1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

We we've been meeting here since probably March, I think. We we started meeting in March every other week just to pray and have some worship songs. And that was just a very small group, and we wanted to spend a few months just praying before we even started the Bible study. And so we've been here since April or March. Right? March? I think it was March. Oh, February. February. So it's been a little bit of time. I I do have a card for Luke, Nolan, the owner of Forescore, and for his wife, Katie. So I'm gonna set this, at the back. When I'm done teaching, I'll have it back there with the sign ups. Just say thanks. I mean, he's given us a place for free to meet at for almost a a year now. So it's been a real gracious gift, from him to us and to the Lord. And so I just wanna say thank you to him, and ask that the Lord's blessing would be on Foursquare and his family. I know he's pregnant or she his wife's pregnant again. They have, number 4 on the way. So if you think about them, pray for Luke and Katie. Pray for 4 Score and, a big thank you to them. Sunday night, November 10th. And I say November 10th, like, it's a long ways out. It's not. It's just a few days. We're gonna be meeting at Dennis and Kathy Chavez's house. Hello over there. He's on words with friends right now. We're gonna be meeting over there at 6:30. I have that time correct. And we're gonna spend time, in prayer, in communion, and in planning. And there's just gonna be practical needs that come up. So after our time in prayer and after our time with communion, we're gonna just spend some practical moments together going. What does it what does it look like to start on a Sunday? There's a lot of stuff to do, to think about. And, it'll be our opportunity to really kind of say who's on first, who's on second, who's on 3rd. Dennis is preparing, an encouragement through the word and perhaps even a book, I think, that you might share a little bit. I don't know if you'll have the book thing or not. But I know that he has prepared just a little bit. And then Jeff's gonna be leading communion. And it's just gonna be a time for us to really get together and, kind of solidify who we are as a core team. And then, additionally, it's going to be our monthly book giveaway. I love to read when I have time, and, I would encourage you guys to read. It it's so helpful to read. Never stop reading. Right? So every month, if I can keep it up to, speed Katie. There's 2 versions. I have both versions. And one will be for the kids and one for will be for the adults. And we finished ours up this year with the kids, and I'm talking like little kids, and they absolutely loved it. So I I whenever I would say, hey. Do you guys wanna read a chapter? Yes. We wanna read a chapter. So if I have a copy of that, I'll be there too. So we need people to help with Foundry Kids. So across the way and where we're moving, it'll be right adjacent to us as well. There are kids that, Kim Thompson has lovingly prepared curriculum for. And so we need help with that. We just need you to sign up and give us a hand. It really is a very small commitment, but we want to have our kids well taken care of and informed. We're, repurposing the cardboard videos where it's an animation, with cardboard that Eric Werner did. He's graciously involved us in that that little cardboard ministry. And so it's really a biblical way to inform our kids, while we're being taught as well. So if you could sign up for that, that would be great. The sign up is back there, or you could email Taylor. Finally, long announcements. We had an election yesterday. Sure you all know that. I would say that we're all probably glad that it's over. No more texts. I have received more election texts than ever in my life. I don't know how they got my number. I've never given any money. Maybe I'll give money so they won't text me. I don't know how that works. But I wanted to say a couple things very quickly. First of all, where do we go from now? I think we actually do what we should have been doing before the election as well, and that's carrying on with a great commission, preaching the gospel, living a life that's on display for men and women to see and be drawn to the light of Christ's love in whatever spheres he's given us. Each one of us has a different sphere. So we should continue doing that and being Christians, in in a way that would have been going on before Tuesday night and will continue on when there isn't any Tuesday nights. When this world changes and things go up and down, we'll still be carrying on gospel work. The second thing that we should be doing is praying for our leaders. And I and I had already planned in some way to say this, whether it was Kamala Harris that would be our next president or whether it would be, Donald j Trump that would be our next president. So regardless of who's in the position, we need to pray for them. And, I am grateful for the policies that we can look forward to, in comparison, in some ways. I also know that we don't trust any vendor. And so we want to, pray for the incoming president, vice president. I'm sure you guys have seen it. If you haven't, there's been seats that have been flipped and flopped. And and, so we just wanna pray that the Lord would really, use government as the tool that it was scripturally intended to late just explicitly to hold back evil and to reward righteousness. And so whether that impacts the family or parental rights or abortion, or any of these things that are going on our country, we want to see government do what god's created government and the magistrates to do, which is to push back evil and promote righteousness in whatever context, in whatever way, that could happen. So let's pray for Luke. Let's pray for Donald Trump, Vance, that whole ticket. And, then we'll then we'll start in our lives. Father, we come before you in Jesus' name. And, Lord, we thank you for Luke Nolan. We thank you for Katie, their beautiful children, the one on the way. We pray that your hand would be on her physically, keeping her healthy. Lord, we just we ask that your hand would be on their business and that you would bless it, that you would provide for them. Thank you for their generosity and their their Christian, giving to us as a as a body of Christ. Lord, we pray for, president-elect Donald Trump, president-elect, or vice president-elect JD Vance. We pray for all of the, incoming, republican and democrat senators and representatives that will legislate and enforce are the laws of this nation. And we pray, Lord, that you would exalt righteousness in this country. Please, God, exalt righteousness. We pray for families, that you would protect families, that you would protect the unborn, that you would protect elderly, you would protect our borders, that you would protect the, the men and women who are so dedicated to making this country safe. And we ask that you would push back against evil with every tool that you have given in your word. Prayers of the saints, the the magistrates that wield the sword, by legislation or otherwise. We pray, lord god, that you would push back the wickedness that is constantly scratching to be a part of our culture and, this society. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Why don't we all stand? I have asked brother Lee to read from the scriptures tonight, so we'll all stand for 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. I'm sorry. 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 1 through 11. 1st Thessalonians 5 1 through 11. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written for to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a heat and a 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. Amen. Amen. Lord, we do ask that you would super naturally open up our eyes to to the wonder of your word. We believe that you can do that. We we humbly come and receive your word, giving it a place of good soil in our hearts and our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. K. You guys ready? Here we go. Basically, Paul, as we know, is on his second missionary trip. And the theme of Thessalonians, the letters to the Thessalonians there, both the first letter and the second letter, is basically be ready. Be ready. And we kind of looked at the divine outline, if you could, say it that way, from chapter 1, that says that it it was the things that Paul was so thankful were was for the the work of faith, the labor of love, and the steadfastness of hope. And we talked about their faith. We talked about brotherly love and also what was called love back then, but was actually just lust. And now we're talking about hope. And last week, we talked about the rapture. And how Christ was gonna going to come and meet us in the clouds, and our bodies will be changed forever in the twinkling of an eye. We talked about that wrap the rapture last week in chapter 4. And this week, we're gonna talk about what happens at the end of the world. And that's a big topic. And so I'm gonna get through this as quickly as I can. It's a big thing. But humans have always struggled. Philosophers have always struggled struggled. Historians have always struggled with that kind of end of the world question. Like, the ultimate question is, why are we here? Where what happens when I die, at the very end of the world? I'm not so I'm sorry. Not when I die, but at the end of the world. What what's the point of all this? What's the what's the purpose of human existence? Essentially, what is the meaning of life? And basically, if you whittle it all down, and this is very simplified. So, there's basically three world views of why are we here. And the first one is kind of like the circular world view. We could say that Hinduism is a part of this with reincarnation, new age, but it's this kind of never ending circle that never goes anywhere, and it always just keeps on going. There's no actual point of destination. You just reincarnate and come back as, you know, perhaps, if you're lucky, a cow. But it keeps on going. There's no real end to that. That's the circular one. The second one is basically naturalism, which is a straight line. And naturalism is, basically atheism, nihilism. There's there's nothing. There's no purpose. There's just a straight line. You die. Nothing happens to you, and this world just keeps on motoring along. There's no point of destination. There's no reason for life. Somehow we're recreate we're created by, mushy slop through evolution, and here we are and we're gonna die and there's no point to anything. Richard we we know Richard Dawkins, the the famous atheist. Put it this way, evolution has no long term goal. There's no long distance target. So final perfection and and no final perfection to serve as a criteria. There's just nowhere. There's nowhere to go except straight along this line, and there's no arrival anywhere. Then there's the biblical world view. So circular, linear line. Then there's the biblical worldview where it is directly in opposition of those