Let us turn in our Bibles this
morning to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Today we're looking at verses
13 through 18. Before I read my text this morning,
I want to give two definitions. I think all of us know the meaning
of these two terms, but just to make sure that we all understand. The Lord's first coming. Now, you don't find that term
in the scripture. The Lord's first coming. But
we use that term all the time. What does that mean? When the
preacher says the Lord's first coming, we're talking about his
incarnation. We're speaking about what John
wrote in John chapter one, the word, the eternal word, who is
God was made flesh, his first coming, his incarnation. And likewise, his second coming,
You don't find that term in the scripture either. What do we
mean by that? We mean his coming again in glory,
his second coming. That's what we mean, those two
terms. His first coming, when he became
incarnate, was born of the Virgin Mary over 2,000 years ago. And when he shall come again
in the glory, of all the holy angels, his second coming. Now, let's read our text. 1 Thessalonians
chapter four, beginning with verse 13. But 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. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you
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. 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. 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. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words. I want to remind us of a few
things that we've seen since I have been bringing messages
the last several weeks from this first letter of Thessalonians. How that the Apostle Paul, along
with Silas and Timothy, they came to Thessalonica after they
left the city of Philippi. We're all familiar with what
took place in Philippi. The letter of Philippians is
written to the church that God raised up there in Philippi. But then they went on to Berea
and came to Thessalonica. And the scripture tells us for
three Sabbath days. Now, Sabbath is Saturday. Sunday
is not the Sabbath. You understand that. Sunday is
the Lord's day, according to the word of God. The Sabbath,
the seventh day Sabbath, was the end of the week. We worship
the Lord on the first day of the week, recognizing his resurrection
from the dead. This is not the Sabbath. I know many people have, over
the years, referred to Sunday as the Christian Sabbath, but
you don't find that in the scripture. We're not to keep days and months
and all of those things that had to do with the law. You say,
well, the Sabbath was given, recognized even before the law
was given. I understand that. When God created
the heavens and the earth, the scripture says he rested on the
seventh day, the Sabbath day. But that day was incorporated
into the law, just like the law of circumcision was given before
the law, but yet it was made part of the law. Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law. We're not under that
law of Moses. We worship the Lord. John, Revelation
chapter one, John said, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. This is the Lord's day. This
is His day. And we should give all of it
to Him, to worship Him, to recognize His resurrection from the dead
on the first day of the week. Three Sabbath days, Paul went
into the synagogue. That's when the Jews gathered,
of course. And the scripture tells us in
Acts that he reasoned with them out of the scriptures, which
would only have been the Old Testament, how that the Messiah
who had been promised that he must suffer and die, because
Jesus is the Messiah who came into this world and suffered
and died. And God saved some people there.
In fact, this letter is written to those that God saved. That
last hymn that we sang, Jesus Lives. One of the lines, I believe,
in the chorus says, he lives to impart salvation. Salvation
is of the Lord. He saves sinners. I don't have
the ability to open anyone's heart to cause you to attend
unto this message, to attend unto the gospel, but he does. And he does it, he does it amazingly. Salvation is an amazing thing. When we sing about the amazing
grace of God, it's amazing how the Lord works in saving his
people, his covenant people. Those he came here to save, those
he redeemed at the cross, he calls by his spirit. And most
of the time he calls them under the preaching of the gospel.
It's important to hear. It's important to be here in
the services when the gospel is proclaimed, when Christ is
preached. The Lord may just call you if
you haven't already been called. He might just open your eyes,
open your heart. You can't do it. He might just
do that. That's my prayer. That's my prayer
every time I come into this pulpit when I'm preparing messages.
I'm not trying just to make us smarter or anything like that,
but what my desire is that we might know Christ, we might know
God. We might love Him and serve Him
with all our heart and all our soul and all our being. We're
not just trying to make people more moral, better neighbors. Oh, that'll take place if God
saves you. It sure will. But that's our
desire, isn't it? Paul said, my heart's desire
and prayer for my kinsmen according to the flesh is that they might
be saved. They might be saved, that Christ
might impart salvation to his people. Well, he did that here
at Thessalonica, but not to everyone. And those to whom the Lord didn't
reveal himself, they rose in uproar against the believers
and against these men, Paul and Silas and Timothy, saying, well,
they're teaching us there's another king besides Caesar. And for fear of the safety of
those three men, the men of Thessalonica, They moved them out. And so they
went on, as I said, to Berea and then on to Athens. At Athens,
the Apostle Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica because
of his love and his concern for them. Timothy visited them and
then he returned to Paul. Paul was now, he had left Athens,
he was now in Corinth. We have the two letters of 1st
and 2nd Corinthians to the church that God raised up there at Corinth. Timothy came back to Paul and
gave him a report on how things were going in Thessalonica and
the church. And so Paul wrote this letter
that we're looking at. And the subject of our text today
is the second coming of Christ. One of the oldest prophecies
of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, his second coming, was
given rather by Enoch. Enoch was the man that walked
with God and was not. God took him. Only two men we
know in the Old Testament, Enoch and Elijah, did not see death. They were taken into heaven.
