1 Thessalonians 5:4-11
Today
is our final study in this series on the rapture Get ready for take off!
A) Studying thru 1
Thessalonians – stopped here to take an in-depth look at the Rapture !
Part1 Why the rapture is a Biblical concept.
Part 2 Why the rapture will take place before the tribulation
starts.
Part 3 How we are to be aware of the times and the seasons leading
up to the rapture.
Today part 4 – How we should
be living in light of these things.
RD v.1-11
We
noted in our study last time that the rapture is going to occur like a thief
who comes in the night.
A) In other words – It is
going to happen at an unexpected time.
{ Saying peace and safety
B) That is how it is going
to occur to those who are unbelievers – it will catch them totally off guard
1)
Rapture is the beginning of that time period known as the day of the Lord
C) 7 yrs of Tribulation –
1,000 yr reign of Christ –
D) But it starts
with the rapture – catches an unbelieving world off guard
1)
But not us who know the Lord – why?
Because
we are aware of the times and the seasons – We see what is happening in our
World today
A) Signs in Israel / signs
in Technology / Signs in Europe – signs in the world.
B) So Paul says: v.4
But you,
brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness.
C) Our world is a diverse
mixture of ethnic groups, cultures, languages, religions, and political
systems.
1)
Yet despite all of those distinctions, there are only two kinds of people in
the world.
D) There are believers and
unbelievers; the redeemed and the unredeemed; the saved & the lost;
1) those in the kingdom of God and those in the
kingdom of darkness;
2) Or as someone humorously put it, the saints
and the ain'ts.
Col.1:13 “He has
delivered us from the power of darkness
and transferred us into the kingdom of
the Son of His love,”
That
is an incredible picture that Paul paints there in Colossians.
A) We were a part of one
Kingdom - darkness – who’s king is
Satan – Goal is to Kill, rob, Destroy!
B) But we have been rescued
out of that horrible Kingdom delivered out of the dark night of sin, ignorance,
rebellion, and unbelief.
C) AND brought into the
kingdom of God !
1) Delivered = rescued and
drawn to himself
D) God took us out that He
might take us in!
So
Paul’s exhortation here is live like you are of the day!
A) Beginning in v.6 He gives
us some practical insight into what that looks like. RD v. 6-8
Therefore let
us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
For those who
sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
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 Wake up ! Therefore let
us not sleep, as others do!
The
word Sleep here spiritually speaks of
having a Careless Indifference.
A) I don’t care type of
attitude! -
B) Drowsy Christians are Drowning Christians!
C) It is time to be
awake!
Rom 13:11
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake
out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
I
heard about an old farmer that had a grandfather clock that went haywire and
chimed fourteen times one midnight.
He jumped up and said, “Wake up, Nellie, it’s later than it’s ever been before.”
PEOPLE: it’s later than it’s ever been before. Time to wake up
Causes
of Spiritual Drowsiness?
1) Sin – Samson
A) Samson great potential –
But he lived in a world of compromise – touching unclean
B) Ungodly women – Result: He
lost his sensitivity to the Lord.
Judges
16:20
So
he awoke from his sleep, and said, "I will go out as before, at other
times, and shake myself free!" But he did not know that the LORD had
departed from him.
There
was but one crack in the lantern, and the wind found it and blew out the
candle. How great a mischief one unguarded point of
character may cause us!
One
spark blew up the ammunition and shook the whole country for miles around. One
leak sank the vessel and drowned all on board. One wound may kill the body, one
sin destroy the soul. - Charles
Haddon Spurgeon,
2) Lack of
Fellowship:
John Bunyan, in Pilgrims Progress,
tells of Christian & Hopeful journeying to the Celestial city.
He
said,
“To prevent
drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good discourse.”
Christians who isolate themselves & walk alone, are very
liable to grow drowsy.
Heb 10:24-25 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love
and good works,25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the
manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the
Day approaching.
Fellowship
is meant to Stir us up!
A)
Stay in Christian company0 And, you will be kept wakeful by it; & be refreshed
& encouraged by it
B)
Keep your conversations on Jesus!
3)
In activity: It is hard to fall asleep when you are working – { Pastor with
foot on the desk – Pastor
If I rest, I
rust.
Martin Luther
It is better
to wear out than to rust out.
George Whitefield
Iron rusts from disuse,
stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so
inaction saps the vigor of the mind.
Leonardo da Vinci
SERVE – GET INVOLVED !
4)
Prayerlessness: Jesus told his disciples to pray – instead they were sleeping
Peter reacts in the flesh –
So the First thing Paul
tells us to do is to Wake up – Stop sleeping !
#2
Watch:
A)
Watching – It is the opposite of
indifference. It involves alertness!
