Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians,
and today to chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, but
of the times and the seasons, brethren, You have no need that
I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 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. But ye, brethren, are not in
darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You
are all the children of light 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. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also you do. I believe each day or each message
I've brought to us from First Thessalonians in the last several
weeks, I've reminded us of how the Apostle Paul, along with
Silas and Timothy, went to Thessalonica and preached the gospel. And
we're told there in the 17th chapter of Acts that records
that fact. how that Paul preached, how that
he reasoned, the scripture says. He reasoned with them in the
synagogue out of the scriptures. How that the Messiah, they were
all familiar that God had promised a Messiah of old. From Genesis chapter three and
verse 15, before there ever was a nation of Israel. God had foretold
and promised a deliverer, the seed of the woman. And then that
promise, of course, was given unto Abraham, of thy seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed. And of course it
was given also to David of his seed. There would be one he would
raise up to set upon his throne and reign forever and ever. They were looking for a Messiah
we know that would come and reign, but they were thinking of a reign
in this world when the nation of Israel would be restored once
again to its glory days. But Paul reasoned with them out
of the scriptures that the scriptures had foretold and revealed how
that Messiah would come, that he would suffer. They look for
a conquering Messiah. You know, Paul said the Messiah,
when he comes, he's going to suffer. And not only is he going
to suffer, he's going to die. And not only is he going to die,
He's going to rise from the dead in his preaching. In other words,
he spoke of his first coming. And I mentioned that last week
to all of us. When preachers talk about his
first coming, we're talking about his incarnation when he was born
a little over 2000 years ago of the Virgin Mary. And then
we speak about His second coming. We're talking about the day when
He comes again in glory. And that's what this passage
has reference to. If you turn back just a page
or two, we saw this in the first chapter, 1 Thessalonians 1. Paul, as I said, he not only
preached Christ's first coming, but he also revealed that Christ
is going to come again. You see that when he said concerning
these believers that they were waiting for his son from heaven. His son from heaven, that's where
he is. He's in heaven. He's ascended
to the right hand of the Father. And he ever lives to make intercession
for us. And we're saved by his life,
the apostle tells us in Romans 5, and that is his life of intercession. He continues to intercede for
us, but he's coming again. Now, if you look back to our
text, we're going to We're going to look at these verses this
morning together. And the first thing I want to
point out to us is this. If you look at the last verse
that we looked at last time, verse 18 of chapter four, and
verse 11, we'll look at it here in our text this morning. The
last verse of chapter four, wherefore comfort, Comfort one another
with these words. And then in chapter five, verse
11, wherefore, comfort yourselves together. The subject is the
same. That's all I'm pointing out.
Now they divided the chapter here, but the subject is the
same. And the subject is, of course,
our Lord's second coming. Now, first of all, let's notice
that Paul He knew of what these believers already knew concerning
the Lord's coming. He tells us that in verses one
and two. He was assured there was no need
for him to write concerning the times and the seasons. Notice
that, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no
need that I write unto you. He knew that he had taught them
that no man knows the day of our Lord's coming. And the only
thing that he tells us here in verse two is that the Lord's
coming will be sudden and it will be unexpected. For yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief
in the night. The best way According to Paul,
the best way to illustrate our Lord's second coming is to use
an example of a thief. A thief. A thief doesn't send
a message beforehand, I'm coming to rob your house at 10 o'clock
on a certain day. A thief doesn't operate like
that. And a thief doesn't tarry. A
thief comes, takes what he can, and escapes as quickly as he
can to save himself. So Paul knew that the actions
of a thief is the best way to describe how the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ shall be. It's going to be sudden. We saw
last week the things that will take place, that is, the resurrection
of the body of those saints that he will bring with him, the change
of those who are alive when the Lord comes at that time, that
is going to happen in the twinkling of an eye, the suddenness, the
suddenness of his coming. And it's going to be unexpected.
