Before we turn to our text tonight,
I wanted to clarify something that I said in the message this
morning that may have been misunderstood. I made the statement that when
the Lord Jesus Christ healed, it was instantaneous. And of
course, it was. And that may cause some to think,
well, Does the Lord still heal? Of course He does. And it's not
always instantaneously. Sometimes it's over weeks or
months or days when the Lord heals. All healing is from the
Lord. But the gift of healing, the
gift of healing is no longer here. Men do not have that gift
that the apostles had. Even their shadows, when they
passed by, just their shadow falling upon a sick person, they
were healed. And if you study the Book of
Acts, or just read through the Book of Acts, it's very apparent
that healing and other gifts were common to the apostles. There had to be certain gifts
by which they could be identified, and there were, and healing was
one of them. But even the apostles did not
heal everyone. We know, for instance, that Paul,
he names a particular person that he left sick at Miletus,
I believe it was. So all healing comes from the
Lord. When the Lord Jesus Christ in
person, when he touched someone, the healing was immediate. It
was immediate when he touched someone and healed someone. Now
did I make that more clear or did I confuse you? Look with me tonight, if you
will, to First Thessalonians chapter five. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. This
last chapter that we are looking at tonight, it divides itself
easily into two parts. The first part contains the first
11 verses, and the apostle continues his teaching concerning the Lord's
second coming, the day of the Lord, as we see in verse 2. And
then beginning with verse 12 through the end of the chapter,
we have a number of just very practical exhortations that he
wrote to the church, to you and I. Tonight we'll only look at
the first part, the first 11 verses. And before we read the
first verse, let me mention these two truths about the day of the
Lord. You notice in verse two, He mentions
that, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord, two
things I would point out to us, first of all, how will the Lord
Jesus Christ appear on that day? On the day of the Lord, when
he comes again, how will he appear? We know that when he came now
over 2,000 years ago, he came as a meek and lowly one. One of his verses of scripture,
one of his statements that I suppose is as well known as any, is found
in Matthew chapter 11, when he said, come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and learn of me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. He came, as the apostle Paul
said, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery,
thought it not something to grasp, his equality with the Father
and with God the Holy Spirit, but he took upon him the form
of a servant. That's the way he came the first
time. He said he did not come to be
served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. That's not the way he's going
to come. on the day of the Lord. No, in fact, this time he will
come, he said, in his own glory first of all, in the Father's
glory, and in the glory of all the holy angels. What a difference,
what a difference from coming the first time to save his people,
to give his life as a substitute for his people, and when he comes
again, to gather his people. In fact, the scripture says he
will come in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. So I wanted to point that out
to us. What a blessing to think about
his second coming in the day of the Lord. when he comes in
great power and glory. And then second, how will his
people appear that day? How will we appear that day?
Well, John the apostle tells us, doesn't he? He said, it doth
not yet appear what we shall be, but we shall be like him. We shall be like him. And the
Lord Jesus said this, then shall the righteous shine forth as
the sun in the kingdom of their father. He will appear in glory
and we shall be changed into his likeness also into glory. Now let's read through these
verses one at a time. In verse one, of the times and
the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you."
Now, they did have a need that he write unto them concerning
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we saw that last
time. He wrote to comfort them, to
comfort God's people concerning other believers who had fallen
asleep in Christ. It was necessary that he write
to them about the coming of the Lord. And this he had done, and
declared that at his coming, at the Lord's coming, those believers
who will be alive shall not precede, not precede those which are asleep. The resurrection and the change
in the bodies of living believers will be instantaneous and at
the same time so that those who are alive when the Lord comes
again will have no preference over those who have already died
and gone to be with the Lord. We will not precede them if we
are alive when he comes again. We will all, he said, we will
all be caught up together to meet the Lord. It was not necessary
to write about the times and the seasons. Notice that. But
of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that
I write unto you. It was no need to write about
the times and the seasons. Yes, but there was a need to
write to comfort believers concerning those who had fallen asleep in
Christ. The time, when he says there's
no, You have no need that I write unto you of the times and the
seasons. There's no need to write about
that because the time of the Lord's second coming is knowledge
which only God has. It's knowledge which he has reserved
to himself. There's no need that I write
about this. No, because that's knowledge
that only God has. And isn't it amazing? that after
2,000 years, that there are still, every once in a while, men that
claim they know when the Lord is going to come his second time. And usually they will gain a
few followers, and sometimes many followers. And yet the Lord
could not have said in any plainer language of that hour, no man
knoweth, only the Father. But notice verse two, for yourselves
know perfectly, you already know this, you know this, you know
perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in
