You may be seated. It's good to see everybody here this morning, and we did have a good week in Louisville, and it's good to be back with you, and looking forward this morning to going to the Word together and hearing what God has to say to us from His Word. If you were here last week, you know that we're in a series entitled Hope in Life and Death, and we were in 1 Thessalonians 4 last week, And this week, we're going to be in 1 Thessalonians 5. And so, the very next passage, following the text that we looked at last week. So, if you're using your Bible, the Bible in front of you, in one of the chairs in front of you there, it's found on page 987. And the text this morning is 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and we'll look at verses 1 through 8, and then, Lord willing, next week 9 through 11, okay? And that'll conclude our series next week. But this morning, our focus is on verses 1 through 8, and so 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and I'll begin reading for us in verse 1. Now, concerning the times and season, 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 or 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. Amen. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, OK? Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the warnings that it gives. We thank you for the hope and the comfort and the promises that it offers. And so, Father, we pray that as we come to this time, that you would warn. We pray that you would encourage. We pray that you would change and transform. We pray, Father, that you would give life even as we've sung. Lord, we pray that you would do far more than we can ask or imagine as we turn to your word now. And it's through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen. Last week we were looking at chapter 4 in 1 Thessalonians, and in chapter 4 Paul is addressing the question, what happens to Christians after they die? And now as we move into chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians, Paul is answering the question related to what happens at the end of the world? And one of the things we see, especially in light of celebrating Easter last Sunday and celebrating, as we do every Sunday, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see here that Paul's answers to both these questions are grounded in the resurrection, his belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So if you go back to chapter 4 and look at verse 14, he writes, For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so because we believe that, then he says, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. So, because Jesus has been raised from the dead, because Jesus has conquered death, which is the most basic of Christian confessions, because we believe this, We also believe that Jesus Christ, the living, reigning Jesus Christ, will return again, and that if you are found in Christ, believing and trusting in Him, that you will experience the same life that He experienced in His resurrection. You too will have eternal life and victory over the grave. Now, perhaps some of you have questions about what the Bible teaches regarding the end of the world. And if there's, I imagine that's the case because if there's any indication regarding the production of apocalyptic movies in recent history, I would imagine that many of us have an interest in the end of the world. I actually found, as I was preparing for this message, I found a website. I was surprised to find it, although I shouldn't be because there's a website for everything now. But there's a website, apocalypticmovies.com. And some of the more popular apocalyptic movies in the last decade, you're familiar with some of these, are The Book of Eli. The Last Day on Earth, The Hunger Games, which is more recent. The Day After Tomorrow, I Am Legend, Matrix. There's one actually, I'd never heard of this one before, 2012, which actually came out in 2009, and since now it's 2012, I guess maybe we should be worried. So those are movies, apocalyptic movies that have come out in recent times, and it shows a wide interest, right, in our culture about the end of the world, what might be coming, what does the Bible have to say about these things. And so in the midst of this interest, that's the question we want to ask this morning. What does the Bible have to say about these things? And the Bible uses a term we see in our text this morning. The Bible uses a term to speak of the day when the world as we know it will come to an end. And judgment will come, and salvation will come, and God will transform what we currently see, so that there will be a new heavens and a new earth, and God will live with His people, and He will rule and reign in righteousness and in justice, and His people would be with Him forever. And the term that the Bible uses, it's really simple a term, it's the day of the Lord. We see it here in our text. We actually find it. It goes all the way back to the Old Testament scriptures. It's a theme that we find all throughout the Old Testament scriptures and then coming into the New Testament. And Paul speaks of it here in our text. And the day of the Lord, as defined by the scriptures, is a day both of judgment and a day of salvation. It's a day of judgment for the unrighteous, and it's a day of salvation for the righteous. And so considering this theme, I want us to consider four truths from our passage this morning regarding the day of the Lord. What we'll see in our text is that the day of the Lord will be sudden, the day of the Lord will be inescapable, the day of the Lord and the Christian's identity, and then the day of the Lord and the Christian's activity. And so those are the four points we want to consider this morning. First of all, the day of the Lord will be sudden. Look there in the text, chapter 5, verses 1 and 2, and we read these words. 