For the Scripture reading this morning, we turn to two passages of the Bible, Matthew 24, verses 36 through 51. Matthew 24, verses 36 through 51, and then also 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 through 11. 1 Thessalonians 5, 1-11. We read this in connection with Lord's Day 19 of the Heidelberg Catechism. Matthew 24 is the chapter, along with Matthew 25, that speaks of, in which Jesus gives instruction concerning His second coming and the signs of His second coming. And we pick it up at Matthew 24 verse 36. Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he says, But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left. And to be taken means to be taken away into condemnation, to be taken away into hell, and one shall be left. One shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, especially notice these two verses, that if the good man of the house, either the owner or the chief servant of the house, had known in what watch of the night, and just a comment here, in those days, in the olden days, there were four watches of the night, four sections of time throughout the evening, 6 to 9 p.m., 9 to 12 p.m., 12 to 3 a.m. and then 3 to 6 a.m., four watches of the night. And there would be people who would, soldiers who would watch the city during those four sections of time. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered, allowed his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But, and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So that passage speaks of the suddenness of Jesus' coming and the need to be prepared. And then also 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 1 through 11. This is the Apostle Paul giving instruction and comfort to the saints in the young church at Thessalonica. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 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, whether we are living or dead at Christ's second coming, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do." It will be especially this passage from 1 Thessalonians 5 that we interact with in the preaching this morning. So on the basis of this instruction and on the basis of the Scriptures as a whole and many passages that we have the teaching of Lord's Day 19 of the Catechism found on page 11 in the back of the Psalter. Lord's Day 19. We're going through the Apostles' Creed. This is what true faith believes. Why is it added, and sitteth at the right hand of God? because Christ is ascended into heaven for this end, this purpose, that he might appear as head of his church, by whom the Father governs all things. What profit is this glory of Christ our head unto us? First, that by his Holy Spirit, he pours out heavenly graces upon us, his members, and then that by his power, He defends and preserves us against all enemies. What comfort is it to thee that Christ shall come again to judge the quick and the dead? That in all my sorrows and persecutions with uplifted head, I look for the very same person who before offered himself for my sake to the tribunal of God and has removed all curse from me. to come as judge from heaven, who shall cast all his and my enemies into everlasting condemnation, but shall translate me with all his chosen ones to himself into heavenly joys and glory. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we considered last week's Sunday morning, 40 days after Jesus arose from the dead, he ascended into heaven. In his body, Jesus went from this place, earth, this realm of earth, to the place, to the realm of heaven. Well, having looked at that last week, the question we could ask now this morning is this, when Jesus went to heaven, where did he go? Well, we all know the answer, even the children know the answer, because we confess it every Sunday night. Jesus ascended into heaven and sitteth. He sits right now at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And the Bible uses that language frequently. When Jesus ascended into heaven, He didn't just happen to sit anywhere. No, but He sat down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And when the Bible says that, the Bible doesn't mean to tell us that there's a specific physical location in heaven where Jesus is sitting right now or that He's in a permanent chair sitting somewhere. What it means, rather, is that Jesus is given the place of highest honor and power and authority. in heaven, given the highest place of honor and power authority so that he rules over all this physical realm and over all the spiritual realm. That's the idea of being at God's right hand. The right hand of a king is the position of power and honor. To be the king's right-hand man, to be Pharaoh's right-hand man, is to be the king's first servant, his chief servant. And that's who Jesus is, as the servant of Jehovah. Jesus is God's right-hand man, sitting at God's right hand. serving God continually, fulfilling God's decrees, unfolding New Testament history, ruling over everything in heaven and earth under God. And Jesus will sit there, he will have that position, ruling over everything until he has finished his work of gathering all his elect, all God's elect. into his church. That's what Jesus is doing right now. As the Catechism says, Jesus is ascended into heaven so that he might appear as head of his church. by whom the Father governs all things." Jesus is ruling all things as the head of His church, as the bridegroom of His church, gathering His church, protecting His church, saving His church. And when Jesus is finished gathering every single child of God, every one for whom He died and shed His blood on the cross, then there really will be no more purpose with history. There will be no more purpose to continue with this present fallen