This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Ignite the Light Ministries radio and podcast. It is our mission to help listeners develop a deeper relationship with Jesus by sharing what the Bible says and what it means. We aim to encourage and equip you to serve others, share the gospel, and reflect Christ in every aspect of your life. I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd.
Thank you for tuning in.
So it's Continuing with our First Thessalonians Series? We are going to be in chapter five. 1 Thessalonians 4 through 11. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Verses 4 through 11.
So we'll do a clean read-through of this passage. We're going to focus there, but I want to start reading from. Chapter 1. Or no, not chapter one. Wow, we'll be here all day.
Uh verse 1, chapter 5, verse 1. Um So, yeah, our section today is a continuation of verse 1 through 3.
So, it really doesn't make sense for us to read it in isolation. Uh they say context is cane. Context is vital to us understanding the word as God has written it. That way we're not cherry-picking or picking something out of context.
So starting here at verse one.
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates, we do not need to write to you. For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, while people are saying peace and unity. Destruction will come on them suddenly. as labor pains on a pregnant woman. and they will not escape.
Verse 4, but you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness.
so that this day should not surprise you. Or should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
So then, let us not be like others who are asleep. But let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober. putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation.
as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that Whether we are awake or asleep, We may live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up. Just as in fact you are doing.
So, as we open this section of scripture, we're looking at the Lord's return. Focusing in on the behavior of the believer or the response of the believer to this information. What kind of behavior can we expect from a believer? What is the natural response to the Lord's coming? The first is We ought not to be shocked.
It should not take us off guard. We don't know the timing of the second coming, but we are expecting Jesus to come back a second time. He's not going to surprise us like a thief in the night. For the believer, it will be like a long-awaited bridegroom returning to claim his bride. We see that imagery in Matthew 25 with the parable of the ten virgins.
They are out there waiting for their bridegroom to return. Verses one through three, it introduces this idea. Of the day of the Lord, and we talked about this. Last week. Um The day of the Lord, this is not the first time it's mentioned in Scripture.
We see it all throughout the Old Testament, and it's God's coming judgment for the unbelieving world. And it ought to make them tremble. But for us believers who have payment for our sin through the person and work of Jesus, this coming day of the Lord is a promise. It's a promise that every wrong is going to be made right. And when that's the case, I can confidently turn the other cheek today.
Because I know God is going to make every wrong right. And when I trust in that, it makes it easier. It makes it so that I can relax when I've been wronged. It says, This day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. It's going to catch people off guard.
Do you guys remember the mortgage analogy from last week? You know, we know the payment is coming, it's due at the end of the month, and that should motivate us to act accordingly. And that is, that's a healthy fear, that's a healthy response to the reality. of the situation. But the unbelieving world, they're going to be caught off guard.
Saying peace and safety. But verse 4 to 5, it says, We are not to be in the dark about this, surprised. In fact, we expect this day and we expect it with joy. All right, verse five. You are all children of light.
of that day. We are we do not belong to night or to darkness.
So we don't belong to the darkness. There's a couple things there. If we don't belong to the darkness, we are living in light.
Now, though we might occasionally struggle with the flesh, we might occasionally struggle with sin, we are no longer consumed by it. The believer is no longer blinded by the glamour, the glitter, the possessions, the power or pleasure. We're no longer blinded by these things. We can occasionally stumble, but we do not walk with our thoughts glued to worldly Things. This is because we realize these things cannot sustain us.
They're not of any substance. And we only realize this because We've experienced the fullness of Christ. And in experiencing that we have a bigger perspective. As y'all know, I grew up in a Methodist church. Yeah, I went to this one church ever since I was a wee lad as a three-year-old, and going back to children's church myself.
And I distinctly remember how big the playground was. Man, there was a jungle gym and it felt like it just went so high. And I had this moment going back there a couple years ago when I was an adult and taking a look at this huge playground. And it's like, wait a minute, this is just a normal playground. But when I was a kid, that was the playground.
I went there and it was so full of activity. It was so big and astonishing. But now it's like, oh. I I'm approaching it with a bigger perspective. You know, and There's probably a million reasons that the mind does this, where we remember something bigger than it was when we were a kid, but I really think it's.
We remember something being huge and big is a notable memory, but when we're a kid, we don't have the perspective to really know what big is.
So like when I was a when I was an infant, Um You know, I would see my dad's hand, and it was huge. Like, my whole hand fits in his palm. Like, this is the biggest hand I've ever seen.
Well then you go up to the zoo and you see an elephant and you're like, oh my gosh, I didn't know that this was a thing. This is the biggest thing I've ever seen. You're staring at this behemoth with starry eyes just in awe and it's memorable.
Well wait until you see a mountain. Whoa, that's even bigger than an elephant. Wait until you see the Grand Canyon. Wait until you gaze up at the night sky you see the Milky Way. Ah, we have no idea how big things can be.
