Christ's Return!!!

Christ’s Return Part 1

"BE WATCHFUL!"

1 Thess 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

INTRODUCTION

There are many Christians WAITING for the return of Jesus Christ -- but not that many who are WATCHING for the return of Christ!

The Bible doesn't teach us to WAIT for His return; we are to WATCH for His return!

What then is the difference between WAITING and WATCHING?

ILLUS: A bunch of navy men were returning from a long voyage in the seas, as the boat approached shore the men were all looking for their wives and girlfriends on the shore ... eager to see them again!

As the men looked over the crowd of women lined up the air of excitement and expectancy grew.

One man however was all alone as all the other men found their wives and girlfriends and they all embraced ... his wife wasn't there! Worried, he hurried home and found a light on in his house.

As he entered he was relieved to see his wife, she quickly turned and said, "HONEY, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!"

His response showed his disappointment He said "The other men’s wives and girlfriends were WATCHING for them!"

The difference between waiting and watching was only too clear! – Source Unknown

The Bible teaches us that we are to be WATCHING for the return of Jesus, not just WAITING for it.

Those who WATCH for it will keep themselves alert and self-controlled; those simply WAITING may slip into sloppy business with other things and let their priorities slip!

1 Thess 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

1 Thess 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

1 Thess 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

You might ask “Why do we need to have a WATCHFUL attitude?”

The momentum of fallen man will be toward getting worse and worse if we are not on GUARD, we might allow ourselves to slip slowly away from a firm commitment to Christ!

Paul's point in saying that Jesus will come “like a thief in the night” is to emphasize how those outside of Christ will be caught OFF GUARD!

The use of the illustration of a woman in labor is to illustrate the fact that the return of Christ is a fact of certainty ... just as labor pains prove a baby is soon to come, so will the rot of sin in increasing measure around the world prove the soon coming of Jesus Christ!

And for unbelievers, they will be caught off guard by Christ’s coming! But for those WATCHING for Christ's return it will not be a great surprise!

( The great Pumpkin clip)

This is the sad thing many people are just like Sally, they have waited and waited for Jesus to come but because He has not showed up when that expect for Him to, then they start whining, where is He, why has He not come, and then they go to complaining I believe and I could have.

2 Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

2 Peter 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Linus was watching, Sally was waiting.

Many believe that Jesus is coming, but many are saying I have heard this story all my life. But the signs are pointing stronger and stronger every day.

Here Paul describes these "last days" in his letter to Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:1-5“They will be terrible times.”

“People will be lovers of self, money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having forms of godliness but denying its power” ... depraved minds.

While Paul clearly meant the last days to be from the time of Christ’s first coming until His second the Bible indicates an increasing measure of these attributes of ungodliness as His second coming gets closer!

Ironically, during those last days people in the world will think things are really getting good, they will be thinking “PEACE AND SAFETY!”

“While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly,”

1 Thess 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

The Greek construction "SAYING" is a present subjunctive meaning they will be saying “peace and safety” at the very moment that doom comes upon them!

While the world is saying "PEACE AND SAFETY" doom will hit them at that very moment!

The world will be caught OFF-GUARD!

According to Mark 13 we as God's people are called upon a number of times in this passage concerning the future to be “WATCHING” ... “BE ALERT” … “DON'T BE DECEIVED.”

Six times Jesus uses this phrase when telling His disciples about the future time just before Christ comes!

Christians should never be lulled into complacency!

Be careful what you grasp onto, what is important in life ... keep watching, don't just grab for this world and lose the next!

ILLUS: A young boy was found to have his hand hopelessly caught in a very expensive vase.

Try as they might they could not get his hand free from inside the antique vase! Soap didn't work, nothing did.

Finally in desperation they broke the expensive vase only to discover the reason the boy’s hand would not come out was because of a penny he was clutching inside the vase ... to the boy this was a treasure, one he would not let go of! ...

and because he continued to make a fist to hold onto it his hand would not come through the opening, and so a greater treasure was lost through the foolishness of a small child! – Source Unknown

Let us be careful not hang on to an lesser treasures!