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. So Paul is assuming here as he writes to the Thessalonians that there are some among them in the church in Thessalonica that are curious to know when is this going to happen? What's the day? What's the time? What's the season? When will the Lord come again? And that shouldn't surprise us because many have thought that the way to best prepare for the day of the Lord is to know when it's going to happen. Maybe you've thought that way about the end of the world. Well, if I just knew when it was going to happen, then I can get ready and I can be prepared. We see this actually in particular with the disciples of Jesus as they expressed on numerous occasions their desire to know when was Jesus going to fulfill all the promises that he had made? When was the time when he was going to come again? When was the time when he was going to rule and reign as Messiah? So in Matthew chapter 24, we read that as Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, Tell us, when will all these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the close of the age? Later in that chapter, in Matthew 24 verse 36, we read Jesus' response to their question, But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. So that was prior to Jesus' death and resurrection. They're asking questions, okay, Jesus, when is all this going to happen? When are you going to come back? But then after Jesus was raised from the dead and He appeared to His disciples, they're still inquiring and inquisitive about this matter. So in Acts 1, verse 6, we read, So when they had come together, they asked Him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? And Jesus's response is in the very next verse. He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. So listen, if you're here this morning as we're considering this theme of the day of the Lord and the end of the world, if you're here this morning, one of the things that's important for you to do if you're here this morning and you have, we're all here this morning, right? If you're here this morning and you haven't settled this in your mind, one of the things that's important for you to do is to settle this in your mind that none of us And no one else outside this room can know the day or the time that the Lord will return, that the end of the world will come. It's clearly stated in scripture that that is beyond our knowledge. And the reason why I stress this point is because there is always someone who thinks they have a particular insight a particular, maybe a, you know, a special line to God where they can discern when the end of the world will come and when Jesus will return. Just a few examples. Perhaps you've heard of Edgar C. Wisenot, which I think is really funny that that's his last name, Wisenot, like he is not wise, which he's not. He was a former NASA engineer and Bible student. and he predicted the rapture would occur in 1988 and maybe you've heard this title before he published a book 88 reasons why the rapture will be in 1988 it sold 4.5 million copies well obviously he was wrong right well then he published The final shout, rapture report 1989, in which he predicted that the rapture would occur in 1989. Obviously he was wrong. That did not deter him. He published 23 reasons why a pre-tribulational rapture looks like it will occur on Rosh Hashanah 1993. That's kind of funny because the first title is it will occur and now he's saying it looks like it might occur in 1993. Well, he was wrong again. So then he published, and now, The Earth's Destruction by Fire, Nuclear Bomb Fire, in which he predicted that it would occur in 1994. Let me just say, there's going to be other people who do this, right? Save your money. Read the Bible. They don't know. OK? The most recent example of this is Harold Camping, who predicted the end of the world on May 21st, 2011. Some of y'all, I'm sure, are aware of that and the news that it made. You do have to at least give him some credit that after he was wrong, he acknowledged that his prediction was both incorrect and sinful. And that is right. It is sinful for us to presume that we can know what God has already clearly stated we cannot know. This is what Paul is saying in our text in verses one and two. Now concerning the times and seasons, brother, you have no need for anything to be written to you for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. You see, the idea here is that if a thief comes, if a thief is planning to rob your house, they're not going to send to save the day. Right. That's the point. They don't they don't tell you when they're coming. It's sudden. It's unexpected. Paul says, you know, nobody knows the date and you can't either. So I really don't even need to waste ink on that. OK, the day of the Lord will be sudden. The second thing we see in our text is that the day of the Lord will be inescapable. This is in verse three. Look there in the text, we read these words, 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. Now, here, as Paul speaks about people saying, there's peace and there's security, this is most likely a reference to Pax Romana, which literally meant Roman peace. You see, at this time in the history of the world, the Roman Empire obviously had been very successful, and by their military conquest and expansion and governments, it had resulted in relative peace if you lived in the Roman Empire. It resulted in minimal military threats. There was political stability. There was not much social unrest. And so one of the great benefits that Rome could promise to those that came into the Roman Empire, whether willingly or unwillingly, was that they would provide a context in which those people would experience peace and stability. And so Thessalonica was a Roman city, a very important Roman city, and the Roman Empire had been established by Caesar Augustus. And so in the city of Thessalonica, this would have been a well-accepted reality. Yes, we live under Rome's rule, and one of the benefits we experience is we experience peace, security. We don't have to be fearful of threats from other nations, because who's going to mess with Rome, right? Does that sound familiar? I mean, we as