1 Thessalonians 4:12-5:11 - Our Hope

The reality for all of us is that we're all facing eternity.

Nobody, as they say, gets out of here alive.

The mortality rate so far for the human race is about 100%.

Everyone who lives dies.

In the New Testament, out of the 27 books of the New Testament, 23 talk about this.

Out of the 260 chapters in the New Testament, there are 318 references to Christ's return.

About one out of every 30 verses in the Bible speaks to Jesus coming, the Messiah returning for us.

And this, dear Christian, is our hope.

This is our hope that Jesus will return, that he will come again.

And this is why it should shape the way that we live.

As we keep saying about 1 Thessalonians, you know, it's it's our our our desire is to live and to suffer well in light of eternity.

In light of eternity, we suffer well, we endure well, we keep looking to the cross and what Christ has done, and Christ defeating the grave, and that he's with God the Father in heaven.

We remember that we're to live well, to serve one another, to lay down our lives.

And we don't do these things because we're bored.

We have nothing better to do, but because Christ is returning.

Last week we looked at some hard questions.

Talked about do you desire purity?

Does your heart move to purity?

Is that something you long for?

To grow in that?

Do you love people?

Do you love them well?

Does your heart move to people?

To love the people that God has placed in your life.

Again, we we ask these questions, we examine our hearts because we do want to be faithful to what God has called us to.

Because we want to live in light of eternity.

This morning we're going to go through 1 Thessalonians 4, chapter, chapter 4, verse 13, through the first 11 verses of chapter 5, which deal with Christ returning.

That he is coming again, that his return will be sudden.

That we better live with that in mind.

So if you will, please read with me the precious holy word of God.

1 Thessalonians 4 13.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do, who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus God will bring with the Him, He will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.

For this we declare to you, by word from the Lord, that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from the heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves have 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, they will not escape.

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

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

We are not of the night or of the darkness.

So let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

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

Amen.

So Paul is writing to the church in Thessalonica.

They're concerned because they've had some people in church die.

And the concern is that they're gonna miss the return of Christ.

Because they've died, they won't be able to be a part of the eternal kingdom when Christ returns.

And so there are people who are grieving.

They've lost loved ones, and they're concerned.

They had faith, but now they're dead.

Well, are they gonna miss out on the resurrection?

Are they gonna miss out on the kingdom of Christ?

This is a very understandable concern.

And it's also a way that we know this is one of Paul's earliest writings.

Because all the other churches, this had been figured out by then.

This is a very common understanding.

Or if you think that Christ is gonna return and you die before he returns, did you miss out?

Are we destined to miss out for forever?

So Paul's writing to them and he's saying, listen, they've those who have fallen asleep, and he's saying, those who are dead, right?

We know through the when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and the disciples says, He said, Well, they're sleeping, and they're like, Yeah, but you know, he's dead.

And Jesus says, Well, he's sleeping, and we're concerned about this.

And then Jesus says to them, No, like he's dead.

Right?

He's dead.

And so when Paul's writing, he's saying, they're dead, but he's using this language of they're asleep, because they're not in an eternal state of death.

Their body has decayed and is dying or is dead, and their spirit is with the Lord.

And he's writing to encourage them and say, Listen, those who have fallen asleep, listen, they are with the Lord.

And he begins with this concern for them.

Listen, he says, I don't want you to be uninformed.

I don't want you to be out of the know.

I don't want you to misunderstand or not know this.

And this word uninformed, this is where we get our our word ignorant.

I don't want you to be ignorant of these things, brothers.

I don't want you to misunderstand.

For those who are in Christ, he holds them secure.

It's interesting, verse 14.

Everything hinges on this.

It says, for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we believe Jesus is the Messiah, we believe he was God, we believe he was persecuted, we believe he was hung on a tree and he died dead and rose again.

Even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep, those who have died.

And it begins to kind of get us a kind of a play-by-play of how this works out in verses 15 through 17.

For this we declare to you by my word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

Now, this passage is getting into what people call the tribulation.

The tribulation.

When is Christ returning?

Now there's a lot of discussion, there's lots of books, there's lots of opinions about the tribulation.

Some people say that there's a seven-year period of tribulation.

So will Christ rapture us?

Will he come for us before the tribulation?

Will he come for us in the middle of the tribulation?

Is this a passage about the rapture?

