materialism and flesh controls our thinking
and our mind, we don't walk right, talk right, or live right. That's
why it don't be like that. Otherwise, that wouldn't have
any application to the believers. Don't be like them. Don't be...
Here's what he says, verse 8. But let us who are of the day... Now, we've already arrived at
that conclusion. We're children of light and children
of the day of Christ. Now, let us do what? All right,
number one, let's be sober. Let's be sober. What does that
mean? It means serious. solemn in mind and heart about the things
of Christ. It's, listen, here's what I've
jotted down for you. It's a serious reflection on
who we were, what we were, where we were, and what He did for
us in Christ and where we are now. It's a sober, serious reflection
of all those things. Now most religious preachers
and everybody else just are foolish. They joke all the time and laugh
all the time and kid all the time and are foolish. But don't
ever joke and kid and talk foolishly about the things of God. Be sober. And have a serious reflection
upon all these things that God's done for us. Secondly, be sober
is a serious reflection on the glory of Christ. vanity of this
world. Nope. My friends, this is so.
It's going to pass away. The passion of this world is
fading. Our health and everything else
connected with this flesh is gone. Now, let's be serious about that
which is not going, but which is coming. The things of this world are
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us when Christ comes. Serious about it. And thirdly,
it's a serious reflection on ourselves. What we have is by
the grace of God. I am nothing in myself. I have
some great, wonderful mercies and grace and gifts. I have the
love of God shed abroad in my heart. I have the knowledge of
Christ in the gospel. I have wisdom. He's made unto
me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. My name's in
the book of life. I'm a child of God. We know the
gospel. We're children of light. But
it's all of grace. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Let's think on that. Seriously. Who made me to differ? He did. There ought not be an ounce of
pride in any of us in regard to these things. not an ounce.
Who made you to differ? What do you have you didn't receive?
Now if you received it, why in the world do we talk as if we
had something to do with it? That's the opposite of pride.
That's a humility before God and men. The fourth thing, it's
a serious reflection on the brevity of our days. It's appointed unto men once
to die. Lord, teach me to number my days, that I may apply my
heart to wisdom. Be sober. And listen, put on
the breastplate three things, faith, hope, and for a helmet,
faith, love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. These
two graces go together, faith and love. Somebody said, faith
worketh by love, and love always accompanies faith. And there
can be no love without faith, and there can be no faith without
love. And where you have one, you have
the other. And Paul talked to that church at Thessalonica about
their work of faith, their labor of love, and their hope, their
patience of hope. A person armed with these graces,
breastplate, helmet, shield, armed with faith, hope, and love
will be sober and watchful. and anxious for the coming of
his Lord, and say with David, I'll be satisfied, and I'll wake
with his likeness. Verse 10, let me give you this. Verse 9, verse 9, God hath not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. We are
appointed to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. God hath not appointed us to
wrath. You can sometimes run a reference and see how many
times the word appointed is used in the scripture. I'll give you
a few. Hebrews says Christ is appointed
heir of all things. God appointed him. He'll be heir
of all things. God appointed him. Secondly,
Moses was faithful to him who appointed him. The Lord said,
Moses, you lead my people out of Egypt. He did. God appointed
him. Paul was appointed a preacher.
That's what he said. Whereby I am appointed a preacher. No doubt about it. Hebrews 9 says it's appointed
unto us to die. You know anybody that hadn't
died that's over 100 years old? Well, the only two I know is
Elijah, who was taken to heaven on a chariot. Enoch, who walked
into heaven. It's only two I know. It's appointed. It's going to happen. And it
says in 1 Thessalonians, we are appointed to affliction. We are
appointed to affliction, every believer. But thank God, it says
here, God has not appointed us to wrath and judgment. When He
comes, He's not going to make a wrath for us. But He's appointed
us, and it's going to be as sure as Christ is the heir. We're
appointed to salvation by Jesus Christ, to obtain salvation. All that my Father giveth me,
they'll come to me. And Him that cometh to me, I'll
in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do my will, but the will and appointment of Him that sent
me. And this is the will of Him that sent me. Everyone that seeth
the Son and believeth on Him hath everlasting life. appointed,
chosen, elected to obtain life. And the certainty of it rests
on one thing, verse 10, the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ died
for us. God has not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for
us. That whether we wake or sleep,
whether I'm still here in the flesh, are
gone. I live together with Him. So verse 11, comfort yourselves
together and edify one another, even as also you do. You do. You do that. You do that.