Americans. Perhaps more than anybody else in the history of the world. Have enjoyed and enjoy today, peace and security. But Paul's in this striking theme of suddenness that he hits again, he says that in a time we could state it this way, in a time of military, in a time of political, in a time of social stability, destruction will come upon the earth. And he relates this to the experience of the pains of labor. So the pains of labor are one sudden, right? So you get ready for the end of your pregnancy. Ladies, you know it's coming. But you don't know exactly when it's going to happen, right? So you might even start to pray like, Lord, I hope it's tomorrow, you know, or I want tomorrow to be the day. But you go to sleep at night. You don't know if it's going to be that night. You don't know if it's going to be next week. You know, it could be tomorrow. But it comes and it is sudden when it comes because you can't predict the exact time. Another thing about labor pains, though, which Paul is highlighting here, is that they are inescapable. You may have some false alarms along the way, but many of you ladies know when it starts, there's no going back, right? I remember when we were having our child, Nikki, and I were in the room and I was trying to be there and be a good husband, you know, and say comforting things and help her with her breathing treatments and hold her hand and that sort of thing. And I remember at one point it became intensely painful for her, and I remember her saying, I don't know if I can do this, I just don't know if I can do this. And I was thinking to myself, you know, well babe, there's not really much we can do about it now, right? Now, I didn't say that out loud, okay? So guys, don't say that out loud. But that's the reality of it, right? When it comes, and she did great and awesome, and we had the baby and everything, but when it comes, it's inescapable, right? There's nothing you can do about it. It's unavoidable. And Paul says here in our text, in 2 Thessalonians 1.9, he describes, actually this is in the next letter, but in 2 Thessalonians 1.9 he describes the fate of those who are unprepared for the Lord's return, and he says, they will suffer punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. And so this is what is coming on the day of the Lord, Up until this day, God is graciously extending, even now, as you sit here through the preaching of the word, graciously extending opportunities to turn and to repent of sin and to trust in Jesus and to be ready for that day. But then, Paul says, there is coming a day, it will be sudden, it will be unexpected, and when it comes, it will be inescapable. And for those who know Christ, it will be a day of salvation. But for those who do not or not found in Christ, it will be a day of judgment. And it's unavoidable. There's no way out. There are certain events that take place in your life, like even the birth of a child in which before that you've never experienced anything like it. But once it happens, your life will never be the same after it. That's what the day of the Lord will be like. You've never experienced it before, but when it comes, there's no turning back. It's inescapable. It will be set forever. Your eternal destiny. Some to eternal destruction. And some in the presence of God forever. The third thing we learn here in our text is that the day of the Lord, or we see here in our text, is the day of the Lord and the Christian's identity. So look there in verses four and five, and we read these words. So Paul is writing about these things, and now in verse, you know, that we don't know the time, it's gonna be unexpected, but it'll be inescapable. And then in verse four he says, but you are not in the 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, nor or of the darkness. Now this is immensely encouraging because so there are times in the Bible where the Bible speaks about the day of the Lord and kind of the theme, the feel of that text is repent. Right. So this day is coming and it's a day of judgment and you need to repent because you need to turn. You need to trust in Christ so that you will be safe on that day. And that's here. But the larger emphasis here, as it's as Paul is speaking of the day of the Lord, is not to call to repentance, although that is that is there. But it is to comfort those who are believers. This is a church he's writing to the church in Thessalonica. If you remember the context from last week, there are some people who have died and they're wondering, well, what happens to them? Do they go to be with the Lord? Will we ever see them again? And Paul's trying to explain these things to them. And here he says, look, that day is going to be sudden, that day is going to be unexpected, but... And, right, people will be saying peace, people will be saying security. It'll come upon them. They will be surprised. It'll be inescapable. Judgment and destruction will come upon them. But then he says, but listen, that's not you. That's not you. It won't surprise you because you are a child of the light. You are a child of God. You're not of the darkness. You'll be ready. Now, what does it mean that they are not in darkness, but they are children of light? Well, Paul here, when he speaks of the fact that they're not of darkness, but they are of light, what Paul is speaking of is the reality of their conversion. OK. And Paul speaks about their conversion a few times in this letter. So go back to chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, and he writes these words, For they themselves report how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Or in chapter 2, verse 13, he says, and we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it really is the word of God, which is at work in you believers. So what does it mean that they're not of darkness, but they are of light? Well, he's speaking of their conversion. It means that before Paul came to Thessalonica and preached the gospel to them, they worshiped idols. but now they've turned from their idols and they