things. God does have a plan. We are going somewhere. This is not the end, and this brings hope. I mean, Richard Dawkins was a depressed person as he would describe, like, the philosophical or the metaphysical reasons that lie behind evolution. There is none. It's really depressing. Likewise, circular. I mean, goodness gracious. That is that's the ongoing nothingness. But God says, hey, through scripture there's another way. And that that it brings us hope. We actually know that there's a plan. And it gives us significance. That that's why people who are more prone to evolution, have a less inherent dignity for humanity. There has been no greater threat to human existence than communism. And those men who led communism, particularly in the 20th century where, millions upon millions upon tens of millions of people were murdered. Whether it be through Joseph Stalin and Lenin and communist Russia, whether it's through Mao Zedong and China, Pol Pot, Cuba. I mean, there's never been a greater, threat because they don't have an inherent dignity for humanity. And but God would say, we are significant. We are going somewhere and that somewhere has been identified by God. And and this movement through time that we call human history, there's a central figure. And that central figure is Jesus Christ. So God has a plan. We have a point of destination. The central figure in God's plan is Jesus Christ. I'm kinda just giving the general beginnings of what we're gonna be talking about. But his first coming was in humility. So that he would die for our sins and give us a hope and rise again to, to give us and him eternal life. And after his first coming, he ascended to heaven and promised to come back. That's part of the plan. But here's the deal. The next time he comes back is not in humility. He comes in glory. He doesn't come to die. He comes to reign. He doesn't come to rescue. He comes to condemn and judge. You see, the second coming of Jesus Christ is where history is headed. That's where this whole plan is going. That's what brings us hope. And and Paul said, not only is it a hope, but it's a steadfast hope. It makes us steady in our minds. We we we're not just like, I am a piece of biological, elements all mushed together. There's no point. There's no purpose. Who am I? We don't have to think like that. The end has been eternally designed by god with an with absolute detail that he gives us through scripture. And so we can look to scripture and go, there's hope. There's there's direction in my life. I don't have to just be bubbling along. But to sum it up and to simplify, history is headed toward what the bible calls the day of the lord. Okay? The day of the lord. And this is a technical term used in scripture to define the final judgment. And sometimes in our mind we think, oh, the day of the lord is this one day or I mean, it's hard to even use the word day when we talk about this because god does not work in 24 hours. But we think of it as as an immediate happening. But the day of the lord is actually, the process by which it goes from man's day where we're essentially, in this world making our own decisions, to to the lord's day where we no longer have that that ability. And it's a it's a day of cataclysmic judgment. It's a it's a it's a period of absolute destruction and death and judgment. And judgment will fall on anyone who has not repented of their sins and embrace Jesus Christ as lord and savior. What we do with Jesus determines our eternal history. Or I'm sorry, our eternal destiny. But all of humanity is working in this plan to this point where it says this is the day of the lord. So there's a plan. God has a plan, and we can all read that. But the first question that always comes up is when? When's the day of the lord coming? And it's probably not the best question, but it's the most common. When Jesus was talking his disciples on the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, his disciples said this. And it says in Matthew 24, as he sat on the Mount of Olives, we call that the mount or the Olivet Discourse. The disciples came to Jesus privately saying, tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign of your coming of the end of the age? When? When is it gonna happen? Then after Jesus is resurrected in Acts chapter 1, Jesus is getting ready to leave. And so it says in Acts chapter 1 verse 7, so when they had come together they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. Everyone's no way. Paul here is dealing with the same question. Verse 1, chapter 5. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. Everybody wants to know when. And there's a few humans who thought they did know when. And those dates have come and gone and they've explained it away in this way or that way, and we all chuckle and we go, haven't you read the bible? We don't know when it's gonna come, but that's the first thing on our mind. And and instead, Paul responds in a situation in this situation that the solution to their problem does not lie in knowing the date. They wanna know when and he's going I already there's no need for me to write anything on that. When Paul? That's not the solution to your problem. And instead of answering the question the way that those asking wanted it to be answered, both Jesus and Paul both turned the question into the opportunity to talk about how are we supposed to live right now as we wait. Jesus did it every single time. Paul did it every single time. You wanna talk about the date? I wanna talk about how you're gonna live as you live up to that date. Here's the one of the reasons. Sometimes when we act and when these people were asking or when we ask them, well, when when is it? It actually reveals that we're heavenly minded for the wrong reasons. You might say, well, John, you're that's ridiculous. I don't know. Have you ever thought to yourself, oh, lord just take me home. I can't stand no blame. Or you might see a policy that's been passed or your there might be an actual real suffering. And and we wanna go to heaven just to get the thing over with. That's one that's heavenly minded for the wrong reason. Think about the disciples. Why did they want heaven on earth? Because they wanted to no longer be in a rule class, but in the ruling class. They would tie all the Romans over them and so they said, is the kingdom coming? Is heaven coming? Because I am tired of taking orders and I wanna start giving them. So we could be heavenly minded for the wrong reasons. And that's often why people concentrate on the date so much. I mean, think of the most recent ones in the 20th century or the 21st century where people I think they they they wanna have the prestige of calling it out. April 8th or remember remember 2000? The year 2000? Yeah. What was that called? Y 2 k. Yeah. Y 2 k. Yes. It's gonna be happening. Y 2 k. People have tripped over that for for centuries. The better question is, isn't when, but are you ready? That's a whole theme of Thessalonians. Are you ready for And and Paul is pastoring these people through their questions about what was on the horizon and what would happen at the end. He was pastoring. He loved these people, and so he's pastoring through them. And although the subject was the end times, Paul's pastoral reason for writing was get ready. Be ready. Don't be sleeping. Don't be slumbering. Don't be, drunk or or or lacking sobriety. He wanted them to know what was happening so that they would know how to walk through it successfully. I would say we're closer to Christ's return and rapture than we were than Paul was at the time of readiness. Right? We can all say amen. No debate on that at all. But the the intensity of wanting to know when think about all the doctrinal issues that have come up because of this. Postmill, premill, a mill. We're gonna go through some of those things. That's why you see this. Pre trib. Where are we gonna go? When are we gonna go? And it sometimes gets ahead of how should I be living right now? What do I need to do right now? And in this context, these people were extremely persecuted. So you could identify with them why they wanted to get out of town permanently. They were suffering. They were dying. And they were concerned that those who died, first, would have missed the rapture. That was last week. Secondly, they also believed that they had not only missed the rapture, but they were actually living in the judgment. Like, if your house started to get opened up at night by the authorities and you looked up and it was the blue helmet, The UN's there knocking on your door, and you're like, they're pulling you out. They're murdering people in your family because of the you're gonna think this is the judgment. This is the end times. That's what they did. If we if you keep your finger in first Thessalonians but go over to second Thessalonians chapter 2. 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. These people thought they were in the judgment. Because Paul writes to them in verse 1, he says, now concerning the coming of our lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you brothers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or by spoken word or a letter seemingly become from us to the effect that the day of the lord has come. Why why would he have to tell them that? They were scared. They thought the day of the lord had come. They thought judgment had come, but it hadn't. That's when you know it gets real when you think you missed the bus. Right? Is there anybody here I know you younger people would have, but have anybody here watched thief in the night? The series thief in the night? Anybody? Oh, my goodness. I still have PTSD. So I drove in the East Coast where we were behind California about 20 years. But the thief in the night is, like, you know, it's end times movie and the and the alarm clock is ringing. And and, you know, the the water's running and somebody has been, you know, taken away, and, Jesus is coming back and the and the tribulation has started. Okay? And, of course, they showed it to us when we're vulnerable, you know, junior junior hires. And, you know, I was like, you know, I'm gonna miss the rapture not the rapture. I'm gonna I'm gonna be here when the tribulation comes. And so all of us teens were, like, scared stiff, you know. We're, like, is this manipulation? But I don't know. But sometimes we wanna know when so that we can be actually just living when he comes back the way that we ought to. Right? As teenagers, we're like, I can remember a thing in it. You know, I I definitely wanna be living right when he comes back. But again, remember, the better question is, are you ready? And Paul connects eschatology, and it's a word for the end times, to practical daily service and application and action. And that's what we're gonna attempt to do tonight. So I know that's it's not quite a lead in. I wouldn't call it an intro. It's kind of an intro. It paints the picture in a way that we can really understand what these people are going through. They thought they were in the day of the judgment, but that's not what's happening. And so he says in verse 1, now concerning and that that is our identifier that means we've started another topic. He's used this now a number of times. Chapter 4 verse, 9, he says, now concerning brotherly love. He this is the 4th time that he's used this phrase or something similar to it to say, I'm transitioning from the last topic, which was when the Christians got snatched away in the rapture, and now we're gonna talk about the day of the Lord and judgment. 