Don't Fear That Day

And children, you are dismissed to your King's Kids class.

! And if y'all would open up your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5,

! I am going to read verses 1-11.

We've only got three more sermons left, counting today, in 1 Thessalonians.

And then we're going to get into the Gospel of John.

It's page 1174.

1 Thessalonians 5, 1-11.

Hear God's Word.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters,

you have no need to have anything written to you,

for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

While people are saying, there is peace and security,

then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman,

and they will not escape.

But you are not in darkness, brothers and sisters, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

For you are all children of light, children of the day.

We are not of the night or of the darkness.

So then let us keep awake and be sober.

For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love,

and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him.

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

May God bless the hearing of His Word.

Knock, knock, knock.

Knock, knock, knock, knock.

Ah.

You have an unexpected visitor at your front door.

What would be the first thing you do?

Here's what I would do.

I would sneak a peek out the side window.

Who is this visiting our house unexpectedly?

And lo and behold, let's just say it is a bill collector.

I'm guessing many of you may say something like,

Okay, family, let's just pretend no one's home.

Or maybe it's a police officer.

You might be thinking, uh-oh.

What's going to happen?

But if it is your best friend, with a smile, unexpected, with a four-pack of Sprecher root beer,

you're going to be like, Oh, yeah!

Come on in!

Surprise visitors have a way of revealing our hearts, don't they?

One of the themes of 1 Thessalonians is the unexpected coming, second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in the passage I just read, it's referred to as the day of the Lord, verse 2.

On that day of His coming.

On the day of Christ's coming.

And by the way, all the world will know.

It will be a glorious, highly public event when Jesus comes back.

On that day, what will be happening inside of you if you're here on that day?

What will be going on?

Will you be saying, Oh, no!

Or will you be saying, Oh, yeah!

For many Christians, including the Thessalonians who Paul wrote this letter to,

the unexpected, the second coming of Jesus Christ can make you nervous.

It can unsettle you.

Even make you fearful.

Christian, if the second coming of Jesus Christ is unsettling to you,

you are in the right place.

Because 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 through 11, it's designed to assure you.

It's designed to comfort you.

To put courage into your heart.

In a one-sentence nutshell,

here's what God is telling us this morning from this passage.

Christian, don't fear that day.

Be ready for it.

Christian, don't fear that day,

the coming of the Lord.

Be ready for it.

And this passage is intended to assure us that we have nothing to fear at Christ's coming on the day of the Lord.

And it's going to do it by making an extended contrast.

It contrasts between two peoples and two lifestyles and two destinies.

And so here are the four points this morning that I'm going to walk you through.

That coming day, what you need to know about it.

Two contrasting people, point two.

Point three is two contrasting lifestyles.

And point four is two contrasting destinies.

Christian, you don't need to fear that day.

You need to be ready for it.

So let's hear what Paul has to say about this coming day of the Lord.

In verses one and two, we read this.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, or as Jesus would say, the day and the hour.

Concerning the times and seasons, brothers and sisters,

you have no need to have anything written to you,

for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Now, Paul is essentially saying here that with regard to the timing of Christ's return,

he has nothing new to write them.

He already covered that ground when he was with them,

when he visited them for a few weeks, maybe a month, maybe two.

We can read that back in Acts 17.

When he was there, not only did he lead them to Christ,

he explained to them what to expect when it comes to the second coming of Christ.

But there's two things in verses one and two I just want you to see, help you understand.

The first one is the phrase, the day of the Lord.

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

That's a significant phrase because it shows up frequently in the Old Testament.

And what I want to do is just very briefly help you understand the scope of that phrase,

what that's getting at.

And we could look at a variety of Old Testament passages,

but just to give you a sense,

if you looked at Isaiah chapter 13, verses 6 through 16,

Isaiah 13:6–16

you would see that the day of the Lord is a terrible thing,

is a frightful thing.

That it's a day when God comes and he brings with him full and final judgment

upon those outside of the people of God, unbelievers.

It's a terrible day.