going to be unexpected. You know, the Lord Jesus said
this about his coming himself. He said, concerning the days
of Noah, that his coming would be like it was in the days of
Noah. And he said, the people knew
not until the flood came. The people knew not until the
flood came. And man will not know until the
Lord comes. As the lightning, he describes
it in Matthew chapter 24, like the lightning that flashes across
the sky. You've all seen lightning and
how quickly it moves across the skies here and gone. It's that
fast. The twinkling of an eye. That's
going to be how our Lord will come again. He will come suddenly. And he will be unexpected by
many. Now, if I think with me just
a moment, if, if suddenness and unexpectedness
is not what the apostle Paul means when he compares our Lord's
coming to that of a thief, what could it be? What else could
it be? He's certainly not going to describe
the Lord himself to be like a thief. A thief is a dishonorable person. A thief is a wicked person. He's
not describing the Lord by the character of a thief, but he's
describing or illustrating or giving as an example the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the way a thief operates. That seems very clear to me.
I hope it is to all of us here this morning. It's going to be
sudden. And it's going to be when people
are going to be saying, where's the promise of his coming? You
talk about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, listen,
everything has continued today as it has for all these millenniums. Yes, but he's still coming. He's still coming. It's going
to be unexpected and it's going to be sudden. A second thing
I want to bring to us from this passage is Paul's knowledge of
the drastic different outcomes of his coming. He's coming and
he's going to come suddenly and he talks about two outcomes,
two things that are going to take place by his coming. Notice, the first is, the outcome
of those who say peace and safety, verse three. For when they shall
say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them,
as prevailed upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. That's the outcome. That's the
outcome. Sudden destruction. Sudden destruction
is going to come upon those who say peace and safety. What does that mean? Well, they
promise themselves peace and safety. You may be here this
morning, and you may be in that group. No doubt there are some
here. And this is what you say to yourself. Oh, I'm okay. I'll be okay. You promise yourself peace and
safety when the Lord comes again. And people do this in various
different ways. Some people, they say peace and
safety. Well, they just deny the very
fact of sin. Well, there's nothing called
sin. You say that Christ is coming
in judgment upon sinners? Well, I don't believe in sin. I don't believe there's any such
thing as sin. Well, whether you believe it
or not, God knows and God hates sin. And the scripture says that
sin is a transgression of His law. What is His law? Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy being, and
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Sin is a transgression
of the law. Some people just deny the very
existence of sin. And you know, one of the things
in Romans chapter three where Paul in that place is showing
how the whole world is guilty before God. He begins with the
Gentiles and then he brings in the Jews also. But one of the
things he lists in that passage there is the way of peace have
they not known. There's only one way that you
or me or anyone else may have peace with God. In fact, God
says in the book of Isaiah, there is no peace to the wicked. And there's only one way of peace,
and that is through the blood of his cross. Well, some people
deny the very fact of sin. And then some people convince
themselves that they're living a good and they're living a moral
life. And surely God can't demand any
more. God can't demand perfection. He knows that I can't render
perfection. He can't demand what I cannot
give. Well, you're wrong. If you think
that, you're wrong. When Adam sinned and plunged
all of us into sin, Yes, we all died spiritually and lost that
ability to love God with all our heart, soul, and being, and
love our neighbor as ourself. But God did not lose His right
of command. We lost the ability, but God,
He's still the sovereign Lord God that He was, and that's His
command. Some people just say, well, I
live a good life. I try to treat my neighbor as
myself. What are they saying? Peace and
safety. It'll be okay if the Lord should
come again. They probably don't believe He
will anyway, but if He should, it'll be okay. And besides that, I've got my baptismal certificate. A man called me last night, a
pastor from up in, I think, Missouri, and asked me about a woman. that
used to be a member of our church. Well, if she was, I don't know
who she was because, but anyway, he told me, he said, that's all
right, she's got her baptismal certificate. I guess she's carried
it with her. And you know, it's sad, but there
are places called Baptist churches where they baptize children give
them a certificate and say, now this is your ticket into heaven.