2 different subjects implicated by that phrase. And I wanna I wanna take a moment. Have you ever found yourself wondering, like, about end times and you go, what really is the timeline? You kinda wanna see it. So I'm just gonna I'm gonna identify, and I'm not gonna normally do this, so don't think I'm too big of a nerd. But anyway, so I'm gonna come down here. And there's can't do that with a right arm yet. So there's 4 main ideas of millennial rule. Right? When when the the day of the war is. We're not gonna go through all of them, but we're gonna kinda identify just just briefly what they are so we know what's what's going on here. So here is the start of the church age. Okay? We're just gonna call that the church age. I'm gonna put a c. Definitely can't bend my shoulder that way. I'm gonna be writing with my left hand. That's a c. That's the church age. Okay? Then we're we're traveling down here. This is called amillenialism. And here is the day of the Lord, day of Lord, d o l. Okay? And I'll move just from side to side. So you have the church age. This whole timeline here including from Paul and the apostles to now till, the the the, tribulation is included in that. We'll we'll put trib in here. The day of the lord is down here and then and then after that is eternity. I'm just gonna write an e. Amillennialism puts the rapture, in this portion right here and directly before the day of the Lord, God judges the righteous and the wicked. Amillennialism means we are in the millennial period right now, leading up to the day of the Lord. K? All millennials. We're in the millennial kingdom right now. There's no specific 1000 year reign that Jesus physically comes back to. And I sure hope we're not in the millennial kingdom right now. K? I'm gonna let you know that what we're going to teach tonight, the eraser, is where did that eraser go? So this is all millennialism. Okay? Actually, I'm a leap trip here. Paid award there. Eternity. Postmillennialism is basically a line that goes like this, crescend showing the crescendo of the impact of the church. So we have the church age going all the way through in the tribulation of judgment. Crescendoing in to the fact that the church has made such massive improvements in culture and in society, that it literally paves the way for Christ to return. K? This is postmillennialism. There's no, specific 1000 year reign. Physically, Jesus does not come back. And day by day we get closer and closer and closer to the day of the Lord when Jesus returns because we as Christians have taken dominion. Dominion theology can come out of this. And I wanna say this right upfront, these are all orthodox views, and there are men and women that hold each one of these views that you would be blown away. You'd go, I can't believe they think that. And they all love the Lord, and they're all contained in orthodoxy. And so we would say all these are very very acceptable, views. Doug Wilson is a postmillennialist. Okay? There's some amillennialists that, you know, often are found in the reformed circle. Men that we just absolutely love, that I would consider, some of the greatest minds that I've ever thought. I don't agree with them. But the reality of this, they love God, they love his word, and they've come up with amillennialism or postmillennialism. Postmillennialism. So, those two those two views of end times and the day of the lord, judgment that whole time of judgment, we're here for. Christians go through the tribulation up to the day of the Lord. I don't wanna be here that maybe that's the reason why I'm, pre trib, just because I don't wanna be here during that. But both of those views view the tribulation as concurrent with the church on earth. K? Those are some of the big differences. Then there is premillennialism. K? And there's 2 types we're only gonna go over. 1, premillennialism. And in premillen premillenialism, we have the church age, and I'm gonna try to get down here so you guys can see it. We have the church age, then we have the rapture where believers go up. I'm gonna put an r there. So church age is right here. That's what we're living in. The rapture happens with 7 year this is all left handed. It's amazing. 7 year tribulation, literal 7 year tribulation, after which Christ comes down. K? Then we have a 1000 years literal reigning of Christ. I'm not getting into too much detail. You see how if you know the bible, you know that I'm reading somehow. Armageddon, Gog, and Magog. A 1000 year physical reign of Christ, on earth, and then Armageddon. And, the Christ comes and destroys all of his enemies with the word of his mouth. We all go to the new heavens and the new earth, eternity. K? So why do I bring this all up? Because the day of the lord in premillennialism is everything from the rapture to Christ coming down. K? That whole process is the day of the Lord. It's divine judgment against the earth. And I don't know if this was helpful or not, but whenever I try to visualize this, I always am benefited by a chart. So basically, the day of the Lord in premillennialism, including pre tribulation, because the church is going up to be with Jesus before the tribulation. If you're premillennial, you're automatically pre trib. It's part of the deal. You get it as a package deal. 2 for 2 for 1 right there. I'm both all four views are are absolute all three views are absolutely acceptable. And people love the Lord right now and and do all those things. John MacArthur is premillennial. Most Calvary Chapels are premillennial. John Piper, you know, there there's some other guys that are post I'm sorry, amillennialists. John Piper is an amillennialist. He thinks we're in the millennial. So so there's some really current and past figures. I would say that postmillennialism is probably the oldest view that most, early church fathers would have taken. And honestly, I think because they were looking at it going, I know someday we're just the Christianity is just gonna take over, and we're gonna be, you know, the magistrates are gonna be Christian, and someday Jesus is gonna come back and we'll have taken, dominion. And and but they didn't have 2,000 years under their belt of absolute wickedness post Christ's resurrection. Right? So it makes sense to me why early church people were were post millennialists. Dominion Theology guys, they were like, this is great. Christianity is spreading like wildfire. Preach it, pre millennials, day of the Lord is this divine judgment of God. Here is the white throne judgment. Basically, on every single view where God puts into hell and into the new heavens and the earth, the sheep and the goats respectively. K? But this is the tribulation. This is the day of the Lord. This is divine judgment against those who have not repented. I go in through all of that because I think I think it's important, and we're gonna jump back in again now. Okay? Because this that's gonna help us view the whole rest of the bible study. Now concerning the times and the seasons brothers, you have no need to have anyone or anything written to you. And Paul uses the word times and seasons there. It's the same exact words that Christ used in acts. And the idea was it it it really was defining 2 different ways to view this. The first word time means, literal time. It's where we get our word chronology from. The Greek word is Kronos, and it's literally periods of time. The second word is keros, and that would be more of like seasons. Things seasons identified by, unique characteristics. So he's saying periods of time and seasons or or or, seasons marked by those characteristic things. And Henry Morris, one of the commentators said, the times have to do with the chronology of future periods and the seasons with the characteristics of those periods. And so these people are curious about not only the timing, like the chronology, but they're curious about what it's gonna be like. The events of the end, the seasons that mark the end of time. And Paul says, basically, you don't need any more info on that. Jesus said the same thing. It's not for you to know the times or seasons. Like, you don't know the date and you're not gonna know exactly what happens. Verse 2 he says, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. So he's saying, I don't need to write to you exactly about the times. I don't need to write exactly about the characteristics of those things, although he fills in some of those gaps in Revelation, in Matthew 24, in Old Testament. But what he does say is I'm gonna give you some things that you can be certain of, and one of them is that, there there is the day of the Lord coming. Judgment is coming. And again, that day of the lord is that 7 year period where god will judge an unbelieving world, and it will be devastating. And those are left on earth will be unprepared and unable to escape it. So we're not certain of a few things, but we are certain of some other things. First of all, Jesus is coming to judge the unbelievers and that you'll not escape. 2nd Thessalonians 17 through 9 says, when the lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Judgment the whole point that Paul's making here is judgment is coming. This is not a popular topic, but literally, I think it's helpful for us as Christians not only to know about it, but to to incorporate that into the way that we view the people around us. If people don't know Christ, there is judgment waiting for them. Matthew 25, Jesus is speaking, verses 31 through 32. He says, when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. We are certain. Although we can't be certain of the day, we are certain that Christ is going to come and judge people to eternal hell or eternal heaven. Second thing that we can be certain of is it's it's gonna be unexpected for believers. Verse 2 says, 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. So you can remember in the first section last week of the rapture, Christ takes up the church and then the 7 year tribulation comes. And and it's gonna be sudden. People are gonna not even know what hit them as these plagues, and devastation, and judgment, and divine wrath comes from God. All those who have rejected God and are living life as though there was no judgment or judge, those who have rejected God as law will be absolutely stunned. Think of the world at large right now. Who's like, dude, you guys are nuts. You're you're stupid to believe that there's gonna be somebody come back in the sky, in the clouds, in the puffy clouds, and he's gonna and he's gonna make make rules that if you don't follow him, he gets to judge. They they think we're ludicrous. They think we're crazy. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They really don't think that this is gonna happen. Happen. But Jesus again in Matthew 24 verses 36 through 39 said, but concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the son, but the father only. 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 away, so will be the coming of the son of man. And we will put that coming right here at the end of the tribulation. They're like, we're we're not expecting it. We don't think it's gonna come. We hate God. We've given him everything that we can to fight against his existence and ruin our life. But have you noticed this? People have no idea what is coming. And I wanna say this, part of the gospel is telling people that there is an end coming. And we do not want them receiving the wrath of God. We we literally care about them enough that we'll make ourself awkward or put ourself in positions that we wouldn't normally be in to tell them that Jesus is coming back and God's wrath is coming with him. I don't wanna go through that. I am very hopeful that God is pre trib as well. But then he goes on to say Paul says, but you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. Listen as he goes on. For you are all children of the light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So let us not sleep as other 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, a hope of salvation. You notice the pronouns being used. Yes. Pronouns are important. While people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains, and they will not escape. But you, pronouns, Rich, that he's talking about them, and now he talks about us, believers. And he defines an essential difference. They are of the darkness. We are of the light. It's important to see that this day that that is being described here is not for believers. Believers will see it coming because we'll be leading up to that time. And I will say, I do believe it's going to get very dark for believers here before the rapture. I'm not thinking we're getting all scot free by any means. But we're gonna be seeing the day of the Lord come, but our our nature is different. We are light, they are dark. And the wrath of God is reserved for those who are of the darkness. I don't think Paul's earlier sentiments of comfort would be all that comforting comforting if they in fact needed to be bracing themselves to receive the wrath of God. 1st Thessalonians 1. We we this is all in the same book that we've been studying. 1st Thessalonians 1 says, he's Paul is talking and says, and to wait for his son from heaven. We're waiting for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. We're the whole the whole comforting impact of Paul's teaching was like, you're not gonna experience God's wrath. Those people who are of a different nature, light versus dark, are the ones that are going to be experiencing God's wrath. My intent isn't to if you're not pretreated or pretrial, talk you into it. I really, honestly, genuinely don't care. I really have come to realize the value in all of those positions. And, I'm actually going to post on Facebook, a wonderful conversation with John Piper, Doug Wilson, and Jim Hamilton. Jim Hamilton is my professor, of New Testament Theology, and he is a millennial I'm sorry. He is premillennialism. K? It's a wonderful conversation. John Piper is an amillennialist, and Doug Wilson is a postmillennialist. This is great. They make great cases for it. I don't buy in John Piper's, but goodness gracious, he's a giant in the faith. He loves the lord. I'm not here talk you into one or the other. But what I am saying is we went through the certainties of some of those things, but one of the most important things for us is we have to act like who we are. We are of the right. Our essential nature is different and so we have to act like that. Basically, be ready and live like you're ready to go to heaven. And I really think this is the author's intent, that authorial intent that they will always try to get to. Why did Paul write this? I think he seems to want them to be ready. He's like, guys don't fall asleep. This information must lead us to action. You can picture the the drunken soldier that that Paul is kind of referring to carousing and drunk and not ready for battle. Unlike those in darkness who are laying around and unaware of what's on the horizon, believers are to be living in the light of Jesus' return and equipped with the armor of God. As God's soldiers, we can't look like we're a derelict soldier who's drunk at night. Friends, judgement day is coming to this earth. And although we're not gonna be a part of it, in my humble opinion, we ought to act like we care about those who are. And it is gonna get more and more and more wicked as that day approaches. But I wanna take a look at Paul's command. Wait. Wait. To find the difference between their essential natures of lightness and darkness, he says to them, be awake, be sober, and put on the armor of God. I'm gonna go through this really quick because I we're I need to back it up really quick. Be awake. That Greek word meant to watch or give strict attention to. To be cautious and active. Be awake, as a Christian, he's saying. Be sober. This needs to be calm and collected in spirit. I want you to ask yourself if Kamala Harris was president-elect, would you be sober? Some of you are thinking, I ain't sober because Trump is elected. Put it in whatever camp you want. I don't care. Listen. There's things that are gonna happen in our day and age that we can get worked up about. And Paul is saying, be sober. It's the idea of a a soldier seeing an enemy coming. And I I I wanna be clear. Any any political party that advocates relentlessly for the death of children, it needs to be pushed back as far as we possibly could in every way that we possibly could. So but what I'm what I'm trying to say is that as a soldier, if you're on the battlefield and you saw an enemy coming, and you just began to shake and shimmy, and you're scared, and you're you're you're not sober, you're not calm, that word in Greek meant calm and collected in spirit. Listen, we're not gonna experience God's wrath. I don't know which one of these is completely accurate because I'm not God. But I know that we're not gonna experience God's wrath. We don't need to be shaking around just because of what we see on horizon. I don't care who's the present. That's not our world. And so we we can't be I'm sober. We can't be asleep. We do need to put on the armor of God. I'm skipping a few notes that I have, because we do need to wrap it up. He closes this section by saying, therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. Encourage one another and build one another up. That's what studying and knowing more about end times should lead to. It shouldn't lead to, like, end times websites with flames and, like, Star Trek conventions of people going to powwow on their favorite millennial ideas. That's not what it should lead to. It shouldn't lead to division. It should lead to us going, hey, brother, sister, I love you. Let's stay awake. Let's be sober. Let's not be uncalled in our spirit no matter what dragon is pulling up above the horizon there. It shouldn't lead us to debates and wrangling about pre, mid, post trip, or superfluous arguments. That's not the point. These Thessalonians were doing what they needed to do, and they were a great church. Obeying Christ and following Paul's example, but there was more. And so I'm gonna give you real briefly what it is that he was saying do more. First of all, encourage Jesus has taken your sin and punishment. You will not be a recipient of God's wrath. You know, the other day, Ezra got in trouble. He's our youngest. And I brought him in the bathroom, and I had the spoon. And I could tell that he was pretty repentant, so I said, hey, buddy. I'm gonna smack my leg, and I want you to pretend to cry. You're not you're not gonna get a little spanked this time. You know? So I did that, and he looked at me like, oh, I'm so thankful that I didn't get spanked this time. I often think to myself about that and that idea. And I and I would encourage you, as Paul encouraged them, be thankful that Christ is taking your punishment. I don't think we think about that enough as Christians. Christ bore what you deserve. And when we see the wrath of God come down on an unbelieving world, we can say thank you, Jesus. You took mine because I deserve that. I deserve a real spank, but I'm not gonna get it. You are of the day. Stop sleeping in the middle of the day. Your essence, my essence, our essence as believers is contrary to young believers, as much as day is different than night. And just like it's weird, you know, I was a job and I or if I was the boss and I came onto a construction site and there's people sleeping on the job site, what do you think I would do? I would say you're fired. That's weird for Christians to fall asleep in the middle of the day. We need to be aware of what's going on. Christians, we're not in this cycle. We're not in a linear line. We have a point of destination. There is meaning. There is purpose. And sleepers are unaware of what's going on around them. And Paul says to stay awake. Stay awake and pay attention to what's going on. Not the stock market and election and football fantasy and all the current fashion trends and what your friends are doing or not doing on social media. No. The strict attention is to what god is doing, what god's plans are. So I wanna encourage you to stay awake by closing your eyes. Now you might think that that's a an oxymoron, but Jesus said watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. I just wanna say this. I am literally closing. So Horatio and Taylor are a moment. If you want to stay awake, like Paul was encouraging the Thessalonians, you need to make a prayer list. Stay awake by closing your eyes. Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. Prayer is a part of staying awake. Make a prayer list. We have to get practical in these end times. If you don't have a prayer list for your family, make one. Put it on your your phone or whatever it is. Sunday night prayer, November 10th at the Chavez'. Pray with your spouse at night before you go to bed. Sometimes you guys will be bickering and you're like, I didn't pray on him. I didn't pray on her. Get over it. Pray with your spouse at night. Pray with your kids. Pray in the spirit. If you want your eyes to be open and you wanna stay awake and you wanna have the armor of god in these last days as we see the day of the Lord approaching, pray. Stay awake by closing your eyes. I probably skipped the 4 pages. Okay. I won't punish you anymore by being here late. So I wanna close in prayer. Hopefully, this has been helpful for you. I am so glad that I can rejoice with you that Jesus Christ took our sin and our punishment, and that I will not experience the wrath of God and neither would you. So, father, we come before you in Jesus' name.

