A Thief in the Night – Second Coming – Part 4
A thief in the night
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (ESV) 1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 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. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 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. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
1. The Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Matthew 24: 32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!…..
Matthew 24: 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
1.1. If the owner would have known what time the thief was coming he would have been prepared for him.
1.2. Ela… if we could predict events in our life then we would be more ready for them to happen.
2. While people are saying peace and safety.
3 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.
2.1.There will be a facade of peace and safety in the earth.
2.2.The man of perdition will provide a level of security.
2.3.Sophisticated Nations like China already overtly track each citizen via an App on their device.
2.4.Then sudden destruction.
3. We are a people of the day.
1 Thess. 5:8 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.
1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
3.1. This day should not surprise the people of God. 3.2. For we live in the day.
3.3. We walk in the light.
1 John 1:5-7 (NKJV) 5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
3.4. Out of darkness.
3.5. Keeping nothing hidden.
3.6. The day provides light and clarity to the days and times we live in. 3.7. Those who live in the night have many surprises ahead.
4. What does in mean to belong to the day:
4.1. To be sober:
4.1.1. Sober = to abstain from wine (keep sober), keep watch, to be sober, to be calm and collected in spirit, to be temperate, dispassionate, and circumspect.
1 Peter 2:11 (NKJV) Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
4.1.2. The case for abstinence…
4.1.2.1. anything that you don’t want to be found doing when Jesus returns then abstain from that thing in your life.
4.2. Put on the breast plate of faith.
4.2.1. Faith is something that you must cloth yourself with.
4.2.2. The breastplate protects the vitals.
4.2.3. Get up and put on protection from the elements
4.3. The helmet of salvation.
4.3.1. Our hope is our helmet.
4.3.2. Guarding our thoughts.
5. When we walk in the day we are not appointed to wrath.
Revelation 6:12-17 (NKJV) 12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
5.1. Wrath is appointed to those who dwell in the night.
5.2. Important to distinguish when tribulation ends and wrath begins.
5.3. Israel is sealed to go through wrath.
5.4. The people of God are delivered in Revelation 7:9
6. The gathering in.
Matthew 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 (NKJV) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
6.1. The great mystery of the elect being gathered from this earth.
6.2. The wheat separated from the weeds.
6.3. The angels of God sent to gather the harvest.
6.4. Like in the days of Noah.
6.5. Ela… The waters began to rise like a never ending tide cycle, then the rains began to fall to contribute to the rising water. People at first may have released something was off but not enough to stop and seek the Lord for repentance. They just keep on in the blindness of the ultimate hurricane party that only ended well for 8 people.
6.6. One shall be taken.
6.7. While those unaware are going about their regular business.
6.8. Let us not be a people unaware.
Conclusion: Watch therefore!
Matthew 24:42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.