It
was Lee and Margaret’s first date:
After an hour she assumed she was being stood up – PJ’s raided the
pantry for her favorite snacks – snuggled on the couch with her dog – to watch
TV.
After
about an hour she hears a knock on the door – she goes to answer it – It is Lee
– He takes one look at her
And
says: I am two hours late – and you are still not
ready !
Fear
that is the sad case with some believers today: Jesus is not late – but He has
delayed his coming
A) People who were once
fervent in their faith have put on
their PJ’s fallen asleep
B) Stay alert – Kids waiting
for Dad to come home
1) Car in the driveway -
“The Lion of persecution
might not be a threat to us, but we are being hugged by the Bear of this world.” {we are
comfortable in his warm, furry arms, but he’s slowly squeezing & the church
doesn’t feel it!}
Lessons from the Titanic they ignore the Warnings
#
2 Watch #3 – Be Sober
A) Where Watching is more mental, sober
is more moral!
B) In contrast to the
drunken stupor that envelops night people, day people are also sober.
C) To be sober means to be
free from the influence of intoxicants.
1) A sober person exhibits self-control, lives a serious,
balanced, calm, steady life, and maintains proper priorities.
D) Just as sleep and
drunkenness define night people's insensitivity to spiritual reality,
1) so alertness and soberness describe day people's sensitivity to
it.
William Hendriksen notes:
The
sober person lives deeply. His pleasures are not primarily those of the senses,
like the pleasures of the drunkard for instance, but those of the soul. He is
by no means a Stoic. On the contrary, with a full measure of joyful
anticipation he looks forward to the return of the Lord, but in doing so he
does not run away from his task!
Take
life seriously; reach out to people, love them, help them, offer salvation to
them!
To
further this idea of being alert and watchful Paul uses the image of a Solider.
V. 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
A) A soldier's breastplate
protected his vital organs, the area where he was most vulnerable.
B) It was the ancient equivalent of a
bulletproof vest.
C) Interesting that this
Breastplate is Characterized by two layers:
Faith and Love
We
are admonished to Love the Lord with all of our Heart – soul …our mind. { Faith = tough outer layer
A) Faith starts with the
Mind - Faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word
B)Faith is based on Facts - Faith Stands on
the word
1) Sophomore
year of High School
C) Know what you believe and
why is so important
1)
Know what you believe and why – Paul Little
Rez factor by Josh McDowell
D) Faith provides a good
defense against temptation because Satan seeks to tempt us to doubt God
1) Eve in the Garden – Did God really say
E) God is lying to you { Doubt his
word and his heart
Listen
as believers can trust God's Person.
A)
He will never deviate from His nature as revealed in Scripture, but will always
act consistently with His attributes.
B)
The writer of Hebrews declared of God the Son, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and
today and forever" (Heb 13:8).
Second,
believers can trust God's power.
God
rhetorically asked Abraham, "Is anything too difficult for the Lord?"
(Gen 18:14).
Third,
believers can trust God's promises.
A)
All the promises are Yes and Amen in Christ –
2 Cor 1:20
B)
Because Jesus rose – All true all for me !
Fourth,
believers can trust God's sovereign plan, which can neither be halted nor
hindered.
Through
Isaiah the prophet, God declared, "I act and who can reverse it?" (Isa 43:13).
C) When We are trusting in
the Lord’s Person / Power / Promises and Sovereign Plan -
1) Our Faith is built up
So If faith forms the hard, protective outer surface of a
Christian’s breastplate, then love is its soft inner lining.
A) Love toward God involves delight in and
devotion to God as our supreme object of affection
B) Love is the MOTIVATOR –
staying awake /
1) First date with Denise –
fell asleep drive home – wasn’t far
C) Love sparks heart - Motivator – be engaged in service –
D) Not Brownie points –
Response to his Love
Great
deterrent against worldly living
A) Loving the Lord or Loving
Self
B) Great motivator to hang
in there thru difficulties in marriage / friendships
1) Love God and trust Him !
C) Not for me – not for kids
– for the Lord
D) So the breastplate =
Faith and Love
E) Helmet the hope of Salvation
1) Helmet is our Hope – What
Hope ?
VERSE
9
For
God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together
with Him.
Right now you have an appointment,
either to wrath or to salvation.
A) Unbeliever - Wrath –
Tribulation time – Hell
B) But if you
are a Christian – not appointment to obtain wrath but Salvation - already saved – but here talking the
culmination = HEAVEN
C) Why are we not appointed unto Wrath ? Jesus paid it all !
Joel 3:14 “Multitudes,
multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”
V.11
Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
A) Note : Paul again tells
us not to take comfort, but to give comfort.
B) Comfort one
another - times like this we need to be
reminding each other – this is not Home !
1) Comfort = to encourage – keep going !
C) Edify = Build
up
1) Don’t grow weary in well doing – due season reap