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1 Thess. 5:1-11 Belonging to the Day
Introduction: Good morning, we’ll be back in 1 Peter next week
Today we’ll be in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 1
Context: 3 Sundays of training….then gone.
In this Letter, Paul continues to press home to the Thessalonians what living as a Believer looks like. What the life of the Christian community looks like. A community gathered around a Great salvation is necessarily a changed people. And Paul sees that change and he is exhorting for it to continue and abound: He says things like, “Let there be brotherly love among you”, “work diligently and faithfully so that you might be generous”, and in our previous passage and today's passage Paul reassures us that: for those who die before Christ’s return, there is a firm hope that All of us whether dead or alive at Jesus’ second coming will be fully with the Lord. We do not need to fear His Coming. We do not need to fear Judgement if we are in Christ Jesus. And once we do not fear judgment in Christ – then you are free indeed in this life and the next.
Paul is arguing in today’s passage that there is a difference between the Light and sobriety of Christian hope and the darkness and drunken stupor brought about by sin.
READ: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 Whilepeople are saying, “There is peace and security, ”then sudden destruction will come upon them as laborpains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, forthat day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of thenight or of the darkness.
6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleepat night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober,having [already] put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For Godhas not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us sothat whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another andbuild one another up, just as you are doing.
Brothers and Sisters Paul has Three Reminders for the Thessalonians and for Us this Evening:
Reminder #1: The Believer’s Awareness vv. 1-5
Reminder #2 The Believer’s Assurance vv. 6 – 9a
Reminder #3 The Believer’s Salvation vv. 9b-11
Reminder Number 1: The Believer is fully Aware because he walks in the Light. The believer is fully aware because she walks in the Light.
Paul contrast this with the Uncertainty of Darkness: Unbelievers Speculate about or deny the seriousness of “the Day of the Lord” because they are in darkness and indeed cannot escape judgment. Believers watch faithfully with a posture of expectancy and need not fear judgment.
A) First be fully aware that in v. 1-5 Paul teaches us that it is unprofitable to speculate about times and seasons.
a. Why? Because the timing of Jesus’ return is Unknown. Instead of speculation about the end times we take a posture of preparedness living daily as a member of his Kingdom, ready for him to return as judge on that last day or for us to join him in heaven if we pass away.
Look again in your bible verses one 1-5 and you’ll see 3 images that all speak to this.
B) Paul says they already know the meaning of these three images
a. He says, Some sit in darkness saying saying “peace” “security” when sudden destruction is the reality!
b. These people get the time wrong by outright denying that the Day of The Lord is coming in Judgment.
c. Next Image the thief: The thief, sneaks in and robs at night while people sleep. Thieves do not publish hit list calendars ahead of time like a trash pickup date.
i. Our Lord Jesus, Paul, and the Apostle Peter all use this image.
ii. The Apostle Peter says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar…and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
d. Next image: labor pains, Labor Pains indicate It is Sudden and Inevitable
1. There will be no 2 minute warning at the return of the Lord
2. It is like the flu shot where you look away you know its coming but the nurse does not say when.
3. It is like the pop-quiz, the tax audit, It is a surprise of when but not that it will come.
4. And the stakes are devastatingly high – not peace and security – The Day of the Lord is like a house all to easily broken into. Our sin does not hide behind a locked door and the Day of the Lord will NOT pass you by because you have hidden, denied, and locked away sin. The brightness of Day Incarnate as God-Man is coming as Judge with a gaze that pierces hearts.
5. We cannot hide or paper over sins as if there is no Day of the Lord for Judgement on unbelief, Nor can we live indulgent lives,
6. Jesus says his coming will be “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” – Noah built his Ark in plain view of a world doomed to the Flood. Christ and the gospel is preached in plain view of a world that Christ intends to purify, removing the dross by fire, and renewing life in his Light.
ii. Paul says, this by way of reminder and Encouragement: There are many benefits to being a believer but We DO NOT know the Day,
iii. What we DO know the assurance that we are Not destined for Wrath but to obtain salvation.
iv. …The Unbeliever blinds themselves to the certainty and the nature of Jesus returns.