creation and Jesus will then come again on the clouds of glory. He will resurrect the dead. He will carry out the final judgment and he will make the new heavens and new earth. He will burn this present creation, this present world with fire and you might say out of the ashes, he will resurrect the new heavens and the new earth where God in Christ will dwell with his people in perfect covenant fellowship. Now, we all know these things. The Bible teaches us these things very clearly. What is somewhat curious, however, is that the Bible says that when Jesus comes again on the clouds of heaven, his coming will be as a thief in the night. That's what we read in Matthew 24, that's what we read in 1 Thessalonians 5, and that figure is striking. Jesus compares His second coming to a thief in the night. What does that mean exactly? Children, is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing that Jesus is coming as a thief in the night? That's what we want to focus on this morning. Lord willing, we will have three sermons on Lord's Day 19 this morning. We will look at Jesus' coming, coming as a thief in the night. Next time, Lord willing, we will look at the final judgment itself and details around the final judgment. And then for the third sermon, we will look at creation itself and creation's hope for what is in store. for the whole creation when He comes again. I think this will be profitable. I think this is always a topic of interest. And especially in these last days, it's good for us to know what Scripture has to say about all these things, especially also because there's much error and heresy and confusion regarding these things. It's comforting and, Lord willing, it will help us practically this week and going forward to live more and more in the hope of Christ's second coming. We take as our theme this morning, Jesus is coming as a thief in the night. When we look at that theme under three points, first, we look at the meaning, second, we look at the calling, and then third, the comfort. And as I said, we're especially going to look at 1 Thessalonians 5 as we think on these things this morning out of God's Word. Jesus is coming as a thief in the night. And what is striking is just how many times in the New Testament that language is used. In the Old Testament already, similar language is used, but just to keep ourselves to the New Testament, we read it first of all in Matthew 24, verses 43 and 44. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, the thief, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Jesus' coming there is compared to a thief. Luke chapter 12, verses 39 through 40, you have basically the same words. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 2, we read that passage as well. And then two verses later, verse 4. Then 2 Peter 3 verse 10, we read. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with the great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up." Then in Revelation 3 verse 3, writing to the church at Sardis, Jesus writes this, "'Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." And then in Revelation 16 verse 15, we read, Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. So that's a handful of verses. The question we need to ask is this, what does that language mean, that Jesus will come as a thief in the night? Well, the point of the metaphor, of course, is not to compare Jesus himself to a thief. In this sense, that Jesus is as evil as a thief. Of course, that's not the meaning. A thief is a wicked man. We are not to be friends with thieves. A thief is one who breaks God's law, the eighth commandment, and Jesus, of course, does not do that. Jesus is not a thief. Rather, Jesus is one who kept the eighth commandment perfectly. Not only did he never steal from anyone, but Jesus also promoted the advantage of his neighbor in every instance he could. And He did so as part of His redeeming work for His people. He who was rich, who didn't even need to steal, He who was rich became poor so that we who were poor might be made rich through Him. That's Jesus keeping the Eighth Commandment. Jesus is not a thief. But the point of this language is to point out how unprepared the world is going to be when Jesus comes again on the clouds of heaven. And to make that clear, we need to notice that it's not Jesus who's being compared to a thief, but it's His coming that is compared to a thief. Jesus' coming, His sudden appearance will be like the appearance of a thief. And how does a thief come? Does a thief come with advance warning, children? Does a thief first send out a pamphlet or a brochure to the community, letting the people know that he plans to burglarize their homes on such and such a night or such and such a week? No, but a thief comes very suddenly. A thief comes without warning, right when you weren't expecting it. And when does the thief come to break into people's homes? Well, usually, we might say especially in Jesus' day where there were not constant lights on at night, as the Bible puts it, in the night. when people are asleep, when people are not prepared for the thief. A thief doesn't come in the middle of the day when people are alert and they can see the thief coming and they see what he's doing. No, a thief comes in the middle of the night when the people are unprepared. That's the meaning of the language. And when you read the scripture passages where that language is used, that becomes clear. That's how Jesus's second coming on the clouds of heaven will be. Jesus will come when the world is unprepared for His coming. So now the question is, what does that mean? What does it mean that Jesus will come when the world is unprepared? Does it mean that physically Jesus will come when it's