Living In The Light Of The Lord’s Return

Amen. We're going to turn in God's

Word. We're turning again to 1st

Thessalonians. We're in chapter 5 this morning

and we're going to read the first 8 verses, First

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

Thessalonians chapter 5 verses one through to 8.

Let's hear the Word of God reading, of course, from the

King James Bible. The words will come up on screen

for all here online and we pray that the Lord will blessed us

this reading of the Holy Scriptures.

Let's hear God's word first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

one, but of the times and the seasons.

Brethren, you 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.

But 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 or drunken in

the night. But let us who are of the day be

sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love,

and for an helmet the hope of salvation.

Amen. We know that God will stamp with

His own approval and blessing this reading of His own

precious, infallible Word. Amen.

Now this morning we are continuing with our series of

expository studies in the book of First Thessalonians.

And my text today is a rather long one, First Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 5:1–8

chapter 5, verses 1 to 8. And I want to take up the theme

Living in Light of our Lord's return.

I want to ask you the question, are you living and light of our

Lord's return? Now, as you look at this text of

Scripture, there are three things that come to me.

One, here's the first thing. Now the period that is

discussed, look at verses 1 and 2, but of the times and the

seasons. Brethren, you 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. Now this is a reference to the

same subject that's mentioned in First Thessalonians chapter 4

1 Thessalonians 4:15

verse 15, namely the coming of the Lord.

Here the apostle Paul is simply teaching us that the second

coming called in verse 2. Here First Thessalonians 5, the

day of the Lord will be a sudden and a surprising event.

In other words, it will come to pass when his leaks descended.

Paul is using the analogy of a thief.

A thief comes suddenly, comes surprisingly.

Now he's not saying, as some teach, that the Lord is a thief.

That would be totally wrong. Not saying that the reference

and the idea behind the analogy is about how a thief operates at

night. He arrives at the house

suddenly. It's an instantaneous coming,

and the times and seasons is about the period of time leading

up to the Lord's return and the precise moment when the event

will occur. Down the ages, right up to the

present time, certain men, even professing religious men,

so-called preachers of the Word of God, have taken upon

themselves to predict when the Second Coming would occur.

They have presented their theories.

They have concocted dates. They have twisted scripture in

an attempt to pinpoint the precise moment when Jesus Christ

will return. Let me illustrate a man by the

name of William Miller. He was the founder of the 7th

Day Advent Movement. He set the date the 10th of

October 1843. Jesus is going to return.

The date came and passed. Nothing happened.

He revised his date the 22nd of October 1844.

Now Mr William Miller was a fool.

He was a spiritual fraud. And the same could be said of

Harold Camping who said three deals that have all come and

gone. And of course many others.

Because like these men and hundreds of others, their

attempt to pinpoint the exact time when Jesus returning power

and glory was doomed to failure. And all it did was expose the

folly of the human heart. Because the heart is deceitful

and above all things, desperately wicked.

And who can do it? And if they've taken time to

listen to the Lord Jesus, remember whenever He was

ascended in the presence of His disciples up into heaven by a

cloud, remember what we read there.

And this is what He said unto them.

Acts 1 and verse 7. It is not for you to know the

times or the seasons which the Father had put in His own power.

We live in a world where people are obsessed with predictions.

People want to know when certain events will happen.

When's the next economic crash coming, Mr McLaughlin?

When will political change take place in Russia or Ukraine?

When's the end of the world? When is Jesus Christ coming

back? Yet here's Paul saying, and

remember, this is a young church facing tremendous persecution

with certain questions about their own beloved dead and the

return of Christ. And here in chapter 4, verses 13

to 18, Paul tries to comfort them about the Lord's return and

what's going to happen to the dead.

Now in chapter 5, he moves on from comforting them to

challenging them. And the challenge is not about

when the Lord Jesus comes, but the way we are to live in light

of us coming. You see, we don't know the

precise time, we don't know the particular date.

But what we do know is this, that the day of the Lord will

come. That's a major theme in the

Bible, the Old Testament, the New Testament, Joel 21 and two,

Isaiah 13, verse 6, Zephaniah 114 and 15.

Isaiah 13:6

The Day of the Lord will come, and the Day of the Lord is also

a period of divine intervention and judgement, a time of great

tribulation, and that will culminate in the actual,

visible, personal, bodily, glorious return of the Lord

Jesus Christ to this earth. And when He returns, he will

establish His eternal and everlasting Kingdom on the

earth. This is not secret.

This is not silent. We've noted that already last

week. The coming of the Lord will

shake the heavens and the earth. There will be the sound of the

last trumpet. The last trumpet sounds.

There's no other trumpet after it.

There'll be the voice of the Archangel.

There'll be a tremendous visible sign in the heavens and the

earth that there'll be the tremendous power and glory.

