Book of 1 Thessalonians - Ch. 4, Vs. 1-18 (01/06/2002)

Park Meadows Church

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So I want you to open your Bibles to Hebrews 8 10 Hebrews 8 10 and 11

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I kind of skimmed over this

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But Greg reminded me of a thought That is presented Let me read verses 8 10 and 11

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For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days

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Sayeth the Lord I will put my laws into their mind And write them in their hearts and I will be to them a

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God and they shall be to me a people and They shall not teach every man his neighbor

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And every man his brother saying know the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest

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The point Greg was making is this Everybody knows there is a

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God There's no way around it he put it in their hearts But nobody knows there's

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Jesus unless we tell We have to spread the gospel

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It's not automatic the knowledge of God is

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And that's the reason this brother Spends his life spreading the gospel.

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He's not spreading news about God He's spreading the gospel All right, that said come to first Thessalonians chapter 4.

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Let's see what this holds for us Furthermore then we beseech ye brethren and exhort you by the

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Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and To please

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God so ye would abound more and more as you have received

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You do not accept the gospel you just receive it We're bound to grow more and more

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No one grows by talking about the Bible You have to study it.

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You have to look at it. You have to read it you can talk about it, but if it's in a kind of conversation like David and I we are checking the

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Bible Only by living the

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Holy Word will it ever amount to anything Our walk is very important.

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We cannot do it as we please You must do it as Jesus the

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Christ pleases God sets no bounds on the giving of his grace to them that are faithful So there should be no bound on our exercising of those graces

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The more negative life You live the more trouble Distractions and unhappiness in your life

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Will be and the less sweet use of it Will you have?

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There are different kinds of people and we have all seen them

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We may have touched on some of them ourself first is self -pleasers

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Two men pleasers and Three God pleasers.

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It's that third one that we're touching on today God pleasers in Colossians 320 children obey your parents and all things

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For this is well pleasing unto the Lord in Psalms 147 11

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The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him and those that hope in his mercy

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It's easy to please him Matthew 11 29 take my yoke upon you and learn of me

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For I am weak and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls

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He can always be pleased and our own welfare requires that That we please him

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Second verse for you know, what commandments we gave you by our

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Lord now Paul was saying, you know the commandments There's some commandments for believers

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We're not without laws We should be disciplined and we should be in obedience to Jesus the

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Christ John 14 15 if you know me keep my commandments three

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For this is the will of God even your sanctification That ye should abstain from fornication

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Sanctification of the believer is a work of the Holy Spirit He is the one that places us into Christ It has a threefold

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Aspect first a positional sanctification means

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Well, let me ask you what is our position in sanctification but It was

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David's fault. I Will Wait just a minute now

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Our first position is in sanctification Yes Positional what's that mean?

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Russell the first part of sanctification is

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Positional what does that mean? Right.

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Don't need to go any further We've been placed in Christ, that's our position that's where we are

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Second practical sanctification is a Is the

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Holy Spirit? Working in our lives to produce a holiness in our word

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It will never be perfect as long as we're in this body. So positional

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All thumbs Positional practical sanctification

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Practical is that we're being sanctified, but we'll never be perfect Third total sanctification and when will that occur

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David? Right, then we will be totally sanctified now, it's true we have sanctification now

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But we don't have it yet perfect It can't be in this body

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Why can it not be perfect in this body, Greg? right

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Total sanctification will be the current future when we are conformed into the image of Jesus Christ at that time both positional and practical practices

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Sanctification will be perfect. The literal meaning of sanctification is to set apart and Every child of God is set apart

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Don't think that it's only in Roman times that Even the

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Christians were in sex sins Sex is involved if you think about it

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Sex is involved in every religion except Christian Christianity has no sex with it, but everything else has

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If you'll dig deep enough, you'll find it fourth verse that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor not in the lust of concupiscence

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Even as the Gentiles which know not God In 2nd Corinthians 4 7, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels

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That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us

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That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any manner

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Because that the Lord is the avenger of all as we also have forewarned you and testified

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Don't the defraud each other Where God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness a child of God cannot remain in sin

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He cannot continue to sin The prodigal son may get in the pig pen

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But he's not a pig He may live like one look like one smell like one

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But he's not a pig and when he comes to himself, I love that himself

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He says I'm a son of my father And he will return he therefore

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That despises Despises not man, but God who has also given unto us his

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Holy Spirit Now we've known this we've touched on this we've discussed it

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But I remember I can't help but wonder how many of us remember it in the heat of the moment

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It's God that we're talking about. I Don't like Russell and he doesn't like me

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The the fact that we don't like each other we're complaining about God when we do that if we think that way we wouldn't we wouldn't complain near as much a

