1 Thessalonians 5:3-11 (Part B)

We know when the Second Coming is going to happen. He's told us that the time period, the events that will be taking place, Israel, their army will be getting wiped out. We know that, but we won't be here for that part of it. He's talking about the rapture. And I don't know why.

All I do, some of them just get excited. So many Christians, you know, they love the Lord so much they get carried away by their feelings and they begin, I think He's coming back. And God says, don't do that. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of First Thessalonians.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Now here's Pastor Rick. He's going to begin in Isaiah chapter 13 today, but he'll then continue in First Thessalonians chapter five on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. He says, and they shall not escape. They're the target of the day of wrath. There's no place to go.

There's nowhere to hide from these things. Isaiah 13, 9, again we read, behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and He will destroy its sinners from it. That is the day of the Lord. Now most of the time we go through the scripture, we talk about salvation and the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. Well, now we're talking about wrath. That is our assignment from the Lord.

Now I also mentioned this morning that there are those who mock this. Oh, it's not coming, you know, scripture. Well, Peter, the apostle addresses this in his second letter. He says, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts 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 creation.

They do continue as they have from creation on the surface. But if you look a little bit, you'll find out things are moving to a conclusion that has been prophesied, but we are seeing prophecy being fulfilled. Verse four, he continues, but you, now here's that disjunctive conjunction. He makes the distinction between the believer and unbeliever. He says, but you brethren are not in darkness so that this day should not overtake you as a thief. An emphatic difference is established throughout scripture between the nature and the destiny of believers and the nature and doom of unbelievers. Darkness here in verse four refers to the world's ignorance of God's person and purposes and plans because they want it that way. Peter points it out. He says, walking according to their own lusts.

They want to satisfy themselves on whatever it is that they enjoy. Now, unbelievers may be listening to this, and they are saying either one or two things, maybe a third is happening. Either they're saying to themselves, you know, I don't like the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and they're ready to go out, turn it off, or they're responding to him. I sense God calling me saying, wake up.

This is happening. You are not made for this. You deserve better than this. Why be judged? Ezekiel put it this way, turn, turn, why should you perish? Ephesians chapter four, verse 18, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.

The apostles had to deal with the same things we do in people who don't believe it, don't want it. They have no evidence. Their premise is wrong, and therefore their conclusion, the outcome is wrong. Their way of thinking is like a broken compass. It's going to point in the wrong direction. So long as it isn't broken, it will never give them true direction. He continues in verse four, he says, so that this day should overtake you as a thief.

Again, sudden, but not without warning. Attempts to pinpoint the precise time of the Lord's coming for his church are wrong. The scripture prohibits that.

It does not say, thus I command you not to do it. He says it in a different way, but it's the same result. Matthew 25, 13, watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the son of man is coming. Now we know, we know when the second coming is going to happen. He's told us that the time period, the events that will be taking place, Israel, their army will be getting wiped out. We know that, but we won't be here for that part of it. He's talking about the rapture and I don't know why. All I do, some of them just get excited. So many Christians, you know, they love the Lord so much they get carried away by their feelings and they begin, I think he's coming back and God says, don't do that. You know, it's sort of like, you know, the parents buy gifts and we're going to hide them from you.

That hide them, we're going to hide them means don't touch them. Well, the child's nature is going to recondition and try to locate and open. You know, once when I was a kid, I did that. I felt so bad. You know, it's like, why did I do that? I never did it again. But anyway, the Lord says, don't go looking for this. I've hidden this from you and it's not wrong to recognize the stage is being set.

The props are being put in place. You know what act is coming. There's nothing wrong with seeing that happening. It's just something wrong and saying the curtain will go up in 30 seconds.

We don't have that privilege. Matthew 24 verse 32, Matthew 24 is that section of scripture with Jesus is teaching the disciples about the end times. You cannot get a chronological outline just from that section of scripture.

