Latest / HBCWestminster / 1 Thess 4:13-18 Encourage One Another With These Words

Transcript

1 Thess 4:13-18 Encourage One Another With These Words · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, I'm going to be in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 to 18. We pick up right where we left off last week. Allow me to read our passage this morning, and then we'll begin. Beginning in verse 13. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
• 0:30
  For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
• 0:58
  Therefore, encourage one another with these words. God, I pray that we would be encouraged by these words. Lord, I pray that we would be reminded that the Lord himself, Jesus Christ, will come back to retrieve his bride. We will not be abandoned, Lord, but we will be received by him into heaven for eternity. God, I pray that you would bless the preaching of your word this morning. Give us attentive ears and hearts, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
• 1:29
  Amen. Well, last Sunday we asked if when looking into the face of God, we ever see more question marks than answers. If we're ever confused about his heart, about his mind, about his desires, if his will for us is ever confusing. But our text last week stated it plainly. This is the will of God, your sanctification. We said that the will of God is that we abstain from things which will hurt us, like licking the kitchen floor.
• 1:58
  And that we should aspire to things which will build our reputation with those both inside and outside the church. Things like loving one another, minding our own business, working hard to do the jobs that only Christ would have done. Well, this morning we shift our focus from the will of God to the purpose of our gathering. Have you ever wondered about the purpose of the church gathering, about the assembling of ourselves together? Why?
• 2:28
  We do it. Well, as many of you know, I'm a baseball coach of a local high school team here. I had to go a few weeks ago to the high school on picture day to have my picture taken for my employee badge. And you guys, I haven't been on a high school campus during picture day in a long time.
• 2:48
  you know, where you go into that quad area during the passing period. It is pandemonium. I mean, there were kids everywhere. And here I am, only the baseball team knows me. I'm with those boys every day, but nobody else. I'm not a teacher there. I don't work the front desk. I'm never on campus except to coach baseball. And even the baseball field is off campus. So none of these kids know me. I am larger than average.
• 3:15
  larger than the average high school. I'm also balder than the average high schooler. And so I was drawing a lot of attention. Who is this guy who does not have an employee badge?
• 3:25
  Because I was there to get my picture for the badge that day, right? And so all of these little heads are all turning and looking at me. And I'm wading through this little sea of high school humanity trying to find where I'm supposed to go. I found a few of the baseball boys who came over. They're saying hi. You know, we're shaking hands and talking and laughing and whatever. And they direct me over to the little photo booth area where I'm supposed to stand to get my picture taken. I wade in line. And the young lady whose job it was to take pictures, I would call her a photographer except...
• 3:54
  All she did literally was stand there and push the button, okay? So everything was set up, you know, it was just pushing a button. And so I walk up to her and I say, listen, my name's Danny Gardner, I'm a baseball coach, I'm supposed to get an employee badge. Okay, Mr. Gardner, stand right over here. And you guys, I thought it would be so easy, in and out, real quick, like how long does it take? I have looked pretty much the same for the last 25 years, you know, like nothing has changed. And so just take the picture and let me get on my way. But I walk over and I find this mat on the floor which has two footprints.
• 4:24
  Outlined. Right? And it's like going through TSA at the airport. You know, you got the footprints. And man, those TSA employees are kind of, they're strict on that stuff. But I thought, man, high school photo. I just walked over to the mat. Mr. Gardner, you need to put your feet in the footprints. Okay. I was going to fight with this girl, you know, like just take the picture. The footprints were at an odd angle. So one was kind of pointed forward like this. And then the left one was pointed at this really funny, like.