C) What should a clear view that we do not know the day but we do know of the nature of the return do in the life of the Church: A constant state of preparation is created. That is a Constant State of Readiness to use the military term.
a. – John Calvin says it aptly, “Christ planned that the day of his coming should be hidden from us, so that, being in suspense, we might remain on watch.”
i. All of Christ’s parables of the stewards and servants have us assume a posture of expectant readiness.
D) Paul presses his point home in verses 4-5: Don’t speculate about times instead take stock of the fundamental moral and ethical posture you should take as children of the Day. Christ gives the blessing of Light breaking into a people previously trapped in Darkness.”
E) Darkness is ignorance and blindness. Ignorance of God as judge, of Sin as sinful, of the grace and beauty of Christ in the gospel. Ignorance of Faith, Hope, and Love of the Christian life lived in the LIGHT.
a. Hear this clearly, if you would admit to yourself that you are blinded in heart, mind, and soul by Darkness, Know this: You cannot know the day, that is inevitably coming when you must give account for the lostness and rebellion of your immortal soul, which is forever perishing apart from Jesus. You must act today while it is still today to leave behind darkness for light. For our lives are but numbered days. Our lives are brief.
1. All three metaphors speak to the inevitability and inescapability of the sudden and proper Judgement of Christ on all people everywhere God in his word promises through the Apostle Paul “they will not escape”
b. But you…You who are in Christ Jesus…Indwelt by the Holy Spirit…Beloved of the Father are not in darkness…The Prophet Isaiah proclaims in Is. 60:
[2] For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
[3] And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
[4] Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you;
[5] Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult,
F) We are Children of the Day through no light and goodness inherent in us but because Jesus has “furnished us with light”
G) We don’t need the DATE of Jesus’ return we just need the expectancy of the shining Glory of his return and the shining Glory of his present reign in the Kingdom of His Church, and that in contrast with the relative darkness of the world around us in ANY and EVERY Generation not just a predicted time and date.
i. Paul next goes into details reminding the Thessalonians about this Ethical Posture and Character given to God’s people and the basis for their assured salvation.
Reminder #2: The Believer’s Assurance, look with me in verses: 6-9a: Believers are called to Alertness & Assurance about Salvation From Wrath towards increasing Faith, Hope, and Love.
6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleepat night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 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. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, …
· Paul’s Contrast is between a sober Alertness and a drunken slumber
§ – Alertness – Is a call to being on guard as a military sentry is watchful and vigilant.
§ Alertness can only be maintained if you have– Self-control from Excess.
§ Christians have standing orders from our commanding officer and captain of our faith that prevent us from dabbling with and embracing what Paul styles “the night”
· Paul speaks to spiritual realities with spiritual reasons behind them but in such a way that he does not ignore that spiritual darkness is seen and linked to our physical behaviors often done in darkness as secrecy.
· No says Paul, We must Stand with alertness and intentionality says the Apostle Paul at the Command of the Holy Spirit in him who also lives in us, moderate our consumption of the world, its love, and its priorities so that we do not inebriate ourselves against the light of day. [ 2x]
§ So we ask, does this allow me or prevent me from standing Ready and dressed for warfare in the breastplate of faith and love and the Helmet of the hope of Salvation?
§ Think of it this way, a sober-minded person with Hope in Christ is not “double-minded” and does not have the double-mindedness or two-faced personality of a person who is one waywhile sober, and another way while drunk.
· The Christian is not double-minded but strives to live by the power of the Holy Spirit a consistent life in light of the grace and mercy of the salvation they have in Christ.
· And so verses 8 calls us to be Sober-minded armored with Faith and Love and the Hope of salvation. This is Paul’s famous Triad of Virtue. Faith. Hope. Love.