But Jude tells us, and Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,
the seventh generation from Adam is when Enoch lived, prophesied
of these things saying, behold, The Lord cometh with 10,000 of
his saints. That's one of the oldest prophecies
that God gave concerning our Lord's second coming. He's coming
with 10,000 of his saints. When the Lord Jesus was here,
he was asked when his coming would be and our Savior responded
to his disciples Like this, of that day and hour knoweth no
man. No, no. Not even, not the angels
of heaven, but my father only. That sentence seems so simple,
doesn't it? I don't think there's a word
in there of three syllables. Most of them one or two syllable
words. Who cannot understand that? Of
that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. But as simple and as clear as
that is, that has not kept men from predicting the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only has it not kept
men from setting a date and predicting the time he's going to come,
but they've preached that and people have believed them. And
they've been duped into selling their possessions and some of
them meeting up on a mountain expecting the Lord Jesus Christ
was going to come on that particular day. And yet the Lord said, no
man, no, not even the angels, only his father knows. when that
day shall be. These so-called prophecy experts,
do you think God ever called a man to be a prophecy preacher? I don't. I don't. I think he calls men to preach
Christ, to preach the gospel. Yes, we're going to deal with
his second coming, as we are this morning. But men who major
on that, and they can explain, according to them, they can explain
what the toes on the beast mean. You know, they've got all kinds
of things. And nothing attracts people more. You can put an advertisement
in the paper, we're going to preach on the Antichrist, or
we're going to, I'm going to preach on the Christ. Not the
Antichrist, there's plenty of them who deny Christ. I wanna know the Christ, don't
you? I wanna hear about him. Yeah. Nothing attracts people like
so-called prophecy conferences and dealing with the second coming. The Lord did not tell when he would come again, but
he did tell us how things would be. And let me read you what
he said, and you'll see it's just like today. It's just like
today. That's how it's going to be when
the Lord does come again. He said, but as in the days of
Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as
in the days that were before the flood, they were eating,
drinking, married and giving in marriage until the day that
Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came
and took them all away. Took them all away. All except those eight souls
inside the ark. Took them all away. So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. Don't ever be looking for signs.
I hear this all the time, don't you? There'll be an earthquake
somewhere and someone says, well, it's a sign of His coming. No,
it's not. You read Matthew 24 and you'll realize that those
signs that were given there were before the destruction of Jerusalem. There's been earthquakes, there's
been famines, Those are not signs of his coming, his second coming. Read the scripture and don't,
just read what God tells us. Forget about what these men,
many of them may be good men, but forget about what, how they
understand, how they explain the scriptures away. Just read
what the word of God says. And our Lord said all those things
would be fulfilled before this generation passed away. Well, he did tell us how it would be. It's going to be just like it
is today. People are eating. I'm eating
today, Lord willing, aren't you? I'm not getting married today. That happened a long time ago.
But I'm sure there's some people somewhere getting married today.
That's the way it's going to be. Things are going to be going
on. In fact, people are going to say, where's the promise of
his coming? He's not coming. Where's the
promise of his coming? Everything's been going on just
like it has been for all these millenniums. But when he comes,
those who are outside the ark, outside of Christ, shall be taken
to judgment. Before we look at the specifics
that are given here as to the order of his coming, I want to
point four things out to us. Four things in these verses.
First of all, those in this church, the church of Thessalonica to
whom Paul is writing this letter. Timothy had brought him information
back. Those in this church must have
thought that believers who die before the Lord comes again,
they're going to miss out on something. There's going to be
something they're not going to experience. Those who have died
before the Lord comes again, they must have believed that.
And that's the reason for his words here in our text. I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren. I would not have you to be angry.
He's going to inform them, teach them. Whatever it was, it was
causing them problems and causing them not to be comforted. God is a God of all comfort. And the word of God is given
unto us. This passage is given unto us,
especially to comfort us. We as believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we do sorrow when someone close to us passes away. I visited a brother pastor years
ago for the funeral of his wife, and he told me, he said, you
know, he said, these waves of sorrow, they just come over me.