• 4:51
  wedge-shaped with your feet. They were too far apart and too angled. You know, so I'm doing this, and I'm like, are you kidding me? And she says, okay, now, Mr. Gardner, I need you to take your thumbs, and I need you to put them in your pockets like this. So I'm standing there, and I've got my thumbs in my pockets. And you guys, I know some guys stand like this. I'm not this guy, okay? I'm just not. I'm not the thumbs in my pockets guy. But I'm like, whatever, you know, just take the picture. And so I put my thumbs in my pockets, and then she's looking at me, and she says,
• 5:20
  You need to curl up your fingers into little fists. Curl up your fingers like this, fists, and then put your hands in your pockets. Okay, okay. And then she said, now I need you to turn your belt buckle to face me. So I turned like this. She said, not your shoulders. You know, okay.
• 5:45
  So my belt buckle is at her. My shoulders are twisted. I got all these baseball, they are laughing their heads off. They think this is the funniest thing. They're watching all of this happen. They've all got their little phones out. You know, they're taking pictures of Mr. Gardner getting his picture taken. And I, you know, I'm doing this and I'm like, just take the picture. And I'm wondering the entire time, I'm thinking, you know what?
• 6:03
  School security and safety is worth it. I'm willing to endure. Like employee badges are important. This needs to be worn at all times. And I'm imagining what the picture is going to look like. She prints it out for me and I got this. That's my badge. I know it's hard to tell, but my thumbs are in my pockets. My hips are pointed a funny way. My feet are pointed opposite directions. I got that back and I thought, honestly, what was the point of all of that?
• 6:45
  Did it really honestly matter if you could see my knuckles? She was concerned that the backs of my knuckles were showing. No, Mr. Gardner, you need to make fists. We don't want to see the backs of your knuckles. And I just thought, what was the point? That was completely ridiculous. There was no purpose to any of that. Do you ever wonder if all of the things that we do during the week at the church or on a normal Sunday morning, if all of them actually have a point? Do they all actually have a purpose?
• 7:19
  The sermons that we hear and the songs that we sing, the creeds that we recite, the programs and the employee policies and the budget meetings, what is the goal of all of that? One of the most difficult things, I think, for a teacher to accomplish is to make their teaching transformational rather than strictly informational. Anyone can communicate facts. We've all had the teacher who has stood there and just read verbatim out of the textbook.
• 7:48
  You ever just wonder, man, I could do this at home. What are we doing here? The doctrine we know is important. Information is foundational to the gospel. But when it comes to the preaching of God's word, our desire, my desire, is that it actually changes lives. And this is why verse 18 this morning is so important. Verse 18 gives us purpose.
• 8:14
  This is why we meet. This is why we listen. This is why we sing. This is why we take communion. This is why we read and preach and hear from God's word. Verse 18 says, therefore, encourage one another with these words. Encourage one another with these words. When it comes to the study of end time events, and you guys know, if you're familiar in the church at all, you'll know this is the famous rapture passage, right?
• 8:44
  The return of Christ, the heaven and the eternal state, the tribulation, the millennium, the Antichrist, the beast and his prophet, and even the rapture this morning. When we come to the study, when it comes to the study of these end times type events, we can become so enamored with the facts that we forget the point.
• 9:04
  The point of the passage this morning is not to give us information about the return of Christ or the retrieval of Christ's bride, the rapture, but rather that we would leave each and every one of us this morning encouraged or else we've missed the point. As we study the rapture of the church, the reunifying of Christ and his bride, let us not miss that Paul's writing is much more transformational than informational. It is more practical than doctrinal.
• 9:33
  And so let us this morning set aside petty arguments, what I'm going to call back-knuckle theology. Okay? Stuff that doesn't have any point, that doesn't make any difference, that doesn't even make it into the picture. Stuff that also divides churches and hurts feelings and breaks relationships. And so let us this morning set those things aside and focus on the point. The point is this. The return of Christ.
• 10:01
  And our being gathered together with him is meant to encourage us, not divide us. No matter what else you hear this morning, leave encouraged because Christ is coming back. And if you are in Christ.
