The Model Life: Alertness, Part 10

Take your Bible, if you would please, and turn with me to 1st

Thessalonians, chapter 5, verses 1 to 11.

We're going to conclude this section this morning and move on

to the final section beginning next week.

But we're looking at what the Bible says concerning the model

life and what it means to live a life of alertness.

So I'm going to read to you these 11 verses to set them in

your mind, and then we'll conclude them this morning.

First one of chapter 5 says. Now as to the times in the

epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written

to you, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the

Lord will come just like a thief in the night, while they are

saying peace and safety. Then destruction will come upon

them suddenly, like labor pains upon a woman with child, and

they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in

darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief, For

you are all sons of light and sons of day.

We are not of night nor of darkness.

So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert

and sober. For those who sleep do their

sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.

But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the

breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of

salvation. For God has not destined us for

wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus

Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep,

we will live together with Him. Therefore, encourage one another

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

Paul wants them to understand their responsibility, so he

tells them by way of reminder in the first 3 verses about the day

of the Lord. And then he moves on and says,

based on what I'm reminding you of, I want you to be responsible

in three areas as a witness, as a watchman, and as a warrior.

You are a witness because you're sons of the day, you're sons of

the light. You are not sons of the night,

nor are you sons of darkness. In other words, he contrasts the

people who are saved versus the people that are unsaved.

People that are in the light are born again.

People that are in the darkness are not.

And so he contrasts them and encourages them to live

according to their witness as lights to the world.

This is not a New Testament concept.

It was widely proclaimed throughout the Old Testament.

In fact, over in Psalm One O 7. Listen to the words of the

psalmist in verse #10 There were those who dwelt in darkness and

in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains,

because they had rebelled against the words of God and

spurned the counsel of the Most High.

Therefore He humbled their heart with labor.

They stumbled, and there was none to help.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.

He saved them out of their distresses.

He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and

broke their bands apart. Let them give thanks to the Lord

for His loving kindness and for His wonders to the sons of men.

So the psalmist describes those who live in rebellion against

God, who those who spurn the words of God as those people who

wander in darkness, who so desperately need the light of

life to shine down upon them. And when God rescues them,

that's exactly what he does, because he is the light of the

world. He is the truth.

And therefore, when he shines his light, the truth is spread.

Earlier the psalmist would say these words in Psalm 43.

He would say in verse 3, O send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy

hill and to your dwelling place. Then I will go to the altar of

God, to God my exceeding joy, and upon the leer I shall praise

You, O God, my God. In other words, when the Lord

sends out His light, when He sends out His truth, it leads us

in the proper direction. Psalm 119105 says that God's

word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Therefore God's Word is a lamp as well as the light, and it

leads us in the way of truth. And so Paul picks up on all that

and says in First Thessalonians 5, listen, you are children of

the day, you're children of the light.

Therefore this is your witness, this is your testimony.

Live this way because you are not in darkness anymore.

In fact, the Bible says over in the book of Colossians, the 3rd

chapter, these, these words, Colossians chapter 3, I'm sorry,

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

class chapter one verse #13 For you rescued us from the domain

of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved

Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

You see, the unbeliever is in the domain of darkness.

That's where Satan dwells. And therefore they are sons of

disobedience, not sons of obedience.

But when God saves you, He transfers you from that domain

of darkness into the domain of His light, His truth.

So therefore we walk as children of the light and children of the

truth. And so Paul admonishes those in

Thessalonica to live in like manner.

And then he says, not only are you a witness, but you're,

you're a watchman. You're to, you're to be alert,

you're to be sober minded. You are, you are to be vigilant.

And then he says you are a warrior.

And therefore, because you're, you're a warrior, put on the,

the breastplate of of faith and love and put on the, the helmet

as a hope of, of your salvation. Such a such an important

aspects. And he wants us to understand

that, that we're involved in warfare.

And this is how you as sons of the of the day and sons of the

light live accordingly. Remember, in Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

6, he talks about the armor of God.

There he calls it the breastplate of righteousness.

Here he calls it the breastplate of faith and love.

There he called the helmet the helmet of salvation in Ephesians

6. Here in First Thessalonians 5,

he calls the helmet the hope of salvation.

They're both the same thing, just described in different

ways. The the the breastplate of

righteousness means that not my positional righteousness is in

Christ, but the fact that I'm going to live practically a holy

life. Well, how do I do that?

By living in accordance with faith and love.

The breastplate of faith and love.

Faith is believing in what God has actually said, and because

you believe in what God has actually said, you live in

accordance to it. Love is living in admiration of

who God is, because you love Him with all your heart, with all

your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.

You want to obey the things that He says.

So the breastplate of, of righteousness is the breastplate

of, of love and the breast parade of, of faith.

In other words, when we believe what God says, we walk by faith.

We don't walk by sight. We believe in what God says, we

don't believe in what we see. We believe in what God says

because that's the truth. And so we live in accordance to

the truth of the living God. Paul would say in first Timothy

6 verse #12 fight the good fight of faith.

In secular 4 verse #8 he says I have fought the good fight.