· We need to know what these three words mean. Briefly.
o Faith – knowing and embrace of the truth of who Jesus is with a relational trust in What Christ has done. Jesus being the object of your faith causes you daily to entrust every area of our lives to him.
o Love – You see that you have been loved and shown grace and mercy and therefore you treat others with the same love you received from God our Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in your and our hearts. You seek others highest good, ultimately based on knowing who their creator is, their inherent dignity, and how he designed us to live.
o Hope – Hope is that future certainty that entrusts yourself to a salvation a destiny that is firmly fixed in Heaven just as Jesus is seated in heaven! And that destiny informs and fills your present reality.
o These great virtues make us men and women of integrity rather than men and women atomistically living multiple lives such that we are occasionally “spiritual” but are really in darkness with physical excess, and spiritual neglect.
o What are the stakes? The stakes are high…We need an assurance.
· Verse 9 gives us just such an Assurance. A Promise of safety from Wrath
o We are Not Appointed to Wrath
o Appointed: Who makes the appointment? It is a Divine appointment and choice. Paul assures us - God has not, in his divine initiative, appointed the people of God to wrath.
· Wrath…we need to talk about God’s Wrath for a minute.
o ONLY a great conviction and certainty of the rightness and justice of God’s wrath can produce a great gratitude and awe for God’s grace.
Leon Morris writes, “One of the things that gave salvation so full a meaning for New Testament Christians was that they were sure of the wrath of God and had a deep gratitude to Christ for saving them from it. In modern times some take Christianity lightly because they have emptied the wrath of its content. To banish the wrath of God from the scene is to rob life of a good deal of its serious purpose.”
§ Deuteronomy 9:7 - Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD… You provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.
§ Well yes, that’s the OT. (**Own the spiritual needs and heart of Israel as your own do not look down on them as lesser or more petty than you…)
§ “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; [and we might feel well of course that’s his job] whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” – John 3:36.
§ Webster dictionary - 1828 - because don’t trust anything on the internet when a word can be changed at the push of a button. Webster: Wrath: strong anger & indignation. Wrath: The just punishment of an offense or crime..
· The wrath of God is JUST because human Sin goes against a God of infinite Dignity. Infinite Majesty. And wrath is the punishment for the offense, the crime of sin against a Holy God.
· And the Thessalonians knew that they needed Saving, rescue from wrath, because they knew they were sinners.
· They knew their hearts, their thoughts, their people and culture, the entire human race as one which sins against each other and against God himself, against his Majesty & Dignity.
· All of us when we slow down know our own hearts have deeply shameful thoughts. We need rescuing. But surely someone good enough, holy enough, would be too appalled at us to love sinners.
o Wrath is not the end of the story of the Thessalonians nor for us: Salvation! Salvation is our last word!
§ Properly seeing what wrath is makes salvation all the more dear.
§ Think of how small a thing being saved could mean to how amazing being saved might be, depending on the context: “Saved….from taking a test due to snow.” “saved….from a conversation with a person you didn’t want to talk to” “Saved….from being mauled by a bear” “saved….your entire eternal soul and body from death and judgment.” Now that is salvation! Salvation from Wrath!
o Praise God, He has not Appointed you to Wrath but to gain salvation through Christ Jesus.
o So that we may be Children of the Day not in darkness
Reminder Number 3: The Believer’s Salvation in Jesus (verses 9b-11):
Paul tells us clearly what our only hope of salvation from the just wrath of God is. He says, This is how our need is supplied, this is how our plight is remedied.
Verse 9b: God has not destined us for wrath…but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourageone another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
What did Christ do in order for you to be saved from the wrath you justly deserved?
A) “He died”
a. Hear this word from the Lord: “The sting of death is sin” - 1 Corinthians 15:56
i. Jesus was sinless he need never have known death.
ii. Jesus was the God-man he never deserved the sting of sin felt in his death. But in him “the wrath of God was satisfied.”
iii. We are sinners! and our sin caused the sting of death to be felt by him? Why did Jesus die? It was for sin and for sinners like each one of us.
b. Hear this word from the Lord 6 While we were still weak, at the right time Christdied for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—thoughperhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his lovefor us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, wehave now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from thewrath of God. - Romans 5:6-9:
B) Jesus died “for us” . I love this wonderful little preposition translated “for” and this phrase “for us” and in the context of the death of Jesus on the cross it makes all the difference in the world.
a. Jesus didn’t just die as a righteous moral example, Jesus didn’t just die to create a generic storehouse of grace for potential withdrawals.
