Like a Thief in the Night

The Church’s Mission Is Christ Crucified, Not End-Times Speculation

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

In the name of Jesus. The text I'll be preaching from this morning is our epistle text. The gospel text, we'll be spending some time looking at it during Sunday school in light of Genesis 3. Actually, the two work together, and I'll explain that during Sunday school.

So our epistle text begins with these words. Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you.

Why?

Well, you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Now, who remembers the book that Hal Lindsey wrote entitled The Late Great Planet Earth?

Who read it?

How about the sequel? 1980s Countdown to Armageddon. Yeah, I read that too, unfortunately. And in case you haven't noticed, the 80s have come and gone. Although I still really like the styles and the skinny ties and all that kind of stuff, but that's a different story.

Now, I have a question. Were any of you raptured on September 6, 1994? No? Okay. May 21, 2011, any of you raptured?

No?

You were raptured, Stephen? Okay. We'll have to talk to you later. How about October 21, 2011? Any of you raptured? No? Okay. Now, the reason I ask is because all three of those dates were dates that Harold Camping predicted that Christ would return.

And, of course, he was very convinced at the time that he had cracked the ex-catalogical code. Now, let me get a little closer to home. How many of you fear that the four blood moons are a harbinger of the impending return of Jesus?

This is kind of a popular book right now. By the way, they're not, and I'll explain that from Scripture here in a moment. Now, all of these books and their prophetic speculations are nothing but the ravings of men who are off mission.

Any of you spend time in the corporate world? You know what mission creep is? Mission creep is a bad thing. You know, it would be as if Apple Computer decided that it was going to start working on making fast food chains.

That's what we would call mission creep. I am not interested in eating a McApple, you know, whatever. You get what I'm saying. Or an I, never mind. I hamburgers and things like that. That would be called mission creep.

Apple Computer focusing on fast food. Well, the same thing applies when it comes to ex-catalogical code cracking. It's you're off mission. This is not what Jesus has given the church to do, which is why Paul begins our epistle text this morning with these words.

Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. What hour do thieves say, hey, listen, I'm going to be there tonight, 2 .30.

Does that work for you? No thief does this, right? So this is something we need to consider here. All of these books from these ex-catalogical code breakers, don't buy these books. Don't listen to these men.

They are end-time speculationists who are all hype with no biblical substance. They use sensationalism to play on the fears of Christians in order to sell their books. They all claim to have cracked the Bible's end-time code, and in the end they end up robbing Christians of their money and the joy and peace and comfort given to us in Scripture regarding the end times.

You'll notice that our epistle text is not all doom and gloom coming soon. There's something more to this text. Fact is that Paul in our morning's epistle text shows us that there is no end-times code to crack.

It's not like the book of Revelation is a Sudoku puzzle and you've got to figure it out, and at the end of it you've got the numbers that you can put in order and figure out the date that Jesus is going to return.

That's not how this works. So the Bible doesn't give us a puzzle to solve. Instead, it gives us a message, a gospel, a good news to proclaim until Jesus returns, and by the way, Jesus himself makes this exact point.

If you'd like to look on in Acts 1, I want to take a look at the first eight verses in Acts, and I want to point something out to you, a little-known passage that I think is worth reviewing when it comes to all these end-times speculations.

Acts 1, I'll start in verse 1 so we get our context here. Here's what Luke writes. He says, In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach. Luke is the author of the Gospel of Luke as well as the book of Acts, so Theophilus is the person he wrote these to.

So I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach until that day when he was taken up to heaven, and after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen, after his suffering he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive, like eating with them, right?

He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command, Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift that my father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So when they met together, they asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

The big eschatological question. The kingdom of God here on earth. And you could just see Jesus going, I spent three years with you guys. So here's Jesus' response. He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the dates that the Father has set by his own authority.

Whoops. You mean Peter, Paul, James and Bartholomew? They weren't allowed to know when Jesus was coming back? Bingo. So notice. It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

So, eschatological code cracking is not given for us to do. That's mission creep. The mission that we have is to proclaim Christ and him crucified for our sins, to call sinners to repent and to be forgiven by what Christ has done for them on the cross.

All of that other stuff, if you've seen the movie Up, that dog, the talking dog, he'll say, I think you're great.

Squirrel! Right?

Well, that's what's going on with this eschatological stuff. It's a squirrel. Don't pay attention to the squirrels. What Jesus tells us, what God's Word tells us is to stay on mission, and when it talks about the end times, it does so in a way that gives us comfort.

The Day of the Lord Will Come Suddenly

Now, let me remind you of what Jesus said in a couple of other places. Remember, we read the Olivet Discourse last week. I won't reread the entire thing, although I was highly tempted to do so. Matthew 24, verses 4 through 5, Jesus said, Watch out that no one deceives you.

Many will come in my name, claiming I am the Christ, and they will deceive many. This is a mark of the end times. Verses 26 and 27, so if anyone tells you, there he is out in the desert, don't go out.

Or here he is in the inner room, don't believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and is visible even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. In other words, when Jesus shows up, everybody on the planet is going to know it's Jesus.

Ain't nobody going to have any doubts about it. People are going to go, I don't know. Is that Jesus? No, they're all going to know. It's not going to be a secret. It's not like you're going to hear it in the news that Jesus has showed up and he's going to appear in Canada and Winnipeg.

So let's drive on up there and let's see Jesus. No, that's not how this works. Now, I told you I'd tell you about the blood moons. Those of you who may be tempted by this thing, let me explain something to you.

I'm very familiar with this blood moons business and it's a bad, bad book. And the reason why is because it somehow equates a very normal thing that happens. They're called lunar eclipses. They happen from time to time.

You know the moon passes into the earth's shadow? This has been happening for like millennia. And it happens regularly. They happened when I was a kid. Nobody freaked out about it. But nowadays, people are trying to somehow take these blood moons, these lunar eclipses, and say, oh look, they fall on feast days in the Hebrew calendar.

It must be a harbinger of the end. Let's take a look at Matthew chapter 24 real quick. This Bible does talk about the moon turning to blood, but watch how it does so. Matthew 24, 29 through 33. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, watch this, the sun will be darkened.

The what?

The sun will be darkened. Okay, well, I don't know if you've noticed this, but the moon doesn't actually give off any of its own light. It kind of borrows it from the sun. Well, if the sun is darkened, what do you think is going to happen to the moon?

Right, it's going to become dark. It says, and the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. So, this blood moon business, yeah.

The blood moon you're looking for is in tandem with the sun darkening. When that happens, you know Jesus is just about to return.

And you say, yeah.

You don't say, oh.

You say, yeah.

So, and here's what it says. So, then will appear in heaven the sign of the son of man and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven and the powers and the great glory.

And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call. And they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other. From the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branches become tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

So, also when you see all these things, you know that it is near at the very gates. So, it's not like we're going to be caught unawares.

Why?

Well, we know God's word. Jesus has kind of given us the inside scoop. We know what's coming. And if we're alive when these things happen, we're not going to be caught unawares. Now, back to our epistle text.

Just a reminder, it's not for you to know the times or the dates. The father has set by his own authority. We can know that it's getting close, and that's about all that we can know. So, Paul then says this,.

While people are saying, peace and safety here on the earth, destruction will come on them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. Now, I like the fact that it describes Christ's return as labor pains.

Because that's talking about the arrival of new life. And what's going to give birth with all the labor pains and the tribulation in the end is the visible kingdom of God, new heavens, new earth. It's a big deal, and it's something that we can rejoice about.

But for those who are not in Christ, who have heard the good news and rejected Jesus, persisted in sin and unbelief, this is not going to be a good day. This is why Zephaniah describes it this way. Remember our Old Testament text.

On that day, declares Yahweh, A cry will go up from the fish gate, Wailing from the new quarter, And a loud crash from the hills. Wail, you who live in the market district. All you merchants will be wiped out.

All who trade with silver will be ruined. At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps And punish those who are complacent, Who are like wine left on its dregs, Who think the Lord will do nothing, either good or bad.

It's like somebody saying, you really believe Jesus is coming back? Come on, it's been like 2 ,000 years. Really? Come on, Jesus isn't going to do anything either way. Jesus is off playing golf somewhere on a different planet, right?

Their wealth will be plundered. Their houses demolished. They will build houses but not live in them. They will plant vineyards but not drink the wine. The great day of the Lord is near, near, and it's coming quickly.

Listen, the cry of the day of the Lord will be bitter And shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, A day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities, against the corner towers.

Do you kind of see why everybody's going to know it's Jesus? This is the description of what the day of the Lord is going to be like. This kind of harkens to what we heard at the end of our gospel text.

Jesus says, throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Yeah, Jesus believed in hell. In other words, the popular preachers that evangelicalism has put out there who tell us that love wins and that there is no hell, they're not speaking the truth.

They're not speaking the truth. They're deceiving people. But now for the good news. But you, brothers, sisters, notice that Paul acts like he's writing to Christians. Can you imagine that? What a thought.

And you know what? I'm a pastor in a church, so I feel like I'm talking to Christians. So I've got some words of comfort for you this morning. You are not in the darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.

You're not.

You are all sons of the light. Now, sons is used in a broad sense. We can say sons and daughters here. You are all sons of the light. That's you. You. Judy, you are a son, daughter of the light. Gary, you are.

Don, you are. Everybody here, we are sons of the light. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then let us not be like others who are asleep. Let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, they sleep at night.

And those who get drunk, get drunk at night. So because you are children of the light, live as children of the light. Be sober-minded and awake. A good cross-reference to this passage is Romans 13, 11 -14.

Besides this, you know the time. That is, the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed, Paul writes. It certainly is. Salvation is nearer now.

It's almost here. It's like Christmas is coming. For salvation is nearer now to us than when we first believed. The night is far gone. The day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies or drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and not in jealousy. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

The light is about to break. Since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate. Look at that, faith and love as a defensive armor. What a beautiful thought.

And the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath. Let me tweak this a little bit. God did not appoint you to suffer wrath. Instead, to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, that means dead or alive, we may live together with him. So encourage each other and build each other up just as in fact you are doing. That's right.

God did not appoint us for wrath. Christ bled and died for you. He has given us salvation. We have received his salvation. He's washed us in the waters of baptism, buried us with Christ, raised us with Christ, has circumcised our hearts.

Every Sunday that we have the Lord's Supper, the Lord is here, and you receive his body and blood broken and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. You are not children of the darkness. You are children of the light.

Christ has bled and died for you, and he has not appointed you to suffer the wrath of God. On that great and terrible day, you will see Christ face to face. And just like the good servants in the parable that we read in our Gospel text, you too will hear from Jesus.

Well done, good and faithful servant. And you might be tempted to say, but yeah, Lord, I'm a sinner. I know what I've done. I don't deserve this. And the reality is you don't. But the other reality is this.

There is no higher authority than Jesus, and he's bled and died for you. He's accounted for your sins. And so on the great day of judgment, his verdict cannot be overthrown. You are in him, and he has said you are not appointed for wrath.

You are saved. You are in Christ. He has bled and died for you. The gavel has come down, and you are declared innocent. Let us rejoice with what a great salvation that we have in Christ, that he came to save sinners, sinners like me and like you, and that we have hope on this day of terror, the day of the great wrath of the Lord.

We are assured that he did not appoint us to suffer that wrath. Instead, we have received salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.

Salvation in Christ and the Comfort of His Return

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