Prepare for the Day of the Lord

it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

It's not the Christian's duty to know when Christ is coming. It is our duty to be witnesses to the whole world that he is coming. We will see throughout this chapter that the difference between the saved and the unsaved is not knowing when Christ is coming, but it's knowing how to prepare and to be ready for it. Last week, the focus was fully on the end state of salvation, being with Christ. This week, the focus is fully on being ready while awaiting that union with Christ. And that's, that union with Christ comes at the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Day of the Lord is a critical subject of scripture throughout the Old Testament in the prophets like Isaiah, Joel, and Amos. The day of the Lord is a time of judgment as in the passage that Crawford read earlier from Zephaniah. From Zephaniah 1,

a day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry,

language we'll recognize from last week,

against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlement.

There in verse 15 of Zephaniah, The prophet builds up parallel description after parallel description to show us how bad the day of the Lord is going to be for those who are subject to God's wrath. But also throughout those same prophets, the day of the Lord was also described as a time of salvation, as in the prophet Joel in chapter two.

The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, there shall be those who escape as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

This is the very passage that Peter uses for the very first sermon at Pentecost. to let him know that this salvation has come. And in the New Testament, the day of the Lord is also described as bringing both judgment and salvation. Peter simultaneously talks about the Lord tarrying, giving us time to repent before this day of judgment comes because he desires his people to be saved. And it will come as a thief, in the night. It is this great and momentous day beyond what we can really imagine, but it will come unexpectedly. The image of it arriving as a thief in the night is imagery that is throughout the New Testament. It's in the Gospels, it's used by Paul, it's used by Peter, it's used by the book of Revelation. The image is one of being overtaken by a surprise by someone you are not expecting. Again, the focus is that the timing is unknown, and it's a call to be ready for when this event happens. And the scripture tells us here that the unbelievers are not ready, that they are unprepared, that they are not expecting it. In fact, it tells us that they expect peace, and instead they get sudden judgment. In God's grace, we will see later on that believers will not be surprised and they will be prepared. So what does it mean that unbelievers are expecting peace, peace and security? Well, this is another image that is frequent in the Old Testament. At least twice in the book of Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 6 and Jeremiah 8, there are judgments called against Israel, where he warns the people of Israel that because of their sin and rebellion against God, judgment is coming. But the people don't want to hear the truth. Their leaders don't want to tell them the truth. but they want to tell them what sells so that they get to continue to be their leader. Peace, peace, they say, but instead of getting peace, they get false religion and judgment. As Jeremiah 6, 14 begins,

they have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They did not know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord.

Similarly, in Ezekiel 13, he speaks of the people of Israel being misled by being told peace when there is no peace. And they build a wall that's supposed to act as protection for these people during this time of peace. And instead of building it strong, they put a coat of whitewash on it. They put a coat of paint. to try to improve this wall of protection. But rather than strengthening this wall, they just made it more attractive. When the wall falls, Ezekiel says, what's your paint job look like now? So what's the danger of this, of thinking that there's peace and security when in fact there's really judgment? What's the danger in being told, you're good as you are, it's cool. There's no need for you to change. What does God care? God's supposed to love and protect you no matter what, right? There's not gonna be judgment. He's a loving God. The Babylonians aren't coming. The Babylonians did come. And God's judgment is coming upon those who refuse to hear God's word and to think that they do not have any need to change. And for those leaders who change God's word to fit the times. So what is coming upon these people who are expecting peace and security? It's the exact opposite. It's sudden destruction. Now, this is not the belief that the unrighteous simply stop existing after their final judgment, something called annihilationism. No, this is an eternal. destruction, sudden and eternal. In 2 Thessalonians 1.9, Paul writes to the same audience,

they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed.