b. No, Jesus died for the sake of his sheep, Some wordier translations could be: [He Died] on behalf of us, in the place of us, as a substitute in our place, in our stead, and in its theological context even “representing us.” The Apostle Paul is clear: Adam sinned and in Adam as our representative we died and sinned in him.
c. Jesus lived a righteous life and when he died he died as our representative in our place.
d. This brings great assurance, we know, we are assured that if we are in Christ we are not chosen for wrath because that rightly deserved wrath fell on him in our place and we have his righteousness as our representative, we are reconciled as Sons and Daughters of the Day. And this assurance allows Paul to say “so whether”
C) “So whether we are awake or asleep we might live in him” objective assurance no matter our state he is faithful.
a. Jesus’ Death is the bedrock foundation and assurance that allows Paul to promise that whether we have died to be with him or are alive waiting for him we have eternal life.
D) The only proper response is to be armed with the assurance as a means of: Encouragement and Building-up: Just As you are doing.
E) The temptation can be to look at the darkness – what we shouldn’t be doing. But what shall we be found doing when the Lord comes?
F) The answer for the Thessalonians and I am pleased to find is true of here and so many other churches is to be encouraging and building each other up in the hope of Christ, in knowing and trusting our faith, and love for each other.
verse 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing
a.
b. Paul is expressing what John Bunyan calls “Christian Conversation in Pilgrim’s Progress. (Tired. House Beautiful. Refreshed by the Saints).
i. Remind each other of what you know you are saved from
ii. Remind each other of the source of your salvation
iii. Remind each other of the posture and expectancy you should have be alert do not stick it in cruise control.
Have table fellowship where you encourage each other to wear the armor of faith, hope, and love, and to take our Sentry post, await our Lord’s coming, and train the next generation and the next generation until the Lord returns with trumpets and Glory.
Amen & Amen. Come Lord Jesus Come Quickly.
Prayer
Benediction: Receive this Good word from the Lord: Now may the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God our Father, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, go in Peace.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesensley.substack.com
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By Biblical Preaching from the Heart of the Mountains | Coeburn Presbyterian Church is in Wise County Southwest VirginiaIntroduction: Good morning, we’ll be back in 1 Peter next week
Today we’ll be in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 1
Context: 3 Sundays of training….then gone.
In this Letter, Paul continues to press home to the Thessalonians what living as a Believer looks like. What the life of the Christian community looks like. A community gathered around a Great salvation is necessarily a changed people. And Paul sees that change and he is exhorting for it to continue and abound: He says things like, “Let there be brotherly love among you”, “work diligently and faithfully so that you might be generous”, and in our previous passage and today's passage Paul reassures us that: for those who die before Christ’s return, there is a firm hope that All of us whether dead or alive at Jesus’ second coming will be fully with the Lord. We do not need to fear His Coming. We do not need to fear Judgement if we are in Christ Jesus. And once we do not fear judgment in Christ – then you are free indeed in this life and the next.
Paul is arguing in today’s passage that there is a difference between the Light and sobriety of Christian hope and the darkness and drunken stupor brought about by sin.
READ: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 Whilepeople are saying, “There is peace and security, ”then sudden destruction will come upon them as laborpains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, forthat day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of thenight or of the darkness.
6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleepat night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober,having [already] put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For Godhas not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us sothat whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another andbuild one another up, just as you are doing.
Brothers and Sisters Paul has Three Reminders for the Thessalonians and for Us this Evening:
Reminder #1: The Believer’s Awareness vv. 1-5
Reminder #2 The Believer’s Assurance vv. 6 – 9a
Reminder #3 The Believer’s Salvation vv. 9b-11
Reminder Number 1: The Believer is fully Aware because he walks in the Light. The believer is fully aware because she walks in the Light.
Paul contrast this with the Uncertainty of Darkness: Unbelievers Speculate about or deny the seriousness of “the Day of the Lord” because they are in darkness and indeed cannot escape judgment. Believers watch faithfully with a posture of expectancy and need not fear judgment.
A) First be fully aware that in v. 1-5 Paul teaches us that it is unprofitable to speculate about times and seasons.
a. Why? Because the timing of Jesus’ return is Unknown. Instead of speculation about the end times we take a posture of preparedness living daily as a member of his Kingdom, ready for him to return as judge on that last day or for us to join him in heaven if we pass away.
Look again in your bible verses one 1-5 and you’ll see 3 images that all speak to this.
B) Paul says they already know the meaning of these three images
a. He says, Some sit in darkness saying saying “peace” “security” when sudden destruction is the reality!
b. These people get the time wrong by outright denying that the Day of The Lord is coming in Judgment.
c. Next Image the thief: The thief, sneaks in and robs at night while people sleep. Thieves do not publish hit list calendars ahead of time like a trash pickup date.
i. Our Lord Jesus, Paul, and the Apostle Peter all use this image.
ii. The Apostle Peter says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar…and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
d. Next image: labor pains, Labor Pains indicate It is Sudden and Inevitable
1. There will be no 2 minute warning at the return of the Lord
2. It is like the flu shot where you look away you know its coming but the nurse does not say when.
3. It is like the pop-quiz, the tax audit, It is a surprise of when but not that it will come.
4. And the stakes are devastatingly high – not peace and security – The Day of the Lord is like a house all to easily broken into. Our sin does not hide behind a locked door and the Day of the Lord will NOT pass you by because you have hidden, denied, and locked away sin. The brightness of Day Incarnate as God-Man is coming as Judge with a gaze that pierces hearts.
5. We cannot hide or paper over sins as if there is no Day of the Lord for Judgement on unbelief, Nor can we live indulgent lives,
6. Jesus says his coming will be “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” – Noah built his Ark in plain view of a world doomed to the Flood. Christ and the gospel is preached in plain view of a world that Christ intends to purify, removing the dross by fire, and renewing life in his Light.
ii. Paul says, this by way of reminder and Encouragement: There are many benefits to being a believer but We DO NOT know the Day,
iii. What we DO know the assurance that we are Not destined for Wrath but to obtain salvation.
iv. …The Unbeliever blinds themselves to the certainty and the nature of Jesus returns.
C) What should a clear view that we do not know the day but we do know of the nature of the return do in the life of the Church: A constant state of preparation is created. That is a Constant State of Readiness to use the military term.
a. – John Calvin says it aptly, “Christ planned that the day of his coming should be hidden from us, so that, being in suspense, we might remain on watch.”
i. All of Christ’s parables of the stewards and servants have us assume a posture of expectant readiness.
D) Paul presses his point home in verses 4-5: Don’t speculate about times instead take stock of the fundamental moral and ethical posture you should take as children of the Day. Christ gives the blessing of Light breaking into a people previously trapped in Darkness.”
E) Darkness is ignorance and blindness. Ignorance of God as judge, of Sin as sinful, of the grace and beauty of Christ in the gospel. Ignorance of Faith, Hope, and Love of the Christian life lived in the LIGHT.
a. Hear this clearly, if you would admit to yourself that you are blinded in heart, mind, and soul by Darkness, Know this: You cannot know the day, that is inevitably coming when you must give account for the lostness and rebellion of your immortal soul, which is forever perishing apart from Jesus. You must act today while it is still today to leave behind darkness for light. For our lives are but numbered days. Our lives are brief.
1. All three metaphors speak to the inevitability and inescapability of the sudden and proper Judgement of Christ on all people everywhere God in his word promises through the Apostle Paul “they will not escape”
b. But you…You who are in Christ Jesus…Indwelt by the Holy Spirit…Beloved of the Father are not in darkness…The Prophet Isaiah proclaims in Is. 60:
[2] For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
[3] And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
[4] Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you;
[5] Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult,
F) We are Children of the Day through no light and goodness inherent in us but because Jesus has “furnished us with light”
G) We don’t need the DATE of Jesus’ return we just need the expectancy of the shining Glory of his return and the shining Glory of his present reign in the Kingdom of His Church, and that in contrast with the relative darkness of the world around us in ANY and EVERY Generation not just a predicted time and date.
i. Paul next goes into details reminding the Thessalonians about this Ethical Posture and Character given to God’s people and the basis for their assured salvation.