March? I think it was March. Oh, February. February. So it's been a little bit of time.

I I do have a card for Luke, Nolan, the owner of Forescore, and for his wife, Katie. So I'm gonna set this, at the back. When I'm done teaching, I'll have it back there with the sign ups. Just say thanks. I mean, he's given us a place for free to meet at for almost a a year now.

So it's been a real gracious gift, from him to us and to the Lord. And so I just wanna say thank you to him, and ask that the Lord's blessing would be on Foursquare and his family. I know he's pregnant or she his wife's pregnant again. They have, number 4 on the way. So if you think about them, pray for Luke and Katie.

Pray for 4 Score and, a big thank you to them. Sunday night, November 10th. And I say November 10th, like, it's a long ways out. It's not. It's just a few days.

We're gonna be meeting at Dennis and Kathy Chavez's house. Hello over there. He's on words with friends right now. We're gonna be meeting over there at 6:30. I have that time correct.

And we're gonna spend time, in prayer, in communion, and in planning. And there's just gonna be practical needs that come up. So after our time in prayer and after our time with communion, we're gonna just spend some practical moments together going. What does it what does it look like to start on a Sunday? There's a lot of stuff to do, to think about.

And, it'll be our opportunity to really kind of say who's on first, who's on second, who's on 3rd. Dennis is preparing, an encouragement through the word and perhaps even a book, I think, that you might share a little bit. I don't know if you'll have the book thing or not. But I know that he has prepared just a little bit. And then Jeff's gonna be leading communion.

And it's just gonna be a time for us to really get together and, kind of solidify who we are as a core team. And then, additionally, it's going to be our monthly book giveaway. I love to read when I have time, and, I would encourage you guys to read. It it's so helpful to read. Never stop reading.

Right? So every month, if I can keep it up to, speed Katie. There's 2 versions. I have both versions. And one will be for the kids and one for will be for the adults.

And we finished ours up this year with the kids, and I'm talking like little kids, and they absolutely loved it. So I I whenever I would say, hey. Do you guys wanna read a chapter? Yes. We wanna read a chapter.

So if I have a copy of that, I'll be there too. So we need people to help with Foundry Kids. So across the way and where we're moving, it'll be right adjacent to us as well. There are kids that, Kim Thompson has lovingly prepared curriculum for. And so we need help with that.

We just need you to sign up and give us a hand. It really is a very small commitment, but we want to have our kids well taken care of and informed. We're, repurposing the cardboard videos where it's an animation, with cardboard that Eric Werner did. He's graciously involved us in that that little cardboard ministry. And so it's really a biblical way to inform our kids, while we're being taught as well.

So if you could sign up for that, that would be great. The sign up is back there, or you could email Taylor. Finally, long announcements. We had an election yesterday. Sure you all know that.

I would say that we're all probably glad that it's over. No more texts. I have received more election texts than ever in my life. I don't know how they got my number. I've never given any money.

Maybe I'll give money so they won't text me. I don't know how that works. But I wanted to say a couple things very quickly. First of all, where do we go from now? I think we actually do what we should have been doing before the election as well, and that's carrying on with a great commission, preaching the gospel, living a life that's on display for men and women to see and be drawn to the light of Christ's love in whatever spheres he's given us.

Each one of us has a different sphere. So we should continue doing that and being Christians, in in a way that would have been going on before Tuesday night and will continue on when there isn't any Tuesday nights. When this world changes and things go up and down, we'll still be carrying on gospel work. The second thing that we should be doing is praying for our leaders. And I and I had already planned in some way to say this, whether it was Kamala Harris that would be our next president or whether it would be, Donald j Trump that would be our next president.

So regardless of who's in the position, we need to pray for them. And, I am grateful for the policies that we can look forward to, in comparison, in some ways. I also know that we don't trust any vendor. And so we want to, pray for the incoming president, vice president. I'm sure you guys have seen it.

If you haven't, there's been seats that have been flipped and flopped. And and, so we just wanna pray that the Lord would really, use government as the tool that it was scripturally intended to late just explicitly to hold back evil and to reward righteousness. And so whether that impacts the family or parental rights or abortion, or any of these things that are going on our country, we want to see government do what god's created government and the magistrates to do, which is to push back evil and promote righteousness in whatever context, in whatever way, that could happen. So let's pray for Luke. Let's pray for Donald Trump, Vance, that whole ticket.

And, then we'll then we'll start in our lives. Father, we come before you in Jesus' name. And, Lord, we thank you for Luke Nolan. We thank you for Katie, their beautiful children, the one on the way. We pray that your hand would be on her physically, keeping her healthy.

Lord, we just we ask that your hand would be on their business and that you would bless it, that you would provide for them. Thank you for their generosity and their their Christian, giving to us as a as a body of Christ. Lord, we pray for, president-elect Donald Trump, president-elect, or vice president-elect JD Vance. We pray for all of the, incoming, republican and democrat senators and representatives that will legislate and enforce are the laws of this nation. And we pray, Lord, that you would exalt righteousness in this country.

Please, God, exalt righteousness. We pray for families, that you would protect families, that you would protect the unborn, that you would protect elderly, you would protect our borders, that you would protect the, the men and women who are so dedicated to making this country safe. And we ask that you would push back against evil with every tool that you have given in your word. Prayers of the saints, the the magistrates that wield the sword, by legislation or otherwise. We pray, lord god, that you would push back the wickedness that is constantly scratching to be a part of our culture and, this society.

And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Why don't we all stand? I have asked brother Lee to read from the scriptures tonight, so we'll all stand for 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. I'm sorry.

1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 1 through 11. 1st Thessalonians 5 1 through 11. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written for to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a heat and a 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. Amen. Amen. Lord, we do ask that you would super naturally open up our eyes to to the wonder of your word.

We believe that you can do that. We we humbly come and receive your word, giving it a place of good soil in our hearts and our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. K.

You guys ready? Here we go. Basically, Paul, as we know, is on his second missionary trip. And the theme of Thessalonians, the letters to the Thessalonians there, both the first letter and the second letter, is basically be ready. Be ready.

And we kind of looked at the divine outline, if you could, say it that way, from chapter 1, that says that it it was the things that Paul was so thankful were was for the the work of faith, the labor of love, and the steadfastness of hope. And we talked about their faith. We talked about brotherly love and also what was called love back then, but was actually just lust. And now we're talking about hope. And last week, we talked about the rapture.

And how Christ was gonna going to come and meet us in the clouds, and our bodies will be changed forever in the twinkling of an eye. We talked about that wrap the rapture last week in chapter 4. And this week, we're gonna talk about what happens at the end of the world. And that's a big topic. And so I'm gonna get through this as quickly as I can.

It's a big thing. But humans have always struggled. Philosophers have always struggled struggled. Historians have always struggled with that kind of end of the world question. Like, the ultimate question is, why are we here?

Where what happens when I die, at the very end of the world? I'm not so I'm sorry. Not when I die, but at the end of the world. What what's the point of all this? What's the what's the purpose of human existence?

Essentially, what is the meaning of life? And basically, if you whittle it all down, and this is very simplified. So, there's basically three world views of why are we here. And the first one is kind of like the circular world view. We could say that Hinduism is a part of this with reincarnation, new age, but it's this kind of never ending circle that never goes anywhere, and it always just keeps on going.

There's no actual point of destination. You just reincarnate and come back as, you know, perhaps, if you're lucky, a cow. But it keeps on going. There's no real end to that. That's the circular one.

The second one is basically naturalism, which is a straight line. And naturalism is, basically atheism, nihilism. There's there's nothing. There's no purpose. There's just a straight line.

You die. Nothing happens to you, and this world just keeps on motoring along. There's no point of destination. There's no reason for life. Somehow we're recreate we're created by, mushy slop through evolution, and here we are and we're gonna die and there's no point to anything.

Richard we we know Richard Dawkins, the the famous atheist. Put it this way, evolution has no long term goal. There's no long distance target. So final perfection and and no final perfection to serve as a criteria. There's just nowhere.

There's nowhere to go except straight along this line, and there's no arrival anywhere. Then there's the biblical world view. So circular, linear line. Then there's the biblical worldview where it is directly in opposition of those things. God does have a plan.

We are going somewhere. This is not the end, and this brings hope. I mean, Richard Dawkins was a depressed person as he would describe, like, the philosophical or the metaphysical reasons that lie behind evolution. There is none. It's really depressing.

Likewise, circular. I mean, goodness gracious. That is that's the ongoing nothingness. But God says, hey, through scripture there's another way. And that that it brings us hope.