Those who are WATCHING for Jesus' return will be less likely to hang on to the treasures of this world than those merely WAITING for Christ’s return!

1 Thess 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

1 Thess 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

“We are not in darkness” (meaning without understanding!)

It won't be a surprise to those WATCHING for Christ's return ... we expect it! Because we are not “ASLEEP” like the world, we need to be alert!

To be alert means to be mentally sharp!

It is not a wise thing to have a guard on duty that is not alert mentally!

This involves being knowledgeable about the enemy, aware of the environment around him, understanding of warfare, alert to dangers, planning for the future!

Those who simply WAIT for the future are not alert to the issues of the day, those who are WATCHING out for the future are alert to the needs now to be ready for tomorrow!

1 Thess 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

1 Thess 5:7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

1 Thess 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

"Self-control" is the moral sense of this verse.

Those that are really WATCHING and not just WAITING are usually those who are SELF-CONTROLLED!

They know the seriousness of the coming future ... that is why they are WATCHING and not just WAITING!

Look at verse 7 and the illustration of "SLEEP" and "DRUNKENNESS." This is to contrast the lack of self-control to those who have self-control!

God's people need to be alert mentally ... and we need to be MORALLY SELF-CONTROLLED!

Morally self-controlled is much more than just sexual stuff!

It is all behavior ... kept in proper balances, not extremes!

Morally self-controlled is the ability to not only know what is right and wrong, but the ability to do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong!

We need to be alert so we will not to be taken in by this world's system of values!

ILLUS: The common law in nature is the "path of least resistance." Electricity moving through a circuit will always travel where it has the "easiest" route.

Rivers run around mountains and down slopes because it is easier than cutting through a mountain or going up one!

It is easier to learn about relationships by watching TV than it is to develop real ones, it is easier to complain about a worship service than to participate in one ...

we must constantly fight the battle to avoid the EASIEST WAY – Source Unknown

Only those who are really WATCHING will catch the enemy trying to rob them!

We must guard ourselves against the moral influences of this world.

For many Christians they feel good about not failing in big ways, but we must guard our hearts against the smaller attitudes that can be just as painful and damaging as those big sins!

We tend to be off guard against the smaller things, yet they are the things that trip us up!

ILLUS: Bobby Leach, an Englishman, startled the world some years ago by going over Niagara Falls in a barrel unscathed! ... A feat few have done!

Some time later however, Leach was walking down a street and slipped on an orange peel and had to be rushed to the hospital with a badly fractured leg ... he wasn't as watchful on the daily road as he had been with the big river and it cost him! – Source Unknown

1 Thess 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

1 Thess 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

1 Thess 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

Why should we stay ALERT and have SELF-CONTROLLED?

Because “we have not been appointed for wrath!”, “We are not children of the dark ... but of light!”

God has prepared something better for us than what we have now!

Think about this “Why do guards stay alert on guard duty?” ... because they know that eventually the war will end and those alive will go home again! THERE IS A FUTURE WORTH STAYING ALERT FOR!

We are not simply passing time, we are WATCHING for our Lord's return by staying alert mentally and self-controlled morally!

If Jesus doesn't come in our lifetime we need to leave the next generation a witness of having been on duty during our lifetime!

When our children look back on our lives will they see servants of the Lord that have been faithful to be WATCHING or adults who were running around WAITING for the Lord but passing time doing a thousand different things!?

Paul ends here with: “ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER, BUILD EACH OTHER UP.”

Those on guard-duty can encourage and be encouraged!

There is peace among the soldiers when they know they have good guards on duty!

Are you just killing time WAITING for Jesus to return, or are you really making time productive while WATCHING for His return?

One role of the church awaiting Christ's return is that of a sentry!

We are to be "WATCHFUL" or "On Guard" duty. We are to understand the days in which we live.

A good guard is alert mentally and disciplined or self-controlled.

The church is moving closer to the day Christ will come ... be on guard saints! BE WATCHFUL!