But we also read in Isaiah 27, 1 through 13,

that the day of the Lord, for those who belong to God,

for who are of his people, who are believers in him,

that day is not a terrible day.

That's a joyful day.

That's a day of salvation.

That's when he comes back and he makes all things right.

One, if you are an unbeliever on the day of the Lord,

it's going to be a horror.

But if you are a believer on that day of the Lord,

it is going to be a day of rejoicing.

So the day of the Lord carries that full sense.

And we see it in our passage.

In verse 3, while people are saying there is peace and security,

then sudden destruction will come upon them

as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman

and they will not escape.

The day of the Lord is going to bring sudden destruction.

We also read in verse 9 that that day is going to be a day

in which those who believe in Christ obtain salvation

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

A day of sudden, inescapable destruction for unbelievers

and a day in which we will begin to live with him

with all of the blood bought forever.

So the day of the Lord is a future coming of God

in which he brings with him full and final destruction

for unbelievers and full and final salvation for believers.

So what Paul is doing here is he's actually equating

the day of the Lord with the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The day of the Lord is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you were to open up your Bible to Revelation 19.15,

it's a great passage when Jesus is pictured on a great white war horse

coming back and he's got four names.

But in verse 15, we read this, that when he comes,

he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

It's a horrific picture.

But we also read in Revelation 21.3-4 that when he comes back,

when the new Jerusalem descends,

God will wipe away every tear from our face of believers.

It's quite a contrast.

We also read that the day of the Lord in verse 2

is coming like a thief in the night.

Thiefs come unexpectedly.

They don't text you to let you know at what hour they're coming.

And what Paul is doing here is he's just simply reiterating

what Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

And you can read what Jesus taught about the day and the hour of his return

in verses 36-34.

He says,

And what Jesus is referring to is the day in which he will come back

and he will bring with him destruction for those who do not believe

and he brings salvation for those who do believe

and nobody knows when.

No one in this room knows when Jesus is coming back.

And so, we're not to try to guess.

We're not to try to speculate.

Here's the closest thing we can do

when it comes to trying to anticipate the coming day of the Lord.

It's this.

By the end of today, we can, Lord willing,

say, well, we're one day closer.

You see, the window isn't lengthening to Christ's return.

The window's closing.

We're one day closer.

We can say that.

And what that does is put us in a state of readiness.

We need to be ready.

Like a thief who comes in the night.

We gotta be ready.

Does anybody remember Y2K?

If you are young and never heard of that before,

Google it.

You'll find it interesting.

But for those of us who lived through it,

there was a lot of people prepping,

getting ready for a global computer glitch,

which never really happened.

We knew the day and the hour,

and we were getting ready for it.

What we're being told here is,

hey, we don't know the day or the hour.

But we need to be ready for it.

And it raises the question,

how do we get ready for that day?

A day we don't know.

Well, we're not to fear that day.

We're to be ready for it.

So let me ask you two questions before I move on.

Have you considered that Jesus Christ may return in your lifetime?

Have you considered that?

And then, does that strike fear into your heart?

Or does that stir longing in your heart?

That day.

That coming day is one day closer.

So now let's move on to the next point,

two contrasting people.

And this passage uniquely assures us

that we don't need to fear that day

by way of a running contrast.

And the first contrast I want you to see

is a contrast between two people.

The day people and the night people.

Let's look at the day people.

In verses four and five,

Paul says to these Christians,

but you are not in darkness,

brothers and sisters,

for that day to surprise you like a thief.

It's interesting that he says you're not in darkness.

You're not like those in whom sudden destruction will fall upon

and they cannot escape it.

But brothers and sisters,

family of faith is how he addresses them.

These are the day people.

And look at verse five.

For you are children of light,

children of the day.

It's a contrast between day and night.

Children of the day are Christians

who have by God's grace

been delivered from the domain of darkness

and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved son,

the kingdom of light.

We who were once dead to God,

following the prince of the power of the air

in the domain of darkness,

have now by God's grace been made alive to God,

are following King Jesus,

and are in God's kingdom citizens of the kingdom of light.

That's who we are right now.

