{"id":22312,"date":"2023-04-08T11:52:12","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T16:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/sermon\/first-thessalonians-021-after-the-rapture-part-2\/"},"modified":"2023-08-01T12:44:08","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T17:44:08","slug":"first-thessalonians-021-after-the-rapture-part-2","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/first-thessalonians-021-after-the-rapture-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"First Thessalonians 021 – After the Rapture (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[97],"series_event":[546],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-22312","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-thessalonians","series_event-first-thessalonians","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"First Thessalonians 021 - After the Rapture (part 2)","sermon_date":"20230409","sermon_month":"04","sermon_year":"2023","sermon_notes":22310,"sermon_slides":22318,"sermon_mp3":22322,"sermon_id":"48232136456927","series_or_event":546,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":97,"chapter_and_verse":"5:4-8","sermon_transcript":"

First Thessalonians 021 \u2013 After the rapture (part 2)<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 \u2022 Dr.\u00a0 Andy Woods \u2022 April 9, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

PRAYER<\/h4>\r\nLet's open with a word of prayer.\u00a0 Father, we're grateful for today, grateful for this morning, grateful for this particular Sunday, the highest and holiest of Sundays on the Christian calendar.\u00a0 That's when we celebrate the risen Christ.\u00a0 We thank the Lord for the fact that You are not just a dead Messiah, but You are alive.\u00a0 You're at the Father's right hand, and You live, which means You're alive if You live, You live to make intercession for us.\u00a0 So as we celebrate this particular time of the year, on this particular day, I pray that as the Scriptures are taught, in both Sunday School and the main service that follows, that Your name would be lifted up and glorified.\u00a0 We do ask, Lord, that many, many salvations would occur today, and people would grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we seek to study Your Word this morning.\u00a0 We do, Lord, invite the illuminating ministry of the Spirit, whereby He guides us into all truth.\u00a0 And so in preparation for that ministry, we're going to take a few moments of silence, a personal confession of sins, if need be, not to restore position, but to restore fellowship, so that we might receive from You completely and wholly today.\r\n\r\nWe're thankful, Lord, for Your written Word.\u00a0 We're thankful that in a changing world You change not.\u00a0 And You are the same yesterday, today, and forever.\u00a0 You desire, Lord, today to speak to Your people through the teaching of Your Word.\u00a0 Only You can take the areas of truth and apply it to the deepest needs of the soul.\u00a0 And so we ask for You to do that great ministry today.\u00a0 We ask it in Jesus' name, and God's people said amen.\r\n

REVIEW<\/h4>\r\nWell, very good.\u00a0 Well, happy Resurrection Day to everybody.\u00a0 And if we could, we're going to be doing a resurrection sermon in the second session.\u00a0 But this morning here in Sunday School we're going to continue our verse by verse look at 1 Thessalonians.\u00a0 So if you can locate 1 Thessalonians 5:4.\r\n\r\nAs we mentioned before once you get to 1 Thessalonians 4:1, the apostle Paul is no longer dealing with the past.\u00a0 He says, \"Finally then, brethren, ...\"[1]<\/a>, so that's a transition and prior to 1 Thessalonians 4:1, he was sort of rehabilitating his reputation as an apostle which had been torn down by his detractors.\u00a0 It's hard to spiritually correct people when you don't have any credibility.\u00a0 So his credibility has been dragged through the mud so to speak.\r\n\r\nAnd once he's successfully rebutted or defended himself against at least three false charges brought against him beginning in 1 Thessalonians 4:1, through the end of the book he has been dealing with or is beginning to deal with issues in Thessalonica, the church he planted, that he knew they needed understanding on.\r\n\r\nSo he's dealt with immorality as circumstances have been reported to him, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8.\u00a0 He's dealt with laziness, 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12.\u00a0 You know, people sort of using the coming of the Lord as an excuse not to take on basic responsibilities.\r\n\r\nAnd then he has moved into presenting a balanced eschatology, 1 Thessalonians 4:13\u20135:11 dealing with the rapture of the church at the end of Chapter 4.\u00a0 And after he deals with the rapture of the church, he then begins to sort of broaden the discussion to talk about what the world is going to experience subsequent to the rapture of the church.\r\n

DESCRIPTION OF THE DAY OF THE LORD (1 THESS 5:1-3)<\/h4>\r\nAnd this is where he begins to deal with a subject called the Day of the Lord.\u00a0 He dealt with that last time as we covered it in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3.\u00a0 He explained the Day of the Lord, what the world is going to experience post-rapture.\r\n\r\nThe Day of the Lord is, well, all you have to do to understand the Day of the Lord is to go back to the first reference in the Bible to a day.\u00a0 The very first reference to a day in the Bible is in Genesis 1:5, where it says, \"There was both evening and morning.\" So, the evening, or the dark part of the day, is first, and then the morning, the breaking fourth of the dawn, is the second part of the day.\u00a0 And that's basically what Paul says is coming to the earth post-rapture.\u00a0 There's going to be a terrible time of darkness.\r\n\r\nWe know from Daniel's prophecies that it's going to stretch seven years, Daniel 9:27.\u00a0 And then we understand from the book of Revelation, as the book of Revelation fills in more details about this coming time period, it's going to be characterized by the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and the golden bowl of wrath judgments.