to First Thessalonians chapter 4. First Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13 through 18. I'll not take time to read it since we already read it during our responsive readings, so hopefully that is sufficient and you were paying attention to the word of the Lord. A young girl after church was taught about the second coming and she quizzed her mother about it, asked her mommy, Do you believe Jesus will come back? Mom said, yes. Could it be this week? Yes. Today? Yes. Could he come in the next hour? Yes. In a few minutes? Yes, dear. Mommy, would you comb my hair? If you're going to meet Christ, in the rapture, see him as he is, be like him. I remember we had a speaker. He was, I think, Indonesian, in seminary one time, very short man. And he said, I know that Christ is the same height that I am. And he said, you know how I know? Because I'll see him face to face, eye to eye. Well, I'm a little taller than he was and I'll see him face to face too. I'll be looking up at him, no doubt. There was a problem in this church, a problem of ignorance, and Timothy may have brought this information back to the Apostle Paul when he arrived. And so to correct any misunderstandings that they might have, the Apostle Paul addresses this subject of the coming of the Lord, but most specifically those who are Christians who have died. What happens to them? Apparently there were false teachers around, or speculators around, speculating in areas that they didn't understand, nor were they taught in those areas, and yet they were telling Christians in local churches that they would not see their loved ones. It's very similar to what Paul wrote at the same wording 1st Corinthians chapter 15 chapter 15 verse 12 I read these words now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead. That's first-class condition, meaning that's our message. That's what we have proclaimed, and that's what all the apostles have proclaimed. The resurrection of Christ. How do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? And Christians were dying in the early church. Some had even died in this assembly at Corinth for other reasons, and that is disobedience. Some slept. And they were saying, whomever these false teachers were, that there's no resurrection of the dead. And so again here on an earlier occasion they were some Whomever this group is, we're feeding them false information. I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep. Paul uses this phrase or similar phrases on other occasions in his epistles, and it introduces something of primary importance. That is something that they need to perk up their ears and listen attentively and take whatever teaching is being given here. Since I became a believer I am always excited to read about the coming of the Lord and I've never drawn back from proclaiming the text. If it comes in scripture, in the sequence of my exposition of God's Word, never tried to skip over it, never tried to belittle it, degrade it in any way, the coming of Christ, it is in scripture. We know it came a first time, the first advent is a historical reality. But when he left this earth and ascended into heaven, the angels told the apostles, this same Jesus that you saw taken up from you will so come in like manner. And we know when he comes he will touch his feet on the Mount of Olives when he comes in judgment. Jesus himself said, I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. That's clear. But what about those who died in the Lord? Will we see them again? Have they ceased to exist? That's a speculation. Now there are those who teach soul sleep. And that is when someone dies, their body, their cadaver is placed in a grave or it's burned up or whatever, eaten by sharks or alligators, crocodiles in some instances. When most are buried, what happens to them? Is there a resurrection? Of course, the atheist, the secularist says that's it. Once we end this life, once we breathe our last, once our brain stops functioning, it's all over. The scriptures don't teach that at all. We are living souls. We have a immaterial existence that continues on. after we leave this life. It goes to one of two places. It goes to paradise, to heaven, or one goes right now in an intermediate state, goes to a place of punishment. It's not the eternal hell, the lake of fire. That's in Gehenna. So Paul is addressing this issue. And apparently he was told by Timothy that it caused grief on their part. It says, lest you sorrow, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. Now, as I was studying this text and preparing for it, it's my humble opinion that it's in the form of a chiastic structure. You say, what is a chiasm or a chiastic structure? It comes from the Greek letter chi. Whenever you see Christos, It comes from that Greek letter chi. We transliterate it C-H-I. And an inversion is you cut it in two and you have like that, an arrow, a carrot. So it's half of a chi vertically. And something starts up here and progresses in, progresses in, progresses in, and then it begins to progress out and progress out. And in each point, there's a parallelism on the structure of the chiasm with another point. So it's also called an inversion. The text is an inversion. And I've outlined it in your outlined this morning that way as the way I see it. There are six verses