It's the same thing. with our sin. If we have never experienced the unending fullness that is Christ. If we've never witnessed his magnitude or beauty, if we've never known how deeply our hearts can be satisfied, We might mistake the glitter, the glamour, the pleasure as the most fulfilling thing in the world. Not because it's any different, but because we lack the perspective.
of how big something can get, of how fulfilling a thing can be. And Jesus is the most fulfilling thing we can have in our lives. And when we've seen the fullness of Christ, we can never go back to the glitter, the glamour, the sin. We can be tempted, we can fall every now and again, but we know this cannot satisfy me. There is something bigger.
There is someone bigger that can satisfy me more deeply. We do not live in darkness. Because we have known, we know God personally and intimately. We've experienced His holiness. We know His love and that He is infinitely more satisfying than any of the immediate gratification that we can grasp at.
Our thinking is no longer in darkness. We know the wages of sin, the cost is death. Mm-hmm. Our living is not in darkness because we've experienced The glory of God. But then it also says that we are we are children of light.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are adopted into the family of God. We become a child of God. He brings us into the fold. Not only that, but we are to be the light of the world. Matthew 5, 14, it says, We are children of the day.
We do not belong to the night or darkness. When we are adopted into the family of God, Where we call home changes. Home is no longer a house that we grew up in. Home is to be with. God is not.
Our residency, our citizenship changes. We are no longer citizenship, or we are no longer citizens. First and foremost, to Virginia or America or anywhere else, we are now citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Philippians 3:20 says this very thing: our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we had this idea, our residents, Uh our place is now a place that we have yet to go. We are now residents of the kingdom of heaven. Earth here is not our final destination, but is to be with God in the new heaven and the new earth. We are simply passing through with the time we have here on earth. We are sojourners, we are travelers, setting up a tent like Abraham here on earth for a temporary period of time.
till God calls us home. Our lives are like a pilgrimage. going to this this holy place.
So, when the day of the Lord comes and we join God in eternity, it's going to feel like coming home. To a deep and satisfying rest after a long day's work. Sweet Sabbath is finally. Here.
Okay. Verse 6 it says, So then let us not be like others who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. Verse 7, for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.
So Paul doesn't exactly need to know what acombatics looks like to know how things operate, you know, what the heck goes on during the evenings. Ecclesiastes 1.9 says there is nothing new under the sun. What does that mean? Drugs, sex, rock and roll, every generation jumps into these things thinking they're going to discover something about themselves. But those things have been around for every generation.
Doesn't matter. The 50s, the 60s, the 70s, it's going to be the same thing in 2050. And we look at the book of Ecclesiastes and the preacher tells us, I've tried everything. I have denied myself no pleasure. been there, done that.
And I can say with confidence, everything under the sun is completely meaningless. The only thing that holds any meaning at all is to be with God. and to know God. It says achievement. Meaningless.
Rest. Meaningless. Riches, meaningless, pursuing knowledge or human wisdom, pursuing a degree. Without God, it's meaningless. Growing old, being young, meaningless.
So, if we put our skincare routine or our exercise plan. And if we have those things and we don't have a devotional, oh, we got it wrong. That's what that means. pleasure in and of itself Meaningless. And from the book of Ecclesiastes to today.
Nothing's changed. For all of human history, Paul doesn't need to know our town to know what is common. If we place our worst in anything else. Other than God. We will be deceived.
We will be ensnared, we will be hurt, and we ultimately will be horribly disappointed. The bottle can't fix us. More education cannot fix us. More money. Cannot fix us.
Your husband cannot fix you. Your wife cannot fix you. Sex cannot fix us. raising our children. cannot fix us.
I'm gonna say it one more time, if we place our worth in anything other than God, we will be deceived, ensnared, hurt, and horribly disappointed. Only Jesus The great physician. can make us whole.
Okay. Do we know him? When Paul says, let us be awake. Let us be sober. Uh it's being awake and sober to this.
Reality. And I hope it's abundantly clear we can be drunk. on many Things. We can live a life free from the bottle but be completely trashed day in and day out in our own pride and vanity. We can be drunk on many things.
Thanks.
Sobriety is to be disciplined and controlled, to live a life of righteousness and godliness, consistently awaiting the return of Christ. Falling to sin, it lulls us to sleep. We're no longer alert to the things of God. We become inactive for God. We're no longer worshiping, no longer feeling alive in Christ or anticipating his return.
And Paul is saying: be awake, be alert. Verse 8. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober. Putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
So the believer is to be sober-minded and protect themselves. How? How do we do that?
Well, we suit up. We suit up with faith. hope and love. Yeah. Faith and love in this analogy are a breastplate that protects our heart.
Faith deflects. and ho uh love directs. Faith deflects, hope directs. If we really have faith in Jesus, that He saves us from sin and death, if we really believe that, and that He is the ultimate biggest satisfaction, we will not be deceived by temptation when it comes. You can't tell me any longer that an elephant is the biggest thing.