I've run the race right. But notice he calls the the

fight always a good fight. It's a noble fight.

Why? Because we're in warfare against

Satan in the Kingdom of darkness and we are fighting for the

truth of God's word, the gospel of God and the Kingdom of God.

It is the noblest of all battles that were engaged in so many

times we we wake up each day and don't realize that we're engaged

in warfare, but we are every day is a battle.

Why? Because we battle against the

the forces of darkness. And so Paul says protect the

most intimate part of your life. Protect your heart, put on the

breastplate of faith and love. Remember Solomon says in

Proverbs Sector 4, guard your heart for out of the flow all

the issues of life. Proverbs 423 and how do we guard

our heart by putting on the breastplate of faith and love.

In other words, we believe what God says.

You see, Satan is against you in all kinds of manners.

And so he's going to attack you emotionally.

He's going to attack you mentally.

So Paul says put on the helmet as the as the hope of salvation.

Why? Because he attacks the, the

head, you're, you're thinking, he wants you to have doubts.

He wants you to be discouraged. He, he wants you to be

depressed. And Paul says, put on the helmet

because that is your, your hope of salvation.

You see, we, we were saved. We are, we're, we're justified.

We are being sanctified. One day we will be glorified.

And that is our hope. That is our assurance.

That is our security. That's how we live our lives.

We live our lives in anticipation of the

glorification of our lives when we see him face to face.

And Paul says when you do that, when you do that, you're able to

ward off the attacks of the evil one.

You'll live as children of the day, not children of the night.

You will live as those who honor and glorify the name of the

Lord. You will be alert, you will be

sober, you won't be asleep. So be a warrior, be a watchman

and be a witness. And they won't moves on to the

next point. And that is, not only are you to

be reminded and not only to be responsible, but you are to be

relieved. Look what he says.

He says these words in verse #8 But since we are of the day, let

us be sober. Have you put on the breastplate

of faith and love, and as a helmet with the hope of

salvation? For God has not destined us for

wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus

Christ who died for us. So whether we are awake or

sleep, alive or dead, we will live together with him.

He says be relieved, for God has not destined you for wrath.

Now we know that's not eternal wrath.

Why? Because the context of First

Thessalonians five is talking about the Day of the Lord.

And the day of the Lord is called the day of God's fury or

the day of God's wrath. You can read about it in

Revelation 6 and Revelation 11, Revelation 16, Revelation 19,

It's a day of God's wrath. It's a day of the Lord's fury.

It's, it's that, it's that temporal time.

We know that we're saved from eternal wrath because there is

no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And the wrath of God abides upon those who live in disobedience

to the Lord God. We understand that.

But he's talking about that temporal wrath, that day of the

Lord, that tribulation. This is so important, why?

Christ is the bridegroom. We are the bride, and the

bridegroom does not want to subject the bride to the day of

God's fury. He's not going to do that.

That's why the Bible says in Revelation 3 verse #10 these

words, I will keep thee from the hour of trial which will come

upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Revelation 310 so important. I'm going to protect you.

I'm going to keep you out of that hour, that hour trial

that's going to come upon the whole world, right?

Specifically designed for those who dwell upon the earth.

That phrase those who dwell upon the earth is used over 10 times

in the Book of Revelation. And it always refers to people

of the world, not geographically, but people of

the world morally. That's how they live their

lives. That is their home.

That's what they love. They love the world.

And the hour tribulation is designed for the unbeliever, not

the believer. It's going to come upon the

whole world, those who dwell upon the earth.

And the Lord says, I'm going to keep you from that hour.

I'm going to protect you from that hour.

Paul says here in First Thessalonians 5, listen, God has

not destined you for wrath. He's not destined you for

judgement. He's destined you for joy to be

with Jesus forever. And that's what he says.

It says this is just so wonderful.

Listen, listen how he says it. He says that Jesus Christ verse

10 who died for us that whether we are awake or asleep we will

live together with him. Paul says he died for us.

He died for us over in Galatians chapter one.

This is how he says it Galatians one verse 3.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus

Christ, who gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us

from this present evil age according to the will of our God

and Father, to whom he or to whom be the glory forevermore,

Amen. He rescued us, He delivered us,

He saved us. Paul says he died for us.

And why did he do that? So that we could be with him.

We could be with him earlier. Paul says in chapter 4 these

words, and so shall we always be with the Lord for 17 of chapter

4. That's the essence of heaven.

Heaven is a place. Heaven is a, a specific place,

but it's more than just a place. Heaven is the presence of the

living God. We, we, we tend to forget about

that and we forget about what's going to happen when we get to

heaven. We're always wondering, well,

when we get there, what are we going to do when we get there?

It's not about what you're going to do when you get there.

It's about who you're going to see when you get there.

And so many times because we, we think from an earthly

perspective that when we get to heaven, we're going to see our

our father or our mother or our brother or our sister, or, or

maybe John MacArthur's going to see RC Sprole or, or Charles

Spurgeon. You know what?

You're going to see them, but that's not your purpose for

going. You're not going to see them.

You're going to see the Lord. You're going to be with the

Lord. That's the most important thing.

