Message for THE LORD S DAY EVENING, February 24, 2013 MESSAGE 7 IN SERIES: Getting Ready To Meet Jesus (A Study of I & II Thessalonians) Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister The Day of The Lord Message 7 in Getting Ready To Meet Jesus Sermon Series (A Study of I & II Thessalonians) I Thessalonians 5:1-11 (NKJV) As we continue with our series of messages from I & II Thessalonians, please turn with me to tonight s scripture text in I Thessalonians chapter five. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (NKJV) 1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, Peace and safety! then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. P R A Y E R ******************************************************************* ILLUSTRATION I N T R O D U C T I O N One day a college professor asked his students to explain the difference between IGNORANCE and APATHY. One student raised his hand and said, I I DON T KNOW AND I DON T CARE! I m afraid that is how a lot of people feel about the return of Christ. They don t know and they don t care! As Christians, you and need to know and we need to care about the return of Christ. -Did you know 27% of the Bible is prophecy? -In the Old Testament alone there are over 1,800 references to the return of Christ. -Of the 260 chapters in the NT there are more than 300 references to the return of Christ. That is one out of every 30 verses. -For every biblical prophecy concerning Christ s first coming, there are 8 prophecies about His second coming. Yet despite all the emphasis the scriptures place upon the return of Christ, it seems many Christians today are living their lives as though THEY DON T KNOW AND THEY DON T CARE THAT JESUS IS COMING AGAIN!
In tonight s scripture text, the apostle Paul issues three admonitions concerning the return of Christ. First of all. I. DON T Get Caught Up With DATES And TIMES (vs. 1-3) 1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, Peace and safety! then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 1. We love to mark important things down on our calendars don t we? Birthdays..anniversaries..meetings. appointments..and special events. 2. The return of Christ is the single most important event we don t want to miss, and yet we cannot mark the date or time of Christ s return on our calendars. 3. Paul told the Thessalonians But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. Paul had already taught the Thessalonians extensively regarding the return of Christ. He had given them a firm foundation in end-time prophecies. So in that regard, Paul didn t have anything further to add to what he had already taught them.
4. Now what is this Day of The Lord Paul refers to in VERSE 2? THE DAY OF THE LORD is NOT a 24 hour period like we commonly associate with a day. THE DAY OF THE LORD refers to a future time when the LORD will judge the world and punish the nations. THE DAY OF THE LORD will begin when the Lord RAPTURES the Church and will conclude with the GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT at the end of the thousand year reign. This would include the seven year period we know as THE GREAT TRIBULATION. 5. While many signs point to the possibility the Day of The Lord may not be too far away, Paul cautions us not to get caught up with dates and times. 6. In VERSES 2,3 Paul compares the Second Coming of Christ to two things: (A) First, Paul compares the coming of the LORD to A THIEF COMING IN THE NIGHT. You know thieves are sort of peculiar about when they come. They don t ever send a post card to let you know they are coming! And they don t ever phone ahead to see if it is convenient for them to come. A thief s coming is SUDDEN, UNEXPECTED and FRIGHTENING! So shall be the return of the LORD for those who aren t prepared.
(B) Secondly, Paul compares the coming of the LORD to A PREGNANT WOMAN GOING INTO LABOR. If you will think back to our study of Revelation, we learned that the first three and half years of the Tribulation will be a time of peace and safety. But this will be followed by 3 ½ years of the worst tribulation this world has ever seen. Just like a pregnant woman in labor the PAIN of those days will grow increasingly more intense until the LORD comes to DELIVER those who were saved during the Tribulation, primarily the Jewish people. 7. When will the LORD rapture His Church? When will the Great Tribulation begin? When will the Second Coming of Christ to earth occur? When will the 1,000 year reign of Christ begin? When will the Great White Throne Judgment occur? Paul says, Don t get caught up with dates and times! ********************************************************** Secondly Paul tells us.. II. DON T Get Caught OFF-GUARD Spiritually (vs. 4-8) 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 1. In these verses Paul uses three word pictures to illustrate the difference between those who are expecting the LORD S RETURN and those who aren t. WORD PICTURE #1: Those who live in DARKNESS vs. Those who live in the LIGHT.. (4,5) 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Darkness is a familiar Bible metaphor used to describe those who are LOST..those who are FAR AWAY from GOD, those who are wandering through life without any spiritual compass. Walking or living in the light is used in the scriptures to describe those who are SAVED..those who are walking in the path of RIGHTEOUSNESS.those who know THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE! Now what does this mean with regards to the return of CHRIST? It means you and I must stay away from the deeds of darkness. We must not return to the unrighteous life we lived before we accepted Christ. It means we must WALK IN THE LIGHT as HE IS IN THE LIGHT, so we can stay in such sweet fellowship with Christ that His coming won t catch us off guard like a thief coming in the night!