I think I said tribulation earlier.

This is about the rapture.

Will he rapture us before the tribulation, the seven years of tribulation?

Or will he take us after the seven-year tribulation?

Well, Paul doesn't say, man, isn't that frustrating?

He doesn't address that here, when the Lord will come.

But he makes it abundantly clear that the Lord will come, that he is coming.

So whether you think the Lord's gonna come before the tribulation or mid-trib or post-trib, either way, I want to encourage you this morning that the Lord will be with us.

He will not forsake us.

And when the Lord does come, this is what it's gonna look like.

Those who are alive, who are left, will not proceed.

We're not gonna go before those who have already passed away.

Verse 16, for the Lord Himself, He doesn't send an angel, he's not like, man, I guess it's time to round them up, you know.

Can we get some angels to go do this?

No, the Lord comes himself from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God.

Now there's still kind of conversation, this cry of command.

Is it the Lord or is it an angel?

Or what is that cry?

Or the voice of an archangel?

Is that the archangel?

Does it just sound like an archangel?

And the trumpet of God.

We see through the Old Testament that trumpets were used to declare the royalty.

There will be a trumpet, there will be a cry, there will be a command, the timing of which, again, some people debate about, but it's all gonna happen.

And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

So Paul's saying, listen, be encouraged.

When this goes down, whenever it's gonna go down, this is how it's gonna go down, there's gonna be a command, there's gonna be this cry, this voice, there's gonna be a trumpet sound, and the Lord will come.

We're not gonna miss out on this.

He will come.

And we all, the dead in Christ, the alive in Christ you're walking in, will be caught up together with him in the cloud.

Literally, this will happen one day.

Now, what happens after that is a lot of debate.

Right?

A lot of debate.

Some people say the Lord will then come and establish a thousand-year reign, a literal thousand-year reign on the earth before the final judgment.

Others say that the Lord will come and he will establish his eternal kingdom then, judge everyone then, and the new heavens and the new earth will precede that.

So there's debate about what happens when this, when the rapture happens, and there's debate about what happens after this.

But what Paul makes clear is that we will be with the Lord always.

There'll never be a moment for us as believers where all this is going down and we're like, man, I'm not sure where God is in this.

What's going on?

It'll probably be somewhat confusing.

We may say what's going on.

But there won't be a moment where we're just like panic-stricken, like, oh my gosh, we're hopeless.

We will always be with the Lord.

And so this is the encouragement that Paul gives to this church.

This is the encouragement that we have as believers, as loved ones pass away, as we face death, as darkness, and there's so many burdensome, heartbreaking things around us.

We will always be with the Lord.

He will return.

He does not leave us, just kind of waiting, wondering when is he gonna come?

Or sorry, if he's gonna come.

The Israelites were wondering when.

They had all these prophets prophecies about the about the Messiah to come.

They waited hundreds of years.

Paul's writing to the church, and Paul often does this when he writes, he uses this language of we, us, together.

So some people read this and they say, well, Paul's assuming, verse 17, that we who are alive, that he's gonna be alive.

Well, he might have very well thought he was, but he also knew that Christ could come at any time.

He said that we don't know the time when Christ will come, but we need to live as if he will come at any moment, because he can.

So likewise, we do not know the time, but we know that it will be sudden.

Beginning in verse 1 of chapter 5.

Now, concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you don't need us to write anything to you.

For you're fully aware.

It's gonna come like a thief in the night.

It's gonna come kind of unexpected from nowhere.

People will not be expecting the return of Christ.

Now, here's the thing: He's differentiating between those who are unbelievers, those who are of darkness, and those who are followers of Christ.

Verse 4 But you are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

Christians are not to be surprised that Jesus is coming.

We're not the kind of people, we don't know the day, so there will be some kind of like, man, I'm just like, well, what's going on?

Is this the day?

I remember as a kid, this would happen from time to time, and maybe you can relate to this.

But I would be outside playing, doing something, and I'd come in the house.

I couldn't find anyone.

You know I'm going with this, right?

And I would look and I'm like, where is everyone?

I looked in the house, and they'd all be outside, or they're being in like a room that I didn't look.

And for like a split moment, I'm just like, did he come?

Did Jesus come?

Did I miss out?

You know, and then you're just like for a split second, you're thinking, well, where did I go wrong?

What did I not believe?