\r\n\r\nAnd then what will break forth is the dawn, or the morning, which will be the kingdom age when Jesus returns at the end of that seven-year time period and establishes His glorious kingdom upon the earth.\u00a0 That thousand-year kingdom will then merge into the eternal state.\u00a0 So that is my understanding of the Day of the Lord, the way it's being used here.\u00a0 A time of trouble followed by a time of blessing.\r\n\r\nSo he has explained all of this, and he has made it pretty clear, I believe, and I think he'll continue to make it clear, beginning in 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11, that the believer, the Christian, the member of the church age, which is us, are not going to be in that terrible time period.\u00a0 Because when he talks about it, he switches from you or we, as we saw last week, if you look at 1 Thessalonians 5:3, he switches to they, \"While they<\/strong> are saying, \u201cPeace and safety!\u201d ...\"\r\n\r\nBack when he was talking about the rapture, he kept saying we, and then he switches from we, first person plural, to they, third person plural, and that becomes one of the proofs of many that you can cite, indicating that it is not God's purpose for the church to go into this terrible time period.\u00a0 The part of it that we will be involved in is the breaking fourth of the dawn at the end of that seven-year tribulation period, when we return with the Lord Jesus, having been with Him in the Father's house for seven years, we return with Him to rule and to reign.\r\n

APPLICATION (1 Thess 5:4-11)<\/h4>\r\nSo having described the Day of the Lord, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, now he begins to apply these truths to the Thessalonian Christians.\u00a0 And notice what he says there in verse four.\u00a0 He says, \"But you<\/strong>,\" see the switch of pronouns there?\u00a0 He's gone from \"we<\/strong>\" end of chapter four to \"they<\/strong>\" beginning of Chapter 5.\u00a0 Now it's obvious he's switching to a different subject when he says \"you<\/strong>.\" In other words, he's applying this truth to the Thessalonian Christians.\u00a0 In other words, how would this relate to us?\r\n\r\n\"But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; ...\" in the night. (1 Thess 5:4)\u00a0 So you see the word \"but\" there in many English translations.\u00a0 That's a contrast.\u00a0 In contrast to what the world is going to experience during this time period, here is God's program for you.\u00a0 So he's gone from \"we<\/strong>\" to \"they<\/strong>\" to \"you<\/strong>,\" and so that's an application for the believer.\r\n\r\nYou'll notice he calls them brethren, and when he refers to them as brethren, he's not necessarily talking about the fact that they're all fellow Jews, because the audience that he's writing to is a Gentile audience, as we've talked about.\u00a0 When he uses the term \"brethren,\" he's using it the same way Jesus used it in Matthew 12:46-50, when Jesus was told, \"your mother, brother, sisters, etc. are waiting for you,\" and He said, \"Well, who is my mother?\u00a0 Who are my brothers?\u00a0 Are not they the ones that do the will of my Father who is in heaven?\" So \"brethren\" is a clear reference to the Christian who will not be involved in this terrible time period, but he's trying to explain how it relates to the life of the Christian today, because there is still an application for us.\r\n\r\n\"But you, brethren, are not in darkness.\" \u00a0Why does he call it darkness?\u00a0 Because that's the Day of the Lord.\u00a0 The Day of the Lord begins with the nighttime.\u00a0 That's a reference to \"day,\" going all the way back to the first reference to \"day\" in the Bible, Genesis 1:5.\u00a0 \"But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief in the night.\" (1 Thessalonians 5:4)\r\n\r\nWhat does he mean here when he says \"day?\"\u00a0 He basically is speaking of the Day of the Lord.\u00a0 The Day of the Lord is articulated there in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, \"For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.\" So when he says day, he's referring to this time period called the Day of the Lord.\r\n\r\nAnd then just sort of finishing out Verse 4, he says, \"But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;\" \u00a0You have to understand that from the perspective of the unsaved world, when this time period arrives, it's going to completely and totally take them off guard, even though they've been warned about it.\r\n\r\nJesus drew a parallel between what the world will face when the Day of the Lord hits planet Earth and the days of Noah.\u00a0 Jesus said in Matthew 24:36-39 concerning the days of Noah, He says, \"\u201cBut of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. \u201cFor the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. \u00a0\u00a0So if you want to understand what the Earth is going to experience when the Day of the Lord hits, all you have to do is study what the world was like just prior to the flood.\r\n\r\n\"For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark.\u00a0 And they, (Who's the \"they\"?\u00a0 The \"they\" is the unsaved world) \"they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will be the coming of the Son of Man.\"\r\n\r\nSo that's why this time period that's coming, this seven-year tribulation period, is basically analogized here to a thief in the night.\u00a0 When a thief breaks into your house in the middle of the night, as we've said before, he doesn't text you in advance and say, \"I'm coming at 2.37\" or whatever, 2.37 a.m.\u00a0 I mean it's a complete and total surprise.\r\n

Thief in the night imagery doesn't go with the rapture because the rapture is the blessed hope.<\/h4>\r\nSomeone that does that kind of thing is actually relying upon the element of surprise.\u00a0 A thief in the night imagery in the scripture is always negative, contrary to what a lot of popular Christian teaching does on this subject that tries to present the thief in the night as the rapture.\u00a0 Thief in the night imagery doesn't go with the rapture because the rapture is the blessed hope.\u00a0 How could the blessed hope be a thief in the night?\r\n

