A Thief In The Night

Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truths so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here's Adrian Rogers. A man parked his automobile in front of his house, and he did what no man should do. He left the key in the ignition.

Thinking he'd be right back out, when he came out, the automobile was gone. His house keys and other keys were there in the ignition, and he felt that horrible sinking feeling that anybody would feel who'd done such a thing. He reported the automobile as stolen, but the police did not find it immediately. But behold, the next morning, that automobile was parked in his driveway. Washed, filled with gasoline, the keys back in the ignition, sitting there, pristine in condition, and there was a note, and the note said, "I am sorry that I took your car.

I was in an emergency. I had to have transportation. The car has been washed. It has been taken care of. It is filled with gasoline." And here are some complimentary tickets to the Dallas Cowboys for you and your wife.

When they read that, the man said, "Well, you know, nobody should steal an automobile, but this man can't be all bad. Whoever it was that stole my car can't be all bad." And so the man and his wife, who normally would not go to see the Dallas Cowboys go play football, went to see the Dallas Cowboys play football. When they returned home, the house had been cleaned out. A thief had come, a very clever thief. The thought of a message, a thief in the night.

Look, if you will, here in First Thessalonians chapter five. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come, or so cometh, as a thief in the night. 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness; that day should overtake you as a thief.

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day. Ye are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for and helmet the hope of salvation.

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. By our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do.

Now the purpose of our message today is to get you ready for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we believe with all of our heart that Jesus is coming. And what an incredible time this is to be living between two mountain peaks—the blood-drenched slopes of Mount Calvary and Mount Zion, the sunlit peaks of glory—living between the crucifixion and the coronation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I want you to be ready. When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. There are four things that'll help you to get ready, and four things you need to understand.

Four truths that are in the passage that I just read to you. Number one, here's something you can expect. You can expect. You can expect. A surprising day.

We can expect a surprising day. Look again in verses one and two. But the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Now, how does a thief in the night come?

Well, he comes surprisingly. No thief ever wrote a note to you and said, "Tonight, I am going to rob your house." He comes when you are not expecting it, and so it is with the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And Paul told these people, "I don't need to remind you again of the times and the seasons." Now, Paul was not setting a date. What he was saying is two things: first of all, the certainty; secondly, the uncertainty. The certainty is coming.

The uncertainty, we do not know when he comes, but he comes as a thief in the night. Acts chapter one, verses six through eight. The disciples were there with our Lord on on the Mount of Ascension. He's getting ready to go back to heaven. They like you.

They wanted to know about prophecy. Beginning in verse six, when they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And he said unto them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. Anybody who sets a date is disobeying." The Lord. The Bible says it's not for you to know, but He goes on to say, "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me." And what does He say? Don't go around setting dates.

Get your heads out of the clouds of prophecy and get your feet on the pavement of soul winning, and share and get people ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Now I don't know when he's coming. You don't know when he's coming. We all have a feeling that we are living on the edge of eternity, and that's what this series of messages is about. And I'll tell you one thing: is two thousand years nearer than it's ever been before. Jesus Christ is coming.

Listen, he came on time. He was born on time. He died on time. He rose on time, and he's coming again in his own time. He may seem slow, but he will never be late.

And the Bible says that God is not in a hurry. Second Peter three. Verse eight: One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. You may say, "Well, it's been two thousand years since He promised to come again." In God's heart and God's mind, it's been no longer than two days. But He goes on to say in that same Second Peter passage, "But the day of the Lord will come; it will come." And the day of the Lord, as we're going to see in a moment, is a very troubling time.

The church will be taken out at the rapture, but there is coming a time known as the day of the Lord, when God is going to pour out His wrath upon this world. And I'm going to tell you this: that even now, right now, the raging waters of God's wrath are furiously pounding against the dam of His mercy. I don't know when. I know God in mercy is holding back this day, because Second Peter chapter three verse nine he says the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But you can expect a surprising day.

Here is the second thing: not only can you expect a surprising day. But you can escape a sudden destruction. Look now in verses three and four. 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. Now notice, they shall not escape.

But He's not talking to you. If you know the Lord, you will escape the rapture of the church. Will take you out before this day comes. This day of sudden destruction.

Now, what is he talking about? He's talking about the great tribulation. But there's coming a day that the Bible calls sudden destruction. It's right there in verse two. He calls it the day of the Lord.