No. People promised themselves safety
and peace because they were sprinkled. I don't remember it, but my parents
tell me when I was just about a month old, they carried me
down to the front of some church building. A priest did the sign
of the cross and sprinkled some water on my head, and I'm saved. I have peace. I have safety. It's no fear for me. And then
others, they deny even the existence of God. They're atheists, they
say. They just deny that there is
a God. And so they convinced themselves of peace and safety. I want you to take your Bibles,
keep your place here, but turn back with me to Isaiah 28. We read of some people who did
something similar here in this chapter, Isaiah chapter 28, when
God had determined destruction upon
the nation because of the evil, because of the sin of the nation
of Israel. Well, we have some people here
who, they made a covenant. They made a covenant. They made
a contract or a compact. You say, well, who did they make
a covenant with? With death? With hell? Notice that here in verse 15
of Isaiah 28. Because you have said, we have
made a covenant with death. It's not going to happen to me.
It's not going to happen to me. I've got a covenant with death. And with hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have
made lies our refuge. And that's what those that I
described, those who deny the existence of sin, those who deny
the existence of God, those who talk about being moral and Being
baptized and trusting in those things, that's what they have
done. And what they do, they make lies
a refuge, a refuge. Anytime their conscience may
prick them just a little bit, that's where they run. It's like
a man who'd be out in the wild, maybe, and he'd have a cave for
a refuge, and a wild animal might come to attack him, and he might
find a refuge in that cave. Well, people, when they have
a little prick in their conscience, maybe I've done something wrong.
Maybe I'm not the perfect person I thought I was. Oh, well, I
can run over here to this refuge. I feel good now. I convinced
myself of peace and safety. But notice on down in that same
chapter, verse 17, but judgment, this is God speaking, but judgment
also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet. And the hail shall sweep away
the refuge of lies and the water shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand when the overflowing scourge shall pass through. Then you
shall be trodden down by it. They made a covenant with death,
and they made a covenant with hell. How'd that work out? Well, you just heard God's word. It wasn't going to work out.
It was a refuge of lies. Notice that righteousness in
verse 17, judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness
to the plummet. Do you know what a plummet is?
I think most of us do or have some idea, but a plummet is a
call it a measurement. I remember when The men were
building the second building and we were putting up the walls. They put a line over the top
plaque with a plummet or a weight on the bottom and they put it
out so many inches at the top. And then when that got to the
bottom, that string, it needed to be five inches. If it was
five inches at the top, it needed to be five inches at the bottom.
Well, you see, when men, and when we judge ourselves by others,
and we all do it, and lost people do it, they always pick out somebody
that is worse than them. Yeah, I'm not as bad as he is. Well, I certainly would never
do what she's done. You know, our plummet, it's not
straight. God's plummet is straight. His
plummet is perfect righteousness. His plummet really is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Judge yourselves by Him and see
how you come out. See, if you don't see, you need
a Savior. If you judge yourselves by the
Lord Jesus Christ. See, if you do not need a Savior,
you need a refuge. better than a refuge of lies.
You need the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Now, Paul illustrated how this
would come upon the wicked, upon those who cry peace and safety. He compared it to a lady who
is pregnant, and she knows that baby is going to be born. It's
going to happen. It has to happen. And that's
the way he said it's going to come upon the wicked. It's going to be certain. It's
going to happen all of a sudden when those pains come. No escaping. No. Baby has to be born. And the wicked here who promise
themselves peace and safety, they're not going to escape.
If you turn over to 2 Thessalonians, right there by it really, in
verse 7 of chapter 1, Paul deals with the the lost here when he
says 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 7, and to you who are troubled
rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his saints. Notice that verse eight, on them that know not God. Do you know God? A man approached
me recently at a gasoline station and he was giving out literature,
so-called Christian literature. And I asked him, I said, sir,
do you know God? And he started answering me that
he did, but you know, he never mentioned Christ. He never mentioned
Christ, but yes, he said, I know God. There's only one way to
know God, and that is through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, that's what Paul says here. Them that know not God and that
obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ. How do you obey the gospel?