We forget that a glorified body, a perfect body dwelling in

perfect righteousness does not have the same relationships it

did while on earth, because every relationship that you have

is tainted with sin. But in heaven there is no sin.

Everything is perfect. There is no memory of what takes

place on earth, in heaven. In hell, you have all the memory

of what takes place on earth. That's why there's weeping and

gnashing of teeth. But in heaven there is no memory

of what happens on earth. Why?

Because everything is new. There is no pain, there is no

sorrow. There'd be so much sorrow if we

remembered what happened on earth.

But in glory, it's all about the Lord.

It's all about being with the Lord.

Think about this. John MacArthur wakes up in glory

on on on Monday evening. He dies and and closes his eyes

and wakes up in the presence of the living God.

How great is that? That's what heaven is.

It's the presence of God. To be in his presence is the

hope and joy of all of our lives.

And Paul knew that and we will be with him.

He wants to encourage him that way.

He wants to motivate in that way.

When we die, whether we wake or whether we're asleep, when

Christ comes again, we will be with him.

That's the prize, that's the reward, that's the joy, that's

the excitement. Yeah, there are crowns, but

those crowns will be cast at the feet of the Lamb, at the feet of

the Lord. Why?

Because the only reason we have a crown is because of what

Christ has done in our lives. And so we're just going to give

him back to him because he receives all the glory and all

the honor and all the praise. And Paul says God is not

destined us for wrath. Why?

Because he delivered us. He saved us.

He rescued us so that whether we wake or sleep, that one day we

will be with him. That's the greatest of all

relief, knowing that Christ in his presence is my destiny.

And then he says, I want you to be reliable.

Verse 11. Therefore, encourage one another

and build up one another just as you also are doing.

Be reliable to be an encourager. Be reliable to, to edify others,

to build them up to, to, to encourage them to have the

strength and, and the stability that they need each and every

day. And you're going to do that

through the words that I've given to you.

I want you to understand that these words are so important

that you are to be engaged not in, in finding flaws in one

another, but building up one another.

Time is short. Life is so short.

We only have this life before us and Paul says in the short

amount of time that you have encourage one another, build up

one another. That's why the right of Hebrew

says don't forsake this so many of yourselves together.

Why as you see the day approaching, the day of what the

day of Christ that is coming, but to encourage one another, to

stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

That's why we gathered together to to be involved in each

other's lives, to to motivate one another to move each other

on to action. And then that's what that's what

Paul is saying here in First Thessalonians chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

And then he's going to embark on the very nick section and

explain to you how you encourage and how you edify the body.

Listen to what he says. He says these words in verse 12.

But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who

diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the

Lord, and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very

highly in love because of their work.

Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish

the unruly, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak.

Be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another

with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good

for one another and for all people.

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.

In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in

Christ Jesus concerning you. That's how you encourage and

build up one another. And so next week we'll we'll go

into those verses and explain to you exactly how God wants to use

each of us and each other's lives.

But this is so important as to living the model life.

Paul says listen in chapter 4. This is the will of God.

Even your sanctification that you abstain from sexual

immorality, you want to live a model life, live a life of

abstinence. And then he says if you want to

live a life, a model life, live a life of aspiration to loving

abundantly and living appropriately.

Verses 9 to 12 of chapter 4. And then he says, live a life of

anticipation as to the day of Christ.

He's coming again. Because one day the Lord will

descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the

Archangel, and the dead in Christ will rise 1st.

And then we who are alive and remain shall be cut up together

with them in the air. And so shall we ever be with the

Lord. Live in anticipation of that

event because it's a nixed event on God's prophetic calendar.

And all the while, live a life of alertness.

You're going to be sober. You're going to be vigilant.

You're going to be a warrior, a watchman.

You're going to be a witness. Why?

Because you dwell among the people of the night need to be a

testimony to them and as you do be an encouragement to one

another and build up one another as you are doing.

That's just so great because Paul recognizes the fact that

they're already doing that. He says I want you to excel even

all the more in doing that as you seek to honor the Lord.

That's the model life and trust that God will give us the grace

to live for the glory and honor of his name.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today.

We thank you for all that you do.

We thank you, Lord, that we can gather together to praise your

glorious name. We thank you, Lord, that you're

our God. And I pray Lord, for for us as a

church, the Lord, we would be the kind of people that live a

model life, that live the kind of life that brings glory and

honor to your name, that lives the kind of life that truly

wants to put you above ourselves, the kind of life that

really wants to honor others above ourselves.

And that, Lord, we would truly live in anticipation of your

coming. Again, Lord, you are coming.

We know it's going to be soon. We just want it to be even

sooner than we can imagine. We pray that it be today, if not

today, tomorrow. But Father, we know that when

you come, we will be with you. Our prayer, Lord, is that if

there's someone here today who does not know that when they die

they'll be with you, the Lord you would burden their heart

that they would know to confess their sin, to repent and turn

from their evil ways. Give your life to the living God

and follow you in obedience for the rest of their lives.

Lord, we love you. Thank you for our time together.

May this week be the greatest of all weeks because we want to

live it for your glory in Jesus name, Amen.