WORD PICTURE #2: Those who are ASLEEP vs. Those who are AWAKE (6,7a) 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night. To be ASLEEP means to be off-guard! When you are sound asleep someone can sneak up on you and you would never know it. ILLUSTRATION: When I was at Johnson Bible College, there was a student named JIM HARVEY. We called him Turkey. Jim was as nice a guy as you would ever want to meet. He was also a very sound sleeper. One night while Jim was asleep, several guys went to his room. They picked up Jim s mattress with sleeping Jim still in it, and carried him outside and sat him on the sidewalk outside the dorm. Jim was so sound asleep he didn t realize what had happened until about an hour later. Spiritually speaking THE WORLD IS SOUND ASLEEP! They are completely oblivious to the truth that JESUS IS COMING TO CARRY HIS CHURCH AWAY. As for us, Paul admonishes us NOT TO BE ASLEEP, but to BE SPIRITUALLY AWAKE AND ALERT AT ALL TIMES! WORD PICTURE #3: Those who are DRUNK vs. Those who are SOBER (7b,8) 7b those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. DRUNKENNESS is often used as a metaphor in the scriptures to describe those who are in a spiritual stupor or those whose spiritual sense is dull. Their perception of reality is grossly skewed. They have a false sense that they are safe when in reality they are in grave danger. Doesn t that describe those who are lost and outside of Christ?
Spiritually speaking, to be SOBER means to be spiritually sharp to have a clear perception of the truth. Just as he does in Ephesians 6, Paul uses the analogy of a SOLDIER BEING READY FOR BATTLE AT ALL TIMES. That s what it means to be SOBER! *He commands us to put on THE BREASTPLATE OF FAITH AND LOVE. (v.8) This means we are to PUT ON OUR FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST EVERY DAY not just on Sundays..not when we re in a spiritual mood. but every day. And likewise we are to PUT ON AGAPE LOVE for our brothers and sisters in Christ every day. *And Paul commands us to put on THE HELMET OF OUR HOPE OF SALVATION. (v.8) The helmet has always been an extremely important part of a soldier s gear. A helmet protects the brain from severe injury. Spiritually speaking, we must put on the helmet of salvation every single day. Our ETERNAL HOPE in the return of Jesus Christ and our salvation is what protects our mind from becoming spiritually disoriented in this world! DON T GET CAUGHT UP WITH DATES AND TIMES. DON T GET CAUGHT OFF-GUARD SPIRITUALLY
III. DO COMFORT One Another With This Great TRUTH (v.9-11) 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. 1. The promise Paul gives us in verse 9 is one of the most wonderful promises in all the scriptures. It has a short-term and a long-term meaning. *In the short-term it means we will not have to go through God s wrathful judgments that will be poured out upon the world during The Great Tribulation. Having studied Revelation, we are well aware of the terrible SEAL, TRUMPET and BOWL JUDGMENTS God has in store for the nations of the earth. We ought to get down on our knees and thank GOD that He will spare us from His wrath. *In the long-term, this promise means we will not experience the eternal wrath of GOD that will be poured out on every lost soul. You see, the wrath that God pours out upon the lost during the Great Tribulation is only the beginning. Even death itself will NOT end the wrath of God upon the lost. They will be punished in the fires of hell day and night forever and ever. But Paul tells us this is NOT God s plan for you and me. His plan is NOT to punish us, but to save us. His plan is NOT to separate us from Himself forever, but to live with us forever! 2. We need to frequently comfort and encourage one another with this wonderful promise!
C O N C L U S I O N ILLUSTRATION At some time or another we have all been to a Church Roller Skating Party. Imagine you are looking out across the skating rink. You see a few who know how to skate really well who are turning circles and skating backwards. Then you see a few average skaters. They re not doing any of the fancy stuff the real good skaters are doing, but they are moving along at a good pace. And then you see your preacher out there with arms and legs flailing like a cow on an ice-covered pond. And then on the outside of the rink, right along the rail, you see some little children on skates for the very first time, holding tightly to the rail with one hand and the hand of a parent or friend with the other. In many ways that scene is a lot like the Church. All of us are at different levels in our spiritual walk. Some are strong, some are weak. Some are mature, others are immature. Some rarely fall, others stumble and fall all the time. As you and I await the return of Christ, we need to pick one another up and encourage one another to keep going until Jesus comes!