We actually know that there's a plan. And it gives us significance. That that's why people who are more prone to evolution, have a less inherent dignity for humanity. There has been no greater threat to human existence than communism. And those men who led communism, particularly in the 20th century where, millions upon millions upon tens of millions of people were murdered.

Whether it be through Joseph Stalin and Lenin and communist Russia, whether it's through Mao Zedong and China, Pol Pot, Cuba. I mean, there's never been a greater, threat because they don't have an inherent dignity for humanity. And but God would say, we are significant. We are going somewhere and that somewhere has been identified by God. And and this movement through time that we call human history, there's a central figure.

And that central figure is Jesus Christ. So God has a plan. We have a point of destination. The central figure in God's plan is Jesus Christ. I'm kinda just giving the general beginnings of what we're gonna be talking about.

But his first coming was in humility. So that he would die for our sins and give us a hope and rise again to, to give us and him eternal life. And after his first coming, he ascended to heaven and promised to come back. That's part of the plan. But here's the deal.

The next time he comes back is not in humility. He comes in glory. He doesn't come to die. He comes to reign. He doesn't come to rescue.

He comes to condemn and judge. You see, the second coming of Jesus Christ is where history is headed. That's where this whole plan is going. That's what brings us hope. And and Paul said, not only is it a hope, but it's a steadfast hope.

It makes us steady in our minds. We we we're not just like, I am a piece of biological, elements all mushed together. There's no point. There's no purpose. Who am I?

We don't have to think like that. The end has been eternally designed by god with an with absolute detail that he gives us through scripture. And so we can look to scripture and go, there's hope. There's there's direction in my life. I don't have to just be bubbling along.

But to sum it up and to simplify, history is headed toward what the bible calls the day of the lord. Okay? The day of the lord. And this is a technical term used in scripture to define the final judgment. And sometimes in our mind we think, oh, the day of the lord is this one day or I mean, it's hard to even use the word day when we talk about this because god does not work in 24 hours.

But we think of it as as an immediate happening. But the day of the lord is actually, the process by which it goes from man's day where we're essentially, in this world making our own decisions, to to the lord's day where we no longer have that that ability. And it's a it's a day of cataclysmic judgment. It's a it's a it's a period of absolute destruction and death and judgment. And judgment will fall on anyone who has not repented of their sins and embrace Jesus Christ as lord and savior.

What we do with Jesus determines our eternal history. Or I'm sorry, our eternal destiny. But all of humanity is working in this plan to this point where it says this is the day of the lord. So there's a plan. God has a plan, and we can all read that.

But the first question that always comes up is when? When's the day of the lord coming? And it's probably not the best question, but it's the most common. When Jesus was talking his disciples on the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, his disciples said this. And it says in Matthew 24, as he sat on the Mount of Olives, we call that the mount or the Olivet Discourse.

The disciples came to Jesus privately saying, tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign of your coming of the end of the age? When? When is it gonna happen? Then after Jesus is resurrected in Acts chapter 1, Jesus is getting ready to leave. And so it says in Acts chapter 1 verse 7, so when they had come together they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. Everyone's no way. Paul here is dealing with the same question. Verse 1, chapter 5. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.

Everybody wants to know when. And there's a few humans who thought they did know when. And those dates have come and gone and they've explained it away in this way or that way, and we all chuckle and we go, haven't you read the bible? We don't know when it's gonna come, but that's the first thing on our mind. And and instead, Paul responds in a situation in this situation that the solution to their problem does not lie in knowing the date.

They wanna know when and he's going I already there's no need for me to write anything on that. When Paul? That's not the solution to your problem. And instead of answering the question the way that those asking wanted it to be answered, both Jesus and Paul both turned the question into the opportunity to talk about how are we supposed to live right now as we wait. Jesus did it every single time.

Paul did it every single time. You wanna talk about the date? I wanna talk about how you're gonna live as you live up to that date. Here's the one of the reasons. Sometimes when we act and when these people were asking or when we ask them, well, when when is it?

It actually reveals that we're heavenly minded for the wrong reasons. You might say, well, John, you're that's ridiculous. I don't know. Have you ever thought to yourself, oh, lord just take me home. I can't stand no blame.

Or you might see a policy that's been passed or your there might be an actual real suffering. And and we wanna go to heaven just to get the thing over with. That's one that's heavenly minded for the wrong reason. Think about the disciples. Why did they want heaven on earth?

Because they wanted to no longer be in a rule class, but in the ruling class. They would tie all the Romans over them and so they said, is the kingdom coming? Is heaven coming? Because I am tired of taking orders and I wanna start giving them. So we could be heavenly minded for the wrong reasons.

And that's often why people concentrate on the date so much. I mean, think of the most recent ones in the 20th century or the 21st century where people I think they they they wanna have the prestige of calling it out. April 8th or remember remember 2000? The year 2000? Yeah.

What was that called? Y 2 k. Yeah. Y 2 k. Yes.

It's gonna be happening. Y 2 k. People have tripped over that for for centuries. The better question is, isn't when, but are you ready? That's a whole theme of Thessalonians.

Are you ready for And and Paul is pastoring these people through their questions about what was on the horizon and what would happen at the end. He was pastoring. He loved these people, and so he's pastoring through them. And although the subject was the end times, Paul's pastoral reason for writing was get ready. Be ready.

Don't be sleeping. Don't be slumbering. Don't be, drunk or or or lacking sobriety. He wanted them to know what was happening so that they would know how to walk through it successfully. I would say we're closer to Christ's return and rapture than we were than Paul was at the time of readiness.

Right? We can all say amen. No debate on that at all. But the the intensity of wanting to know when think about all the doctrinal issues that have come up because of this. Postmill, premill, a mill.

We're gonna go through some of those things. That's why you see this. Pre trib. Where are we gonna go? When are we gonna go?

And it sometimes gets ahead of how should I be living right now? What do I need to do right now? And in this context, these people were extremely persecuted. So you could identify with them why they wanted to get out of town permanently. They were suffering.

They were dying. And they were concerned that those who died, first, would have missed the rapture. That was last week. Secondly, they also believed that they had not only missed the rapture, but they were actually living in the judgment. Like, if your house started to get opened up at night by the authorities and you looked up and it was the blue helmet, The UN's there knocking on your door, and you're like, they're pulling you out.

They're murdering people in your family because of the you're gonna think this is the judgment. This is the end times. That's what they did. If we if you keep your finger in first Thessalonians but go over to second Thessalonians chapter 2. 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2.

These people thought they were in the judgment. Because Paul writes to them in verse 1, he says, now concerning the coming of our lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you brothers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or by spoken word or a letter seemingly become from us to the effect that the day of the lord has come. Why why would he have to tell them that? They were scared. They thought the day of the lord had come.

They thought judgment had come, but it hadn't. That's when you know it gets real when you think you missed the bus. Right? Is there anybody here I know you younger people would have, but have anybody here watched thief in the night? The series thief in the night?

Anybody? Oh, my goodness. I still have PTSD. So I drove in the East Coast where we were behind California about 20 years. But the thief in the night is, like, you know, it's end times movie and the and the alarm clock is ringing.

And and, you know, the the water's running and somebody has been, you know, taken away, and, Jesus is coming back and the and the tribulation has started. Okay? And, of course, they showed it to us when we're vulnerable, you know, junior junior hires. And, you know, I was like, you know, I'm gonna miss the rapture not the rapture. I'm gonna I'm gonna be here when the tribulation comes.

And so all of us teens were, like, scared stiff, you know. We're, like, is this manipulation? But I don't know. But sometimes we wanna know when so that we can be actually just living when he comes back the way that we ought to. Right?

As teenagers, we're like, I can remember a thing in it. You know, I I definitely wanna be living right when he comes back. But again, remember, the better question is, are you ready? And Paul connects eschatology, and it's a word for the end times, to practical daily service and application and action. And that's what we're gonna attempt to do tonight.

So I know that's it's not quite a lead in. I wouldn't call it an intro. It's kind of an intro. It paints the picture in a way that we can really understand what these people are going through. They thought they were in the day of the judgment, but that's not what's happening.

And so he says in verse 1, now concerning and that that is our identifier that means we've started another topic. He's used this now a number of times. Chapter 4 verse, 9, he says, now concerning brotherly love. He this is the 4th time that he's used this phrase or something similar to it to say, I'm transitioning from the last topic, which was when the Christians got snatched away in the rapture, and now we're gonna talk about the day of the Lord and judgment. 2 different subjects implicated by that phrase.

