Children Of Light, Delivered From Wrath
1 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Another week has passed, and it feels as though the world is wrapped in deepening darkness.
Headlines are filled with division, confusion, and fear.
What was once clearly called right is now called wrong, and what was once wrong is now celebrated as good.
In the midst of this moral darkness, many voices claim to have the answers — celebrities, politicians, social media influencers, and even well-meaning religious leaders.
They speak with confidence, yet so often they speak from their own wisdom rather than from the Word of God.
Human authority has become the measure of truth, but human authority shifts like the wind.
One generation praises what the next condemns.
And often, it is the Word of God that is being compromised in the process.
What is right according to the Bible becomes shameful.
And so called “progress” is merely throwing off the perceived shackles of biblical truth for enslavement to darkness.
It is not merely that the world is dark — it is that humanity prefers its own “light” to God’s true light.
Man’s so-called light is, in reality, darkness.
Jesus warned us of this in:
The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
People think they see clearly, but apart from Christ they are spiritually blind.
And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
The problem is not a lack of light — it is a love of darkness.
The world does not stumble in ignorance; it rebels in preference for sin.
Praise be to God, He has not left us in that darkness.
He has spoken clearly and faithfully through His Word.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
The truth we need is not found in culture, in politics, or in popular opinion — it is found in God’s revealed Word.
It is in that Word that we find truth, hope, and the way to live as children of light in a dark world.
So let me ask you honestly:
How much time did you spend in the Word this past week?
Did you open your Bible expecting the Holy Spirit to convict, correct, and teach you?
Or did you go through another week being nourished more by news, social media, entertainment, and opinion than by Scripture?
We do not know when Jesus will return.
What we do know is that the world will be unprepared — confident in its own “peace and safety” — and judgment will come suddenly and unexpectedly.
Because of this, we must not be spiritually sleepy or distracted.
We must be proactively preparing ourselves to meet Christ by knowing Him, learning His ways, and submitting to His expectations revealed in Scripture.
As we ready ourselves, we should be warning others about the coming wrath, and point them to the salvation found in Jesus Christ.
We live in a dark world, but we have been called to walk in the light.
That is exactly what Paul addresses in 1 Thessalonians 5, as he contrasts “night people” and “day people.”
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Today, we will consider three truths that shape how we live as children of light while we await the return of Christ…
Our Destiny Is Salvation, Not Wrath
Our Destiny Is Salvation, Not Wrath
verse 9
In this passage Paul reassures believers that because they are “children of the day,” they are fundamentally different from unbelievers who live in darkness and the coming wrath of God.
He emphasizes that God has not destined Christians for wrath but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ.
Some Christians get really scared when they read about the end times and the wrath of God being poured out on the unbelieving world.
But knowing that we are not destined for wrather should calm our fears about judgment, the day of the Lord, or missing the Rapture because believers belong to the kingdom of light, not darkness.
Consider the promise in:
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
God’s kindness in Christ is magnified through His deliverance of us from His wrath.
Our Hope Is Grounded in Christ’s Death
Our Hope Is Grounded in Christ’s Death
verse 10
Paul highlights that Christ died for us—a substitutionary sacrifice securing our salvation and final deliverance from judgment.
This foundational truth assures believers that whether they are alive (“awake”) or have died (“asleep”), their future is settled: they will live together with Christ.
Jesus bore God’s wrath and accomplished salvation for us so that believers can be assured of eternal life rather than condemnation.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness
As a propitiation aJesus’ death on the cross removed God’s wrath against His people, and placed it on Christ as the wrath absorber.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
The only hope that we have in this world is the gospel.
The only hope is that Christ has died for sinners.
The only hope is when we repent and call on Him to save us.
When the world turns from Christ as their only hope, or tries to make Him one of many hopes, then they trample underfoot the Son of God, and are destined for the vengeance of God to be poured out on them.
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
When it comes to the Day of the Lord, the only one who truly needs to be concerned is the one who has denied Christ.
Our Responsibility to One Another
Our Responsibility to One Another
verse 11
Because the Day of the Lord is coming, and knowing what Scripture says about our destiny and hope, Paul exhorts believers to encourage and build up one another.
The new Christians in Thessalonica were anxious about the future
They were uncertain about what would happen to fellow believers who died before Christ’s return.
So Paul comforts and encourages them in order to strengthen their faith and care for one another.
Encouragement is not optional.
We are the Body of Christ, and we are each given different gifts and abilities for the purpose of building each other up.
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
The church is a community that reinforces gospel confidence.
Reminding one another of:
The hope of salvation
The assurance of Christ’s return
The certainty of living with Him forever.
There is a meme on the internet that says:
When you don’t come to church, it’s not just you who misses out — the church loses something too:
Someone who would have encouraged another person, doesn’t speak
A voice that would have lifted the singing, is absent
A gift that could have served others, goes unused
A testimony that could have strengthened faith, isn’t shared
Children miss seeing faithful adults model worship
A lonely person misses a friendly greeting
The body of Christ is incomplete that week
The regular gathering of the church gives us the best opportunity to build each other up.
As we close out this section of the letter to the Thessalonians, remember that the impending “Day of the Lord” is not meant to instill fear in believers.
It is meant to shape how we live:
alert
distinct from the world
sober in faith
devoted to one another
All in eager anticipation of Christ’s return in glory.
