Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from 1 Thess. 5. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Sometimes things are just the opposite of what they appear to be. When we are competing against a very skilled and challenging opponent, we may feel some trepidation, uncertainty, and perhaps even fear. This is likely a good thing – not to be complacent, self-confident, and smug! Provided, of course, that our unease does not interfere with us giving full effort and playing our best! The team that is over-confident may appear to be favored, stronger, but may in fact be much less ready and prepared.
- This is precisely the circumstances when it comes to the Last Day, the Day of the Lord. Those who are smug, complacent, and self-assured are most certainly ill-prepared for the Day of the Lord. Whereas those who know the “sudden destruction” that will occur on that day – when everything that we consider to be “normal” will be undone – these are able to be prepared and ready for God’s great blessings on that day.
- Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “You have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” Two points should be emphasized: 1] what Paul has already taught them, what he wrote in our text is sufficient to also make us fully aware, prepared, and ready for that great and traumatic day; and 2] if you hear, read, internalize, and know what is written in our text, then “YOU ARE READY” for this great Day of the Lord as well.
- Hopefully, if this is not already true, by the end of the sermon you will be ready for the day of the Lord. I am certain that most of you are ready already! For:
I. By God’s Word You Are Fully Aware Of What Is To Come
A. You Already Know God’s Gracious Love In Christ Jesus
John 3:16,17 “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Eph. 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
B. Therefore, You Also Know That The Last Day Will Be Blessed For You
Luke 21:28 “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
1. You have been destined not to wrath, but to salvation
Text: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us.”
2. We have His assurance that whether awake and alive, or whether asleep in death, we always live with Him
Text: “so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him.”
Romans 14:8,9 “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
Statement: Our comfort and preparedness for the Last Day resides in our knowledge of God, the only True and Living God, His gracious love, His mercy, His forgiveness, His redemption, and His will and determination that we should be His dear children forever! Nothing can change this, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is Christ Jesus our Lord! If you know these things, then “YOU ARE READY!”
Aplication: And while we do not know everything about the Last Day in complete detail – we do not even know for sure the day or the hour, nonetheless we can be sure and certain that nothing shall harm us on that day. We are “children of light, children of the day,” by God’s gracious love and mercy. And we have embraced His love just as He has embraced us in love. So regardless of the trauma, the awe, the thrill of that Day, we remain well prepared and ready!
Transition: Strangely though, those who have no fear or concern for the Day of the Lord, are utterly unprepared, and that day will spell disaster for them, for:
II. Unbelievers Will Be Surprised And Unaware, Unprepared For Christ’s Return In Glory
A. Even Though Many Signs Have Been Fulfilled Already, Unbelievers Think That There Is Relative Peace And Security, That Everything Will Remain The Way It Is Forever
Text: “While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”
B. The Day Will Be Horrible For Unbelievers, With Sudden Destruction
2 Pet. 3:7-10 “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
Statement: If you refuse to believe something is coming, you can hardly be prepared for it. And even if you are anticipating some cataclysmic event, if you don’t know the meaning of it, or how to escape it, you are utterly unprepared for it! This is the sad state of the unbelieving – who neither believe in God, nor believe in absolute right and wrong, nor believe that God will hold us accountable, that we desperately need His gracious mercy and forgiveness, that provided for us in Christ Jesus our Savior.
Application: Again, knowing these things about the Day of the Lord, that it is human sin, rebellion against God, and rejection of God, and all the evil that ensues from such “ungodliness” that necessitates such a day of reckoning, prepares us for what is coming. Unbelievers read the signs wrongly: they think that prosperity and peace and ease of living means that nothing destructive will occur. Rather, we are living in the calm before the storm – only because of God’s will “that none should perish but that all should reach repentance.”
Transition: But because you have reached repentance, and faith in Jesus, and you know God’s gracious love and will toward you:
III. We Remain Ready In God’s Armor – Faith, Hope, And Love, And In God’s Salvation, Sober And Steady Minded
Text: “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. . . . Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
Statement: So you see that we do not need any other instruction or encouragement in regard to the Day of the Lord! We know and believe the love that God has for us, and the sure and certain hope that He has given us of eternal life and salvation! Nothing can go wrong! “YOU ARE READY.”
Application: So if you have some fear and concern about the Last Day, you are more likely to be prepared – it will be challenging and mind-blowing! But you need not fear existentially – it is the Lord’s Day, and He will be there to bless you with redemption! You are not destined to wrath but to obtain salvation in Christ Jesus – thanks and praise be to God
Conclusion: So often competition is a team sport, and our preparedness and success is dependent upon the encouragement of teammates and the strength that camaraderie brings. This Paul also instructs us to be doing – to be encouraging and building up one another! This is the fellowship of the church, our camaraderie in the Christian faith! For all of us are ready, and all of us together will be rejoicing in God’s salvation! Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.