nighttime? Does it mean that Jesus will physically come when people are sleeping in their beds at night? No, it doesn't mean that. Doesn't mean that Jesus, when he comes, he will come very quietly, stealthily, and maybe very quickly rapture believers out of this world, taking them away so that everyone who's left behind will have to figure out for themselves what has just happened. No. The Bible is very clear that when Jesus comes, he's going to come with a shout. He's going to come with a great noise, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. Jesus' second coming is going to be a very, very loud event that captures the attention of every soul on the earth. But what it means then is this, that when Jesus comes on the clouds of heaven, the world will be spiritually sleeping. When Jesus comes on the clouds of glory, people will be spiritually in the night. And what does that mean? Well, we can put it a few different ways, but at root, essentially it means people will have fallen asleep in the sleep of unbelief. They will be characterized by unbelief. They will be walking in darkness, walking in the darkness of sin. and lawlessness so that it will be an evil and dark day indeed. And it's actually very striking when you think about it. Because we all have it written very clearly before us that Jesus is coming. And we all have it very clearly before us what the signs of his coming are going to be. You just have to open the Bible and read them for yourselves. We don't know the day or the time of Jesus' second coming, but the Bible gives us very clear signs to look out for that mark his imminent coming. The first part of Matthew chapter 24. has many of these signs of Jesus coming. Not only are there going to be wars and rumors of wars and pestilence, but the preaching of the gospel is going to go throughout all lands for a witness to all nations, so that every nation will have heard the preaching of the gospel. That's a sign. When that happens, then the end shall come. Not only that, but there will be a great falling away, a great apostasy. Many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. You see that happening? That means Christ is coming soon. And then not only that, but the Antichrist will make his appearance. Right now, we know there are many Antichrists, many who are against Christ, but there is a day coming when there will be the Antichrist. what the Bible refers to as the man of sin or the son of perdition. This is a political figure. And this man will be Satan's craftiness, Satan's astonishing imitation of God's Christ. He will be one who claims to be the Christ, who claims to be God. He will be one who tries to stand in the place of Christ. He brings also even a certain kind of salvation to the world, an earthly salvation for those who trust in Him and look to Him. He will be the one through whom Satan deceives the nations. He will be the crafter of great lies so that many, you might say the world, is swept away by His lies. And of course, He's going to be the one who is against the Christ, Christ Jesus. Really, sermons could be given on Antichrist, who this figure is, but the point I'm making right now is this, Jesus has given us clear signs that mark the nearness of His second coming. And yet, for many, Jesus' second coming will be very sudden, will come to them when they are in a state of being unprepared. Jesus' coming will catch them unprepared. Now, one thing that the apostle points out in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 4 is that for God's people who are watching day and night, who are walking in the light, the day of Jesus' second coming will not come as a thief in the night. It will not take them by surprise, but they will see it coming, and in a sense, they will be ready for it. Now, the Bible does say that Jesus' coming will be sudden. even for the elect, right? The days will be cut short for the elect's sake. Time and times and then half a time, cut short. And we won't be able to tell each other the day or the time of Jesus' second coming, neither should we speculate that kind of a thing. But the Bible does give us this confidence that that day will not overtake us as a thief. Well, the question we should then ask is this, why? If there are such clear signs of Jesus's second coming, so that there will be people who are ready for it when he appears, why then will his coming be as a thief in the night for others? And the answer is this, many will be given over to sleep. Many will be given over to spiritual sleep and unbelief. And that's a figure that the Bible itself uses in the Old Testament, Isaiah 29 verse 10. The prophet Isaiah puts it this way. The Lord has done this. Hath closed your eyes. The prophets and your rulers, the seers, hath he covered. There in Isaiah 29, God is warning Jerusalem of a great judgment to come. God writes, or God says, thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire. An Old Testament day of judgment that's a typical of Christ's second coming. And then God says, and when it happens, you won't be prepared for it because you will be sleepy with the sleep of unbelief. In the New Testament, in Romans 11, verses 7 and 8, the Apostle Paul uses similar language when he's describing the reaction of the reprobate Jews after the days of Jesus. The Apostle writes, Romans 11, Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, that is the nation, the physical nation of Israel, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, and now he quotes from Isaiah 29 verse 10, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And now when the Bible speaks about Christ's second coming on the day of judgment, It's going to be that exact same way. Many, the vast multitudes, even in nominal Christianity, right? The church, just like in the church of the Old Testament, they won't be ready for it. They will be sleeping, spiritually sleeping because of unbelief and because of apostasy and because of their carnal attitudes. And it will be, as it were, an intentional sleepiness. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 2 puts it this way, they will be saying, peace and safety. Peace and safety. And the idea is, people will be saying, everything is good. Everything is now just as we want it. We have security. We have peace. And in an earthly and carnal sense, that is how it will be for many. Because the Antichrist will be providing for them that peace and that safety in his earthly kingdom. Yes, even though lawlessness will abound, just like in the days of Noah there was great violence in the earth, lawlessness will abound. Men will be characterized by wicked and perverse acts. And yet, even in the midst of that, the people will say, peace and safety. Well, as Jesus puts it in Matthew 24, his second coming will be like as it was in the days of Noah. For the wicked, the world was good. They had their families, they had their feasts. They were eating, they were drinking, they were making merry. They had lots of things on their calendar to do. Giving in marriage, life was humming along, it was going smoothly. We've got this on the calendar, that next week, nothing can disrupt our plans. And even though Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness, even though Noah witnessed against the world, nevertheless, the world put him away. They hated him, they ignored his preaching, and they became drowsy with spiritual sleep. And then very suddenly, in the middle of the night, as it were, They noticed, they woke up from their beds, from their slumbers, and they looked around them, around the bed, and they noticed that there was water seeping in under the door in their bedrooms, and the water was rising. And then they got up and they looked out the window, and they saw that there was torrents of rain coming down. They saw a terrible storm, and they knew not until the flood came and took them all away. Suddenly, their day of judgment. So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. In a certain sense, they knew it was coming, but they didn't care to make themselves ready. Again, it's like what Jesus says in Matthew 24, verse 43. It's very striking language that he uses. He says, but know this, if the good man of the house had known in what watch, in what hour of the night the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be broken up. The way Jesus words it there, it's almost as if the good man of the house knew that there was a thief in the area. There was a thief that had been burglarizing houses. And if he had known what time the thief would come to his house, whether it be at 8 o'clock at night or 2 in the morning or 5 in the morning, he would have stayed up to protect his house. But since he didn't know the time, he didn't know what watch the thief would come in, he chose to go to bed. Maybe he thought, might as well take a nap. I'm a light sleeper. I will wake up. I will hear the thief. Maybe he set his alarm and said, I can go to sleep. Maybe he said, it's not worth it to stay up, I've locked the house. But whatever the case, he chose for the moment to give himself over to sleep. And of course, that's when the thief came. And that's when that man in his household suffered loss. And in the end, the root problem is this, unbelief. And what's striking about everything, I mentioned this briefly, but that in much of the instruction that Jesus gives about His second coming, He's actually focusing a lot on the church. Not just those who are unprepared in the world, but those who are unprepared in the church. The parables He gives, the illustrations He gives speak to that. Just to give you one example, I think of Jesus' parable of the ten virgins. Right? Five wise virgins who knew the bridegroom was coming and prepared themselves. And then five foolish virgins who also knew the bridegroom was coming, but they did not prepare themselves appropriately. And if you know the parable, the five wise virgins and the five foolish virgins, that's representing the church. Right? Christ is coming. And if you know that parable, then you also know that the bridegroom comes suddenly as a thief in the night. The five wise versions were ready, but the five foolish versions were not. Well, that's the meaning of Jesus coming as a thief in the night. And if you look at this idea, then you will see that the emphasis, the focus, lies on this idea. We need to be ready. We need to be ready. That's where I want to go in the second point of the sermon. Knowing that for many, Jesus' second coming will be like a thief in the night. Knowing that this is what's going to characterize the world. Right when that day of judgment begins, our calling is to be prepared. And in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, the apostle gives a few specific commandments that we need to hear today. First, in verse 6, the Apostle writes, First of all, let us not sleep. That's the danger, isn't it? For the saints and the church at Thessalonica, for us today to fall asleep. It's not only a danger during the six days of the week, but it's may be very alarming when it's happening even in church on Sunday, right? Falling asleep. How can I be prepared if I'm not even listening to the instruction of the master? That's something to think about. And I think a good way to look at this topic and to look at the culture around us is like this. To see that the culture around us is trying to play a soundtrack. The world around us is living by a soundtrack. A soundtrack of music that is full of