The thief in the night is a time period of judgment.<\/h4>\r\nWhat is the thief in the night though is a time period of judgment that just like that overtakes the world suddenly like birth pangs.\u00a0 Once the birth pangs begin, they're irreversible, and it overtakes the world suddenly.\u00a0 There's absolutely no escape.\u00a0 In fact if you look at the end of 1 Thessalonians 5:3 it says \"... they, [that's the earth dwellers] will not escape.\"\u00a0 And that's what it was like in the days of Noah when the flood hit and that's what it's going to be like on planet earth when the seven-year tribulation period finally hits planet earth.\r\n\r\nSo obviously we're not in that time period yet, praise the Lord, but the world currently is being ripened for judgment.\u00a0 All you have to do is look at the news to see that.\u00a0 In fact, it's very difficult for me as a human being to see really anything that keeps God's hand of grace on our country, that really should know better because of our Christian heritage in the United States.\u00a0 We ought to know better.\u00a0 And I can't think of a single thing that's mentioned in God's Word that we have not publicly and flagrantly rejected and violated.\r\n\r\nI mean, if there was something left for us to do, I'd like to know what it is.\u00a0 I can't think of anything that God says don't do that we've gone ahead and become public about it and says we're going to do that.\r\n\r\nSo, you know, the only thing that keeps God's hand of blessing on our country in any way is His grace.\u00a0 The problem is, Genesis 6:3, God says, \"My spirit will not strive with man forever, ...\".\u00a0 In other words, you reach a point in your rebellion against God, rejection against God, where you even exhaust the patience of God Himself, and judgment breaks forth.\r\n\r\nIt's a lot like water building up behind a dam.\u00a0 That water can only build up so long before the dam gives way, and eventually the dam breaks and the water comes forth.\u00a0 That's essentially a pretty good explanation of what's happening in our world right now.\r\n\r\nThe wrath of God is being stored up<\/strong>.\u00a0 The world itself is being ripened for judgment.\u00a0 What will precede that time period is the rapture, but after that time period is over and the church is removed from the earth, there's literally nothing left to hold back God's hand.\r\n\r\nWhat is holding God's hand back right now is his promise that we would not fall into wrath.\u00a0 We're going to see that in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, by the way.\u00a0 God has not destined us for wrath.\u00a0 So as long as the church is present, God's wrath can't be poured out<\/strong>.\u00a0 But once the church is removed via the rapture, and it's kind of interesting that Paul is developing these in chronological order, Chapter 4 rapture, Chapter 5 Day of the Lord.\u00a0 I mean the last time I checked Chapter 4 comes before Chapter 5.\u00a0 Rapture first, Day of the Lord second.\r\n\r\nOnce God's people are removed<\/strong>, then God doesn't have to keep His promise anymore to exempt us from divine wrath because we're not on the planet anymore.\u00a0 And so there's nothing left then to hold back the judgment of God which springs forth just like the flood came<\/strong>.\u00a0 And when it came, although the world had been warned, they're just going to be completely taken off guard by it and surprised by it.\u00a0 It's going to be like a thief in the night.\r\n

1 THESSALONIANS 5:5<\/h4>\r\nNow you go down to 1 Thessalonians 5:5, but he says, \"for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;\" So what is our status in the world before this time period comes?\u00a0 Well, we are sons of the light, sons of the day.\r\n\r\nDidn't Jesus tell us that in the Sermon on the Mount?\u00a0 Matthew 5:13-16, \u201c... You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; ... \u201cLet your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.\" So here Paul, probably picking up on themes in the Sermon on the Mount, describes our status in the world before this time period comes as we are sons of the light and sons of the day.\r\n\r\nPaul in the book of Ephesians Chapter 5 talks about this issue constantly.\u00a0 In Ephesians 5:8 he says of the Christian, \"for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.\"\r\n\r\nWhat do you do as a child of light?\u00a0 Well Ephesians 5:11, \"Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, ...\" \u00a0So why would I participate in the deeds of darkness?\u00a0 The deeds of darkness are contrary to my status as a Christian as a child of light.\u00a0 \"Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;\"\r\n\r\nSo as children of light we are not to be involved in the sins of the world, the sins of the flesh, the deeds of darkness, but rather what we are to do is we are to turn the search light of truth on those things and expose them for what they are.\r\n\r\nAnd let me tell you something, when you turn the search light of truth on something or someone, the people in darkness don't like the light.\u00a0 They do not want to be exposed.\u00a0 And they often times end up attacking the light bearer.\r\n\r\nThat's why Christians are martyred all over the world, you know, even as I speak, because they have this function of being children of light.\u00a0 And how could we not be children of light?\r\n\r\nDidn't Jesus Himself say in John 8:12, \"I am the light of the world.\" In fact, that whole verse, John 8:12 says, \"Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, \u201cI am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.\u201d\"\r\n\r\nNow, all the way through John's gospel \u2013 which is probably the most evangelistic Bible book that we have.\u00a0 I mean, it was intentionally written to evangelize the lost.\u00a0 John, in his purpose statement at the end of the book, in John 20:30-31[2]<\/a>, says that.\r\n\r\nAnd that's important to understand because you're going to have people in your life, I mean, even during this season, the world calls it Easter, I prefer to call it Resurrection Sunday.\u00a0 Can I get an amen on that?\u00a0 Amen.\r\n\r\nEven during this season, what we've done with most of our holidays, whether it's Christmas or Thanksgiving, instead of commemorating the Biblical significance behind those holidays, we've turned them into a family time.