the night. When he was with them, when he
was with them in the beginning, he had taught them that the Lord's
coming would be like a thief coming in the night. Now the
likeness, The likeness between the Lord's coming and a thief
coming is simply that the thief comes unexpected. He doesn't
send you a message beforehand and say, I'm going to visit your
house on a certain day at a certain time. The thief, his coming is
unexpected. If you were expecting him to
come, you'd set home with your shotgun. You'd be waiting for
him. No, but the thief comes unexpectedly. And that's the way the Lord says
his coming is going to be. It's going to be like a thief
comes in the night, unexpected. And also this includes the fact
it's going to be sudden. It's going to be sudden. It's
going to happen so fast that even he said, as far as the body
of the living saints being changed in the twinkling of an eye. Just
that fast, just that fast. Now notice in verse three, for
when they, who are the they here? 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. The they
in this verse, For when they shall say, that includes all
unbelievers, all of the wicked and ungodly men and women who
are alive, when they shall say, peace and safety. And you read
in 2 Peter, one of the things that they say is everything has
continued from the beginning as it is now. The Lord's not
going to come, that's not going to happen, that's not going to
take place. And in that passage, the Apostle
Peter makes it clear that men are willingly ignorant of this
truth, willingly ignorant. And I think about the flood, how that men deny the
flood according to the word of God, and yet it is so clear in
the fossils. and what the geologists and the
scientists have uncovered, how clear it is, but yet men are
willingly ignorant, willingly. They just will not believe what
is so obvious. The same is true about the creation,
isn't it? What is so obvious that only
God, only infinite, wisdom and knowledge could have created
this world as it is. And yet men deny that. But they
deny that willingly. They're willingly ignorant. God
testifies. So many ways God testifies in
creation to his being. and his work, but yet men are
willingly ignorant. And the apostle says, for when
they shall say peace and safety, all things are continuing just
like they always have. There's no fear of the Lord coming
again. But you know, we read in the
book of Revelation that men will pray. I remember Brother Rolf
Barnard saying one time, it's the strangest prayer meeting
that's ever going to be held. Men are going to pray, and they're
going to pray to hide us from the face of him that sitteth
on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. They're going to
pray that the rocks and the mountains will cover them, will fall upon
them, but they won't. There will be no escaping. There
will be no place of hiding from the face of him that sitteth
on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Their prayers will
not be answered, and there will be no escape from God's wrath.
Paul said it's just like a woman who is pregnant. When the time
comes for her to be delivered of her child, there's no escaping. It's going to happen, and it's
going to happen because of that which is within her. And the
same thing is true concerning his coming, that men, wicked
men, because what is in them, Their sinfulness and evil is
going to overtake them suddenly. Notice in verse four and five,
but you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake
you as a thief. There's no reason, Paul said,
that this day should overtake you. Yes, to the unbelievers,
to those who deny the truth of his coming, It will overtake
them like a thief, but you, brethren, are not in darkness that that
day should overtake you as a thief. You're the children of light
and the children of the day. We're not of the night nor of
darkness. The day of the Lord will not
overtake you, those of you who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,
because you're not in darkness. Those who are lost, they are
in darkness. And all of us, when we come into
this world, we are in darkness. In fact, there's a verse in Ephesians
that tells us we are darkness. Not only in the dark, we are
darkness ourselves, by nature, our sinful nature. We're all
born into this world and our understanding is darkened. We
are in darkness concerning God. We know that there is a God.
All men know that. They know that there is a God.
God has never left himself without witness and never shall. But there's so much about God
that we don't understand, so much that we rationalize and
we think that he's like we are. That's one of man's biggest problems,
isn't it? To consider and to think that
yes, there's a God, but he's like we are. That's not true. In fact, God, in the Psalm, Psalm
50, I believe it is, tells us, Thou thoughtest, Thou thoughtest
that I was altogether such in one as thou art. Man's thinking. Kind of like Naaman, isn't it? Naaman came to Elisha, and he
just knew. He just thought, surely he's
gonna come out and strike hands over me. I'm somebody. I'm a big shot. And here I've
come to this prophet's house, and he doesn't even show me the
courtesy to come outside. I thought. And if he had continued
with his thought, he would have gone back to Syria a leper. But he did listen to his servants
when they said, listen, if he told you to do some hard thing,
If he had told you to climb Mount Everest, you would have got your
climbing tools and taken off. But he told you to do something
very easy. Just go down to the River Jarden, seven ducks, seven
ducks on a muddy pond. I can still remember Brother
Roloff preaching that message years ago in a big old tent.
Seven ducks on a dirty pond. Well, it wasn't a pond, it was
a river. And it was a dirty river, according
to him. He said, listen, in my country,
and he named two rivers, they're very clear, very, very clear. Those rivers are, and he wants
me to go down, and I thought, I thought. But he went and ducked. He went down to the river, just
like the prophet said, and came up in his flesh. It was like
that of a baby. Like a baby. Clean. Clean. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, that's just too easy.