And we experienced that, our emotions, yes. Yes, we do sorrow,
but not as others which have no hope. Not as those who take
their loved one out to the cemetery and bury him without any hope
in Christ, without any hope in the gospel. No, when we take
a loved one who has walked with the Lord, who knew the Lord,
gone on home to be with the Lord, we commit that body, that body
that has fallen, we commit that body to the grave. And I like
this sound. This is the Episcopal Church's burial service. We commit this body to a sure and certain hope of
the resurrection. I like that, don't you? Yes,
a believer, a child of God. When we see that body laid, lowered
into the tomb, we do so in a certainty that that believer, that's just
the body there that is asleep. And look at what Paul says here,
they sleep in Jesus. In other words, in the arms of
Christ. They're gathered into the arms
of Christ, that is the body. Now you say, well, that's kind
of strange, isn't it? They heard one of the greatest
preachers who's ever lived, the Apostle Paul, that they would
be mistaken about something like this. But remember, Paul was
only there three weeks. He was only there three Sabbath
days to reason in their synagogue, as far as we know. And not only
that, but you know, even in the church at Corinth, in our Bible
class this morning, Brother Streeter took us to 1 Corinthians when
we think about the resurrection. Yes. And Paul, he was dealing
with something in that church because people were denying the
resurrection of the dead. You know, pagan religions, and
there have been many of them, have for the most part believed
that there's an afterlife, that the soul is going to exist somewhere. But none have believed and taught
that this same body which we lived in while we were here,
that it is going to be raised incorruptible after it's turned
back to the dust. But that's what the word of God
teaches us, isn't it? That the same body is going to
be raised. Look over in 2 Timothy, just
a few pages toward the end of your Bible. If you're here in
1 Thessalonians, There were people that were teaching lies in the very
beginning. Look here in 2 Timothy 2, beginning
with verse 15. 2 Timothy 2, beginning with verse 15. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings,
for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will
eat as doth a canker, of whom is aminius and felatus. Now watch this, who concerning
the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already, and overthrown the faith of some. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them
that are his. When we read here of the faith
of some being overthrown, you realize it was a false faith.
If God has given you faith and you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, you have eternal life. That faith can never be overturned. It may be weakened, yes. If we do not feed on the word
of God as we should and believe God, yes, that faith may grow
weaker. small faith and great faith in
the word of God. But the faith of God's elect
can never be overturned so as to be destroyed. He said, I give
unto my sheep eternal life. That life may be weaker at times,
no doubt it is, and all of us have experienced that. But it'll
never die. The foundation of God standeth
sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. Amen. So first of all, there must have
been something in this church, some teaching that had caused
those in Thessalonica, believers there, to think that believers
who die before the Lord comes again, they're going to miss
out on something. The second thing, I want you to turn back
here now to our text, 1 Thessalonians 4. The words in verse 14 where Paul
says, if we believe, well, there's no question that believers
believe. That word if, sometimes it's
the same word that can be translated sense. And I think that might
be better here myself, since we believe, since we believe
that Jesus died and rose again. That's what every child of God
believes. You cannot be a Christian. You
cannot be a saint if you do not believe that Jesus died and rose
again. That is the gospel according
to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. That is the gospel. How that he died according to
the scriptures. He died according to the scriptures.
He died for our sins. There had to be a payment made,
an atonement made. The just, he was a just one. He died for the unjust that he
might bring us to God. Since we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, we do believe that. Every child of God believes
that. And you know, there's one verse
in Romans 4 and verse 25 that puts those two things together
like this. Who, now who refers to a person,
doesn't it? Didn't say what, who. Who, Christ. Who was delivered for our offenses,
our offenses. When we sin, we offend God. He died, who died for our offenses. He paid for our sins. He died in our stead and in our
place, but was raised for our justification, declared righteous. when God raised him from the
dead, when he raised himself from the dead, when the Holy
Spirit raised him from the dead. Remember, God is one, and each
one of those persons we read raised him from the dead. Just like when he said, he that
hath seen me hath seen the Father. How did he say that? Because
he's one with the Father, and God raised him from the dead.
And when he did, what did he declare by his resurrection?
That he was satisfied. That my sins and your sins this
morning, if you are a child of God, God will never remember
those sins again. That God rejoices over you as
one of his children. Yes. A third thing, Paul's use
of the word we in verse 15. Notice here in our text again.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which
are alive and remain. Now, some people tell us, well,
Paul thought the Lord might come in his day. No, he didn't. No,
he didn't. Look over a few pages in 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together
unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled,
neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as
at the day of Christ is at hand. That no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come, except There come a falling
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. When Paul, think about this,
when Paul wrote this letter of 1 Thessalonians, the writers tell us it was in
the year AD 51 or 52. Well, what the Lord Jesus Christ
had told would happen to Jerusalem had not yet taken place. That
wouldn't take place until AD 70. In other words, 18 years
after Paul wrote this letter, Paul did not believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ might come in his day. The very command
that the Lord gave to his disciples to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. Shows us that our Lord's coming
would be sometime in the future. We don't know when. It's been
2,000 years ago since He went back to the Father. It may be
2,000 more years. That's not our concern, is it?