You see the reference here to the analogy of a thief.

It's not about something secret. It's not about something sad.

It's something that's sudden. It's something that's surprise.

See, nobody truthfully or accurately can say.

Not a preacher, I have found to know the precise date and time

when Jesus Christ will come back.

Look with me at First Thessalonians chapter 5, verse

1 Thessalonians 5:3

3. For when they notice this shall

save peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon

them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not

escape. You see, the second coming of

Christ is characterised by suddenness, like as a thief

comes to your house. It's characterised by a

surprise, but it's also characterised by solemnity.

We could add in the solemnity of his coming.

Why? Because his coming to this earth

and power and glory will touch people totally unprepared, a

whole multitude. And what are men and women

saying? Listen to it.

For when they shall say what? Peace and safety, then sudden

destruction. Has the world not gone mad to do

with peace and safety? Is this not part of themes that

are connected to A1 world government that is coming and a

one world church that will eventually be set up in a

Pascate church? And in that world, they that are

living in that generation, this is what they'll be saying, as

they're saying now, peace and safety, or we've got rid of

those fundamentalists. The troublemakers are gone, the

Free Presbyterians have stopped. And then what's going to happen?

Sudden destruction cometh upon them.

You see, if you turn over there to the Gospel of Matthew and

look with me at Matthew chapter 24, the Lord Jesus said this

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

verse 36, Matthew 24, verse 36. Let's turn to the word of God,

Matthew 24:36

Matthew chapter 24, verse 36. But of that day and hour knoweth

Matthew 24:36

no man know 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. Verse 38.

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 the mall away, so shall also the coming of the Son

of Man be. You see, it was a big surprise

when the flood came. It was sudden and it was solemn.

The flood came and took them all away when they least expected

it, and they didn't escape. And verse 3 is a reference to

the world of ungodly men and women and young people.

Notice the word they their hearts and minds are in temporal

and material things. They're thinking peace and

safety. The image in their mind is all

as well. I'm not in any danger, have

nothing to fear. There's no reference to God, no

reference to grace, no reference to the greatness of God.

They they imagine the world will not end.

We have many years yet let's live and enjoy.

And of course we live in a world where not only thinking of peace

and safety, but we're thinking of a world of drink and drugs

and and desire lifestyle. Judges 2125 comes to mind.

Then every man did that which is right in their own eyes.

And as they live out their life, then they're swept away.

They're suddenly gone, like the day of the flood when it came.

So will it be. The coming of Christ will take

the unconverted by complete surprise.

His coming will be like a thief. It will be sudden.

It will be surprising. It will be unexpected.

It's unannounced for the unprepared.

See, no thief sends advance notice.

I'm going to rob your house. The whole world.

We'll be caught off guard. Remember, I've already read

Before the flood, Genesis 6 and Seven.

What were they doing? They were eating and drinking.

Life seemed normal. They were getting married.

They were giving in marriage. They were building a new house,

building a palace, working on a stadium.

The sun was shining in all its strength on a glorious day.

Until the judgement fell, Jesus compared his coming to those

days and the world in our days, proclaiming peace and safety.

As I said, it's gone mad, and yet it doesn't know that it's

standing on the brink of divine judgement, not by a flood this

time, but by fire from heaven, the period that is discussed.

Notice also the people that are described.

They come to verse 4. 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.

Now there's a contrast here being laid down by the apostle

Paul, a contrast between the ungodly and the unregenerate,

the unconverted who are not ready for Christ's return.

Christ's coming, as I've said, will take the ungodly by

complete surprise. They will not be ready, that is,

ready spiritually to meet Him when He comes.

But the Lord's people will be ready.

The Lord's people will be prepared.

Now if you notice here, there's a particular distinction, but ye

brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake

you as a thief. Here's the distinction.

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness.

That's a reference to all true believers, those that are born

again of the Spirit, those are washed in the precious blood.

Those that are peace with God. They are not in darkness.

It's not a reference to physical darkness.

It's not because they don't have electricity.

The darkness is not even a reference to a lack of knowledge

about His coming. God's people do know that He's

coming. They know that His coming will

be like a thief in the night. Suddenly, surprisingly, it's a

reference to spiritual darkness. But ye, brethren, are not in

darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief.

We are not in spiritual darkness that that day should overtake

you as a thief. With suddenness and surprise.

Why, ye are all the children of light and the children of the

day. We are not of the night nor of

darkness. The darkness here is a

particular description of the unregenerate state.

And Paul is saying you believers are no longer in a spiritual,

moral dark state. You're no longer in a world of

spiritual and moral darkness. Yes, you used to be.

Yes, when you lived in that world of spiritual darkness at

that time, you had No Fear of God.