If you're a child of the day,

you're a child of the light,

which means you are a child of the living God.

He has adopted you by his grace

into his family.

And it's not on the basis of anything

that you have done, John 1.12.

And because God is light,

I mean Jesus said,

I am the light of the world.

We now bear the family resemblance.

If you're a Christian,

you have been lit up by God's grace,

and God will not abandon you.

He will not unadopt you.

We have all the legal rights and privileges

of being sons and daughters of the living God,

and that means an eternal inheritance

for which we are waiting and long for,

and Jesus is bringing back with him.

Christians,

don't fear that day.

Because of who you are,

by God's grace.

And that's contrasted with those

who belong to the night.

In 5.3, they're described as people

who are saying there is peace and security,

peace, peace.

When there is no peace,

they think all is well.

When in fact it's not,

then sudden destruction will come upon them

as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.

I am not a woman,

nor am I pregnant.

But my understanding is,

you don't really kind of set a date

for contractions to arrive,

and they're inescapable.

These are people who will experience

sudden, inescapable,

eternal destruction

on the day of the Lord.

They're of the night.

In verse 9,

we infer that those in darkness

will be objects of God's wrath

on that day.

And what Paul says is very clear

in 5.5 regarding Christians.

We are not of the night.

We are not of the darkness.

That is not who we are anymore.

What we have here is a contrast of identity.

Those who are children of the day,

children of God,

and those who belong to the night.

Unbelievers.

Who you are.

One of the great assurances

that you don't need to fear that day

is who you are in Christ.

You know what an ID card is, don't you?

Driver's license.

Student ID.

Passport.

Just imagine every Christian

carrying a grace ID card.

You can pull that card out.

I don't have my wallet on it,

but you pull that card out.

Your name's on it.

It's state,

sinner saved by grace.

Adopted by the living God.

Under my name,

it would say,

son of the living God.

If you're a lady,

you'd be daughter of the living God.

It would have your rebirth date on it.

The day that God,

he gave you new life.

And if you smelled it,

if you smelled that card,

do you know what it smelled like?

Do you know what the fragrance it carries?

It's the fragrance of Jesus.

Because your identity

is in Christ.

It's your grace ID card.

It's who you are.

The argument here,

where Paul starts with these contrasts,

is you don't need to fear that day

because of who you are in Christ.

Christ.

That's the point of these contrasting people.

You don't fear that day

because you carry a grace ID card.

It's who you are.

Which brings us to the next point.

Two contrasting people

have two contrasting lifestyles.

We see this is in verse 6 and 8.

And the principle is this.

Who you are

determines how you live.

And we have two different lifestyles.

We have the day life,

children of the day.

And we've got the night life,

those in darkness.

The day life,

you can see in verse 6,

are those who are to keep awake

and be sober.

And the night life,

in verse 7,

are those who are asleep and drunk.

Children of the day have a lifestyle

of wakefulness and sobriety.

And those of darkness,

of the night,

have a lifestyle of sleeping

and of drunkenness.

Let's look at the night life.

Notice in verse 7

that both activities of sleeping

and getting drunk

happen at night.

For those who sleep,

sleep at night.

And those who get drunk

are drunk at night.

Now,

I hope you can tell

that Paul is using

this sleep

and getting drunk,

he's using these things

metaphorically.

He's describing

a way of being.

So what does

this being asleep mean?

Well,

you know what it's like

to be asleep.

You become unconscious

of the things around you.

You're unaware

of reality.

Unless you're like my dad

who doesn't sleep that well.

And when I was a boy

and I'd come into his room,

he'd like,

pop out of bed!

You get the point.

Being asleep means

being unawares.

The description

of a non-Christian's

posture towards God.

Unawares of God.

Doesn't care.

Doesn't care about God.

Doesn't care about

what God has accomplished

through Christ

in our salvation.

And specifically,

they are asleep

with regard

to the coming

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the sleep metaphor.

What's the getting drunk metaphor?

Well, let me just state this

to just state the obvious.

When it comes to

literally drinking,

the Bible permits

drinking alcohol,

but it forbids

drunkenness.