lullabies. So that with all its entertainment, with all its attractions, with all its pleasure, it's playing for the world a soft, sweet lullaby. I think that very much captures what the wicked culture around us is doing. We have peace. We have safety. We have love. So let's indulge ourselves in the pleasure of sleep and the sins of the flesh. We have luxury. Let's explore further the depths of depravity. Just think of that mantra in the world around us, even in this month, right? This month, you all know it, the idea of love, the idea of acceptance. You see the peace sign, maybe a peace sign on the bumper of someone's car that's colored in the colors of the rainbow. Peace, right? through the colors of the rainbow. That's what the world wants. That's all that the sexual revolution wants. That's what this age of depravity wants, just peace. Peace in our homes, peace in our families, and safety. Safety to be who we want to be, safety to freely indulge our old man of sin, safety from all judgmentalism. And it's a lullaby. It's a lullaby, don't disturb the peace, don't wake the baby. It's a lullaby, putting the world to sleep. And it's a lullaby that is putting many in the church to sleep as well. And the question that we need to ask ourselves is this, are we beginning to slumber? That's what Paul means when he writes, therefore, let us not sleep as do others. Let's not go along with the sins of the world. Let's not involve ourselves in the past times of sin that the world indulges in. Let's not listen to their soundtrack of music. Because if you start slumbering, it's so easy that you'll be enshrouded in the darkness of sleep. And then when the Lord comes, you'll suddenly find yourself unprepared. And that's when you'll find yourself scared of his appearance too. You won't be having uplifted head, but you'll be scared at his coming. So the apostle writes, let us not sleep. Then second, the apostle writes, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch. And I think to get at the heart of that, what it really means is this, believe. To watch obviously means to stay awake and to be sober, but at the heart of it, it really means let's continue to walk by faith. Watch with uplifted heads. Keep looking for the appearing of your Lord and Savior. You know what His word says. You know the promises He's given. You know He's faithful with regard to everything else that He's already done, what is going to happen. You can be sure what the Bible says, it will happen. Keep walking by faith. Keep living in close communion with your Jesus. Keep in your Bibles. That's what devotions is about. That's part of watching. I'm looking and I'm watching. Repentance is an essential part of watching as well. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We become drowsy. We become like Peter, James, and John, who are in the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus tells them to pray and to watch, and they fall asleep. And then what happens? They fall into temptation, and later on that night, they're all offended at Jesus, and they run away. They weren't ready, because they became sleepy and fell asleep. Think of Samson, who began to slumber and who fell asleep in the lap of Delilah. and he experienced a great fall. And the call that comes to us then is repent, turn from the drowsiness, get your head off the pillow, stand up, walk around, stay fresh, do your spiritual exercises because now is the time for watching and not for sleeping. And the question comes again, are we watching? Am I looking into God's word and then looking into the world around me and seeing how things are developing? Am I keeping my eye on Jesus? Right there He is. I know He's ascended into heaven, and there He is at God's right hand. I see Him, I'm serving Him, and I'm waiting for Him, as it were, to get off that seat and come again in His second coming. I'm looking for Him to come. Is that how we are living? Really, I'm looking for Jesus to come again. And then part of the reality is this, not just His second coming, but if the Lord should tarry, His coming to us in the moment of death. Jesus could come. He could stand up and come very quickly to take me. And when I die, as Hebrews says, then I have the judgment. First is death and then afterwards the judgment. Am I ready? Am I believing in Jesus Christ? Am I trusting in His perfect atoning death? Trusting in His perfect righteousness? And am I daily calling on the name of the Lord? So we watch, and then it also says, be sober. Let us watch and be sober. Are we sober? I think part of being sober is this. I'm thinking clearly. I know who it is at God's right hand. I know who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I know who it is who will carry out the final judgment. And I'm not scared then of anything. I'm not scared of Satan. I'm not afraid of this world. This world isn't going to be judging me. That's all part of being sober. But then also, of course, this as well. I'm not getting drunk off of the sins of this world. How can a soldier of the cross—that's the illustration he's going to use a few verses later—how can a soldier of the cross fight against sin if he's drunk? We must be spiritually sober-minded. Verse 8 is where you see that allusion to being soldiers of the cross. Verse 8 of 1 Thessalonians 5. Put on the breastplate of faith and love. That's part of being sober. Arm yourself. with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Arm yourself with the love of God, devotion to God. Arm yourself with that hope you have of the full salvation that is coming to you at Christ's second coming. That's part of your armor. That's part of your helmet and your protection. A huge part of being sober is this, let's remember who I am. Let