You had no love for Christ, you had no thought of the things of

God. And as you sat in that state of

darkness in your sin, unaware that you're dead, unaware that

you're blind, unaware that you're diseased, then the gospel

came. The gospel came with light and

truth, and the gospels shine or shone like a great light into

your soul. Remember what Paul says in the

book of 2nd Corinthians 4. For God, who commanded the light

to shine out of darkness, have shined in our hearts to give the

light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of

Jesus Christ. See, those that are the Lords,

those that are in Christ hears our spiritual identity.

If you listen again to verse 2, it says for yourselves know

perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as the thief of

the night. For when they underline the

Word, they shall say that's a particular group of people.

And then you come to verses 4:00 and 5:00.

But ye, brethren, ye are all the children of light.

You see, there's a contrast. We are not in spiritual, moral

darkness anymore because the light of the gospel is dawned.

We are now in Christ. We are now children of light.

We we are now children of the day.

And because we are now children of the light, we demonstrate and

we exhibit something of that new nature that we have in Christ.

The Bible says God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

And those who are saved have become recipients of God's

divine nature. Remember what we read in Peter,

and we read there in second Peter chapter 2 and in the verse

2 Peter 2 · chapter mention

4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious

promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine

nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world

through lust. And if you have been a partaker

of the divine nature, then because God is light.

You have light in God and notice we're not only children of

light, we're children of the day.

You see, the darkness symbolises something.

What does it symbolise? It symbolises ignorance.

It symbolises sin, immorality, iniquity, lawlessness, no

knowledge or fear of God, no dread of judgement.

You see, by this particular nature, being in darkness there,

there's nothing of God there, there's nothing of the fear of

him, there's no love for him. There's nothing of God, the

gospel, nothing of grace, nothing of the greatness or or

goodness of God. But we're not of the night, he

says, nor of the darkness. Oh yes, we used to be, but as

God's people were no longer in such darkness, He's not saying

that we have a perfect knowledge, but we have the

witness of God's Holy Spirit. We have the word of God.

We have been made wise unto salvation.

The Spirit of truth within us has given us understanding and

gauge us into truth. Do you know that in Exodus

Exodus 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, one of the plagues that came in Egypt was a plague

of darkness, Thick blanket darkness over the land.

It was persuasive over the land of Egypt.

It was all-encompassing. It could be felt over the whole

land of Egypt, a darkness that they could feel, a darkness that

caused fear. Yet in Goshen, read Exodus

Exodus 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10. The children of Israel, where

they lived, they had light. It's not amazing.

It wasn't that they had light in their dwellings.

It it it meant that in Goshen, where the Jews lived in the land

of Egypt in the days of after Joseph, the days of Moses, they

had light. The rest of the land was

darkness. See the ungodly world, they

repudiate the gospel. They live according to their own

mind and sinful desires. They have No Fear of God.

They're happy and they're sin. That's the environment that they

live in. It's a world of spiritual and

moral darkness, and they haven't a clue what's happening or going

to happen to the world yet. True believers are different.

Why? Because God in Christ has made

them different. There's a particular distinction

I want you to see also very quickly.

There's a particular description, he says in verse

five year all the children of light and the children of the

day. Here's a reference again to all

who are saved. It's a it's an illustration.

It's a reference to the power and effect of the Holy Spirit

and the new birth. Yes, we were once in spiritual

moral darkness, but not any longer.

We're now children of the light. We're children of the day

children. We've been adopted into God's

family. We've tasted the power and

wonder of divine grace. If you're a Christian this

morning, you're one of the sons and daughters of light.

Remember Jesus said I am the light of the world.

John 8 and 14 in Matthew 4. In Matthew 514, he said to the

church, the Christians, the disciples year, the light of the

world. You see, the light symbolises

something. It symbolises truth, holiness,

revelation. It symbolises a new nature.

There's a contrast and the difference of course is, is

Christ. Because Christ, the light of the

world, we who are now in Christ are made children of light and

their attitude to the children of darkness is different.

That's why we come to worship in the Lord's Day.

That's why we learn the Word of God, have a love for the Word of

God and live out the Word of God That that's why we give

ourselves in service to the work of God.

That's why we live in a beach and do all that God has revealed

and said. Our lifestyle is different, our

words and speech is different, Our dress is different.

John the Baptist was a burning and a shining light.

Why? Because John the Baptist, of

course, remember, was full of the Holy Ghost from his mother's

womb, and that burning light was the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And because he had a burning light, he was also a shining

light. He shone forth because of the

Spirit of God who indwelled him something for the glory of God.

No longer was there a manifestation of the darkness of

sin. See, the darkness of sin,

remember, has to do with unbelief, immorality, iniquity,

lack of knowledge of God. Remember what Paul said to the

church in Ephesians, Ephesians 5 and verse 8.

He said this, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are

ye light in the Lord walk as children of the light.