That's just... No, it really isn't. It really
isn't. Believe on the Lord. That's too
easy. I've got to do something. I've
got to say something. I've got to feel something. No. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That's what the scripture says,
just like Naaman was told. But the point I'm making is I
thought, I thought. We're in darkness when we come
into this world and we have wrong thoughts about God. We have wrong
thoughts about sin. About sin. Because we're sinful
by nature, we don't think sin is Is all that bad? And yet God said that awful thing,
which I hate, is what God said about sin. And he describes it
in the word of God in so many different ways. We have the wrong
thoughts. We're in the dark about the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we're in the dark, we have
wrong thoughts about the new birth, the new birth. Man must be born again to see
the kingdom of God. But listen, having experienced
the saving grace of God and those that Paul is writing to, they
had, so he tells them, you 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're not of the night, not of
the darkness. Look in Colossians chapter one, And as I said, when we come into
this world, we are in darkness, we are darkness. But in Colossians
chapter one, the apostle said, giving thanks unto the Father. I was talking, speaking with
Ivan just a little while ago before the service, and he told
me something that he's able to tell his people
that he works with. And I and I said, You're blessed.
He said, I tell them everything I have is because of Christ. Everything that I am is because
you're blessed. You're so blessed. You're so
blessed. Because thousands a millions
of people around us. They don't know that. I don't
think that Oh, if God's revealed Himself
to you, showed you your need of Christ and His sufficiency,
His ability to save you, you're blessed. You're so blessed. Giving thanks here in verse 12
of Colossians 1, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made
us made to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light. in light, who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son. And then back a few pages in
Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians five and verse eight. For you were sometimes darkness. That's what you were. He didn't
say you were in darkness. No, he said you were sometimes
darkness. But now are you light in the
Lord. Then walk as children of light. Walk as children of light. And
that's basically what the apostle is saying when he writes here
to the Thessalonians. You, brethren, are not in darkness,
that that day should overtake you as a thief. You know, and
every one of us here tonight, we know the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to come like a thief. We know that. We've heard that.
We believe that. We read that in the word of God. We know this is true. We didn't
always know it, but we do now. But then, then notice Paul makes
an appeal because, because we, do have a new nature, but we
also continue to have an old nature, don't we? The flesh,
the flesh it's called, called the hard heart, the old nature,
the old man, several terms, but all speaking of the same thing.
When God regenerates and gives us a new heart, we've got a new
nature. But that old nature and the new
nature are in conflict. So Paul said you cannot do that
which you would. If the old nature had its way,
then you would do nothing but sin. If the new nature had its
way, you would do no sin. But because you have both a new
nature, that is, made you a partaker of the divine nature, the Apostle
Peter says, but you still have that old nature, that old heart. And because of that, then we
read Paul appeals to these believers. There are certain things that
we should do. We know these things are true, but therefore he said,
let us not sleep as do others. Let's just not do that. We know
better, and yet there's a tendency on all of our parts to go to
sleep, to go to sleep. Those who have been saved and
believe and know the certainty of the Lord's return, we should
not sleep like the lost sleep. In our Lord's parable of the
10 virgins, you remember five of them had no oil in their lamp,
they were lost. They didn't have the renewing
of the Holy Spirit, but five did. But the point is, they all
went to sleep. They all went to sleep. And yes,
even though we know these things, and we're persuaded of them,
we should watch and be sober. We need to be stirred up. Let
me read those verses, verses six through eight. Therefore,
let us not sleep. Let's just not do that, as do
others, but let us watch and be sober. You know that word
sober, a person can be intoxicated with alcohol, that's true, but
a person may be intoxicated with other things as well. The things
of this world, for instance, become so absorbed with the things
of this world, they become so important to us And yet we know
we're going to leave all of them, everything we have. In just a
moment, we're going to leave everything. And yet we've become
so intoxicated with these things of the world. If you and I, if
we were convinced the Lord Jesus is going to come in the next
15 minutes, I mean, we were convinced. We
would be sober. We would be sober. That's just
so, isn't it? And that's what Paul is appealing
to these believers, to be sober, to watch. But let us who are of the day
be sober, verse eight. Putting on the breastplate of
faith and love, and for an element, the hope of salvation. You know,
the breastplate covers the vital parts of our body, doesn't it?