Jesus emphasizes this point in Matthew 25 when he says,

and they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

So the judgment that the unbelievers face, those who are in darkness, those who are not prepared, is eternal destruction and punishment. And sadly, it tells us here that like the pains of giving birth, this judgment is unavoidable. Throughout the Old Testament, the pain and agony that accompanies birth is described as also accompanying the day of the Lord as an example of how painful and difficult it will be. But the focus here is not on the suddenness of labor pains or even the pains themselves, but their inevitability. their inevitability. If you are to give birth, you will have these pains. There's no escaping it. And the children of night are unprepared for a judgment that they will not escape. If you are here today and you are not a believer, know that you do face a sudden inescapable judgment at the hand of a just and righteous God. Second Thessalonians continues on to describe what happens when

the Lord is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

All have sinned and fall short of the standard set by God. We are by nature children of wrath, lost in darkness. It is only because God sent his own son Jesus to live the perfect life that we could not live, die in our place to pay the price of our sin, that we are able to come to him. He did this so that we might repent of our sins, that we might change, that we might leave the darkness and come into the light, so that we would believe in Him, so that we might have everlasting life with Him. We're gonna talk more about this through the remainder of the sermon, and if you have any questions about what it means to come to know Jesus Christ, I encourage you to ask any of the people around you. The children of night are unprepared for a judgment they will not escape. Secondly, the children of day are prepared for judgment. Having described those in darkness, Paul introduces us to those in the light using a series of related words to describe two kinds of people. Darkness, night, asleep, drunk, for non-believers, and light, day, awake, and sober, for believers. Darkness and light, night and day, asleep and awake, drunk and sober. These are two different kinds of people. We can hear this clearly in verses four through eight.

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober for those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

In verses four and five, Paul leads off with an encouragement to the Thessalonians. But you brothers are not in the darkness. You are not like those who are unaware and unready. You are not of the darkness. Believers are not going to be surprised by the coming of the Lord as unbelievers will be. It's still inevitable, like the labor pains, and believers don't know when it will happen, but they know that it will happen. and they will be ready. This image of darkness is used throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament for those forces that are aligned against God. As John explains it in John three,

this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

And so we're such as we. who were in the darkness, who sought the darkness before we saw the light in Jesus Christ. And we see there where it tells us that we are the children of light, the children of day, we are not of the night or of the darkness. We are the children of light because of what God has done for us. It is our status as God's people. It literally, the Greek there is literally the sons of light, but even the King James in pre-woke days had this as children of light. So the ESV is right in line with that. We are God's people. We are his children. We are therefore children of light because he is light. John 12 tells us,

the light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light.

Luke 16 contrasts the sons of the world with the sons of light. And Colossians 1.12 tells us to

give thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Paul has been using you language. giving them assurance, you are not in the darkness, you are children of light. But from here on, the rest of the passage, he switches to we language to give them encouragement. We are not, so let us then. Paul identifies himself with Thessalonians and all believers who need to be actively prepared and continually working on their salvation. And so he tells them in verse six,

So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

So then because we are children of the day rather than of the night, we need to behave differently. Last week we were told not to grieve as others do, this week we're told not to sleep as others do. Here sleep is not a euphemism for death as it was in chapter four. But it's the opposite of what believers are to be, awake, on guard and alert, watching and ready for action as we await our master's return, as in Jesus's parable from Luke that James read earlier. Sober and self-controlled, acting in ways fitting for believers and not sliding into sin through lack of control or fleshly desires. Not awake and alert because the news reminds you of a chapter in Revelation, but always and continually awake and alert because the wind is not for you to know. As Jesus himself says in Mark 13,

but concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the sun, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come.

