He will hold me fast. Glorious. Thank you, Tony and Anna. Wherever. Where are you guys sitting? Somewhere. Yeah. Looking for a bald head, but there's a lot of you. Anyway, great great to have that testimony this morning from Tony and Anna. They talked about speaking low German. If you don't know how to speak low German, I'll teach you the only two words you need to know. Schone fat. If you don't know what that is, that's heart attack inducing gravy. And matislope, that's the other important word, which is what most of the church will engage in this afternoon. That's an afternoon nap.
So, two most important words in the low German language. So, to follow up from the heavy sermon that we looked at last week, we're going to come to a light, easy sermon on the day of the Lord's judgment today from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Take your Bibles if you have them and turn there. During the winter months of 1951, a Montana cafe owner by the name of Clarence Pellet pulled over to p pick up a hitchhiker who appeared disheveled and frozen while he was walking in a snowstorm.
Once in the car, the hitchhiker, whose name was Frank Dryman, pulled out a gun and ordered Pellet to get out of his vehicle and he began to fire and he ended Pellet's life. They they captured him and during the criminal trial of Frank Dryman, the angry defendant, Frank easily admitted to the crime and refused to repent. He looked at the judge and he said, "I'm going to kill you."
And then he looked at all of the jury members and said the same thing to each of them. "I'm going to kill you." He was of course convicted and he was ordered to be hanged. This was 1951. However, he was able to escape prior to his hanging and he was on the loose for years until 2012. In 2012, the grandson of the man who was killed, the grandson of Clarence Pellet, whose name was Clem, found him because he had been searching the entire time to try to find his grandfather's killer.
He found him and what had happened was Frank Dryman had been hiding in plain sight for decades. He had changed his name. He had left his family that he had had. And he got a new wife, had children with that wife. He was even collecting pension for having served in the military in World War II. And there they found him in the state of Washington and they arrested him. And he went on to say this after his arrest. He said this, "I had no fear.
In fact, to be honest, I don't even remember the victim's name. Utter disregard. Calloused, unaffected by sin, quite frankly, glib toward sin, deserving of every ounce of judgment. And so are you and me. Can you imagine dealing with sin so callously, so unaffectedly? And yet there are many who live like that.
The looming judgment of God is near and the larger part of the world doesn't care and they treat sin as if it's nothing. Well, today in our text here in 1 Thessalonians 5, we are going to see the dire consequences of not looking sin in the face and understanding it for what it is and seeking a remedy. Take your Bibles. I'm going to read the entire chapter of 1 Thessalonians 5 today.
Now, concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of the light, children of the day.
We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then, let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. And 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. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always.
Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. And now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. It's the end of the letter. Now, I am going to contend with you that it's okay that we do not greet one another with a holy kiss anymore. A handshake is fine. We're I I want to look we're going to really zero in on the first 11 verses this morning.
So, we're really not going to touch on the last half because I think the first 11 verses are paramount for us to understand, but let me just I I shouldn't say I'm not going to touch. I'm going to touch on the last half of the chapter right now. Just really briefly, what do we see here in the in from verses 12 to 28? We see here these important instructions that they were to respect those who were spiritual leaders amongst them and to to give honor to them. They were called to spur on the idol, to encourage those who are faint-hearted, to be patient with each one.
So important in the Christian life that we're patient with one another. Everyone's at a different stage in their spiritual walk with God. It's good divorce to be patient with each other in that. They are told to respond to one another with kindness. Don't respond with vengeance. Don't repay evil for evil, but respond with kindness to the brothers first and foremost, brothers and sisters in Christ and but even to everyone to respond with a kind heart. In verses 16 to 18, we have if you've grown up in the church, familiar verses.
This picture of the will of God in Christ Jesus that what is it? Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances. This is the will of God for us. As we read here, we're told, they're urged, in fact, by Paul not to quench the Holy Spirit's work in their midst. The word quench there means to extinguish or to diminish. So live in such a way that the spirit's work in your midst is is built up. It's important. And it goes on to give a a benediction which we will close our service with later.
So these are kind of a machine gun sort of approach to final instructions. And they're important for the church. Our time today is going to be spent in that first half of the letter as we understand God's judgment as laid out here. And and I just want to say before we start, there's good news coming. So the first part of this message, the text is heavy. So our sermon, we just follow the text. So if if the text is heavy, the sermon is going to be heavy. And it's going to be. But there's good news at the end of our text.
Especially if you are like me and you hold to a pre-tribulation rapture. But even if you don't, there's still good news at the end. So, we're going to it's going to end with joy, but it starts with heaviness. What do we understand from this text about God's judgment? Well, before we get to this text, let me let me step back a step further. God's judgment was foretold. This should not have caught believers by surprise, especially Jewish believers because they have the Old Testament.
It was foretold. Our small group leaders were given James Grant's commentary, right, on the the white commentary, right? So, if you're a small group leader, you have that white commentary that we gave you as you were preparing to lead our small groups. And there James Grant in there posits that James or James 3 Genesis 3:8 is where the the foreshadowing of God's coming judgment is already seen. Genesis 3:es 1-7 we have the fall of man where Adam and Eve sin.
They rebel against God. And Genesis 3:8, let me just take you there for a moment. Listen to this. So this they've just sinned. And this is what we read. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So if if you have a footnote beside the word cool, most of if you have a reputable Bible, you should.
It'll say something like it. The Hebrew word here can also mean wind. That's right. The Hebrew word here is rua. Now, if you're a Hebrew scholar, that should remind you of something, right? Good to have you here. Genesis 1 verse 2. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the rua the of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Same word that we have in Genesis 3:8. In 3:8 is translated in English as cool, but it's the same word, the spirit of God. And so James Grant in his commentary points out talking about another commentator that he respects. He says this, this indicates that the coming of the spirit on that day was a foreshadowing of the coming of the Lord on the day of judgment. Now whether you hold that to be true or not, we do see judgment in Genesis 3 because what happens? God lays judgment clearly at the feet of the serpent.
And yet there's the gospel hope in there, too. As there's this promise of the seed of the woman who's going to come and crush the head of the serpent. There's there's a promise of the gospel there. But for those who don't trust that promise, judgment awaits already in Genesis 3. And then throughout the rest of the Old Testament, we read about it over and over. I could spend an hour and I wouldn't be done reading all the verses in the Old Testament that talk about the coming judgment of God. I'm just going to give you a few. Isaiah chapter 34.
In Isaiah 34 and verse 8, we read this. For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. The day of vengeance. In Isaiah 61, just a few chapters later in verses 1 and two, we read this. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
Now, if you're if you're a Bible nerd, you'll be like, "Hey, I've heard that somewhere else." You're right. Jesus read this in Luke chapter 4. So, and he's equating it to himself. He's the one who's going to proclaim liberty to the captives and set the b, you know, free those who are in bondage. And now look at verse two. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, the day of vengeance of our God and to comfort all who mourn.
So built within the hope of this freeing gospel, there's also the knowledge of judgment. Because all who reject the one who comes to set them free is under judgment. Joel 2 was read to us by Mary and I don't know if you caught it. There's a lot there that's pretty clear. It's hard to miss in Joel 2 verse one. It says, "Blow a trumpet in Zion. Sound an alarm on my holy mountain.
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming. It is near." Verse 11 of that same chapter says this. The Lord utters his voice before his army for his camp is exceedingly great. He who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome. Who can endure it? And the obvious answer that is meant here is no one. On your own who can stand in the day of judgment.
Nobody. If you're left to defend yourself on the day of judgment, you will not stand. The next book of the Bible after Joel is Amos. In Amos chapter 5, listen to what we read in verses 18 to 20. Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord. Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light. As if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him or went into a house and leaned his hand against the wall and a serpent bit him.
Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light and gloom with no brightness in it? The day of the Lord is heavy. It is a picture of the looming judgment of God. And one of the clearest pictures we have it in it of it in the scriptures is in the whole account of Noah's ark. If you remember during that time in Genesis chapter 6, the people were evil. They were only evil all the time.
That's the testimony of God. Only evil all the time. And God was going to wipe them out in judgment. And but he was going to save a remnant. And I mean a remnant, Noah and his family. And so he sets out, he tells Noah, "Build the ark." And so they build the ark. Second Peter 2:5 tells us that Noah was a herald of righteousness in that day.
And Oswald Sanders looks at the time frame and he says based on how long approximately would have taken him to build this thing, he would have been heralding righteousness that is heralding repentance, turning from sin and turning to God for approximately a hundred years with ner a single convert. Not one. Everyone rejected the call to repent because there was a way to be saved, but only one way.
Remember the way once the ark was built, there was one door. You There was only one way into the ark. You couldn't slide through a window like the Dukes of Hazard. That's not how it worked. One door. One way. And if you go through the door, you would be saved. But anyone who doesn't go through the door will be killed and destroyed. A picture of course of Jesus Christ in John chapter 10. And Jesus calls himself the door. One way to be saved. And they all utterly reject and scorn and scoff and they were destroyed in that day.
A picture of judgment. Read with me second Peter chapter 3 verses 5-7. For they deliber deliberately overlook this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God and that by means of these the world that then existed was delued with water and perished. They speaking about Noah's time.
And by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. So he likens the day of Noah to our day and that there's judgment coming for the wicked. Oh, that the wicked would repent. And what do we mean by wicked? If you have not received Jesus Christ as Lord by faith, you are the wicked. Now, here's the reality.
All of us are wicked. All of us have sinned. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. The difference between me and that person that I would refer to as wicked is one thing, God's enormous grace. And you can avail yourself of that grace. If today you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, it needn't be that you go through this judgment. You can call upon him today and be saved, but you must call upon him. Purgatory is a lie.
There's no such thing. You must call upon him before you perish. Today is the day of salvation. Let's go back to our text. 1 Thessalonians 5. What else do we understand about judgment? So it was foretold judgment friends will come suddenly according to this. Not only did God make it clear in ages past about his judgment on the wicked and the coming judgment of God, it appears that he let the Thessalonian believers know this too.
In the next book, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2:5, we read this that he says in in talking about the man of lawlessness and the judgment that come at at Christ's coming and all that goes with that. In verse 5, he says, "Do you not remember when I was still with you, I told you these things." So when he was with them back in Acts chapter 17, he was there with them for three weeks. In the span of three weeks, he went through the whole gospel and told them about the coming judgment of God. And yet there were some particulars that they didn't understand un right understandably so.
And so now he's going to clarify some things. Obviously timing man human nature has not changed. When's it all going to happen? I want to get the time frame down perfectly. And notice what he says here. Now concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. You don't need to know. You don't need to know. Does that sound familiar? It should. Matthew chapter 24. Verse 36 says this, "But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only."
It is the height of hubris and arrogance for us to say Jesus didn't know the times and seasons, but I got it nailed. That's why when it comes to end time stuff, we should study. It's it's in the scriptures. Study, seek to understand. Absolutely. But hold these things charitably with one another because not if Jesus didn't know the the the times and the seasons, why would we think we can have it perfectly understood? So, Pastor Bryce, Pastor Joe, myself, we're going to preach and teach this book and and into Revelation in September and on as best as we understand it.
Recognizing you may understand it differently. That's okay. As long as we have a ch our Bibles open and we have that discussion, we can disagree with one another on the particulars of it. But he says concerning the times and seasons, nobody knows. But isn't that the heart of man to want to know? Acts 1 verses 6 and 7. So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?"
And he said to them, "It's not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority." How many more times do we have to be told this? You don't need to know those specifics. So, you might say, "What's the whole point then of the end times stuff that's in the Bible?" Matthew 24 actually is really helpful. At the end of Matthew 24, it says, "The whole point of it is that you're ready because he could come. The imminent return of Christ is real. Be ready." That's the point. It's not for you to try to nail down the dates. Be ready.
That means be ready now. Be found faithful now. It's not for us to know the times or seasons. And here he says the same thing to the Thessalonians concerning the times and seasons. Brothers, I'm not going to write you about that. So what am I going to write you about? Well, it says you yourselves are fully aware in verse two that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Show of hands. This is going to really show your age. So, those of you who are under my age, probably not gonna this is not going to resonate with you.
If you're of a certain vintage, this might connect. How many of you, by show of hands, watch the movie A Thief in the Night from the about the 1970s? Okay, that probably wrecked you because in that movie, they tie the thief in the night analogy to the rapture. Wrong. The Bible doesn't do that. A movie did, but the Bible doesn't do that. The thief in the night pictures that we have in the Bible are always related to God's judgment on the wicked.
Always. The rapture is happy. Think about it. I'm going to go to be with the Lord. That's not bad news. That's great news. The thief in the night analogy is always tied to judgment of the wicked. And it makes sense. If you're asleep in your home, I'm Jared, you're right in front of me, so I'm going to pick on you. Jared, if you're asleep in your home and it's the middle of the night and a thief breaks in, what's your natural feeling?
Terror. Yeah. Terror. FEAR. DOOM. RIGHT. You're not going, "Yay!" Right? It's always tied to the judgment of God. And that's what we have here. You yourselves are aware that the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord is always speaking about his judgment on the wicked. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. That's an important thing for us to understand.
In fact, go with me back to second Peter. So, if you were, we were there moments ago looking at how it connects Noah's time to our time in in those verses. Look at verse 10 of second Peter chapter 3. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth, and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Judgment, the thief in the night.
John MacArthur put it this way, the a thief coming is not a hopeful, joyful event of deliverance, but an unexpected calamity. True. So, back in our text in Thessalonians, there the day of the Lord's going to come like a thief in the night. People are saying there's peace and security then sudden destruction will come upon them. So this is talking by the way who's who is it that's saying it says while people are saying there's peace and security.
Who's the people? Well let's read the verse as it carries on and helps us. While people are saying there's peace and security then sudden destruction will come upon them. Now, that word them is an important word because in just a verse or two, you're going to have a lot of but we or us. There's a distinction between the them and the we and the us. The them are all of those who don't know the Lord. The wicked.
That's what we're reading here. So, when the wicked say that there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them. Are the wicked right now? Even the most carnal person in the world, are they right now, this moment, saying, "Wow, the world is just so full of peace and security." I don't think they are. Now, that can change in a heartbeat. We also know our culture is very deceptive, and things can get spun in a heartbeat, and something that's obviously terrible can be spun by the wicked to make it sound good.
Look no further than our current government telling us about our economy saying that we've never had it so good. That's what's literally being conveyed, which anyone with a checkbook knows is not true, but it can be spun. But here they are. When people say that there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them. And it's eternal destruction, by the way. It's not annihilation. We're going to get into that more when we get to Second Thessalonians here next week. And in the weeks to come. Destruction here is eternal in nature.
Eternal punishment, eternal conscious torment. That's what we read about in the scriptures. It's an awful thing to see a small picture of the wrath of God. Go with me to Revelation 6 verses 12 to 17. This is the opening of the sixth seal. We're going to go through all of these things when we go through Revelation, starting in the fall.
And I'm picking it up here in verse 12. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth. The full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up. And every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone slave and free hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains calling to the mountains and rocks.
Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come. And who can stand? Sudden destruction, we read in Thessalonians, will come upon them, not us. Praise God for that. We're going to get into the good news of this in a moment. But this eternal wrath that is coming should drive you, saint, to evangelize.
If you understand that God's wrath is going to be poured out and regardless of your end times understanding and your end times theology and how it's all going to shake out, what you what we all know with certainty if you're a believer is that there is a day when the wicked, the unrepentant wicked will be forever in torment. And do you have a lost loved one? Do you have a lost neighbor? Do you have a lost coworker?
Do they know? This should drive our evangelism. Far be it from us that we would be content to stand by and let it let the wicked perish without being told. Can I save anyone? No. Salvation is in the hands of God. But can I make sure that they hear it? Yes. And faith comes from hearing. Romans tells us. So we must be faithful to let them know. Now back in our text in Thessalonians, we also read that judgment should cause amongst us as believers soberness.
Notice the transitionary statement in verse four. But you. So we have what's coming for the wicked in verses 2 and three. And then we have this but you. He's talking to these Thessalonian believers. If you've been with us with Thessalonians, you know Paul loves this church. This is a church he adores. These are saints. They're not perfect. They're like all the rest of us. But he loves this church. And he says, "You, the believers, you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief." You see, the only people for whom the day of the Lord will surprise will be those who don't know the Lord.
But you who are who are in the Lord, you should know it's coming. This should not catch you off guard. This is good news. So then he says in verse verse 5, for you are all children of the light, children of the day. We are not of the night or the darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. I I thought about labeling this point judgment should cause us to be woke. But I thought, no, that's people were going to misunderstand that.
We should be awake. We should be awake. That's what it says. We're not sleepy. Or at least we shouldn't be. We should be very alert to our times and alert to what God has called us to and to be sober. People of the night sleep. They're they're asleep in their spirit, in their soul. But we are the people who are awake and we ought never be slothful. During the Revolutionary War, there was a loyalist spy who appeared at the headquarters of the Hessian commander Colonel, I want to get this right, Johan R.
And he was carrying an urgent message. General George Washington and his Continental Army had crossed the Delaware River in the morning and they were advancing on Trenton, New Jersey, where the Hessians were encamped at that time. The spy was denied an audience with the colonel because the colonel was playing poker and didn't want to be bothered. And so the spy frantically wrote up a note to say, "Here's what's coming.
We got to get ready. The general's coming. We need to be ready. Folded up a note, gave it to someone who then came and went into the chambers where the poker game was. Gave it to Colonel R who took it. Didn't want to be bothered by it. Stuck it in his pocket and they kept playing poker. Well, they began to hear gunfire, but by that point it was way too late. The Hessian army ended up being captured on the day after Christmas in 1776, which gave the colonists their first major victory of the war.
This is important for us to understand. The day of the Lord is coming and we ought never be found asleep like that. We are to be those who are awake. And what does it mean to be awake? That we that is to say, we are living a life that's pleasing to God. That he would come and find me faithful. That he would come and find you faithful. Listen to second Peter. You've heard me go back and forth to second Peter a few times. By the way, if you in case you haven't noticed it, second Peter has a lot about the coming day of the Lord.
In second Peter chapter 3:14, right after this whole section on Noah and and how he relates it to our time. Right after that, verse 14, he says, "Therefore," which connects the context, "Beloved, since you are waiting for these," that is to say, you're waiting for the coming of the Lord, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace. Pursue holiness. That is so important.
Our sanctification matters to God. Pursue holiness. May he find us faithful. In first Peter 1:3 gives us a little picture of what it means to be sober. Chapter 1 verse 13 of First Peter. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Set your minds on the Lord. Set your hearts on the Lord.
May your hands be busy about the work of the Lord. That's what it is to be sober. Our hearts, our minds, our hands are all engaged in rem in knowing he's coming and being about his word. His work. We are not to be those who are asleep like we read about in Luke chapter 12. You can read that later, but rather we're to be living in a manner that exalts him as we're busy about his work. This is the instruction he gave at at his ascension.
If you remember, there they are in Acts chapter 1 and Jesus is lifted up and can to be fair to the disciples quite a scene. So Jesus gives them instructions. Go take my word. Take the gospel to Jerusalem to to Judea, to Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the world. Be disciplemakers. Go do it. And then he's lifted up into the clouds in front of their sight. To be fair to the disciples, who amongst us wouldn't have been doing the exact same thing that they did, right?
But so there they are gazing up into the clouds and two men, two angels come and stand beside them and say, "What are you doing? Why are you looking up? Be about the work so that when he returns, he finds you faithful, that you're awake, that you're sober." This is how it should be for us. Does that characterize your life and my life? It should. If it doesn't, what needs to change? That that when the Lord returns, he would in fact find me faithful.
Let us be awake. Let us be sober. But know this, and here's the glorious good news, friends, that we're going to end on this morning because the text ends on it. Judgment holds no terror for the saints. Let me say it again for those in the back in case you didn't hear it. Judgment holds no terror for the saints. Five of you are awake. Okay. So, look at nine and 10. For God has not destined us for wrath.
Now, as I as I said, I'm unapologetically pre-tribulation rapture. That's what I believe. Now I want you to know something. There are a lot of views and that's okay. There are some would say I I believe in a midtribulation rapture. There are those who believe in a posttribulation rapture. There are those who don't believe that there is a tribulation. There are there are those who don't believe that there's a rapture. Any and all of those could be true.
I have ultimately not a person in this room knows with certainty. But we do know there's good news. What does it mean? I'm going to teach what I believe this says. And if you don't agree with that, you can feel free to come and talk with Pastor Bryce. He would happily give you my answer. But so but I'm going to teach how I understand this to be. God has not destined us to wrath. I would contend that this speaks to a pre-tribulation.
I believe that there is going to be a determined time of tribulation. That I would contend we're not in the tribulation right now as some would and maybe we are. But based on a lot of things that I see, I think that there's a time coming that is a a determinate time of tribulation. And so because I hold that to be true and I look at this text, I would contend this speaks to the fact that the church will not have to endure that we, it says here, God has not destined us, the believers, for wrath. And if you tie that then to the chapter immediately previous, Pastor Bryce preached the end of chapter 4.
And in verses 16 and 17, we read there, "The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." And so we will always be with the Lord. And if you marry that with Revelation 3 10 where it says, if I can turn my page here, this is to the church in Philadelphia, but it's I I would contend, and we're going to get into this when we get into Revelation, that these letters were written to more than just the church, those individual churches, but to the church of all time.
In verse 10, because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. I'm going to keep you from the hour of trial. You're not destined for wrath. We're going to be caught up together with the Lord of the air. I would contend that speaks to a pre-tribulation rapture. You can differ with me on that. And you some might say, "Well, we all we all agree. We all agree, regardless of your position, everyone here agrees that eternal wrath is something we're going to be kept from, right?
The saints, the believers, the followers of Christ, none of us will experience eternal wrath. Not one, right? Doesn't matter your view. We all understand that. We're not going to be in hell if you're in Christ. But some might say that's the wrath being spoken of here. But is there a wrath that's going to be coming on earth? I think I just read it for you from Revelation 6. Let me go back there in case you missed that in that passage.
In Revelation chapter 6, right at the end of that, in case you missed that part, let me read it for you again in verses 16 and 17. They're going to be calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who seated on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of their wrath has come. And who can stand there? It appears that they're enduring a measure of wrath on earth. It seems that God's going to keep them from wrath. Even if we don't hold, even if you hold a different position than that, what we can say with joy is at the very least God's eternal wrath will be kept from the believers.
And so God's judgment, his his judgment in eternity holds no terror for the believer. The believer will experience the full, unmititigated, pure, joyful, gracious presence of God for all eternity. We will have no more of this sin. There'll be no more battling which hockey team is better. We'll all know if there's hockey in heaven, it'll be Jesus's team, and he'll win every time.
But there will be no sin. There'll be no arguing. There'll be no destruction. There'll be no chaos. It'll be pure joy forever more and no judgment because sin is no more. And we will be with him face to face. Because look what we read in verse 10 of our passage or at the end of verse 9 into verse 10. 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.
The most important part of that verse, the last two words, with him. Not only do we live in him, which we do, but we will live at that time with him. Look at what we read in Revelation chapter 21. This morning, Jason opened at the looking at the tail end of chapter 20, which feeds then into the new heavens and the new earth. But look specifically at 21:3.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. Where's the pompoms people? This is exciting. This is good news. We'll be with the Lord. He'll be with us in heaven in this new heavens, in this new earth. This is great news.
And so notice what he says here in Thessalonians at the very last part of this passage in verse 11. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you were doing. Does that sound familiar? It should if you've been with us through our series because that's how the end of verse or chapter 4 concluded. Chapter 4 verse 18. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. What is the point of esquetology in the Bible? To make us ready and to encourage us which tells us that the point is not to cause arguments amongst us.
It's meant to be encouraging. It's meant to be upbuilding. It's meant to invigorate our life toward holiness. That's the joy of it. And so for the saint, we need to understand something. The judgment of the wicked is real, but for the righteous, it holds no terror. And so I thought a fitting way to conclude as we consider the fact that one glad morning will all fly away. Which by the way, if you love that song, you believe in a pre-trip rapture.
That's what the song is saying, folks. Anyways, I digress. I'm going to read these three verses of John chapter 14, and then we're going to pray, and we're going to sing with joy. Here's what we read. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also.
Lord, that's good news. We are so thankful for that promise that we will be with you and you will be with us. You will take us into your eternal presence. Thank you Lord that you have not destined us for wrath but to obtain salvation. Father, if there be any here who are not in Christ, Father, would you minister to their hearts even now? Prick their heart. Help them understand that they're a sinner.
That should they die today, they would spend eternity in the judgment of God under his wrath. And yet it needn't be that way. That there is a savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord, who's paid their penalty in full if they would but repent and believe this day. Minister to them, we pray. And for those of us who are in Christ, make us faithful. Help us to be urgent with our gospel proclamation, with all that we know in our world that that don't know the Lord. And may you be glorified as a result.
We pray these things in the precious name of our savior Jesus. Amen.
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