No. We just need to watch and be
ready when He comes. Why then would Paul write, we
which are alive and remain, if he didn't believe he might come
in his day? Well, we, Paul was a member of
the body of Christ, just like you are, just like all believers
are. We, he will have a church here. His body will be here when he
comes again. People sometimes say, do you
think the Lord's church is in danger? Not with him as the foundation. No, no. Do you think that ark
that Noah was in was any danger of sinking? I don't think so. And I tell
you the church, I'm not talking about any one local church or
any group of churches. I'm talking about his church
that is made up of all believers from all times. Upon this rock
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. No. His church will be here. We may not be here, but his church
will. We, which are alive and remain
to the coming of Christ. And one other thing, all believers whose bodies sleep
in the graves are themselves now with the Lord Jesus. Notice he says in verse 14, for
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Now, if he's
going to bring them with him, that's just another truth or
another way of saying that they're now with him. Just like he said
in John 14, that he would come again and receive us unto himself,
that where I am, there you may be also. What did Paul say when
he was writing the letter of Philippians? He said, to depart,
what's he talking about? He's talking about his death,
isn't he? To depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. When a child of God, Quits breathing
when God no longer gives him breath. The body is said to sleep. That's just a gentle term to
speak of death. Nobody's afraid of going to sleep.
We shouldn't be afraid of death. The body sleeps in the arms of
Christ. But the soul, the real person,
to depart and to be with Christ. Now, let's go through this four
specifics that we see here. First of all, the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven. Verse 16, for the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven. When he ascended back to the
father after his resurrection and then appearing 40 days here
upon the earth to his disciples, From the Mount of Olives, with
his disciples looking on, he ascended back to the Father.
The angel said, this same Jesus, which you have seen go into heaven,
shall so come. This same Jesus is going to come
again, the Lord himself. Now he will not come as the poor,
and lowly and meek Nazarene as he came the first time. But he
will come, and he will come as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Yes, and there will be a shout. There will be a shout. Shout,
this word shout means like a mighty army rushing into battle. A shout,
charge! So the Lord Jesus Christ, when
he comes again, there will be a shout. And then there will,
at the same time, be the voice of the archangel. Now some people
believe there's only one archangel named in the scripture. That's
Michael. Some people believe that this
is Christ, that Michael is Christ himself. That he shall descend
with a shout and with his voice, as he said in John chapter 5,
the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall
hear his voice and shall come forth. And there will be a trump,
the trump of God. Trump was used in old Israel
to assemble the nation, give them command to go forward, to
make camp or whatever. And there's going to be the sound
of a Trump. And there's only one last Trump. You know, it can only be one last Trump,
right? I mean, they cannot blow the
Trump today and tomorrow blow and call that the last Trump
and then tomorrow blow the Trump and call that the last Trump.
It's going to be the last Trump that's ever going to sound. God's
going to assemble his people together. The second thing we
see, the dead in Christ shall rise first. The bodies of those
that have been sleeping in Christ, their bodies shall come from
the grave, and at the same time he will bring with him the souls,
and there shall be a reunion of body and soul together. And the third thing, those believers
who are alive, When he comes again, when that Trump sounds,
that last Trump, when it sounds, those believers, it could be
today. We don't know. If that Trump
were to sound right now, the bodies of those who've gone on
would be raised and those who come with Christ or brought with
Christ would be reunited to their raised body, their resurrected
body, their glorious body that's like unto His glorious body. And at the same time, and the
scripture says, in the twinkling of an eye. That's pretty fast,
isn't it? In the twinkling of an eye. You and I, if he were to come
right now, immediately, we'd be changed. This old body would
be changed into that glorious body that he has prepared for
us. And the fourth thing, all of
the saved from every generation, we shall all meet the Lord in
the air. In the clouds, it says here.
And we shall forever be with Him. Now these are words of comfort. They're words of comfort from
the God of all comfort. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
comes at this time, and all of His people are assembled there
with Him, how many millions shall there be? And yet, At that time,
he's going to see of the travail of his soul. The travail of his soul when
he was dying in agony, suffering on the cross. His soul. Suffering of his soul,
not only his body. His body suffered immensely,
I understand, but the soul of his suffering was a soul suffering. Being made sin for his people. But he's gonna see there the
travail of his soul, and he's gonna be satisfied. Not one is
going to be missing. Not one is going to be absent
that he gave his life for. So shall, the scripture says
here, so shall we ever be with the Lord. I pray the Lord would bless this
wonderful truth, the Lord's second coming.