Because when you get drunk,

you're no longer

thinking clearly.

You know what a DWI is?

Driving while intoxicated.

There is an LWI.

Living while intoxicated.

What Paul is raising here

is living under the influence

of sinful intoxicants

of the world

that just take over.

In 1 John 2.16,

John describes

the lifestyle

lifestyle

of the darkness.

Of the desires

of the flesh.

Desires of the eyes.

In the prideful

way of life.

Pride of life.

These are the

anti-virtues

of darkness.

And those who are

living in the darkness

are living

while intoxicated,

are being ruled

by these things.

darkness.

And we all

once lived there,

didn't we?

Who you are

determines how you live.

And so if you're

of the darkness,

you're going to be

living these

virtues of darkness.

Anti-virtues,

better said.

Contrast these things

to the day life

in 5.6.

So then let us

not sleep.

as others do,

non-Christians.

But let us

keep awake

and be sober.

Keep awake

is to be

conscious of God.

You're living

in reality.

It's what the

Proverbs talk about

as living

in the fear

of the Lord.

Where you

take God

seriously

in every

area of your

life.

You are

aware of

Him.

You are

seeking to

live with Him

as the

controlling

center of

your life.

your one

consuming

passion.

You're all

governing

reality.

When Jesus

becomes the

controlling

treasure of

your life.

That's the

day life.

That's being

awake.

It's living

in light of

the salvation

that as a

God has

accomplished

in Christ.

And it

means keeping

a clear

head to

that day

that is

one day

closer.

We live

this day

in light

light of

that day.

And that's

what it

means to

be sober.

Not just

living,

being awake,

but being

sober means

being clear

headed.

Not being

distracted or

disabled by the

intoxicating desires

of the world.

old.

I doubt

anybody's

heard this

phrase before.

Have you

ever heard

the phrase

beer

goggle?

It's when

someone gets

drunk on

beer and

their vision

is distorted

and they

see people

in a

distorted

way.

those who

are in

the night

life

have a

distorted

view of

all things.

But those

who are

living in

the day

life who

are sober,

we word

goggle.

We see

with eyes

of faith.

We see

clearly.

We keep

our

minds

sober,

self-controlled.

it's how

we live

in the

light.

What's

interesting

here is

that Paul

in verse

8 then

mixes his

metaphors.

He's talking

about sobriety

in verse

8.

He reiterates

what he's

just said.

But since

we belong

to the

day,

let us

be sober.

Okay,

got it,

clear headed.

But then

he mixes

his

metaphors.

Having

put on

the breastplate

of faith

and love

and for

a helmet

the hope

of salvation.

salvation.

You might

think

immediately

of Ephesians

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6

of the

armor of

God,

of standing

firm.

But this

is not

the breastplate

of righteousness.

What he's

talking about

is the

breastplate

of faith

and love.

And then

he talks

about putting

on the

helmet.

We're to

be military

ready.

We're to

gear up

with gospel

armor.

We're to

put on the

helmet

the hope

of salvation.

And that

hope of

salvation

is the

anticipation

of the

coming of

the Lord

Jesus

who will

bring a

full and

final salvation

with him.

What you

have here

is a

triad.

Faith,

love,

and hope.

Maybe that

rings a bell

from 1 Corinthians

13.

Faith,

hope,

and love,

the greatest

of which is

love.

He's writing

to the

Corinthians.

You guys

need to

love each

other.

Let me

emphasize

love.

Here,

he's

emphasizing

hope.

Put on

the breastplate

of faith

and love.

Faith in

God's word,

love for the

brothers,

and put on

the helmet

the hope

of salvation.

Be

controlled.

Live in

light of

the coming

of Jesus

because we're

one day

closer.

You're to

gear up

that way.

That is

a way

by which

we are

to be

sober-minded.

What's

interesting

here is

Paul,

what he

prescribes

in light

of the

coming

of Jesus

is not

necessarily

to open

up your

newspaper

and open

up your

Bible.

He's

telling us

to prep

a different

way.

He's

saying prep

by storing

up faith

and hope

and love.

