The Day of the Lord (2)

Introduction

We will be talking about “The Day of the Lord”

The Day of the Lord is when Jesus will return for the second and final time to earth

He will destroy all of His enemies

He will raise the dead

There will be the greatest gathering together of the saints in world history

This world, this age, everything as we know it will come to an end

All of this will take place when Jesus returns

Why do you think this theme is so prevalent in the NT?

Jesus spent two VERY LARGE CHAPTERS ON IT

Paul speaks about it often

Peter refers to it in his letters

The book of Revelation is written primarily around this theme

Why is this so important?

The powerful truth from Scripture is JESUS IS COMING AGAIN

The application from that truth is that those who believe this must always be ready for His coming by living a life a life of faithfulness to Christ

Has there ever been a time in your Christian walk when you have been tempted to indulge in the world?

By that I mean tempted to just let go

Indulge in the pleasures in this world?

Walk away from a ministry assignment

Walk away from God’s will

Curve the numbers of our tax returns

Walk away from your faithfulness to Christ?

When we look at the unbelieving world and think, “what would it be like to live like that for a year or two"

What would it be like to use every Saturday and Sunday for play time (camping, fishing, 2-day vacations, sleeping in until 10:00 on a Sunday)

What would it be like to have a drink or two or three

Not worry so much about following the rules and JUST LET GO!

Truth be told we probably all have had those thoughts and may have even acted on them

BUT THE CONVICTION that Jesus is returning brings our lives back into focus

It’s the reminder that Jesus will return that cuts through all of that surface level temporary pleasure and reminds us of eternity`

I am convinced God placed this theme so heavily in Scripture to continuously bring our minds back to reality and truth!

It certainly is not to scare the unbelieving!

(Look at v 1-3)

The Day of the Lord teaching is not for the unbelieving!

1 Thess 5:1-3 “Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.”

“The times and epochs”

This could be translated “time and date”

And Paul is saying there is no need to say anything about this because no man knows when christ will return

No mathematical equation or formula can predict when Jesu returns, “He will come like a thief in the night”

How does a thief come?

When you least expect him

And that is exactly what Jesus said, “for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly

Who do you think they are?

These are those who do not believe, who do not follow Christ, who do not even consider the implications when Jesus returns

Paul said the second coming of Christ will be like labor pangs upon a woman

What happens when a woman goes into labor?

I have never experienced this bc all of our pregnancies have been induced

They set a date and time, bring you into the hospital all calm like

But a pregnancy can be a long drawn out thing

9 months is a very long time to carry another human!

Ands then one day out of no where, severe pain and the labor has begun

This is the way it will be for the unbelieving

Too many people, including those who profess the name of Christ, live without and real awareness of God in the ordinary decisions of life.

Such people’s lives will be interrupted unexpectedly by Christ’s coming, for they will be judged because of their lack of faith in and obedience to the Lord.

The call here for us is to be alert and be ready for His coming

1 Thess 5:4-7 “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 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.”

Notice the contrast between light and darkness

I want you to think about what it means to “be in darkness”

What do you think Paul is implying here?

Darkness is a metaphor for the inability to understand and it represents sinfulness

The world lives in darkness

They do not know Christ, nor do they submit to the lordship of Christ, nor do they follow Christ

They walk in darkness

WHY?

2 Cor 4:4 “in whose case the god of this world has blinded 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.”

Before any of us came to Christ, we walked in darkness

Think about your life that you lived

You lived for yourself only

You did not follow Jesus

You may have not been a bad person, but you did not do God’s will, nor did we want to

BUT then we became “sons of light”

Light in the Bible is a metaphor for understanding and righteousness

How did this happen?

God opened our eyes

John 9:1-9 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.””

“so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober”

Because our eyes have been opened, because we have been called into the light, we must stay on the alert

The call is to be sober

To be drunk spiritually is to indulge too much of the world’s way of looking at things and not enough of the way God views reality.

To be intoxicated with the world’s wine is to be numbed to feeling any fear in the present of a coming judgment (Beale)

How do we live this out?

Live lives that please God

Love people

Abstain from sexual immorality

practice self-control

do the will of God

Therefore encourage one another in light of this

1 Thess 5:8-11 “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. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”

God did not destine us to wrath

When Christ returns , we will not be judged

We will not receive the punishment of this world

We will be saved from the destruction that is coming upon this world!

We will receive a reward for our labor, a reward for our faithfulness

PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

They both received the same reward “enter into the joy of the Lord”

This Christian walk is worth it!

The sacrifice is worth it!

The hardships are worth it!

It will all be worth it in the end!

Encourage one another

Encouragement isa different than praise

Praise tells someone, “I get approval when I do good.

If I will do good, then they will approve of me.

When my performance is good, the approval rate goes up.

When my performance is bad, then my acceptance goes down, and my self-image goes down with it.”

Praise says, “You are great because you did something.”

There’s nothing wrong with praise, but encouragement is twice as strong as praise.

Encouragement looks at someone and values them, not primarily for what they can do, but for who they are.

Encouragement says, “You can do it. Thank you. I’m so grateful for you.”

We need encouragement from each other

We live in a world full of discouragement and the enemy will use discouragement to try to tear us down!

Let us be faithful in encouraging 9one another

And if that is your gift, it is greatly needed in Kingdom of God!