And John the Baptist was a child of the light.

He was a child of the day. And what did he say concerning

Christ? He must increase, I must

decrease. There's a dying to sin, a dying

to self, putting the Lord first. Matthew 6 and 33 But seek ye

first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these

other things shall be added unto you.

You see, in the Christians mind, Christ is present.

In the Christians mind Christ is preominant.

In the Christians mind, Christ is being presented as he lives

out his life in the home, church, society, the workplace.

Christ is being proclaimed. Remember what Paul says in

Ephesians, the Philippians, chapter 2 and verse 15, that ye

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke,

in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye

shine as lights in the world. There's a particular

description, children of the light, very quickly here.

There's a particular destiny. And look at this year, all the

children of light and the children of the day.

You see, the Christian belongs to the coming day of the Lord

Jesus, the day of the Lord. So cometh 5 and two, and you in

Christ are destined for the day of the Lord.

You're destined for everlasting joy, everlasting glory,

everlasting bliss. In other words, the future's

bright. You're going to the land of

eternal day, the land where there's no sin, night or

darkness. Yes, you were once the child of

wrath. You were destined for hell and

destruction. You're now among the company of

the children of the day. Let me ask this, do you know

anything of this distinction this morning?

Because you're a Christian. You're different in your

attitude, your words, your lifestyle.

Do you know this description? Do you see yourself as a child

of light? Do you know what your destiny

is? Your children of the day?

I asked this Where are you bound in eternity?

Are you bound for hell or heaven and home?

Are you bound for outer darkness and eternal blackness?

Because you're a child of the devil and and you love the world

and the things of the world, and sin has blinded you and you've

been bound and you're bound for eternal destruction.

Where are you heading? Where you belong to determines

the way that you behave. There's a particular distinction

here, particular description. There's a particular destiny.

The period that is discussed is very important.

The people that are described is very important.

And let me finish this morning with the posture that is

determined. Look at verse 6.

And we'll then we'll, we'll leave it there.

We'll have to come back to seven and eight.

Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and

be sober. Because of who we are in Christ,

children of light, children of the day, we live differently, he

says. Therefore, let us not sleep as

do others, but let us watch and be sober.

The word watch means to stay spiritually alert.

Are you spiritually alert in the times and seasons in which we

live? Watch means being morally

vigilant. Have your love for truth and

righteousness. Do you buy the truth and sell it

not. It also means to live in a sense

of expectancy. You see, the Lord Jesus

commanded watchfulness and it's all about our conduct here.

Think of this word super and be super.

Nothing to do with alcohol. It means being clear minded.

It means having self-control. It means not intoxicated by the

world's system and the world values.

Verse 7 connects the world's system and values with darkness.

But they that sleep, sleep in the night for they that be

drunken or drunken in the night. Notice the night is connected

with drunkenness. That's still true to this day.

The world is drunken pleasure. The world is drunken power and

possessions. The world is drunken pride and

possession and prominence. But we live differently.

We live with a spirit of watchfulness.

We live with a a clear mind, self controlled by the Spirit,

not intoxicated by the world's system because we have

experienced a a spiritual awakening.

What? We are not sleep.

We are awakened. We are there for alert.

Isn't it so sad that many in the professing Christian community

have fallen into a state of stuff fullness?

They've lost out with God. They've lost the vision of who

God is and what the Christian life is really all about.

They don't have any burden and zeal for the work of God and the

witness of Christ in the world. They're forgotten to shine as

lights in their small corner and in mine.

They're happy and content. And that's a danger that we all

face. And Paul's aware of it, even to

this young church. And he says, therefore let us

not sleep as do others. He's aware that some have

already gone to sleep. It's a a sleepy slothfulness

that has come upon the heart and mind of those that even profess

the name of Christ. Remember what we read in Titus.

He says this. For the grace of God that

bringeth salvation have appeared to all men.

Their sanctifying grace teaching us, not denying ungodliness and

worldly lusts. We should live soberly,

righteously, and godly in this present world.

Looking. Here's the connection for that

blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and

our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He

might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto

himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

These things speak and exhort, and rebuke with all authority.

Let no man despise thee. Remember the Lord Jesus said to

his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, watch ye one hour

and come back and find them sleeping.

And he said, what could you not watch one hour 3 times?

In Matthew chapter 26 He used the word watch and it was in

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

relation to his disciples. And even the best of disciples

can drift into a state of spiritual slothfulness.

If we profess to be Christ, are we awake?

Are we alert? Are we active in the work and

witness and service of God? The posture that is determined

because of who we are, because we've experienced a spiritual

awakening, This is how we should live with a spirit of

watchfulness. We should be sober in light of

His return, living in light of the Lord's return.

I pray the Lord will take these few remarks and bless them to us

and give us understanding at this particular time.