worship the living God. It means that before Paul came to Thessalonica, they didn't understand the gospel, they didn't know who Jesus was, but now they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was raised from the dead and died on the cross and paid the sacrifice for our sins to save us from the wrath of God. And as they heard this message about who God was, as they heard this message about who Christ was and what he did on their behalf, listen, they received it not as the word of man, but as the very word of God. And as they received that truth, they were changed. The gospel had changed them. They were changed by the grace of God, they were far from perfect, but they were very different. They had new thoughts and ambitions. They had new desires. They trusted in Jesus and their earnest desire was to follow him. Paul says here, he's writing to this church and he says, listen, by the very nature of who you are, you will be ready. You're trusting in Jesus. You love Jesus. You'll be ready. The day of the Lord will not be a day of judgment for you, but it will be a day of salvation. Isn't that great? We can rejoice if we are trusting in Jesus today. Fourth and finally, the day of the Lord and the Christians activity. Look there in verses six and eight and we read the six through eight and we read these words. 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 or 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. Now, we should clarify this right to say that. To say that by nature of who we are, we will be ready for Jesus' coming is in no way to say that the Christian can be apathetic or passive regarding the coming day of the Lord. What Paul says here is that out of our identity, that is, out of who we are, comes activity, right? But it's important that we get those two in order. Out of identity, out of who we are, comes a certain activity. You see it there in the text. Verse 5, he says, you're children of light, you're children of the day. Verse 6, so then don't sleep, keep awake, be sober. OK, so out of our identity, who we are as children of God, comes a certain activity in which we are waiting for the return of our Savior. In verse 7 and 8, he draws quite a contrast here, and you see it there in verse 7, he speaks of those who are of the night. He says, for those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. So those who are outside of Christ, those who have not trusted in Christ, are here described as those who are children of the night or children of the darkness. Now, you can imagine in a society... This illustration here, we don't get as clearly or as vividly because we live in a different time and a different era, but you can imagine in this society in which electricity had not been discovered, in which there were not streetlights lining the sidewalks and the streets, the night was not a good time, okay? So people didn't say, you know, we want to hit the town at night. You know, we have date night, right? So in this society, that was not a prevailing culture in which the night was a time in which you went out and did kind of your main activities, if you want to say, or hit the town in the way that we think of it. A lot of bad things happened at night under the cover of darkness. And there was a sense in which you didn't have protection, right? Because you couldn't see and there wasn't electricity. And so it was a dangerous time. And here Paul speaks of what do the children of the night do? One of the things he says is that they sleep, which can be representative of a few things. Sleep is a good thing in the sense of rest, but here Paul is using it in a different way. So sleep we saw last week can be a reference to death, right? He spoke of those who had died as those who had fallen asleep. Sleep also in the Bible can be a reference to indifference or spiritual apathy. And that's the way that Paul is using the word here. Those at night, those who are children of the darkness, those who are children at night, spiritually speaking, they're just asleep. They're just totally apathetic to spiritual things. They're indifferent. Not only that, but he says those who are at night, they're drunk in drunkenness. People get drunk at night. Obviously, this is a generalization. Some people get drunk during the day, but typically, oftentimes people get drunk at night and drunkenness is marked by confusion. Right. It's marked by carelessness. And so both of these, both sleep and drunkenness are the antithesis, the opposite of being sober and being ready. That's what Paul's getting at. Children of the night. Those who have not trusted in Christ, those who are not following Christ, those who have not embraced Christ, are marked by a spiritual apathy, indifference, and carelessness about spiritual things. And so they're not and they won't be ready for the day of the Lord. Jesus said in Mark 13, but concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard. Keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey when he leaves his home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come in the evening or at midnight or when the cock crows or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you, I say to you all, stay awake. Many people approach Jesus this way, just kind of apathetically, indifferently, right? I mean, oftentimes you may hear someone say, and maybe you're in this position this morning, you say, you know, I just don't really care about religion and Jesus and stuff like that. It just doesn't really interest me. Kind of like someone would say, I just don't really like ice cream, you know? Or I prefer the beach to the mountains. Do you get what Jesus is saying here? Because of who he claims to be, Jesus is not just a menu option. If you are bored with Jesus, there are eternal consequences. By the very nature of who he claims to be savior, lord, king, sovereign of the universe, creator of the world. Boredom is not an option. He commands, he calls forth full, absolute allegiance and devotion. And here he says, wake up and taste and see that I am good. You will only find eternal joy and satisfaction in me. So that's a description of those who are children of the night, they're apathetic, they're indifferent to spiritual things, they're not ready, they're careless spiritually regarding the last day and destruction will come upon them. Verse eight, this is the description of those who are of the day. 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. Now, again, you notice here that identity precedes activity. Identity comes before activity. Identity, we could say, results in activity. So in verse eight, he says, since we belong to the day, see, that's your identity. If you're trusting in Christ, that's who you are. You are in Christ. You belong to the day. You're a children of light. Therefore, let us be sober. having put on the breastplate of faith and the helmet, the hope of salvation. So identity precedes activity. Who we are is fundamental. Are you trusting in Christ? Are you in Christ? And out of that comes a certain activity. The activity is to be sober, to be ready, to be prepared. And how does Paul describe that sobriety, that preparedness? He describes it like a soldier, right? A soldier who has on the breastplate of faith and love, So you're trusting in Jesus, that's faith, right? You're looking to Jesus, you're trusting in Him for the forgiveness of your sins, for your life, you're hoping in Him, and love. You're seeking to love others with the love of Christ. And then the helmet, which is the helmet of salvation, the promise of the gospel is on your mind. It governs your thoughts and it determines your approach to life. The King is coming back. That's on your mind and that changes everything in terms of the way you perceive the world. And so this is what it looks like to be one who is ready to be a child of the light. Noah, our son, likes firemen and fire stations. So maybe that's another helpful metaphor or illustration. So when you drive by the fire station, you like to have the sense that that they're not just in there playing video games, right, or sleeping and indifferent and not ready, not awake, not alert, not ready for when the alarm goes off that they're going to jump and they're going to come and they're going to save you. That's kind of the idea that Paul is getting at here, that there has to be a readiness among the children of the light for the coming day of the Lord. Peter stated it this way in 2 Peter 3, verses 10 and 11. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." Where did he get that? Paul used that, right? Where did Paul get it? Jesus, right? That's where they got it, Jesus. Jesus uses that illustration, thief in the night. Paul picks it up, Peter picks it up. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Listen, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? Do you see what Jesus is saying and Peter is saying and Paul is saying as we've considered all these examples this morning? The way that you prepare for the day of the Lord is not by date setting. It's not by discerning the time that he will return or the time of his arrival, but rather you prepare for the day of the Lord by trusting in the promise of the gospel and faithfully pursuing a life of obedience to Jesus. And doing that, Paul says, you will be ready. It's not a perfect life. It's a life that's looking forward to the promise with hope. and seeking to live for Christ and pursuing a life of obedience. I wonder, as you consider the text this morning, would you say that your life is more reflective of a child of the night or a child of the day? Is your life more reflective of one who is ready for the coming day of the Lord or one who will be surprised unexpected, sudden, it will come upon you and it will be inescapable. The hope and the promise of the gospel is that just like the Thessalonians who had no interest in God when Paul showed up in Thessalonica, they were pagans worshiping false gods. That when the gospel was preached to them, when the gospel was proclaimed to them, when they understood the message of the gospel, what did they do? They responded in faith. And by the grace of God, their lives were changed. And now Paul can write to them and say, listen, you're going to be ready. You're going to be ready for the day of the Lord. I pray the same will be true for you. You can do that even this morning. As you confess your sins and turn to Christ and trust in him as savior and follow him as Lord. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. God, my earnest desire and prayer right now is that by your grace, every one of us in this room would be ready for the coming day of the Lord. I pray Father that by your grace you would now impress your word upon our hearts. I pray that and I thank you that the miraculous work that you did in the Thessalonians 2,000 years ago or so as they heard the gospel and as they turned from their sins and trusted in Christ and their lives were changed. I thank you and I praise you that you still do that life transforming powerful work today. I pray, Father, that in the hearts of those this morning who are unsure. Of where they are, Lord, I pray that by your grace, the gospel would be very clear and I pray by your grace, even now. They would confess their sins and trust in Christ. Lord, I pray for all of us who are believers, Lord, as children of light, help us to live consistent with our identity. Lord, we pray and confess our own spiritual apathy and indifference. Lord, we pray that we would turn from that and forgive us. Lord, may we be zealous and eager. May we be ready for the coming of the Lord and may that be demonstrated in our lives as we seek you in word and in prayer and gathering with your people for worship and being on mission for the sake of the gospel. May we be ready for that day. And Lord, we thank you and praise you that for us who are hoping in Christ, that by your grace, it will be a day of salvation and not a day of judgment. Encourage us, Lord, with that truth. And it's through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen.