Sunday School: Not Destined for Wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:4-11)

You're listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament, and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. All right, open your

Bible, please, to 1 Thessalonians 5. Once again, 1 Thessalonians 5.

I'll read verses 1 through 11 out of the English Standard Version, and then get through verse 11, and we'll say a short prayer, and then recap a little bit what we looked at last week.

1 Thessalonians 5, beginning in verse 1. 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 all children of 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.

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.

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

Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him.

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

Sounds like, is that the youth that's adding sound effects to our service today? Let's pray.

They're incurring. They're incurring, that's right. Heavenly Father, thank you again for these words, and may they be an encouragement to us as we consider once again the day of the

Lord, the coming of Christ, the promise of your return, and that we would be forever with the

Lord in glory. May we rejoice to hear of these things, and may we be encouraged by it, and likewise follow this instruction, that we encourage one another.

It's in Jesus' holy name that we pray, amen. So to kind of recap once again what we looked at last week, as Paul comes into this saying, regarding the times and the seasons, you have no need to have anything written to you.

We looked at Acts chapter 1, where Jesus said something similar to his disciples, regarding the times and the seasons, the

Father knows those things. It's not for you to know those things. So Paul is not going to write about those things to the

Thessalonians anyway. We don't know the hour or the day upon which our Lord will return.

The responsibility that we have is to be faithful, to continue to obey

God, to serve our Lord Christ, so that when the Master returns, he finds that his servants are doing what he told them to do before he left.

We're going to look at a parable concerning that today as well. That'll be more toward the end. We'll go to Matthew chapter 24.

So as Paul opens with that there in 1 Thessalonians 5, 1, he is repeating to them something that has already been taught to them.

The instruction that we saw in chapter 4, verses 13 through 18, that was new.

He says that, I declare this to you by a word from the Lord. That was in chapter 4, verse 15.

So this, in chapter 5, is something that had already been taught to the Thessalonians. You have no need to have anything written to you.

For you yourselves are fully aware. You have been told about this before. And we considered how even in Acts chapter 17, when

Paul had preached at the Areopagus, there he warned them. He warned the pagans, the polytheists there, among the gods that they worshipped.

He said to them, a day of judgment is coming. Times of ignorance God has overlooked, but now he's commanding all people everywhere to repent.

And he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness, and he's shown by whom he is going to judge the world, by raising that man from the dead.

So even there, in his very first sermon to the Greeks at Athens, he speaks about the judgment of God.

And that's the shift that we see here in 1 Thessalonians 5. We've gone from talking about how

Christ is going to return to rapture his saints, and then we will be forever with the Lord, to now we're hearing about the judgment of God that is also going to come against those who are unrighteous.

Those who have been made righteous in Christ, the promise for us is everlasting life.

We will forever be with the Lord, as it's said in chapter 4 verse 17. But for those who do not know

Christ, and then that's the section that we're seeing here, the judgment that will come upon them. You're fully aware that the day of the

Lord will come like a thief in the night. And every time we see that reference, to thief in the night, to the

Lord's return as being like a thief, it's always in reference to judgment. It's always in reference to something calamitous, some kind of destruction that comes upon a people.

So therefore Paul says in verse 3, 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.

Now this particular section, I didn't mention this last week, or this statement that Paul makes in verse 3, there is peace and security.

While people are saying there is peace and security. Now notice that's in quotations. This actually was part of Roman propaganda.

That if you are a Roman citizen, if you are a citizen of the Roman Empire, do you know what you have?

Do you know what you have as a Roman citizen? You have peace and security. And so this kind of encouraged a national commitment, you know, that they would have a good patriotic sense of being a

Roman citizen. I pay my dues, I obey the authorities, I do the pinch of incense into the altar, and I declare

Caesar as Lord. You know, that was kind of all part of the Roman propaganda that was imposed upon their citizens.

What's the promise that you get? What do you get as a result of it? You get peace and security.

And so this was a common saying among the Romans to say there is peace and security.

The officials would tell their citizens, you have peace and security. And so here

Paul is using that exact same kind of propaganda to say that those who are worldly who declare that they have peace and security because they live in some sort of great empire, it's not going to protect them.

When the King of Kings returns, Caesar is very plainly not

Lord, Jesus Christ is Lord. So while people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them.

And this was especially the case in Thessalonica, that the people there would think that, I mean, what's going to touch me?

What's going to harm me? We live in one of the most powerful cities, one of the most protected cities even in the

Roman Empire. How great we have it here. But all of this stuff can be taken from you in an instant,

Paul is warning them of. And so do not think that just because you're a Roman citizen, you have peace and security.

There is no government on earth that is able to stand against He who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

As we read about in Revelation chapter 19, Jesus is going to return. He's going to smash all of these governments like earthen pots.

He will rule them with a rod of iron. And so they'll be declaring there is peace and security.

But no, when Christ returns on that day, which will be in destruction to those who did not know the

Lord, there will be sudden destruction that will come upon them. Now even though in the context to which

Paul is writing, as he's talking to the Thessalonians here and he says to them, you know, you hear the saying there is peace and security.

This is not something that was unique to the Romans. That's certainly the context to the Thessalonians.

You know, they're Greeks. They live in a very powerful city. They're part of the Roman empire, but it's not just specific to them.

All throughout human history, there have been governments that have declared to their people, we give you peace and security.

And in fact, as Jesus talks about what was going on in the days of Noah, what was it the people were saying before the floodwaters came?

There's peace and security. Hey, everything's all good. Look how much fun we're having.

I remember the cartoon Superbook. Anybody remember Superbook back in the,

I think, I guess it was eighties. I don't think it was early or late seventies. It must've just been an eighties cartoon. Anyway, there's a new version of it now.

If you have an Amazon prime subscription, there's the computer animated version. That's not the version I grew up with though.

It was the anime Superbook that was on, it was called the

Family Network or something like that. Later, it eventually was bought out by ABC. Anyway, you don't need this history lesson.

But I remember in the cartoon version of Superbook before the floodwaters came and destroyed the world in the story of Noah, and they had that episode focusing on the story of Noah.

There was a woman who's dancing and kind of show a party like people are just, they're getting along with dancing and singing.

Everything is perfectly fine. We don't sense any kind of destruction or judgment that's going to come upon us at all.

And this woman is dancing and I can still hear the song that she was singing. I can dance. I can sing.

I can do anything I want. That was the song that she was singing. And that may have been the attitude of the people at that particular time.

There's nothing that can harm me. Everything is perfectly good. Look how great things are. We also read about how everything was violent at that particular time.

There were great men of violence that were afflicting people. And so if you were on the side of those who were the most powerful, then you probably thought, hey, we get peace and security.

There's nothing that we have to fear of anything. Jesus said it was the same in the days of Noah. Those people were saying there was peace and security.

And then Noah and his family go into the ark and the floodwaters come upon the earth and destroy everyone except for the eight people that God, by his mercy, saved from the judgment that came upon the world.

So even then, thousands of years before the Roman Empire, there was a people that were saying there is peace and security.

But then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape.

Now, the statement about labor pains coming upon a pregnant woman, this is a metaphor that comes up multiple times in multiple different ways throughout the scriptures.

It's never consistently the same in the New Testament. So you got to be careful. You got to watch the context there since it doesn't always mean the same thing.

But those of you who are women, who have had children, you kind of understand this concept.

You have a general idea of when this baby is going to come and then when the baby comes, labor pains.

Boom. They hit you and it is not pleasant, right? So for those who are,

I'm sorry, what's that, Judy? Right. Just, yes, it's not pleasant.

So for those who do not know Christ, that's not a day that the people who are in rebellion against God are looking forward to.

They're not looking forward to a day of destruction. They're not looking for it at all. It will just come upon them suddenly and unexpectedly, which is even the metaphor of that day coming upon them like a thief.

As Jesus had talked about, if the master of the house had known on what night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would have been keeping watch.

So a thief is an unwelcome and unexpected visitor. Sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape.

Verse four, but Paul says to these Christians, to these believers, and remember, these are

Christians who have been persecuted for their faith. We've read about that in this letter, that they have endured persecution for the sake of the gospel and they have persevered.

And Paul praises God for that. And the testimony of you has gone throughout

Macedonia and Achaia. And so as there are brothers and sisters in the Lord who have died and they've died before the day of Christ has come, what's going to happen to them?

That was what Paul addressed in chapter four, verses 13 to 18. What about those who have been persecuting us?

What's going to happen to them? And this is kind of that assurance that Paul gives of the judgment that is coming upon those who would persecute the people of God.

So here is the word of comfort that he has to those who believe in Christ.

Verse four, but you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

It's going to be like a thief to those who don't know Christ, but to those who do know

Jesus, the day of his return is not going to be shocking to us.

We're going to rejoice in it. We were expecting it. We don't know the day or hour, but we know he's coming back.

I don't know if you've ever had those moments before where you have a visitor coming and you don't really know when the visitor is going to arrive.

We have these moments a lot less today with smartphones because everybody's got a phone on them.

So you can like, you know, what time is my sister coming? I don't know. Is he call her up? Hey, what time are you getting here? Oh, we're 15 minutes out.

You know, so you've got a good idea of when somebody is going to arrive. But does anybody remember those days when nobody had phones on them?

There weren't phones in the car. There weren't tracking devices and things like this that, you know, now you can pull out the phone.

You can even have these synchronized apps. So it'll even show you on your app where they are on the map, like exactly how far they are until they arrive.

Becky and I have that together for especially when I have to do these road trips over the weekend. She can know that I'm actually still on the road and not driven off into a ditch somewhere.

You can you can check that out with these apps. But there was once a time when we didn't have these devices on us and there wasn't a way to check in with one another all the time unless you stopped at a gas station.

You went to the pay phone, right? And you called up somebody. Pay phones. That's something. When was the last time you saw a pay phone?

Those kinds of things aren't even around anymore. There you go. Airport in Utah two years ago.

Yeah, that's right. So I lived in Abilene, Kansas, right before I got married. Now, this was over 10 years ago.

But in the apartment that I lived in, right across the street, there was a phone booth and I was told it was like the only phone booth within a five hour drive or something like that.

So that was everybody was very proud of their phone booth. Like we still have a working phone here.

But yeah, otherwise people carry their own phones anymore. Before then, if you had somebody that was coming over to your house, like family members who were traveling a distance, they could give you an approximate time that they were going to be there.

But you didn't know exactly when they were going to be pulling into the driveway. So did you not have those moments where you're like constantly checking the window?

Are they here yet? Car drives by. Was that them? You know, you're always looking to see when they're going to arrive.

It's something that we don't think about as much anymore. But think of it in that sense here with the

Christians who are anticipating the return of Christ. This is the way we are. We're constantly checking the window, right?

When is Christ going to return? Is it going to be today? You hear a car horn.

That was it. You know, something. Anyway, it might be a little overboard, but we're always checking.

We're always anticipating in our spirits. We yearn. We long for that day when

Christ is going to come and we will forever be with the Lord. So we have no reason for that day, the day of his return, to surprise us like a thief.

It's not going to be unwelcome. It's not going to be unwanted. It's not going to be unexpected.

Christ's return is what we've been anticipating. It's what we've wanted. It's what we've been looking for.

So that day, you're not in darkness for that day to surprise you like a thief.

Verse five, for you are all children of light. We're children of the day.

We are not of the night or of the darkness. So this is the comfort.

This is the reassurance that Paul is giving to believers and what the Holy Spirit even communicates to us at the present.

Not just something that was spoken 2 ,000 years ago, but we continue to be comforted with the promise of Christ's return.

There's no reason for us to be in the days that we are in looking back over 2 ,000 years and go, well, it hadn't been 2 ,000, he hadn't come back in 2 ,000 years.

This was 2 ,000 years ago. Paul is talking about that we don't have to be in darkness about this.

We're children of the light. We're children of the day. And yet Christ hasn't come back 2 ,000 years later.

So maybe he's not coming back at all. Well, if that's your attitude, if that's where your mind is going to go, then you're just like the scoffer that Peter warned about in 2

Peter chapter three. Scoffers are going to come in those last days going, where is he?

Where is this promise of his coming? For from the old days until now, things are continuing exactly as they are.

But we as Christians, when we're anticipating the return of Christ, our attitude is not like that.

We're not scoffing about it, but rather our attitude is like, you know what? We're closer today than they were back when

Paul was writing these words 2 ,000 years ago. Amen? That's where we're at. We're closer to that day.

Even now, we're still anticipating, still looking, still watching, and we're not going to be disappointed.

You know, even if it comes about that you die before Christ returns, you're going to stand in his presence and nothing else is going to matter.

Here I am with Christ. And Paul is already promised and he's already assured, as we read in the previous chapter in chapter four, we all get to be part of that day.

So even if you're not of those who will still be alive on earth when Christ returns, you'll still be part of that day when

Christ returns. And the dead in Christ will rise first. And so we will always be with the

Lord. Every single believer will be present with Christ on the day of his return. It is only those who do not know

Christ who have something to fear of that day. They have something to fear of their death. They have something to fear of the return of Christ.

Tom mentions in the sermon today that verse in Hebrews that says, it is appointed for a man once to die and after that comes judgment.

And so those who don't know Christ have to fear that judgment. But we who know

Christ, we have nothing to fear. We anticipate the day. We welcome it.

We pray with the Apostle John at the end of Revelation, come quickly,

Lord Jesus, amen. So then Paul says, so we've had the but and the for.

Verse four, but you are not in darkness brothers for that day to surprise you like a thief. Verse five, for you are all children of light, children of the day.

We're not of the night or of the darkness. And now we have the so, okay. Verse six is so, there's going to be an exhortation here.

There's going to be an instruction, something for us to follow. Verse six, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

Sober mindedness, something that a Christian is constantly called to throughout the New Testament. In first Peter chapter five says that we need to be sober minded.

We need to be ready for battle because the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for somebody to devour.

So what does that mean to be sober minded? Well, we have our thoughts, our minds trained on the task that is at hand.

And here in particular, it is to live as Christ even in these days, that we would not get lazy in our thinking, that we would not let our thoughts even wander to go after the things of this world because then we're not looking for the day of Christ anymore.

We're more interested in the stuff that we can get that entertains our flesh or that feeds the passions that we have or even falling into the trap of the devil's schemes.

So we need to have sober minds, minds that are trained upon Christ and are sharpened according to his word.

Paul even draws this into the difference between soberness and drunkenness.

So let us not sleep as others do. Let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night.

And those who get drunk are drunk at night. Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 5.

So keep your finger here in 1 Thessalonians 5. Let's go to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 beginning in verse 6.

Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

You have a warning of wrath here as well. Wrath is not for us. Wrath is for those who do not know

Christ. The wrath of God comes upon who? The sons of disobedience. So we're called to obedience, to follow

God, to keep his word, to know his commandments. Those who do not know Christ walk in disobedience.

Verse 7. Therefore do not be partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, right?

There was a time we did walk in darkness. It was before we knew Christ. But now we're not of the darkness.

We're children of light. We're children of the day. Jesus talked about this with Nicodemus in John chapter 3.

Those who love darkness hate the light. They love their sin.

So they're going to stay in the darkness. But those who love the light will come out of the darkness into the light,

Jesus said. So this is who we are. We've been brought from darkness into light. Therefore do not be partners with them.

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Verse 9. For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Verse 11.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. So look, see the contrast there.

Verse 9 said the fruit of light. The fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

Verse 11. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

Or another way to understand that is, it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in darkness.

And we're not in darkness anymore. We are children of light. So let us walk in the light.

First John 1, walk in the light as he is in the light. And as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, let your good deeds shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your father on the day of visitation.

It is shameful to speak even of the things that they do in secret. Verse 13. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.

For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

When we came to Christ, we were brought from death to life, right? We were risen from the dead.

We were dead in the sins and trespasses in which we once walked. That's Paul to the Ephesians back in chapter 2.

But now in Christ Jesus, we've been raised from death. So we've been risen from the dead that Christ may shine on us.

Verse 15. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. How do we do that?

How do we understand what God's will is? It's right here. That's right. We read the

Bible. God's will for us is in Scripture. Remember that Paul has talked about this with the

Thessalonians as well. Talk about what God's will is for us. God's will is that you abstain from sexual immorality as he said in chapter 4 verse 3.

And we're going to see later on in chapter 5, God's will for you is that you give thanks in all circumstances in Christ Jesus.

For this is God's will for you. So we know God's will according to his word.

Verse 18. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the

Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the

Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the

Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

But there you have that instruction again. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the

Spirit. Verse 18. So do not get drunk with those things that are temporary, that dulls your mind and your senses, that is clearly something that is worldly and fleshly, and eventually whatever feeling of elation that you get from that is fleeting.

It's not even going to stick with you. Eventually it's going to be gone. And then you'll be back to going, okay, I need something else to get my fix, to find my joy back again.

But instead we are to be filled with something that is eternal. Don't be filled with those things that are temporary, that make the mind stupid, but be filled with that which is eternal, that make the mind wise unto the

Lord. Be filled with the Spirit, Paul says. So there you have the call to soberness and to not walk in drunkenness.

Let's go back again to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 6.

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.

We have drunkenness, we have night, we have sleep. All of these things that kind of encompass together those who are in darkness.

Those who are not in Christ, but continue to walk in the ways of their flesh and in the ways of this world.

Then we get back again to the but in verse 8. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober.

And you have kind of an abbreviated version of the armor of God, right? We read this in greater detail in Ephesians chapter 6, but even here in 1

Thessalonians 5, we have Paul's instructions regarding the armor of God. Having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

This is not something that is unique to Paul, though he references it three times. You have a reference to the armor of light in the book of Romans.

You have the armor of God in greater detail in Ephesians 6, and then you have a brief mention of the armor of God here in 1

Thessalonians 5 verse 8. But Paul gets that from Isaiah. It's Isaiah that says that the

Lord comes in armor. He's dressed in armor. And so when we are called to put on the armor of God, it's not just armor that God has given to us.

Here, put this on. Armor of God should be understood as it's God's armor.

This is the armor that Christ wears. He who is the commander of God's armies.

And so as this is the armor Christ wears, so we should put it on. When we put on Christ, and that's the way

Paul puts it with the Romans, that we put on the armor of light as we would wear

Christ. And so putting on God's armor is to put on those things that are

Christ -like, that we might walk just as our Savior walks, just as Jesus is so we might be.

We put on the breastplate of faith and love, filled with love as God has love for us.

We have this faith that has been given to us in Christ, as it says in Hebrews 12, too, that he is the author and the perfecter of our faith.

And we obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ by putting on the helmet of the hope of our salvation.

Because again, all of this is a call to hope, right? The people who walk in darkness, the people who do not know

Christ, they have no hope. They're not looking forward to anything.

They just live as they live, and whatever pleasure they experience in this world, it terminates on the experience.

You know what I mean by that? So like, we have joy and fun and things like that for a moment, but then once those moments are over, where's the joy and the fun?

It's gone, right? It's fleeting. It terminates with the experience. Whereas we, as Christians, when we experience joy in this life, for us, it's a small taste of an even greater joy that we're going to experience when we're forever with God in glory.

So going back to the illustration that I made earlier of like, you know, you have a family member that's coming that you haven't seen for a long time, and so you're constantly checking and anticipating, when's my family member going to get here, my son or my daughter, my brother or sister or my parents or whoever it might be, as we are filled with that sort of a feeling.

So it is that we are filled with when it comes to anticipating the return of Christ. And as we experience joy with members of our family, with friends and family, you've experienced that with Thanksgiving, you know, a week ago, we have a

Christmas holiday season coming upon us, and so you're no doubt going to see lots of friends and family. You're going to enjoy good times.

You're going to enjoy some good food. You're going to share some memories, going to encourage one another over the gospel, I hope as well.

And these are good things. They develop for us good memories. And then remember this past Christmas season, right?

One of the devotionals that I did with my kids this past week in the reflection questions, it said, what was your favorite

Christmas? What was it about that Christmas that made Christmas so special? And the kids, you know,

Annie's had 13 Christmases now. All the rest have had just a few.

But as they're remembering back upon those Christmases that they've had, what was the best one? And what was it that made it so special?

Oh, there were presents, or there was traveling, there was food, but always family, right?

I remember when so -and -so did this, or I remember when mommy and daddy did this for us or something like that.

So there's always kind of that memory of family there. When we enjoy those things as friends and family, it's always a small taste of a greater joy that we're going to experience when we're forever with Christ in glory, right?

Even the gift of enjoying good food, that's a gift. God's given that to us to be enjoyed.

We can enjoy good food with one another. Praise God for taste buds, amen? Amen, all right.

Oh, yeah, we'll pray for you on that, too, yeah. Pray that Denise gets her taste buds back so she can enjoy some.

It's a gift. That's right. It's a gift. Smell, you know, you have those wonderful smells that fill the house before the food comes out.

But God has given us these wonderful senses, these good times around a table to be able to enjoy good food.

And it is literally a taste of even something greater that we're going to enjoy later because what do we read about regarding that time that we're going to be together with Christ forever in glory?

There's going to be a great feast, right? Revelation tells us about the wedding feast of the

Lamb. So we enjoy good feasting now, but it doesn't even compare to the great feast that we'll enjoy together around that wedding table at the wedding feast of the

Lamb when we join God forever in glory. So you see, for us as believers, how these small moments of joy that we experience now, it rolls up into praise to God, like,

God, thank you for this. I enjoy this. Thank you for this good food. Thank you for these friends and family that I enjoy these things with.

Come Lord Jesus, because I want this more. I want this in glory, the abundance that we'll get there, and it lasts forever.

And we'll never get our fill. We'll have bottomless stomachs there. It's just feasting with Christ forever in heaven above.

So those things that we enjoy on earth roll up into praise to God. It develops in us an anticipation of something even more than this.

But for those who don't know Christ, there's no hope. So those who don't know

Christ, what does a good experience do for them? It was fun for the experience. Now I have a good memory, but I can't ever get it back again.

And what's the anticipation? Hopefully, I get the chance to have another moment like this again. But eventually, everybody recognizes those moments run out.

They don't last forever. And even eventually, those moments are not as fulfilling as they once were before.

And so those who don't know Christ have no hope. Whatever joy or pleasure they experience terminates on the experience.

It doesn't roll up into praise or an expectation of anything else. And so we as Christians, we love those moments, we praise

God for those moments, and may it be something that draws our attention, our longing, our yearning, all the more toward the kingdom of God.

And we might even have this desire to see the kingdom of God expand, right? Let's bring more people to this table and share the gospel with others so that they may know, turn from your sin.

The judgment of God is coming upon this world of injustice and unrighteousness.

Turn from it. Turn to Jesus Christ. Come out of the darkness into the light.

Don't be wandering around stumbling in a drunken stupor anymore.

Wake up, come to Jesus, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Love the people of God, be with his church. As Tom had said in last week's sermon, church, it's heaven practice, right?

We get to experience a little bit of heaven when we get together and we sing the praises of God. We're gonna be doing that forever around God's throne in glory.

Come be part of this. Worship Christ the King. Look forward to his coming, and you have the promise of everlasting life with God.

All of these wonderful things that we look forward to, they even motivate us to wanna bring more people into the kingdom.

That they would not be of those who are drunk at night, but they would be of those who belong to the day, who have on the armor of faith and love for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

We've now filled a person with hope when they come to Christ, because no longer is it about what happens after this.

When's my next fix? When's my next moment come? When I die, what happens to me?

Now they're filled with the hope and anticipation of being with Christ. And look at verse nine, for God is not destined us for wrath.

Remember Paul saying to the Ephesians, that wrath is coming against the world of godless men.

But God is not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our

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

So once again, verse nine, I don't wanna move too quick out of that. But God is not destined us for wrath, so we're not part of the night.

We're not part of the judgment of God that is coming upon those who do unjustly, who do unrighteously, but we are to obtain salvation through our

Lord Jesus Christ. So it's almost as if going from 1 Thessalonians 4 .13 down to 5 .11,

verse nine, is Paul showing. See, we're not part of the group of people that's gonna come under judgment.

We're part of the group of people that Paul had talked about previously, who are going to be raptured out before that judgment.

And we will forever be with the Lord, right? And so we're not destined for wrath.

You have nothing to fear of the judgment of God that's coming upon the earth. We are destined to obtain salvation through our

Lord Jesus Christ. Looking again at chapter one of four, 1

Thessalonians 1 .4, for we know, brothers, loved by God, that he has what?

He's chosen you. Some of you might have, he's elected you. We know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you, not only in word, but also in power, and in the

Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. So back at the beginning of the letter, Paul had said, you're destined for salvation.

You've been chosen by God for salvation. And so here, coming back to it again, chapter five, verse nine,

God's not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 10, who died for us, message of the gospel, Christ died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him.

Now, this reference to asleep is different than like verse six. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

That's a different context. Verse 10, whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him. This is going back to chapter four, where Paul talks about that those who have preceded us in death, they're asleep, because their bodies even will be raised on that day when

Christ returns. They have fallen asleep. God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep, he said in verse 14.

So for all of us, whether we're awake, whether we are in the world, at the present, at the time when

Christ returns, or if we're asleep, if there's any of us who have preceded us in death, whether we're awake or asleep, we will live with him.

What comfort, right? Therefore, Paul says, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing.

We encourage one another with these words, and we build each other up with these words.

That's something that's continuous, that's ongoing. You're not just a foundation.

You're not just a half -finished building. You're continuing to be built up until we meet the

Lord forever in glory. Peter talks about in 1 Peter 2, how we are a house made with spiritual stones being built up as a house of worship unto the

Lord. And so we build each other up as we are being sanctified, and we help one another be sanctified.

Let's look at a closing parable here. Go to Matthew chapter 24. So Jesus mentions in Matthew 24, this is what's referred to as the

Olivet Discourse. Jesus talking to his disciples on the Mount of Olives about the signs of the destruction that's gonna come upon the temple, which he had told them about, and the signs of his coming.

And he says, concerning that day and hour, no one knows. That's chapter 24, verse 36.

Skipping down to verse 45, where we have this short parable. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?

You hear that? Who's the faithful and wise servant? God has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time.

What are we reading about there? Encouraging one another and building each other up, right?

We're all called to be stewards of God's house. What does 1 Timothy 3 .15 say that God's house is?

The church, right? House of God's the church. So the master has set us over his house.

His house is what? His house is the church. It's the ecclesia, it's the calling out.

It's the assembly of the people of God, right? So we all have a responsibility to one another. All of us are called to steward

God's house. And so who has the master appointed to steward his household, to give them the proper food at the proper time?

That's each and every Christian, every believer. We care for one another. We feed each other. We build each other up.

Okay, verse 46. Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

Doing what? Building each other up, taking care of the master's house, right?

We talked about being good servants. We're continuing to serve. We don't know when the master is gonna return, but whenever he comes, may he find us serving just as he instructed us to do before he left.

Verse 47. Truly I say to you, the master will set him, the servants over all of his possessions.

But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed, what do we hear about regarding the scoffers in 2

Peter 3, right? Where is this promise of his coming? So you have somebody who claims to be a follower of Christ.

They claim to be a servant of the Lord, and they say in their hearts, my master is delayed.

Verse 49. And he begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with who?

Drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day that he does not expect.

And at an hour, he does not know. And the master will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So when Christ returns, what will he find us doing? Will he find us continuing to care for his church, loving one another, building each other up in the promises and the instructions of the

Lord that he has given to us? Is that what Christ will find us doing when he comes?

Then what will be our reward? He'll set us over his entire household. We're fellow heirs with Christ, as it says in Titus 3 .5.

We get all the stuff the king gets. That's what we receive in Christ Jesus when

Christ returns and he finds us serving as he has called us to serve.

Or when Christ returns, will he find us not serving the household of God?

Instead, we become a friend of the world. We're eating and drinking with the drunkards of the world.

And what is our attitude toward the household of God? We're beating and persecuting who should be our brothers and sisters in the

Lord. We're slandering the house of God. We're critical of that house instead of taking care of it.

What will be the result of that wicked servant if Christ returns and finds us behaving in that way?

He will cut him into pieces and throw him out with the hypocrites. In that place, which is exactly the way hell is described, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So we've had here in this parable, a call to faithful service as compared to the one who does not serve faithfully and comes into judgment.

And so Paul has done the same in 1 Thessalonians chapters four and five. He has set before us that we have the promise of salvation for those who are in Christ and the promise of judgment upon those who are not in Christ.

So where will we be on that day that we stand before the Lord in glory?

Heavenly Father, thank you for what we've read. May we be encouraged by this. If there's anybody here that needs to be convicted, having heard about the judgment of God that is coming, may we turn from our sin to the

Lord Jesus Christ, seeking forgiveness. For as we are promised in 1

John 1, 9, if we ask forgiveness for our sins, God is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And may this be so that we may walk as children of light, being sober -minded, being as Christ, being found as faithful servants so that we may anticipate the return of the master and pray along with the

Apostle John, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Help us to be filled with hope by these words that we've read today.

And in this closing instruction, encouraging one another up and building each other up just as we have been doing.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. God bless you, go with the Lord. Thank you.