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1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Today the question has to do still with the return of Christ but it's a
little bit different. The question is, How do you prepare for the return
of Christ? The Thessalonians want to know. And specifically youre
going to see in the first three verses of this passage the
Thessalonians are interested in trying to nail down the timing of
Christ's return. And the reason, youll understand, makes sense.
Well, surely it would help to prepare for the return of Christ if you
know when that was going to be. Paul, wouldn't it help us to know
when Jesus is coming again so that we're better prepared for His
coming? Now Paul gives them a very definite answer to that
question and it's the same answer that Jesus gave to His disciples,
and he does it in this passage. But then, Paul goes on to tell the
Thessalonians how, in fact, every believer ought to go about
preparing for the return of Jesus Christ. And that's what we're going
to study together today.
Father, this is Your Word, it comes from Your mouth, and we pause
right now and reflect that, in Your providence, some of our forbearers
were willing to be burnt at the stake so that we could hear this word
read in our own language. We do not take it for granted. We ask
then, O God, that by Your Holy Spirit You would open our eyes to
behold wonderful truth in Your Word, that You would open our ears
that we would receive it and our hearts to believe and to respond in
faith and obedience to this Your Word. We ask this in Jesus' name,
amen.
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no
need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully
aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
While people are saying, There is peace and security, then sudden
destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a
pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in
darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you
are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or
of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us
keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and
those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the
day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love,
and for a helmet the hope of salvation. for God has not destined us
for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live
with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another
up, just as you are doing.
Amen, and thus ends this reading of God's holy, inspired, and
inerrant Word. May He write its eternal truth upon all our hearts.
And I'd like you to see four things in this passage. Let me just tell you
where they are so that you can be on the lookout for them. First of
all, in verses 1 to 3, Paul is going to explain why the best way to
prepare for Jesus coming is not trying to figure out when that
coming is going to be. It's not about prognostication. Hell make that
clear in verses 1 to 3. Then, in a glorious passage, verses 4 to 8, the
apostle Paul will spell out five specific things that we ought to do by
way of pursuing godliness. And well look at each of those words as
we work through that part of this passage. Then in verse 10, third,
hell show us what the great prize of the Christian life is. And
understanding who the great prize of the Christian life is makes all
the difference in preparing for the coming of the Lord. And then in
verse 11 he's going to tell us that we need to encourage one another
in these things. We need one another in the Christian life. We were
never meant to live the Christian life alone and we're to encourage
one another in the truths which he teaches from verses 4 all the way
down to verse 10 so that those things are worked into our heart, into
our lives, into the very fabric of who we are so that we are prepared
for the return of Christ. So let's look at these things together today.
The first thing that Paul says is prognostication is not the way to
prepare for Jesus return. Look at verses 1 to 3 with me. Now
concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need
to have anything written to you. Now they've clearly said to Paul,
Paul, wed like to hear more from you about the timing of Jesus
return. And his response is, You don't need me to write to you
about the timing of Jesus return. I've already taught you about that
and Jesus has already told us that His coming will be like a thief in
the night. You remember when His disciples say, Lord, explain to us
when the end will come and what the signs of that end will be. And
do you remember what Jesus says to His disciples? Of that day and
of that hour no man knows, not even the Son of Man. Now when
Jesus tells you that He doesn't know something little note to self
here it's probably a good thing for you to drop trying to figure out
what it is that Jesus says He doesn't know. And so Paul is essentially
repeating that right here. You yourselves are fully aware that the day
of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Now that language is
coming right out of what Jesus said to the disciples. If you look at
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in all of those gospels, Jesus teaching to
His disciples on His coming is recorded in different forms, in different
lengths, but they use that language of His coming being like a thief
on the night.
What's the point of that? The point is it's unpredictable. If you knew
the thief was coming it would be vain for the thief to try and break
into your home. It's the unpredictability of it that's being pointed to
there. And what's the point of that? The point is this the Lord's
return is inevitable but it's unpredictable. Paul makes that very clear
here. The occurrence of Jesus coming is absolutely certain. It is
more certain that Jesus is going to return than it is that the sun is
going to rise tomorrow. It is absolutely certain but the timing of it is
uncertain. If there is one thing certain about the Lord's return it is
that we cannot be certain about His timing. And so the apostle Paul
says, The way for you to prepare, Thessalonians, and the way for
you to prepare, Jacksonians, is not to try and figure out the date of
Jesus return. Prognostication about the timing of His return is not
the way because His return is going to be sudden, it's going to be
surprising, and it is certain. Now Paul emphasizes here that that
coming is going to be sudden and surprising, especially for
unbelievers. Look at the language that he uses. Verse 3 While
people are saying, There is peace and security, sudden destruction
will come upon them. And then in verse 4, But you are not in
darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. He's
using darkness with moral connotations there. Youre not in moral
darkness. Youre not in the deadness of sin. Youre not in the grave
of unrighteousness unlike the world. And he's speaking of a world
that just thinks it's every going to go on and it's going to meet a great
surprise.