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Child of God is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Do you believe that? He cannot continue to live in sin because the

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Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit The time will come when the child of God will long for holiness in his own life

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But as touching brotherly love You need not that I write unto you for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another

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Love is the subject and the statement. He makes is rather amazing a

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Believer must have love for the brethren It is a supernatural love that is taught of God You can't have that love outside of God The fruit of the

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Spirit is love. It is not a theoretical kind of love not just an abstract term

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We have mentioned before that it cannot Be just love in the abstract it has to be in the concrete

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It has to be genuine Such love can only be produced in the hearts of believers by the

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Holy Spirit Notice that after Paul speaks of the

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Holy Spirit brotherly love is the first thing that he mentions. I believe that love

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Is the identifying mark of a child of God? Now I Will have to admit

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I don't always practice it and I dare say each one of you could say the same

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And indeed ye do it toward all of the brethren which are in all of Macedonia But we beseech you brethren that you increase more and more don't stop go on love for the brethren is an area for growth and Development very candidly

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Some of his Saints ain't very lovely. I put it like this

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To dwell above the Saints I love Well, that'll be wonderful There will be glory but to stay below with some

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I know That's a different story Eleven and that you study to be quiet and to know your own business and do work with your own hands as we've commanded you.

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You study to be quiet. Did you ever think about that? I know one person in another town in another city in another church that if she had to be quiet, she'd explode.

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Well, that's an interesting commandment for Christians. You know, we have all kinds of schools to teach you how to speak.

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I doubt if there's a seminary alive that hasn't got a course someplace on public speaking.

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Perhaps they should also have one on being quiet. How do you teach being quiet?

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Well, a lot of saints need to take that course. A lady went to a tongues meeting, and the leader thought she was interested in speaking in tongues.

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So he was going to teach her. To begin with, I think that's a little ridiculous, because he's going to teach her how to talk in tongues.

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She answered, no, I'd like to lose about 40 feet off the one I have.

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We need to study to be quiet. When there's nothing to say, don't say it.

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And to do your own business, that's another good commandment.

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It means to mind your own business. Tend to your own knitting is the way

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I heard it when I was young. Keep your nose out of the affairs of other people.

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This is good advice for Christians. It can only lead to trouble. And to work with your own hands.

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I believe every Christian should have some type of work that they're doing that glorifies

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God. Now, to make that more strong, I believe that no

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Christian should not be glorifying God. There's only two.

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There's God and there's Satan. I know man's tried to slip flesh in between there, but flesh is what?

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Greg? What? It's carnal.

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And the carnality is what? Against God. So there's just two.

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You're either praising God or praising Satan, one or the other, all of the time.

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You can't coast in neutral. Well, to work with your own hands as we commanded you,

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I believe that every Christian should have some type of activity in which they are working for God.

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Twelve, that you may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing.

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Now, them that are without. What's that talking about, Greg? Right. Outside of the church.

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Now, we're talking as though everybody in the church is saved. We know that's not true, but suppose they were, then we'd be talking about the world.

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There's three kinds of death in Scripture. Who can name one of them? Physical death.

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What happens at physical death? Roger? What else takes place?

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All right, the spirit leaves the body. Death is separation.

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That's all death is. There's physical death.

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Then there's spiritual death. Paul says that's to be carnally minded in death.

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You can be alive and dead. A famous judge once went through the country, and he was preaching.

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He had a lecture that there are millions of people living who will never die.

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There was a Baptist preacher following him, and it said millions are now living that are dead already.

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And that's true. The third kind of death is what?

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What? What is the third?

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The third kind of death. What is it,

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Greg? Eternal, yes. Eternal death.

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That's what you meant by second death. Eternal death is what,

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Greg? That's right.

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And you will spend, none of you, they will spend their time in hell without a spirit.

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Now think about that. The animal has no spirit. It has a body and soul.

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We call it life in animals. In man, we call it the soul. Same word, same thing.

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So everybody has a body, soul, and spirit. Ecclesiastes, what is it, 12 .7?

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Read it. That is, if you ever find it.

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B, have you found it? Now that's not just out of Christians.

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That's out of everybody. Everybody that has a spirit now, when you die, that spirit's going home.

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Do you remember years ago I showed you the three -finger exercise, body, soul, and spirit?

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They were all one in Adam. They all were communing with God.

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But he told Adam, in the day you eat of the fruit, you'll die. Now what took place?

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What is death? Separation. So the spirit was separated from the body and the soul.

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Now, the spirit is still in the body, but they don't recognize it. So they go through life with a body and a soul.

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And when they die, that spirit goes back to God who gave it. Now, they were not welded to the spirit.

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It's going home. They go to hell. If, in this life, you have a body and a soul, and he gives you new life.

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It's welded to the spirit, this new life. Now, when it goes home at death, earthly death, where does that soul go?

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It goes with it. And that's why you go to heaven. The third death is eternal death.

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That is eternal separation from God. I cannot imagine eternally separated from God.

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God is in this world because we all have life. We all are using his sunshine, his rain, everything.

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We're using it now. Even that jerk over in Afghanistan is using part of God's being.

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But he doesn't know God. Thirteen.

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But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. I heard a man one time read that.

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I would not have you ignorant, brethren. Concerning them that are asleep, they were very disturbed about those that had died before the rapture.

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They said, what's happened? They've missed it. We expected you to come back now while I'm alive.

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Well, Paul's going to straighten them out. That you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

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Now, you're sorrowing like an unsaved person. They have no hope at all.

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A Christian has a sorrow at death of a loved one, but he also has hope.

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What is the hope? Roger. Right.

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I'm going to be with them. Fourteen. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will

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God bring with him. For God to bring them with him means what?

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They're with him now. He can't bring them unless they're with him. They've died and they've gone to be with him.

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So he's going to bring them. Their old body is in the ground, but they're present with the

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Lord. Thank God. Fifteen.

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For this we say unto you by word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the

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Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. You must understand the old

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English word prevent. It doesn't mean what we say. What do we say today that to prevent something means what,

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Greg? Okay, to prevent you from leaving this room.

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But in the old English, the word prevent means that what?

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I will not go out of that door before you do. You go out first. Prevent.

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By the word of the Lord, Paul's talking. Paul's assurance that he is giving

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God's answer to their question. Paul knows that they have been worrying about those who had died before the rapture and wants them to know that they are dead in Christ and they'll have a part in the rapture.

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For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

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We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

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Paul expected them to come back in his lifetime. So did my grandfather.

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I remember my father saying it can't get any worse than this. He's coming any day. All I know is that it has gotten worse and I'm closer to it than he.

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The Lord himself shall descend from heaven. Oh, I love that. The Lord himself.

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Now, when he comes to earth to establish his kingdom, he is going to do it.

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It's not assigned to angels. Angels announced his birth, but they announced him as what?

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As a king. As a king. He'll send the angels to gather the four corners of the earth of the elect who will be both

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Israelite and Gentile. However, there is no angel ministry connected with the rapture of the church.

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Angels announced the birth of Christ, but he was announced as the son of David. The newborn king, he was announced as a king.

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The wise men wanted to know where they could find him who is born king of the Jews. In contrast to this, at the establishment of the church on the day of Pentecost, there were no angels.

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The Holy Spirit himself came down. When the Lord takes his church out of the world, the

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Lord himself shall descend from heaven. Not an angel. Angels are connected with Israel, but not with the church at all.

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17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the

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Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

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All you have to do to be with the Lord is die. But we don't want to die, do we?

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Why? Why don't we want to die, David?

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Right? That's right. We could desire to be with him as much as humanly possible, yet I don't want to die.

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And that's just part of our makeup. Again, the word rapture is not in the

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Bible. Caught up, apazo, meaning to grasp hastily, snatch up, to lift, to transport, or to rapture.

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It's going to be very orderly. Let's think about this rapture for a moment.

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Is it going to be just everybody goes? No. It's going to be very orderly.

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Who do you suppose the very first one will be? Now, we're talking about the church.

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What? I think personally it will be

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Stephen. He was the first martyr. I think

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Stephen will lead. Then there will be along the apostles and all those millions who have laid down their lives for Jesus.

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They'll keep coming right down through the centuries. Finally, if we are alive at the time, we will bring up the rear of the parade.

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We will be way down at the tail end of it. Most of the church has already gone in through the doorway of death.

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Wherefore, comfort one another with these things. He does not say, wherefore, terrify one another with these words.

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We're to comfort each other with these very words. My Bible says, wherefore, comfort one another.

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It not only means to comfort in the usual sense of the word, but also to instruct, to exhort, to talk about these things.

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Jesus is going to take his own out of this world someday. What a glorious, wonderful comfort this is.

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The bodies of the dead will be lifted out. Then whoever is alive at the time will be caught up together with them to meet the

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Lord in the air. So shall it ever be. In fact, we shall come back with him to the earth to reign with him at the time he sets up his kingdom.

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Well, there's a lot there to think about. Someday, before long,

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I'm standing on the very edge of eternity. Eighty years old and still looking.

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But someday I won't be here. Someday my wife won't be here. And Roger may go before any of us.

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Or Matthew. Well, death brings sadness, but we have hope.

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Let's stand and be dismissed. Roger, dismiss us, please.