Believe it. You believe the gospel. You believe
Christ. You trust in Him. as your Lord
and as your Savior. Yes, he describes here what will
take place on some, the outcome when the Lord comes again upon
those who cry peace and safety. But notice the outcome of those
that God appointed to obtain salvation. Down in verse 9, back
in our text, 1 Thessalonians 5, And verse nine, for God hath
not appointed us to wrath. Now, those who cry peace and
safety, that's what they're going to experience, the wrath of God,
the judgment of God. But Paul uses the term we. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. The different outcome. They out
come upon those who are wicked and cry of peace and safety without
fleeing to the Lord Jesus Christ, sudden destruction. That's what's
going to come upon them. But not those, not those that
God has ordained or appointed to obtain salvation. I want you
to notice three ways in these verses, these that are described. The first way, notice in verse
four, brethren, but you brethren. Now it's true, and I know you're
familiar with this. It's true that all men are brothers. We're all brothers. You know, they talk about the
various races. There's only one race. That's
the human race. God created man. And in that
sense, we're all brothers. We're all of the same family,
the family of humankind. Homo sapiens, we're all men and
brothers, as he is the creator of all. Paul, in Romans chapter
nine, he spoke about his kinsmen according to the flesh, and he
called them his brethren. That is, they were Jews, and
he was a Jew. But we know that in this context,
when Paul refers to these people as brethren, He's talking not
about the sense that we're all creatures of God, that we're
all of the same nation, but no, he's talking about the fact we're
all of the same family, the household of God. How do you become a part of the
household of God? Well, how did you become a part
of your family? You were born into your family.
Right? Or adopted. Yes. And that's the
way a person comes into the household of God, both by birth and adoption. We are His by birth, the new
birth. In that new birth experience,
we receive a new nature. Brother David prayed this morning
and he mentioned a disposition. That's what it is. It's a new
disposition that we didn't have before. It's called the new man. Yes. That's what a person receives
in the new birth. Our Lord said, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see,
he cannot perceive the things of God. Have to be born of the
Spirit of God. And when we are born of the Spirit
of God, we receive a new nature. And that new nature is a new
creation, isn't it? And our hearts, our thoughts
are changed. We've become a part of the family
of God. What a blessing. And I believe
Brother David said that in his prayer. What a blessing to be
a part of the family of God. To be a brother or sister in
the family of God. That's the first thing he says
about these that he tells us God had not appointed to wrath,
but to obtain salvation. And the second thing he says
about These are children of light, in verse 5. You are all the children
of light. Now the opposite of light, of
course, is darkness. And that's what we are when we
come into this world. We are darkness. Our understanding
is darkened. And God must shine in our hearts. That's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. The same God who in the beginning
created the sun, that same God, he must shine into our hearts,
enabling us to see for the first time the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. That is to see how it is God
may be just and justify. That it is through Christ and
Christ alone he shines in our heart that we might see that
we're no longer children of darkness, we're children of the light. Also in our Bible study class,
Brother Streeter was speaking from Acts chapter 26. That's
one of the things that Paul confessed that God had appeared unto him
to turn men from darkness to light. That's what the gospel
does when it comes in power and saving power. It turns a man
from darkness to light. A man begins to say, he's not
that perfect man. He's not that perfect person
he thought he was. He assumed he was. He claimed
to be. No, no. He begins to see now
sin. It's a sickness. It's an incurable
disease he's born with. Yes. He begins to see that for
the first time. Then he begins also to see how
the Christ is a perfect savior for sinners like him or like
her. He's just a perfect savior. And they flee to him. We flee
to him. We come to him. Come to him alone. And he said this, he said, I
am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but have the light of life. The light of life. That's the second way these are
described here. Not only brethren, that is in
the family of God, but they're children of light. And then lastly,
God appointed them not to wrath. I started to name this message
by appointment only, but I decided not to. You've seen that sign
before, haven't you? by appointment only. It's the
only way you're going to get in here. It's the only way you're
going to see the doctor. By appointment only. And those
who are saved are saved by appointment only. Who did the appointing? God did. That's what he says
here. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ who died
for us. He appointed us to obtain salvation
through Jesus Christ. That is, before the foundation
of the world, he chose his people in Christ. Election is not salvation. You
understand that. Election is unto salvation. Yes, he chose us before the foundation
of the world, but a person is saved when they're called by
the grace of God and repent and believe the gospel. And we're saved because, why?