You have to do detective work and bring in other things that he has said about that time. He gives them a condensed class there, but he says this, he says, now learn this parable from the fig tree. He says, learn this parallel story, this thing that runs right beside what's going to happen. This microcosm of truth is going to have a greater fulfillment.

That's what he's saying. He says, learn this parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

So you also, when you see these things, know that it is near at the doors. The fig tree is Israel. How do we know that? Well, every time we see the fig tree in parable, in Old and New Testament, it speaks of Israel. And so we know that he says, when you see Israel begin to come to life and have fruit, well, the leaves on the trees of a fig tree says, hey, I've got fruit. And we see that Israel became a nation again in 1948 and she's very fruitful.

We know the stage is being set. We are in the last of the last days, unlike ever before. I don't think the world can sustain the technological advances that we are seeing unlocked. I think the lesson from the Tower of Babel teaches that. God says, listen, if we leave them with one language, they are going to destroy everything.

Now the world again is rebuilding the Tower of Babel. They once again have a common language and a common goal, and God is on the outside of it. That is the definition of the world. It's not what we have or have not in common with the world that makes them different from us.

It's who we have not in common. That is Jesus Christ. And so when he says that day will not overtake believers, when he said that day should not overtake you because you're in the light, he's saying because the Lord comes for his church as a thief in the night.

Just like in the parable of the 12 virgins with their lamps, those that were ready at the midnight call went out to meet him. Now if you're a struggling Christian, you say, I know I love the Lord Jesus. I know he is my savior. There is no other. I worship none other but him, but I'm not ready because I fail too much.

I trip up, I sin, I just can't seem to get ahead. God replies to that. He's already put the answer in, the lifeboat is in the scripture.

He says there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. He wouldn't have to say that if we were perfect. We'd say, you don't have to tell us that. We know that because we're perfect. We're not perfect. We're made perfect. We're pronounced perfect by what Jesus has done for us. You have to remember, Jesus died for only one kind of person, a bad one.

And for no other type of person did he die. Now if you're foolish enough to go comparing yourself next to your neighbor or the people in jail, then you have at it, but God's not going to compare you to them. He's going to compare you to his son, Jesus Christ. And so he said, I'm a good man compared to who? Compared to, you know, Jesus or to your neighbor?

And if you say compared to my neighbor, then you're dirty. But if you say, well, compared to Jesus, I'm dirty, then there's hope. And so I want to take some scriptures and just point this out what the scripture says. Mark's gospel chapter two, verse 17, Jesus said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus says you're dirty and you're sick without savior.

So who purpose of him being a savior? That's the whole purpose of the cross. That's why he said, father, if possible, take this cup from me. Well, it's not possible, son. If they're going to get saved, you got to drink the whole thing.

And that's what happened. And it'd be a mockery of the crucifixion to say, well, there's other ways to be saved. Not without Christ there isn't. Well, what about what? Here comes all of the what abouts that they want to sort of disqualify what God has revealed. Let me tell you, the hardest case you can think of who goes to death without receiving Jesus Christ will be judged fairly by Jesus Christ.

And that is beyond you and me. God never does wrong. He is not sinister. He is not someone who has failed to think of something.

He has it completely together. That's what makes him God. And if your God is smaller than that, it's not a God at all. Romans chapter 3 verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. You know what Isaiah says about man's righteousness. He says to God it's filthy rags. And it's a very strong Hebrew word that I'm not going to go into. But when he says filthy rags, he means really bad. In verse 23 of Romans chapter 3, he says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

What matters if you're in a boat and it's sinking and you drown 10 feet before the life jacket or life preserver or two inches, what difference does it make? You're done. And that's what God is saying.

It's not a matter of degree. It's a matter of state. You're in a state that is lost. Romans chapter 10 verse 13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So we go back to that individual that says, I'm not strong enough. I'm weak.

I stumble. The thoughts of my having pure thoughts and pure actions. And God says, do you call upon me in earnest? You see, if our being raptured or being saved from judgment depended on our perfection, our Christian perfection, we all would be left behind. We would all be judged, whether it is death or rapture. But on the other hand, if our being raptured depends on the death and resurrection of one mightier than I, which is Jesus Christ, then every believer will be saved. That's what John was trying to say.