I've seen the Milky Way. You can't tell me that this is going to satisfy me. I know satisfaction in Jesus. When we experience the love That Christ has for us. That He would bear His cross for me, a wretched sinner.
I am broken by that. I come undone. I fall apart before him. And I'm flooded with love for him. That he would love me in that way.
Our hearts then reach out back. in love for him. We stay sober in every sense because we want to. We want to know Him. We want to be with Him and know how deep satisfaction in Jesus can go.
Love directs us. towards righteousness. Faith deflects. The fiery darts of the enemy, our love directs us on the right path, directs our hearts.
Alright, so that's faith, that's love, let's talk about hope. The hope of salvation is a helmet protecting our heads.
Now, there's two ways to think about this as far as I can tell. First, I place my hope of salvation in the return of Christ. This is active. I'm doing something. I am taking my hope and I am putting it somewhere.
I am placing it in Jesus. And in this I have peace. I have peace that no matter what happens, no matter what suffering I'm going to endure, I have peace and hope. It's like a North Star that orients me in the right direction. But there's also a passive there's a passive hope That Jesus bore it all on the cross.
Jesus is coming back. Like it or not, that's how it is.
So if I have moments of doubt, Where it's like, ah, like, is that really true? It doesn't matter. Jesus accomplished it on the cross.
So I can place my hope in Jesus, but I also have hope in Jesus that's passive. I don't have to do anything. For it.
So, the active hope, this means I'm not placing my hope in anything else. It means I'm not window shopping for other places to find hope in. I'm protecting my mind from the influence of the enemy by actively focusing on the hope of Jesus. I'm protecting my mind like a helmet. Uh from the attacks of the enemy.
As I place my hope in Jesus actively.
Now, the passive sense: I have hope in Jesus for salvation, that He is coming back. If I am saved, it's an objective reality. Even if I fall short, even if I have doubts, Jesus' work on the cross is enough. This is my blessed assurance. Even if I don't feel fully assured all the time, this is the hope I have.
Jesus paid for my sins. Nothing can pluck me from his hand.
So uh as a helmet In combat, The head is pretty vulnerable. Just one crack and you're out. That's all it takes is one fatal blow to the head. The hope of salvation in this this sense we have this unshaking hope in Jesus even when we fail even when we fall short or have seasons of doubt We have this hope of salvation as a helmet: that even if we are struck, even if we fall, the blow will not be fatal. Yeah.
Let me put this another way. Paul starts all his passages, grace and peace to you. It's how he opens here in 1 Thessalonians.
So I have the hope that Jesus' sacrifice is enough and that he's coming back. That's grace. I don't have to do anything for God's grace. God freely gives His grace. It's passive.
There's nothing more for me to do. I have grace. But when I place my hope actively On the cross. when I'm actively pursuing God, when I'm actively have my hope. in God, I will experience God's peace.
God's grace sustains me. It is my hope. But the peace I experience with God is dependent on me actively placing my hope. in Jesus, in what he's already done. Hope of salvation.
That's actively placing our hope in Christ. But it's also passive in the sense that the work is already done. I have hope in Jesus. Faith, hope, love, this is the armor Paul says put these things on. And if that's a lot to remember, then Put on Jesus.
Don't be doing good.
So, this is how the believer stays sober and protects themselves from sin, but why? Why are we to stay sober on guard from sin?
Well, verse 9. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us, verse 10, so that Whether we are awake or asleep, We might live together with him.
So, God has offered us a way through the Lord Jesus Christ to know Him, to have a relationship, to be forgiven, and to escape this coming day of judgment. I've heard it wondered: you know, if you got a person who dies. and goes to hell. Was it God's will for that to happen? Was it God's will for them to go to hell?
And we might answer, you know, well, God doesn't want anybody to go to hell.
Okay, well, can God will something for it to happen and then it not happen? Does he not have the power to make it happen? And that's the question. It's a real question. It's something to think about.
Or maybe God does will people to go to hell, predestined them for it, but how on earth would that be fair?
So, I want to speak to this for a moment because it's a topic I've heard a good bit. If God wills something to happen, he has the power, he has the authority to cause it to happen. If God wills it, it will happen.
However, God, just like a loving father, can desire things for his children while understanding that direct intervention is not the best route. A father desires for their children to love them. A father desires for their children to be successful. But these things are nurtured. These things can't be forced.
And the child has Free will.
So these things are not inherently guaranteed either. If God snaps his fingers and causes everyone to just love him back, Well, we don't have free will in that case. And if we don't have free will, it's not our love that we're giving him. It's more like we're robots or a computer software just performing the the function we were given. It's not love.
If I don't have agency over something, I can't give it and it be mine that I'm giving. It was never mine to begin with. Hey there. I hope this sermon has enriched your day. If you like this message, I want to personally invite you to join us for Sunday worship.
We have two locations in Virginia, Trinity Methodist Church in Concord and Mount Comfort Methodist Church in Appomattox. Come join us Sunday morning at 9.45 and we will help you get connected. As always, I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd. Thank you for tuning in.