It covers the heart and other organs that are vital. Paul calls
this the breastplate of faith and love. That just reminds us that these,
and he mentions a helmet of salvation, hope, that these are three, what
we call cardinal truths. And by cardinal truths, these
are just basic things that are true of every child of God. No one is a child of God who
doesn't believe, who doesn't have faith. And with faith, that saves, it
is a faith that works by love. They always go together, faith
and love. There can be no true faith where
there is no love. And so there is no love, true
love, where there is no faith, no true faith. Put on. Well, you say, we've already
got that on. If we're Christians, I know, but we are to continually
put this on. Faith and love. Faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. How do we put on the breastplate
of faith? For one thing, we read the word
of God. We hear the word of God. We meditate
upon the word of God. And love, how do we put that
on? We practice love. The fruit of
the Spirit is love. We pray that God, the Holy Spirit,
would give us that fruit. There's a verse in Hosea which
reminds us that our fruit is of God. He gives us our fruit. The Lord Jesus Christ said, without
me, you can do nothing. That new nature, by the power
of the Holy Spirit, is able to bring forth. love and joy and
peace, long-suffering, those things that are mentioned in
Galatians. And then the head, the breast
must be protected, of course, and the head, it must be protected. And the helmet of salvation is
a hope, the hope of salvation. We have a good hope, don't we,
tonight? If our hope is in Christ, in
Him alone. We have a hope, a good hope,
and it is a hope that is of grace. Verse 9, 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, in other words,
whether we are alive when the Lord comes or We've already gone
to be with him, our bodies sleep. Whether we wake or sleep, we
should live together with him. All men, you and I, and as the
scripture says in Ephesians chapter two, are children of wrath by
nature. That simply means we're all deserving
of the wrath of God. children of wrath by nature,
by our sinful nature, we deserve the wrath of God. But Paul said,
God has not appointed you to wrath. You know, in Romans chapter
nine, the apostle speaks about vessels of mercy, vessels of
wrath. Some men are appointed as vessels
of wrath, but not God's elect, not God's children. We're vessels
of mercy. Vessels of mercy, God has appointed
us to obtain salvation. I like this verse when someone
says, well, I just believe God gives everybody a chance. And
I like to remind them, salvation isn't by chance. Salvation is
by purpose, by God's purpose. He's not appointed us unto wrath. If we're believers tonight, He
has appointed us to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ, by His appointment. We know that salvation is all
of grace, don't we? God has not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for
us. This is through his sacrifice,
through his substitutional death, God has appointed, has determined
that we should be saved from his wrath. God hath not appointed
us to wrath, to wrath. Look back to chapter one in Thessalonians. Verse 10, and to wait, wait for
his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus,
which delivered us from the wrath to come. From the wrath to come. I don't know if you've had an
opportunity to read the back of our bulletin this morning,
These are the words, if you haven't, it'll be new to you, and if you
have, it'll be good again. When Matthew Henry passed away,
these words were found on a piece of paper in his Bible. Would
you know where I am? I am at home in my father's house,
in the mansion Jesus prepared for me there. I am where I want
to be, where I have longed and often desired to be. I'm no longer
on a stormy sea, but in a safe and quiet harbor. My working
time is done. I am resting. My sowing time
is done. I'm reaping. My joy is as the
joy of harvest. Would you know how it is with
me? I am perfect in holiness. Grace is swallowed up in glory. Would you know what I'm doing?
I see God. I see him as he is. Not as through
a glass darkly, but face to face. The sight is transforming. It
makes me like him. I am in the sweet enjoyment of
my blessed Redeemer, whom I so loved, and for whose sake I was
willing to part with all. I am here bathing myself at the
springhead of heavenly pleasures and unutterable joys, and therefore
weep not for me. I am here singing hallelujahs
incessantly to him who sits upon the throne. and rest not day
or night from praising him. Would you know what company I
have? Blessed company, better than
the best on earth. Here are holy angels and the
spirits of just men made perfect. I'm here with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob in the kingdom of God. With blessed Paul and Peter and
James and John and all the saints. And here I meet with many old
acquaintances that I fasted and prayed with who came here before
me. And lastly, would you consider
how long this is to continue? It is a garland that never withers,
a crown of glory that never fades away after millions of millions
of ages. It will be as fresh as it is
now, and therefore, Weep not for me. Isn't that good? Weep not for me. He's not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. And that
last verse, wherefore, comfort yourselves together and
edify one another even as you also do. People look for comfort. Today, people look for comfort,
but they look in the wrong place. If they look anywhere other than
the Word of God, the written Word of God, they're looking
for comfort. They're at a fountain that has
muddy water, but comfort. for God's children comes from
this word, this written word. And the same is true about being
edified, being built up. It is through the word, through
the written word of God that we are built up. And Paul admonishes
us to comfort one another and be edified. And as I say, there's
only one place, and that is God's word. How many people think there's
a pill? Doctors seem to think there's
a pill for everything. And some people believe there's
a pill for problems of soul. And there is. It's the gospel. The gospel. That's the pill,
isn't it? The gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. I'm going to ask the man, if
he will,