• 10:16
  then you will find that you will fit into one of two categories of people, which our author is going to describe this morning. There are only two types of people in regard to the return of Christ. You will either die before his return, right? Or you won't. You're either going to die before Christ comes back or you won't die before Christ comes back. Those are the only two categories.
• 10:48
  of people and the apostle this morning addresses them both he describes what happens to each of these two groups and so if you have your bibles open we're going to look at verse 13 the first group are the people who dies before christ comes back the group that he calls asleep they're not actually sleeping they're dead okay so what what happens to people who die before the rapture point number one the first group those who are asleep will arise
• 11:17
  Those who are asleep will arise. Look at verse 13. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. You'll remember from our study that the church at Thessalonica, despite being only months old in the faith, maybe only six months old, an entire church filled with baby Christians was doing many things well.
• 11:44
  The gospel had come to them in power and conviction. They were experiencing fruits and gifts of the spirit. They'd become a model church. They recognized scripture as being the word of God. They were walking in a manner worthy of their calling. They were standing firm in the Lord and were devoted to loving one another. But we find out in this morning's passage, they were a discouraged church. They were brokenhearted and grieving.
• 12:13
  And their grief was based on ignorance. They were confused about the coming of the Lord to retrieve his church. They had been told early on that Christ would come back and get them. And they thought that his coming back would be immediate. And when he tarried.
• 12:31
  And their loved ones, members of their church began to pass away. Then suddenly they began to question, wait a minute, did those people who are dying miss the blessing of the second coming of Christ? What happens to people when they die in Christ, but before he comes to retrieve them? They wondered if those who had already died, who the text describes as asleep, would somehow miss.
• 12:58
  the blessing of Christ's coming. And Paul combats that ignorance with truth to encourage. Truth to encourage. We know that for those who are outside of the faith, those who do not know Christ, death is final. It's cold and hopeless. It's inescapable. Romans 5 even personifies death by calling death the ruling king over humanity. It says that death...
• 13:29
  reigns in us death reigns like he's the emperor the king of humankind death is uncaring it is calloused death is all-consuming but christ broke the tyrannical reign of death and gave life in its place that's a good place for an amen death no longer reigns over humanity those who are in christ now have life
• 14:00
  instead of death romans chapter 5 verse 17 says this for if because of one man's trespass that was adam if because of one man's trespass death reigned through that one man how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man jesus christ
• 14:23
  What our father Adam gave down to us was death, universal, inescapable with no hope. But what Christ gives is life, inescapable, full of hope. Death stinks. Nobody has to tell us that. It hurts. Death was never part of the plan of creation. We were never intended to die.
• 14:54
  That was never God's plan for us. And that's why it's such a violation when it occurs. Death violates nature. It violates what God intended for us. But it is a reality that every human must face. And in Christ, we can legitimately have the removal of loss and in its place, victory over death. Death no longer has its sting because of the work of Christ on the cross.
• 15:23
  And so, although we as believers grieve with those who have gone before us, because it is loss, it is a violation, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. Because in Christ, death has lost its sting. You'll notice it continues in verse 14. Verse 14 says, For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. So the question then,
• 15:54
  is what happens to those who die before the rapture and he gives the answer in verse 14 scripture is clear that they who have died in christ will accompany him to receive the rest of the church at the rapture so in other words the dead in christ will also experience the rapture the apostle puts to rest the fears of the church
• 16:18
  By assuring them that there will be no advantage to being alive when the rapture takes place, all saints, alive and dead, will participate. Now, this gets a little bit interesting. Look down at verse, I'm just going to tell you to skip down to the very end of verse 16. The very end of verse 16, because he addresses this group again, the dead, the last statement in verse 16 says, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Do you see that? The dead in Christ will rise.
• 16:48
  When Christ calls his church, the dead who have had their souls washed in his blood will rise from their tombs, this says. Martyrs and missionaries of the ages will rise. The first witnesses of the gospel will rise. Those strong, those weak, those faithful in prayer, those who prayed very little, the teachers of the word, the students of the word, those who had much and those who had little, those who accomplished much, those who accomplished little.