Remember when they were crucifying Jesus? He's going down that Via Dolorosa, and the women are weeping, and he says, "Don't weep for me." Weep for yourselves. This is your day. My day has not yet come. His day is going to come, and it's going to be a very solemn day.

Let me give you some scriptures that talk about the day of the Lord. For example, Joel chapter two, verses one and two: Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh; it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains. A great People and the strong.

Now, notice this phrase: "There hath not been ever the like; neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations." What's he saying? He's saying the day of the Lord is a day that is absolutely, totally distinct. Never listen to Jeremiah chapter thirty and verse seven: "Alas, for that day is great; so none is like it." None is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble. Jacob is the name for fleshly Jews, but he shall be saved out of it.

There is going to come a national deliverance for the Jew out of this great tribulation. He's going to be saved out of it. And then Daniel chapter twelve and verse one, Daniel speaks of this same day. At that time shall Michael stand up, the the great prince, which standeth for the children of thy people, that is for the Jew. And there shall be a time of trouble, listen to this, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time.

And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Now notice this, Joel said. There had never been the like of this day. Jeremiah says, "There's none like it." Daniel says, "There's never been a time like this." And then Jesus said in Matthew chapter twenty-four and verse twenty-one, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." Now, folks. Listen to me. There is coming a solemn day.

This day that you need to escape is a solemn day. Never, never, never has there been a day like it. As a matter of fact, in Revelation chapter six, the Bible says that men are going into the caves and the dens of the earth, and are going to ask the mountains to fall upon them because they say the great day of his wrath is come. And who shall be able? To stand, the Antichrist, who will rule at this time, will make Hitler seem like a boy scout.

It's going to be a solemn day. It's going to be a sudden day. Notice again in verse three, when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction. It's like the calm before the storm. And this kind of preaching, you're called a calamity howler.

But this world is going to be caught by surprise because it will not hear and it will not heed God's word. It was the same in Noah's time. This is one reason I don't believe the church is going to go through the great tribulation, because the great tribulation is not a time of peace and safety. But the time of peace and safety is when this day comes. It's when it comes and we're delivered out of it.

Notice how it was in Noah's time. Put in your margin, Matthew twenty-four, verses thirty-six and following. Jesus said again, talking about his coming of that day and that hour, knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Now watch this. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

Now what were the days of Noah like?

Well, listen. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking. Marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away.

So shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

Now, what was it like?

Well, the daily round of life was going on. They were having weddings. They were having parties. They were having business. They they were just going on.

That's the day of Noah. And then one day, God said, "Noah, come on into the ark." And then the flood came. And then it was too late. It will be a solemn day. It will be a sudden day.

I know, I know that what I'm talking about doesn't fit the intelligency of this day and this age. I can imagine a convocation back in Noah's time. Noah's been preaching that God's going to destroy the world with a flood, and so they decide they better at least have a convocation about it, find out whether this calamity howler is telling the truth or not. And so I can see up on the dais they have three very important people up there. They have a scientist, Dr.

Francis Fomaldahide. And then up there, they also have a a philosopher, Doctor Flavius Fluffyhead. And up there also, they have they have a minister, a cleric, Doctor Ernest Ear Tickler, and and they're up there on the platform, and they're having a symposium to find out whether or not the flood is going to come. And so first of all, they ask this eminent scientist. Dr.

Francis Fomataide, Dr. Fomataide, will there be a flood? And he says, "Well, science cannot speak to these things. You know, we only deal with empirical proof. But I can tell you that since the time that we have measured history, there has never been a break in the reign of natural law.

So." From a scientific point of view, I would say that it's it's very doubtful that we'll have this kind of a flood.

Well, people are feeling a little better, and so then they they ask Dr. Flavius Fluffyhead.

Now, Dr. Fluffyhead, he's you know he's a finger bumper, and he sits there and he just smiles benignly and he says, "Well, philosophy deals with these areas where science cannot." But let me say philosophically that it would seem to me, from a philosophical point of view, that if there is a God, and if this God did create this world and if He did create these people, the same God who created them knows their weaknesses and their proclivities, and that's the way He made them. And He certainly would not destroy His work if indeed He did such a thing. Philosophically, I would say, and no, I don't believe there will be a flood. And then they call upon the reverend to talk.

Now, Doctor Ernest Eartickler.

Well, Doctor Eartickler, you have been off to the seminary and you have studied and and you've poured through the realms of knowledge. Tell us, Doctor Eartickler, will there be a flood?

Now, he's not as dispassionate as the scientists or the philosophers. Matter of fact, he's downright angry. He's red in the face. He points a finger at at God's man. At Noah, and he says, "This unlettered, uneducated, unseminary-trained religious fanatic has slandered the character of God.

Doesn't he know that God is love?" And does he think that a loving God would bring judgment? I can tell you, ladies and gentlemen, if Noah did happen to hear something about a flood, it was not literal water. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be. You see, this day is a solemn day. This day will be a surprising day.

The eating, drinking, marrying, giving, marrying and giving in marriage, and then I'm going to say, folks, it is a sure day. Look again, if you will, in this passage of scripture, verse three. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child. You see, the world is pregnant with judgment. And this solemn day, this sudden day, is a sure day.

What what he's saying is, it's like a woman who's going to give birth. One woman was about seven months along, and somebody said to his her husband, "Is your wife expecting?" He said, "She's not expecting. It's a sure thing." And so it is with this judgment. First of all, we can expect a surprising day. Number two, we can escape a sudden destruction.

Number three, we must endure a surrounding darkness. Look in verses four through eight. But ye, brethren, talking about the saved, are not in darkness; that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light. And the children of the day, you are not of the night nor of the darkness.

Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for and helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath.

Now. We must endure a surrounding darkness. The world right now is already in darkness—moral darkness, spiritual darkness, social darkness, political darkness—and we must not be asleep. The world is asleep. The world has been chloroformed by the devil, and the world is asleep in a drunken stupor.

Now, let me tell you what you should do as a child of God today. Listen to me. Number one, you should be aware and wise up. Look in verse five. Ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day.

We are not of the night nor of the darkness. And so, what you need to do is to be aware to wise up. We're the only ones, the only ones in this world today who can make sense of what is going on, and we need to be aware. Are you aware of these things? That's why I'm preaching this series of messages.

Jesus is coming. You say, "Well, everything looks fine." That's exactly my point. When they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction. We should be aware and wise up, and we should be awake and get up. Look in verses six and seven.

Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. Folks come to church on Sunday morning with a sign around the neck says, "Please don't disturb." I hope that this sermon will not be a lullaby. It'll be a reveille. It'll be an alarm clock to wake you up.

The stage is being set, and the second coming of Jesus Christ is not a theory to be discussed. It's a truth to be lived. You're not supposed to put on a white robe and go sit on a mountaintop. Jesus said, "You occupy till I come." What does that mean to occupy? If you have an occupation, that's your job.

Get busy. Bringing this world to Jesus Christ. Here's the third thing. Not only should you be aware and wise up and be awake and get up, you should be alert and dress up. Look in verse eight.

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. The two things that you need to be wearing. First of all, you need to get your heart right. That's the breastplate of faith and love that covers your heart. You need to love Jesus.

You need to love one another. You need to put your faith where God put your sins on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the breastplate. You need to wear that. If you don't wear that, you're not ready to live in these dark days.

And then, not only keep your heart right, but you keep your head right. Put on the helmet of salvation. The helmet of the hope of salvation.

Now, what does it mean? The hope of salvation. Does that mean I hope I'm saved? No, that ain't what that means at all. You're not to have a hope so salvation.

You're to have a no so salvation. Then why does the Bible use the word the hope of salvation? Because the Bible uses the word hope in a way that we don't use it today. In the Bible, the word hope means absolute certainty, rock rib certainty, based on the Word of God. For example, the second coming of Jesus is called the blessed hope.

You are to have your heart covered with faith and love. And you are to have a helmet of absolute certainty that you're saved. I would not go one day without knowing that I'm saved. Listen, God in heaven is listening to me. I would not go one day not knowing that I'm saved.

Willingly go that day for one million or one billion dollars. Not one day. You need to know that you know that you know that you're saved. We are living in surrounding darkness. Put on the breastplate of faith and love, and put on the helmet of the hope, the certainty of salvation.

You need to be alert and dress up.

Now, here's the fourth and final thing. We will experience a sure deliverance if we'll do these other things. We will experience a sure deliverance. Look, beginning in verse nine.

Now look at this. There are some theologians who believe that the church is going to go through the great tribulation this day. That I told you, there's none other like it. But look at this. For God hath not appointed us to wrath.

But to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, the word salvation means deliverance, deliverance through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. That whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

Now watch this. Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do.

Now. The fact that Jesus Christ is coming at any moment is a fact that will comfort, and it will edify.

Now, I want to tell you why I believe that the church is going to be taken out before the great tribulation, and I want to give you three reasons. You're going to find them right here. I want you to write these three words down: explanation, expectation, edification.

Now, in explanation, look in verse nine. How does Paul explain it? For God hath not appointed us to wrath.

Remember that the tribulation is the great day of His wrath. God chastises His children, but God never pours His wrath upon His children. God's wrath is for the unsaved, and God hath not appointed us to wrath. Go back to the first chapter of this book, First Thessalonians one verse nine. Look at it.

For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had among you, how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised up from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us. From the wrath to come, Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come. I give you two classic examples we've talked about in the day of Noah. In the day of Noah, the flood did not come until Noah was taken out and put in the ark. The other classic example, as is as the day of Lot.

And by the way, in Luke chapter seventeen, Jesus also said, as it was in the days of Lot. When God destroyed Solomon and Gomorrah with brimstone, that's the way he's going to be when I come again. And what were the days of Lot marked by? Do you know what the days of Lot? Lot lived in Sodom.

The days of Lot were marked by sexual perversion, and the days of Lot were marked by economic prosperity. The Dow Jones, if they'd had one, would have been very high the day that the fire fell on Sodom. How do you know that, Adrian? The Bible says in the Book of Ezekiel, "This was the sin of your sister Sodom: idleness and fullness of bread." And they were not ashamed when they committed abomination. They didn't strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy.

But you think about this: the sexual abomination, sin that used to slink down back alleys, struts down main streets. They were not ashamed. They couldn't blush. But there was so much idleness, fullness of bread. They didn't even need to work.

I'm telling you, it was a time of economic prosperity, and it was a time. It was a time of sexual perversion, and and and Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Lot, as it was in Noah, as it was in the days of Lot." Now listen. Before the flood came, God took Noah out, and God put Noah in the ark. Before God destroyed Sodom with fire and brimstone, the angel said to Lot, "Come and get out of the city. I can't do anything until you come out of this city." God would not pour His wrath upon His man Lot, even though Lot was a compromising worldly Christian.

Lot was taken out before the fire fell. Noah was taken out before the flood came. First of all, there's an explanation. Look at it again in verse nine. For God hath not appointed us to wrath.

Now, not only is there an explanation, but there's an expectation. Look in verse ten. Who died for us? That whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

Now, Paul was expecting Christ. He says we. Paul was expecting Jesus in his lifetime. Was Paul wrong? No, Paul was right.

You go back to chapter four and verse seventeen. Paul is explaining this rapture, and he says, "Then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up with them." He included himself. I mean, that was two thousand years ago. Two thousand years ago, they were living on the edge of eternity. We're always on the edge of eternity.

The Apostle John said in his first epistle, "Little children, it is the last time." And so Paul was expecting Christ. You should be expecting Christ.

Now here's the point: if the tribulation comes first, then we're not looking for Christ. We're looking for Antichrist. Paul was looking for the Lord Jesus Christ. When you're looking for the tribulation to come, rather than looking up, you're looking around. I'm telling you, folks, why we need to be looking for Jesus at any moment.

First of all, there's an explanation. We're not appointed to wrath. Secondly, there's an expectation Jesus can come at any moment. Thirdly, there is the edification. Look in verse eleven.

Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also you do.

Now, the fact that Jesus is coming at any moment is a great comfort and a great edification. If I believe that the church is going to go through seven years of a day so horrible, so terrible that Jesus said, and Jeremiah said, and Daniel said, and Joel said, there's never, never, never, never, never been a day like that. Do you think that'll edify me? Even so, come great tribulation. No, even so, come Lord Jesus.

I'm not looking for Antichrist. I'm looking for Christ. I'm waiting for the trumpet sound at any moment. Just as God said Noah go into that ark, and just as God said Lot get out of this city, He's going to say to Adrian, "Come up hither." And the trumpet will sound. We're going to meet Jesus, just like that.

Now, folks, this is serious business. We can expect a surprising day. We can escape a sudden destruction. We must endure a surrounding darkness, and friend, we can experience a sure deliverance. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website lwf.org.

For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call one eight hundred two seven four five six eight three. Thank you.