Reminder #2: The Believer’s Assurance, look with me in verses: 6-9a: Believers are called to Alertness & Assurance about Salvation From Wrath towards increasing Faith, Hope, and Love.
6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleepat night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 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. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, …
· Paul’s Contrast is between a sober Alertness and a drunken slumber
§ – Alertness – Is a call to being on guard as a military sentry is watchful and vigilant.
§ Alertness can only be maintained if you have– Self-control from Excess.
§ Christians have standing orders from our commanding officer and captain of our faith that prevent us from dabbling with and embracing what Paul styles “the night”
· Paul speaks to spiritual realities with spiritual reasons behind them but in such a way that he does not ignore that spiritual darkness is seen and linked to our physical behaviors often done in darkness as secrecy.
· No says Paul, We must Stand with alertness and intentionality says the Apostle Paul at the Command of the Holy Spirit in him who also lives in us, moderate our consumption of the world, its love, and its priorities so that we do not inebriate ourselves against the light of day. [ 2x]
§ So we ask, does this allow me or prevent me from standing Ready and dressed for warfare in the breastplate of faith and love and the Helmet of the hope of Salvation?
§ Think of it this way, a sober-minded person with Hope in Christ is not “double-minded” and does not have the double-mindedness or two-faced personality of a person who is one waywhile sober, and another way while drunk.
· The Christian is not double-minded but strives to live by the power of the Holy Spirit a consistent life in light of the grace and mercy of the salvation they have in Christ.
· And so verses 8 calls us to be Sober-minded armored with Faith and Love and the Hope of salvation. This is Paul’s famous Triad of Virtue. Faith. Hope. Love.
· We need to know what these three words mean. Briefly.
o Faith – knowing and embrace of the truth of who Jesus is with a relational trust in What Christ has done. Jesus being the object of your faith causes you daily to entrust every area of our lives to him.
o Love – You see that you have been loved and shown grace and mercy and therefore you treat others with the same love you received from God our Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in your and our hearts. You seek others highest good, ultimately based on knowing who their creator is, their inherent dignity, and how he designed us to live.
o Hope – Hope is that future certainty that entrusts yourself to a salvation a destiny that is firmly fixed in Heaven just as Jesus is seated in heaven! And that destiny informs and fills your present reality.
o These great virtues make us men and women of integrity rather than men and women atomistically living multiple lives such that we are occasionally “spiritual” but are really in darkness with physical excess, and spiritual neglect.
o What are the stakes? The stakes are high…We need an assurance.
· Verse 9 gives us just such an Assurance. A Promise of safety from Wrath
o We are Not Appointed to Wrath
o Appointed: Who makes the appointment? It is a Divine appointment and choice. Paul assures us - God has not, in his divine initiative, appointed the people of God to wrath.
· Wrath…we need to talk about God’s Wrath for a minute.
o ONLY a great conviction and certainty of the rightness and justice of God’s wrath can produce a great gratitude and awe for God’s grace.
Leon Morris writes, “One of the things that gave salvation so full a meaning for New Testament Christians was that they were sure of the wrath of God and had a deep gratitude to Christ for saving them from it. In modern times some take Christianity lightly because they have emptied the wrath of its content. To banish the wrath of God from the scene is to rob life of a good deal of its serious purpose.”
§ Deuteronomy 9:7 - Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD… You provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.
§ Well yes, that’s the OT. (**Own the spiritual needs and heart of Israel as your own do not look down on them as lesser or more petty than you…)
§ “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; [and we might feel well of course that’s his job] whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” – John 3:36.
§ Webster dictionary - 1828 - because don’t trust anything on the internet when a word can be changed at the push of a button. Webster: Wrath: strong anger & indignation. Wrath: The just punishment of an offense or crime..
· The wrath of God is JUST because human Sin goes against a God of infinite Dignity. Infinite Majesty. And wrath is the punishment for the offense, the crime of sin against a Holy God.
· And the Thessalonians knew that they needed Saving, rescue from wrath, because they knew they were sinners.