in this text, and I think they parallel each other. Sometimes parallels explain another parallel, complement it, and expand on it. enhance it, and some are contrasting parallelisms. But the essence of a chiasm is that in the mind of the author, he structured it this way purposefully. It's not always easy to see them, and most people don't read their Bibles from that perspective. But it makes, I think, for clarity of understanding and clarity of interpretation, if they are in the text and exist there, to show the parallelisms. I believe, as I've outlined here for you, that verse 13 parallels verse 18. They were ignorant. Well, how do you dispel ignorance? Do you just call someone a dummy? You call them an ignoramus? Because that's what the word means. You're an ignoramus. You need to do more study. Now, Paul clarifies. Their ignorance was causing grief. What did they need? They needed comfort. And that's why verse 18, in my opinion, parallels this because it answers the issue of ignorance. Notice the way he states it. Therefore, as he concludes it, comfort one another with these words. So in between verses 13 and 18, you have words. their Greek words in the original text. Nonetheless, as they concluded this, they were to reflect back on what the Apostle Paul said and see in those words, words of comfort, which dispel their ignorance, their ignorance. God doesn't want us to be ignorant. And that's what the word means. We get our word agnostic from it. Agnostic says, well, you just can't know for sure. These believers didn't know. They were confused. And now Paul brings clarity to their lives. That's why I entitled my message, Dispelling Eschatological Ignorance. Dispelling Eschatological Ignorance. And he's answering the question, in essence, of what happens with our dead loved ones. Maybe a father, a brother, a friend. Someone whom they just came to know in the assembly and became endeared to them. They're gone. Do we see them again? And Paul is very emphatic about that matter. I think the point he's making here more broadly is that Christians have the promise of resurrection. And that promise of resurrection provides comfort for grieving saints. I remember this passage of scripture. I preached it and used it at my mom's funeral. That took place in 2000, she died at the last of 2010, right there, the end of December of 2010. And so we flew up there for the funeral. I had preached my dad's funeral back in 1997. It's very difficult to preach your parents' funeral, but it's a privilege. And one thing I, was definitely intent upon doing. That if I were given the opportunity to preach at my parents funeral, I'm not going to stand there and eulogize them. I'm going to preach the Christ whom they know and love. That's what they would want people to know in the assembly who's gathering. They need to hear the gospel. That's not always the case in funeral services. The gospel sometimes is put on a back burner. When you speak of all the accolades and accomplishments of this individual, they may all be true and to the point. But as a pastor, whoever preaches my funeral, And I haven't chosen an individual yet. My wife may have to do that, I don't know. I want them to have specific instructions that you tell that individual, preach the gospel. That's what I want. I want the gospel preached in its clarity. Because when you come to a funeral, you realize one of the ultimate realities of life. It's appointed and the man wants to die, and after that, the judgment. You're going to die. You have an appointment. I have an appointment with death barring the rapture of the church. So they were in grief. And the text literally is in the first person plural. It's not in the first person singular. It's about we, and that is Paul and his entourage, his companions, but we, we don't want you to be confused and ignorant. Brethren, concerning those who've fallen asleep, so the subject of their ignorance are dead Christians. And he classifies them or calls them here as those who have fallen asleep. It's a figure of speech. They're not actually asleep and they're not in a suspended state of animation. They are at rest. They have ceased from their labors here on earth. They are in the presence of Christ in heaven with all of the saints who've died. The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So sleep here is simply a euphemism. A euphemism is a good word, a good word. concerning death. They've fallen asleep. He said that of Lazarus. We were studying that Wednesday night in our prayer service on the miracles and signs of Jesus. Lazarus sleeps, he said to the apostles. These have fallen asleep. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, some weak, some sickly, some even sleep. And that is believers had fallen asleep as a form of judgment. They had committed sin unto death. First John chapter 5. And they were asleep in Christ. They went into the presence of the Savior. They're dead. And the reason he says that, that is, I'm going to fill you in on this, is lest you sorrow as others. If I leave you in ignorance, it's going to cause grief. Back in ancient Israel, and even in Jesus' day, they had professional mourners. They would hire them to actually come in and cry and weep and show sorrow and stuff like that. Christians have no need to grieve. We will grieve at the loss of a loved one. One with whom we've become close and they die. There's a tearing away of that. But the confidence that we have as Christians, first of all, is that they're with Christ. And secondly, when we die, we'll see them. Amen? We'll see them. We'll see Christ, first of all. But we'll see them again. That's the confidence and hope. But he says here, as others who have no hope, which is to say that the unbelieving world those who've not experienced the regenerating grace of God, those who've not believed in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, those who are not justified and have the righteousness of Christ and in a right relationship with God, if they die they're without hope. Understand that? There's no hope for the loved ones of ever seeing them again. And there's no hope for them of ever having another chance, if I could use that language. There's no second chances after this life without hope. And I like what, in preparation for this, I was reading one of my favorite books on figures of speech by Bullinger. In some places it gets a little tedious reading through and looking, but he pointed out clearly that Paul uses this phrase of the unbelieving Gentile world, and it's descriptive. If he would have used simply the word Gentiles or pagans, It doesn't have the same punch as him using this particular phrase as others who have no hope. They're lost, they're pagans, but they're without hope and they're without God. And he pointed out clearly that in this section, chapter 4, he refers to them also in verse 5 and uses an expanded phrase. The figure's speech is called an amplificato. We get the word amplification from it. In other words, he could have simply said Gentiles, but he amplifies with more words. then maybe are actually necessary to make certain points. In verse 5 he says, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles, this phrase, who do not know God. That's descriptive. They do not know God. This is eternal life, Jesus said, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Back when I was living in Hillsborough, Texas pastoring a small church there, Park Drive Baptist, we lived out in the country on a farm. We weren't farming, but it was a farmhouse. And some Jehovah's Witnesses came by and they saw me in my coveralls. They didn't know I was a seminary student or preacher. And so we got into a discussion. on theological matters. And it was obvious in our conversation that they didn't know God. And so I brought up that point. Of course, they deny the Trinity. We're discussing that in Sunday school this morning, the triune Godhead. They deny that. And I said, the scriptures say This is eternal life that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. He makes a distinction between the two persons of the Godhead. You have to know both of them. They are not, Jesus is not one in the same as the Father, but you have to know both of them in a personal and understanding way. So he designates the Gentiles as those who don't know him. Again in verse 12 he says that you may walk properly toward those who are outside. To those who are outside, that is the unbelieving world. You're to live a proper and sanctified life. loving one another as we saw last week and the week before, a sanctified life. We're to be separate from the world. We're not to take and embrace their lifestyle, but to show them love. And we're to walk toward those who are outside, which is to say that the church as a collective, a gathering, is a place where believers are part of, members of it. They're not outside. They had to go through a process of vetting, and I hate to use the word inside, but it may refer to salvation, on the inside of being in a sanctuary, so to speak, a sanctuary of God's salvation wherein you are protected and cannot be plucked out of his hand. You're held by the hand of God. You're secure in Christ. You're not outside His purview, His care. Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope, who are on the outside, who do not know God, Gentiles, pagans. Effectively Paul pointed out the Jews of his day were acting like Gentiles, living like Gentiles, Romans chapter 2. They were on the outside of God's saving grace. Moving on in our text, let's look at the words of comfort that the Apostle Paul uses here. And I point you to verses 14 and 17. These two verses are parallel in my opinion. And what he is saying, in effect, Verse 14 is that dead saints will rise again. And in verse 17, we who are alive and remain will be caught up or raptured. That's our resurrection. We'll be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. The trumpet shall sound. and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and will be changed in a blink of an eye. So the resurrection of saints encompasses dead saints, those who've already fallen asleep, and he uses that language again, but living saints will be resurrected too. Their resurrection is a little bit different because their bodies, they're still inhabiting their bodies, but in that flash of a moment their bodies will be transformed into a glorious body. just like those who are dead in Christ now, they will receive. And this is one of the mysteries of the faith, and something I can't explain scientifically. Because some people's bodies, their remains, and some of us who have cremation, they take the ashes and just scatter them to the wind. How's that all gonna be resuscitated and brought back together into a habitable body? I don't know. I don't know. But as an issue of faith, I believe it will. He's not going to invent or bring into existence a different body than they had. He will reconstitute what was lost either by decay or fire or just assimilation or whatever. He's going to reconstitute it and they will rise again. But notice the two texts here. Verse 14, for, if we believe, and that's first class condition. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again. That's true, we do. That's a part of our statement of faith. That is part and parcel of what the gospel was in the ancient world. Wherever the apostles would go, they would proclaim a resurrected Christ. You just follow that strain throughout the book of Acts, and it's so evident. And since it could be translated, and since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so will God bring with him. Now notice the first clause is a statement of faith. Since we believe. I don't know if they had it written on a stone like the Ten Commandments, but they may have had it written on some form of catechism, or they may have written it on their hearts. They hid the word or hid the thoughts on their hearts. If we believe, And here again is where E. W. Bullinger comes in handy again in terms of figures of speech. And he says, in order to actually make sense out of this text, you have to understand the second clause is a statement of faith too. Even though the words we believe are not there, And sometimes in our Bibles, you'll see words in italics, King James Version, New King James. Some of the modern translations don't use italics. And italicized words are supplied by the translators to help make sense of the text. And he suggests that there needs to be some words added to this second phrase, in like manner, likewise. In other words, just as I have said Jesus died and rose, likewise, in like manner. And he adds this ellipsis, we believe also. We believe also. If it's not there in the text, the sense of it is, and that's where the ellipsis comes in. Add it to make sense. In like manner, we believe also that them which are asleep, not as death, using the same phraseology, As verse 13, so he's making a connection here clearly. Even so, we believe God will bring with him, and that is with God himself, those who sleep literally not in Jesus, but through Jesus. If he meant in, He would have used en, the Greek preposition epsilon nu, n. But he didn't. He used his Greek preposition dion. And it means agency, either through or by. That's how it's used predominantly in the New Testament, by. with him those who sleep through Jesus. Jesus will be the instrumentality through which this event takes place and that is the resurrection on this occasion. And so that's the creed. That's what we believe. That's what I believe. I believe when I place my mother in that tomb, I place my father in that tomb, I will see them again bodily. Brian just had a funeral not too very long ago, believes he'll see his dad again. That's the hope. We are without, not without hope. as the pagan world is. We have hope. It's real hope. We're saved by hope. It's not just wishful thinking. Faith is the evidence of things not seen and the things for which we hope. It's a reality. Now look at the text further. Those who sleep in Jesus, now look at verse 17, the parallel. Dead saints, now living saints, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. That's the rapture. Now the word rapture causes confusion on the part of some people because they say it's not in the text. Well, the word rapture comes from the Latin translation from this text of scripture. We derive the etymology of the word or the transliteration of that word from the Latin. But the Greek word is harpazo, caught up, caught up. It is a promise to we who are alive to go through a metamorphosis ourselves. Wherein that sinful body that you inhabit and I inhabit will be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. So my second point is that the resurrection of saints, the promise of resurrection provides comfort. These are words. This is the content of these words, to dispel doubt and fear and grief. Reading on he says, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together, the catching up with them, and that is with our loved ones, with fellow saints, those who died in the Lord, in the clouds to meet the Lord, and that is Jesus in the air. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face and behold the wonder of his grace. What a day that will be. Amen. Glorious day. Wonderful day. I'd like to experience rapture. I won't be able to brag about it in heaven. It's nothing to brag about. But the reality is that Corinthian passage is the reason that we need a metamorphosis is because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. It's just an impossibility. So you have to be changed. You have to receive a glorified body. All of a sudden, I'll have a full mouth of tea. All of a sudden, I'll have my knee replaced. Those are just side benefits. I'm just being a little facetious. All the aches and pains will be gone. Happened that quick. New body. I have a new mind. Glorious, glorious prospect. Meet them in the Lord in the air and thus shall we always be with the Lord. We living saints, dead saints. We all go through that experience. And I believe this happens at the rapture of the church. We're caught up. It's a very powerful word. Very powerful word, that word caught up. No one's going to be lost in that process, every believer. Now I don't know, we talked about this I think at Sunday school, I don't know if children will. That's debatable. If they do, all glory to God. But I don't think the scripture We can make inferences and draw arguments and stuff like that, but the text is not clear because we don't know if they're in Christ. Now then, the last parallel and what ties it all together in sequence, in verses 15 and 16, is that there is the precedent and priority of dead saints. Those two verses stress the precedent and priority of dead saints in the event when it takes place, at the catching away of the church. Even though we have the advantage in some way of not having had to go through death, yet we don't have the advantage of being first. Okay? I remember a pastor friend of mine up in Iowa, not Iowa, Illinois, Earl Clegg. He's with the Lord now. And one of our preacher friends across the river in St. Louis, Mississippi River, he didn't believe exactly like we do, and the rapture of the church, and the tribulation, all that stuff. He said, I just want to be in my flesh just long enough so that when Brother Moore and I go up to heaven, I can punch him in the ribs and say, see, I told you so. I told you so. Well, I'm not that crass, I don't think. But they get priority. In verses 15 and 16, look at them with me. For this we say to you, By the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain, same exact phrase in verse 17, here it's introduced sequentially first. We who are alive and remain. Now Paul believed in the imminent return of Christ. He anticipated possibly that in his lifetime he would see Christ. Surely we are in that time, we are alive, we're remaining, but we're not going to proceed. Notice he says that we who are alive and remain until the parousia. And I take that to be parallel with the rapture, the catching away. It is that aspect of his coming that is in view here in the parousia. One of the professors at Master's Seminary was writing a thought. He wanted to expand on it, and I wanted to interact with him, but I didn't. He believed that the coming of the Lord is a more broad term to refer to all of the events that happen between the rapture and when Christ comes in. There's not two comings, coming at the rapture and coming at the end. All of it is encompassed in his advent, which is the Latin word for coming. or his revelation, the Greek word for the book of revelations, revelation encompasses all that's involved in the unfolding. Just as his first coming encompassed how many years? 30 plus years. That's all, all that record of Matthew and Luke beginning at the birth of Christ all the way to his ascension in Luke is encompassed in the advent, the first advent of Christ. And there's no reason not to believe that the events that unfold in all of this preparation for his final climax are part of the parousia. or the King of Christ. And during that time of tribulation, he is coming in judgment. He's using proxies, and that is the angels, to carry out his plan, but it's part of it, in my opinion. And I think my professor acquaintance, I think, would agree with that. I'm not dogmatic about it, and I'd discuss it with anybody, but it just doesn't make sense to say, well, this is a coming first church, and then, no, it's all part and parcel of the same package, the same coming. Remain until the coming of the Lord will by, that's what is the Genesis, that's the beginning, will by no means, And he uses a double negative, umme, in a Greek. And it means in no wise, no way, no how, it's not going to happen. That's how emphatic he is. It's a very emphatic statement. Until the coming of the Lord will in no wise, in no way, precede. They have precedence. You're not going to jump. front of the line when this takes place they get first place by no means precede those who are asleep for he says he explains the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel three things he says there with the preposition with and with a shout, with a voice, and with the trumpet of God. These three means, I think, of announcing this event. Who on earth will hear it? Clearly the believers will. They'll hear the voice of the Lord, that shout. They'll hear the voice of the archangel. And I don't know who the archangel there in point will be, whether it's Michael or one of the other archangels. But I'm thinking of believers across the globe, in China, India, Africa, Europe, South America, North America, all of them. all across the whole spectrum of the earth. Every genuine believer is going to hear this. And they'll know by these three elements, it's here. The Lord shouts for his own. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give to them eternal life. They shall never perish. My sheep know my voice. They will know the voice of the shepherd when he calls for them and calls them home. The voice of the archangel giving some form of announcement and buttressing the shout of the Lord himself and then a trumpet. The trumpet will sound, the last trumpet. And then he says again, the dead in Christ will rise first. They have precedence. They have priority. It comes from the Greek word proton, which means first. And the dead in Christ, those who, and so that's how we get clarity to how Paul uses the word sleep or asleep. They are the dead who have died in Christ. They'll go up first. But it's going to happen so suddenly that it's almost imperceptible the distinction between our rapture and their resurrection. Now I ask you, as you think about this text of scripture, are these words of comfort to you? They are to me. And I'm sure that these believers at Thessalonica who were confused on this point, it sure was good news and comfort to them, right? Good news. He took swirling minds that were dizzy thinking about this, grieving. And he cleared it all up. And so he could say, therefore, therefore, comfort one another with these words. promise of the rapture which is a form of resurrection, the promise of resurrection. This is what is described in Revelation chapter 20 as the first resurrection. It's a resurrection of kind, it's the resurrection of the just. There will be a resurrection after the tribulation period and that would be Old Testament and tribulation saints who are resurrected, who have died during that period of time and it would be brought back to life to enter into the millennial kingdom. My dad was always interested in prophecy and I guess it spilled over and got a hold of my life. Because if there was one thing growing up that I was afraid to miss, it would be the rapture. Because I was told, and when I got clarity in my own mind, I realized it was wrong, it was false. I was told back then, if you don't trust Christ now and the rapture takes place, you won't get another chance. That's not true. And they base that on that you'll believe a lie. And we'll get to that when we get to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. God will send them strong delusion that they will believe the lie. We'll deal with that. What is that lie that's being perpetrated? It's not a lie about the rapture. It's a lie about something else. And I'll keep you in suspense on that. But my question for you as we close this service Are you one of those who do not know God? Are you one of those who are outside? Are you one of those who have no hope? I remember my Uncle George. He would say, you know, he was something else. But he was my dad's brother. God love him. He said to my dad, Willie, he said, whenever I die, they're going to clip my wings. Sorry, Uncle George, no wings. But clearly he was outside the faith, at least at that time. Now my cousin says he came to faith, and I rejoice in that, if that's true. But you won't make it. You won't get there. If you die now, you certainly won't get there. Do you know Him this morning? That's the question. Do you know Christ? That's the deciding factor. It's been a while back. Close to 40 years now, 1984, National Geographic did a piece on the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum when Mount Vesuvius exploded and burned the inhabitants and petrified them. It was a terrible event. But they said the saddest part about their whole investigation is that these people did not have to die. They didn't have to die. Scientists confirmed what the ancient writers had recorded, that weeks before the event, rumblings and shakings preceded the actual explosion. Even an ominous plume of smoke, which was clearly visible from the mountain days before the eruption, if only they had read the signs and responded and escaped. My word, I look at the world in which we live in, the turmoil, and I'm not using that necessarily as a pry, but the reality is if you don't know Jesus you'll die in your sins, and that's not good. Not good. And the only thing you can do is turn to Christ. The signs that this world is coming to an end, I think, are so prevalent and evident. To miss them is to be blind. We who are here and alive ought to live godly lives. And Paul will be dealing with that in chapter 5, and how we are to live in light of the day of the Lord, which I believe the rapture will be the first item on the agenda that leads into the day of the Lord. And we are to walk soberly and righteously. I invite you to Christ today. There's no excuse. No excuse except your own sinfulness. Let's pray. Blessed Father, What a time it must have been in Noah's day when only he and his family were taken into the ark. Humankind, which had been corrupted, corrupted in every aspect, did not listen to righteous Noah preaching in those days. As he was building the ark, surely they thought he was a fool. Until the day he walked into the ark with his family, and two by two the animals came in and were safe in the ark. And the door of the ark was closed and it was over. There was nothing left but judgment. The Bible says, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. Oh, our Father, we are in those days. Surely, surely, Lord Jesus, you're coming. You're coming again. You will shout. There will be that voice of the Archangel. Trump of God will blow. And our blessed loved ones and fellow saints will be resurrected. We which are alive and remain will be caught up. And for that we look. It is our blessed hope. May we live godly. May we be zealous of good works. For I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen.