Our Unity in Hope: The Resurrection

I'm turning your Bibles this morning to 1 Thessalonians 5. In a few moments,

I will have you stand, but I want to give a brief introduction to our text before we do so.

In 2 Timothy, so the last sermon that I preached here in 2

Timothy, the final verse that I preached, the final verse that I mentioned, and it was mentioned at the end and very briefly, was in 2

Timothy 2, verse 8. Paul writing to Timothy says, remember

Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David as preached in my gospel.

So the exhortation from Paul is remember this truth of the gospel,

Timothy. Timothy might've been prone to forget this truth as we are prone to forget this truth.

And in the context of that verse in 2 Timothy, he has just told him to be a suffering soldier, a good soldier, an athlete that abides according to the rules and a hardworking farmer.

In the context there is suffering. And so he's telling

Timothy that Timothy, you can face persecution. You can face suffering courageously because of the fact that Christ is risen.

Because of that fact, you can face these things. He goes on in verse 11 and 12, the saying is trustworthy for if we have died with Him, we also live with Him.

If we endure, He will reign with us. If we deny Him, He will deny us. He's encouraging

Timothy. Timothy, you can joyfully face suffering because of the gospel and the fact that Christ was risen and He is still risen.

Christ was not just risen for a short time. He is still risen. And that is wonderful news.

That was wonderful news for Timothy. That is wonderful news for us this morning because Christ's resurrection,

Him being risen comes with some guarantees for believers.

Guarantees that Timothy needed to be reminded of in 2 Timothy and he needed to hold on to in the face of suffering.

And then guarantees that we need to remember. It guarantees Christ being risen, guarantees that Christ is indeed the

Son of God. That He's exactly who He claimed to be. That when He claimed to be the Son of God, when

He claimed to be the Messiah, that is exactly who He is. The resurrection guarantees that.

The resurrection guarantees the spiritual resurrection for those who have been given to Christ, that they will be regenerated.

They are regenerated. And it guarantees the future bodily resurrection of believers.

And that guarantee changes how we live our lives. It changed how

Timothy lived his life. And so this morning, I wanna focus on some aspects of this guarantee.

In 2 Timothy, Paul gives truth along with what actions Timothy should do in response to that truth.

This one included, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Therefore, share in the suffering as a good soldier in Christ Jesus.

But Paul also does this sharing of truth in the response to this same truth in particular throughout his letters.

But the one I wanna focus on this morning is in 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 5, this passage deals with the future resurrection of believers made possible by the resurrection of Christ.

So I'd have you stand this morning as we read 1 Thessalonians chapter five, the first 11 verses.

Paul writing, it says, "'Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, "'you have no need to have anything written to you.

"'For you yourselves are fully aware "'that the day of the Lord will come "'like a thief in the night.

"'While people are saying there is peace and security, "'then sudden destruction will come upon them "'as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman "'and they will not escape.

"'But you are not in darkness, brothers, "'for that day to surprise you like a thief. "'For you are children of the light, children of the day.

"'We are not of the night or of the darkness. "'So then let us not sleep as others do, "'but let us keep awake and be sober.

"'For those who sleep, sleep at night, "'and those who get drunk are drunk at night. "'Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, "'having put on the breastplate of faith and love "'and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

"'For God has not destined us for wrath, "'but to obtain salvation through our

Lord Jesus Christ, "'who died for us so whether we are awake or asleep, "'we might live with him.

"'Therefore, encourage one another "'and build one another up just as you're doing.'"

Let us pray. Father, this morning as we read in your word, as we read in 2

Timothy, to remember Jesus Christ, the offspring of David, risen from the dead, the offspring of David is preached in the gospel.

Lord, as we read here in 1 Thessalonians of the future resurrection of the day of the

Lord that will come, Lord, help us to find hope in this.

Help us to find hope in your resurrection. We read in Scripture where it says, Christ is not risen.

We are of all men most to be pitied. All men most miserable. Lord, but we are not miserable.

We should not be pitied. We are not without hope because your son Christ is risen and he is reigning this morning,

Lord, and he will return. Lord, and the returning of Christ changes the way we live.

Help us to see that this morning. Help me to articulate that rightly. Help me to preach your word rightly.

Pray that it would be for your glory and for the good of your church. Lord, we pray all of this in Christ's name, amen.

So Lord willing, after service this morning, I will get in our car and I'll head home.

And then Lord willing, I will return this afternoon. But there's no guarantee in any of that.

We have no guarantee of this afternoon. We have no guarantee of tomorrow.

There are so many things that we believe that we have guarantees in that we simply do not.

I think that I will go home and we will rest and then we'll come back this afternoon.

We'll go back home tomorrow morning. Get up and enjoy a day off.

Do some work around the house. Here and watch

Jack show a goat. And then Friday, go to Northwest Arkansas and trail play at a football game.

Saturday, come back home and rest. We'll have evangelism. This is how

I plan my week. This is how I see my week going. These are the plans that I have made.

But there's no guarantee in any of those things. I have no guarantee in that. I have no guarantee in walking out of these doors this morning.

You don't even have guarantees in the words of Jacob. I'm not talking about the words as we read the word of God and we read the truths of the word of God.

We have guarantees there, but in my words, in the things that I say, in my promises, there's no guarantee there.

I hope that I will never let you down. I hope that I will never break a promise that I make to anybody here.

I hope that I am trustworthy. But the truth is, is that at some point in time,

I will let you down. I am capable of breaking promises. I cannot make guarantees in and of myself.

We have the greatest technology in the history of mankind and we still can't make guarantees.

We have the best radars and the most studied meteorologists that try to predict the weather, but they can't make guarantees.

It was a running joke when we were in Mexico about the weather channel app on my phone that would give a prediction.

I would open it up and I would say, it's 90 % chance of rain today. And Pastor Randall would say, okay, trust your

God there in your phone. And we would go back and forth a little bit, just kind of a joke, and then it wouldn't rain that day.

And I thought I had a guarantee. It said 90%. One day, it said 100 % on my phone.

I thought I had a guarantee. It didn't rain. We have no guarantees even with all of this technology.

And if we hope in our technology, it will fail us. If you're hoping in my mind or my words,

I'm afraid your hope has been misplaced. If your hope is in your government, then your object of hope is corrupted.

If your hope is in a certain political candidate, they will fail to live up to your expectations.

If your hope is in this building, it'll be wiped away tomorrow. If your hope is even in your pastor or your friends, they could be gone tomorrow.

If we can't hope in these things, then in what do we hope? Paul told

Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 .8, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, has preached in my gospel.

Paul told Timothy that in your suffering, hope in Christ. This is your hope.

This is what you can find hope in. And then Paul tells the Thessalonian believers of what they should put their hope in here in chapter five.

Look at verse nine. What are they to hope in? They're to hope in that God has not destined them for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our

Lord Jesus Christ. What are they to hope in? Our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is what we place our hope in. That is what they place their hope in. We don't have guarantees in any of the things

I've mentioned. We can't hope in them, but we can hope in Jesus Christ. He came,

He was born of a virgin. He was promised. He was prophesied.

He came just as was prophesied. He was born of a virgin. He lived a perfect life. He died the sacrificial death of the cross.

He is our propitiation. He satisfied the wrath of God for His children.

And then He died on the cross for our sins. He was crucified, but He didn't stay dead.

He rose. He rose. And as we mentioned earlier, because of this resurrection, we have hope.

There are things that we, there are guarantees for those who repent and trust in Him.

And one of the guarantees that we mentioned because of the resurrection of our Savior is found in this text.

The resurrection of Christ guarantees our future resurrection as believers. We have here in 1

Thessalonians, we have a book that is a beautiful picture of unity. Paul was joyously united with these believers, even though he didn't get to be with them often.

Chapter one, united in Christ and God's sovereign election with the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within us as believers.

Verse six, as imitators of God. Chapter two, united in the truth of God's word.

Chapter three, united in joy and in love. Chapter four, united in sanctification.

We are called to holiness. But then in verse 13 of chapter four,

Paul somewhat shifts his focus. He offers encouragement or hope, a hope that believers are united in.

And that is the hope of believers' future resurrection in Christ. If we look at verse 14 of chapter four, for since we believe that Christ died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.

We see the future resurrection of believers secured by Christ's resurrection.

Paul wrote these words as an encouragement, something to truly hope in, something to encourage and comfort believers in the face of death.

We have this encouragement. There are four things that I've mentioned that I want us to tie together.

Unity, guarantee, hope, and resurrection. We are united in hope, in the guarantee of the resurrection of believers.

In chapter five, Paul continues discussing the coming of the Lord, but he shifts the emphasis.

He now shifts the emphasis to the responsibility of the believer in light of the

Lord's coming. Let's look at verse one. Now concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.

In verse one, Paul explains that he doesn't need to remind them of the facts of that day, but rather the implications.

He isn't writing to them about the length of time or the sequence of events. He's not giving a predicted date.

It's foolish to worry about a certain date or to try to pinpoint a date of Christ's return.

It's truly impossible. It's a waste of time. Many people throughout history have foolishly tried to pinpoint a date, and if you hear somebody say that, that's a big red flag.

Somebody is saying, hey, I know I have a date of when Christ is returning. You can tell them the gospel and then turn and go the other way.

But Paul didn't know the time or date. Matthew 24, 36. Jesus says, but concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the

Son, but the Father only. We can gather that Paul, he had already discussed this matter with them before.

And what Paul is about to write in the following verses, it's not about the timing of the

Lord's coming, but rather a reminder that it is coming. This day is coming.

He's more concerned with the how rather than the when. And I feel like the main thing we need to deal with in this text comes in verse two.

It says, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

The day of the Lord will come. That's the first thing we need to understand out of this text is the day of the

Lord will come. It is coming. That is a guarantee. What does

Paul mean when he says the day of the Lord? What is he talking about? What he's talking about is the coming of the

Lord and the impending judgment, the day of judgment. Verses I don't have time to read, but you can write these down.

Amos 5, 18 through 20, Isaiah 13, six through 13, and Obadiah, only chapter in Obadiah, verse 15.

You can look at those. But this is the same as the day, this day of the

Lord and the day of Christ's coming, they're the same. There's some dispensational, the dispensational will try to separate the two sometimes, but Scripture doesn't separate them.

And that's clear in a number of places. Most clearly, 2 Thessalonians 2 says, now concerning the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the

Lord has come. So the day that they will be gathered together, it is the day of judgment and the day of the

Lord's coming, they're all together, that the day where Christ shall descend, the resurrection of the dead and the judgment of the world.

This is the day of the Lord. And this morning, I wanna look at a few truths about this day of resurrection seen in our text.

The first thing I wanna look at is the nature of the day of the Lord. Verse two, it says, the day of the

Lord will come like a thief in the night. We read in the

Gospels where this imagery is used to describe the coming of the Lord. It's also used in 2

Peter and Revelation. And the imagery here is very important. Christ's coming is like a thief in the night as it will be unexpected.

It's not on our calendar. As we mentioned before, there's not a date that's pinpointed.

We don't have it on our calendar. Hey, six months, Christ is coming back. It's unexpected. It's sudden.

A thief comes in the night when people are asleep and when they are unprepared. Many will be unprepared on that day.

They will be saying, what does it say in verse three? While people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape.

While they are saying peace and safety. While people are trying to convince themselves that they are at peace and that they are safe.

They will be having pride parades and celebrating abominations. And why do they do this?

Why do they do these public displays? Well, I think Pastor Quatro has mentioned this before.

Why do people shout their abortions? Well, they're trying to quiet their conscience and they're trying to convince themselves that they're okay.

They're trying to convince themselves that they are at peace. They're trying to quiet their conscience until convince themselves.

Hey, what I'm doing is okay, I'm at peace. They're convincing themselves.

Trying to convince themselves that they are safe in their sin or even that it is good.

they're crying peace and safety and when the preacher tells them to repent they say no we're okay we don't need to repent they have convinced themselves that they are at peace they're safe they have their made -up safe spaces they have the best home security system known to man to protect them at night you know many political candidates they run on the notion of peace the slogan of peace peace for this and peace from that but listen to me church listen to me teenagers listen to me little children we must understand that there is no peace apart from Christ there is no hope apart from Christ there is no safety apart from Christ and there will be no peace or hope on the day of the

Lord for unbelievers instead what does our text say will come sudden destruction this destruction is greater than we can imagine there is nothing in this world that can replicate this destruction and it will be for all who are apart from Christ 2nd

Peter 3 10 but the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed the best security system in the world can't protect you from that a reckoning for all transgressors of God's law and those who oppose his people they may celebrate depravity now but sure judgment is coming

God's wrath towards sinners is coming we must understand this not that it isn't here now in part but it will be evidence with sudden destruction on the day of the

Lord and this sudden destruction will surprise them as in the days of Noah Matthew 24 for as were the days of Noah so will be the coming of the

Son of Man for as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day when

Noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away so will be the coming of the

Son of Man and they will not be able to escape it and it will be for all eternity in hell look at the imagery of this text verse 3 while people are saying there is peace and security then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape this imagery doesn't often get as much attention as the thief in the night but it should think about it once the imagery here once true labor begins there's no stopping it that baby's coming whether you like it or not you cannot escape that once the day of the

Lord has come there's no stopping it there's no escape there is no second chance there is no hiding the destruction is here for those apart from Christ and they cannot run from it they cannot ignore it

Paul then in verse 4 as we move along makes a clear distinction for believers here about this day beginning in verse 4 but you're not in darkness brothers for the day to surprise you like a thief the distinction that he makes in the next couple of verses is talking about so we have the nature of the day of the

Lord and now he's going to address the people that the day of the Lord concerns the nature of the day of the

Lord the people the day of the Lord concerns and he makes a distinction his distinction here involves darkness and light this is a rather common comparison to highlight the difference between believers and non -believers and Paul says we you that believers he says they're not in the darkness he says but you are not in the darkness unbelievers are in the darkness one commentator notes that their hearts are dark there's darkness in their understanding they walk in darkness and they live in darkness this world is full of darkness this town this community full of darkness and Paul tells the

Thessalonian believers though that they are children of light the same is for all believers if you're truly a believer you're a child of light we have

Christ and no longer live in darkness we are children of the light through Christ and are made to see the truth the truth that is found in his word we've been made alive by this light by Christ in this light his word it guides us you read of this in Psalm 119 105

John 8 12 in this day of the

Lord that we're talking about will be very different for the children of light versus the children of wrath and darkness the day of the

Lord will not surprise the believer like a thief it will be unavoidable it's unavoidable for the

Christian and the non -christian alike unbeliever you will have no more time believer you'll have no more time on this earth and we know the response of the unbeliever to this coming day we know that those who remain in darkness they will continue in their sin until this day comes to pass no mind to it unless by God's grace they come to see the truth and they see their need for Christ they repent they trust in him but apart from that they will remain in darkness they will continue in their sin no mind to it completely wrapped up in themselves and their wickedness but what should the response of the believer be what is the response of the church to this day because we are the children of light children of day how do we respond how do we go forward with this truth so we have the nature of the day of the

Lord the people the day of the Lord concerns and then our response to the day of the Lord we see a so in verse 6 he says for you are all children of light children of the day we are not of the night or of darkness so this is what is going to here's what he's saying this is what is going to happen this is who you are in light of that this is what you should do

I've told you that of this day now this should be your response is important to know the details of this day

Paul wouldn't give us the details of this day if it wasn't important but that knowledge is of no use to fit it to us if it doesn't produce action and response you can have the greatest theology of anyone in the world your knowledge could surpass that of Calvin we talked of Calvin this morning many believe him to be one of the greatest if not the greatest theologian since the first century your knowledge could surpass that of Calvin you may be able to answer every theological question but what my question is what are you doing with that knowledge what are you doing with that theology does it drive you to action does it drive you to live by it because if it doesn't it's of no use to you there are many that are very intellectually smart in the

Bible but it's not when you look at their lives there's no evidence they can tell you all of these things but you see you can't look at their lives and see that that it's driven them to do anything there's a good chance that if that is you maybe you haven't been changed maybe you haven't been born again maybe you're in disobedience to God maybe you're sinning by not doing what the

Word of God says don't stop at good theology and doctrine these things are important good theology is important we're not a church that says we don't need theology or doctrine we embrace it we want to know theology we want to know doctrine we want to study the

Word of God but don't just stop there apply it live by it don't stop it just knowing the day of the

Lord is coming act upon this knowledge Paul gives six exhortations of our response to these truths and the first three are really close so I'm going to tie them all together he says so then let us not sleep as others do and Mark Christ gives this the same warning to this disciples to be awake when the master returns we have a tendency to go grow cold to this truth that the day of the

Lord is coming you know think of sometimes the first time we are confronted with this truth it really changes us a little bit as far as okay the

Lord's coming he's returning then over time we hear it and we hear it and we hear it and because of our sin and things we start to think okay yeah he's coming he's coming one day he's coming you know there's as we've grown in Christ as we've lived as a

Christian there's hopefully wisdom that we have gained there's times we lose things as well we lose that anticipation that the

Lord is coming we have lost the joy of the truth that the Lord is coming should be joyous I'm not saying that we have to do anything special like like you have to be a super Christian because the no but I'm saying that you should be awake you should be aware and you should be joyfully anticipating and then it should change some ways that you live your life we should not be unprepared sleeping is for those in the darkness spiritually speaking sleeping happens at night since we're not of the darkness we are not in the night we belong to the day and to use a

Allen Nelson illustration I got his approval think of your favorite and I'm gonna butcher it

I'm not gonna do as well as he did but think of your favorite celebrity of all time or maybe your favorite athlete or maybe your favorite politician or maybe your favorite theologian or reformer we talked about the

Reformers this morning or someone you have always wanted to meet but you've never gotten to somebody you'd like to meet again and this person tells you

I will be at your house tomorrow at 10 a .m. would they find you asleep absolutely not you're gonna be awake you're gonna be anticipating they're coming our

Lord is coming will you be found asleep are you anticipating it are you preparing for the day of the

Lord we've been sleeping for too much for too long and too much what is being asleep look like well it could be walking in the darkness of this world could be an unbeliever unconscious to that darkness and concerned of the things of God as a believer it could be unconcerned of the you know the proclamation of the gospel unconcerned of the church and being biblical rather concerned with being popular no open minds obedience or holiness or there's no mind to obedience or holiness you might want to examine yourself you may not be in Christ but for too long we've been unconcerned with things such as evangelism proclaiming the gospel taking it out and proclaiming it's dangerous to be asleep he links to that I'm just gonna mention real quick further driving home the point stay awake you know he's saying don't sleep stay awake you know being awake being alert it's opposite of sleeping you can be an awake sluggard but you can't be an alert sluggard being asleep is spiritual and religious carelessness we must not be careless with the things of God we're not we must not be careless with things such as a lack of holiness or obedience we must not be careless with the things of the church must be conscious to the danger that lurks in the darkness what is happening in our world we need to know this we must be fend off the darkness he says be sober for those who sleep sleep at night and those who get drunk or drunk at night be sober self -control this goes hand in hand with being a work or being awake or alert being aware of the things of God in the darkness of the world don't be irresponsible with this truth you've been given a you've been given the

Word of God you've been given a church don't be you've been given the gospel don't be irresponsible with these things be focused on the task at hand since we are of the day we don't sleep but neither are we to be irresponsible distracted by the things of this world weighed down by these things but rather we approach the task at hand look at verse 8 since we belong to the day let us be sober having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helm at the hope of salvation we approach the task at hand in light of the day of the

Lord coming by putting on the armor of God understand that until the day of the

Lord comes we are at war pastor Quatro did a wonderful job covering the armor of God Ephesians 6 11 12 before he wrestled not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places in Romans Paul says to put on the armor of light until Christ returns we are at battle until he comes the battle there's no taking a break the battle does not end until Christ returns so what are our tools in armor for battle faith love and the hope of salvation in the face of battle we are to put these things on we must actively cultivate these things we are guarded by these our heart and our mind are guarded by these things

Paul mentions these three specifically several times in this letter alone by the gift of faith we have been given not faith and temporal things that will fail but faith in Christ loved by Christ and made to love

Christ in his church through faith and love we receive the less the breastplate of righteousness which is mentioned in Ephesians 6 our sins are forgiven and justified before God in Christ Jesus how do we put these things on by God's grace being devoted to God's Word and to prayer tell we're trained for battle we have hope of salvation the enemy will strike many blows until this day and try to take away our hope and when all may fall around us when our world may be tossed to and fro we can remain confident because of the hope of salvation the hope we have in the day of the

Lord that God has not destined us for wrath look at verse 9 he's not destined us for wrath but believers have obtained salvation through our

Lord Jesus Christ we hope in Christ how can we be vigilant awake sober ready for battle because our hope is in our

King because our hope is in Christ we look forward to this day this day of the

Lord because through Christ we have been delivered from the wrath to come this is a joyous day for us we've been delivered from the wrath to come through his attorney world work we've been given new life through Christ and one day we will live with him these realities of this day they shape our present actions and it may not be directly in our text but we warn of this day of the

Lord that is coming we proclaim the gospel to the world we proclaim that Christ is coming to judge the world and then apart from Christ you will perish eternally we take this message and we take it to the streets we proclaim it everywhere we go we preach it in our churches we teach it at home we sing of it and then verse 11 we encourage one another and we build one another up in light of this truth therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing we ought to do this we ought to encourage one another build one another up based upon the truth of the

Lord's coming are you doing this are you doing this

God has designed us as a means of help for one another friends we have great hope in the coming of the day of the

Lord our hope is not in some fairy tale this is not a fairy tale it is based upon truth and that truth is a uniting truth for all

Christians we are united in our hope in Christ and all those in Christ are guaranteed to go be with him what an encouragement may we encourage and build one another up based upon this truth come alongside a brother brother don't despair

Christ is coming and great as your reward in him come along a sister sister keep the faith keep moving forward the day of the

Lord draws near when we face trials we will face many trials in this life sufferings heartaches failures these things they can cloud our mind and the enemy can use them to convince us that we have no hope but we must encourage one another we must build one another up not based on false hope such as health wealth and prosperity but encourage and build one other up in Christ he is coming and our labor for him is not in vain in closing offer this encouragement to you look ahead church look towards the coming of the day of the

Lord don't despair press on towards the high calling of Christ prepare for his coming how do we prepare simply by faithfully serving

God being obedient to his word following Christ if you have failed at this if you have been distracted or you've been asleep repent and run to him what a glorious day our resurrection will be this day of the

Lord but unbeliever children adults teenagers who are apart from Christ this morning listen unbeliever this day of the

Lord will not be a joyful one for you apart from Christ unimaginable terror and wrath will be poured upon you eternally and you cannot hide from it you cannot convince yourself of false peace when this day arrives here is my encouragement here is the good news flee from it flee from the wrath to come run to Christ all who call upon the name of the