· They knew their hearts, their thoughts, their people and culture, the entire human race as one which sins against each other and against God himself, against his Majesty & Dignity.
· All of us when we slow down know our own hearts have deeply shameful thoughts. We need rescuing. But surely someone good enough, holy enough, would be too appalled at us to love sinners.
o Wrath is not the end of the story of the Thessalonians nor for us: Salvation! Salvation is our last word!
§ Properly seeing what wrath is makes salvation all the more dear.
§ Think of how small a thing being saved could mean to how amazing being saved might be, depending on the context: “Saved….from taking a test due to snow.” “saved….from a conversation with a person you didn’t want to talk to” “Saved….from being mauled by a bear” “saved….your entire eternal soul and body from death and judgment.” Now that is salvation! Salvation from Wrath!
o Praise God, He has not Appointed you to Wrath but to gain salvation through Christ Jesus.
o So that we may be Children of the Day not in darkness
Reminder Number 3: The Believer’s Salvation in Jesus (verses 9b-11):
Paul tells us clearly what our only hope of salvation from the just wrath of God is. He says, This is how our need is supplied, this is how our plight is remedied.
Verse 9b: God has not destined us for wrath…but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourageone another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
What did Christ do in order for you to be saved from the wrath you justly deserved?
A) “He died”
a. Hear this word from the Lord: “The sting of death is sin” - 1 Corinthians 15:56
i. Jesus was sinless he need never have known death.
ii. Jesus was the God-man he never deserved the sting of sin felt in his death. But in him “the wrath of God was satisfied.”
iii. We are sinners! and our sin caused the sting of death to be felt by him? Why did Jesus die? It was for sin and for sinners like each one of us.
b. Hear this word from the Lord 6 While we were still weak, at the right time Christdied for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—thoughperhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his lovefor us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, wehave now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from thewrath of God. - Romans 5:6-9:
B) Jesus died “for us” . I love this wonderful little preposition translated “for” and this phrase “for us” and in the context of the death of Jesus on the cross it makes all the difference in the world.
a. Jesus didn’t just die as a righteous moral example, Jesus didn’t just die to create a generic storehouse of grace for potential withdrawals.
b. No, Jesus died for the sake of his sheep, Some wordier translations could be: [He Died] on behalf of us, in the place of us, as a substitute in our place, in our stead, and in its theological context even “representing us.” The Apostle Paul is clear: Adam sinned and in Adam as our representative we died and sinned in him.
c. Jesus lived a righteous life and when he died he died as our representative in our place.
d. This brings great assurance, we know, we are assured that if we are in Christ we are not chosen for wrath because that rightly deserved wrath fell on him in our place and we have his righteousness as our representative, we are reconciled as Sons and Daughters of the Day. And this assurance allows Paul to say “so whether”
C) “So whether we are awake or asleep we might live in him” objective assurance no matter our state he is faithful.
a. Jesus’ Death is the bedrock foundation and assurance that allows Paul to promise that whether we have died to be with him or are alive waiting for him we have eternal life.
D) The only proper response is to be armed with the assurance as a means of: Encouragement and Building-up: Just As you are doing.
E) The temptation can be to look at the darkness – what we shouldn’t be doing. But what shall we be found doing when the Lord comes?
F) The answer for the Thessalonians and I am pleased to find is true of here and so many other churches is to be encouraging and building each other up in the hope of Christ, in knowing and trusting our faith, and love for each other.
verse 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing
a.
b. Paul is expressing what John Bunyan calls “Christian Conversation in Pilgrim’s Progress. (Tired. House Beautiful. Refreshed by the Saints).
i. Remind each other of what you know you are saved from
ii. Remind each other of the source of your salvation
iii. Remind each other of the posture and expectancy you should have be alert do not stick it in cruise control.
Have table fellowship where you encourage each other to wear the armor of faith, hope, and love, and to take our Sentry post, await our Lord’s coming, and train the next generation and the next generation until the Lord returns with trumpets and Glory.
Amen & Amen. Come Lord Jesus Come Quickly.
Prayer
Benediction: Receive this Good word from the Lord: Now may the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God our Father, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, go in Peace.
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