That's how

we live

ready

for the

coming of

Jesus.

let me

ask you

a question.

The

night

life

and the

day

life.

Of those

two,

which

characterizes

your life

right now?

Who you

are determines

how you

live.

If you

are living

awake

and you

are living

sober,

you are

geared up

with gospel

armor,

you don't

need to

fear that

day because

how you

are living

reveals who

you are.

You can

be assured.

But if

you're trying

to live

the night

life while

being a

child of

the light,

do you know

what that's

going to

result in?

You're

going to be

miserable.

What does

light have

common with

darkness?

this?

You're

going to be

miserable.

I lived

that way

for a long

time and

I was

miserable.

God be

praised.

Here's the

question I

have for you.

Do you

want to

walk in

the light?

Do you

want to

live by

faith?

Do you

want to

love your

brothers and

sisters?

sisters, do

you want

Jesus to

come back?

In Y2K,

people were

prepping by

putting all

sorts of

food in

their

basements.

We prep

by putting

on the

armor of

God,

faith,

love,

hope.

That's how

we get

ready.

We've

seen two

contrasting

people.

We've seen

two contrasting

lifestyles.

Who you

are determines

how you

live and

it also

determines

your destiny.

Two

contrasting

destinies.

They're so

contrasting,

they are as

different as

day and

night.

The first

destiny is

that of those

who belong to

the night.

These are the

people who are

dead to God.

They're

oblivious to

him.

They don't

take him

seriously.

They don't

really care

about the

salvation that

he's accomplished

in Christ.

Christ's return

is just maybe

an interest,

but they

really don't

care much

more about it

than that,

if anything.

They are

drunk on

worldly

toxins.

Their destiny

is clear,

verse 3 of

chapter 5,

while they're

saying,

peace,

insecurity,

sudden destruction

will come upon

them as labor

pains,

and they

will not

escape.

Inescapable

destruction,

an endless

pouring out

of the wrath

of God.

Do you know

what Revelation

1-7 says?

That when Jesus

comes back,

all of the

non-Christians

on the planet

will wail,

they'll

wail,

because when

Jesus comes

back,

it will be

obvious there's

no escaping

the destruction

he brings with

him.

He is going

to tread

the winepress

of the fury

of the wrath

of God

Almighty.

Now,

you may be

in your seat

saying,

wait,

wait,

wait,

time out.

I thought

God was a

God of love.

what's all

this wrathful

stuff?

Fury

winepress,

violent

treading

business.

You might

be thinking,

what's

God's

problem?

Let me

just humbly

say this.

That's the

wrong question.

The real

question

has to do

with us.

the everlasting

fury of

God's wrath

points to

our problem.

The sinfulness

of our sin

against a

holy,

just,

eternal God

who is

bound by

his righteous

character

to execute

holy,

just,

and eternal

judgment

on our sin.

He is

bound to it.

You don't

want an

unjust God.

God,

the destiny

of those

who belong

to the

night,

apart from

Christ,

unexpected,

inescapable,

eternal wrath

of God

poured out,

and I just

need to add

one more

thing.

God will

be glorified

in that.

God

will be

glorified

in that.

It's

the destiny

of those

who do

not

repent,

but for

those

who by

God's

grace

do

repent

and believe

in Christ,

their destiny,

our destiny,

is as

different as

the day

is from

the night.

In

verse 9,

we read,

for God

has not

destined us

for wrath,

but to

obtain salvation

through our

Lord Jesus

Christ.

That

is our

destiny.

salvation

through Jesus

Christ.

Wait a

second,

you say?

Aren't

Christians

sinners

too?

Yes,

Christians

are sinners

saved by

grace.

Why

isn't

God's

wrath

our

destiny?

What's

the difference?

What's

the difference

between the

two?

We see

in verse

10.

But to

obtain salvation

through our

Lord Jesus

Christ,

who died

for us.

Who died

for us?

Christ

died as

a substitute

for all

who would

believe in

him.

For us,

he died

in our

place.

Christ's

finished work

on the

cross has

secured our

salvation,

past,

present,

future.