And I wanna I wanna take a moment. Have you ever found yourself wondering, like, about end times and you go, what really is the timeline? You kinda wanna see it. So I'm just gonna I'm gonna identify, and I'm not gonna normally do this, so don't think I'm too big of a nerd. But anyway, so I'm gonna come down here.

And there's can't do that with a right arm yet. So there's 4 main ideas of millennial rule. Right? When when the the day of the war is. We're not gonna go through all of them, but we're gonna kinda identify just just briefly what they are so we know what's what's going on here.

So here is the start of the church age. Okay? We're just gonna call that the church age. I'm gonna put a c. Definitely can't bend my shoulder that way.

I'm gonna be writing with my left hand. That's a c. That's the church age. Okay? Then we're we're traveling down here.

This is called amillenialism. And here is the day of the Lord, day of Lord, d o l. Okay? And I'll move just from side to side. So you have the church age.

This whole timeline here including from Paul and the apostles to now till, the the the, tribulation is included in that. We'll we'll put trib in here. The day of the lord is down here and then and then after that is eternity. I'm just gonna write an e. Amillennialism puts the rapture, in this portion right here and directly before the day of the Lord, God judges the righteous and the wicked.

Amillennialism means we are in the millennial period right now, leading up to the day of the Lord. K? All millennials. We're in the millennial kingdom right now. There's no specific 1000 year reign that Jesus physically comes back to.

And I sure hope we're not in the millennial kingdom right now. K? I'm gonna let you know that what we're going to teach tonight, the eraser, is where did that eraser go? So this is all millennialism. Okay?

Actually, I'm a leap trip here. Paid award there. Eternity. Postmillennialism is basically a line that goes like this, crescend showing the crescendo of the impact of the church. So we have the church age going all the way through in the tribulation of judgment.

Crescendoing in to the fact that the church has made such massive improvements in culture and in society, that it literally paves the way for Christ to return. K? This is postmillennialism. There's no, specific 1000 year reign. Physically, Jesus does not come back.

And day by day we get closer and closer and closer to the day of the Lord when Jesus returns because we as Christians have taken dominion. Dominion theology can come out of this. And I wanna say this right upfront, these are all orthodox views, and there are men and women that hold each one of these views that you would be blown away. You'd go, I can't believe they think that. And they all love the Lord, and they're all contained in orthodoxy.

And so we would say all these are very very acceptable, views. Doug Wilson is a postmillennialist. Okay? There's some amillennialists that, you know, often are found in the reformed circle. Men that we just absolutely love, that I would consider, some of the greatest minds that I've ever thought.

I don't agree with them. But the reality of this, they love God, they love his word, and they've come up with amillennialism or postmillennialism. Postmillennialism. So, those two those two views of end times and the day of the lord, judgment that whole time of judgment, we're here for. Christians go through the tribulation up to the day of the Lord.

I don't wanna be here that maybe that's the reason why I'm, pre trib, just because I don't wanna be here during that. But both of those views view the tribulation as concurrent with the church on earth. K? Those are some of the big differences. Then there is premillennialism.

K? And there's 2 types we're only gonna go over. 1, premillennialism. And in premillen premillenialism, we have the church age, and I'm gonna try to get down here so you guys can see it. We have the church age, then we have the rapture where believers go up.

I'm gonna put an r there. So church age is right here. That's what we're living in. The rapture happens with 7 year this is all left handed. It's amazing.

7 year tribulation, literal 7 year tribulation, after which Christ comes down. K? Then we have a 1000 years literal reigning of Christ. I'm not getting into too much detail. You see how if you know the bible, you know that I'm reading somehow.

Armageddon, Gog, and Magog. A 1000 year physical reign of Christ, on earth, and then Armageddon. And, the Christ comes and destroys all of his enemies with the word of his mouth. We all go to the new heavens and the new earth, eternity. K?

So why do I bring this all up? Because the day of the lord in premillennialism is everything from the rapture to Christ coming down. K? That whole process is the day of the Lord. It's divine judgment against the earth.

And I don't know if this was helpful or not, but whenever I try to visualize this, I always am benefited by a chart. So basically, the day of the Lord in premillennialism, including pre tribulation, because the church is going up to be with Jesus before the tribulation. If you're premillennial, you're automatically pre trib. It's part of the deal. You get it as a package deal.

2 for 2 for 1 right there. I'm both all four views are are absolute all three views are absolutely acceptable. And people love the Lord right now and and do all those things. John MacArthur is premillennial. Most Calvary Chapels are premillennial.

John Piper, you know, there there's some other guys that are post I'm sorry, amillennialists. John Piper is an amillennialist. He thinks we're in the millennial. So so there's some really current and past figures. I would say that postmillennialism is probably the oldest view that most, early church fathers would have taken.

And honestly, I think because they were looking at it going, I know someday we're just the Christianity is just gonna take over, and we're gonna be, you know, the magistrates are gonna be Christian, and someday Jesus is gonna come back and we'll have taken, dominion. And and but they didn't have 2,000 years under their belt of absolute wickedness post Christ's resurrection. Right? So it makes sense to me why early church people were were post millennialists. Dominion Theology guys, they were like, this is great.

Christianity is spreading like wildfire. Preach it, pre millennials, day of the Lord is this divine judgment of God. Here is the white throne judgment. Basically, on every single view where God puts into hell and into the new heavens and the earth, the sheep and the goats respectively. K?

But this is the tribulation. This is the day of the Lord. This is divine judgment against those who have not repented. I go in through all of that because I think I think it's important, and we're gonna jump back in again now. Okay?

Because this that's gonna help us view the whole rest of the bible study. Now concerning the times and the seasons brothers, you have no need to have anyone or anything written to you. And Paul uses the word times and seasons there. It's the same exact words that Christ used in acts. And the idea was it it it really was defining 2 different ways to view this.

The first word time means, literal time. It's where we get our word chronology from. The Greek word is Kronos, and it's literally periods of time. The second word is keros, and that would be more of like seasons. Things seasons identified by, unique characteristics.

So he's saying periods of time and seasons or or or, seasons marked by those characteristic things. And Henry Morris, one of the commentators said, the times have to do with the chronology of future periods and the seasons with the characteristics of those periods. And so these people are curious about not only the timing, like the chronology, but they're curious about what it's gonna be like. The events of the end, the seasons that mark the end of time. And Paul says, basically, you don't need any more info on that.

Jesus said the same thing. It's not for you to know the times or seasons. Like, you don't know the date and you're not gonna know exactly what happens. Verse 2 he says, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. So he's saying, I don't need to write to you exactly about the times.

I don't need to write exactly about the characteristics of those things, although he fills in some of those gaps in Revelation, in Matthew 24, in Old Testament. But what he does say is I'm gonna give you some things that you can be certain of, and one of them is that, there there is the day of the Lord coming. Judgment is coming. And again, that day of the lord is that 7 year period where god will judge an unbelieving world, and it will be devastating. And those are left on earth will be unprepared and unable to escape it.

So we're not certain of a few things, but we are certain of some other things. First of all, Jesus is coming to judge the unbelievers and that you'll not escape. 2nd Thessalonians 17 through 9 says, when the lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Judgment the whole point that Paul's making here is judgment is coming.

This is not a popular topic, but literally, I think it's helpful for us as Christians not only to know about it, but to to incorporate that into the way that we view the people around us. If people don't know Christ, there is judgment waiting for them. Matthew 25, Jesus is speaking, verses 31 through 32. He says, when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

We are certain. Although we can't be certain of the day, we are certain that Christ is going to come and judge people to eternal hell or eternal heaven. Second thing that we can be certain of is it's it's gonna be unexpected for believers. Verse 2 says, 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. So you can remember in the first section last week of the rapture, Christ takes up the church and then the 7 year tribulation comes.

And and it's gonna be sudden. People are gonna not even know what hit them as these plagues, and devastation, and judgment, and divine wrath comes from God. All those who have rejected God and are living life as though there was no judgment or judge, those who have rejected God as law will be absolutely stunned. Think of the world at large right now. Who's like, dude, you guys are nuts.

You're you're stupid to believe that there's gonna be somebody come back in the sky, in the clouds, in the puffy clouds, and he's gonna and he's gonna make make rules that if you don't follow him, he gets to judge. They they think we're ludicrous. They think we're crazy. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They really don't think that this is gonna happen.