You know I think there have been different eras both in our nation's
history and in western history and even over the course of the last
two thousand years where our culture and other cultures have been
more attune to the reality of the return of Christ. But we live in a time
and don't you feel this in the air? We live in a time where there is
a pervasive carnal security. Very few people in our culture, outside of
the churches, have any kind of anticipation of a reckoning with God
at the end, a real belief in a returning Savior who is going to judge.
And there's a certain poison in our culture that seeps into our souls
unbelief that this coming is really going to happen. That's one
reason it's so important for us to sing this truth, to sing about the
second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to pray. Do you remember
the last prayer in the Bible? Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!
That's part of the Christian faith an expectation of His coming, a
longing for His coming. But our culture, our culture promotes this
kind of carnal security. You know the scientists tell you we're in a
universe 13.8 billion light years across and 6 billion years from now,
give or take a few, you know, the world will implode upon itself, but
we don't have anything to worry about until then. And that kind of
attitude seeps down into your heart. And Paul is saying, Believer,
when He comes, it's going to be sudden and the world is not going to
be looking for it. It's like a thief in the night. It's going to be surprising
but it is certain.
So the way you get ready for it is you don't prognosticate. What do
you do then? That's the second thing that Paul begins to tell us here
and look especially at verses 4 to 8 because he says that the way to
get ready for Jesus return is not be prognostication, it is by the
pursuit of godliness. The way to be ready for Jesus return is the
pursuit of holiness in Christ by the life of faith. Look at what Paul
says here. In verses 4 to 8 he says five things. First, look at verse 6.
Let us not sleep as others do but let us, two things, keep awake
and be sober. And then if youd look down at the end of verse 8 he
then says, Let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith
and love and the helmet of hope. So notice those five things keep
awake, be sober, and then cultivate faith, love, and hope. Those five
things - pursue holiness in Christ by the life of faith, by being awake,
being sober, cultivating faith, love, and hope. Let's think about those
for just a few moments.
Now how does that feed into living life in light of Jesus return? Well
it's a very easy connection. If you think this world is all there is, what
are you trying to do? Youre probably trying to grab up as much of it
as you can. There used to be a beer commercial on television that
encouraged us to go for the gusto because you only go around once
in life. Well that attitude is out there. You know, He who dies with the
most toys wins. And Paul is saying, No, no. Because we believe in
Jesus return, be sober, be moderate, be self-controlled in the way
you use this world because this is not all there is and this is not the
most important thing. There are things that will last forever that
matter more than this. So learn to use the world and love the Lord,
not love the world and use the Lord. So he says be watchful and be
self-controlled.
And then there's hope. Put on the helmet of hope not a wishful
thinking but a sure and certain hope that He is coming again. How
do you prepare for Jesus coming? Youre watchful, youre self-
controlled, you live by faith, not by sight, you live in love, you live in
hope. That's how you prepare for Jesus coming.
And then to that Paul adds this, and youll see it in verse 10. He tells
us something very important for us to understand about why Jesus
died. You know there's not just one Biblical answer to, What did
Jesus death accomplish? Jesus death accomplished untold
blessings for His people and here's one of the things that Paul tells
us that Jesus died for. Look at verse 9. God has not destined us for
wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died
for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, and by the way, what
does that language remind you of, whether we are awake or
asleep? It's a metaphor for whether we are alive or dead. It reminds
you of Philippians whether I am alive or dead, whether I am
awake or asleep I am in Christ. He says, who died for us, so that
whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him. Now listen
to the main flow of the argument. Our Lord Jesus Christ died for us
so that we might live with Him. He didn't just die so that we would be
forgiven of sins. He did die so that we would be forgiven of sins but
more than that, He died so that we might live with Him.
And then he says, fourth and finally, look at verse 11. Encourage
one another, build one another up with these things. I've told you
before about my Scottish friends, Ian and Alison Macleod and Murdo
and Emma Macleod, but I could tell the story about five hundred
families in this congregation too. Just being with Ian and Allison and
Murdo and Emma encouragement, because from the world's
standpoint they have it all. But the things that the world would look,
at least initially, at Ian and Allison and Murdo and Emma and admire,
are not the things that Ian and Allison and Murdo and Emma count
most important. Ian is a high ranking attorney with the British foreign
office, our version of the office of the secretary of state. Allison is a
medical doctor. People would look at them and say, They've got it
all. Murdo is a high ranking attorney with a national health service
and Emma is a university professor. They've both got wonderful
families. But they treasure Jesus more than anything and just being
around them and seeing them live a life in which they treasure Jesus
more than anything is a huge encouragement to me. And I could tell
that story about five hundred families right here today.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word. We ask that we would
pay heed, by the grace of Your Holy Spirit, to these exhortations.
And even more than that, that the Holy Spirit would make us want to
desire these things, to do these things, make us want to treasure,
prize, and find our satisfaction and joy in Jesus Christ above
everything else. Grant that we might do that as a congregation and
encourage one another in these things. We ask this in Jesus' name,
amen.
Now if youd take your hymnals and turn with me to number 320,
we're going to sing the first two stanzas of, Rejoice, All Ye
Believers.
Our God is so kind. He doesn't say, I saved you, now the rest is on
your own. He provides you what you need as you wait for His
coming, as you prepare for His coming. He provides you everything
that you need. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.