In contrast, those who are sleeping are engaged in the activities of the night, including literal and spiritual junkiness when they lack control. And that's how Paul in Romans 13 describes the darkness that the unsaved lived in. says

the hour has come for you,

the Romans,

to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand, so then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

Paul goes on to say in verse eight,

but since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

Paul repeats the message he has just given us in six and seven. Your status is that you belong to the day, to the light, to Christ, and your action is to be sober and self-controlled. I mean, he talks about having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. He makes it clear here that in order to be able to fulfill the command to be sober, you have to have already put on the armor of God. Armor is essential to protect the soldier in battle. In this case, the battle against darkness and sin and Satan and death. This image of putting on armor comes from Isaiah 59. In Isaiah 59, The Lord himself, the Lord God sees that there is no justice, that there is no salvation coming up in the world. And it tells us beginning in Isaiah 59, 16,

the Lord saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede. Then his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him.

And we see a hint of the coming of Jesus there in verse 16, where God is sending someone to intercede for us. It tells us in verse 17,

the Lord put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

So the Lord is here putting on the armor, and the Lord is doing it for salvation, but he's also doing it for vengeance and for wrath. Isaiah continues in verse 18.

According to their deeds, so will he repay wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies, to the coastlands he will render repayment, and a redeemer will come to Zion. to those in Jacob who turned from transgression, declares the Lord.

So God himself sees that we are in need of salvation and he provides the means of salvation for those who are his and justice for those who are not his. He takes care of both groups of people justly and righteously. And then, of course, in Ephesians, we also hear of putting on the whole armor of God that we may also be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. It's interesting, as I said, that Isaiah had the armor on God. It's what he is able to do for us. He is able to be our righteousness and our salvation. But Paul changes the words a little bit around when he talks about it here in 1 Thessalonians. We are not putting on a breastplate of righteousness, we're putting on a breastplate of faith and love. And our helmet is not of salvation itself, but of a hope in salvation. It is a reminder of what we can do. We cannot bring our own righteousness and our own salvation. but we can show faith and love because of what Christ has done in bringing righteousness to us. And we have no hope in salvation in our own, but we can hope in the salvation that comes from what Christ has done for us. There's also a call back here to the first chapter of Thessalonians in the faith, love, and hope triad. Paul ties it to the believer's work there in 1 Thessalonians 1.3.

Remember before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's a reminder that we must put this armor on in order to do the work that we've been called to do. We do not do this work of ourselves, and this work does not save us, but we are called to live lives faithful to the Lord and holy. Paul reminds us in Philippians 2, that we are to

do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

The children of the day are to be prepared for judgment and to be in Christ so that they might be saved. So how can you be prepared this morning, believer? First, be awake and be sober. Study God's word regularly and continually, not delaying, so that you know how to live in a godly fashion. You can serve regularly and continually, not delaying, so that you might do what God has called you to do for his people and for the lost. And you can be alert to your sin continually and repent continually, not delaying in seeking after the holiness that God has called you to. Believer, you can also arm yourself with faith, love, and hope. Have the faith that you need, trusting not in yourself but in the Lord who is faithful even when we are unfaithful. Love others as Christ loved you, showing his same grace and affection. Hope in the Lord's coming. Rather than focusing on current trials, we can focus on the hope of what the Lord has done for us. Finally, in point three, there's a choice. God's judgment, wrath or salvation, verses nine through 11.

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

These verses should sound very familiar to anyone who was here last week. It is a very similar message to our previous passage focusing on salvation through Christ's death and resurrection that we might live with him and that we should encourage one another. We see here in verse nine that there are two ways, going back to the two kinds of people that we've talked about. You can be destined for wrath or you can be destined to obtain salvation. We belong to the day. We have put on the armor of faith, love, and hope. And we can be sober and self-controlled because God has destined it, because God has done it for us. All these things are certain and sure. We were reminded of Paul's discussion back in chapter one, where he told the Thessalonians in 1.4,

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.

He has chosen you. And because of that, we are not destined for wrath, but destined for salvation. And we do know that the son was also sent to save, as Paul told the Thessalonians back in chapter one, verse nine.

How you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

It is this Jesus that we worship today. In verse 10, it tells us again,

who died for us so that whether we were awake or asleep, we might live with him.

We have the same dying, asleep, and awake language that we saw last week and we've seen earlier in chapter five. Last week in chapter four, we saw that because Jesus died and rose again, through him, both those dead and alive in Christ would be raised or caught up to be with him forever. So in chapter five, when he talks about being asleep or awake, is he talking about being Asleep as if it is the night, or as it was in chapter four, asleep meaning the believing dead. Is he saying again that both the dead and the live will be with him? Or is he saying that even those believers who are weak and sleepy can be saved through Christ despite their failings? I think the primary answer here is that he is going back to what he said earlier about both the dead and the alive in Christ being raised at the end time to be with him forever. But we also should be encouraged to know that even though we're called to be awake and not asleep, that even the disciples themselves in Christ's presence were not always able to stay awake. He chastised them when they got sleepy and were no longer alert. But even in their failings, Christ pursued them and won them and kept them to the end. Also, I think here, perhaps the idea of living with him may not just include the being with him that we talked about last week, but I think it also includes the abundant life that we have now, the resurrection itself. in addition to all of eternity with him. There are so many ways in which God blesses us through his son Jesus. And I'm not gonna spend an extended time dwelling on the glory of being with Christ, since that was the primary focus of last week's message, but it's always wonderful to pause and glory in the hope of being in the internal presence of a perfectly holy, righteous, loving, and gracious God, along with perfected brothers and sisters from every tribe, language, people, and nation. It is again a reminder that salvation is through Christ, not of ourselves. But it's also a reminder that this doesn't mean that there will be no problems, no struggles, no trials in the meantime. As we were warned above, we need to armor ourselves and prepare ourselves for battle while we are here on earth. We do have hope though. Again and again, hope is stressed here. And we're reminded in Hebrews chapter nine, beginning in verse 26, as it talks about Christ coming, it says,

but as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time. not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

We've already talked about the others who are not destined for salvation, but for the wrath of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are reminded that it is only one way or the other. There is no in between. And I ask you to remember the appeal I gave earlier for those who do not know Christ to believe and to be healed and to be saved. And it is that good news that Christ did come to save us, that he did that once for all sacrifice, that he has come to save those who are eagerly waiting for us is what we can encourage and build one another up with. The final verse in 11 says,

therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing.

We heard last week that we should encourage one another with the words of the resurrection story for those who believe. This week we're told again to encourage, but also to build up one another. So in addition to just encouraging, we're supposed to make them more mature. We're told in Corinthians that building up one another is a corporate activity. It's something you're focusing on doing for others rather than for oneself. We're looking to see that knowledge can puff up, but love builds up. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. We are supposed to focus on those things that build up, and Paul himself seeks to build up the Thessalonians here in his own message, where he tells them he is already seeing them doing this, and he wants them to do it more and more, which is the Christian life. Do what God calls you to do, then keep doing it. Do what God calls you to, fail, do better in the empowerment of the Spirit. So what are the ways that we can encourage and build one another up with the words that Paul has given us here? First, we can encourage and build up one another in election. You will fail and you will fall off the path, but God will be faithful to preserve you and get you to the end. As we go through trials, we don't respond well. We don't love our brothers and sister properly. We know that God will see us through, that we will be able to persevere to the end because of what he has done for us. It should encourage, and we should encourage and build up one another in evangelism to those in darkness. We should spread the word boldly, knowing God will save those who are his by his designated means, and the cleverness of our words is not what saves. And finally, as we did last week, we should encourage and build up one another in the hope of eternity. We know that Judgment is coming, and we can encourage one another that those who know God face a perfect destiny, one which we did not earn, but Christ earned on our behalf. We are reminded there are only two kinds of people, those not prepared and destined for wrath, and those who are prepared and destined for salvation. Which are you? Which are you this morning? Let's pray. Most gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that our salvation is entirely of you. It is not in our fickle hands. We pray for the full number of your saints to come to you so that you can then come to us. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.