Happen. But Jesus again in Matthew 24 verses 36 through 39 said, but concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the son, but the father only. 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 away, so will be the coming of the son of man. And we will put that coming right here at the end of the tribulation.

They're like, we're we're not expecting it. We don't think it's gonna come. We hate God. We've given him everything that we can to fight against his existence and ruin our life. But have you noticed this?

People have no idea what is coming. And I wanna say this, part of the gospel is telling people that there is an end coming. And we do not want them receiving the wrath of God. We we literally care about them enough that we'll make ourself awkward or put ourself in positions that we wouldn't normally be in to tell them that Jesus is coming back and God's wrath is coming with him. I don't wanna go through that.

I am very hopeful that God is pre trib as well. But then he goes on to say Paul says, but you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. Listen as he goes on. For you are all children of the light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

So let us not sleep as other 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, a hope of salvation. You notice the pronouns being used. Yes.

Pronouns are important. While people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains, and they will not escape. But you, pronouns, Rich, that he's talking about them, and now he talks about us, believers. And he defines an essential difference. They are of the darkness.

We are of the light. It's important to see that this day that that is being described here is not for believers. Believers will see it coming because we'll be leading up to that time. And I will say, I do believe it's going to get very dark for believers here before the rapture. I'm not thinking we're getting all scot free by any means.

But we're gonna be seeing the day of the Lord come, but our our nature is different. We are light, they are dark. And the wrath of God is reserved for those who are of the darkness. I don't think Paul's earlier sentiments of comfort would be all that comforting comforting if they in fact needed to be bracing themselves to receive the wrath of God. 1st Thessalonians 1.

We we this is all in the same book that we've been studying. 1st Thessalonians 1 says, he's Paul is talking and says, and to wait for his son from heaven. We're waiting for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. We're the whole the whole comforting impact of Paul's teaching was like, you're not gonna experience God's wrath.

Those people who are of a different nature, light versus dark, are the ones that are going to be experiencing God's wrath. My intent isn't to if you're not pretreated or pretrial, talk you into it. I really, honestly, genuinely don't care. I really have come to realize the value in all of those positions. And, I'm actually going to post on Facebook, a wonderful conversation with John Piper, Doug Wilson, and Jim Hamilton.

Jim Hamilton is my professor, of New Testament Theology, and he is a millennial I'm sorry. He is premillennialism. K? It's a wonderful conversation. John Piper is an amillennialist, and Doug Wilson is a postmillennialist.

This is great. They make great cases for it. I don't buy in John Piper's, but goodness gracious, he's a giant in the faith. He loves the lord. I'm not here talk you into one or the other.

But what I am saying is we went through the certainties of some of those things, but one of the most important things for us is we have to act like who we are. We are of the right. Our essential nature is different and so we have to act like that. Basically, be ready and live like you're ready to go to heaven. And I really think this is the author's intent, that authorial intent that they will always try to get to.

Why did Paul write this? I think he seems to want them to be ready. He's like, guys don't fall asleep. This information must lead us to action. You can picture the the drunken soldier that that Paul is kind of referring to carousing and drunk and not ready for battle.

Unlike those in darkness who are laying around and unaware of what's on the horizon, believers are to be living in the light of Jesus' return and equipped with the armor of God. As God's soldiers, we can't look like we're a derelict soldier who's drunk at night. Friends, judgement day is coming to this earth. And although we're not gonna be a part of it, in my humble opinion, we ought to act like we care about those who are. And it is gonna get more and more and more wicked as that day approaches.

But I wanna take a look at Paul's command. Wait. Wait. To find the difference between their essential natures of lightness and darkness, he says to them, be awake, be sober, and put on the armor of God. I'm gonna go through this really quick because I we're I need to back it up really quick.

Be awake. That Greek word meant to watch or give strict attention to. To be cautious and active. Be awake, as a Christian, he's saying. Be sober.

This needs to be calm and collected in spirit. I want you to ask yourself if Kamala Harris was president-elect, would you be sober? Some of you are thinking, I ain't sober because Trump is elected. Put it in whatever camp you want. I don't care.

Listen. There's things that are gonna happen in our day and age that we can get worked up about. And Paul is saying, be sober. It's the idea of a a soldier seeing an enemy coming. And I I I wanna be clear.

Any any political party that advocates relentlessly for the death of children, it needs to be pushed back as far as we possibly could in every way that we possibly could. So but what I'm what I'm trying to say is that as a soldier, if you're on the battlefield and you saw an enemy coming, and you just began to shake and shimmy, and you're scared, and you're you're you're not sober, you're not calm, that word in Greek meant calm and collected in spirit. Listen, we're not gonna experience God's wrath. I don't know which one of these is completely accurate because I'm not God. But I know that we're not gonna experience God's wrath.

We don't need to be shaking around just because of what we see on horizon. I don't care who's the present. That's not our world. And so we we can't be I'm sober. We can't be asleep.

We do need to put on the armor of God. I'm skipping a few notes that I have, because we do need to wrap it up. He closes this section by saying, therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. Encourage one another and build one another up. That's what studying and knowing more about end times should lead to.

It shouldn't lead to, like, end times websites with flames and, like, Star Trek conventions of people going to powwow on their favorite millennial ideas. That's not what it should lead to. It shouldn't lead to division. It should lead to us going, hey, brother, sister, I love you. Let's stay awake.

Let's be sober. Let's not be uncalled in our spirit no matter what dragon is pulling up above the horizon there. It shouldn't lead us to debates and wrangling about pre, mid, post trip, or superfluous arguments. That's not the point. These Thessalonians were doing what they needed to do, and they were a great church.

Obeying Christ and following Paul's example, but there was more. And so I'm gonna give you real briefly what it is that he was saying do more. First of all, encourage Jesus has taken your sin and punishment. You will not be a recipient of God's wrath. You know, the other day, Ezra got in trouble.

He's our youngest. And I brought him in the bathroom, and I had the spoon. And I could tell that he was pretty repentant, so I said, hey, buddy. I'm gonna smack my leg, and I want you to pretend to cry. You're not you're not gonna get a little spanked this time.

You know? So I did that, and he looked at me like, oh, I'm so thankful that I didn't get spanked this time. I often think to myself about that and that idea. And I and I would encourage you, as Paul encouraged them, be thankful that Christ is taking your punishment. I don't think we think about that enough as Christians.

Christ bore what you deserve. And when we see the wrath of God come down on an unbelieving world, we can say thank you, Jesus. You took mine because I deserve that. I deserve a real spank, but I'm not gonna get it. You are of the day.

Stop sleeping in the middle of the day. Your essence, my essence, our essence as believers is contrary to young believers, as much as day is different than night. And just like it's weird, you know, I was a job and I or if I was the boss and I came onto a construction site and there's people sleeping on the job site, what do you think I would do? I would say you're fired. That's weird for Christians to fall asleep in the middle of the day.

We need to be aware of what's going on. Christians, we're not in this cycle. We're not in a linear line. We have a point of destination. There is meaning.

There is purpose. And sleepers are unaware of what's going on around them. And Paul says to stay awake. Stay awake and pay attention to what's going on. Not the stock market and election and football fantasy and all the current fashion trends and what your friends are doing or not doing on social media.

No. The strict attention is to what god is doing, what god's plans are. So I wanna encourage you to stay awake by closing your eyes. Now you might think that that's a an oxymoron, but Jesus said watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. I just wanna say this.

I am literally closing. So Horatio and Taylor are a moment. If you want to stay awake, like Paul was encouraging the Thessalonians, you need to make a prayer list. Stay awake by closing your eyes. Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation.

Prayer is a part of staying awake. Make a prayer list. We have to get practical in these end times. If you don't have a prayer list for your family, make one. Put it on your your phone or whatever it is.

Sunday night prayer, November 10th at the Chavez'. Pray with your spouse at night before you go to bed. Sometimes you guys will be bickering and you're like, I didn't pray on him. I didn't pray on her. Get over it.

Pray with your spouse at night. Pray with your kids. Pray in the spirit. If you want your eyes to be open and you wanna stay awake and you wanna have the armor of god in these last days as we see the day of the Lord approaching, pray. Stay awake by closing your eyes.

I probably skipped the 4 pages. Okay. I won't punish you anymore by being here late. So I wanna close in prayer. Hopefully, this has been helpful for you.

I am so glad that I can rejoice with you that Jesus Christ took our sin and our punishment, and that I will not experience the wrath of God and neither would you. So, father, we come before you in Jesus' name.

Transcript for:1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Transcript for:
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11