\u00a0 If you just look at all the commercials that play, it's all about families reconnecting and having a nice meal together and all this kind of stuff, which is all well and good, it has its place, but sometimes what happens is the tail starts to wag the dog.\u00a0 And you get so caught up in family tradition that you forget what's the holiday about to begin with.\r\n\r\nSo the nice thing about these holidays is you've got people in your family, many of whom may be unsaved, wanting to know why you keep taking your Christianity so seriously.\u00a0 I mean, what time are you going to be back from church?\u00a0 I hope the preacher doesn't preach too long at church.\u00a0 We've got family supper ready, family reunion, don't be late.\u00a0 Sugarland Bible Church teaches too long, so maybe you can go to the other church down the street where it's three points in a poem, in and out, like In-N-Out Burger kind of thing.\r\n\r\nAnd so you're around all these unsaved people and they're wondering, why do you take this Christianity thing so seriously?\u00a0 And some will actually ask you, do you have a book of the Bible I could read just to figure out what it is you're into?\u00a0 And you have to have enough sense as a Christian to send them to the right book.\u00a0 I mean, I wouldn't send them to Leviticus if I were you.\u00a0 Leviticus is a great book, but send them to the book that's specifically written to evangelize the lost, which would be John's gospel<\/strong>.\u00a0 I mean, that's just a fantastic, that's why it was written.\u00a0 It's a fantastic book to expose unsaved people to the claims of Christ.\r\n

John's gospel, Jesus makes seven \"I am\" statements<\/h4>\r\nAnd John wrote it so that people would understand who Jesus is and then believe in Him for eternal life.\u00a0 But all the way through John's gospel, Jesus makes seven \"I am\" statements.\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. I am the bread of life (6:35)<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. I am the light of the world (8:12),<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. I am the gate for the sheep (10:7; cf. v.9),<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. I am the good shepherd (10:11, 14),<\/li>\r\n \t
  5. I am the resurrection and the life (11:25),<\/li>\r\n \t
  6. I am the way, the truth and the life (14:6), and<\/li>\r\n \t
  7. I am the true vine (15:1; cf. v.5).<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n \r\n\r\nAnd also all the way through John's Gospel he mentions seven signs that Jesus did.\u00a0 The first one is he turned the water to wine at Cana of Galilee.\u00a0 The seventh sign, John 11, which we're going to reference today in our sermon, He resuscitated, I think it's not really a resurrection there because we think Lazarus died again, but Jesus resuscitated him from the grave.\r\n\r\nSo the one I just want to call your attention to, obviously in the sermon today we're going to call attention to No. 5, where Jesus claimed to be the resurrection and the life when he brought back Lazarus from the grave.\r\n

    John 8:12, I am the light of the world.<\/h4>\r\nBut the one I'm focusing on here is No. 2, I am the light of the world.\u00a0 God is light.\u00a0 This is why Satan, who tries to imitate God, 2 Corinthians 11:14, comes as an angel of light.\u00a0 He comes sort of as the false light, thinking he can deceive people that he's the true light.\u00a0 When he's not the true light.\u00a0 All he could really do, Satan could do before he fell, the way he's described in Ezekiel 28, is he could sort of refract the different colors of the rainbow, the way he is designed, and he was beautiful when you held him up or looked at him relative to the light of God.\u00a0 But the true light is not Satan.\u00a0 The true light is Jesus Himself.\r\n\r\nThat's why when you get to the end of the book of Revelation, we're going to try to make reference to this also in our sermon, Revelation 21 and Revelation 22, the eternal state, it specifically says there that there's going to be in the eternal state no sun or no moon.\u00a0 Why would you need those things, because Jesus is there, and Jesus is the true light.\r\n\r\nThat's why when you study the creation week, Genesis Chapter 1, Genesis 1:1 says, \"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.\" \u00a0And then Verse 3, \"Then God said, \u201cLet there be light\u201d; and there was light.\"\r\n\r\nNow the sun and the moon and the stars, Genesis 1:14, do not come into existence until Day No. 4.\u00a0 So if the sun, moon and stars don't come into existence until day 4, how in the world can you have light on day 1?\u00a0 Well God is saying I'm the source of light.\u00a0 I don't need some kind of independent source to bring light to the world.\u00a0 I am the light.<\/strong>\u00a0 And that's really important to understand because throughout the ages people have had a tendency to worship the sun, S-U-N, instead of the Son, S-O-N.\r\n\r\nAnd God says right at the beginning of his book, the Bible, and right at the end of His book, the Bible, get the order right.\u00a0 Don't worship things, you know, instead of Me.\r\n\r\nIn fact, in the book of Deuteronomy 4:19, Moses warned the children of Israel, \"\u201cAnd beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.\"\r\n\r\nIn other words, Israel and paganism would have a tendency to worship the starry hosts instead of God.\r\n\r\nAnd to remedy that, God says, \"Check the order.\" Go back to Genesis 1, \"Light came into existence before the sun, moon, and stars on day four.\" Check the record book, go to the last two chapters of the Bible, and you'll see in Revelation 21:23[3]<\/a>, I think it is, and Revelation 22 around Verses 4 and 5[4]<\/a>, that the eternal state will not need the sun, moon, and stars because God Himself, Jesus Himself is the source of light.\r\n\r\nSo Jesus is light.\u00a0 I am the light of the world.\u00a0 It's interesting how God Himself is described as light in many, many places.\u00a0 1 Timothy 6:16 of God, it says, \"who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, ....\"\r\n\r\n1 John 1:5, \"... God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.\"\r\n

    God is light.\u00a0 Our identity as Christians is we are sons of light.<\/h4>\r\nSo since all of this is true, God is light, God is the source of light, then you start to understand our identity as Christians that we are sons of light.\u00a0 That's our identity.\u00a0 That's who we are.\u00a0 And so our function is not to go into the darkness and participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather our very presence will expose darkness.\r\n\r\nYou know, that's why you can be in a secular environment and people will tell a joke that's a bit dirty, and then they'll see you and they'll say something like, \"Ah, you know, I'm sorry I said that.\u00a0 I shouldn't have said that.\" Why would they say that to you?\u00a0 Well, because they themselves sense what you are.\u00a0 You're a light bearer.\u00a0 I mean, your very practice and presence demonstrates that to them because you're connected to the ultimate source of light, Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\nSo this is the kind of thing Paul is getting at here when he tells us that we are sons of the light and sons of the day.\u00a0 And then he says in 1 Thessalonians 5:5, \"... We are not of night nor of darkness;\"\u00a0 Unlike the world, we see light, we see spiritual light, we see spiritual truth.\u00a0 The unsaved world doesn't see it.\r\n\r\nIn fact, these are all the descriptors of Satan as the ruler of this world.\u00a0 I'll draw a couple to your attention.\u00a0 One is 2 Corinthians 4:4, of Satan, the god (little g), \"in whose case the god of this world has blinded<\/strong> the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.\"\r\n\r\nIf you're not a Christian, you're actually in a state of blindness, in a state of darkness spiritually.\u00a0 I mean, you can't even see the gospel.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because Satan has blinded the minds of the unsaved.\u00a0 This is why trying to intellectualize people into salvation oftentimes doesn't really bear a lot of fruit.\u00a0 Because you can argue, you can philosophize, you can have all kinds of shout outs on social media, you can go back and forth with people all day long debating atheists, and at the end of the day really nothing is accomplished.\r\n\r\nAnd the reason nothing is accomplished is because the people you're trying to talk to are blind.\u00a0 I mean, you are trying to get them to see something that they can't see.\u00a0 Any more than you can take a person that's physically blind and try to point out the colors of this or the colors of that, they can't see it.\r\n\r\nSo obviously what has to happen to them is something supernatural has to happen to them.\u00a0 The supernatural thing is the convicting ministry of the Spirit which brings them to the point of decision<\/strong>.\u00a0 That in essence is what they need.\r\n\r\nAnd so this is what Paul is talking about here when he's contrasting our status as children of light to the world which is in darkness and of the night.\u00a0 Another one of these I'll draw your attention to is 1 John 5:19.\u00a0 John writes, \"We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.\" \u00a0That's the state of the world.\u00a0 Lewis Sperry Chafer used the analogy here of a mother rocking her newborn to sleep.\u00a0 That's what Satan, as Chafer described Verse 19 there of 1 John 5, that's essentially what the world is like.\u00a0 It's just being rocked to sleep.\r\n\r\nThey cannot see what you see.\u00a0 They cannot understand what you understand because you have a spiritual quality to you that they don't have.\u00a0 You're connected to God, they aren't.\u00a0 And so when you interact with the unsaved person, you have to just understand that that's what you're dealing with.\u00a0 You're not dealing with someone that's less intelligent than you.\u00a0 You're not dealing with someone that has a lower IQ than you.\u00a0 You're not dealing with someone who's not as smart as you.\r\n\r\nWhat you're dealing with is someone that literally cannot see what you very plainly see.\u00a0 And as you get into conversations with them, you just have to say, \"Lord, there has to be something supernatural here that's going to help this person.\" And that's where you begin to pray for the convicting ministry of the Spirit that Jesus said is dispatched into the world to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).\r\n

    1 Thessalonians 5:6-8<\/h4>\r\nPaul goes on there in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 in describing our position as children of light relative to the unsaved world as children of darkness who are going to be totally overtaken by this Day of the Lord if they are not saved.\u00a0 Our destiny is different.\u00a0 We are not going to be overtaken by the Day of the Lord the way they are as a thief in the night because we can see, and they can't.\r\n\r\nSo how are we to act in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8?\u00a0 \"so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.\"\r\n\r\nSo you'll notice the descriptors that are used here.\u00a0 There are certain activities that you do at night and there are certain activities that you do in the day.\u00a0 So we should not be involved by way of spiritual analogy in activities that are done at night because the night is not for us.\u00a0 The night is for the unsaved. \u00a0So we are to not sleep.\u00a0 Now I had a very good night's sleep last night so we're obviously not talking about physical sleep but moral sleep, spiritual sleep.\u00a0 I'm not to go back to sleep spiritually speaking.<\/strong>\u00a0 I am not to get drunk, which is an activity that people do at nighttime.\r\n\r\nBut rather I'm to be involved in activities that are acceptable in the day, in the daylight.\u00a0 I should be alert.\u00a0 I should be sober.\u00a0 Because alertness and sobriety is a daytime activity and that's what I ought to be involved in because I'm a child of light.\u00a0 In fact I'm connected to the One who claimed to be the light of the world.<\/strong>\u00a0 I shouldn't be involved in moral sleep or moral drunkenness because that's what people do in the nighttime.\u00a0 And Paul has just finished telling me that I'm no longer, as a Christian, a child of the night.\r\n\r\nThis is actually the argument that Peter used in Acts Chapter 2 relative to those that were attributing the languages spoken by the apostles to drunkenness.\u00a0 It says in Acts 2:13, \"But others were mocking and saying, \u201cThey are full of sweet wine.\u201d\"\u00a0 Peter says Acts 2:15, \"\u201cFor these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;\" \u00a0In other words, you're ascribing a nighttime activity to something that's happening right now at 9:00 in the morning.\r\n\r\nSo by way of analogy, we shouldn't be involved in nighttime activity.\u00a0 I shouldn't be asleep, and I shouldn't be in a state of drunkenness.\u00a0 But I should be in a state of alertness.\u00a0 I should be in a state of spiritual sobriety.\u00a0 Because after all, that's who I am.\u00a0 That's my identity.\u00a0 That's your identity as a child of light.\u00a0 <\/strong>\r\n\r\nContinuing on with 1 Thessalonians 5:8, he says, \"But since we are of the day, let us be sober, [now notice this next little part there in Verse 8] having put on ...\" and Paul starts to list some things that sound a lot like Ephesians 6, the full armor of God.\u00a0 \"... having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.\"\r\n\r\nNow just focus on this little part here, \"having put on<\/strong>.\" When you study the book of Ephesians, it's just an absolutely fascinating book because it destroys every teaching philosophy you hear in modern day Christianity.\u00a0 Where it's all about application.\u00a0 In fact, a lot of Christians will actually tune the preacher out until he gets to the application part.\u00a0 Okay, that's for me.\u00a0 I need to pay attention.\r\n\r\nYou'll notice that the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1-3 gives no application.\u00a0 None.\u00a0 And that's a long sermon, Chapters 1-3.\u00a0 It's not until you get to Ephesians 4:1where he says, \"Therefore,\" and when you see the word \"therefore\" in the Bible, you have to ask, \"What is the word therefore there for?\" \u00a0And it's to transition us out of knowledge into application.\r\n\r\nHe doesn't get to application until after Ephesians 4:1.\u00a0 It's at that point he gives 35 imperatives, which are Greek commands.\u00a0 In Greek, that's an imperative.\u00a0 In other words, Paul never applies spiritual truth to people unless they understand their resources in Christ<\/strong>.\u00a0 That's what he does in Chapters 1 through 3.\u00a0 He doesn't tell them to do anything until they understand who they are in Christ and their riches in Christ.\r\n\r\nAnd only after he accomplishes that, does he then move into application.\u00a0 So if Paul started to apply commands to the people before they understood who they are in Christ, he would be destroying them.\u00a0 Because the Christian life is not difficult, as some have called it, it is impossible.\u00a0 You cannot live the Christian life on your own power.\u00a0 The only possible way to live the Christian life is through the power that God gives you.\u00a0 And you cannot understand the power that God gives you unless you first understand who you are in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 <\/strong>\r\n\r\nSo this is very different than modern day preaching philosophy where it is all about application before meaning is developed.\u00a0 Now this is resurrection Sunday and over in 1 Corinthians 15 is the resurrection chapter.\u00a0 And you'll notice that 57 verses in that chapter there are no applications.\u00a0 Paul does not get to the application until Verse 58, the very end of the chapter, after he's covered 57 verses.\u00a0 Where finally he gets to an application at the end, 1 Corinthians 15:58, \"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.\"\r\n\r\nIn other words, what Paul the apostle has done here is he has not applied the biblical text at all until he's spent 57 verses covering meaning.\u00a0 This is what Paul is doing in Ephesians.\u00a0 He doesn't tell them to do anything until they understand their identity and their riches and their resources in Christ Jesus, and then and finally then does he get to the application.\r\n\r\nBut you'll notice that once you learn to a certain point there is an application.\u00a0 There is something for us to do.\u00a0 Now it comes at the right point.\u00a0 It comes at the right time.\u00a0 But it's there.\u00a0 Because a lot of people have this mindset that well I'm just going to let go and let God.\u00a0 I don't have to do anything as a Christian.\u00a0 Well that's not true.\r\n\r\nThere is an application, but the application comes strategically in Paul's teaching after you understand who you are in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 Then comes the application and the application is I've got to take this truth that I've learned and do something with it and to discover what you're supposed to do you look at the application section and there are a lot of things for us to do.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nPray without ceasing <\/strong>(1 Tess 5:17).\u00a0 God's not going to do that for you.\u00a0 He's empowered you to do it, but you have to through volition take an action step.\u00a0 Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as is the habit of some <\/strong>(Heb 10:25).\u00a0 I mean God's not going to do that for you.\u00a0 He's not going to wake you up in the morning and get you all dressed and transport you automatically to church.\u00a0 You've got to take some action steps to get that done.\r\n\r\nStudy and show yourself approved as a workman who need not be ashamed but rightly handles the Word of God <\/strong>(2 Tim 2:15), the reading of the scripture.\u00a0 God's not going to do that for you.\u00a0 You have to take an action step and be involved in daily Bible reading or you cannot grow as a Christian.\r\n\r\nOne of the great application points there in Ephesians 6 is put on the full armor of God<\/strong>.\u00a0 he doesn't say, \"Okay, just sit there and relax.\u00a0 Let go.\u00a0 Let God.\u00a0 here, I'll put on the pieces of armor for you.\" It's an actual command that the Christian is supposed to follow.\r\n\r\nSo there are authentic, legitimate commands in the Bible and yet you have no ability to fulfill those commands unless you first understand who you are in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 That's why Paul teaches the way that he does.\u00a0 I mean if you were to listen to Paul teach you would hear some sermons probably that had no application in them whatsoever.\u00a0 And then you would hear other sermons later on in the process that was nothing but application because Paul was expecting us to apply what we know.\r\n\r\nSo that's why going back here to 1 Thessalonians 5:8 he says, \"Having put on.\" Now I've got to do something.\u00a0 I don't do it through my own strength.\u00a0 I don't do it through my own power.\u00a0 But I need to do something.\u00a0 So what are we to put on?\r\n\r\nHaving put on, and as I mentioned before this sounds a lot like Ephesians 6, a section of the Bible that I call Dress for Success, the full armor of God.\u00a0 And we've done teachings on that in Ephesians 6:14-17.\u00a0 Put on the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, put on the sandals of peace, put on the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, take hold of the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.\u00a0 you know these are things that I have to actively appropriate moment by moment by faith.\u00a0 God is not going to do these things for me.\r\n\r\nSo in the same way there are some things I need to put on.\u00a0 Number one, going back to 1 Thessalonians 5:8, I need to put on the breastplate of faith.\u00a0 Now it's kind of interesting in Ephesians 6:14 it's not called the breastplate of faith; it's called the breastplate of what?\u00a0 Righteousness.\u00a0 But I think it's talking about the same breastplate.\u00a0 Because without faith you can't have righteousness.\u00a0 In other words it's at the point of faith that you receive the righteousness of God.\u00a0 Philippians 3:9, and says, \"and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through [anybody know the next word?] faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,\"\r\n\r\nThat's how you face the devil every single day.\u00a0 Because the devil is in the business of trying to convince you that you're unworthy to be used by God.\r\n\r\nYou wake up in the morning, Satan will whisper that in your ear.\u00a0 You put your head down on the pillow at night, he'll whisper that in your ear, and he'll tell you that all day long.\u00a0 Who do you think you are?\u00a0 Accusation, accusation, accusation.\u00a0 You're unworthy.\u00a0 Yeah, I know the Holy Spirit told you to share your faith with your family members and unsaved loved ones, but who do you think you are?\u00a0 They're not going to listen to you.\r\n\r\nWell, that's where you actively put on this, what is called here, the breastplate of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, righteousness that has been accessed through faith, and you just mentally rehearse that I'm just as righteous as Jesus.\u00a0 That's my position.\u00a0 God looks at me as if I'm just as righteous as His Son in a positional way.\u00a0 And you start to appropriate that mentally every time Satan comes at you with an attack.\r\n\r\nYou're learning the art of spiritual warfare.\u00a0 You're standing in the midst of satanic opposition.\u00a0 He starts with faith here because Hebrews 11:6 says, \"And without faith it is [what?] impossible to please Him ....\" \u00a0Our whole Christian experience begins with faith.\u00a0 And you have to put on the breastplate of faith or the breastplate of righteousness by faith.\r\n\r\nAnd then Paul mentions here, going back to 1 Thessalonians 5:8, \"... having put on the breastplate of faith and love ...\"\u00a0 I would see another piece of armor here.\u00a0 The breastplate of love.\u00a0 Why does he focus on love?\u00a0 Because love is the goal of our instruction.\u00a0 1 Timothy 1:5, \"But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.\"\r\n\r\nYou'll notice it doesn't say the goal of our instruction is learning truth.\u00a0 It doesn't say the goal of our instruction is using your spiritual gifts in a way that you can become famous.\u00a0 It doesn't say the goal of our instruction is winning an argument.\u00a0 It doesn't say the goal of our instruction is learning the fine art of apologetics.\u00a0 It doesn't even say here the goal of our instruction is evangelism.\r\n\r\nNow all those other things that I mentioned may have their place, but that's not the goal. \u00a0The goal of our instruction is love.\u00a0 In other words, if everything that we're studying and everything that we're learning is not making us more of a selfless person, which is what agape love is, the word here is agape.\u00a0 It's not eros, romantic love.\u00a0 It's not phileo, brotherly love.\u00a0 It's not storge, family love.\u00a0 It's agape, selfless love.\r\n\r\nIf we're not advancing in the direction of agape love, then what's the point of it?\u00a0 We've missed the point.\u00a0 And there are many times in my life where I've gotten irritated with something, bothered by something, I've become argumentative with somebody, and I'm reminded of this passage where I just have to dial back and say, you know what?\u00a0 I'm moving out in a direction that's really not appropriate because everything I'm supposed to be doing, I'm supposed to be doing out of love because the goal of our instruction is love. \u00a0So you put on this particular breastplate by asking yourself with every single motive, everything you do, \"Am I really doing this out of a loving motivation?\"\r\n\r\nPeter here describes our practical sanctification as follows.\u00a0 2 Peter 1:5-7 he says, \"Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence [see that?\u00a0 In other words, I've got to do something with the truth I'm learning.], in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, [what?] love.\"\r\n\r\nNotice how it starts with faith.\u00a0 Because without faith, it's impossible to please God (Heb 11:6)\u00a0 Notice where it all ends, in love.\u00a0 That's the high point.\u00a0 The goal of our instruction is love.\u00a0 Here is what 2 Peter 1:5-7 looks like if you were to look at it as a graphic[5]<\/a>.\u00a0 It begins with faith, and it ends in love.\u00a0 Because the goal of our instruction is love.\r\n\r\nDo you see how everything that God is, he wants to reduplicate in us?\u00a0 God is light, we saw that earlier, and He's made us children of the light.\u00a0 Well here's another example, 1 John 4:8 says God is what?\u00a0 Love.\u00a0 It doesn't even say God is loving.\u00a0 I mean it doesn't even say God has the attribute of love.\u00a0 It says God is love, just like God is light.\r\n\r\nHey, what is God like at the end of the day?<\/strong>\u00a0 I mean who is God?\u00a0 God is light<\/strong>.\u00a0 So we're called to be children of the light.\u00a0 God is love<\/strong>.\u00a0 So we are to put on this breastplate of love.\r\n\r\nAnd then the last one that's mentioned here is the helmet of salvation.\u00a0 And you'll recognize that from Ephesians 6.\u00a0 \"But since you are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and a helmet the hope of salvation.\" (1 Thes 5:8).\u00a0 Ephesians 6:17 says, \"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.\"\r\n\r\nWhat exactly is salvation<\/strong>?\u00a0 Well, salvation has three parts to it.\u00a0 Justification, sanctification, glorification<\/strong>.\u00a0 Justification, the past tense of salvation.\u00a0 Sanctification, the present tense of salvation.\u00a0 Glorification, the future tense of salvation.\u00a0 Justification, being saved from sins penalty, it takes place in an instant at the point of faith alone and Christ alone.\u00a0 Then God moves us into sanctification where we are gradually being delivered from sins power as we learn to walk by God's resources.\u00a0 And then at the point of death is the future tense of our salvation where we will be out of these bodies, either at the rapture or death, and we won't even have the ability to sin anymore.\u00a0 And we will be ushered into glorification.\u00a0 The future tense of our salvation.\r\n\r\nSo you have to be careful with this word salvation in the Bible.\u00a0 It doesn't always mean the same thing every time it's used.\u00a0 Notice what Paul says in Romans 13:11 he says, \"... for now salvation is nearer than when we believed.\" \u00a0So he's obviously using the word salvation in a futuristic way here.\u00a0 He's speaking of glorification.\u00a0 Because he says, \"Now salvation is nearer than when we first believed.\" \u00a0Well, obviously, when they believed they had the first tense of salvation.\u00a0 But he says, \"Now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed.\" And he's speaking there of glorification.\r\n\r\nSo whether you realize it or not as a Christian, you are actually on a fast track into glorification.\u00a0 In fact your glorification is so secure that God describes the Christian as if they're already glorified.\u00a0 Do you guys feel glorified?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 I don't feel very glorified today.\u00a0 But God looks at me as if I'm already glorified.\r\n\r\nRomans 8:29-30 it says, \"For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.\"\r\n\r\nNow isn't that interesting?\u00a0 Even though we're not yet glorified, the deal is so certain, we are so secure that God looks at us as if glorification has already transpired<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nSo with that being said, what does it mean here when it says, \"the helmet of the hope of salvation\" (1 Thess 5:8)?\u00a0 What Satan will do to you, over and over again is he will try to convince you that you are not a Christian.\u00a0 He will try to convince you that you are not saved because you sure don't act like it.\u00a0 And as long as you are devoting all of this time and energy to the fact that, \"Am I a Christian?\u00a0 Am I not a Christian?\", it's energy that could be spent in more productive areas.\r\n\r\nSo God wants you to know as a birthright that once you trust Christ, you are saved, your salvation is secure, you have 100 percent assurance of it, and you wake up every morning and you acknowledge that truth.\u00a0 You put on the helmet, the hope of salvation, which protects your mind<\/strong>.\u00a0 That's what a helmet does.\r\n\r\nBecause Satan is after the mind.\u00a0 If Satan can influence your mind, he can control, essentially, an influencer whole being.\u00a0 So Satan says, \"you're not saved, you're not a Christian, how could you act like that?\u00a0 Who do you think you are stepping out in the things of God?\"\r\n\r\nAnd that's when you put on, you've got to do something active.\u00a0 You put on the helmet of the hope of salvation.\u00a0 You remind yourself of Romans 8:29-30, that God looks at you as if you're already in phase three of salvation, glorification.\u00a0 And as you do that, as you actively put that on, you'll notice that Satan's arrows against your mind start to lose their power.\r\n\r\nSo Paul has really given us a wonderful treatment here, 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 concerning how we are to act as children of light in a world that's very, very dark.\u00a0 So with that in mind, let's pray.\r\n\r\nFather, we're grateful for this word and truth, grateful for the knowledge You've given us of the time period that's coming upon the earth.\u00a0 We're grateful of the fact that we are not in the darkness, but we are of the light.\u00a0 And we ask this week that You would help us to walk these truths out as children of the light.\u00a0 I just pray that Your people would be especially strengthened today for the warfare that's in front of them on this particular special Sunday, Resurrection Sunday.\u00a0 We'll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus' name, in God's people said, amen.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[1]<\/a> All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, unless otherwise noted.\r\n\r\n[2]<\/a> \"Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.\"\r\n\r\n[3]<\/a> Revelation 21:23 (NASB95)<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAnd the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.\r\n\r\n[4]<\/a> Revelation 22:5 (NASB95)<\/strong>\r\n\r\n5<\/strong> And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.\r\n\r\n[5]<\/a> See video First Thessalonians 021 \u2013 After the Rapture (part 2) at 00:55:39 for graphic.\r\n\r\n ","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t