Past,

we've been

justified,

we've been

adopted.

Present,

we are being

sanctified,

we are being

conformed into

the image

of Christ.

And for

the future,

we will

one day

be glorified.

That is

coming.

When we

will

experience,

we will be

in God's

presence,

with God's

people,

in God's

place,

experiencing

God's

everlasting

peace.

You see,

what the

cross has

done,

it has

secured

our destiny.

If Christ

died for

you,

instead of

a destiny

of just

wrath of

God,

we await

a destiny

of God's

good

presence.

Christian,

you don't

need to

fear that

day.

It's not

who you

are.

It's not

how you're

living.

It's not

your destiny.

destiny.

In fact,

our destiny,

did you

see that?

Whether we

are awake

or asleep,

that goes

back to

the last

week's

passage.

If you

are awake,

if you're

alive when

Jesus returns,

or if you've

fallen asleep,

if you've

died before

Christ's

return,

whether you're

awake or

asleep,

we might

live with

him.

The end

of this

obtaining of

salvation,

and when

Christ comes

back,

we will

all be

united,

and from

that point

on,

we will

live with

him in

his presence.

Two very

different

destinies.

1 Thessalonians

5, 1

through 11

is in

your Bible,

Christian,

to assure

you,

you need

not fear

that day.

but you

do need

to be

ready for

it.

That day

of the

Lord is

one day

closer.

Okay,

everybody,

get your

watch out,

synchronize

your watches,

mark one

day closer.

And of

those two

contrasting

people,

if you're a

Christian,

you're a

child of

the day.

You have

been blood

bought.

And brought

into God's

family,

so you

stand

assured.

And of

those two

different

lifestyles,

the lifestyles,

night life,

and the

day life,

if you are

awake and

sober,

if you are

growing in

those things,

if you're

gearing up

with gospel

armor,

and you are

saying,

I want to

walk by

faith,

I want to

love the

brothers,

I want to

keep on

hoping in

that coming

day,

be assured.

Lord,

and of

these two

different

destinies,

one of

God's

everlasting

judgment and

one of

God's

everlasting

peace,

for those

of us who

belong to

the day,

Christ's

death has

also secured

our future.

we don't

need to

fear that

day.

What we

have is to

anticipate

eternity in

his presence,

with his

people,

in his

place,

experiencing

his peace.

So if you

are in the

room this

morning,

and you're

fearing the

day of

Christ's

coming,

because you

know you

are not a

Christian,

today is the

day of

salvation.

put your

trust in

Christ alone.

Romans 10

says,

if we

confess Jesus

is Lord,

and believe

in your

heart that

God raised

him from

the dead,

you will

be saved,

you will

be delivered

from the

domain of

darkness,

transferred into

the kingdom

of the beloved

son,

and on that

day you

can be

assured of

welcome.

come.

And if you

are looking

forward to

that day,

if you

long for

the day,

if you're

saying,

come Lord

Jesus,

you don't

need to fear

knock,

knock,

knock at

the door.

You don't

need to fear

the glorious

return of

Jesus when

he comes

back on a

white horse.

You look

forward to

that.

You long

for that.

And what

we're being

called to do

here in

verse 11 is

to encourage

one another

in light of

that.

And this is

how you can

do it.

I'm going

to have

the congregation

on my left.

You say

this.

Child of the

day, say

it.

And the

people on

my right,

you say,

we're one

day closer.

child of

the day,

we're one

day closer.

You ready?

I'm going to

point to you

and now you

say it.

So when you

bump into a

fellow brother

or sister this

week, you

know what you

can say to

them?

Christian,

don't fear

that day.

Be ready

for it.

We just

sang it.

Fear is

gone and

hope is

sure.

Christ is

mine forever

more.

Will you

pray with

me?

Three times

in Revelation

22, the Lord

Jesus, you

say,

behold, I'm

coming soon.

to which we

say to you

now, come

Lord Jesus.

Come.

We long

for you.

We're ready

for you.

God, would you

bless us, your

people, and

would you help

us to live

ready for

that day?

In your name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.