• 17:18
  who are dead in Christ, this says, will rise. Those who are asleep will arise. But notice it continues in verse 15. Those who are alive, this says, will ascend. And so what happens if the Lord comes back during your lifetime? What will it be like? Those who are alive will ascend.
• 17:42
  Verse 15, for this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. Here it is. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
• 18:12
  And so we will always be with the Lord. The next two verses give the most vivid detail of the rapture in all of scripture. From this text, we can put together the timeline of future events, when the rapture will take place, what it will look like, and what it will be like for believers who are alive when it happens. Now, this is my favorite thing I'm going to get to say today. The description of Christ's retrieval of his bride.
• 18:41
  will be accompanied by a number of things. First, you'll notice in verse 16, that the Lord himself will descend from heaven and will cry out. Do you see that? Jesus, this says, will give a cry of command. Now that phrase, cry of command, was a military term used to summon troops. We know the Lord has remained virtually silent for the last 2,000 years. And despite plague,
• 19:13
  and disease and injustice the lord has waited patiently in heaven but when he finally breaks the silence this says it will be with a shout john phillips says it this way he has spoken once in grace by sending his son to his planet and the world murdered him and he spoke again by sending his spirit and the world ignores him the next time he will speak with a shout and the whole creation is holding its breath
• 19:46
  Until that day, this moment when Jesus Christ gives his shout, there will be no ignoring him. Now, scripture never says what he will say. The words that he will shout have a theory. Perhaps he would echo the words of the groom in the song of Solomon calling to his bride. He says of song of Solomon chapter two, the groom calling to his bride and says, arise, my love.
• 20:17
  my beautiful one and come away for behold the winter is past and the rain is over and gone the flowers appear on the earth the time of singing has come the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land arise my love my beautiful one and come away and he takes his bride from the earth cry of command notice an angel gets involved it says and with the voice of an archangel the voice of an archangel now scripture never says what the archangel says i have a theory
• 20:49
  It also never says which archangel it is. You know, scripture only ever actually names one archangel. Only Michael is ever given the title office of archangel. Many people think that Gabriel was probably an archangel too, although scripture never actually calls him that. Jewish tradition said that there were seven archangels, but this doesn't come from scripture. It's just from tradition. It never says which archangel it is. It could be the archangel Michael. Never says what he says.
• 21:20
  All it says is that when Jesus yells, the archangel jumps in and yells too. I'll share with you my theory in just a moment here. It continues, it says, accompanying the archangel would be the sound of the trumpet of God. Throughout the New Testament, trumpets announced the presence of God.
• 21:43
  the judgment of God, the wrath of God, the calling of God to his people. Anytime something significant happened, a trumpet was sounded like was the case in the book of Revelation with the seven trumpets of God's wrath. In this case, the trumpet sounds at the gathering of the church. And this says the dead in Christ will rise first. And then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds.
• 22:14
  This says that the raptured church, the living church that is taken from the planet will be lifted into the air to join that resurrected church that had been brought back from the dead. The raptured church will meet the resurrected church. And imagine this site for the first time in history, the entire bride of Christ, the entire church will make an appearance.
• 22:41
  When we think of the church now, when we say the phrase, the bride of Christ, the church around the world, what we think of all the, every time I think what we think of is current living believers. Those of us who have committed our way to Christ and committed to his word. That's what we think of. We often neglect the fact that generations of believers have gone before us.
• 23:05
  The bride of Christ, even in its entirety today, does not represent the full bride of Christ, right? Because tens of thousands, we pray millions, have gone before us, believed and have died in Christ. And this says for the first time in human history, that resurrected church will meet the raptured church. And for the first time, the full bride of Christ will be assembled in glory.