What did I have, you know?

It's like, that's not how it's gonna be, though.

But I would I had this moment of panic, like I missed out.

Because his return will be sudden.

And it will surprise us in the sense that we don't know what's gonna happen, but we know it's gonna happen.

It's like death.

Again, probably, unless the Lord returns, we're all gonna die.

We don't know when.

We know it's gonna happen.

Christ is gonna return.

If we're alive for that, whoever's alive, they don't know when, but they know we know it's gonna happen.

But it's not gonna surprise us, like, oh my gosh, I've never thought of this.

What is going on?

Like, no, this is it.

This is it.

And just think for a moment.

2,000 years the church has been waiting for this.

I mean, there will be believers on the earth.

Can you imagine, like, oh man, we're the ones who don't have to die?

Right?

Everyone else died, and then like this generation of people, these Christians, they won't die.

They get to see the return of the Lord.

It's a gracious thing that the Lord would allow some to see that.

But see, when I was when I was struggling as a kid with like, did the Lord rapture my family and the whole, all the believers that I'm left here?

What I got wrong was this idea that somehow I was gonna be unaware of it.

And Revelation chapter 1, verse 7 says, Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.

Revelation 1:7

Even so, amen.

And we know that the whole, this isn't gonna be exclusive, like if you've seen the left behind movies, you know, where people are doing something together and then someone just kind of drops out, someone disappears.

It's not gonna be like that.

Also, this little side note the first left behind movie came out over two decades ago.

So um, just think about that for a minute.

Time goes fast, right?

Prepare your hearts.

But we need to be people who are aware.

We're not gonna be just kind of like believers are gonna be in the know, and then unbelievers are gonna be just humming along with life.

All of creation will know when Christ will return.

So as Christians, we live with this tension.

Any moment Christ will return.

Are we living in the light of that?

We are not to be ignorant or unaware.

Then Paul gives this encouragement about being children of light.

He's like, listen, brother, you are children of light, not darkness.

But it's also a bit of a test.

Do you desire to live as children of light?

Are your deeds those of the children of light?

Or are they of those of the children of darkness?

Christ's return will be sudden.

It will be in a moment.

There won't be time to get right with God, to do business with God.

There are no second chances.

God is gracious and merciful and patient, but when he returns, he will separate those who walk in darkness with those who walk in light.

Hebrews 9, chapter 9, verse 28 says, So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

He has dealt with sin.

We need to live as people who are expecting his return.

If you have this attitude of, you know, I care about Jesus and you know, I'm cool with the church thing, but I'm not really ready to fully give him my all of my life.

Man, you're missing out, you're missing the point.

Christ, it will return at any moment, or you could die at any moment.

Living a cavalier life of, well, today I'm gonna do this, today I'm gonna go do business in this city, or tomorrow I'll do such and such.

You fooled, you don't know the days of your life.

Live as if Christ will return, and in that you will find life and joy.

Because Christ's return is imminent, we must stay awake.

Verse 6.

So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

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

We don't belong, brothers and sisters, to the night.

We belong to the day.

So we must be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

For God did not destine us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.

So we will always be with him.

So so far it's it's been pretty kind of information based.

Jesus is gonna come back, this is how he's gonna come back, this is what you need to be aware of.

You need children of light, children of darkness, there's a separation.

But now he gets to how to live the what now part of the text.

So so Paul's right, so what do we do with this?

Well, we stay awake, we be alert, we're sober, we belong to the day, as verse 8 says.

God's people are day people.

We are light people, we live and act like day people.

So we're not just kind of sitting in a lawn chair staring up at the sun, waiting for this return to come.

We're living, knowing that it is, he is going to come.

And he gives us uh equipment for this, armor, breastplate of faith and love, and a helmet of hope of salvation.

It's not it's not as if he gives us the armor and says, Hey, head into the fray.

I hope you make it.

Hopefully I'll see you at the end of the battle.

Hopefully you'll be on the other side.

He says, No.

He gives us those things in the verse nine.

For God has not destined us for wrath.

Now there's a tension here.

Because you read verse 9, you say, Well, I'm not destined for wrath, I'm good.

Take it easy, let's relax.

But what's he say before that?

No, he's given you armor for the fight, for the life ahead of you, knowing that it will be required that you love others.

You pour out love, that you put your faith in him, and your hope is in salvation.