Because he died for us. That's what he said, for God
had not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by or
through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. He died for
us, and because He died for us, He died in our stead and died
in our place, then we will never experience the wrath of God for
our sins. And then notice Paul, he answered
that question that had concerned the people in this church. We saw this last time. They were
afraid that those who had died maybe were going to miss out
on something, that the people that were alive when the Lord
came, that they were going to have some greater honor or something. And Paul says, notice in the
last part of verse 10, whether we wake or sleep, whether you've
died and gone on to be with the Lord and your body's sleeping
in the grave, or you are awake. when the Lord comes again, we
should all live together with Him. Now, what's Paul's exhortation to
believers here in this passage? Well, first of all, be sober. He said, well, I don't drink
alcoholic beverages. He's not talking about that kind
of drunkenness. People can be drunk on the world. Whatever consumes you and whatever
causes you to lust after, be sober, recognize that in this
world, we're just passing through. We have our plans and we put
down our stakes awfully deep, don't we? Daniel was telling me yesterday
of an experience he had as a nurse. He had a patient who was 78 years
old and he'd never been sick. He said in his life he took no
medicine whatsoever and he made it to 78 and went to the hospital. For some reason, the doctor put
him in bed to stay overnight and he didn't want to stay. He
didn't want to stay. I've never been sick. I've never
had to take any medicine. And Daniel reasoned with him
and said, you are 78 years old. Yeah, these bodies wear out.
And just because you've never had to take any medicine before
doesn't mean you don't need some. No. We're not gonna live. We're strangers in this world,
Paul said. We're strangers and we're pilgrims
in this world. And we should live like it. Be
sober. Be vigilant. Watch. And then he also said, put on
the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation.
And I want you to notice that in verse eight. But let us who
are of the day be sober, putting on. Notice that word putting,
putting. That's continuous action, isn't
it? Putting on. Yes, there is an
initial experience when we put on the breastplate of righteousness
when we're saved, But there's a continuous action, putting
on the breastplate of righteousness. That breastplate is what protected
what we call the vital organs of a soldier. Yes, and that breastplate
of righteousness, that's the righteousness of Christ. Put
it on by faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore be justified by faith, we have peace with God. That
righteousness is unto all and upon all them that believe. Keep putting it on. Keep reminding
yourself. Keep recognizing your need. And it's never going to change
as long as you're in this world. We need the righteousness of
Christ always. We have none of our own. and then the helmet of salvation
or the helmet, which is a hope of salvation. Why preach? Let me close with
this. Why preach on the second coming of Christ? Well, first
of all, because it's part of the word of God. We just came
to it, didn't we? We started in 1 Thessalonians
1 and verse 1, and we worked our way here to this place. So
first of all, because it's part of the word of God, preach the
word, he told Timothy. Preach the word. Number two,
because this teaching, this truth of our Lord's second coming,
is a very comforting message. Two times we're told, comfort
ye one another with this message. When you've lost a loved one
in death, or you've gone through some disappointment or some affliction,
there's nothing that will encourage us any more than realizing that
Christ is coming again. He's gonna come get me. He's
gonna come receive me one of these days. And number three,
it stirs us up when we think about our Lord's second coming,
coming anytime, coming unexpectedly. It stirs us up to watch, to be
ready, and not to grow weary. That's my third point. It quickens
us in serving, serving the Lord. I spoke with a pastor this past
week And he told me, he said, you know, David, he said, I just
became weary. I just became so, so very weary. And I tried to encourage him
with a couple of scriptures, but we do grow weary sometimes. If we didn't, then Paul surely
would not have said, let us not grow weary in well-doing. Because we're subject to grow
weary. But this encourages us to know
that our race, our journey, it's going to be over one of these
days. Maybe sooner than we think. Maybe the Lord will come today.
That would be wonderful as far as I'm concerned. We're going
to close by saying