• 23:37
  This is my favorite part of every wedding. I get to do a lot of weddings because I'm asked to do them and it's a privilege. Honestly, I'm honored by it. I oftentimes get the best seat in the house. I get to stand right there, right? While the bride and groom are doing their, I mean, they're right in front of me. And my favorite part, it's my favorite part every time is walking down with the groom and we stand down here in the front, he next to me, right? And we're the only two down here and the music changes.
• 24:05
  And everybody stands up and looks the other direction. And everybody focuses rather than on the groom for that one moment, right? Everybody in the room. And I tell guys, I joke with them when we're in the back and we're getting ready and all that stuff. And the guy's putting on his tux and doing his thing. I say, listen, if we get to the front and you discover that your zipper is down.
• 24:25
  You have a moment in the service where you can fix that. You have a moment in time. It may be the only moment in your life where literally no one in the world will be looking at you. Not one person on the planet earth will be looking at you. You do anything you want. Honestly, those guys, they never do it, but they could do anything they wanted. They could dance already. They could do anything. Nobody would know. Nobody would care because in that moment, the doors are flung open and there is the bride and the music changes.
• 24:57
  Right? Traditionally, it changes to what song? The wedding march. Here comes the bride. And if you want to know what I think the archangel jumps in with when Jesus is saying, come my love, my beautiful one, arise and come with me. And the archangel can't contain himself and just has to yell. I think that's what he yells. Here comes the bride. Here she is. Everybody look. You can imagine heaven's sanctuary doors being blown open. And there she is for the first time.
• 25:28
  Rather than being a ruptured church, she is a raptured church. It's the first time ever the bride makes an appearance in her fullness. And you can imagine Jesus being at the head of that aisle. And you guys, obviously, I don't know what it's going to look like, but you can imagine him standing here with just the biggest, goofiest grin on his face because that's how those guys look every time. Every time, just so excited to see this woman that will devote herself to him for the rest of her life.
• 25:59
  Every time. You want to know what it's going to be like the day the church is raptured, resurrected and raptured? That's what I think it's going to be like. I think heaven will rejoice. I think the Lord himself will be crying and rejoicing and leaping, calling to his wife to join him. Verse 17 continues. We who are alive, he says, who are left, we caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. So we will always be with the Lord.
• 26:37
  I know that it feels like the Lord is a long way off. There are times when it feels like the Lord is distant, but it will not always be so. There will be a time where you stand by the Lord and the Lord stands by you, and that will be it forever, forever. He will never seem far away. I was talking to my friend Jerome, who usually sits down here in the front. He was here for early service. Jerome was just crying in my office this morning. He got here before anybody else. I mean, he was here before me.
• 27:08
  I don't know if he forgot the time change or what, but man, he gets here early. Not this early. He was here. He was just in my office and he was just weeping and weeping and weeping. And I'll tell you what he was weeping over. He kept saying this. Pastor Danny, the Lord has been so good to me. He's been so good to me. He's been so good to me. And he said he hadn't even heard the sermon yet. This was before early service. He said, Pastor Danny, there will be a day when I'm by the Lord and the Lord is by me. But that's it. That's verse 17. And so we will always be with the Lord.
• 27:38
  No more confusion, no more exhaustion. Rest and peace and comfort and power and strength and friendship and loyalty. Can you imagine? So we will be with the Lord. It makes sense then that he would end with verse 18. And so, encourage one another with these words. Church, be encouraged. The Lord is coming back.
• 28:08
  He will come and get us. Don't be all consumed about the back of the knuckle theology, that stuff that doesn't matter and doesn't even make it into the picture. Who cares, right? None of that stuff matters. Be concerned with the fact that Jesus is going to come and retrieve his bride. And from that moment forward, we will be at the Lord's side forevermore. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for these people, God.
• 28:32
  I pray that we would be encouraged and leave encouraged knowing that we have a God who will come and get us, who already came once, who already defeated death, the reigning king over humanity, that you've given us life in its place. And God, I pray that we would be ever focused on this truth, that we will be united together with you one day. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.