And you do those things, and you do those things well because of verse 9.

Because you're not destined for wrath.

The Christ has redeemed your soul, you're secure in him.

It is out of that security that you then go and live and serve.

You put your faith into action, you love those around you, you share the hope of salvation because Christ died for us.

This is our hope.

We as Christians are marked by our hope.

This is what he's saying in the end of chapter 4.

We don't grieve in vain.

We don't grieve as those who don't have hope.

We don't fight sin as those who don't have hope.

We don't tend to the needs and the brokenness around us as those who don't have hope.

Our hope is in the Lord and that he is coming again.

As Christians, again, we're not marked by running around declaring the end of the world or sitting and staring at the sky, waiting for God to come.

But we're not marked by earning our salvation either and just kind of running around hoping that we've worked off enough sin and worked up enough credit.

Because Jesus gives us the gift of salvation.

We can rest in this.

And this is what it means to stay awake.

To live with intentionality, to embrace the day that is before us with a desire to glorify the Lord and to honor the Lord, a desire to point others to Christ, so they may know as well that the Lord is returning.

So as we think about this, that Jesus will return and that his return will be sudden, and that he's given us this commission to stay awake and to be alert and to live.

Not to be passive and apathetic and just kind of live and let live, let the world burn.

I'll take care of my thing, let them all else go.

But I want to ask you this question as we kind of close.

That this all hinges on do you believe verse 14 says?

Jesus is God, that he died and rose from the dead.

Do you trust Jesus as your Lord and as your master?

Now maybe you've accepted one of those and not the other.

Maybe you accepted Lord and not Master, or Master and not Lord, but you cannot split them.

Jesus cannot be your Savior, but not your Lord.

Meaning you cannot accept the salvation that Jesus offers and then reject his lordship over your life.

If you claim to have Jesus as your savior, then you must surrender to him as your master.

Likewise, you cannot accept him as Lord, but reject the means by which he saves you.

You cannot reject his grace and his mercy and call him Lord.

You can't say, I'm gonna live like Jesus, I'm gonna live a proper life, and I'm gonna just do the right thing, and I'm gonna treat people right and obey the instructions and kind of dot every I and cross every T, but then I'm gonna earn my salvation.

I'm gonna kind of work my way to heaven.

And Jesus is my Lord, I follow him, but when it comes to salvation, well, my salvation is more in my works.

It doesn't work that way.

You accept him as your Lord and your master, your Lord and your Savior.

You either throw yourself down at the feet of Jesus, putting your hope in nothing else for salvation, or you are lost in a child of darkness.

We are people of the day.

We do not grieve as those without hope, if we have put our hope in Jesus.

It is our great joy and delight that we are just passing through.

As 1 Peter says, we're sojourners, we're strangers, we're this isn't our home.

If you have rejected Christ, I just want to let you know, if you have rejected Christ and his salvation, that this life is as good as it gets.

It doesn't get any better than this.

It only gets worse from here.

But if you have accepted Jesus Christ, we read for you what 2 Corinthians 4 says, we do not lose heart.

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

For the things that are seen are transient, the things that are unseen are eternal.

Let's pray.

God, you know our hearts, every one of us.

You know the sins we committed this week.

You know the ways that we rejected you and your authority in our life.

You know how we respond as we read your word, our natural inclination, how we judge one another, our callousness.

But Lord, you know our fears.

You know the things that keep us awake at night.

You know the things that cripple us.

Lord, you know the longings of our heart, the cries that we lay out, the longing to shed just our sinful nature, the frustration with the struggle of living in this world, the weariness of our soul.

But our hope is not that things are just gonna get better, or that our country is gonna get better, or that people are just gonna figure it out.

Our hope is in you, Jesus, and in you alone, for you have died for us.

We who are destined for wrath, no longer destined for wrath, we who are dead in our sin, no longer dead in our sin.

We who are hopeless, no longer hopeless, because of your love for us.

Pray that you give us strength to live well, to stay awake as we await either your return or our death.

I pray for those in the room who have not accepted you as their Lord and their master, as their Lord and their Savior.

I pray that they would surrender, they would cry out to you, they would see their sin for what it is, you would break them over that over their sin.

They would find life in you, and forgiveness, grace, and love that does not fail, that does not falter.

We praise you that you love us, God.

We thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen.