Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Pastor and theologian John MacArthur discusses three popular ways of viewing the world throughout history.

The first being the cyclical view.

This is one that is common in Eastern thought such as Hinduism in which there is a continual cycle of death and rebirth - reincarnation.

This cyclical view of history was also popular with the ancient Greeks.

This view isn’t as prominent in America but is making its headway through different New Age movements in our culture.

The very word karma that is used by so many in our culture today, is actually a religious term pointing to what kind of body the soul will inhabit during the next cycle of reincarnation.

Good karma points to a higher next life while bad karma points to a lower life form.

This view of history makes history somewhat obsolete and devalues the importance of it because what has been will just happen again.

The second view is naturalism.

This would be considered a linear view.

Although it seems very different from the cyclical view, it also has a low view of history as there is no purpose or meaning to life.

We are all just a cosmic accident.

There isn’t a repetition going on - but there is a meaninglessness to history and even the future.

The Biblical Christian worldview is much different than these.

It stands in sharp contrast to the meaningless view of history regarding the first two views.

The Scriptures reveal the purpose and plan of our sovereign Creator God.

Our worldview as believers sees Jesus Christ as the central figure in the history of the world and even before the foundation of the world - in fact He is central for all eternity past, present, and future.

We believe that everything prior to Christ’s incarnation was culminating to that very act.

Our sovereign God orchestrated it all from the beginning.

History is full of purpose.

We believe this because Christ is God.

He is in control.

And the entire Scripture points to the birth, death, resurrection, and second coming of Christ.

We spend a lot of time in churches across America discussing the first three - at least in solid, Bible preaching churches.

We talk about the incarnation of Christ, His crucifixion on the cross, and his resurrection three days later.

But we don’t talk as often - or in some churches the answer would be never talk - about the Day of the Lord.

We don’t talk often about the coming judgment and fulfillment of the Lord’s return.

Today we are going to do just that.

We are going to learn about the Day of the Lord - because the Day of the Lord is certainly coming.

Let us pray.

Prayer.

The Day of the Lord is coming.

We are going to discuss three responses that we should have because this day is assuredly coming.

The first is...

I.

You Should Be Prepared Because the Day of the Lord is Coming (1-3)

Paul starts off by reminding the church in Thessalonica that he had taught them about the end times while he was with them.

We can be sure that he reminded them that these times and seasons are fixed by the Father as we see in Acts 1:7:

1 Thessalonians 5:1 (ESV)

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.

Back to our first verses here we see Paul use two terms that are underlined for you - times and seasons.

The Greek word for times here, chronos (krone-ose), is where we get chronological.

It refers more to a period of time.

While the Greek word for seasons here is kairos (care-ose) which refers to a specific or definitive point in time with a beginning and an end.

Paul presses in on the fact that what he is about to mention - the Day of the Lord as we will see in the next verse - is coming chronologically in the future and it will have a definitive beginning and end.

Before we get into this passage, I want us to see where we are on the timeline of end times.

I understand that there are differing views of end times theology, but as we stated last week, our church takes a pretribulational premillennial view of Scripture because we feel that it takes all of the end times passages in their most literal and congruent sense.

As you can see from this timeline (again gifted courtesy of Pastor Kenny Stidham) the Day of the Lord that we are discussing starts with the Rapture of the Church and ends with the Great White Throne Judgment.

It encompasses the horrors and judgments of the Tribulation which ends in Armageddon.

But it also includes the Rapture of the Church as well as the Millennial Kingdom and fulfillment of Israel’s restoration.

I know there is a lot going on in this slide, but I just wanted you to have somewhat of a reference to what we are discussing today when I refer to the Day of the Lord.

The Day of the Lord or sometimes referred to as ‘That Day’ - is mentioned many times in the Old Testament.

We see it in the books of Amos, Joel, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Malachi, and Zephaniah - and alluded to or directly addressed in other books such as Daniel among others.

Amos gives the terrifying nature of the judgment of God in the Day of the Lord for unbelievers: Amos 5:18-20

Hear the hopelessness in Amos’s voice here.

You flee from one judgment and run into another.

You think you have have finally found a wall to lean on and you are bitten by a serpent.

Rest seems impossible to find.

But we also see glimmers of hope in verses like Joel 2:31-32

Here we see hope in the day of the Lord.

Praise the Lord that we can call on the name of the Lord even now as we see this referred to in Romans 10:13.

But in this promise - we also see that those who are left during the Tribulation can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved as well.

However, as we see in today’s passage, this Day of the Lord is not just mentioned in the Old Testament, it is seen in the New Testament in just about every book by name or at least by allusion or reference to the end times.

We are not going to get any further into the details of the Day of the Lord because it would be a never-ending study!

The coming judgment of God is just as sure as the promise of the salvation of believers.

These two themes run throughout the pages of Scripture.

God will surely save those who have placed their trust in Him and He will surely judge those who have not.

But my goal with this initial information is to let you know that the Day of the Lord is surely coming and that it is not just some esoteric idea that is hidden in Scripture.

It is throughout the pages of the Scriptures and we must be prepared for what is to come.

There has come a liberal movement in many churches to shy away from mentioning the coming judgment of God.

Many young people have even been deceived by their church’s lack of preaching on judgment that they have concluded erroneously that God isn’t going to judge evil persons.

They have gone so far as to even deny the existence of a literal Hell.

This deception is from Satan himself.

Do not believe it.

The pages of the Scriptures continually affirm the coming judgment of God.

Be prepared.

Back to our Scripture for today we see that this day will come like a thief in the night and it will come as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman.

These two warnings are for those who are not prepared.

We who are believers and in Christ do not need to fear the Day of the Lord.

We will be raptured and saved from the proceeding judgment of the Day of the Lord.

But if you are not prepared, then you should most certainly fear.

Paul gives these two reasons for why one who is not saved should fear this day.

1.

It comes like a thief in the night.

This does not refer to the secretive nature of the Day of the Lord.

This will most certainly be a terrifying and obvious day of judgment on unbelievers in the Tribulation.

Paul references the phrase thief in the night because he wants people to know that you do not know when this day is coming so you had better be prepared and ready.

Once the thief comes, it is too late to get prepared.

If you haven’t made sure your house is secure before the thief comes, then there is no hope once he is already there.

In the same way - be prepared for the coming of that day.

Christ is coming to Rapture His church and you need to be ready.

The only true security is if you are in Christ (John 14:6).

If you place your hope and faith and trust in Jesus Christ - the sinless Son of God who lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose three days later - if you repent of your sins and turn toward Him - you can be saved and secure under His watch.

2. It comes as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman.

He ends this idea with a statement of finality - they will not escape.

Paul uses this simile comparison to refer to the assuredness of the coming of this day.

Just like once true active labor pains start in a pregnant woman a baby is sure to come - once the Day of the Lord is here, it is sure to continue to fulfillment.

So be prepared my friends.

Are you ready for the Day of the Lord?

1 Thessalonians 5:3 (ESV)