He is so clean. He is so far above me that I'm not worthy to untie his shoes. These superlative pictures are put in scripture on purpose. What happens is you can get so exposed to them and trouble in life at the same time that you begin to say, yeah, well, the scripture doesn't have power. It doesn't change my circumstances right here, right now.

And that's what I need. And God says, no, you don't. He says, listen to me. God does. Death happens to everyone. What happens at that moment is what matters the most. That's what it's all about.

Not whether you got the job or the promotion or you were comfortable or this happened or that didn't happen. Read the scripture. Find out how many people God let die. And out of all the people that died in scripture, not one extra person died. They all died. That's the curse.

That's the promise. The day that you eat of this tree, you will die. He didn't say you were dropped dead at that moment.

You're going to die. And through Satan telling the same lie to Eve that he tells to every one of us, Jesus is not real. Jesus doesn't love you. You're a sinner.

You can't be fixed. I know, though, but when our feelings are being crushed, it's hard to get to that place. So God has given the church sermons to sort of clear, boof, jolt you out of it so you don't die. He's giving you friends that sharpen you, iron to iron. It's so important to be a good Christian friend. But you can't fake it.

You've got to be in love with Christ. You can't fake being a good friend. You will be a bad one. And I believe our enemies are better than stupid friends.

Don't be a stupid friend. One that just says anything. One that just is about nothing. Be that one that is centered on Christ Jesus. He says here in verse 5, we become children of the light. You are sons of light and sons of the day. That happens the moment we believe in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is imparted to us. Again the distinction is made throughout scripture between a Cain and an Abel, a Noah and the drowned, a Lot and the perished of Sodom and Gomorrah.

God does this throughout scripture. And the world's response without Christ is that they fuss and they hiss and they seethe and they spew, but they will not come and repent. They hate the idea that Jesus is the only way. It is the objection of the spiritually dead wrong.

That's what is happening. You are dealing with a person who doesn't know the Lord and we are here to throw at that everything we can so that they can come to Christ. We just want to introduce them to Jesus.

They don't want us to. This is, Satan's, one of his masterpieces is the apostate church. It's the church that has the name, has the emblems, has the rituals. It just doesn't have Christ.

Jesus talked about the church at Laodicea that parallels the end time apostate church. He says, I'm at the door. I'm knocking to get in. You think I'm in there. I'm out here and you won't open to let me in, but if you do open, you'll be apostate no more.

Will they open or will they not? We don't know. So, this idea of things being absolutely absolute is bothersome to those who are outside of the Lord's truth. You know, there aren't two ways to be right handed. You're either right handed or you're left handed.

There's not two ways to be right handed. And this idea that there are absolutes is essential to out preaching the gospel, to saying to a lost world, listen, God has established that there are absolutes. Yeah, there are some things that are gray zones. There are many of those things in life as we call them. But how can there be two ways if there is one truth?

There can't be. And so it is important that the individual resolve this. I know when I became a Christian, I was so happy to ditch every foul idea about God that swirled about my head before he reached me. And this is what is, I think, the mark of the Christian. One of the marks of the Christian is that once they are born again, everything else is gone.

Their ethnic identity, their color of their skin, the language that they speak, all of that goes way down to the bottom. The only thing that stands up is the salvation that they have been recipient of. So God makes no room at the cross for synthetic gods and neither do we. And we should have no respect for error because God does not have respect for error. There's not an auxiliary savior or an auxiliary salvation or an auxiliary church.

There's one. And there's one Lord and God over that church and His name is Jesus Christ. And if you want people to go to hell, just don't tell them about Jesus Christ. Well, He also says we are not of the night or of darkness.

And, you know, the longer you're saved, the less, I think, understanding you have of this kind of thinking. We look at liberalism today, political liberalism, and we just scratch our heads. Why is it that anything decent they hate?

They seem content on burning down the house they live in upon themselves. It's a madness. It's a sickness that certainly is demonically energized, engineered, and maintained.

And we look at this and we just say this is madness. Well, that's what the angels must be saying when they see human beings sort of bury the evidence that is inescapable concerning the person of Christ Jesus. We are so susceptible to this that even you who have been born again for decades know that Satan has a return visit.

He has follow-up visits for you. He has hope that he is going to cause you to fall away from the faith. And God says that should never happen.

There's no reason for that. And so, verse 6, we continue, He says, therefore, that's based on everything He's been saying, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. How can we sleep when we know what's going on? One of the beauties of prophecy is you know what's happening. You know what's going on. You're awake to these things. Some of you remember that show, you know, I don't know, the invasion of the body snatchers. You know, there were those that knew what were going on.

They could see what was happening. That, for the sake of making the point, is what's going on hopefully with Christians. We are alive and we are watchful. This word that He uses here in verse 6 where He says, therefore, let us not sleep as others, that word in the Greek for others. There's an interesting lesson in it. It really means remaining ones.

It really reads this way and I'll build that up in a moment. He says, therefore, let us not sleep as the remaining ones. That is the ones left behind.

That's the meaning of that. In the Greek, the Greek scholars tell us that there are three words used for others. There is alos, those of the same kind, like you're on a team.

They're different people, but they're the same team, same kind. There is hetras, those of a different kind, you know, apples and oranges. And then there is loipos, which is used here.

Those are the remaining ones, or remnant, the rest. That's what that Greek word means. It is properly translated others in the context of everything Paul is saying to us. And so he is reading that verse 5 again. He says, therefore, let us not sleep as those left behind. It's prophetic.

It is anticipatory. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 2, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. Same Greek word there.

Ephesians 2 verse 3, Paul uses just as those left behind. And so when you hear someone say, let me tell you why I think the church is going to suffer through the great tribulation period, you're just like, gee, turn them off. Because how do I untie this Goidean knot?

How do I unscramble? Fine. It doesn't have, you know, if you don't get it, that doesn't mean you're going to go to hell. You're free to disagree with this, to me, clear teaching of the church and not perish for it. But prophecy matters. And the more you understand God's program, the more useful you become in God's program.

And the more you push it away. I mean, listen, there are Christians that if they put the same energy they put into their career or their family or their portfolio or their hobby or whatever it is, if they put some of that energy into God's house, the church, the local church, which is part of the universal church, they'd be fierce as an army with banners. And we have, in this church, I think we have an extraordinary amount of believers. Nebuchadnezzar could walk around his kingdom and look out and see the gold and the marble and all the things he looted from other countries and the hanging gardens of Babylon. He can say, this is not the great Babylon I have built. Pastor of a good church can walk around and see the people and it's like gold and marble and the hanging gardens.

He says, isn't this not the great church God is building? You appreciate what God has done. You know what it does. You know how it counts. You know that it is meaningful. He continues in verse 6, he says, with, let us watch and be sober. Sober is exact to the Greek. Don't be filled with the wrong stuff.

Well, what's the wrong stuff? The stuff that alters your state of consciousness. Your reliability that renders you harmful to others, a menace and unstable. We are all vulnerable to stimulants that intoxicate us spiritually and physically. But I'm talking spiritually because Paul is talking spiritually, of course, at this point, we must avoid nod, nod, nod, like some of you might be doing right now, nod inducing pleasures. Luke's Gospel chapter 12 verse 13, let your waste be girded and your lamps burning and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master.

How can you not love that? Even if you're going through tough times as a Christian, you say, listen, I know that's required of me. When I'm done with this tough time, I'm getting back up on the wall where I belong.

I'm going to serve. Verse 70 continues, for those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. Well, they come out at night, puts a veil around them, covers them.

Sleep is used metaphorically to identify the living dead. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of 1 Thessalonians. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app as well. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of 1 Thessalonians right here on Cross Reference Radio.