me remember the kind of hope that I have. I am the child of God. I am part of the bridegroom of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a child of light. I'm a child of the day. I need to remember that. And as a child of the light, as a believer of Jesus Christ, my sins are forgiven. I'm an heir of eternal life. I have my name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So now why would I pollute myself? Why would I defile myself with the vain and sinful pleasures here below when I have the calling to keep myself pure? for the unspeakable joy and pleasure that awaits me in heaven." Isn't that so practical, beloved? That's how you arm yourself for the battle against Satan. Keep the gospel in front of you. That's at the heart of it. That's why I'm choosing to go this way in life. That's why I'm fighting this battle against sin, and I'm not giving in, because I know the gospel. I know that I have been redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ. I know my sins are forgiven. I know that I'm also secure in Him. And I know His sweet and unconditional love for me. And it's the love of Christ that constrains me. His love for me and the love that He works in me for Him. And now I remember this is how I need to live my life for Him. I'm to honor Him, I'm to thank Him, I'm to walk with Him as His friend and companion. And then living that way, his second coming will not come as a thief in the night, because I will be walking with him the whole way through. And then you go down to verse 11, and there is more instruction, another part of the calling given to us. Verse 11, wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do. How important that is, to encourage each other, to edify, build up each other, to exhort each other. Brother, you're a child of light. I am too. Let's walk in the light. Especially when we get closer to the end, we are already there. The days leading up to Christ's second coming will be dangerous and difficult for the church. Dangerous, you might say, from a spiritual point of view, many attacks on the church. Many will desire to sleep. Maybe even they will begin nodding off to the dangerous lullabies of the world. We might have those who are very close to us who slumber and start falling asleep as well. Let's turn to each other. Maybe I gotta shake up my best friend and say, wake up, brother, you're slumbering. Let's watch, let's be faithful as we await the day, the day of the Lord. Jesus is coming as a thief in the night, but the great comfort for us as children of light is that that day will not overtake us as a thief. the comfort. That is a reality. I can't help right now but think of what it was in the days of Noah. How terrifying, how horrible that day was when they woke up and they saw the storm. For some, the day of judgment will come as a thief. And that's part of the imagery here too. When a thief breaks into a house and burglarizes the house, the people who are sleeping suffer loss. Their homes are broken up. It's devastating. Sometimes it's so devastating that they never recover from it, especially in Jesus' day, right? You didn't have insurance. You didn't have that security. If you were robbed, that could doom you for the rest of your life. That's how it will be for those who are sleeping. When Jesus appears on the day of judgment, their house will be broken up. They will lose everything because Christ will take it all. Not because He's a thief, but because He's coming in judgment. Because there's more than just this world. There's the reality of the world to come, and if all you have is just in this world, then it's all gonna be lost. Those who rebel against King Jesus, who refuse to honor Him, they will lose their lives, they will lose their souls, they will lose all their earthly possessions, and they will be cast into the outer darkness of hell to lament their foolishness forever. That's frightful, beloved. But that won't happen to us who are of the day. and to us who keep from spiritual darkness. We won't suffer any loss. We won't suffer any loss. The day of judgment is going to be a day of gain, great gain for God's people. Then our sorrows and persecutions will be over with. Then our deepest hopes and desires will be realized, as the catechism says. We are looking for the very same person who before offered himself for my sake to the tribunal of God and has removed all curse from me to come as judge from heaven. He's going to cast all his and my enemies into everlasting condemnation, and he's going to translate me with all his chosen ones to himself into eternal joy and glory. That's gain. That's only gain. To live is Christ, to die is gain. It's a sure thing, beloved. He died for us and he died so that we might live with him. God has not appointed us to wrath, Paul writes, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. That is gain. So as we continue this week through another stretch of our earthly pilgrimage, and as long as Christ tarries, dwell on these things. Keep your head uplifted. Keep watching. Stay sober, exhort and edify and comfort one another, and live with the hope of glory, ever looking for the coming of your Lord and Savior to deliver you and us together from sin and bring us into those heavenly joys and glory. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for this instruction. It is good to dwell on these articles of the Christian faith and to be reminded of our hope. Lord, give us Thy Spirit and Thy grace so that we heed this instruction and we are comforted by it. And give us the grace to do good to each other as we continue to look for Christ's second coming. Bless this preaching to our hearts and shape our lives by it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.